Carl Beck

Gus: I am given to understand that people "must" go to the Convention Hotel at the Beach, to register and sign wavers - - before you can get your car and trailer into the track. Which means taking the whole rig downtown...... I have not personally been to the Hilton on the beach, and wonder how much room they have to get the truck and trailer into and then out of their parking area???? I don't look forward to dragging the whole rig downtown, then getting stuck where there isn't lots of room to turn around? Anyone been to the hotel with a truck and trailer? Easy to get in/out - or is the Hilton like most other beach hotels - with very tight parking etc. Any way to drop the trailer off at the Track, without taking it downtown to the hotel? thanks, Carl B.

It looks like some previous owner had added a second lead from the Positive Post. This is usually done to channel power directly to the battery (rather than having it all go though the cars wiring harness - when super amplifiers are added etc.). Looks like someone just cut it off, rather than removing it from the Positive Post.... If that's the case, just remove it from the Positive Post on the Alternator and discard it. A clear picture looking at the rear of the Alt. would be better...but the above is what it "looks like" to me. FWIW, Carl B.

Speaking of the Young Mr. K and the Flying Feather etc. When I ask Mr. K about the Flying Feather many years ago (1995) - he said that as a young boy he had seen two men driving a "Briggs Flyer" in Japan and was so impressed with it that he always wanted to produce such a simple and basic car in Japan. Years later, after the War, the concept of producing an affordable automobile for Japan, such as had been done in Germany prior to the War, was gaining favor with the heads of industry and banking (MITI). Mr. K told me that he had a friend named Ryuichi Tomiya that used to work with him at Nissan prior to the War. So he sat down with his friend and described the car he wanted to build, as an example of a "Peoples Car" for Japan. Mr. K described the Briggs Flyer (designed by A.O. Smith in 1914, later purchased/produced by "Briggs and Stratton" and sold as the Briggs Flyer), and his friend sketched it out as he watched and commented. In that same meeting Ryuichi Tomiya sketched out the automotive evolution of it - the Flying Feather... While Mr. K promoted the car and worked to get the first ones produced - he was really adamant about talking about the capability of his friend Ryuichi Tomiya to design almost anything conceived, as well as mentioning how sad it was that people like him could not work for long in the corporate world. (Nissan's loss). This is an interesting story of automotive design evolution..started when Arthur William Wall of Birmingham, England developed a one cylinder, direct drive motor wheel in 1910. A.O. Smith Company then licensed the design and produced the Smith Motor Wheel to be mounted on bicycles (as well as other applications - see picture below), then used in 1915 on the Smith Flyers. Briggs and Stratton farther developed the the motor wheel after buying the A.O.Smith Company, and produced the Briggs Flyers. If you are close to my age - I'll bet you remember the motor wheel that was advertised in most Popular Mechanics and Popular Science Magazines in the 50's - that you could bolt to the front wheel on your bicycle... Ah..evolution... Quite a journey from the Motor Wheel, to the Flyer, to the Feather, to the Z.... But in the end both A.O. Smith and his Flyer, and Mr. K, were joined in the Automobile Hall Of Fame... Pictures below: Briggs Wheelskate.jpg (yes, you put it on the ice and it pulled you on skates!) 1918 Smith Red Bug Briggs Flyer Mr. Smiths Sons at the Automotive Hall Of Fame in Dearborn (the Heart of Ford Country). FWIW, Carl B. If your interested.. just Google, A.O. Smith, Briggs and Stratton, Red Bug, Smith Flyer, Ryuichi Tomiya etc...

The Ski Rack on E-Bay, is strictly an "After-Market" item. Rare, neat to have for the collector... but not quite as neat as having the Datsun Ski Rack, Part: #99990-00042, as part of the Datsun Roof Rack #99990-00041 So what is the difference - between having an AMCO roof rack/ski rack, and having a DATUSN Roof Rack / Ski Rack? Mostly the box they came in, and who you purchased them from, or when you purchased them. AMCO was a subcontractor to Nissan, and they supplied accessory items, packed in DATSUN Packaging, with the assigned DATSUN Part Numbers, to NISSAN USA; NISSAN in turn sold them to their Factory Authorized Dealers. The Dealers installed many of these items on Z's prior to selling the cars and in many cases the items were purchased by the retail customers though the Datsun Parts and Service counters at the Dealerships, after they bought their cars. AMCO continued to sell these items in the "After-Market", after Nissn stopped production of specific models. (so AMCO never competed directly with Nissan for sales of the items). So what's the difference? About 100% or more in the value between them. I have an AMCO roof rack new in the box, and I have the after-market ski rack (used) - - - My roof rack is in the original AMCO box... Neat to have from a collector perspective - but worth about half or less of what a DATSUN Roof Rack, NIB ( New-In-Box ie. DATSUN box) would be worth to a "Collector". Still looking for that DATSUN Ski-Rack NIB..... to complete my collection of the Factory Authorized DATSUN Accessory Items for 1972. (well, so I have a couple of posers in the collection, you'd never know if you didn't see the dam box - vbg -) FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Mike: No - but since they seem to have built a head for the M/B in-line six - the head for the "L" series can't to too much different in terms of the total design effort. I have no idea what they would charge - but if they were to produce say 10 or more of them - it might help them get more publicity.... It certainly seems that the design is past the experimental stages, but still not broadly applied, nor fully proven by time and use... Having the cams "be" the valves (so to speak) and getting rid of the entire conventional valve train seems like a great idea to me... FWIW, Carl B.

How about a cross flow rotary valve head for the Z? http://www.coatesengine.com/csrv.html CSRV Cylinderhead FWIW Carl B.

If the timing is set correctly, the vacuum advance is working - and the points are set correctly - - - then perhaps your hesitation/misfire is caused by something else. Carb's not adjusted correctly, sticky vacuum slides, wrong weight damper oil, float levels not correct etc etc. or Perhaps your plug wires are breaking down, loose wiring connections at the plugs or in the distributor . or Perhaps your fuel supply isn't consistent at a constant pressure.. Lots of stuff can cause the symptoms your talking about.... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Guys: Seems nothing turns out completely "as planned". I failed to get the BRE BAJA Z completed in time to meet the transport deadline, for the 40th Anniversary Celebration of the SCORE/BAJA 1000 in California this coming week. As a result, the BRE BAJA Z will be here in Florida and we'll be taking it to the ZCCA's Annual Convention in Daytona - at least for Monday and Tuesday. (Wife has to be back for work Wednesday). Hope to see as many of you there as possible for the two days available... FWIW, Carl B.

The E88 as used on the 73 240-z's had 47.8cc combustion chambers. The N47 has 44.6cc combustion chambers. So there would be no loss of compression ratio. The E88 on the from 73 has very poor combustion chamber design as far a "performance" goes, although it's a good emissions head. As mentioned the N47 has larger intake and exhaust valves as well as hardened valve seats, but it too suffers from poor combustion chamber design. The N47 will need to have its exhaust liners left out - and the exhaust ports need some porting work to open them up a bit. If you go with the N47 - might as well add the crank from the 260/280... and pick up the extra stroke and added cc's. FWIW, Carl B.

Can you Post some pictures of them please. I'd like to see what the "Point Polisher" looks like. thanks, Carl B.

For some reason, this did not seem to work completely on my 73. If I turn the key "off" the engine stops, but if when turning the key I pass "off" and continue to "acc" or "lock" the engine keeps running... So I just turn the key "off" - wait there a second, then continue to rotate the key to the "lock" position. The car is not pure stock.... but pretty close as far as the car's wiring harness goes... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Kenneth: "10 degrees on the plate"...... If you mean the plate on the distributor itself - NO. When you hold a timing light on the crankshaft pulley - with the engine at idle... you see the timing marks on the crankshaft pulley - and a "Pointer" that is bolted to the engine. The "0" timing mark is always the largest/deepest notch in the crankshaft pulley. You'll be standing on the passenger side of the car with the Timing Light in hand at that point. If you turn the distributor clockwise / counter clockwise very little and very slowly - while carefully observing the timing marks on the crankshaft pulley - you will see the the marks advance or retard (move ahead or behind the "0" mark). You want to set the initial spark timing on the 10 degree mark. Your Public Profile gives me no indication of what year Z you own - so I can't tell you exactly what the marks/notches on the crankshaft pulley should look like - but in general they are marked in 5 degree increments. So the Pointer bolted to the block - should line up with the second mark past the larger "0" mark. If you can't see the timing marks/notches clearly on the crankshaft pulley - you have to clean the pulley and put some white paint in the marks/notches... Install the rebuilt distributor - and start over. FWIW, Carl

Hi Kenneth: "Initial" engine timing is marked or set when the engine is being put together. That is the Top Dead Center of the Number 1 cylinder, on the compression stroke. The initial MARK on the crankshaft is "0". The 10 degrees BTDC is the initial "spark" timing. Meaning you want the spark plug to fire 10 degrees before the piston reaches Top Dead Center - at the RPM the engine is set to idle at. So you dial that in by turning the distributor while using a timing light to watch the marks on the crankshaft pulley. It's important to have the vacuum advance disabled, by removing the vacuum line from the distributor and the line plugged off, when you do this. Generally speaking - when people talk about "initial timing" - they really mean the initial timing of the spark at engine idle speed. After that - you reconnect the Vacuum Advance. As engine RPM increases the timing curves built into the distributor by both centrifugal weights spinning outward, and vacuum advancing the points come into play. If you are running a stock distributor - you don't have to mess with this aspect - except to quickly open (blip) the throttle - and see if the timing at the crankshaft advances quickly - then falls back to 10 degrees BTDC. If your car backfired at 2000 RPM - it is possible that you sat the initial spark timing with the vacuum advance connected, or it is possible that you forgot to reconnect it. If it isn't one of the two -then it is possible that your vacuum advance isn't working properly. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Bob: I put your image first below - followed by mine. I knew I kept mine - but it took some time to find them!! Mine are somewhat different than the picture you show. They are marked NTK on one side and Dropped Forged on the other. This is the set that I got through the Datsun Parts Dept. - when I ordered them for my 1970 240-Z. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Kenneth: Most dwell meters have settings for 4, 6 and 8 cylinders - make sure yours is set to 6 cylinders. You set the point gap (0.0177 to 0.0217 inch or 0.45 to 0.55 mm) and measure the dwell angle at 700-800 RPM (35 to 41 degrees). Then rev the engine slightly and check to see that it stays the same. If you see your dwell angle changing, it means you didn't tighten down the point base..and your points are bouncing. You use the larger nut/ phillips screw head to make final adjustments in the timing - yes "A" is for advance and "R" is for retard. You use the smaller nut at the base to get the initial timing within the adjustment range on the top. The vacuum advance hose should be disconnected from the distributor and plugged - because you adjust the carb's and set the idle speed with it hooked up to the carb. When you disconnect the vacuum hose, to disable the vacuum advance at the distributor - you throw off the tune on the carb's if the hose isn't plugged... as the #1 SU now has a leak at the intake port - so to speak. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Randy: When BRE first started shipping the Spooks for the Z's (their Mk II design for the Z).. the lower half of the ducts were molded into the Spook, the upper half of the ducts were molded separately and then bonded to the lower half by BRE. So when the Spook arrived the rear of the ducts were fully enclosed and round. Sometime later, they simply included the upper half of the ducts, and it was up to the installer to decide if they wanted or needed to use them, later still BRE simply quite suppling the upper halfs all together. The first Spook I received for my 70 Z was of the first type. After I smashed that one, the second Spook I received was of the second type and I did not install the upper half of the ducts on that one. When I purchased a new Spook for my 72 Z - it came without the upper half of the ducts. The Spook that BRE ran on their #46 car was quite different than the "redesigned" Mk II that they sold to the public. See picture below... The early Mk II's also had a wider reinforcing lip around the outside, than the later one's.

Hi Randy: What or which "that" has you confused? regards, Carl

Hi Wayne: Your description was fine - my memory was not. The Mk I Spooks were for the roadsters... and the Mk II's were the first for the Z's. Yes, originally the Z Spooks had the tops of the ducts in place when shipped, then they left them off, but still included the upper half of the duct with the Spook, then finally they eliminated them altogether. sorry for the confusion... Carl B.

Because the brake isn't "really" off. a) if you pull your e-brake when you park the car - it's possible that the rear brake shoes are hanging up - ie. sticking in the full open position. quite common for the front brake calipers to stick as well Normally if it's the rear brakes that are sticking - when you force the car to move forward - they release. If the front brake calipers are sticking - you usually need to remove them and clean out the piston cylinder walls. (ie rebuild the front calipers). a) faulty master or slave clutch disk rusted/stuck to the flywheel They are each independent variables, related to the time the car sits not being used. They are not dependent variables. The cause - time, corrosion - related to the front calipers and clutch disk. The "self-adjusting" feature of the rear brakes - adjusts the brake shoes too tight if the e-brake is pulled too often and the car hasn't been driven enough to wear the rear shoes down. Corrosion in the rear brake cylinders is another cause - as they stick or hang up and won't allow the rear brake shoes to retract. To break the clutch disk loose: Hold the clutch pedal to the floor Put the car in 3rd gear Pull the e-brake and step on the brake pedal firmly Bump the starter several times Normally the above procedure will break the clutch disk loose. If the above procedure doesn't break the clutch disk loose; Start the car - out of gear - and let it warm up to full operating temps. - then shut it down. Re-Start the car in 1st gear and get it rolling about 20mph. Make sure you have clear roadway ahead when you start the car in gear - so you can get it moving. Hold the clutch pedal to the floor Yank up hard on the e-brake to stop the rear wheels from turning, and at the very same time give the engine some gas to rev it up. You may have to repeat the process several times... but the clutch disk will break loose..... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Goose52: Sounds like you got one of the last Mk 1 Spooks. They did come with the "tops" of the brake ducts and the leading edges were wider. BRE started shipping the Mk II's about mid year 1971 as I recall. Anyway - here is a copy of the installation instructions for the BRE Mk II Spook... The three bolts at the back edge used existing captive nuts in the bottom of the radiator core support. All others had to be drilled through the Spook and into the lower finisher panels on the car. FWIW, Carl B. Carl Beck Clearwater, FL USA http://ZHome.com

I love my 72 510 Wagon... almost as much fun to drive as the Z and gets every bit as much attention and comments from people. I'm sure you'll love the sedan... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Guys: Given its location and current condition - I'd say it should bring between $4,500.00 and $5,500. All stock, original paint and un-molested by unknown previous morons - - makes the ideal basis for a really fun "Refresh" or full up Restoration. Cost to Refresh in a first class manor - $12K to $15K Cost to Restore properly $20K to $25K All of the above is based on the next owner having a pretty good idea of what he's doing and that he is doing all the "grunt" work himself. If it was carefully restored, with full documentation of the restoration process kept along the way - it would take two to three years for the average guy to complete. Two to three years from now properly restored Datsun 240-Z's will be easily selling for between $25K and $35K... Hold on to it for another 10 years and you'd see #1 and #2 240-Z's in the $65K price range.. Let's hope they don't try to start the car - let the next owner get it ready to restart... Just my opinion... Carl B.

Hi Bo: That wouldn't surprise me - my 11/71 build 72 Model Year has one too. I put it there when I switched to an electric pump - VBG - Are you still running the mechanical pump on the engine as well? Carl B.

Hi E. / everyone: That first picture looks like the installer was an Authorized Dealer using the Factory supplied parts. The little clips on the side of the fuse block were also included in the Factory 73 Modifications Plus Program package here in the US. I don't know if the Factory Actually installed the same parts later in the production year ot not - they easily could have.. It is nice that one is clipped to the side of the fuse block - but I haven't seen too many of them done that way (even by the dealers mechanics taking short cuts and leaving the fuse holder next to the other two in the wiring harness behind the dash. Usually- if you find an in-line fuse holder - that wasn't installed by the Dealer - the installers didn't have the same color coded wires to use.. or the aftermarket fuse holder simply had black wires on it.. FWIW, Carl B.

The 73 240-Z's did NOT come from the factory with an electric fuel pump, until the last part of the production year. At first Nissan had great problems with the 73's and their Emissions Carb.'s. This in turn lead to a series of "fixes" that were developed over time and implemented in Stages. If one has an early build date car - and that car wasn't taken into an Authorized Dealer for the Modifications Programs - it is quite possible to have a 73 with no electric pump, no in-line fuse and no relay etc. - - or some odd combinations of all or some of the items. On many of the early cars - the mechanics just activated the existing pre-wiring for the electric pumps by putting a jumper wire in place... if the mechanic was at all smart he put an in-line 20amp fuse in the jumper. There is a green wire and a I think a red/blue wire in a female connector that has three wires in it, - - it was taped up to the outside of the harness with blue tape - that has to have two male ends from the jumper wire - it's in the harness behind and to the right side of the fuse block.. Anyway - the point is you never know what your going to find on a "73 240-Z" in regard to the fuel pumps... So it should not be a surprise if Weasel73240Z doesn't have a relay, nor if he's having a hard time finding the in-line fuse that "should" be there. FWIW, Carl