Carl Beck

Chilliwack Datsun - BC

- Isn't it the truth !! The US Federal Emissions standards gave all automobile manufacturers fits, ever changing through the 70's.. enough is never enough for a Federal Bureaucracy. Now I'm looking for another L6 - looks like it will be a Mercedes E450 or E53. (maybe Nissan can copy that one for the next Z).

My experience was quite the opposite when it came to the Flat Tops While some like to debate the technical merits of the Flat Tops - one thing is not debatable. From the introduction of the 1973 240Z’s with the Flat Top Carb’s needed to met the EPA Exhaust Emissions Standards - Dealers were plagued with Customer Complaints accompanied by Datsun 240Z’s being returned to the Dealerships on a Tow Hook. Something never before experienced and most certainly never expected. The 240Z and indeed DATSUN had established a well deserved reputation for Reliability second to none. I was there at one Dealership and it was NOT PLEASANT for anyone, most certainly not the New Owners, nor the Service Managers that had to tell the Customers their car might be in the Service Bay for several days. Of course the Customer Complaints came back on the Sales Staff as well. Several Customers demanded that we refund their money and take the car back. The Flat Tops were so good - that Nissan Motors spent thousands of hours of Technical Service & Engineering time trying to identify and solve the problems with the Flat Tops both here in the USA and in Japan. We had Nissan Personnel in our Service Dept., working with our mechanics, several days per week, for several months. This was happening at 2 or 3 other Datsun Dealerships that I was aware of on the West Coast as well. Indeed we saw an ongoing series of modifications attempted while looking for an actual solution to the problems. A lot of Trial and Error went on for months. The problems according to Nissan were Vapor Lock in the fuel lines and Percolation of fuel in the float bowls (now hanging directly over the larger and hotter exhaust manifold). The attempted solutions were many and varied for months and months. The result were Z’s dying on the street or highway and/or refusing to restart when hot. It was not unusual for a Customer’s Z to be returned to the dealership 3, 4 or 5 times before the Customer gave up. (then went to Private Repair Shop and had 70/72 SU’s put on - problem solved). By the end of the 1973 Model Year, Nissan had greatly reduced the occurrences of the “problems” - but far too many Customers in several area’s of the Country were still being effected and/or were disappointed. Nissan’s real solution to the wonderful Flat Tops was to replace them with Fuel Injection as soon as possible. For most customers, and secondary owners - the Z’s were out of Warranty after 12 months/12,000 miles - so any/all labor spent attempting to “correct” of “fix” them held the potential of significant Labor Costs for subsequent owners - their least expensive solution was to replace them with the 70-72 SU’s. By the time the 74 260Z’s came out - Nissan had made several changes to the Flat Tops and they did perform far more reliably - however outside of the Datsun Dealers, the privately run shops did not have the benefit of Nissan’s Extensive Technical Training offered to the Dealer Service personal, nor did they have all the Technical Service Bulletins the Dealerships had. So private shops just refused to spend the time with the Flat Tops - because their Customers weren’t willing to spend the money on the labor hours needed to overcome the learning curve. The “learning curve” consisted mostly of trying to get the technical information from the Dealer Service Departments (who really weren’t in the business of training their own competition). This was not a situation where untrained Service Tech’s did not know how to deal with a new Carb. - it was a situation where the new carb. properly tuned to meet the EPA Spec.’s at the time - would not perform on the car. A year or year and half later, with the new Carbs redesigned / modified yes, the Nissan and Dealer Trained mechanics could set them up and yes they would run (most of the time). Mr. Umera tells the story in his Book: Section: Post Sales Responses - Vapor Lock -Quote:- Executive Director Ryoichi Nakagawa, the chief of the engine departments, gave us a pep talk, saying, “In a car, the worst case that can happen with this defect is the engine stalling, but if this happens on a plane, it crashes.” Although the engine design departments also tackled countermeasures, satisfactory results were not obtained, and the manager Harada of the Third Design Department asked us to cooperate in coming up with countermeasures for the vehicle itself. As a temporary measure, a heat shield plate was placed between the exhaust system and the carburetor, glass fiber was wrapped around the fuel system pipe, and louvers were cut in the engine hood to vent heat. But this was not enough. Then, as the last resort, a powerful sirocco fan, which began to turn when the temperature in the engine room rose above a given temperature, was installed in the engine room to pump out the heat. This almost solved the problem, but it was never perfect, because the fan would turn for a while or sometimes started turning suddenly even after the engine was turned off, surprising drivers. Assistant Department Manager Shidei, who was the chief engineer at this time, visited America to persuade Nissan Motor Corporation U.S.A., to deal with the problem using this tentative measure for a while until a proper countermeasure could be taken. I can’t imagine that would have been an easy task for him. One year later, we solved the problem properly by abolishing the carburetor and adopting the L28 engine with electronic fuel injection. -End Quote- FWIW, Carl B.

@Dadsun Here is one answer - http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/AccelLinkage.htm What is the build date on your Z? FWIW, Carl B.

Personally - I'd love to have that 510 (if I had room to keep it). I thought the bidding was about right, if a little low compared to others more highly modified. It isn't a Pure Stock / Original example, nor is it a really "mod'ed" cannon carver. The L18 was nice, but why not an L20B or a KA? So no big money buyers. I also think that the photoshop'ed feature pictures, making it look too bright a greed based yellow - - may have hurt it a bit - the color of the car shown in the video's was a bit more pleasing for a more stock looking example. Over-all a very nice 2dr 510 and perhaps the seller and top bidder could get together.

Hi Dave: Just saw this. I bought the EZ Car Lift - LOVE IT!. Looked at several alternative, but in the end the EZ Car gave me the best access under the car. I also appreciate how easy it is to set up and store. It did cost a little bit more, but the quality of the build and materials are top notch. http://becksystems.com/garage/EZCarLift/EZCarLift.htm hope that helps..

Peter Brock's Limited Edition 370Z on BAT https://bringatrailer.com/listing/2020-nissan-bre-50th-anniversary-370z/

I don't know for sure who else on this site - but so fare we have found 189 people that bought their 240Z new from the Dealers and kept them - or kept them in the same family. Wonder if there is a World Record there? http://www.zhome.com/IZCC/ZRegisters/original.htm FWIW, Carl B.

Small world - when I was finishing my degree I received letters from two Presidents on the same day. The first was from President Elect. Nixon thanking me for working in his campaign. (Nixon Promised to End The Draft) The second was from President Johnson - GREETINGS. I was to report for induction two months before being graduated! It had taken me about 6 years to work my way though a 4 year degree - so the Draft Board wasn't willing to extend my Student Deferment... Lucky for me, my Journalism Professor Dr. Dean Jachius- happened to be a Colonel in the Marine Corp Reserves and an Administrative Assistant to then Governor Rhoads. He was able to get me a 90 day extension - during which time I joined the Air Force.!!

When I bought my first Datsun 240Z, I had just been at the local Porsche Dealer trying to trade my 67 911s in on a new 911E. The Webers on the "S" were always loading up and fouling plugs in stop & go traffic. It was very hard starting in the Winter and the shift linkage was worse than the Corvairs I'd owned before. I couldn't get together with the Porsche Dealer - they wanted too much for their new car and offered way to little for mine. On the way back to the Base, I passed the Datsun Dealer and saw the 240Z. Stopped and long story made short - I bought the Z. Three months with the Z - and I sold the Porsche. Never wanted one again. Over the years that followed I did add Corvettes, Jag's, and a Ferrari to the garage - and over the following years I sold them all except the 240Z. Nothing since 1970 has ever been better than the 240Z.

Wow - still trying to understand the $31K difference between this 73 - and the Silver 72 - 4 First Place Street Mod Awards, 3 2nd Place Street Mod awards.sold last month. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-datsun-240z-152/ Carl B.

The clear coats solved the problem with metal flakes - but created another problem - over a short period of time in hotter sun regions especially - the clear coats started to crack - at first it looked like fine scratches in the paint, then got worse over time as the clear coats increased “grazing” until they started to flake off. The problem as explained by the BMW Factory Tech's - was UV light passed though the clear coats and heated up the color coat under them. The difference in the coefficient of expansion of the two coatings caused the clear coats to crack as the color coat expand more rapidly under them. In 1972 BMW and VW had such problems that new cars sitting in stock were crazing before even being sold. I worked for a BMW/DATSUN dealer then. Lots of customers with BMW’s had their cars stripped and repainted - under extended factory warranty - cars up to 3 years old were covered. The solution at the time - was to mix a small amount of color with the first application of clear coat - then put a second clear coat over that. That made the heat transfer between the color coat and the final clear coat more slowly and evenly… Do agree that by the 80’s newer paints solved the problem by more closely matching the coefficient of expansion of the two different materials.

As far as I know - all metallic automotive paints in the late 60's and early 70's were clear coated.(I worked for Datsun/BMW and VW in the early 70's). My 1970 Silver 240Z was clear coated from the factory. The reason was that some of the metal flakes mixed with the paint being sprayed - did wind up at or near the surface skin coat of the paint. Any polishing/waxing or compounding at that point would have resulted in the metal flakes sticking above the surface. So metallic paints on the 240Z were clear coated. FWIW Carl

4 Bidders still in above $25K 3 Bidders still in above $30K 3 Bidders still in above $35K -knocking on the door at $40K 1 Bidders still in above $40K I thought that it would sell - given the last couple months of the market - at perhaps $25K to $27K. Yes, it had most of its original paint - but still - lots of non-original and quit frankly less than cosmetically pleasing stuff. Nonetheless, glad to see the market showing a lot of strength. It will be interesting to watch the Silver 71now.. Carl B.

#00064 was dark green and they were asking $50K for it - it was in florida. That First Green Z - the pictures were for a car sold in Bring-A-Trailer...

Agreed - I wouldn't worry about them at all. I have ran 20 year old tires, that have been garage kept - showing no signs of side wall cracking - on Classic Cars driven only occasionally with no problems. The one exception - 1991 Thunderbird Super Coupe, with 10K original miles. Original Tires Goodyear's V Rated... At 21 years old, took it out for a drive and felt the tread separation take place... wobbled my way home - and replace them all the next day. (kept the tires as proof of the mileage on the T-Bird when I sold it in 2002). That said - I'm always keeping an eye open hoping to find any good 195/70R14's for my Z's.. (good looking/brand name/sports car style etc). FWiW, Carl B.

@Namerow As it relates to Nissan - circa 1926 and William R. Gotham. You might enjoy this book: - William R. Gotham: An American Engineer in Japan. (get the hard copy for study/reference - and the digital copy to read etc - all for less than $20 Bucks) https://www.lulu.com/en/us/shop/don-cyril-gorham-translator/william-r-gorham-an-american-engineer-in-japan/paperback/product-1jprm8.html?page=1&pageSize=4 CHAPTER VII. TOA DENKI /TOA ELECTRIC COMPANY VII.1. TRANSFERRED TO TOKYO After finishing five years at Tobata Foundry, in Taisho 15 (1926) he (Mr. Gorham..cjb) was transferred to Tokyo to become Chief Engineer at the Toa Denki KK. This firm was later to be amalgamated with the Tobata Foundry Company and the Tobata Foundry Company itself was renamed in Showa 10 (1935) as Kokusan Kogyo KK/ National Industrial Production Company. This [Toa Denki KK] was an existing firm that was taken over by Mr. AYUKAWA’s Kyoritsu Kigyo. It was Mr. YAMAMOTO Soji who had taken care of the preliminary investigations [with respect to Mr. Gorham’s transfer]. Not only was the aim to improve the products currently being produced, but also to produce electrical equipment to be used on automobiles sometime in the future. This was the ultimate purpose for which Mr. YAMAMOTO was to take over the management. At the time concerned, this firm [Toa Denki KK] primarily concentrated on electrical communication machinery, but was also building drills, grinders and other electrical tools. The first President was Mr. NERI-I Kikuma, who formerly served as Chief of the Electrical Bureau of the Ministry of Communication. When the management of Toa Denki KK had run into problems, Mr. AYUKAWA stepped in to help them out, after which time Toa Denki KK was to prosper significantly. Although it is understood that this was because management was doing a fine job, everyone realized that the strengths of Mr. Gorham, when added to this played a significant role. (Toa Denki KK was later amalgamated by the Hitachi Seisakusho KK, but the President for many years was Mr. MURAKAMI Shosuke. Mr. Gorham was to help Mr. MURAKAMI cooperate with him fully and establish the foundations of the firm.) Mr. Gorham had already become fully conversant with Japan’s national situation. At the same time, compared to the Tobata Foundry experience, he was restricted very little and was able to exercise his personal methodology with amazing results. The following are the primary accomplishments of Mr. Gorham: the upgrading of the hand-operated telephone exchange to an automated telephone exchange, improvements to the motor drills and motor grinders, and the design and production of air-driven riveting hammers and iron mine rock-crushing machines. In addition, he was to contribute significantly to increases in production and efficiency. Mr. Gorham was well renowned for the breadth and depth of his academic and technical knowledge. During his university days he had graduated with a degree in electrical engineering, thus it goes without saying that his knowledge in this area was extremely deep and he was particularly adept at improving the manufacture of electrically operated tools. As a result, the electrical tools produced by Toa Denki KK were extremely well received and came to be a favorite in the market. In particular, Toa Denki KK’s electric drills and grinders had already established a reputation as the best in Japan, and they continue their reputation to this day under the name of Hitachi drills and grinders. In addition, Mr. Gorham applied himself to the production of electrical equipment for automobiles and built, among other things, an advanced starting motor and ignition coil. As regards the manufacture of electrical equipment for automobiles, his deep knowledge, broad experience and accumulation of many years on the job all tended to contribute to this achievement. There was nothing he did not know about automobiles. Although the gasoline engine was his crowning achievement, electricity was something he learned professionally and he had an established reputation for his knowledge of machinery in general. It was only natural that he would experience brilliant success at Toa Denki KK (Because of Mr. Gorham’s deep devotion to the improvement and production of electrical tools, Japan’s own electrical tools did not suffer any degradation when compared with the best of imported equipment. At the time, they became designated purchase products of the Army and Navy Ministries, as well as the Railroad Ministry. Further, these products were eventually to replace imported products in the general market.) 'FWIW, Carl B.

From my notes on #556 For Sale 14 Jan. 2014 - Craigslist - Bad Rust - in Texas For Sale 25 Dec. 2017 - EBay - Beverly Hills, CA - looks like new floorboards&Frame Rails - bid to $20K - RNM FWIW, Carl B.

Not True - If the customer wanted it, or if the Service Dept suggested it be added with the A/C Kit - the shroud had to be ordered via the Parts Dept. individually. Yes, you had to remove the finger guard to install the shroud.

A friend of mine had been looking for that VIN for 20+ years - but I think he got the VIN wrong because he was looking for a Blue/Blue combination. This one was Gold/Black.. Anyway surprised to see it show up. Yes it looks like a reasonable by at that price...

A good friend of mine got one of the first 1964 GTO’s in Ohio. His Mother owned part of the local Pontiac Dealership. When word of the GTO’s reached the Dealerships, the Sales Manager ordered one for him. 2dr., Post Sedan, White with a Black Vinyl top. Perhaps the best American Car I’ve ever driven. Fastest thing on the street. Five or six months after he got it - the Service Manager ordered a “Performance Package” from Royal Oak Pontiac - made it even faster. But straight line performance wasn’t its only strong suite. It was just as much fun on long road trips, short wheel base and light weight with a stiffer than normal suspension. Very little of the usual American Car body roll. He let me drive it often over the following year - but the 65 or 66 Models came out and that time he got a 421 Catalina 2+2. If I bought a GTO - it would have be the 1964.

Hi Zed Head: First let me say I appreciate the dialog and suggestions. If you are using a Browser on a home computer - for example - you can tell it to open hyper-links in a new Tab or new Window. You can set that feature up in the Preferences and/or by using a command key while clicking on the link. If you copy the URL displayed in that new window/tab - that would be the URL to that individual page. If you are using an iPhone you tap and hold the link, then tell it to open in new window or tab; or if you tap the link with two fingers it should open in a new tab/window - https://support.apple.com/guide/iphone/use-tabs-in-safari-iph3028ebf68/ios Since this is a BAT related thread - user "ar1950" did not seem to have any problems Posting a URL to a single page on ZHome.com Scroll down about 5 comments here https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-datsun-240z-163/

I don't know where you copied that URL from - - When I visit the Page - the URL Shows up as http://zhome.com/History/BlackP.htm on my Browser. (no "www2" and no "com.81") The sight uses Frames - Index on the Left and Subject Matter displayed in the Right. If you want the URL to the specific Subject matter - just open the link in the Index in a new Browser Window and copy the URL from there. As I recall all the links were converted to internal links, to solve the problems we had with http vs https addresses.

Having lived in Spokane, Washington 1969-73 I can assure you it was common practice to run 4 Snow Tires (usually with ice studs) in the Winter months, especially on light weight sports cars. Snow Tires or Tire Chains (on all 4 wheels) were required, if you were to be allowed in any of several mountain passes in Eastern or Western Washington during the winter months. Among sports car enthusiast Pirelli and Semperit winter tires were most popular and broadly available in town. Of course Michelin had great winter tires, but usually their cost was significantly higher.

When we discussed this earlier - Kats and I believed that the North American Test 240Z's were #4 from Aug. and #5 from Sep. One with A/T and the other with 4spd. #6 from Sep. and #7 and #8 from Oct were used for the New Car Shows in North America & Press Relations. FWIW, Carl B.