daddz

How difficult is it for one to emigrate to Japan? Finding a Japanese wife would be the way to go?

I have subscriptions to the following car magazines: 1) Sport Z and previously Z Car magazine 2) Grassroots Motorsports and their new spinoff Used to subscribe to but, now buy occasionally: Sports Car International Classic and Sportscar Practical Classics Straightpipe (when I belonged to the Communist run SCCA--too much of the poilitics for my taste) 2ManyZs help me out here: Do you have the issue of The Straightpipe where a list of cars was published with a one sentence comment about the likely driver of those vehicles? It went something like this: Datsun 280Z---"I only had one kilo in the wheelwells officer"

Just thought you folks would be interested in the following website as it deals directly with the problem at hand: http://www.gaspricewatch.com/ It does come in handy when the lowest price for a given grade of fuel is the ultimate target.

Alan T, GTA= Grand Theft AvatarROFL I will try to find your car's twin first:classic: ....there's always that 401K though:classic: In all seriousness I really need to acquire a garage first and then figure out what part of the globe to move the collection to:cheeky:

Alan T, Sorry about that avatar:classic: I was searching for HS30H pictures the other day and at the same time I was trying to pick out an avatar. My pictures weren't formatted properly at that time howoever, that issue has been dealt with. p.s. If you ever want to sell the HS30H??

George, Thanks for the article; I happen to own a 2003 350Z base model finished in brickyard red (maroon) and took delivery in January of 2003. The car has now covered 5600 miles since January 3,2003 with about 3600 of those miles attained on long distance trips from Washington,D.C. to Atlanta, Ga. and Tampa, Fl. respectively. The trip to Tampa saw average speeds of 70 to 80 with a couple of bursts to 100+. At 80 mph the car is very sure footed and doesn't require constant steering inputs to maintain a straight line in contrast to my '88 Toyota Supra Turbo. The car also will average 26-27 mpg on the highway and 22-24 in the urban cycle. She will gladly suck down 18 gallons of petrol from empty at a cost of about $32. I also own several S30 cars ('76 and 3 '78's) and this car is very comfortable on the long haul (drove straight through to Tampa and staying up all night to get it done and if the old eyes weren't so tired I could have stayed up the following day) just like the old Z's and this one's natural cruising range is about 80mph just like my old 280Z's with the 5 speed. The joy extends into the engine bay as well. Oil changes are a simple procedure and for all of you old Z car lovers this car's engine has a timing chain (no more of that timing belt b.s.) and a superbly located oil filter and oil drain plug. Another nice feature is the battery is isolated away from the rest of the engine bay as well as the brake/clutch fluid resevoirs (the two plastic covers at the stern of the engine bay hide those items). An interesting point with regard to the base models: the engine bay is painted a semi-gloss black as well as the underside of the hood (the upmarket models feature paint matched engine bays). As any racer will tell you the black engine bay is a plus for heat dissipation. I would urge anyone to drive this car and find out for yourselves. The car is a blast to drive and can hold its own with most of today's machinery. Z cars don't make much sense as life-sized Matchbox cars being stowed away in some musty garage; I drive mine sensibly (avoid snow or ice covered streets as these cars don't do well at all w/ factory issued tires--Bridgestone's in my case) and try not to let it sit for too long.

Brian, Two weekends ago I made a mad dash to Tampa,Fl. and back from Washington, D.C. in the 350Z (12 hrs 45 min going to Fl.) and the car averaged 26-27 mpg with speeds of 75-80 and the occasional burst to over 100mph The '86 300ZX likes to use about 22-26 mpg in a mostly urban cycle; the '82 280ZX averages about 23-25 mpg thanks to it having a 22 year old set of factory plug wires on it (that was the first thing to get replaced along with the rubber fuel lines leading to and from the fuel filter). The old warhorse '78 280Z now averages a lowish 20-22 mpg with a new set of Nissan injectors along w/ new NGK plugs, NGK plug wires, Nissan cap and rotor, Nissan fuel filter and fuel hoses. All coolant hoses were replaced as well. The only reason I can surmise is that @ 145k miles and a set of 15 X 7 ARE two piece mesh wheels and P225/50VR15 tires the car has alot of rolling resistance (it does need a front end alignment since swapping in the Tokico Illumina struts and Tokico springs from my old '78 Z) BTW: My father's '77 280Z (I used to own it) averaged 27 mpg from D.C. to Daytona Beach for the Rolex 24 of 2001 after installing an '81 280ZX 5 speed (.76:1 overdrive) on the stock 14" steel wheels and 195/70R14 crap tires.

At least it has a nice pair of hubcapsLOL

One of my clients alerted me to a Z car that he had seen while giving a co-worker a lift to work a couple of months ago. He told me of this car on Friday and we agreed to go look at it yesterday (Saturday April 12,2003). I was both shocked and puzzled as to why someone would leave an old Z out in the elements and not drive the car. The owner is a 73 years "young" man who bought the car about 15 or 16 years ago (I have not seen the title to verify this). The owner told me that he is the third owner of this car and that the second owner sold it to him in Northern Virginia after his son got into an accident with the Z which dented the front bumper and hood. The hood was replaced by the current owner and the bumper looks to be in pretty good shape to me so I don't think it was a serious accident. The radiator core support is fine and doesn't have any rust on it. The owner stated that he has a whole lot of extra parts that go with the car (i.e. new rocker panels, lower front fender repair panels,rocker panel repair panels, alot of manuals and a restoration book and miscellaneous catalogs). The owner is also in the business of breeding and selling horses and had a few on the premises and thus the Z doesn't get tended to or driven. He also stated that before the Z he used to own an Austin Healey 3000, Austin Healey Frogeye Sprite and various other Bristish sportscars so at least we know he is/was a sportscar guy. The first thing I noticed was the car has been painted black (a fairly cheap paint job but thorough as in the door jambs and engine bay were paint matched) over its original color. The original color was a butterscotch (the license plate area was not painted--must have had the plate while at the body shop). The car also has had a sunroof installed :-( but it was a quality installation and the interior shows no sign of having had any water leaking into it. The dashboard is not cracked and I could not find any evidence of a cover being overlayed. The seats were re-upholstered at some point (the grain replicates that of a '75 or '76 280Z). The interior is cmplete and it still has the original steering wheel and shift knob. The production date is 06/71 and the VIN# is HLS30-32996 and has been in the Washington,D.C. area its entire life. The engine has an E88 head and appears to be in original working condition. The original Hitachi S.U. type carbs are all present with the correct linkages. The original air cleaner is not installed and instead two K&N filters have been installed.The owner states that he will start it for me next Saturday when I go back to look at the car. He also wanted to blead the clutch hydraulics as well.The frame and floors and engine bay strut towers show no signs of rust through (I am sure there is some lurking somewhere). The hatch panel is not rusted through either (the horizontal panel that catches all of the water). The hatch glass has the vertical defroster grid but no vents. It also has a set of "Shadow" louvers on the hatch. I believe the engine serial number is L24-8540 (my eyesight is not the greatest). The odometer reads 89,567 but is probably 189,567 however the owner told me that it wasn't driven terribly much. The most interesting feature are the wheels--they look to be the old Empi style wheels and still have the original center caps! If you are not sure of what these wheels look like imagine the old Mini-Lite wheels with thinner spokes or look in the Road & Track Guide to Datsun Z's '70-'83 and in the first couple of pages there is a photo of a 240Z by the waterfront with the exact same style of wheels on it. The tires are whitewall tires (must have reminded him of the old British sportscars) and appear to be just starting to suffer from dry rot. What to do with this car? I say make it a daily driver due to the sunroof. I don't think it would take much to get this car running in good order at this point. There is a junkyard in Brandywine, Md. (about 25 miles from where the car sits) that has a '71 240Z with a nice undamaged roof that could be had for not much money if you wanted to put the solid roof back on (lots of money to have a bodyshop do this). The wheels could be sold off to help offset the cost of buying this car. I think I will pass on this car as I own 7 Z's already and no more storage space :disappoin . If nobody picks up on it I probably will end up buying it because I can't stand to see an old 240Z just sitting and not being used :classic: :classic: p.s. I didn't bring a digital camera because I honestly didn't expect the car to be as nice as it was. You would have to see the the ZX that my client drives to understand.