CoastGuardZ

I know everyones gonna say use the search but here it goes anyway... A local yard has a few 280zx's and one 260z 2+2. None are rebuildable by any means. I can pick up a whole Engine with everything on it for $250. I think this is pretty decent. Some of the cars are turbo some aren't. What year or what else should I look for on picking which one I want him to yank for me? Plans are to tear down and make a pretty mean street motor out of it. It will get Carbs and all when it's time to find her a home. I'm looking to make ~250hp. The goal is that it will end up in a 240 and still look like a 240 motor With tripple carbs. Is the turbo block better? This could still be a couple monts away, but would like any input from you guys. Nate:cross-eye

I have a place to speak in this argument. I currently live in Buffalo, NY and Chicago ain't got s#!t on Buffalo for salt!!! GIVE IT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! pant pant pant !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is NOTHING you can do! Oh actually there is... You can put in in the garage untill the salt is actually washed off the roads! April is a good time! There are alot of undercoating sytems and companies out there. They are too messy! Don't bother. Also there are alot of underbody carwashes out there, Wont do enough to matter. Put it in the garage/barn/storage. Please do not murder your Z! Japanese sheet metal does not do well in the northern winters, plus RWD suck in the snow anyway. Nate:cross-eye

MMMMMMM, Triumphs! I like triumphs! I have a friend at work with not one but 2! 1968 bonnevilles! One being restored and one in Show quality condition! It was even in a Magazine. I also like the new Triumph street and cruisers, don't much care for the sport bikes though... too pricey. I love the Thunderbird and ne Bonneville, though! Anyway.. welcome, Memory Gap. Nate:cross-eye

Dear GOD I LOVE OIL!!!!! Lets start with my preferences... C.A.S.T.R.O.L. God's gift to the motorheads.:cheeky: Just my preference...I like kendal too. 5w20 and 10w30 for a little insight...non-detergent(ND) oils only last a top of 500 miles in an OLD model T ford. also good in Briggs and Stratton...THATS IT! multi viscosity (ie: 10w30) ---These oils have polymers added to the base stock (10) to give it the "protection" of a heavier oil (30). When the oil is cold (ie: startup) the polymers are coiled up and the oil flows like a thin oil that the base stock is. As the oil warms up the polymers uncoil and become intertwined which "thickens" up the oil, thus allowing more protection. ---theory goes...The farther these two numbers are apart the protection factor goes down. (ie: 10w40) The base stock is a 10 weight...as the oil warms the polymers are trying to absorb 30 points of difference there causing premature breakdown of the base stock. Changing your oil ---Never can happen too often. ---The reason you change your oil...During the run cycle of the engine the polymers are sheered apart an become weaker. ...The combustion cycle creates acids in the engine case...and condensation builds up significant amounts of water in the case and short drives will not always allow the engine to vaporize all this water. ---I've heard people say that they run synthetic and at 4000miles the oil still looks new. Bulls#!t. The oil will turn dark after just a few hundred miles. It happens. This is not bad. There is oil in there you will not get out which mixes with the new, also the heat cycle will turn the color of the oil. Synthetic ---Synthetics (ie: Mobil1 and Syntec) are not made by man but rather altered by him. You see these really smart lads in white lab coats know what in the oil isn't good. So they go in and remove it. Then they put in a couple of additives and call it synthetic. ---I like the stuff. If I hadn't seen many many engines go to 200,000miles plus on regular Castrol 5w30 I'd say everyone shoul use it. ---Switching to... Unless the motor is young and less than 60000 or so I wouldn't do it. After time when your oil has built up inside and you switch to a synthetic you could break up deposits which may block your oil pump...possibly. Some gaskets have been prone to leakage after the switch on older engines. Plus your bearings have been brought up on the thickness of conventional, switching to a thinner synthetic oil can cause bearing wear. This could go on for days... I'll end with my useages ...88 Chevrolet 1/2 ton 305ci 190,000 miles on Castrol 10w30 year round in South Carolina, traded in on Toyota MR2 which I totalled a month later. ...Mom's 89 S-10 Blazer 4.3V6 215,000 miles on Castrol 10w30 year round in S.C., traded on Hoda Civic. Both of those trucks were WELL used and were traded in. Neither used oil and neither had any mechanical failures. Both owned and maintained from New. ...72 Datsun 620 300,000 mile on God only knows how many types and weights before it was parked and abandoned..I was too late to save her! -----Currently----- ...95 Acura integra 1.8 135,000 I currently use Cas. 5w30. She has that typical Honda valvetrain clickclickclick sound. Poor engineering? Chances are she'll run forever. ...03 Frontier castrol 5w20 700miles Will switch to Syntec 5w30 once broke in...~5000-10000 miles. ...97 Kawasaki Ninja 600 12000 miles. Motorcycle require special oil. They have "oil-bath" clutches and Rev to ungodly RPMS (12000-14000!!!) Mobil 1 4-stroke 10w40 (as recommened by Kawasaki) hiperformance motorcycle oil 3 liters at $8 a quart!!! Heres a link too!http://www.geocities.com/chrislonghurst/engineoil_bible.html My dimes worth! Nate:cross-eye

That car looks HOT!!! I've never seen any of the factory resto's in real life...I assume they did a great job on them. I wish I said this before I bought my frontier. Just think this car in the garage and drivg an old Nissan 4wd in the winter! Guess i still wouldn't buy it though. I've been dreaming of a Z for so long I know exactly what it will look like...the panasports are right but I think I'd get killed when I take it to the body shop to get painted orange!!! :dead: Nate "gotta have an orange one":cross-eye

Whoa Actually those pics of the mitsu colt are what we call a Dodge Colt or a Mitsubishi Mirage here in the states. The Starrion is a Starrion. Sorry, Nate:cross-eye :stupid:

Here it was called a Mitsubishi Starion and also Chrysler Conquest TSI. It's funny how Manufacturers can't keep one name for all markets... It would be sooooo much easier.:stupid: Nate:cross-eye

My 1 year anniversary is on the 5th. I should be able to get the wife to go out there for the anniversary and the car show. She'll love New England in the Fall! Do you think they'd let a 4wd Frontier bring up the rear in one of the ralleys? Nate

Yeah, I love the whole "R" and "L" thing. Everytime I read it out loud I just start laughing my arse off! But I highly commend Katz on his skills 'cause Japanese is a hell of a lot harder to write on an English keyboard. Colt Stallion? Can't say I do. France is a wee (oui:D ) bit different than the states though. We had the Dodge colt, which was a re-badged Mitsubishi Mirage and the closest we get to Stallions are Ford Mustangs. Is Colt the manufacturer? Do you have any Pics? Hey! Take it easy on the pick-ups! Still Nissan here in the states. I own an 03' Nissan Frontier 4x4. Will make a great vehicle to tow my future Z home with. Also a great parts getter. Plus my first Datsun/Nissan was a 72 1/2 Datsun 620 pick-up. Take it easy, Nate:cross-eye

Does anyone know where and when the 2003 is? I heard it's gonna be in the Northeast and I'd love to go! Nate

Hey Ya'll, my understanding of how nissan came to be goes like... 1913ish... Three guys made a car D.A.T. first letter of each of their surnames. sometime there after they made the 2nd car. DATSUN "son of DAT" 1937ish... A textile company called NISSAN bought the DATSUN company. Late 1950's NISSAN sends Mr. K. to the U.S. to study U.S. market and later head up the introduction of NISSAN in the states. The cars were given the old name of DATSUN so that if they should fail miserably it would not bring shame on the NISSAN name. BUT.. this has always left me the question wouldn't people notice that the valve covers said NISSAN? More on the "SUN" vs. "SON' but not car related. I've heard from multiple sources that SONY was supposed to be pronounced "sunny" but us dumb Americans started calling it "so-ne" So the company took on the "so-ne" as the pronunciation.---Don't know if it's true, but I always thought it was neat! Also, if anyone has any info that can discard any of beliefs as false please inform me...Thanks:cheeky: Nate

Man you need a homicide investigator not a mechanic with all that blood! Nate

4 valves is 2 cams though. I was under the impression the 2 was for the dual outlet exhaust that was indigenous to the Z432. Not trying to say your wrong by any means, ben, but just didn't make a whole lotta sense to me. Then again it doesn't have to, either. If thats what Nissan wants, thats what Nissan gets! Nate:cross-eye

Are your fuel lines the proper size? They're not too big are they? Is the fuel pump new or just another one that was lying around? Does the car also blow black smoke out the pipe under load? I guess it might could be a carb problem. What size carbs are you running? This is a good one to keep bumped up on the list. Maybe someone has heard of this before? Good luck Nate

Z432 4=valves per cylinder 3=Triple carbs (mikunis?) 2=dual exhaust Y=Because it's so damn cool!!! Take it easy Nate

Biggest Little City in the World! Went there once. Assuming we're talking about Reno, Nevada, USA. Nate

Whoa Somebody WANTS a U.S. spec part? Now I've heard it all!:cross-eye Nate

Alan...(or anyone else that knows for sure), Please, correct me where I'm wrong and/or fill in the blanks. S30.........Domestic (Japan) model- right-hand drive HS30.......Export- right-hand drive HLS30.....Export- left-hand drive PS30.......??? Now yours is a H variant, aka: "G-nose". Did any of the other models come as a "G-nose"? Where did the "G" in "G-nose" come from if the code was an "H"?...of course that's assuming that I am right that the -H means "G-nose" and not something else. Also, do you know of any other variants? Did all exports receive the L24 only? Which Engines did the Domestic market get? When did Z's start being exported with 5 speeds, or did that not happen untill the ZX's? Thanks in advance! P.S. Thanks alot Al, now you got me wanting to get a Japanese History book!:beard:

Gav, I've got to go with the generic spoiler choice. But I don't much care for the whole wrap around airdam. I love the BRE "Spook", though. I also like the small spoiler in the rear, with a set of panasports and the car covered in beautiful orange paint! Like this one...Louvers aren't bad either. Nate

Hey Kats! I was at the same car show that Ken was at with T.V. Tokyo. Curious to know what became of the footage. Ken, just wanted to say your car is fantastic! Really beautiful. You had the European taillights, right? I can say i was confused a little durring the transition, I was just a wee little lad when my neighbors had a Datsun 720 pickup and a Datsun by Nissan 200SX. My Father understood and did his best to explain it to me. Of course Any moron had to know in 1968 when they saw Nissan on top of the 1600 in the 510 that Datsun was Nissan...or did they. This is just after Carrol Shelby was putting Ford engines inside A/C cars. Many people were confused I'm sure. Then throw in that Nissan was a japanese textile company...What do they have to do with cars? Now they make Cars Forklifts and Textiles. Chevrolet hasn't always been part of General Motors. So here you go Kats... I love Z's. America loves Z's. A guy at work today asked if I had seen the new Z. Then starts to tell me how he remembered the old 240 260 and 280 Z's. It made me feel warm all over. We love the Z's. Not everybody has a favorable opinion of Datsun, though. Too bad for them I say! Lets also remember that Datsun also brought the first Compact pickup to the States. And I'm getting ready to buy the new version of said Truck. 03' Frontier 4x4. By the way It's damn cold and Snowing here in Buffalo, NY. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!! Nate

Hey Sean! How's things in France? to answer your question...not sure about France but in U.S... I believe it was 1983 and every Datsun said "Datsun by Nissan". The point behind this was to get the public used to the Nissan name. Kind of a buffer year. Nate

Al, "Blessed are the peacemakers" or "Happy are the merrymakers!" I would like it to be known that outside of our happy little clique of historic japanese car lovers that we are joked about and not understood. For those of you that do not know I am an Electronics Technican in the US Coast Guard. In front of my work bench hang two pictures of Z's. One is a light blue 77 280 and the other has two 71 240's, white and silver, that are quite modified. Many people come in and out of our shop and nearly all have something to say. They have been mistaken for RX-7's, opel GT's, and even Corvettes (I never said any of the people were smart). The main problem is that when I say they are DATSUN Z cars everyone conjurs up images and speaks of little cheap and slow economy cars and one person even asked "if they were so great why did Nissan buy them out?", I then showed him the door. The people that do understand what they are think I mean 280ZX because that is the only Z they know. It's almost like fighting a losing battle. Oh well ignorance is bliss. I love Datsuns, all of them. At first I was cool with them bringing it back. But the more I think about it, let us hang on to our dignity and leave it in the past. The only way they could pull it off and do justice to the cars that were spectacular would be a global issue of No frills performance cars. Almost using the Datsun nameplate as a marketing tool to sell NISMO type vehicles. Such as a stripped down race version of the 350 and Sentra spec-V for starts. Maybe even a Baja style Frontier 4x4. What do ya'll think? Nate:bunny:

surely you jest! There is no way you could possibly be serious. Because if you are then I've been right about the French all along. Just because it was mandated after WWII that the AXIS powers car companies be paired with ALLIED companies doesn't by any means make Nissan a damn French company! So take it back before I push the big red button and remove France from the globe! Nate p.s. Thanks for French fries and French toast!

hey kats! I like your version of the Datsun to Nissan usa name change better. the version I've always heard goes like this... The old company name Datsun was used so not to bring shame upon Nissan if the USA was to reject it. Once it was proven that Datsun had done well here in the states they changed the name to Nissan like the rest of the company. This was always easy to believe here for me because we Americans are aware that Pride runs very deep in Japan and that it is very bad to bring shame on ones family (or in this case buisness). Well, take care. Nate

Howdy Fellas, I'd like to throw in my 2 cents worth. I'm in the states and we are all stuck on ourselves, real proud (read: ignorant) people. Not too long ago I too realised the Z was truly 100% RHD. The whole thing about the manifolds on our drivers side with the steering column and pedal assemblies did it for me. I believe it is indisputable that the car was largely influenced by Mr. K for the U.S. market. More were sold here, money money money. It's all about money. We americans spend a lot of it. The Z was a lot of performance for the money. But we got hosed, we just got the regular Z. I'm a big fan of the 510. Come on, it had IRS and a great engine! Any way thats my 2 cents worth. Nate