EuroDat

Its been a while, but finnally had some time to play with the insulators. This is the first run, but the first results still look promising. I made some photo's during demoulding and after a quick clean. Now to cure them and see how they fit. Chas

Late post, I have some problems with the internet connection. Couldnt get it to upload before rebooting the modem. Grats on removing the drums. What happened to the stub axle? Chas

Thats a dodgy adapter indeed. You would think he would have found someone to weld it better than that considering its the brakes. The problems your having with the drums are common when they have been sitting out in the elements for a long time. Can you turn the drums? If you can't its a good indication the shoes are binding and locking it in place. The drum probably has a lot of rust inside which is not helping. I have had my own experiences with an Escort parts car and an LJ Torana. Try to back off the adjuster, it might be frozen solid too. In that case, try a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF. It really works a lot better than WD40. Buy a kitchen spray bottle and spray the mix on the adjuster and on the hub and studs. I assume you will be replacing or relining the shoes anyway, so it wont matter if you get penitrating oil on them. The tolerances between the drum and hub are small and that allowas them to rust solid easily. The two threaded holes in the photo between the studs, M8 if I can remember correctly, are for the attaching a slide hammer. The drum mostly binds on the hub (drum centering hole), the studs generally have a little more clearance. Some people heat the hub to get it to expand, let it cool and then try again with the slide hammer. Or haet the centre section of the drum, but then you have to pull it when it hot. Don't heat the outer section of the drum, if possible. Brakes can get very hot, but thats evenly distributed around the drum. Your heat wont be so even and you could distort the drum of other pressure points like the shoes could distort it. Chas

Hi Bill, Welcome to the club. You might want to add some more details or add the car details to your signature. Helps with this kind of stuff. Is it water or oil based fluid? Red fluid could be ATF. Auto transmissions have two 8mm lines that go to the bottom of the radiator to cool the auto transmission. They tend to rub thin and leak or the fittings come loose over time. If its radiator fluid. The easiest test is to climb under and see if you can see where its coming from. Another test is to check if its full of fluid, fill it up and run the engine until its warm. This will pressurize the radiator, stop the engine and check for leaks again. A radiator shop can pressure test if for you, but then you will need to drive it, so I would do the first two checks first. It the anti-freeze was watered down to a point where it could freeze and damage the radiator, your probably up for a new core or another radiator. -18°F is dam cold and would require full strength anti-freeze. If its red radiator fluid, you have some anti-freeze capacity, but maybe not enough for -18. Your garage must be mighty cold. The PO might of have stored it in a heated garaged it in the winter and didn't need anti-freeze for your area. It could still have the anti-freeze for California? Chas

Im thinking also along the same line as Zed Head. Clutch disc maybe not exactly in line or the angle was a little bit off. I have nether used an aligning tool. Nissan sells the clutch components individually and I nether bothered to order one. Just eyed it up with the pressure plate tightened enough to hold the disc in place and used a loose fitting dowel rod in the bearing. Its hard to explain, but I rolled it around on the disc splines and checked the distance to the pressure plate fingers. Then tighten the pressure plate down. Like Zed Head I used the scissor jack under the back of the engine and the tranny on a trolley jack. Make usre you get the car high enough of the ground to give yourself enough room to move under the car. Chas

Tamo, Thats a neat job you have done to get the 240Z brackets to fit. I stayed with the original shock mount holes. I can't use the 240Z brackets because the shock mounting is lower and further to the centre. Ordered a 240Z air dam and I already have the turn signals from the 240Z. Next is find a 240Z grill. Which year is the bumper you are using? I know that somewhere in 73 they started making the the 240Z bumper compressable. I have not seen one, so not sure how it changed. Chas

The return line is the small one (2) 1/4" 6.35mm line. Line to the pump is (3) 5/16" 8mm line just to clear that up. Most people have problems with the line to the pump clogging. This one normally has filtered fuel returning to the tank so its generally not the problem. Since its been standing for a long time and boiling it could have made it worse. You mentioned, you used compressed air. Did you try to blow it clear? How much pressure did you use on it? That fuel line can handle 6bar pressure, just make sure the tank is open when you do it. If that is not blowing out whats clogging it, chances are your not going to get it cleaned without cutting the tank open and then is still debatable. IMO If you are going to cut the tank. I would cut around the pipe with a dremmel and remove it. Clean it or fabricate a new one and weld it back in. You will need a plate (like downut shape) to cover the section where it was cut. Im assuming the tank is still clean of all fuel and vapour. Otherwise you risk (almost certain) explosion. Chas

If it didn't whine in 5th, I would probably put up with it, but then I would be the one "whining" about it to the wifeLOL What was causing you so much grief removing the transmission? Removing the engine, I can understand you not wanting to do that again in a hurry. I have done mine with virtually no problems. I removed the top radiator hose, heater hose, air intake hose and throttle linkage just to be sure I wouldnt damaged anything. Can't tilt the engine much anyway with the fan shroud in place. Still had enough room to drop it out by myself and that is with the 280ZX 2+2 clutch. Chas

I want to lower my 280Z by about an inch. The simplist way is to cut the springs, but that will harden the ride a lot. I am planning to lower it an inch by changing the rear insulator to the 240Z type. The 280Z insulators are about an inch higher. See link to atlanticz tips: http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/suspension/strutbumperlowering/index.htm The front will be a different story. For the front I was thinking of lowering the spring support on the tower. That would require grinding the support off and rewelding it at a lower position on the tower. This way the springs and the spring rate will be the same and thats what I like and want to keep. It might be an option for you. PS: why the big brake upgrade and what is it, if I may ask? Chas

Im not sure if the bracket mounting positions are the same, because datsun modified the frame rails to fit the shock absorbers. I made my brackets out of aluminium plate 40x2mm. It was easy to bend, drill and shape. The idea is to make them out of Stainless later and use these as a template when I change over to the SS bumper. They are drilled to match two of the shock mounting nuts in the frame. I also reused the trim behind the original bumper. In the link to the other thread (see post#5) you can see the brackets I made in post#6. Tamo3 did a more radical approach and modified/removed the shock mounts to get better alignment for the bumper. I can post more photos later if you want, but Im now on my ipad. Chas

This is the company I was refering to Datsun 240Z and 260Z Bumpers | Harrington Group Chas

Hi Christopher, Welcome to the club. Yes you are right, not many post their successes on fuel injector issues. Its mostly all the electronics around them that get most of the attention. "Remanufactured" injectors is not really a good name for them. They are more like "major service" since you can not dismantle them to do any thing with the coil, internal seal, needle and seat. Most shops use an ultrosonic cleaner to clean them, then change the tips and inlet filter screen. That is why a lot of people don't like using them. Chas

Hi alberto, I changed my 280Z bumper for the 240Z. To do the swap I used a bumper from MSA and plan to upgrade to a Harrington SS bumper. You can't use any of the valence from the 240Z because the subframe drops down about 50mm lower for the 280Z radiator. I ordered a 240Z airdam and now waiting for it to come in. It has a smaller gap between the top section of the airdam and the bumper. . Tamo3 is also going through the same process, but he is probably a lot further than I am, mostly because I couldnt decide on what to do about the valences and which airdam. Here is an "ongoing" thread on the swap http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/body-paint-s30/48611-fitting-240z-bumpers-valences-280z.html Chas

I used bearings from a local supplier, synchros, needle rollers, gaskets/seals and the shaft nuts from my local Nissan dealer. Most of those parts are the same as the 71C part numbers and still available at Nissan. I don't like using the kits because the supplier couldnt tell me the manufacturer of the bearings and the kit is only the ball bearings and gaskets. The transmission had a growling whine in all the gears except 4th. This I thought was typical bearing noise caused by sideways force when the gears are under load. I suspected a shot bearing in the cluster shaft. After the rebuild everything worked very nicely, but the whine is still there and 5th is marginally the worst. The bearing "kit" and Red-line trans oil helped it a lot, but its dissapointing that the whine hasn't gone. I noticed the gear teeth were dull and not very shiny like the ones in the 300Zx 71C transmission I have. I think the 71B was run with a low oil level or the wrong oil? I would like to do the 71C swap, but other things are keeping me occupied atm. Zedyone, Sorry for hi-jacking your thread, but it might help you with your tranny swap. I want to start a new thread on my 71C project. Hopefully start it in Feburary. Chas

I have an early type out of a 300ZX with 68k km on it. Planning on swapping the 71b in my car. Unfortunatly the 71b came from a 280ZX with unknown milage. Even with a new set of bearings and synchro rings its noisy. Chas

Hi Blue, Which 71C came in the 200SX turbo? I know the early 71C (with the 16mm wide gears) came in the 300ZX N/A Z31 and the 240SX S13. The later version, with the 20mm wide gears set and synchro reverse gear, came in the 240SX S14. Here is a link that shows the differences well. DSC04293JPGThumbnail1jpg id 266482 | Motortopia Chas

I dont think its meant to be road driven and therfore ditched the canister. Probably moved most of the wiringunder the dash somewhere. Looks really clean though. Looking at the cowl, the grill is also gone so there must be some other method of getting air into the cabin or maybe not? Can't quiet see what is going on with the brake master cylinder. Just one small tank. Are there any over photo's or a link? Love to see a build thread on it.

Hi Steve, Grats with the website. Its nice an easy to navigate. Good job. I cant browse the photo gallery because it doesnt like my Ipad browser. I get "Sorry, your browser is not supported" but that is probably your web provider not supporting Safari? Chas

Peter says it all in post #5. A lot of poeple forget that the braking system they are "trying" to upgrade had a complete R&D department testing and improving the system until its final release. It remained virtually unchanged (except the rear wheel cylinders in the 280Z) which says a lot about the quality of the design. Most of us are upgrading and doing their best to tune it in a parking lot or on the open road and no access to a test unit where hours of testing can be done. The standard Z system in good working order, fitted with Porterfield or KVR pads and shoes will be more than adeqate for any street driving and autox. Just my 2 cents Chas Edit: My brakes reacted unevenly and I found that machining the rear drum to exactly the same ID help a lot. Braking is now very smooth and even. They had almost 1 mm difference in diameter. I think one may have been replaced by the PO. I made them both 229.5mm which is still within the maximum allowable diameter.

Grats, Looks nice and clean. The rust in the photo's doesn't look bad at all. What took you "serveral weeks" took me two years, but I finally found one near to rust free. The colour looks like 305 Light metalic blue, but the engine bay is the original colour. The original colour could be a dirty 904 white. There was a yellow (411) in the 77 year model, but it was a bright yellow. I wonder if they changed the sticker? Mine car has a Blue 305 engine bay and red outside. Chas

They were popular in Australia in the early seventies and they used to race them a bit like they did with the Suzuki Swift series. Hard to find the coupe these days. Here is a link to the Datsun 1200 website. Tech Wiki - Body Styles : Datsun 1200 Club Chas

Yep, I remeber them. Great little car. There are a couple of guys that race them here. I snapped a couple of photos of one last year at a track meet. chas

If you are just Auto crossing, IMHO I would have the calipers rebuilt and plated, fit s.steel hoses all round, new wheel cylinders in the rear and maybe the master cylinder. Clean the brake switch and brake proportioning valve. Replace the standard front rotors with cross drilled sloted rotors. The rest has more "bling" factor than braking improvement.

Well Dan, your on the home stretch now. All that hard work is paying off atlast. Looking good for the summer. Chas

Thats ones of the things that I like so much about the S30 Zeds. I have a 280Z with a 240Z front bumper, the rear is bumperless and a 280ZX close ratio 5sp tranny. Its not original, but its my car and it doesnt bother me much what others think. Its my hobby and keeps me out of trouble. Chas