Carl Beck

Hi Steve: That is too funny... In a few months Mr. K will be 101 years old! He is very computer savvy.. and simply an amazing individual. I guess age is to an extent relative.. I once remarked to Mr. K that I was starting to feel my age and he ask how old I was - I told him and he said - "I have children older than you".

Hi Indri: Thanks - I bought my first 240Z in March of 1970 - and I've been driving them ever since. Still have the 72 240Z that I bought new at the end of 71. {along with a few others now}. FWIW, Carl B.

On thing that makes the brake fluid "brown" - is the rubber stoppers in the caps on the reservoir deteriorate with age. In effect they finally dissolve. If you are going to replace all components of the hydralic clutch system. Use DOT 5 Silicone Fluid. It will not absorb moisture - thus no rust and corrosion in the system. It will also protect and lubricate the rubber seals in the system. I forget now exactly when - but about two or three years ago I finally had to replace the clutch master on my 72 240Z. I had replaced the brake fluid, in the Clutch System, with Silicone Brake Fluid when the car was new at the end of 1971. So that clutch master, slave and rubber line lasted the first 35 or 36 years. I've also ran Silicone Brake Fluid in the same car's brake system - since I stopped racing/rallying it around 1978. I had to replace the original set of rear wheel cylinders and brake master for the first time about 10 years ago. You don't want to run DOT 5 Silicone Brake Fluid in a competition car. Unlike DOT3/4 Brake Fluids, DOT 5 will compress when heated to extremes. I have ran several parking lot auto-crosses over the years with no problem on DOT 5... but I wouldn't want to run high speed track days with it. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Lee: Actually - the original community was formed around "the Z Car List" which goes back to about 1985/6. In 1987 Bob Weissman set up our first "List Server Software" on a Mainframe at Boeing. As I recall we had about 400 people on that e-mail based Z Car Discussion Group by 1992. In 92 - John DeArmond suggested that the discussion group become a "Club" so that we would qualify for Club Discounts offered by several vendors at the time. Thus the Internet Z Car Club was formed. Paul Richer simply took the names from the list and assigned IZCC Membership Numbers to them as list subscribers let him know that they supported the idea. In 1994 Salman Shami built the first "Z Car Home Page", while working on his M.E. at Melbourne University in Melbourne, AU. By the late 90's - we had about 2400 people on "the Z Car List". It covered all generations of the Z Car and the list traffic was very heavy. People were complaining about too many e-mails per day, and many did not want to know everything about ever generation of the Z Car. They were more narrowly focused on their own car. One of the first "splinter" groups was this one. People that wanted to discuss ONLY Classic Datsun 240Z's broke off and established "the Classic Z Car Club". At that time, they did not want anyone other than Datsun 240Z enthusiasts and only people that wanted to keep their Z Stock. They didn't want to hear about Fuel Injection problems, nor V8 swaps ;-) Next it was the Z31 Group that split off, then the folks at HybridZ and the 90+ Generation with TwinTurbo... The bottom line was - the Z Car Community because so "inclusive" - it failed to retain the following of the more exclusive interests of the individual members. Everyone felt that they had approached "information overload" and they really wanted to devote their time to their interests, and share their interests with like minded people. That Indri is the main reason all the Z Car Forums don't converge into one... Kind of a "Big Bang" that happened long ago and in a far off Galaxy as it reached critical mass.... Of course we older people are less "computer-savvy" as well.. FWIW, Carl B.

Sad to say - I had to use my Hagerty Policy about five years ago. - I took my Z to the body shop I use for restorations and refresh jobs. - The body shop told me how much it would be to repair the car - Every damaged part was replaced with NOS parts. Hood, Front Fender, Bumper, Center and Right lower finisher, Parking/Turn Signal Light. The Right Head Light nacelle was fiberglass, and it was repaired. All-in-all it took about $8K to put it back to original condition. At the time the Agreed Value on that Z was set by me at $16K. - After getting the estimate from the body shop - I called Hagerty and the Lady that handled the claim simply said - {para phrase} I am so sorry to hear that your car was damaged. If you are happy with that body shop go ahead and have the do the repairs.{/ para phrase} So I told the body shop to proceed. - About two weeks later - the car was almost finished and the body shop owner told me that they hadn't received approval from the Hagerty yet. In fact they didn't hear anything from them. He suggested that I call them. - I called the Lady at Hagerty - told her what the shop owner said - she put me on hold while she checked to see what the status of the claim was. When she came back on the phone she said; "I am sorry for the delay Mr. Beck, the check for your damages was sent out two days ago - you should have it tomorrow. If its not there in three more days let me know." The check in full was at my house the next day. I had been with a couple different Classic Car Insurance Companies before I switched to the Hagerty. I have been with them now for over 20 years. If their premiums were twice as much as anyone else's - I'd still stay with them. When you deal with anyone there - you are dealing with real Car People, that happen to be in the insurance business. They support the hobby and the Classic Car Community. Their Quarterly Magazine is almost worth the premiums, I've saved every issue. You do not seem to understand the difference between an insurance policy written with an "AGREED" value, vs one written with an "Actual Cash Value" and/or a "Stated Value" Hagerty wrotes only "AGREED VALUE" Policies on Classic Cars. "Agreed Value" means that you and the insurance co. agree ahead of time what the exact value of the car is. That is the amount they pay in case of a total loss, or they will pay up to that amount to fix your car. PERIOD No Claims Adjustors - there is nothing to Adjust. "Actual Cash Value" - is determined by a number of factors at a specific time in the future - when a loss occurs. So the value can go down due to use, wear and tear. This is where you and the Claims Adjustor butt heads... and usually you lose. "Stated Value" - is a situation where you "State The Value" of your car. Your premiums are then based on that amount of coverage. When you have an accident, you still deal with a Claims Adjustor.. wear and tear still apply. The Claims Adjustor is NOT bound by the value you Stated. It is simply a starting point - from which "adjustments" can be made. In no case however would the value of your car exceed the "Stated" value. DO NOT LISTEN to your Insurance Agent - PERIOD. READ your Policy - that is what controls. If you don't understand the language used - ask an Attorney to review it with you and explain what it means. Your Policy has to say "Agreed Value" - so something along the lines of - "we will pay up to the amount given in the Declarations Page to repair your vehicle, or in case of a total loss bla bla bal" FWIW, Carl B.

A different tool for "Flow Measurement" http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/Tools/STETools.htm They don't seem to be available any longer. This does allow you to run the engine and observe the behavior of the two SU's... FWIW, Carl B.

The L24 and later L26 blocks were the basic same castings - Except, the L26 blocks had eyebrows machined in them to clear the larger valves use in the L26. The L28 blocks were a different casting. The cylinder walls are cast with a larger diameter to begin with. The second casting of the L28's put additional webbing between pairs of cylinder bores - some reports say that this was done to strengthen the cylinder bores, others say it was actually done to redirect the coolant flow inside the block for increased cooling for the turbo heads.. Convert it - Not really. I suppose you could cut the P30 open, then cut the cylinder bores out of an L28 and weld them in.. along with the webbing between them... but seriously - NO. You can't "re-sleeve" a block that wasn't designed/cast to use replaceable cylinder sleeves to begin with. If you had a cylinder sleeve, the diameter of a bored out L28 cylinder - and you cut the entire L24 cylinder wall out to make room for it - you still would have nothing to hold the bottom of the replacement cylinder bore and/or its sleeve in {ie...keep it from dropping down on the crank below}. A better approach - grind the "L28" off an L28 block and re-stamp it "L24". Then grind the casting numbers off the side of the block, and weld in the L24 casting numbers. :-) FWIW, Carl B.

hummm.. Interesting point. The seller said: "I have a complete album of pictures taken during construction. Any specific questions you have, give me a call. 503-329-6600"... Perhaps a call would be in order... You could ask him about the parts used from the other cars... and/or the meaning of "construction"... I don't think the car "sold"... rather it went to its starting bid.. most likely put in by the seller {yes/no?}.. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi John: Does that transmission shift lever come up in the 70/71 or 72+ position in the transmission tunnel?? aaaand... how much delievered to your door? thanks, Carl B.

Hi Steve: The pictures don't show it - but - You Are Removing the engine and repainting the engine bay - RIGHT??? No sense in taking the whole car apart and not refinishing the engine bay... Right? FWIW, Carl B.

Really GREAT pictures Lowell!! Thanks for all your help at the Mitty and we'll see you at the ZCON.. regards, Carl B.

Hi Kats: I do not see a video at the links you Posted - is there another link that we have to hit to display a video? thanks, Carl B.

Hi Michael: Looks Great - but it should say 2010 BRE 270Z ;-) What software did you use to create it? Carl B.

Jim, my son Carl and I had "planned" to leave Clearwater around 8:00 PM Wednesday night. Thinking we would take our time, the drive to Road Atlanta would take 10 hours. That would put us at the track around 6:00 AM Thursday. Drop the Z and the Trailer off at the track and be checked into the hotel around 9:00 AM. That would give us time to rest from the trip, clean up and be back at the track around 3:00 PM. Ready to stage the car then go to the BRE Reunion Dinner at 6:00PM. We actually hooked up the trailer around 9:00 PM... About 7 miles from the house Carl ask me if I smelled something burning. I did. We pulled off the road to find the trailer brakes were staying on, and they were HOT... For some reason the trailer brake controller had gone haywire... Humm, I thought it felt like the trailer was a little harder to pull.... We returned home and opened the garage... Three hours of trouble shooting the electrical circuits left us without any cause, other than the digital brake controller simply had a melt down. We could wait until the morning when shops opened and have a new brake controller in stalled - but that would mean that we would miss the BRE Reunion Dinner.... Or we could leave my Silverado 2500HD at home and take my son's Silverado 1500 also equipped with a trailer brake controller. Big difference between the two when you hook an enclosed car hauler and car behind them..... Nonetheless the 1500 would do the job. So we hooked up the 1500 and we were off again... this time around 2:00PM. We had to switch trailer hitches between the two trucks, as I have a weight distributing / anti-sway hitch on my truck and trailer. By 3:00 AM we were swinging by Jim's house in Lutz, to pick him up... and one of the weight distributing bars broke a weld and dropped down... Bummer!! We could safely pull the trailer without the weight distributing hitch and anti-sway control.... but it sure makes driving a lot more work as the entire rig is far less stable at speed. What the heck... we were on our way. The 10 hour trip turned into a 12 hour trip, as by the time we were half way there - we were too tired to continue - so we pulled into a rest area and took a 2 hour nap. I'd rather get there late and alive.. than the alternative. By 3:00PM Thursday were arrived at the track, unloaded the Z and took it to the BRE Display area. There too things were slightly behind schedule.. so we waited to see where/how the car would be parked.... We were all somewhat tired, with now 18 hours of road dirt/sweat and somewhat less than clean cloths... The good news was that everyone else was in the same condition... so we all went to the BRE Reunion Dinner in what Ron termed "true racer style"... Friday and Saturday I tried to find a local machine shop or welding shop to get the weight distributing trailer hitch fixed before the return home and I was having no luck. While touring the Pits, I ran across a beautiful 240Z parked by an 18 wheeler that had a DATSUN roadster parked beside it. A great looking BRE Tribute Roadster no less. So I stopped to see who owned them. To my surprise... Steve Heimsoth, IZCC #14498 came to meet me. He owned the 72 240Z we were admiring... and one of his team mates owned the Datsun Roadster. More amazing, the 18 wheeler was equipped with full arc welding capabilities and Steve's friend Gary said he would be happy to repair / re-weld the trailer hitch!! At that point - I felt that perhaps some balance was being put back into our universe... a bit of good fortune to start off-setting the earlier bad luck. "Balance In All Things", a creed of Systems Engineering. On the way home.. I was thinking about the wonderful week-end we just enjoyed and looking back over the decades I was reminded that most of the good fortune I've experienced, can be attributed to the good people I have had the pleasure of knowing. Pictured below is Steve's Z and Bill's award wining BRE Tribute Roadster... picture from Steve.

As Ron said - it was a pleasure to meet everyone. Jim Frederick and my son Carl made the trip with me. That is a long story by itself...I'll only say that if it isn't one thing it's another... I am sorry that given the time devoted to displaying the BRE Baja Z, and the associated activities - - that I really didn't get a chance to spend more time with everyone. "Associated Activities" included finding someone to weld a broken weight distributing trailer hitch and trying to get the Z to run over 3,500 RPM at the track for the Parade Lap {it was running perfectly at home before the trip !!}... Nonetheless, it was great seeing Les again and getting to meet Ron and his father in person. I hope everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as we did. Ron's Z was amazing.. Jim was shy, but I forced him to get in the picture... I also had to tell him to get his hand up where we could see it. ;-) Note that it is NOW around her waist.... Carl B.

Hi Mark: My son is bringing me ;-) He came over and spent the day cleaning the car hauler up. For the most part I watched and ran for refreshments ;-) Ron - two down and two to go.... I think that Eagle-One has actually improved the Original Nevr-Dull a bit. Let's pray for dry weather...

Rich - before too long - it may well be.

Hi Mark: Bringing your son? see you there.. Carl B.

"Nationals"?? - - bring it to the Mitty next week!! 3 YEARS.....in a few months you'll be wondering what project you can start on next. You really do need a pure stock example in the same color to sit beside it.;-) Fantastic Job... enjoy the ride... Carl B.

$800.00??? The last NOS set that I saw on E-Bay went for something over $1,200.00. Did you buy the repro's, a NOS set, or a used set? FWIW, Carl B.

Ah...yes... I was taking about myself..At 65 years of age, believe me I've paid a lot for my education - and I've been parted with a lot of money!! The good thing is we all get to be fooled from time to time - but we usually recover and move forward a bit wiser for the experience. live and learn... FWIW, Carl B.

Once the high bidder sees the car - I doubt he'll take it. If he buys it sight unseen -and takes delivery of it sight unseen - he deserves what he gets. A Fool and His Money Are Soon Parted.

A repaint - of very low quality. Glass left in the car etc..{Maako Special} Dry rotted carpet,cracked dash with half dash cover,bad weather stripping/seals Plastic Rear Panel - for the tail lights - replaced with a sheet of dark gray cardboard. Chrome on the rear bumper is a mess. Entire under carriage coated with black undercoat Engine components all painted... very amateur and juvenile. Things that were originally Yellow Cad are now painted black, valve cover painted gray, fuel lines painted white....get the picture? Impossible to tell how or if rust damage was fixed. At this point the actual body looks pretty straight, but you would have to strip it bare metal to see. This "might" have been a good car at one point, but it looks like it fell into the hands of 14 year old, that had time to screw with it but no funds to do anything right. In short - a real crying shame...

Prospective buyer went to look at it - and walked away. I'm sure he was very disappointed... I looked at the car today. Had to ask twice if this was the car they have on e-bay. Classic example of why you NEVER buy a car without first physically inspecting it. FWIW, Carl B.

As i recall the distributor spins counter-clockwise. Just move the spark plug wires one hole clockwise... far easier than dropping the oil pump.