Victor Laury

Just how much different is this car from the 610 coupe? Wheelbase/track? There's a nice 73 610 coupe for sale, If I installed an L6 and a roadster trans, just how close could I get?

Kyle's write up on the proceedures was a good primer for me. Anybody know where it is?

I must admit, Your'e finding some fine looking east coast cars!

Alan, Here in the States where we drive on the funny side of the road, I've never considered the E brake handle strange. That's the way it is in my roadster. I'm even happy it's arranged this way. I'm too big for both cars anyway. If the Ebrake handle was on the left, It would dig into my thigh. When I drove Les Cannady's Fairlady Z, I was amazed on how fast I adapted to sitting right. The hassle is overtaking, where you've got to swing right to peer around the car in front and then dive left to pass. Now that's awkward!

Not too many L-6's in roadsters. There also the problem with engine height as well. The U-20 and R-16 motors where rather short engines. We have enough trouble swapping L-4's in there with cutting the hood. In the late 80's, One of our vendors, Stan Chernoff, developed a swap kit for L-4's where you didn't have to "Raise the Scoop". My dream has always been to replicate the almost legendary "Roadster S". A prototype racer Nissan campained briefly in Japan only. It was outfitted with the prototype of the engine that would end up in the fairlady 432 (crossflow, hemi, DOHC, 2L six). But this roadster was 4 inches wider and several inches longer than your normal SR/SP roadster

Internals, Yes. But We got no, 0, rear Wheel Drive SR20's And none of the Turbo's. just FWD SR20DE's. Still an Awesome engine. It's the most desired swap for a roadster. The few that have been done look very natural under a roadster bonnet. Iv'e only seen 1 DET swap and it wasn't very clean.

St.Steven, You left out the evil laugh - BBBBWWWOOOOOHAAAHAAAHAAAHAAAA!

Looks Sweet! My only beef is the door ding trim. Personal taste - I hate that stuff

Ahh! true!

I wouldn't suggest setting the advance to 5 BTDC arbitrarily. Many Z's have had a distributor swap in their past and just suggesting a setting may kill performance or kill an engine. Different markets came with different dizzys as well. Much better to set your timing using total advance of 32 Degrees BTDC with the vacuum advance off and plugged @ 2,500 RPM. So, no matter what the initial mechanical advance is setup for, you'll know you've got it right.

Oops! Doesn't seem to be a franchise in Sputh Carolina though. http://www.gastankrenu.com/welcome.htm

Try the link to learn more about Mr. Vest http://www.datsun.org/fairlady/RockVest.htm

The Gas Tank ReNew franchises are all over the states and probably Canada as well. After my dealings with the L.A. franchise, I have nothing but accolades. Good Service and fair deals. I was returning a tank ReNew tank from a 72 that their repair had failed. I explained to them that this was out of a junk car that I was placing into a new car. They Did Not Care! They Covered their tank, No questions asked, no matter where it came from or who paid for the initial service, or which car it came from! I got a repaired tank without opening my wallet. Very refreshing to encounter real professionalism in this mostly crooked world.

Rock Vest! The Rock Vest? Roadster Racer Rock Vest? That would be the local expert, no matter how big an area "local" means.

I Really shoot for a balance of both.

No, Not a purple Saturn. possibly a teenage girl's pink VW Cab

No matter what he says, If you exceed 35 degrees total advance, Melted pistons are in your future. You might not even hear the ping at load, at speed, fighting the aerodynamic drag, foot in the throttle, engine beating itself to death.

Vent pulls

Get your self a MSA catalog. They've got lots of photos of nice rear spoilers to compare and dream. Hopfuly, one will cover the holes the Kid drilled to mount that thing! An air dam will balance it out as well.

It has a strange growth on the rear panel of the hatch! You sould have that looked at! Do you think it might be malignent?

Are you near L.A.? I might be interested in the lot, including the seat Belts. I'll PM you my phone numbers.

I have an N-42 block. I was going to rebuild this engine. Can it be refitted with flat top pistons? 10:1 sounds good to me.

In the Late 70's I built a V8 Chevy Monza Spider (souped up Vega) That I had modified to the limit of "Streetable". I drove this car to New Orleans in 1980 with dreams of getting work in the oil fields (I got work but (let me tell you) it was no dream!). A year later my father got very sick and I was told He wouldn't last the week and to come home. I packed up and hit the road back to Miami. Let me set the scene - 1 am, Northern Fl., southbound on the I-75, mile markers going past every 27 seconds, Driving lights on. I crested a roll in the road and see a set of tail lights in the distance. I don't slow down. Up and over the next roll AND I"M RIGHT ON TOP of him!! And it's a FLORIDA STATE TROOPER!! Hard on the binders! OH SH*#! He never saw me coming. To him it was a quiet night and an empty road and suddenly there's this roaring beast behind him with lights giving him a sun burn! I saw him suddenly weave in shock. After slowing, and shutting off the Ciebes, I turn on my turn signal and pull HIM over! He walks over and asked "Why did you pull me over?" "To save you the trouble of pulling me over" I replied. "You must have been going pretty fast to come out of nowhere like that" he said. I answered, "Yep", "It was a fair clip", "I gotta get home to Miami, My dad's in the Hospital". Much to my surprise, he says, "Well, It's kind of foggy" "Slow it down a bit and be carefull". "Good Night". "Good Night to you to Trooper" My respect for Fl. State Troopers was high before that meeting. It was even higher after.

I was a bit confused during a Z introduction phase. My L-4 and A motors knowledge is that "flat Tops" "Tuna Cans" were JDM "GX" SU's and highly desirable for your L-18 or A-14 GX mighty mouse But, those were very different than these "Hitachis", "Flattops", "boat anchors" "Smog demons" Whatever

I asked is the fact I see many a sweet 280Z. If, in fact the only beef is the bumpers and the annual tribute to the CARB (California Air Resouces Board - AKA "Them Bastards"), Maybe I'll pick one up for a daily driver to take the load off of my 72. The Ironic thing is, I bought the 72 to take the daily driver chore from the Roadster. WHERE DOES IT END?!? I've dropped so into Z love, the roadster crowd has labeled me a turncoat. I knew this would happen. There was nothing left to do with the Roadster. It's done. Every possible trick item has been bought and installed. I can't deal with a finished project. I knew that once I started working on a Z, first I'd pour great gobs of money into it and get completely submerged into Zdom.