MikeW

Wow, I haven't been on this site in years but I just got an email notification about this post. Having a registry seemed like such a good idea at the time but the fact is that it was just a public spreadsheet that anyone could edit, and worse, break either unintentionally or not. It would have been much better to have a form that people could fill out and submit their own data to a list that others could only read and not modify. I'd hoped that this site could offer a feature like that but however it's done it would require someone with web development experience which I don't have. Perhaps there are better tools out there these days that would make something like this easier.

His last post here was March of 2009 and his last visit was the following month. I don't recall mention here of selling the car so it was possibly on a different forum.

I'm glad he's OK and that the car will survive. My twist on the old adage has to do with politicians: believe everything they say about their opponents and nothing they say about themselves.

I don't see the difference. The sender is a simple device that varies resistance with oil pressure. If the sender indicates no oil pressure it's likely a bad sender but could also mean there's truly no oil pressure. Assuming the sender is working and is accurate (which they're not) you would be able to calculate the oil pressure just using a multimeter on the sender if you know the proper formula. After all, that's what the oil pressure gauge is doing with the same input.

I read the post as saying, sure, you can charge a battery at low amperage (not specifically "good" or "proper") it's just going to take a long time. If the clock draws 10 mA and will drain the battery in 3 months then it stands to reason that it would take at least 3 months to recharge the battery at 10 mA. While OptimaJim did not specifically answer the safety question I believe that the earlier speculation of doing damage by tricking the charger would in no way harm the battery and burn down your garage. It might damage the charger and burn down your garage but in that case we'd need a representative from the charger company to post. In the Optima tech videos they say they don't specifically endorse any particular brand of charger which is clearly the safe approach for any business. I also think the advise posted about sulfation due to low voltage could well be the problem that started this thread. I actually don't see OptimaJim's post as that of a salesman. It actually seems like an impressive case of customer service to me: joining a forum just to specifically answer questions that an existing customer posted. Admittedly good customer service does and should drive more sales and in this case I don't see that as a bad thing. If he joined the forum just to advertise some event I'd be the first person to be yelling about a spammer.

I've seen it claimed otherwise but I distinctly remember pulling my oil pan to replace the gasket with the engine in the car. I believe the clearance was tight (perhaps the anti-sway bar was in the way).

£10,000 above the high end of the estimate not including the extra fees. It's nice to see that only the Bentley and Aston Martin sold for a higher price. I suppose it's safe to assume that the buyer is someone simply adding a toy to an existing collection.

I have a 6 Amp charger if needed. However, I'm convinced I killed my previous battery by letting it go dead multiple times. I'd want to drive the car for the first time in months, find the battery dead, use the charger long enough to be able to crank it up, go for a long drive to charge the battery, and then repeat the whole process a few months later. It got to the point where the battery just wouldn't charge (although it was several years old at that point). Since I needed a new battery I went with the Optima after seeing good reviews of it on this site and got the tender to keep it charged. We're only talking about dealing with the small drain of the clock or any other small natural leaks. A milliamp tender is more than sufficient for that. It's not like I leave the headlights on by mistake and then want to use the tender to recharge it completely.

Mine is warm to the touch (115 degrees F) even when in 'float mode' (solid green light) so presumably it's normal to be warm. If yours is still trying to charge I wouldn't not be surprised if it's even warmer.

No Yes. Unlike a normal "trickle charger" which charges a battery at 2 or 6 amps for a few hours a battery "tender" charges at milliamp levels and is designed to be left on the car for an extended time. It has circuitry to only charge as needed. This is the model being discussed: http://batterytender.com/

I don't recall the tender ever being warm at all but I'll verify when I get home. I disconnected the positive charger clamp from the battery to measure just the battery voltage instead of unplugging the charger itself so I didn't actually touch the charger.

I have a stock alternator, a < 6 month old Optima red top, and a battery tender Jr. I haven't even cranked the car in at least a month. The tender had been on it that whole time and had a solid green light. The battery read 13.05 volts with the tender in place and continued to read 13.05 when I took the tender off. When I put the tender back on it started flashing green and the voltage jumped up to 14.5. Presumably it thinks it needs to charge a bit but hopefully with change its mind soon. How old is your Optima? The actually have some good tech tip videos (specifically #3) that may help you recover yours.

It seems to me that there are many flash-based image viewers out there. A Google search for "flash image viewer" (without the quotes) turns up this: http://www.simpleviewer.net/products/ Adding 'zoom' to the search criteria shows this: http://www.zoomify.com/ Those are just some of the top hits that look useful.

Thank you for the clarification. I was originally dreaming/speculating that it was possible that some domestic models were built RHD but with a speedometer in mph for some sub-market (Okinawa, etc.). It's interesting to see from your brochure shot that there's a speedometer "redline" at about 170km/h (106 mph) and the max of 180km/h is only about 112 mph. While the US 180mph speedometer is wildly optimistic the domestic speedometer seems a bit short. The 2nd power chart you posted for the 5-speed makes it look like 180km/h was indeed possible.

No one responded to Arnie's question in post #12 about the speedometer not being in kilometers. Is it likely that the speedometer was replaced with an mph version after it moved 'out of market'?

The "home made" mesh job grill is actually the domestic market version and appears to be in good shape.

Here are the same captured as a screenshot and then saved as .PNG files. This eliminates the losses introduced by printing and scanning back in.

For those interested, Google appears to do a fairly good Japanese to English translation which you can perform yourself via this link. I'd be interested to hear how accurate the Google translation is; I know their technology keeps getting better. On one page the newspaper date is shown as Oct. 20, 1969 and on another Nov. 20, 1969 so I'm not sure which is correct. That's not a translation problem but rather the dates used on the source site. Either date qualifies as an early ad.

To be clear the flash-based viewer is showing a fairly poor quality scan/picture of the original newspaper ad. At 100% zoom the scan doesn't even fill my screen so zooming in won't buy you anything. Since it's not a normal embedded image you can't download or save it separately but you can always get a screenshot of it (windows users can simply press PrtScn and paste the image into MS Paint or some other image editing program). At that point you've got a capture that's the same quality is what is available in the viewer and you can then edit and save that however you like. Of course I can't read Japanese and I don't know Japanese copyright law for material like this so I'd hope the images wouldn't be misused by anyone following my directions.

My understanding is that in the old days there was one brand of gasoline that truly had a color difference: Amoco (now BP) premium. That gas was often called 'white Amoco' because it was clear while other brands had a color to them caused by the lead additive. This Amoco high octane gas was always unleaded even when lead was still allowed. After the switch was made away from leaded all gasoline effectively became the same across brands with only the fancy additives making a difference (techron, V-power, etc.) Here in the east all gasoline comes through one of two pipelines from the gulf coast. While different fuels can be pushed sequentially through the same pipe (gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, etc.) they end up at tank yards where the additives are added before truck shipment to individual stations.

Perhaps the text on the BRE site changed in the last few hours but I see the following for the rear spoiler. This BRE Datsun 240Z Rear Spoiler (highlighted in yellow above) is similar to the one Datsun offered for the Zs at the time but is not identical. The rear spoiler BRE ran on their 1970-71 Championship 240Z racers was slightly higher so as to be more effective at the higher speeds the BRE Zs would run and be balanced with the affects of the front BRE air dam. It'll fit 1970-1973 240Zs. The text that Alan quoted for the rear spoiler is closer to what is currently stated for the front air dam. This BRE Datsun 240Z Air Dam (highlighted in yellow above) was designed by Peter Brock, as a derivative of his famous "spook" concept he created for the BRE Datsun roadsters in 1969. This particular BRE Air Dam design ran on our 1971 Championship 240Z racer. It'll fit 1970-1973 240Zs. Hopefully this was a simple copy and paste error that was unintentional.

Yes, and many people have done this. I know that later 280 and 280ZX starters are so-called gear reduction starters which are a better design.

20 weight oil goes in the top of the carbs. Some people use ATF. It's a dampener, not a lubricant. It will only affect throttle response, not whether the engine will fire. I think you may have bad gas. If it sat over the winter it's likely too old to be good, even with a gallon of fresh gas added to the tank. Since your other posts indicate a possible ignition problem the first thing to do is simply try to start the engine after spraying starter fluid into the air cleaner. If you have a spark it should fire right up. If it doesn't then you've got an ignition problem to get sorted out first. If it fires and dies down after a few seconds then you have a fuel problem after all (either no fuel or bad fuel). No fuel could be a blockage somewhere before or after the pump, a non-operational pump, or a hole in the line between the tank and the pump that would cause the pump to only suck air. The glass jar test mentioned above will be the easiest way to make sure that gas is making to all the way to the carbs. If it is then you might take the float lids off and see if the bowl is empty. If so then it's likely stuck needle valves or clogged banjo filters.

To be clear many of the goo removal products have Xylene in them. You can buy a full quart of pure Xylene at home depot for less than a small bottle of the commercial citrus scented equivalent. Another cheap solvent is acetone. It's the active ingredient in nail polish remover but once again a quart of the pure stuff minus the perfume is a lot cheaper. I agree that the dash looks original and not a cap. While I've never examined a cap closely I'd expect one to be made of relatively hard ABS whereas the original dash is really vinyl covered foam. I'd expect an original dash to have more "give" to it but don't blame me of you press on it with a finger and cause the first crack.

The most common cause of fuel smell in the engine compartment is a needle valve that is stuck open even when the float attempts to shut off the supply to the bowl. This is why there are overflow hoses from each carb to the air cleaner. If you smell fuel it's got to be leaking out somewhere. It's possible that the amount is small enough to smell but not readily see since it will quickly evaporate. Often needle valves will get stuck shut as well but that causes fuel starvation and a car that tries to run on only three cylinders. Yes, there is a return line to the tank but it's far more likely that the vent hose has deteriorated and that filling up the tank caused the leak. Did you fill it all the way up?