73str86

Congrats on the purchase! What are your plans? Let's see an engine bay and interior photo.

Those needles look crazy to me! I imagine if I attempted to grind some needles this is what they would look like. I agree with Stanley, I just always assumed custom-ground needles would be round. But if it comes from Rebello, it must work. I'm running SM needles with an L29. With SUs and the cam, the idle is happiest at 1000 rpms. There could definitely be some fine tuning done, but these are 40+ year old round tops and I'm happy with the performance. When I called Z Therapy, Steve recommended trying the SM needles (before seeing if a custom set was necessary), but I also have stock SUs, not bored to 48mm. Congrats on 285hp!

Thanks for the info. I hope to stock up. Amazon's price is $5.58/quart. I noticed the NAPAs in Colorado are much larger than the ones in Georgia.

I'm replacing everything in the rear except brake hardware and the rear bearings. I probably would if I had more time or money. And the sooner I'm driving the Z, the better. I've gotten decently lucky pulling spindle pins, strut cartridges, and bushings. I never had an issue with brake shoes or rear bearings so I'll leave them as they are.

How about these from Japan for $159? A little steep for my budget but they look very nice. Not OEM--but also not $995. http://jdm-car-parts.com/collections/datsun-240z-260z-280z-280zx-nissan-fairlady-z/products/jdm-fairlday-z-datsun-240z-original-style-fog-lamp-set

Chickenman, thanks for sharing. Zed Head, I wanted to share my limited experience. Rebuilt 2.9L F54/E88, Schneider 270-80F cam kit, includes new (ccw) camshaft, springs, rockers, etc., 10.0:1 compression ratio. My engine builder recommended Valvoline VR-1 10w-30, so that's what I went with. It is not the "Not Street Legal" racing oil. Schneider offers a warranty, but you must use their break-in additive. I called the company and the guy said to change the oil after the first 500 miles. At 500 miles, I did the first oil change. At that time I used the VR-1 10w-30 again, with no additives. I'm now at 1308 miles, overdue for an oil change. The Z is on jack stands for a rear suspension rebuild. I'll stick with the VR-1 until something goes wrong. At around 1000 miles, I checked valve lash and everything was spot on with no adjustment needed. The lobes looked perfect. I look forward to adding a lot of miles this summer. At least one trip to the local drag strip and hopefully some road course fun..

Part of me felt bad, but the pin just would not come out. Then it was a little enjoyable!

Some positive progress. After having to cut the last one in half, I was worried about taking apart the rebuilt 4.11 K R180. Between parts and labor, I have right around $600 into this differential. I couldn't break a single bolt above the ring gear free by ratchet and hammer so I had to use the 1/2" air impact gun. This one came apart in about 10 minutes total, including the roll pin. All parts were cleaned, with the threaded buttons from my original R180 pressed into the side gears. It would be great if the thrust washers PN 38426-U3000 were an available item. I'm calling Courtesy tomorrow. I test fit the differential and all parts assembled easily. I will take it apart once more to replace the thrust washers and lube it with gear oil. I may also have all rear suspension parts painted by this weekend. I have access to an entire paint booth for $10/ hour.

I've had 3-in-1 oil in my 2.9L SUs for about 500 miles, in Georgia 95+ degree F summers, to extreme Colorado winter. I have also deleted the coolant tube through the intake and around the block. Takes longer to warm up; I drilled an extra 1/8" hole in the thermostat. At 15 degrees F, the car was sluggish (to be expected) but that coolant tube would acts as a heater. Overall I've been happy with the 3-in-1, but I'm upgrading a lot of items and sorting out some gremlins this spring. I may switch to Marvel Mystery Oil this summer just to see if I notice a difference. I'm not sure which would be best for high elevation (~7,000 ft).

For my reference, link to ratsun.net video http://community.ratsun.net/topic/42794-how-to-convert-an-open-25-spline-clip-in-r180-to-bolt-in-for-a-510/

I made some more progress on my rear suspension. With the help of this sandblaster, all of my suspension components, except springs and strut towers, have been sandblasted. I can use it for $15/hour with unlimited sand and a massive air compressor that never stops. Total time spent was about 2.5 hours. I was also able to remove the transmission crossmember bushings. Now all that's left for bushing removal is control arm bushings. I successfully removed the original 4-speed. Only injury was a busted lip. I also took the '77 five speed out of its tuff bin and test fitted the shifter. I used to have a close-ratio '83 ZX transmission in the garage, but traded it and decided to keep this one because it looked much cleaner. Just waiting on new sensors from Black Dragon. I quickly discovered after I unwrapped my rebuilt 4.11 R180 that it was a K R180. My original stub axles are bolt it. The K R180 uses clip-in stub axles. After finding some photos from hybridz.org and a helpful video on ratsun.net, I'm took apart the old howling diff for the threaded buttons in the center of the diff to swap into the K R180. The drift pin would not cooperate. I broke a brand new heavy duty punch. My only guess is the diff whine may have created extra heat and seized the drift pin. Note to anyone attempting this, do not use drill bits to try and hammer the pin out as stated in the ratsun.net video. It does not turn out well. Finally, since I only needed parts from the center of the diff, I proceeded to cut the outer casing in half. Hopefully the K R180 will come apart easier since it was recently rebuilt and never run. I still need to clean/paint the strut towers, and paint all rear suspension parts with Rustoleum satin black. I'm also debating on cleaning the underside of the Z and spraying some new undercoating before everything goes back together.