moyest

Yup, I thought about coatings for the headers, but they are SO close to the manifold (touching at the front!) that I don't think a coating would do it!? I also wondered about fabricating the headers from scratch, but cost would be around AUS$600 (approx. US$490). I'll check out the MSA site - thanks for the advice guys!

Latest problem is that my headers sit too close to the underneath of my carbs & manifold - so the fuel tends to "boil" a bit and performance drops off. Anyone know where I can get my hands on some competition headers for a Z? The ones that drop straight down off the side of the engine, rather than extending out under the carbs? The more clearance I can get between my exhaust and the carbs/manifold, the better! Thanks!

Beandip, I'm in the "Australian" part of the world, and I think my expectations for horsepower have proved fairly reasonable. 133hp at the wheels has made a HUGE difference from a driver's perspective, and I hope I can squeeze a bit more out by improving the ignition (electronic). Based on all the other comments, I think I can summarise as follows: 151hp is GROSS HP for a standard L24 (nothing more). Kmack's Dyno results of 127hp is probably at the flywheel. My result of 133hp at the rear wheels seems pretty good, but bring on the "160KW" figure!!! That's INSANE! P.S: Kmack, I make that comment because my previous Dyno (standard engine like yours, reconditioned with headers and exhaust) showed nearly 130hp - that figure CAN'T have been at the driving wheels, because now I'm pushing 133hp at the driving wheels (after fairly extensive modifications) and it has made a HUGELY noticeable difference. If you're churning out 127hp at the rear wheels then you're nearly keeping up with my current engine set-up: mild cam, ported & polished head, non-standard headers and exhaust, port-matched TWM manifold, and and triple DCOE45 webers! The L24 sure is a mighty engine! Mine's back at the mechanic though, with torn O-ring / soft-mount on one of the carbies! :sleepy: Back tonight.

I have to agree with the comments on Dyno variation. When I bought my stock standard L24 powered 240Z with 2.5" exhaust, the Dyno sheet showed 131 horsepower. Now, that CAN'T have been at the rear wheels, so I assume it was at the flywheel. But the L24 in this part of the world is rated at 151hp at the engine! Anyway, I went ahead and did porting/polishing, re-profiled cam, and triple weber carbs on TWM manifold (port-matched) with better spark plugs. Result was 133hp at the rear wheels, a nice curve on the Dyno chart, and I can really feel the difference on the road! That makes me think the original 131hp figure must have been at the engine (which makes the 151hp rating a bit of a mystery!?). So there you have it. :classic: But perhaps any of you boys can recommend how to get more out of my engine set-up? e.g. electronic ignition (would that require re-tuning the carbs again, and more tinkering, or is it just a straight "swap-n-drive" scenario?) MoyesT

Wish I had one of those, MariaAZ! My car used to backfire very occasionally with its standard SU carbs and a 2.5" exhaust. Now I'm running triple webers, it pops and burbles all over the place! Sounds good though. Until one of the carbs started to run too rich, then it was even backfiring (very loudly) immediately after flooring the accelerator! Yikes! Scares the natives. If you have an anti-backfiring valve I'd keep it on, if it doesn't harm your performance. You want your engine to sound like it's running sweetly, not backfiring on 3 cylindes! That's just my 2c

Pardon my flagrant self-promotion, but... Z's are obviously much cheaper "down under", here in Australia. I purchased my 1972 Z from the guy who restored it. It is "refreshed", not "restored". It was originally poo brown, and was automatic. Apart from the paint change to metallic red and the gearbox change to manual, the car is all original bits. I purchased the car for the cost of restoration - i.e. not including the original purchase price of the car. Not bad for AUS$10,500 (that's about US$8,100). And every time the car is up on the hoist, people admire the excellent condition underneath! The restorer obviously spent quite a bit of time under there! Of course, I've spent more dough since then, but only to "customise" it to my liking (e.g. suspension set-up, leather interior, and triple carbs).

Oops, that last post didn't work - the photo was in "bmp" format instead of "gif" or "jpg". Anyway, check out my gallery - I posted the photos from the ads, just so everyone can see what cars we've been talking about here. Cheers!

(hope this works)

Here's the link to the immaculate 1973 240Z Fairlady - http://carpoint.ninemsn.com.au/marketplace/UsedCarDetail.asp?ID=2402787&Criteria=%40Make%3D%27NISSAN%27%2C+%40PriceFrom%3D0001+%2C+%40PriceTo%3D20000+%2C+%40OrderBy%3D%27P2%27&NoOfRecs=500&PageNo=1&chkRows=500

That 240Z is very immaculate, and apparently "original" (not restored). I phoned the owner (or "ex-owner") today (16 Dec 2003) and had a chat with him. Would you believe he sold TWO pristine condition 240Z's!! The green one (shown in the ad above) and a blue "Fairlady". DETAILS: The green 240Z had 47,000 original miles on the clock, and sold for the asking price (AU$18,000). The other one was a ONE OWNER blue 240Z, with 96,000 kms (approx. 59,000 miles) on the clock, and also sold for the asking price (AU$20,000). Mileage was completely documented too! He has TWO MORE in his garage: A red 240Z with black interior, with 23,000 original miles; and A silver 240Z with black interior, with only 14,000 miles! And it's a ONE OWNER vehicle!! All 240's are/were apparently 1973 models. I can't believe it - I chatted to this guy for 20 minutes. He's in the car industry, so comes across these "pearls" every now and then. But all four 240Z's were/are completely original, low mileage, and in perfect condition. (*oh, and he also has a white 1975 two-seater 260Z!)

From what I can tell, this is an age-old problem for Z cars due to the aerodynamics at the rear end... MY CAR STINKS! I have the smell of fuel and/or exhaust fumes, and it's nauseating :sick: I've heard different things about how to fix the problem: 1. longer exhaust tip; 2. seal up all the little holes in the rear floor; 3. check the fuel filler hose that runs to the tank; 4. keep the windows closed and the fan on full. Well that sounds like a lot of work! :stupid: (except for option 4) Can anybody honestly report that they've done any of the above and completely eliminated (or at least noticeably lessened) the smells? Or perhaps you'd like to have a crack at ordering the above "ideas" with the most likely first? Then I'll gradually attack each one and hope for the best (and continue with option 4 in the meantime). Cheers!

Hey Alfadog and Gee, It'd be great to have a couple more 240Z's on the Gold Coast. I'm sure you guys have checked out the Southport car park on the Broadwater. It's "Cruier's Paradise" every Friday/Saturday night, but I've never found a place to park there cos there are no other Z's! The last thing I want to do is park next to the V8 boys or the riced up MR2's! See ya 'round!

THanks for the comprehensive reply. I was a bit confused by my DYNO results, and by YOURS ozlime240Z. My print-out suggests I have something like 523NM of torque! And yours suggests 581NM! That seems WAY too high, considering that a 7.0 litre Dodge Viper V10 has about 500-odd?? Can that be correct??

Hi guys I've posted a couple of threads on my new triple Weber carb set-up, but here's a story from my weekend's driving: I went out cruising with a buddy on the Gold Coast. If you don't know the Gold Coast, it's the Australian version of Florida / Miami. And there's a HUGE cruising culture. Anyway, I was en-route to one of the local congregation points, and this Nissan 180SX (that's a 240SX in USA I believe?) started chasing me down, along with his buddy in a 300Z. The 180SX had the complete modern overhaul - big spoiler on the boot, huge shiny wheels, rubber-band tyres, turbo modifications and a noisy blow-off valve.... oh, and a tailpipe so huge I could drive my car up it! The 300Z was more "relaxed", but still seemed a bit more than "factory" specs. The 180SX pulled up next to me at the lights, and I knew it was on. The light went green and he got a massive jump on me (his reactions were obviously also turbo-charged), and I prefer to "eeeeease" it in first gear. But even still, I was on to him by the top of first gear, and at the end of second gear I was already out ahead!! The 300Z was somewhere tucked in behind the 180SX, flashing his lights and swerving about, but nevertheless dropping further behind. He never bothered taking me on! I backed off at the top of third gear (which is already over 100kph) and he came gushing and whooshing and popping past me from a distance of about two car lengths - a convincing win on my part! So I think I'll leave it at that. No more drags for a while - I've proved my point. (And I don't want to lose to the next challenger!!!)

Well, after a weekend of burning up the streets with the new triple Weber set-up, I am happy to say the fuel efficiency is not too bad! Sure, if you drive the car with a lead foot you'll go through a tank of gas in no time, but just cruising the highway at legal speeds seemed fine. I hate to mix metric with imperial, but I travelled about 220kms at 65mph over two days. I couldn't help knocking it down into third gear and stomping on it a few times and still the fuel consumption was good. I went through appox. 1 full tank of gas after travelling about 315kms. I've got NO IDEA what that equates to in miles per gallon, but I know it's not much worse than when I was running a standard set-up. SUMMARY: WHO THE HELL CARES!?!?!?! It's a sports car, man! Built to be driven! If you're really that worried about getting good gas mileage, buy one of those Toyota hybrid petrol-electric contraptions that does 1,000kms on the smell of an oily rag!

Can't believe it, but some arse-wipe ran his key right down the passenger side of my 240z!!! Then he went to the trouble of wandering around the other side, and scratching the front side panel too! It happened a week ago, but I'm still really p!ssed off. :devious: Fortunately, my insurance company specialises in classic cars, and allows me to choose my own repairer. Not sure how much will buff/polish out, because I've already had a crack at it with my cut-n-polish. I'm thinking it'll need to be repainted (at least on those particular panels - all FOUR of them!). Does anyone have any tips or tricks? Words of condolence will also be appreciated. Thanks! Z Car Nut (aka MOYEST)

That sure looks good! I wonder if there's much HP/torque difference between the set-ups? For example, I think that the length of air horn can make a subtle difference, and webers certainly have longer air horns (mine's bigger than yours, hehehe... ) Good luck Zvoiture!