daddz

Joe, I don't think your Z has enough 'cowbell' yet :-) Who owns that hot '86 300ZX in the background? (I am running for cover)

Brian, I have done two things since the addition of the new tires: 1) drove past a portable speed detector to check the speedometer error and it reads about 5mph too fast up to about 60mph--the posted speed limit is 45mph in that particular zone but, it was after midnight and no one was around. 2) it has been north of 85-90mph and it is smooth and free of vibrations and the steering tracks nice and straight.

Hopefully we have rounded the corner on early Z car collectability. It seems as though there is more interest in saving some of the survivor cars. I think most realize that the early Z will never appraise for Aston Martin money which makes saving the early Z all the more a noble cause because we don't do it with profit in mind. In the case of my '72 Celica while it may be appreciated the prices have remained in the basement for good early stock configured examples. I also wish the 350Z was more petite and basic like the TVR.

I noticed that Fairlady a couple of days ago and hopefully it does find a new home. When reading the ad description I couldn't help but wonder how many more Fairlady's are here in the U.S. with similar backgrounds?

Mark, I have almost given up on those 'experts' at Barrett Jackson, especially Keith whats-his-name that publishes some type of magazine 'Sports Car Marketplace'? On one of those telecasts they received a number of emails concerning the collectability of Japanese cars and the response from Brock Yates (or Keith Maney) was that 'they built too many of those cars to ever be collectible'? Give me a break! They made how many gazillion Mustangs and you would think there are only ten left in the world the way they comment laboriously on each and every one that crosses the line. Compare that with the late model '88 300ZX Turbo SE "Shiro" of which only 1000 were produced and countless others like the Mazda RX-7 GTUs of which only 100 were made! Granted when our Japansese cars were new they were used and through attrition there aren't many left in good condition and when you couple that with the historical significance our early Japanese cars possess you run into collectible status. With events like the Japanese Classic Car Show in Long Beach and others like it we may be able to replace the Brock Yates' of the world with knowledgeable car people. Sorry for going way off topic here but I couldn't help it. BTW, the TVR roadtest was awesome to watch and the exhaust note of that inline 6 was incredible. Does anyone know where that engine is sourced from? If only the TVR's weren't so expensive.

Thanks to the recent wheel and tire upgrade by 240ztt I was also in the search for more cowbell for my '77 280Z. I had purchased a set of Enkei type 92 16x7 wheels for the '77 280Z. The wheels were in 'as new' condition and had never been installed on a car from the previous owner. He had purchased the wheels for his 240Z and never got around to having them installed and sold them. I figured they would go well with the new set of Bilstein struts that I had sourced about six months ago. I ordered the tires and had them installed on the wheels only to find that the bolt pattern was incorrect! I then set about to research the wheelspacer subject and after stumbling across a great thread over at grassroots motorsports I decided to have a set built. In my case I used a fellow who advertises via ebay and will produce a custom set for $140 out of T6061 aluminum. In about a weeks time I had the new wheel spacers which bolt onto the existing hub and with the Nissan 12x1.25 thread the new studs protrude from the spacer to accept the wheel. The minimum thickness has to be one inch and with the wheels measuring 7 inches wide from the inner bead and eight inches from the outer bead I figured it would be close for clearance purposes. The front valence panels where they meet the wheel house had to have the lips 'rolled' so that when reversing and turning at the same time there would be no rubbing of the tires. Beyond that the car runs and drives just fine and in the near future the motorsport non ducted front air dam will be installed and paint matched. Enclosed are a few before and after pics:

If you do end up replacing a relay or fusible link just be aware of the following as it relates to availability of parts. I was able to obtain 280ZX fusible links from the local Nissan dealer and the prices weren't terrible. Just recently I needed to replace the fuel pump relay for my '78 280Z and Nissan wasn't able to supply one. I called motorsport and after a couple of days they got back to me with a price of roughly $70 from Japan. In the meantime a friend suggested giving NAPA a try (I wasn't expecting much) but, to my surprise the counter person checked in the catalog and we matched my original six prong relay and $36.00 changed hands and a couple of days later the new piece was ready for pickup. The real surprise was when I opened the box to find it was a new piece made by Niles of Japan (the OE supplier to Nissan) with the only difference being the flat black paint on the case as opposed to the cadmium coating supplied from the factory. As a brief aside Olympic auto parts was also able to get a relay but, it was a four prong unit for the same price.