Marty Rogan

Nice set of mesh wheels in size 15x7. No curb rash, excellent condition. Strangely, they don't have a brand name on them. From looking at several pictures of different brands, they look like Rikens, but I don't know for sure. They come with brand new chrome valve stems. Sorry, I never had the centercaps. More pics upon request. Asking $275 obo. Marty

I got mine from Classic Datsun Motorsport. It's $28 a can, but it is a perfect match. Marty

Chris is right. the bracket is the same blue as the engine block. Nuts, washers & bolts are the goldish zinc color. Marty

Victor, It seems like 17 offset would be a lot. An offset of 0 is recommended. Interesting wheels though. Where can you get the K-1's or Volks? One other issue that I am having is that I put on the Toyota 4-piston calipers (very wide), with vented rotors. I actually picked up a nice set of Enkei mesh style wheels and they would not clear the calipers. (Might be for sale, PM me if you are interested) I put the Panasports on that were on my show car and they fit fine. So I am going to need a wheel that provides extra clearance beyond where the hub ends. Panasports bow outward in the spoke area to provide extra clearance. I would hate to order new wheels and still have a clearance problem. Anyone use the K-1 or Volks with the Toyota brakes? Marty

I was just looking at the Motorsport website at the Panasport wheel prices. They list the 15"x6" size at $189.95 and the 15"x7" size at $219.95. I intend to put 225x15x50 tires on them. Is it worth spending $30 per wheel more for the 7" wide size, or would it make much of a difference? This is going on my high speed autocross car. TIA, Marty

I am just getting started withthis project. Just ordered that hose from Chloe last week. she did not have the number, but I got it from another member and ordered it from her. The number I am getting is: 17235-E4101, around $30 like Gary said. Hope to get the part this week. Marty

You could try Ultimate Z in Streamwood: http://www.ultimatez.com They usually have a bunch of parts and parts cars around. A friend of mine got a complete running L-24 from them for $300. They aren't far from you either. Marty

Last month I had my stock '71 on the dyno. It pulled 114 HP at the rear wheels, at 5750. So, that is about what you can expect from a stocker. Another 240Z pulled 112 that same day. Forgot what the torque #'s were. Marty

Unless you are doing other work to beef up the engine (cam, bigger valve, L28 bottom), an L-24 would be over carburated. You won't get the full potential out of them. I had tripple Webers back in the early 80's. They were hard to dial in properly. Be careful as they tend to leak! I would definitely put a shield between the carbs and the exhaust/headers, to gard against heat and FIRE! Webers did in that car, after 7 years of restoration. Middle carb leaked on the header and roasted the whole car. It shut done Rte 53 in Illinois for an hour. The blase was so intense no-one would pass it. Wish I knew then, what I know now. Personally, you could not give me a set of Webers. Properly built and tuned SU's will get you about the same performance. Get some Z Therapy SU's. they are beautiful, perform well, and one hell of a lot cheaper than Webers. Well, that's my 2 cents worth anyway. Marty

Thanks Carl, I have been off for a couple of days and did not have time to read many posts. I agree, he is a nice guy. Always wondered what was done to that car. Sounds like he did a lot of work to it. Definitely looks better without the stripe on the hood! You really would need a large inheritance to keep that around. Wish I had one myself. Marty

Hey 26th, Is that the 240Z from Florida, that was bought by one of our members in NY about a year or so ago? If it is, I wonder why he is selling it? Marty

Hi Guys, Well I think I got it fixed over the weekend. Went back and bleed the mast again. Got a ton of air out of the rear MC tube. Took 2Many's advice and adjusted the rear brakes tighter. Bleed more and it feels pretty good now. Drove it around a little bit and it brakes very nicely. It has a good firm pedal feel now. Got to brake in the pads/rotors more before I can really see what the upgrade is like. I don't feel quite as bad about this, since my buddy Bill, who has the same brake set up is having real problems bleeding his brakes too. I think the extra pistons must really trap a lot of air in there. Thanks for all the tips and tricks. They really helped. Marty

Thanks Lance. I thought of that later too. Later in my journey, I always started at the Master and then went to the corners. Marty

Thanks for the explaination. I am taking tomorrow off from work and will give these a try. If you go with the ZX Master, would you have to reverse the lines, like you would on the 72/73 MC? Any other mods required to make that one work? Marty

Mike, as I said in the post, I installed SpeedBleeders. Won't do this without them. 2Many, The Brakes actually worked great before, and I know the MC was replaced by the PO. I would not think the MC would just go bad on you during an upgrade. When you say, pull up the hand brake a notch or two, do you mean from completely off? Or in addition to where it normally pulls up to? How do you adjust the pedal? Would adding the 4 pots put that out of adjustment? Keep the ideas coming. Thanks, Marty

Ok, a little background before we get started. I am doing a Toyota 4 piston caliper upgrade to my '71 autocross car. The brakes actually worked really well before I started, but the car is going to be doing high speed autocross at the track, so I wanted something even better. All the parts went in pretty easy. Finding longer metric bolts for the hubs was a trip though. Re-bending the caliper hard lines was a little tricky too. I put in new Speed Bleeders too. So, I start bleeding. Started with RR, LR, RF, LF, and then Master. I put 3 quarts of Valvoline DOT 3/4 Synthetic through and the pedal goes stright to the floor. Bleed the MC and all corners a dozen times each. Then I found Rick's racer trick. Took the front brake pads out one at a time, stepped on the brake to get the pistons out, and then pushed 'em back in with channel lock pliers. Did this probably 10 times on each piston, till I didn't see any more bubbles coming out. I was amazed at how much air was still in there. The pedal feel improved SLIGHTLY. Still feels soft, way softer than I want for an autocross car. I have gone though 4 1/2 quarts of fluid now and the brakes feel worse than before the upgrade. I haven't even felt confident enough in them for a test drive. So, what do I do now??? Any new tricks or suggestions would be appreciated. Marty

Hi Kats, That is an interesting theory. It does not sound practical, however. It would seem more likely that Nissan would make an insurance claim to recover the damages. In that case the insurance company would probably take possession of the car and have it scrapped over here. Shipping it back to Japan would be too costly for a car that would be parted out. But who knows, stranger things have happened. I have heard a few stories over the years that I would like to get to the bottom of. Like whatever happened to the 3 240Z's that were shipped to Canada for cold weather testing? They would likely be VIN#'s between -009 and 015. One story had them sitting in a warehouse up there all these years. Wouldn't that be a thrill to find and buy those cars! Another guy I met here in Chicago used to work at a ditribution depot where they unloaded Z's from railroad cars and put them on trucks for final delivery to dealers. He said alot of car were damaged in the process. As the story goes workers would routinely take home engines, trans and other parts off the wrecked cars. This guy claims to have gotten his whole 240Z that way, but I cannot confirm that as true. Interesting stories, though nearly impossible to confirm. Marty

IT may be possible that you are overcharging the battery. This happened to my 70 a few years ago. One of the wires leading into my voltage regulator corroded and broke right at the connection, inside the VR plug. On a long trip up to Road America, it overcharged and cooked the new battery. The battery was making a weird sound and then started sinking to high heaven when it became well done! Get your charging system checked out or you may need a new battery along with whatever else is casusing the problem. Marty

Zhead, Sure, I wouldn't mind checking out a local Z. Many members have done it or offered to do it for me when I was looking. I would definitely suggest someone knowlegable with Z's check it out before I bought a plane ticket. Lacking that I had a Nissan dealer check outmy last one. Marty

Zhead, You did the right thing passing on that car. Too many things just don't add up. I have a kind of rule of thumb that I go bywhen looking at cars. If I don't like the owner, I will usually pass on the car. If the guy is a class A jerk like this guy, he is probably lieing through his teeth and/or has abused the car too. Check out http://www.collectorcartraderonline.com/ There are 48 240Z's for sale there right now. Also keep an eye out on ZCar.com and websites from Z Car clubs. It will probably way cheeper for you in the end to travel for a rust free nice car. You can get some pretty cheap air fair or better yet free if you have frequent flyer miles. Paying a fair price for a car that has already been refreshed is cheaper than buying a fixer-upper and paying to fix it. Good luck on the hunt! Marty

If you go with 16's, you probably won't be able to go wider than 205 on the front. You won't have a problem with hitting the spring perch, but you will rub the front fender lip. When I got my 70Z, it had 225/60/16 on the back which fit and filled up the wheel wells nicely. The front had 205/55/16. This looked really goofy to me. Sort of like a jacked up muscle car from the 70's. If they were all 50 series tires, you might be able to go a little wider, but I haven't tried it. There is a reall trade-off in ride quality between 50 and 60 series tires. It all depends on what you are looking for. I sold the 16's and bought 15" Panasports. Put on 215/60/15 Yokos. This still required me to roll the front fender lip. They fill up the wheel wells very nicely. Check out my gallery pics. I think anything larger than 15" looks out of place on an early Z, but hey, that's just my opinion. Marty

Go here: http://zhome.com/ There is a nice write-up on what to look for. As far as him being insulted,...that is a fairly steep price to pay for a 240Z. It should be damn near perfect for that kind of money. Take the magnet and use it. Pull up the carpets and look at the floorboards inside and out. Look at the spare tire well and under the hatch ledge, along with the other spots you already mentioned. Have Charlie Osborn check it out if you can. If he doesn't do that kind of thing, take it to a Nissan Dealer for a check. Have a compression test done on the engine and tell us the results. If there is another club member in your area, maybe they will go along with you. There still are alot of 240's out there for sale. Wait for a good one, you won't regret it. You have done some homework, so that is good. You will have a good idea what one is actually worth. Don't be afraid to travel for a good one .... after you have someone close by check it out for you. Last year I bought one in NC and drove it back to Chicago (700+ miles). It was a blast!!! The last one I bought, I few to Cleveland for it and drove it home. Good luck on your quest. The looking is part of the fun! Marty

When I did mine, I tried the torch 'em out method. That took too long and the toxic fumes were nasty. Instead, I drilled dozens of holes into the rubber until I could pull the inner sleeve out with vice grips. You can then use a hack saw to get the outer casing out. Like someone else said, don't cut into the control arm! Read the directions on the bushing kit first. Some of them require you to reuse the outer casing. If you cut it out, you will have a real problem. Good luck with it! Marty

Thanks for the heads up. Marty

I tried a set of the pop in caps off a turbo z, the ones with the steel prongs. The diameter between the plastic part on the back side was not wide enough to slip over the metal rim in the center of the wheel. I also tried another set of pop in caps off anothe style turbo. This one was all plastic. The tabs were not wide enough to grip the wheel at all. Went to Discount tire and tried the type that slide in from the back. They did not have one narrow enough to slide all the way into the whole. I am not that picky at to which type, the pop in or push from behind, just something that fits and will cover the whole. Thanks, Marty