Travel'n Man

Guy- Thanks for the post and the information. I have family members in Richmond. I will add him to my contact list. I've been keeping up with your cars and your son's photo abilities,.........both are excellent!!

I installed my seatbelts from MSA last year - it is the best safty item I have installed to date along with Dave's light harnessness. The retractor does not get in the way of my seat positioning when driving. The seatbelt does ride up a little on my neck/shoulder area so I do have to pull that down occasionally to lower the chest belt off my neck area. Newer cars have a positioning adjustment that raises and lowers the area on your neck but not the MSA retrofit seat belt.

I believe you will need to cut a hole into the carpet to finalize the seatbelt installation.

We have some outstanding driving roads in Western North Carolina - you gotta love twistys!! Thanks for sharing the photo's!

Jordan- The lighting harnesses that you can buy through MSA is the way to go. There are several threads on it (do a search if needed) and there are 3 different harnesses that Dave has custom designed for our cars. There are many of us that have made this modification and are extremely happy with it. There are no wires to cut, no wires to splice - it is simple and very effective, and will take a load off your fuse box and pull the power from from your battery (where Nissan should have put it originally). Your parking lights will be brighter as well as your interior lights at night, and that is a by-product of your brighter headlights!! Dave is the resident pro at sound and electronic's on our site. I would return the Black Dragon harness without a second thought.

Excellent thread! Thanks for sharing.

You may want to call MSA and ask if the MSA speaker panel will take up more room in a 280. I'm sure they know the difference of the depths of the two cars. This is my 240Z with the MSA speaker panel installed. I would not hesitate to do it again. There is more detailed info with my sound system in my garage.

Remember how you got the cover off and the positioning - you will need to put it back on - be sure to order some gaskets before you take that cover off - you can order them through Z Theropy or directly from the Nissan warehouse from your local stealer.

Eric - I actually bought this one: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/60-9976 The one I used on the earlier post was just for reference - the unisync IMO is fair at best - but - it can be used with your air breather air filter housing removed but with the back on. The total air breather (OEM) does have to be removed to use the synchrometer that is linked above. It is exact at any RPM and there is no little red float or air adjustment to screw around with.

The 3 screw dome has a very hard enrichening nut to turn, it has several indentions (it is very thin - a little thicker than a washer with indentations) that will help set the carb fuel mix so it will not move but it also has a locking feature on the nut so it is very hard to work with. I have seen a few other Hitachi carbs that have a much easier nut to turn and did not have the locking feature that my 3 screw has.........to my knowledge that is one of the primary differences between the 3 screw and the 4 screw carbs (other than the difference of the amount of screws and the years that they were made). I like the locking feature of the 3 screw - once you lock them they are not going to move. And by the way - on my car there is no blockage of any sort for me to get to any part of my adjustments (once you remove the air breather). Bruce - can you verify the differences of the 3 and 4 screw carbs? By the way - IMO - buy the CD - it is excellent and will be something you will reference every driving season when you get ready to adjust your carbs - it is not a one time usage purchase - along with your synchrometer. Two things you really need to have to maintain your Z long term.

Great looking cars - my favorite picture is the "under the hood" shot - excellent!!

Dan- When I refreshed my interior I did not use the jute insulation - I was trying to keep the noise level and the temp down.........below are two products you may want to review. I used both of them - first the Dynama Xtreme and then the Black Dragon Insulation on top of that and then the carpet kit for the 240's. I bought (and have in storage the vinyl kit) but liked the carpet becuase it was just a little more modern. The Dynamat can be used in your doors - between the roof and your headliner - inside your rear quarter panels - transmission tunnel, ..... well, you get the idea. http://www.amazon.com/10455-Dynamat-Xtreme-Bulk-Pack/dp/B000SBLGU4 http://www.blackdragonauto.com/icatalog/zr/full.aspx?Page=78

Andy- IMO you may need to turn your enriching setting back 1/2 turn and adjust from there - if you car is holding at 3500 rpm and 5000 rpm I would not adjust your floats unless you have hesitation due to lack of fuel into the float bowl(s) or if you have fuel coming out of the air intake (the hole that your air breather screws into). If you have heavy fuel smell (running phat) you need to put less fuel into the carb and that is done by the lessening the enrichment setting - if you get it too lean you will begin getting lean pops (backfire from either the front carb or rear carb). Only work on one a time so you can keep up with how that carb is doing during the leaning process. Remember - your car MUST be brought up to normal running temp before you adjust anything on your carbs. On of my best investments to date is a synchrometer - some people really like the unisyn (I actually own both and the synchrometer is much more exact). The synchrometer is a little more expensive than the unisyn but well worth it IMO. If you are not getting the same air flow from the front and rear carb you will never be able to get the setting synch'd. http://www.carparts.com/BUGPACK-UNIVERSAL-CARBURETOR-SYNCHROMETER/GP_2004219_N__10618.car?zmam=15972150&zmas=17&zmac=100&zmap=10618-2004219 Again - the best thing you can do is to do your own research and learn all you can so you can understand the process - keep us posted. One last thing - if you do decide to open up your float bowls be sure you have two extra float bowl gaskets to replace the old ones - once you open your lids you will see what I mean. I really would not adjust the floats if you do not have any hesitation or fuel overflow.

Jesse- I can't believe there are no pictures with your post - not of your wife - but of your wife's car..........come on now!!

Dan- Welcome to the site - I visited Roger last month and picked up some odds and ends - I live in Boone NC, just a few hours from you. Good luck on your project. There is a ton of info and very knowledgeable folks on this forum and site. The search feature has helped me out of several challanges as I'm sure it will assist you was well. Post some pictures when you get a chance during your refresh. One notation - we get a discount from MSA being members of the site. Be sure to let them know - the discount varies per part but the average is about 10%.

Johnny Rock - With all due respect - I think I will be sticking with my Hatachi Brand in my 3 screw Hatachi carbs SU Carburetters (named for Skinners Union, the company that produced them) were a brand of carburetter usually of the sidedraught type but downdraught variants were used on some pre-war cars. They were widely used in British (Austin, Morris, Jaguar, Triumph, MG) and Swedish (Volvo, Saab 99) automobiles for much of the twentieth century. Originally designed and patented by George Herbert Skinner in 1905, they remained on production cars through to 1995 in the Mini and the Maestro by which time they had become part of the Rover Group. They are now manufactured by Burlen Fuel Systems Limited mainly for the classic car market. Hitachi also built carburetters based on the SU design which were used on the Datsun 240Z, Datsun 260Z and other Datsun Cars. While these look the same, they are different enough that needles are the only part that fits both.

Research - Research - Research - I would recommend for you to use the search feature and increase your overall knowledge on Hitachi Carbs (SU's are actually British carbs)and then I would order the DVD from: http://www.ztherapy.com/ After that you will be able to answer all your questions (or at least most of them).

I'm dizzy from reading.............too many beers........I've got to re-read.........

If you don't have new float gaskets when you start working on the float bowls - you'll wish you did........they will curl up like a pringle potato chip!! Nissan still warehouses them!

Hogie- Before you put that driveshaft back in it would be a perfect time to put a R/T mount in.........do a search. One of the best mods we can do for our cars!

Roger opened up my R180 and hand picked it from his inventory and it's been good as gold to date. He has been dead on with me - sometimes a little slow - but always worth the wait. He has everything broken down (no cars in the fields) and catorgorized in storage trailers in wooden bins. It's really kinda cool to walk through one of those trailers and see some really great stuff. I visited last month in April and was very impressed. Talk about a kid in a candy store!!

You might want to call Roger at The Z Barn. I bought a R180 from him last year and he did warranty it for a breif period for me so I would have a chance to get it installed and drive it. I've got no idea on transmissions but it could be worth a phone call for piece of mind. I would rather pay a little more shipping and have know the trans is warrantied than not. If you are going to sit on it an install later this may not work for you though. Since he is just 3 hours to my west I have been driving over and picking up hard to ship items like rear ends and glass. Sometimes it take a little bit for Roger to get back in touch with you so just a heads up. The AM time period usually works best for me to catch him on his business line. The Z Barn 1-865-995-0443 sales@zbarn.com

Come on now Lisa - all us guys love pictures, so show us what you've got!! Welcome!!

The video on the above link in "insane"!!!!! possible 600 hp to the wheels - you got to be kidding me - I wonder if Hagerty would keep my insurance!!

Looks great! I saw a Datsun forklift the other day on eBay.