Oiluj

What brand bump stops did you get? Mine just slipped over the shock rods and fit up into the upper spring seat.

I looked at your pics. Very nice! That's a clean body shop.

If it were an early, unmolested 240Z, I might suggest that you make everything "bolt-on reversible. But as there are still plenty of 280's out there, go for it, do what makes you happy! Also, I agree with espark, if you aren't keeping it "stock", don't think of it as a monetary investment. Have fun!

Today I installed my RT diff mount. I went the bump-stop and lower cross-member route. Cut-off 3/4" from the bump-stop worked great. No iterative cutting & fitting required. Did have some initial difficulty getting the RT mount in-place, but a little "persuasion" with a small jack got it moved into position. Found that I had to install the bump-stop after getting the mount partially in-place, but not moved-up into the final position. Also found that lowering my exhaust a about 1-1/2 inches to get it past the exhaust pipe. Replaced the u-joints in my driver's side half-shaft while the car was on jack stands. (Did the other side last weekend, but didn't have time to do both). Used my vise to drive the bearing caps 90% into the castings. Then used a socket and hammer to gently tap tem into final position before installing the retaining clips.

Les Cannady sells the mounts and speakers for the stock locations behind both left & right panels. I fabricated a mirror-image speaker mount for my car, but it would have been much eaiser to buy Les's product.

Was curious, so today I did a 50 mile freeway drive. Stayed between 65 and 75 mph and she got 25.6 mpg! Now I'm wondering what she'll do with the 5-speed!

Yes. He did what they call a "touring" head with a stage 3 cam. The combustion chambers are reworked and on my e-88 head the valves were enlarged to fit the 280 valves. If I recall, the cam is .480 / .280. Idle is a bit rough, but it really revs fast! I'm very satisfied with Dave's work. He's an expert on tweaking the L-series engines.

Will the stock knob fit the MSA shifter?

Just finished a 290 mile drive in my 240Z to finish breaking-in the engine today. Travelled from the San Francisco peninsula and picked-up a buddy in the east bay, about 70 miles away. The second stop was at Rebello Racing in Antioch where my engine was rebuilt. Showed the completed car to Dave Rebello, so he could see his 2.7 upgrade installed. Dave complimented me on the car and pointed out that my harmonic balancer has the beginning of a wobble. Nothing to be concerned about, but he suggested it be replaced down the road. He also suggested that rebuilding the distributor could improve how the engine runs on pump gas. We filled the tank and crossed the San Joaquin river over Antioch bridge into the delta proper. The SF delta is full of winding levee roads with a 10 to 20 foot drop on either side. On one side is water, the other drops down to farm fields or orchards. Safe speeds on these roads ranged from 25 to 70 mph with all kinds of road conditions. We passed through several small delta towns, Isleton, Locke and Courtland, making a few stops at delta resorts for refreshments and lunch. We made it almost all the way to Sacramento, traveling the back roads. After dropping-off my buddy, I got caught in rush hour traffic for about 90 minutes on the way home. I travelled a total of about 20 miles in stop & go / very slow& go traffic. Even with the heavy stop & go traffic, the car still got 23.4 mpg. Better than I expected! Without all the stop & go traffic, I’m sure it would have easily exceeded 24 mpg. I still have a squeak under the floor in the differential area. As I have changed the u-joints in the half-shafts, I’m thinking it may be the diff mount, a loose exhaust hanger or the exhaust pipe rubbing somewhere. I’ll take a closer look next weekend. Now that the engine has over 500 miles on it, this weekend I’ll change the oil, re-torque the head and manifold bolts. Sorry, no pics. I forgot to charge my camera battery...

I had a baby poop yellow pinto in college. Was always reilaible, cheap transportation. I had no complaints, but was never rear-ended...

Dang! My bride already has plans for me that weekend.

Was in a coffee shop in San Francisco this weekend and picked-up a copy of Classic Motorsports magazine. Classic Z's are in two articles. One is "35 Cars You Must Drive". The 240Z is included in the list with some pretty nice cars, along with some comments by Pete Brock. From memory it's something like: "The datsun pulls like a Triumph, revs like a Jag and has the looks of a Ferrari." The second short article is "The Mitty salutes BRE". Kinda cool our old cars are getting some press!

All three of these are on my first-pick "favorites" list. Especially "Brandy" by The Looking Glass.

You can rebuild the fan clutch, it's not hard.

Like anything else, some stripes work, some don't. I agree it needs the thin side stripes.

I'm just starting to put together a list of my favorite songs from 1970 to 1974 that I plan to burn onto a CD for when I drive the Z. Moody Blues, Santana, Led Zepplin, Steppinwolf, Elton John. Youngbloods, Guess Who, Shocking Blue, etc. About 100 songs in all.

Welcome to the club!

Wow! Tesla better watch out!

What Steve said... Sounds more like a battery or power connection problem. The antenna should be switched with the ACC power or by a separate switch connected to the battery.

I did use a spring compressor to remove tension from the spring before cutting it. I don't think it would be wise to try to cutting the spring while under compression. Each spring cut took 7-to-8 carbide dremel discs, (because they kept breaking). WEAR EYE PROTECTION!!! Lots of sparks when cutting and shrapnel when the discs break... I dropped the front suspension down as far as possible without stressing the front brake line. I then removed the keeper-nut from the top of the shock and pressed the rod down so I pull the suspension out of the shock tower. This allowed me to remove the spring perch to lift the cut section of spring out. Getting the shock rod back into the strut tower required using a small pry-bar to lever the rod down just enough to get it back into place. A small jack was used to help lift the lower suspension arm to move the strut rod through the hole in the top strut pad. (Remember there is a small flat on the rod that has to align with the flat in the hole in the top strut pad). I suppose you could make two cuts on the spring. Then you would not have to drop the suspension, but it might actually take a little longer to do the job. Since I was reducing the travel in the suspension by about 3/4", I also cut down the bump stop about 1/2". Probably not required, but I figured it couldn't hurt. Working by myself, using manual screw spring compressors, it took about 2 hours for the first side and 90 minutes for the second side to disassemble, cut the spring and reassemble. Could probably do it again in about an hour per side now that I have the process down.

Sweet! I need to do that for my neighbor's hubcaps.

Quick update on my cutting my springs. The springs are cut and I drove the car tonite after work. She now sits level, (no rake). I did a quick spring calculation. Since the coil I cut was a half-height coil, my thumbnail guess is it got about 7% stiffer. On the road, it feels just a tiny bit stiffer. I pushed it a little on a couple corners, and it seems to make no difference in handling. I'm OK with it being slightly stiffer and sitting level. Now I can adjust the headlights!

I just finished cutting one coil from my front-passenger side eibach, and plan to do the driver's side tomorrow night. I think I must have received 280Z springs, because no matter what I did, she still sat too "nose high". Should drop the nose about 1" and I expect she will sit almost flat with a very slight forward rake. I used a Dremel and carbide cut-off wheels to trim the spring. I'll find out later this week how it affects handling.

Sorry guys, no pics from the drive. Don't actually remember the name of where we ate lunch. Smaller place on the northern side of the harbor. I'll be driving the Z to Reno in a few weeks with for a "guy getaway" with my best freind. I'll take plenty of pics on that trip. Nice pic of your blue Z biddljj.

Though she rode in it once before, this was the first time my wife rode in the Z since the interior was finished. Now it actually feels like a complete car inside. We took Highway 92 west to Highway 1, then headed up the Pacific Coast Highway north of Half Moon Bay. We stopped for very tasty lunch at a seafood place with a view of the ocean. The car ran great and garnered lots of second looks and a few "thumbs up" with smiles. (Former S30 owners I presume). I never pushed it as there was a little traffic in spots, but it sure was fun when I had some open road in front of me. It was very satisfying to feel my little Z hug the corners and climb the coastal hills with grace and plenty of power in reserve. My wife was grinning right along with me. All-in-all a great Sunday drive.