Carl Beck

So what did you wind up painting them with? Carl B.

Not being able to see who is bidding on this car - now that e-bay has changed their auction rules - kind of leaves me cold. Just too much chance of his brother being the second highest bidder. At any real auction you can at least see who your bidding against... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Guys: I ask my Daughter to look at the two wheels pictured below - in indirect sunlight. She is 12 years old but quite the Artist with all the charcoal, oils, pastels etc in her many Artists Kits.... She and her Mother really have "an eye for color" so to speak. At first glance she said; "they are black".... then;... "well actually they have a slight hue of blue underlying, so technically they are a blue based dark gray". "Black is the absence of any color, so if I were mixing oils to match that, I'd have to add some dark blue, some white and maybe some others to get that exact color". I said; "well I can't go to paint store and by a dark blue based gray - is it charcoal gray or black?" "As dark as that is, I'd go with black", she replied. "But if you took the wheel to the paint store, and told them to color match it - they would mix in colors other than black", she added. (she and her Mother have been to the Paint Store and had various colors - color matched - for her room. So she knows the process by now.). OK - I used a "semi-gloss black"... lacking a good can of flat black, and I lightly sprayed one half of the wheel on the Right with it - the white arrows show where the new paint starts/stops. The wheel on the left is an 11/69 and the wheel on the right is a 7/73. The square in the middle of the wheel on the left is sprayed with a couple coats of semi-gloss black. I have to agree Arne - other than being semi-gloss and fresh non faded paint - the two (old and new) are very close. If on the other hand I was trying for a 100 Concours Car.... I'd most likely go with a very dark blue based gray... just off pure black. I think Bonzi Lon's "Graphite" might be a better description... Given that these wheels are now 30+ years old, and given that Nissan used cheap paint to black or Graphite them the out - - - no matter where they were stored - - that original paint simply evaporated over the years leaving the graphite color we see today.. That may partly be the result of having the gray undercoat as well. Bottom line - if you pain them black, dark charcoal or graphite... most people won't have the color perception needed to tell them all apart unless they are held side by side. I called it black once and dark charcoal once... so I'll call it a draw, or still a toss-up. FWIW, Carl

Hi Ron (everyone): Yes, that is the original cage - Dr. Logan purchased the car from Mr. Brock and he assures me that other than putting it into "Street Clothes".. everything was left the way BRE built it. The exceptions included removing the original 26 gallon fuel cell (which he did not keep), replacing the original BRE modified hood with a stock hood ( he did thank goodness keep the BRE hood and that came with the car), replaced the stock interior (but didn't keep the BRE Racing Seats).. and putting it on street tires (didn't keep the original LeMans wheels either)... Other than that it was still in it's as raced configuration.. I was hoping to get it done by Jan. 1. 2007, but that may be delayed another month. Still working on getting that 26 Gallon Fuel Cell recreated. That may take 4 to six weeks to get the bladder/safety foam custom built. Of course I have get our seats done too ... past that it's just a matter of many small items... like rewiring the car for the lights and the BRE instrument panel and gauges in etc. Still need to find the right size batteries...I found that the original battery frames from BRE were still welded to the floor behind the seats, when I removed the carpet and pads Dr. Logan had installed! I don't know if anyone noticed or not in that picture - but when BRE put the "spreader-bar" on the front shock towers, they notched the valve cover in order to keep the spreader-bar straight. Kind of unique...(pictured below). Ron - I'll e-mail you with details on the seats.. FWIW, Carl

Yea Gad... first it's colors and now its numbers...!! WFIW Cral....

Hi Arne: I said that three years ago? .... "black" .... what was I thinking? Either my eyes are getting worse... or my memory was clouded... So tomorrow in the sunlight, I'll go out to the garage and dig out some original wheels.. I will then spray a color chip with flat black to hold beside the wheel ... so maybe side by side I can tell the difference if there is any ... I'll let you know how that turns out (just got new glasses too;-)... Shades of Gray... Carl

Hi Ron (everyone): Gee..that looks a lot like mine <vbg>. However I have an additional bar at the front of the rear deck area... behind which the 26 Gallon Fuel Cell sat... Note the metal "divider" on that brace to keep the seat belts from sliding... As front bars were mentioned.. When BRE put the front bar in - it was referred to as a "spreader-bar" in Off-Road Vehicles Mag (Oct. 73)... now known as a strut tower brace... thought some would get a kick out of that... FWIW, Carl B.

My new Red Top Optima came with a removable plastic base - intended to bring it up to the standard height of a group 24 battery. The problem is the Optima is ever so slightly smaller in width and depth. So - I took the plastic tray off the bottom - and cut parts of it out - and used the remaining parts as spacers on top of the Optima... the spacers fit between the OEM top hold down and the battery along the front and rear edges... they are wide enough to bridge the gap in width and depth between the battery and the OEM battery hold down frame. The battery is now held down securely.... even if it is a bit Jerry-Rigged... by the original battery mount. At some point in the future... I may make a very OEM looking battery hold down frame.. downsized slightly to fit the Optima... but that's way down the priority list right now... Just a thought.. Carl B.

Hi Arne: I may well be color blind - but the wheels you have pictured, aren't flat black as far as I can see. Charcoal Gray...perhaps. I've always felt that the wheels were sprayed with the same charcoal gray that was used on the rear tail light finisher and the grill. Because of the underlying colors there is ever so slight a difference in the finished product... If you call Les... I'm pretty sure he'll say the same thing. He sells that OEM Charcoal Gray in a rattle can.. I suppose that if you sprayed a very very thin coat of flat black over a silver wheel - it might come close to a charcoal gray finish... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Steve: I believe that the "respect" is already there among all serious Car Nuts.. Polls among many "automotive experts" taken over the last decade - always result in the DATSUN 240-Z placing in the top 5 Sports/GT ever built. Yea gad - in AUTOMOBILE's "Sports Car Of The Decade" series - the DATSUN 240-Z placed second only behind the Ferrari Dayton Coupe for the Decade of the 70's. How much "RESPECT" can a car get? On top of that - the Daytona should really have been in the Decade of the 60's - but I think the pannel couldn't decide between the Ferrari 275GTB-4 and the Datyona 365GTB-4....so the bumped the Daytona into the Decade of the 70's. The only people who don't respect the DATSUN 240-Z for the rare and true Classic it is - are morons or simply spousing "sour grapes", ignore them. I don't hear from any of the Collectors - any indication that they are moving into a selling phase, but rather are still in the buying phase at this point. It may be two to three years before we see serious Collectors trading serious cars at the Classic Car Auctions. That will happen only after all possibility of private sales taking place - had been exhausted. The smartest most forward looking Collectors are at the present time buying up the #1 and #2 Condition cars that are still, or were, in the hands of the Enthusiasts; and in some cases the Original Owners. That supply has already started to dry up.. but there are still a few really nice cars that can be bought for $20K to $30K from that group. (you won't get a serious Collector to sell a car at that price today!!). All these Special Interest Classic Cars seem to go though various phases. Just in the last three years have the more advanced, serious Collectors, started to look around and gather up that 3% of the Classic 240-Z's that have been put in. or maintained in, #1 and #2 Condition by the Enthusiasts. Prices for these cars are usually between $20K and $30K right now, but sales outside that range have been completed... high of $40K and a low of $6k. This shows you that the rarity and desirability of these Classics is only just now becoming known among their present enthusiast owners. Once the number of the Real Collectors that are starting to notice and gather the 240-Z's grows to critical mass, there is a secondary effect. An even broader range of Collectors start to get involved as they realize that #1 and #2 Condition examples have doubled in price in the last couple of years. These are the Collectors that hadn't really thought of a Datsun 240-Z before... but now that they see them in more and more Collectors garages.. they too decide that they need one. Thus demand and prices start to go up - as the original supply is sucked off the market. The third order effect starts when "Speculators" begin to realize that serious Collectors are now in the market in significant numbers. The Speculators then scurry around attempting to buy up any remaining examples, and/or start pushing 240-Z's though quickie "restoration" processes...Nonetheless this pushes prices even higher - and starts to drag the values of the #3 and #4 cars up along the way... The very cars that the enthusiasts want and used to be able to afford... These second and third order effects will take place over the next two to four years..they don't happen over night. Might even be the next three to five years... but it will happen before most of our eyes. Just look back a few years at the Big Healey's... and realize that one #1 condition example sold at a recent auction for $110K. A car you could have bought ten years ago for $18,500.00. So.... 240-Z's bringing "big" (big for them) money at a major auction.. I think it's still five years away. The next major milestone the 240-Z's need to break is the $50K barrier... and I think you might just see that surpassed in the next three to four years. A car that sold for $30K this year, will sell for over $50K in four to five years if the market follows the usual trends... Keep in mind that we are talking about the best of the best here.. not #3 nor #4 Condition cars. We are also taking about "Stock Production Cars".... not historic race/rally nor very limited production "specials". Most of them are already way over $50K and some are already over way over $100K. They too have the effect of dragging the prices of the #1 and #2 Pure Stock examples ever higher. Just how I see it at the present time... and one can vary the price and time frame by 50% one way or the other.... only time will tell. IMHO we are still ten to fifteen years away from a Stock Production 240-Z selling for over a $100k.... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Max (everyone) Thanks - to look at the future, I'll review a bit of the past.... I made that presentation to Mr. Kitahora and Mr. Katayama in Dearborn, the week that Mr. K was inducted into the Automobile Hall of Fame. At that time Mr. Kitahora was the Senior VP of Marketing and Sales in the US. Because Mr. Katayama had personally invited me to the induction ceremony I was in Dearborn the day before, the day of and the day after the event. I had an opportunity to trap Mr. Kitahora in a more or less private and somewhat captive audience (arranged by Mr. K after he reviewed the presentation with me the day before.) I believe that Mr. K fully understood the "concept" in both an overall and detailed manor. Mr. K supported it very enthusiastically. I'm not so sure that Mr. Kitahora really grasp the concept in it's entirety. I supplied them both with copies of the presentation along with notes for each slide. While I was kept fairly well informed over the following years - I actually did not receive any formal feedback from Nissan as to the viability of the design... or any of its component parts. As the situation unfolded with the Renault take-over, I knew the whole idea of a clean slate design for the new Z was dead. As I said earlier, I did see a couple of the ideas presented, show up in the 350-Z... but only minor one's that could have come from anywhere.. I still believe that the next generation Z has to offer far more than the competition in terms of real Customer Value. Something that can not be purchased everywhere else... As for going forward again.... At the present time Mr. K is still our best hope for a "real" Z Car again. I do try to keep in touch with some of the friendlier faces in Nissan and if the opportunity presents itself again - I would respectfully suggest that Peter Brock should be one of their design consultants on that project. Faced with supporting and promoting the 350Z, or having no Z Car return to the US it is my belief that Mr. K reluctantly chose the former. I on the other hand, took purely a "Customers" perspective and broadly and publicly dis'ed the badge engineering as being nothing short of re-inventing the AM-X. Needless to say that didn't win me any political friends in Nissan Corporate... I also believe that it is Nissan that needs Customers as friends and supporters - not the other way around. There were and still are voices in the Z Car Community that woo Corporate favor by telling the people at Nissan what they want to hear, rather than telling them what they need to hear. Many of us that have worked in major corporations know how that game is played... but in the end it does neither the corporation nor its customers any real good, and indeed usually leads to long term harm. 36 years is a long time to wait for the second coming.... but for all the right elements to fall in place again it just might be another 36 years at Nissan. In the meantime - lets all keep our old Z's alive and well as we wait for the return of DATSUN. FWIW, Carl B.

Preservation is your first step and main goal at this point.. Get on that as soon as possible. Sand the rusted area down to shinny metal where ever you can. Even then, you will still have rust in cracks and crevases. Go to an Automotive Paint Store and get a quart of Ospho. Ospho is a mild phosphoric acid solution. Applied to rust, it will chemically convert the iron oxide (rust) to iron phosphate. That will stop the rust. Ospho is mixed at a mild solution level, so it won't hurt painted surfaces if rinsed off with water... but you don't want to let it sit on a concrete floor for more than an hour without rinsing it off with water. You can strip the entire body down to bare metal, or do individual spots at a time - but address any rusted area's as soon as possible - rust grows EVERY DAY. Once the rust has been stopped..(about 24 hours after the application of the Ospho), wipe the area down with lacquer thinner and apply an epoxy primer to seal the metal against moisture in the air. I would not recommend using POR-15 as a primer... a good epoxy primer over bare metal will allow you to sand the area later when your ready to actually do the paint and body work.. Carl B.

It will be lucky to bring a bit of $8,500.00... The best 240-Z's never make it to an auction today.. they are sold via private sales at this point. Demand far out strips supply for true "Collector Quality" examples (#1 and #2 condition cars in the $20K to #30K range). Perhaps in three to five years, you'll start to see true "Collector Quality" cars making it to the auctions. That will be because with a gathering of several buyers - willing to pay high prices - in one place at one time - it will start to make sense to have the car available there for personal inspection, by everyone - prior to the auction. Just my opinion... FWIW, Carl B.

Sounds like a lot of hassle for you - but "might" be worth it - IF THE PRICE IS RIGHT. If you can buy the car for $2K or less.. then spend another $1,500.00 to have it put back together... and when you are done - have a car that's worth $5,500.00 to $6,500.00 it "might" be worth it. How much spare time do you have - and can you spend that on the car? On the other hand - do you really have the time during the week, to deal with a professional shop.. get the car and all the needed parts gathered up and transported to that shop, then stay on top of the "repairs" to see that they get done in a timely manor? Can you afford the "risk" that someone will make a stupid mistake (it happens to the best of them), which will result in a second trip to the shop.. and perhaps a second tear down of the engine? I really don't think that $1,500.00 would be out of line, for a professional shop to do the needed work - using your Parts... if you can find one. Does it need a new water pump, how about a new oil pump and a rebuilt starter and/or a rebuilt alternator - need new motor mounts?... might as well do the clutch while the engine is out... Now all new hoses/belts and a battery.... Too bad the block wasn't boiled out - to clean the water passages and oil passages... you might want to have that done before you start putting it back together. You could wind up spending as much on this car in total actual dollars - as what you could have bought a clean, good running car to begin with. Keep shopping until you find a nice car you can drive home and enjoy... you don't need a project at this point from what you have said... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Will: In 98 we were still under the impression that Nissan would start with a clean slate design... thus our input. We did see a couple of our ideas show up in the 350-Z. The form of the convertible top cover behind the seats... the concept of offering different levels of trim at different price points (ie the Track Version etc.). Of course once Renault took over - the RB series engines were lost as they shut that plant down in the first wave of cost reductions. While Nissan said that they felt that they would not be able to make the RB meet the stricter emissions requirement... BMW seemed to have little problem keeping their L6 current, and of course GM developed and introduced a completely new 4.2L in-line six for their trucks. I guess the R&D budgets would simply not allow the necessary advanced development necessary at the time... Well maybe next time.... FWIW, Carl

This is what we told Nissan in 98... <a href=http://zhome.com/OurZ/NewZ.htm TARGET=NEW>Our New Z </a> Scrol down and follow links to the following pages. FWIW, Carl B.

It really isn't a good idea to remove, or have a non-working, vacuum advance on a street engine. On a road race engine - intended to spend most of it's time at higher RPM's and geared to do so - low end throttle response is not so much an issue. Not to mention that most of the triple carb. set-ups lack a port for carburetor vacuum anyway. They also run finely tuned timing curves in their distributors... and can live with a lot of initial advance at the crank... they also have accelerator pumps!! A great performing street engine is an entirely different matter. It routinely rev.'s from 750 RPM to 4000 or 5000 RPM. Sometimes that rev range is accomplished slowly... other times you want it accomplished as quickly as possible. The ignition timing advance/retard that your engine needs at various RPM's and throttle positions is a pretty specific number if you want to extract it's top performance potential. Spend a lot of money on "special" spark plug wires, a super hot coil and/or MSD... and all is for NOT - if that fat spark is to early or too late - in the combustion process. I believe it is better to think of the vacuum advance - as being a "timing retard - overridden with a vacuum control signal". This just gives you a broader range over which you can control and adjust the specific timing advance curve that your engine needs in order to preform at it's highest potential at any point in time. From idle to wide open throttle - the L6 responds best with about 20 degrees of additional advance... Without the vacuum advance, your distributor (and thus your engine) has to depend on the centrifugal advance weights to spin up and advance the timing... that is a far slower process, than the vacuum advance would have taken... so you get slower acceleration. (and possible bogs or poor throttle response). The vacuum advance gets it vacuum signal from carburetor vacuum (ported vacuum), when you go to WOT the vacuum signal from the carburetor increases as the engine demands(sucks) more air/fuel through the throttle opening.... to handle this effectively your engine needs more advanced timing until either the centrifugal advance catches up - or the engine RPM (load) levels off... The reason you can't use manifold vacuum to control a vacuum advance on the distributor is because manifold vacuum "drops" suddenly when you go to WOT - where carburetor (ported) vacuum increases. Yes - on a street engine you can simply set the static timing at the crank to a more advance point and to an effect, off-set the lack of the vacuum advance - - - but that is not a good trade-off. because your timing on the rest of the timing curve - over a range of engine RPM's and Loads is no longer as flexible nor nearly as well matched to the needs of the engine. Timing is everything... a street engine with a weak spark and correct timing, will out perform a street engine with a huge fat hot spark delivered to early or too late... That vacuum advance mechanism is a critical control element in the over-all timing curve that a good running street engine needs.. Make sure your's is working correctly. You'll get better initial acceleration, broad range performance and better fuel economy.. FWIW, Carl B.

1972zed Go Pure Stock with your Restoration... and get it done. You'll have a Classic Car and he'll have a hot rod. Then go buy another 240-Z, and drop that Turbo L28 in... properly set up it's and easy 300HP... At that point you'll have a Classic Car and a hot rod.. but he'll still only have a hot rod. Then go buy a nice, fairly well kept 70-72 911 (watch for RUST!!) ...make it an "E" but one that is still all stock. Don't do anything to it, but own it. Drive it once every couple of weeks..(it will make you really appreciate the 240-Z all the more). At that point you'll have a fully restored Classic Car to show, another Classic to own (stock 911) and a hot rod. All of which will have cost you about the same amount of money that he's going to poor into that 911 hot rod.... If you shop very carefully, don't get in an hurry and buy that two owner, all stock, 70-72 911 at the right price - then just hold it for five years, you'll most likely double your money. Buy the right car and DON'T PUT ANY MONEY INTO IT... remember the game here is to Beat the Brother... with car knowledge and strategy... Owning both a stock 240-Z and a stock 911 at the same time, you'll have the creditability to dis the 911 all over the place. Having a 240-Z with 300HP and a good suspension set-up, you'll be able to out run him on the track as well... How Good Can It Get?.... good luck, Carl B.

Are you sure you ran out of gas? Or was the gas gauge showing very low, when your fuel pump happened to go out? Take a can or a plastic mile bottle or whatever - disconnect the fuel line where it comes out of the fuel pump and put it in the bottle... crank the engine and see if you have fuel at that point. If you have an electric pump at the rear - disconnect the fuel line where it comes out of the filter. Just a thought.... Carl B.

Hi Arne/Walter (everyone): California had been the "Import Car Capital" of the US since the mid-50's. It's actually kind of funny today, but the men at the Nissan Head Office in Japan, really expected New York to be the foothold area for the sale of Datsun's in the U.S. (so Katayama was given the Western States) For 1970 Sales in the Eastern Division (26 States + D.C. Area) Florida Lead State in the Division Cars= 5,932 Trucks= 3462 Sales Totals for the Eastern Division Cars =39,804 Trucks= 13,997 (Walter - Indiana Cars = 50 and Trucks = 21) Sales in the Western Division (23 States) California Lead State in the Division Cars = 32,053 Trucks= 19,894 Sales Totals for the Western Division Cars 57,083 Trucks 35,355 Sales Totals for Hawaii Cars 3654 Trucks 964 Total Sales in the US for 1970 Cars = 100,541 Trucks = 50,316 1970 Sales in the US for VW = 569,182 240-Z Production in 1970 = something like 20,000 VW Karman-Ghia Production = something like 39,000 Mustang Production in 1970 = something like 300,000 Camero Production in 1970 = something like 125,000 Corvair Production in 1965 = something like 160,000 FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Guys: Thanks for the input. I was trying to find out if any of the after-market shocks, were significantly longer or shorter in Piston Length, than the OEM Replacement Cartridges. Doesn't look like there is any significant difference.... The OEM Front Shock Piston Length including the treads... is 8 1/4". FWIW, Carl B.

Damn... I hate it when that happens... Hope enough people raise cane and get the ITS group on the track by themselves... So who did win in ITS? Carl B.

From my experience (now 36 years of ownership) - I didn't see the dashes cracking until they were at least 15 years old. I have two 1972 240-Z's with still perfect dashes.. I'm the original owner on one, and the second owner on the other. Both simply have had "reasonable" care. Given the market price and then current market competition - the plastics used in the Z were far superior to most. FWIW Carl B.

Hi Ed: Now that is actually a function of "poor design"....IMHO. Carl B.

Bump.... Come on guys - you mean to tell me that no one has new set of shocks laying around that they haven't gotten installed yet !.. Carl B