Carl Beck

Hi Bart: The L24 isn't out of a Datsun 240-Z, their serial numbers don't go that high. Most likely out of a later model 810 or Maxima sedan. There aren't any codes on the transmissions - about the best you can do is to identify the type and model year range by a visual inspection of the exterior. There are drawings of each type on the Z Car Home Page. http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/69-83TrannyShifterDrawing.jpg If you want to know more details you have to count the teeth on the gears in the transmission. FWIW, Carl B.

That was shot at the 1995 ZCCA Annual Convention in Atlanta. I've always felt it was a real shame that they used mostly local cars, from the local club - - when they could have used some of the super nice, Pure Stock examples that were brought in for the Show. Other than some minor misstatements, it's a pretty good effort by the History Channel. Just a shame they didn't have someone involved at the time that really would have cared about presenting proper cars for History. FWIW, Carl B.

On the dyno - removing the top of the air cleaner, and the filter netted 4HP in the peak power band. Haven't found any individual filter units that allowed enough room for air horns on the S.U.'s FWIW, Carl B.

Absolutely NOT. That type of hack job can put a body man in Jail in Florida. Most State's have consumer protection laws that govern how Uni-Body structures have to be repaired. Sadly they aren't enforced very often - but when they are - the Politicians like to make an example of the offender. You can weld a patch in the hole - or replace the roof skin. Either method will have retain the strength of the original roof panel. When cut through the multiple overlaping layers of sheetmetal in A and C pillars - it's impossible to reweld all the layers cut.. only the external layer can be welded .. .and that is a huge NO NO when it comes to repairing a uni-body car. You did the right thing - from a structural perspective - by patching the hole. FWIW, Carl B.

This is absolutly the ONLY way you ever want to replace the roof panel on a 240-Z. Take it to that man, he knows what he's doing. FWIW, Carl B.

I'll be there with the BRE Baja Z.. We need to bug Jimbo to bring a Vintage Z or two.. It's a huge concours... FWIW, Carl B.

Bo - what specific numbers are you putting into that calculator? thanks, Carl B.

Hi Mark: Most of the guys seemed to agree that the L28 head gasket was 88mm - you have 86. I also get 1.27mm for the compressed height of the gasket .05 inch or 1.27mm. You are using 1mm Also you have a piston deck clearance .3mm - ie. below the deck - - all my notes say it should be .-0.741 above the deck. I was using -0.3 by mistake as that is for a 0.5mm overbore. FWIW, Carl B.

Well it would appear that you have a 1973 Datsun 240-Z, with an L24 engine. What is the engine serial number? The numbers that follow "L24"? I don't believe that you can get any previous owner history from records here in the States. Nissan certainly won't have any files from that period either. FWIW, Carl B.

MEZZ - where do you find the "Left For Others" feedback section? Carl B.

No - no black 240-Z's. The Black 280Z produced for the 78 Model Year here in the US was really a limited edition - "test market" - to see if a black Z would sell. It did and the following year the 280ZX was introduced with Black as a standard color. The original paints were amino-alkyd enamel... for 69/70 the acrylic (Acryl) enamels were used only on the Silver Metallic 69/70. FWIW, Carl B.

Wayne - Amen! I am copying that reply and I'm going to send it to people from now on... I'll only add that IMHO the PT is the spiritual successor to the 240-Z. WHAT??? Yes it is - if you look at the spec.'s the two are very close: - Wheel Base - Weight to HP ratio - 1/4 mile times - stopping distance 60-0 Both had lots of FUN in mind when designed Both had lots of UTILITY for the owner Both had lots of personality Both sat record sales Both offered bargain pricing for the total package of Fun and Utility in their time Both had "enthusiasts" Clubs formed around them, and lots of aftermarket stuff created for them Both broke the mold for their time While the Datsun 240-Z comes as close to being the "Perfect Car" as I have even seen - no one car will cover every drivers "desires" and their "needs". I'll offer an alternative path - - Keep the PT for daily use, reliability, comfort - - and find a great Datsun 510 to drive for FUN. The 510 will cost far less today than a 240-Z, but it will give you a basis for learning the mechanical side of older cars, while giving you a car that can be make to handle as well or better than the 240-Z. Yes the 510 is a boxy little sedan, but has great heart, is really fun to drive and the people that own/drive them fall in love with them just as hard as the 240-Z owners do.. If money is a factor - start with the Datsun 510... FWIW, Carl B.

If you turn your stock battery around - to put the positive post closest to the engine - then the battery hold down frame's indents (cutouts) are in the wrong position - and that can leave your battery posts too close to the hold down frame. See white arrow in Stephen's picture below... That notch is there to provide room for the cable ends, so they don't contact the frame.. Better to get the Group 24F and keep the battery posts in their original position. Even so - most batteries today have their posts - just slightly off the center line of the top of the case. Whereas the older style batteries had they posts closer to one side or the other... This too can cause interference with the stock battery hold down frame's cut-outs.... Nothing is as easy as it should be... FWIW, Carl B.

Even with the original ducts - fully inclosed - you had to run duct tubing to the struts and aim it at the brakes... for brake cooling. No problem with the ducted spook in the rain... FWIW, Carl B.

It seems to be a funny fact of life - but I've experienced it for over 50 years now. The people that offered $10,500.00 and then failed to negotiate a final selling price in order to "BUY" - fall into one of two groups. ( a serious buyer that really wanted the car would have come up a couple grand if necessary to drive it home that day). The first group is made up of people that make a hobby of buying then reselling cars like this. for a couple grand more than they paid. They make 100 offers, and about two or three times a year they make a buy - then a profitable sell. The money is nice for them, but it's the hobby of looking, buying and selling that really drives them. The second group are the one's that never seem able to adjust their personal/mental "value" guides fast enough to ever catch up with the current market prices as they rise.. In this group, the guy that offers $10,500.00 for a $13K to $15K car, is the same guy that was offering $4,500.00 for a $6,500.00 car five years ago.. As the years pass, they never do "buy"... always fearing that they will pay too much. Then ten to fifteen years later - they are the one's that say "I should have bought that Orange 73 when I had a chance". The best time to sell a car - is when you don't have too. FWIW, Carl B.

If you can, get the Date Of Manufacture from the drivers door jam, and the original engine serial number from the data tag under the hood. Looks like it should be 01/70 and the engine should be in the L24-032xx to L24-039xx range. thanks, Carl B.

When I looked at the 72 the first time it had 0 bids... I think??? So is there a difference between a "starting bid" put in by the seller as a starting point - and/or a first bid put in by a potential buyer? Don't "starting bids" show 0 bidders? Carl B.

This 73 is every bit as nice - even nicer in fact... and the bidding is at a silly $4,500.00 or so... most likely honest bids... everyone is waiting until the last few seconds to put their real bids in... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-1973-Datsun-240z-Very-Original-918-Orange-and-Black_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6187QQihZ001QQitemZ110234022557QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW Where the 72 that the Dealer has - has been bid up to $10,500.00 at this point - wonder who is bidding it up that high this soon???? Will be interesting to see how these two end up.... miles isn't all that different 85K vs 32K... on a 240-Z you can't tell the difference anyway... I think the 73 would be a better value.. FWIW, Carl B.

Original stock will usually bring more interest from buyers that are willing to spend the money up front, so they will usually sell for more to begin with. If a buyer really cares about the car being "stock" but not fanatically pure stock - then things like mag wheels or a change in the steering wheel won't throw them off too much. This car has too many things to attract someone that wants to buy a low mileage "stock" example. It just wouldn't interest them... seats are wrong, dash cap, carpet is wrong, carb's and the engine bay need a lot of attention - a lot more than should be needed on a 32K mile example.. door panels have screws in them that shouldn't be there. It would take an additional $5K and some work to bring this car back to what the typical "Stock" buyer would want his car to look like... So they would just keep looking until they found a car that was close to Stock to begin with - even if it cost $18K it would be ready to drive/enjoy and still less money than the $16K they want, plus the additional $5K it needs.. All the above said with the full realization that there are no absolutes in the 240-Z market today.. I'd also want to go over that car with a fine tooth comb, before paying $16K... I don't like the fact that there is no real description of this specific car, nor any real clear photo's showing details that are important to any 240-Z buyer... FWIW, Carl B.

The Buy-It-Now is $15,900.00 - - - and "IF" it checks out underneath, and has a solid body it is most likely worth that... A lot depends on the quality of the repaint... Street mod'ed a bit, but $16K is a reasonable price for a clean 240-Z in that area of the Country. I know we've seen this car at some point in the not too distant past... If someone lives in that area - go inspect the car carefully and let us know what it is really like.... FWIW, Carl B.

I have a set of NEW 14" MiniLite's - I'll most likely not use them.. $250.00 each plus shipping, includes lugs and center caps. beck@becksystems.com FWIW, Carl B.

Amazing... sometimes you just luck out.. Great Deal.. I'll never understand how people can sell something like that for a hundred bucks... Looks like it might have been orange or red originally... but certainly worth restoring.. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Arne: Of the cars we've found - only a couple do not have their original engines. That is because the original engine from them had some problems that prevented proper overhaul.. ie cracked block, scared cylinder wall etc. Since we haven't Registered all 38 of them - I don't know what the exact percentage will turn out to be... but it would seem that every reasonable effort was made to keep the original engines in the cars. FWIW, Carl B.

L28 – Flat Top Pistons (79-83) & E31 Head Swept Volume of Cylinder = 458.9 Combustion Chamber volume = 42.4 Gasket Thickness = 7.7 Deck Height = -3.69 505.31/458.9 = 11.1 C/R with a positve deck height 509.0/458.9 = 11.09 C/R with 0 deck height Now mill the head to flaten it, reducing cc to aprox 38cc, then unshroud the valves to put it back at 41cc - or add an over-bore and you’ll push it even higher... With the crummy pump gasoline we have in most parts of the country today - I wouldn’t want a street engine with much over 9.5:1 C/R... Run higher C/R and you have to retard the timing -and that kills the engine response/power anyway.... FWIW, Carl B.

Yes - I'd say that two years and five monts is VERY LATE... understatement of the year perhaps? just too funny.... Carl B.