chaztg

Seems like kind of a douchebag move to list an auction in the way he did it--absolutely no effort, no pics, no description. A total black hole. Am I wrong? http://www.ebay.com/itm/parting-out-a-71-datsun-240-Z-/112031873758?fits=Make%3ADatsun&hash=item1a159ebade:g:hpgAAOSw~OVWyIuU&vxp=mtr

There's somethin' cool bout those wire style wheels. That car is a true survivor. Good find!

No, but If your 280Z has stock springs in it, spring compressor(s) will be required to get the height of the entire strut/spring assembly down to a level to swing it out away from the wheelhouse and body. You will probably need to undo the halfshaft (at the wheel hub) and disconnect the hydraulic brake and parking brake lines so the control arm will drop low enough. If you want to take your chances without spring compressors, you can do all of the above, but place a floor jack under the A-arm and then undo the top 17mm or 19mm nut in the center of the strut cap and to release the spring tension, lower the jack SLOWLY. A buddy would be helpful for an extra set of hands and familiarity with this procedure would be even better. Use properly rated jack stands before you attempt any of this. If you are replacing the original springs with lowering springs, you may not even need to use compressors.

I bought a pair of boots from MSA and one single boot from RockAuto just to check it out for quality & fit. I also bought a pair from a local parts retail chain called Car Quest but returned them after I found out how much I overpaid for them. I figured MSA (grey box) would be correct about finding the best fitting kind. The RockAuto boot (red box) is shorter and the outer end doesn't seem to be too big; it's the inner end or "big" end that seems too large. It's still in the plastic in my pics, because I'm sending that puppy back for a re-fund, but see for yourself. I recall that we put RockAuto sourced boots in my friend's '72 240Z ( I can't say whether or not they are Raybestos brand like the one I got ), and they did fit O-kay but we had to really cinch down the zip ties on the large inner ends. The plastic of the RockAuto boot looks shiny and seems "cheap." Interestingly it's made in Taiwan. I'm no fan of made in China junk which is overwhelmingly and alarmingly everywhere for just about every application nowadays--I try to keep it out of my Z car at any cost, but ironically, as you can see by the picture, the pair of boots sold by MSA which appear to be the best-fitting were manufactured in China. Luckily, not easily obvious when they are installed, but still I will always be uncertain that they would last as long as a genuine Nissan-quality or US-spec material. Expediency dictates that China wins this round in the steering rack boot department.

To change the bushings, I suppose is the primary reason...everything else just follows. I'm sure my car's original bushings are in less than ideal shape anymore, but do I want to change them? I dunno. Are replacement spindle pins still available from Nissan? From one the pics it looks like there was a brand spanking new one...or just get them from Motorsport Auto?

Shamefully, a friend restored one for me...it was an extra wheel I had picked up somewhere (I have the original unrestored wheel still in my car), but the color came out wrong and now I just hang it on my garage wall

Amen to the Cherry Bomb!

If you have trouble confirming the "groove - notch" relationship on any L series motor, it will cause all kinds of weird stuff, and the thing is you may not be aware of any mis-setting if you have certain parts like a cam sprocket that doesn't have a "notch" which makes it highly difficult to see the "groove"--so basically it SHOULD look like that picture or close to it, otherwise you may have a deeper problem

I can't add much more to Mike W's story, but I also have some experience with the 'lectric fan thing and aluminum radiators too. I've gone through a few "phases" myself with my 73 240. A few years ago I bit the bullet and bought a Wizard Cooling 3 row aluminum radiator new off eBay direct from the company. I cannot agree more with Mike W about the design, fit, quality, etc... The downside of my experience was that the radiator began to leak after less than a year. I contacted the company and spoke to probably the same guy Mike spoke with. Long-short, he made it right; they sealed the radiator with some kind of epoxy which to my genuine surprise has held up nicely. The thing that rubbed me the wrong way was that they made me pay for shipping to send it from San Diego to New York for the repair. I recollect I spent $300+ on the initial purchase, so I was irked. My car's always run kinda hot, I don't why; maybe it's an inaccurate gauge, maybe it's all in my head--I didn't see much improvement over stock using this all aluminum unit. I've done a lot of research into the topic and experimented with different radiators over the years. I use VDO temp and oil gauges and I feel they are calibrated quite accurately, at least more accurate than the stock gauges. I don't feel the need to upgrade any more than I already have Radiator-wise and in my experience, there is no reason to use larger than a 3-row core radiator. I've even thought that a 2-row core radiator could be the answer to my car's issues...modern high efficiency radiators are mostly 2-row but are generally larger than able to fit into an S30, but who knows...? In the meantime, I've moved onto the active part of the cooling system: the fans. With the Wizard radiator the temperature would still climb above 195 degrees in traffic on warm days or coming off the highway it would heat up in a similar fashion. I'd been running a 14" auxiliary electric "pusher" fan (Hayden) with a manual switch for a while--that was my solution for the heat-up and it worked okay in those times when the car needed it. I thought making it automatic would be nifty, so I added a Hayden controller I bought from Summit. It was the kind where the sensor threads into the thermostat housing, not a probe inserted in the radiator fins (not my personal preference). I liked the set-up so well that I removed the mechanical fan and went all electric, for a while...and it worked well until it just, uh didn't work...at all...it just went Kaput! (Made in China). This made me begin searching far & wide for another different controller. I can't recall if I came across Dakota Digital, but my criteria for a fan controller was that it had to have a threaded sensor, be of relatively good build quality and hopefully not Chinese junk, small in size, have an adjustable temp range and be reasonably priced. I think I passed over Painless and other brands because they were just too much money. The thing that made me reluctant to purchase another Hayden controller was that I had deleted the mechanical fan and turned my pusher fan around into a puller & went exclusively electric so when the controller unit failed, it made me nervous to have only one fan. SO I reverted to the stock setup and put the mechanical plastic OEM fan back in place with a one-piece metal shroud (kind of a rare part to find nowadays) and added two 10 inch pusher fans, one SPAL and one no-name eBay thing which seems to work okay but is obviously of lesser quality than the Spal fan...I agree with the opinion that Spal is a top-quality brand. I would also be happy with "Perma Cool" or Hayden in that order. I was still dubious about buying another Hayden controller, but I did anyway just because I was familiar with it and the other one did work for a few years until it quit and it's reasonably priced. Anyway, the 2 pusher fans are the now back up to augment the always-spinning mechanical fan. Pusher fans aren't as efficient as puller fans...if you doubt this then look up Griffin and they have a great tech section on their website and it explains a lot of the pros and cons of mechanical vs. electric cooling, pusher vs. puller, etc.... I think at some point it just comes down to personal preference and basic need. Unfortunately, there just isn't any room to fit a reasonably sized electric puller fan or fans AND a mechanical stock fan (unless your Z has a V8 engine !-- HA ha). My other Z, a 1975 280Z with an unmodified 2.8 litre motor runs with a happy & stable temperature all the time, doesn't vary much between 180-185 degrees, maybe a tad more on hotter days.

and they put the least desireable 14 inch wheels on it to boot

1970 datsun 240 z he could have posted more & better pics...maybe it's just meant to tease folks! If anyone out there wants me to broker a deal on this car, I'll do it for a fee. National City is about 10 minutes away from where I live

Datsun 240Z Turn Signal Dimmer Switch 1972 1973 RARE | eBay I thought the "free market" was supposed to keep prices reasonable...

Junkyard availability?

That asking price would be on the higher end of the spectrum IF that car was an early series 1 car (70 or 71 model year), with all the correct early badging, cosmetics, interior & mechanical things which are distinctive for that series; a few practical upgrades would be acceptable (5-speed, ignition, alternator, suspension, radiator, plastic not metal fan)--preferably not too "visible" upgrades. If restored, it would need to be a very good restoration inside & out. Maybe, just maybe it would hit that mark with all those factors met...and lower mileage would help too. I wish my 73 could potentially be worth that much, but I think not.

I really, really appreciated the close-up camera angle of the running RB26 with a see-through timing belt cover and six fat intake velocity stacks in an early Skyline. Those JDM car dudes do it right.

Definitely not. No offense if that's what some people like, but I can't tolerate the show...it and others like it are at best 23 minute informercials. The only program in that genre which dared to showcase a Japanese company as a classic marque was Dennis Gage's series; he dedicated an entire episode to Datsun, but unfortunately it can't be purchased as a separate episode.

Anybody get the name of the show? The muscle car-bound Velocity channel actually broadcasted a program other than Mecum auctions and Overhaulin'....and guess what??? It was about JAPANESE classic cars!!! Whoooppeeee!!! I couldn't believe it, I just arrived back in town from a week with the relatives and turned on the TV to see Z cars and Skylines and Japanese people speaking what else? JAPANESE! With subtitles even. I thought it was a programming glitch...but now I can't find the show anywhere in the programming guide (which doesn't show anything from yesterday, only future schedules). I've searched their website up & down and I can't find anything. I'm certain that it was the Velocity channel. Anyone else see it?

worst day in my own Z history was when I thought my car's "cam timing" was off and it turned out to be a separated harmonic balancer (outer grooved belt part was free spinning on the bolted-to-the-crank center part). Needless to point out, TDC wasn't TDC, and my "adjustments" didn't go too well. Looking back, I can't believe the lack of caution on my part to not catch the fault before it caused the inevitable you know what...My motor's valves were nowhere nearly as bad as those. I can still remember the godawful noise the motor made when I turned it over--kind of a tortured mechanical whooping sound. It always pays to double check your baseline settings. I learned an expensive lesson, but I have nice new stainless steel valves!

From what I've read about this topic, T5 aftermarket shifters are scarce. Hence, using the Mustang one. Only problem is that it's too bulky to use with a stock inner shift boot fitted for an S30 shifter

I know this has been done over & over, but this is the first time I've had an opportunity to take a stab at the conversion first hand. These are pictures of my friend's Z. The shifter is from a Mustang. I fabricated the trans mount. His car has the early transmission mounting attachment method (2 vertical bolts). I opted to chop up a later style trans mount instead of butchering the stock 72 one (in case he wants to go back "original" one day). Luckily, the T5 gearbox was pulled from an S30 which already had the conversion done to it, so no driveshaft modification was required, which I assume would be to shorten the 280ZX one or adapt a 72 driveshaft to use the T5 front yoke. It's a matter of only an inch or so of distance to make up, but a custom mount is the only way to do it, at least for 72 and earlier. Working on Datsuns can give someone an over-simplified set of expectations. Over the years, I've never had to make something like this mount; before, there's always been a ready-made part that "fits." All that was needed was to find the part from some donor car at the junkyard. I'm sure the Borg Warner will be a very noticeable change, the action feels really precise and with the Mustang shifter the gear lever knob will be in perfect reach.

I ordered a radiator for my 75 280Z thru Rock Auto and I received a unit for a 77-78 model. One wouldn't think there's a difference, but there is. I was able to modify it to fit, but now I think twice prior to ordering. My friend received a ball joint for some other Datsun when he ordered one for his '72. Rock Auto isn't bad, but like someone else said, you really need to know what you are looking for prior to placing an order...and sometimes that doesn't even matter at all.

The idea of doing an alternate set-up is great, but just as with the swap to a four-barrel carburetor one must ask the question "why?" Rebuild those SUs quick and get 'em back on there

I have the thermal coated 6 into 1 MSA header on my 240Z. The car has early SUs and I was lucky enough to acquire an early heat shield (no cut-out for the exhaust manifold heat riser)--it's pretty small though and the headers snake out below it a good bit. Like other responders have mentioned, don't see how you could not use a heat shield of one kind or another because it provides an area to hook the carb return springs & protects the PCV hose (if used). I've seen the springs hooked on a screw, or something could be welded to the header itself to hold the springs. A larger shield would be preferable if you ask me. I wanna know if anyone has fabricated a larger one that will clear headers and offer more protection from fuel leaks? It's happened to my car once when the fuel bowl overflowed and raw gas was dripping out onto the hot header (YIKES!). And those dinky fuel hoses are certainly very very close to the whole exhaust as it is. If I had some suitable sheet metal tools, I'd try to make a bigger heat shield...only downside is that it would spoil the cool factor of oogling the headers, but form should follow function especially when heat is concerned.

neat article for the pictures. Not really sure what they are trying to accomplish. I don't think they or even the Nissan rep realized that the "explosion" on startup and rough idle was probably caused by a stuck carburetor fuel jet...and they didn't improve the situation by applying choke for an already up to temperture engine. If only an actual 240Z owner were there to correct them, then their lack of experience with this car wouldn't have influenced what they wrote in the article. The neophyte article writer didn't even seem like he knew how to operate the vent and heater controls. On a warm day, my 240Z is always very comfortable at speed if the foot vent is open.

I found this a great read and a helpful study and I appreciate all the time and thought the author of this thread put into his documentation. I was severely admonished on Z car dot com for posing a question regarding temperature gauge accuracy in my Z. I thought it was just a thoughtful inquiry & request for advice but the reception I received was similar to primates throwing excrement, so E I really got a laugh out of your retort about your airplane's prop behavior from an engine malfunction (for its irony and instruction)---NO PROBLEM IS TOO SMALL TO INVESTIGATE!!