gundee

Took the Z out on the road for first test. Its running pretty good. Brought it back and pulled the plugs. Looks like its a little lean yet. Put one size larger pilot in. Will road test again tomorrow. Rain storms rolled in before I could go any further. Gauges look normal. Clock even works too!

I am with Hagerty too but so far have never had to deal with them. Looking at your photos I would say yours is totally repairable. Except I would not want to do it. Let someone else. Like you, I think I would find another clean straight 240Z example instead. If the roof and winshield pillar on yours was buckled then I would say not fixable and salvage only.

If not going with a stock Datsun color, then German colors are my favorite. BMW, Audi, Porsche. Mine was redone in Porsche silver. (over 20 years ago)

Well after running the engine and looking at the plugs I decided to pull the 135 main jets and install 130's. I then pulled the valve cover to recheck the valves as one was very noisey. They were all way off except for 2 out of the 12. Most were way too tight. I set the valve lash on the workbench before torquing head on engine. I am wondering if that changed the settings from the workbench. Next time I will recheck valves after torque. Then there is the noisey loose valve. Bigtime loose! I could turn the locknut with my fingers! I don't know what happened. Either I was tired when I did the settings or I am loosing it. I definately did not have the lock nut tight. Well tomorrow I will run it again and set the pilot jets and balance out the carbs.

Jai, do you know what wheels are on yours? Centerline made a set that looked like those for the Z. Very lightwieght and very desired by autocrossers years ago.

Fired right up today. Ran it at higher rpm for 15 minutes per cam break in procedeure. I don't think the neighbors were real happy. Its a little louder than it was before. Its a little rich now. Going to drop a fuel jet size tomorrow. Also found and fixed the linkage bind I was having. Now when I let off the gas pedal, it goes instantly to idel position. No more hang up like before. This will be way more fun to drive.

I got the Mikuni's and intake manifold bolted on. I did it as a complete assembly. Almost impossible to get the bottom nuts and washers on. Like you can't even see them. Next time I think I will put the manifold on by itself first. Then I am putting the coolent back in and I have a leak. Where is that coming from? Source was one of the heater hoses. Both are origional from 1972. Completely rotted. Good thing I just bought both new ones from MSA. Start up and tune this weekend if all goes well. Have to break in the new cam regrind and rockers.

I had put a straight edge on the stock exhaust manifold and found a lot of gaps. Badly warped. Took it down to the machine shop and it now seats the best it has ever been. (Shown in previous photo.) The other day I was wire brushing down the old MSA headpipe and found it very thin and many pin holes. Down to the exhaust shop and had a new section welded in its place. I finally got the exhaust installed and the car back on the ground. I need a car lift. I am too old for this. I hurt all over.

Always wanted a 66 GT350. If someone would like to get rid of theirs, I will trade them my L28 72 240 with spare rebuilt origional L24 bored .020, spare 5 speed, spare limited slip diff. Plus all my other spare parts. But thats never going to happen the way the prices have gone up on GT350's. I wish.

Put a large through the wall AC unit in the garage like a friend of mine did. Very nice for working on cars. He goes, 'its only money'. lol.

Adding a photo. Planning on driving to a car show Sunday. A bit of work to do yet. I will probably get it running the night before and break in the new camshaft. Maybe before if all goes well. May even have to leave it jetted the way it was before if no time.. Cutting it close as usual.

What car and class is that? Did you place?

This would be an easy choice for me. I would sell both. I would then find a 240Z sleeper lurking around with a nice body. Then you really got something worth more than the other 2 put together. And then only 2 Z cars. A win win situation.

Finally got my rebuilt E31 head assembled, back on the engine and torqued down. Exhaust manifold is installed. Hooking up water and electrics now. Intake and carbs last I think. Its a good thing I took the head to the machinist to have him look at it. i just had the valves and valve seals installed. No springs and retainers. He said it looked fine but had to remove the valves as the stems had a coat of assembly lube on the valve stems. I said yup that was me. He goes not a good idea. A valve can stick using that stuff. Just use your same engine oil. I learned a good lesson. Do not do what I did. If I had damaged a valve and piston, that would have set me back until next year.

I also think that is too high of spring rate for the street. The rate you are thinking of going to sounds much better to me. Go for it.

I have a new 240Z tank that was ordered from a dealership, I don't know how many years ago. I have been keeping it if ever needed. I may end up selling it some day as I will probably never use it. I will never ship it though. Too risky.

Speaking of the origional glove box insert. Mine has been removed so long I cannot remember if it gets reinstalled from the front or the back. How did yours come out? Front or rear?

Have not turned on the Z radio for at least 25 years. Ruins the sound of my Mikunis and my exhaust note!

You may also want to try to get a hold of Larry the engine builder and see if he knows or has an opinion on what works best with that camshaft.

I was wondering. Since you have a high compression set up, did you have to set the timing way back to prevent detonation? I would think that would affect LM-2 readings. You also need a working distributer vac advance. Not just hooked up, I mean working.

Are you a member of your SCCA Region? They will give you any answers you will need for drivers school. Planning to run E Production? Spec Miata?

With air filters on, mine runs better without air horns. Try it.

I was sitting next to John when I took this photo in 2013. I said did you notice anything on the paint scheme? John said no. I said the stripes are wrong. He goes oh ya, I guess you'r right. Ha.

Head is at the machine shop now. Having straightness checked out. And the seats. I was not aware of Beryllium alloy valve seats. It may have these installed. I will likely keep this head when he gets back to me.

Ad from 3 Years ago. Relisted it and still did not sell. Been well over a year since I saw it last at the track.