ZCCOR#109

Hay guy, If the washer/keeper has warn through and or broken off, then that is a strong clue that the bushings and washers are WORN OUT!. Get a set of bushing and the associated washers and put all new on this car. This has a pretty significant effect on the handling, especially the responsiveness to steering input.

Be aware that the striker plate bolts go into captured nuts that can not be accessed with out some serious issues. I believe one has to cut a hole in the body or inlarge it after taking off the interiour panel. Carl Beck has a technique of repair but it escapes me now.

As an original owner with a car that has mostly original paint, I will state that mine has this crack on both sides for the past twenty years or so now. I would think that that seam was filled with lead, as that is how manufacturers filled body seams in the past. Now they just leave the seam as a design. Obviously this is a structure issue with the Z. I have no knowledge of how the joint is welded, but this crack in the paint comes from flex. If I were repairing, I would want to go down to bare metal and weld. I'm not sure a strut bar would help, it may put more strain at this area, or may not?. A roll bar, 4 point, would do the job of limiting flex.

I used some from either MSA or Victoria British. The rubber went bad as soon as they were installed??, just split. When I complained I was sent replacments, but my labor was on me. I have a feeling that they were long in storage or cheap rubber. I'm just waiting a few years to replace. The limited time I use the car should allow a lot of time to expire before a replacment is required. NOTE/ I believe the torque spec for the ball joints is in error. After quite a bit of tightening with a good T wrench, I stopped as it was just too much turning. I felt the bolt end would have broken off. the size/diameter of this bolt looks like a 20 lb effort, and I believe there was something near 40 lbs called for?? not sure

YO all My new Z club has acquired posters of the IMSA GTP cars and an assortment of Steve Millen car posters. They are for sale. See our web site at ZROC.org. The club is for Z cars and Datsun Roadster owners in Ohio. Most are in central Ohio. I have the IMSA poster framed and resting infront of and below my TV. I had to cut off the left edge and overlay it onto the poster so it would fit a standard poster frame. It looks great. :classic: :classic:

My turn? I'm new to this scene, but not to ownership. 58 yrs old, married 36 this year. Wife helped pick out the 240Z when new!! Three son's, the Marx Brothers. Original Owner of a 10/71 build Z with about 77K miles. Did 23 yrs as Army officer after ROTC at The Ohio State University Own a 1998 Camry, and a 2002 Focus SVT. Wife and I jointed the Swan Creek Sports Car Club and autocrosses from day one, Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Aberdeen MD. Car has been in VA, TX, KS, MI, OH, and stored for 9 years during tours in Germany 4yr, Japan (Okinawa)3yr, and The Netherlands 2yr. Was President of the Okinawa Sports Car Club, which had/has a long history to include races in the 50's. I bought Minilite wheels in 73, at $125each. What is that in todays $. Now the Panasport wheel has taken that look, and has the plus diameters. Mine are 14x6.5. With 60 series Kumo Victor racers, there is a lot (too much) space in the wheel well. Put on BRE spook and spoiler in 73. Replaced shocks, brakes, tension rod, steering rack bushings. Had dealer replace the diff at about 16k, miles at great expense due to considerable whine. Still have the diff and need to have someone rebuild. The replacement whined almost as much? Member of the Ohio Valley Region OVR of the SCCA, and of a new Z club in central Ohio, The Z & Roadster Owners Club. ZROC. We just sort of broke away from the Z club of Ohio out of Cincinnati, and combined the Roadster club of Ohio which was getting quite small. Have a 2.5in exhaust from headers back to turbo exhaust. Love to autocross, but needs stiffer shocks, adjustable would be great. Thanks for listening.

DRECORD Your running too large a tire!?? The stock tire was 175 80 14 that was right at 25 in diameter according to Carl Beck. This was a result of 14 inches of wheel and two times the tire aspect (height of sidewall) which was 5.5in. (11in) You should try to use a wheel tire combination that is a smaller diameter to get an effective higher rear end ratio. My calculations for a 15 inch wheel are 254 50 15, 212 60 15, 181 70 15, to exact calcs. Obviously you have to pick a size that a tire is made in. The width of the wheel is not mentioned. You would usually fit the width of the tire according to the manufacturer's recommendation. Do the calculations for the width selected to determine the aspect ration that will give you the appropriate diameter desired. For highway travel you would want a greater diameter for an overdrive effect. Second. I have used Kumo Victoracers on my Z for track and Autocrossing. My second set is now worn out. On the track they were superb. I passed a viper at Gingerman! I use them on the street here in Central Ohio, with great care in the rain I must add. The first set was good for about 15,000 miles, which I considered outstanding considering they were on the track and autocrossed, and when HOT they stick like a race tire. I see you are in California, and if it is normally dry there, and/or you have another car to drive in the rain, then the Victoracers are the best performance. If there is a negative for use on the street, it is you try to pass corvettes on the exist ramps. Did that too. Check out the test of tires that was performed by and published in "Grassroots Motorsports" in a recent addition. Think it was the October time frame. They tested four or five tires in a controlled environment for autocrossing. Good luck.

Thanks Jeremiah for the welcome. I've been reading the posts for several months and never could get on these threads. Finally got help from Mike Gholson and "I'm in" I'm a member of the original owners "club", number 108 I believe. Carl Beck is like really cool, with a wealth of knowledge. I subscibe to the zhome.com Internet Z club. I have a similar story of acquisition of my new car, a Focus SVT. I ordered in Feb 2002, was told the car was made in April, got my loan and then the cars were not shipped from Mexico due to "an undiagnosted fault" Ford had a problem but didn't know how to correct. I got the car June 28th!! It was worth the wait. The SVT is very similar to the 240Z in that it has great performance for a low price. 170 hp, LARGE 4 wheel disk brakes, 17 inch aluminum wheels, with 45 profile tires, 6 speed close ration transmission with no overdrive. It turns 15.8 in the quarter and my 240Z did 16.4 when I took it to the strip in 1973. I'm going to compete in G stock this year, and hoping to learn how to compete in front wheel drive. A 350Z would be great, but I got this car for 17,950, the new Z is a little pricy for me, although it is ok for the performance and the competition. It's blue too

Hi everyone. Just a note to introduce myself. I am an original owner, of a 240Z built in 10/71. Here is my story. Upon return from service in The Republic of Korea, my wife and I looked for a new vehicle. We heard about the new Datsun from Car & Driver, as well as my sport car racing brother. He commented on the generous amount of room in the vehicle. Yes, it has leg room for someone 6'4". It was May 1971, and we put $100 down at the new Datsun dealer in Belair Maryland. This dealer was in an old gas station with a couple of bays and one car in the "showroom" that was the old front office. Remember those. In October we came up on the top of the waiting list, but there were no cars. There was a dock strike (love the longshoreman) on the east coast, and nothing was being imported. On the 3rd of Jan 1972 we were notified that cars had arrived. Datsun had imported cars through British Columbia, and rail shipped to the east coast. They were unloaded at the rear of a large victorian house in town, which was owned by the dealer. We were told, "go look at the cars and take your pick!!!!" If you were around then, this was unheard of. You got what ever was available, and with the dealer add on's that were overpriced. (bumper override bars, and aluminum wheel, etc.) We had a choice of green/tan, blue/white, red/white, yellow/black, and the "orange"/black. We chose the blue with white interior. Later, we were in the Swan Creek Sports Car Club with Jack Waugh who got the red/white car. Jack had totaled his two liter SLR, but that's another story. I had an after market A/C put on by a local garage. And that's another story. We had already joined the SCSCC, and My wife and I commenced to Autocross the Z in the Baltimore/Washington Area Sports Car Councel events, our own events, and ones at Wilmington Del, and York Pa. I put aluminum Minilite 14x6.5" wheels on it, at $125each in 1973. Then I had my father, a welder, braze the holes for the chrome trim holes closed, and put on BRE front and rear spook and spoiler with the associated body and paint work. we were able to set a record with the new wheels and half warn tires at the Wilmington course. It was a set course around an industrial area. This allowed a comparison of times from event to event and year to year. OH, also Koni shocks set half firm. No exterior adjustment to these shocks. The strut had to be removed to adjust. Never did change that. A friend, Joe Ruffing that had a two liter(Datsun 2000) and I were able to run autocrosses in three states one day, Baltimore, Wilmington, and York Del. We always thought that was a record. In 1975 I went to Okinawa Japan and left the z in my mother-in-laws garage. Upon return I used it three SUMMERS in the UP of Michigan, driving each summer to Ft. Riley KS for training of ROTC cadets. That is where we got hail damage. The dent in the roof is still there. The car was stored again during tours in Germany 1984-88 and The Netherlands 1990-92. In between we ran solo II's on occasion. Then in 1997 we returned to Columbus OH, and I have been running Ohio Valley Region (OVR-SCCA) events. Trouble is a near stock Z doesn't fare well in B street prepared. The Z has the original paint except for where the trim was remove. (That was a BIG mistake that a young person makes!) The interior is original with a seam separation on the drivers bottom seat . There is some cracking in the interior panels, due to loose cargo. I have rebuilt the brakes several times, and run synthetic fluid. I put Koni's on in 1973, but they were leaking in 1975 and I replaced with Totyco gas, which are a nice ride but not firm enough to handle. (They actually raised the ride level of the car with the gas pressure) Not recommended for the enthusiast. I use Kumo Victor Racers for street and track. Took the Z to the track in 1995, for open track day. Love those tires when they heat up. Two years ago I replace the after market A/C with a new system of R134a. I used hardware from Vintage Air in Texas. They are a BIG dealer/manufacturer of A/C units for Street Rods. The only piece of hardware crital for the change over was the under dash evaporator unit. I had to have new fittings brazed onto the unit that would match the new hoses. The Z needs some care right now, new clutch master and slave, parts on hand. Repair the Spook, damaged in the paddoc of Solo II event, new plug wires ( same ones from 1974 solid core). We had the car Zebarted when about two months old. Only got rust in one place, between door and rear wheel well at rockerpanel. That was due to the inner and outer fender seam not being tight right there. I had that repaired in 1984, and took the interior out and had the Zbart folks retreat. I also treated the rear fenders seam to a coating of zink cromate primer in 1979. I opened the seam at the top of the wheel well, used an ear bulb to suck up the primer and squirt into the seam until it ran out both sides at the bottom. Then I painted the seam closed with Zebart. We just initiated a new Z club here in central ohio. It is for Roadster and Z owners. The Roadster and Z car club RZCC. Time to go, talk later.