Bambikiller240

They (Cafe Shops) won't let you exchange it for the right size?

I only studied Spanish in school. In today's political climate we are not allowed to have anything "French" in my neighborhood. I thought it might have something to do with your wine cellar, or a fondness for the "necter of the grape". Thanks for letting us know!

Smokey: Yeah, the top picture (red car) does look funky. Something has moved the lower valance inward towards the center of the car. The orange car looks correct. As mentioned by others, it should not be a "major" issue to correct, assuming you were planning on having body work and painting done to the car. But for $8.8K it is IMO an unacceptable descrepancy. The price should be lower to reflect that and the battery rust. Next time I need a battery, I will be shopping for an Optima, or similar. Better late than never. FWIW, Bambikiller came to me with very minor "surface rust" unde the battery support. It was not from acid leakage, but from moisture collecting in the plastic battery tray which had the drain hose plugged with debris. It was the kind of rust that is born of metal, air, and water, NOT the type of rust (actually "acidic corrosion") caused by battery acid eating metal. With a replacement of the battery tray and a little effort to ensure that the drain doesn't get plugged, the situation has not gotten any worse since I aquired the car. It will be addressed properly with sandblasting and POR15 treatment once and for all when I pull the engine for rebuild or replacement. (someday) Common suraface rust is far different than acidic corrosion which cannot be stopped until the acid is completely removed or completely neutralized, which is tough to do when it is inside the seams, joints and/or frame rails.

Sorry it took so long to post, but it was a traumatic tale to put down on "paper", even after almost 3 years. I now understand a bit more of why it took me so long to start the thread. OK, Here's the story behind my screen name, Bambikiller240. In 1986 I had found myself in a position where I had to sell the 71 240Z that I had spent 3 years and a ton of money completely rebuilding from a bare shell into my dream street/autocross Z. I hated to do it, but had no choice, yet always knew that I'd have one again someday. After a period of 12 years without a Z I bought my 1972 240Z in October of 1998, a one owner, all original blue, with white interior car. My goal when I bought it was a complete restoration after a year or two of driving and tinkering with it to re-introduce myself to the breed. I had looked at every car I could find for sale over a period of 3 months before I found "my baby". I was overjoyed to have a 240Z again and set about putting all systems in to fully trustworthy condition. I rebuilt the hydraulic systems, replaced the water pump and all hoses, adjusted the valves and tuned the engine, had the carbs serviced, then rebuilt the entire suspension (including the rear outer bushings/spindle pins). I enjoyed driving and working on the car while planning the restoration until June 28th of 2000. I was heading home from my girlfriends home at around 10PM that evening. She lives in a town about 6 miles from the town where I live, and there are only gravel mines and regional parks in the area separating the two towns. The 4-lane road that I was travelling had a speed limit of 55mph. The first 4.5 miles were completely uneventful, however as I approached the town limits of Pleasanton I observed a vehicle in the west-bound left lane (the one I was travelling in) with it's emergency flashers turned on. The vehicle looked as if it was stopped. I could not see any people or other cars in the area, but was concerned athat there might be people around the vehicle, so I began to slow down and moved into the right lane as I approached the scene. As I got closer to the vehicle I could see that it was a Mini-Van, and was actually still moving, but at a greatly reduced speed of around 5mph. By now I had slowed down to about 25 mph and was still about 50 yards from the vehicle, and I noticed there was an arm sticking out of the passenger side window that was motioning to me to "come around" on the right. I slowed a bit more to maybe 20mph as I drew nearer, still trying to see what was the problem that was causing the vehicle to drive so slowly, and yet still remain in the "fast" lane. Just as I drew parallel with the van I heard it's horn sound, and immediately saw a deer dart out from in front of the van into my lane! In spite of being semi-prepared for the unexpected, my foot didn't even have time to get to the brake pedal before the impact. "Bambi" took out the bumper, hood, center and left valance panels, left headlight nacelle, fender, and radiator on my baby. In an instant my beautiful, all-original 1972 240Z was changed forever. It would never be "all- original" again, and like the front-end of my car, my dream was shattered. As I pulled over to the side of the road and got out of the car to examine the damage, the van pulled up and the driver yelled out the window, "Sorry, I was trying herd the deer off the road when you came up. I honked the horn to scare him out of the way." Yeah, he scared the deer alright, right into the front of my car! I was so pissed off that I was afraid I'd smack him if he , or I stayed around much longer. So, I got back into the car and tried to start the car. The radiator was leaking a bit, with the fan up against it, but I was able to get the engine started and drive it the remaining mile to my home. I only had a difficult time when I needed to make the two left turns to get home. The mangled fender would dig into the tire in those turns, but I did make it home. Fortunately, I did have comprehensive insurance and was able to have the car repaired ($4,500.00 in damages at Bay Area, CA prices). I suppose that some people would be satisfied with that, but the situation still left me with an empty spot in my heart, and more than a little anger at the circumstances. After about two months of grumbling, and moping around I came to the realization that nothing would ever change the situation, and that unless I did something to help put it behind me, I would be bitter, and angry for a long time. Since I couldn't change the situation I decided to try to make a joke out of it. I had always been able to laugh or make a joke about anything, and laughter is the best medicine, right? So, I named the car Bambikiller as a sarcastic joke about the events of June 28th. Prior to that joke my screen name had been Carl, and it seemed appropriate to make the change to Bambikiller240 as further acknowledgement of the changes that had taken place in my life. There you have it, that's the story of Bambikiller240.

Smokey: Except for the opinion about the rust, I agree with 2ManyZs, it all comes down to how much you want to spend and what you are willing to do yourself to fix the shortcomings of either car. I would not shy away from a car that needs suspension bushings and struts. It is not that difficult of a job to do yourself (even if you do the outer spindle pins at the rear, just have a machine shop press out the pins and you install new, don't bust your a$$ trying to remove yourself). The shifter bushings are also easy to replace whether you stay with stock, or go to solid. Seats are easy too. IF IT WAS ME, and I know others may (or will) feel different, I'd go with the one with less invasive battery acid damage; asssuming I can get the seller to agree to a reasonable price. $11K seems out of line for the first car from the photos you posted, but IMO so does $8.8K seem high for the recent posting. Battery rust scares the sh_t out of me. I had soo much trouble with it on Bambikiller's older brother. I will always do everything I can to avoid that situation again.

MSA sells them for $250.00 v.s. $190 for the regular kit. Cheap way to hide the vinyl if it is all buggered up from flying luggage etc. I don't mean this as a criticism, as I'd do it myself; its just that it isn't "special" in any way. Quite available, and reasonably priced.

Half Dash cap too. The FULL dash cap is the way to go, the "half" looks half-assed IMHO. Probably saved $10-15 bucks and looks $100 worse!

Agreed, hard to tell for sure from a picture, but sadly, it sure looks like there is more rot under the paint in this area. POR15 will stop rust, but it DOES NOT neutralize the acid that is there and will continue to cause rust. You have to be able to get all of that acid OUT/NEUTRALIZED before it is worth messing with the POR15.

Hello Christian; Weather is been very nice for the past week. Clear and sunny and in high 60's to low 70's, but rain is coming back in a big way for the next 5 days at least. I understand what you mean about high cost of living in my area. Housing has been expensive for years, and now the gas prices have gone wacked. $2.30 a gallon for regular 87 octane currently. Sorry to hear about your father. Mine passed away 7 years ago, and I still miss him greatly. Best regards, Carl

Sometime in the 1971 model year Datsun changed the Diff mount to move the diff about 35mm (can't remember if it is forward, or rearward) to correct an angularity issue regarding the halfshafts.

I've been meaning to post this question for some time, but for various reasons never got around tuit. Where/How have you guys come up with your screen names? For some of you, it is obvious; i.e. Bonnie75209, 2ManyZs, Ben, Smokey, Mike, etc. But for others, I'm really curious as to the stories, or meanings behind the names. Especially names like: ZmeFly, beandip, Zvoiture, Alfadog, Mr Camouflage, Cardogman1, 1 Bravo 6, santamaus, GunnerRob, and many others that I see periodically on the site. So, if there is a story or meaning behind your screen name how about sharing it with us. Inquiring minds want to know! Thanks, Carl

Keith Thomas (Chet Wittel's ITS Crew Chief) reccomends, "I'd stick to a Dynomax Super Turbo. Much less obnoxious sounding than a Flowmaster. I think the P/N is 17723 for the 2.5 diameter in/out. Only loses 1hp at the wheels over a straight pipe in my tests." I don't know whether they also use a pre-muffler.

From my point of view........You could dump the "Automotive News" area. I tried to use it and found that I had to "register" and provide my email address in order to view any of the articles. I get enough SPAM and can't be bothered with registering to receive more. As mentioned previously, I'd like to see links to the gallery instead of previews. That would free up some space too. I like the rest of the page.

My early 72 240Z with the high compression (early E88) cylinder head will not run properly on regular gasoline. I have to use 89 octane at least and even then it doesn't run well. My original 72 FSM reccomends 92 octane. With the price of gas now days I guess I should be glad that I'm not using Bambikiller as a daily driver. I'm not glad, but I should be! At least I can use regular 87 octane in the 81 Dodge D50 P/U (2.0L). It's gutless, but it saves extra wear on the Z.

Taylor 8mm Spiro Wires are good also

Hi Smokey: If you get the car, have a shop fix that battery rust ASAP. On the 73 that I owned in the early 80's I spent almost two years chasing it at home with naval jelly and acid neutralizing solutions pumped into the seams and holes in the frame rails and never did get it all. The corrosive white powder would always reappear in the seams of the frame rail and in all seams where panels were joined. Finally, I had to take it to a restoration body shop where they opened the seams and actually removed the frame rail, treated the metal properly and reassembled all while the car was on a frame machine so that eveything was correctly assembled to factory measurements. Figure 2 grand to get it right, as estimates somehow always end up on the low side. JMO

dero: Please do not take this as a put down of your desire to fix the problem you are experiencing on your car. With your request for pictures of "what the points are..." One must assume that you are attempting to fix this problem with very limited experience and no shop manual since any manual would have a picture of the points, and most people with basic experience working on cars would know what points look like already. Everyone must start somewhere and it is good that are willing to jump in and give it a try, but you need some basic help. I would strongly encourage you to get a shop manual for your car to aid you in this project and any other that you might desire to tackle on your car. Even the best of mechanics need to refer to shop manuals to successfully work on cars. Without a manual and posessing limited troubleshooting skills, you are really flying blind, and MAY do more harm than good to your car. You owe it to yourself and your car to arm yourself with the necessary tools to do the job. Tool #1 is a Shop Manual. If you cannot find or afford a Nissan Shop manual, get a Haynes, or Chiltons manual for your model of Z. It will be an invaluable resource for every job you do. It will help you to work on your car successfully, and to avoid causing inadvertant damage to the car. A friend with experience diagnosing Ignition systems will also be an invaluable tool for a newcomer to problems such as this, as there can be many different causes to a "no start" problem. Even for people that are experienced it can be difficult to diagnose. Good Luck!

See the diagram provided below. Ignore the "Pertronix Ignitor", (it replaces the points and does not alter the accuracy of the rest of the diagram. Good Luck

HIGHLY RECCOMEMDED!!! Just be careful not to over tighten them. They are made of brass and you can snap them off. You do NOT need to tighten them like a maniac. They make life EZ!!!!!!!!!!!

If the 350Z was styled more like this photo, I'd like it a lot better. (assuming performance to match!)

I meant to say, "I can't think of them at the moment!" Kinda spoils the joke when you leave out words!

Believe me, I'm not the master, just an impartial voice on the outside to try to balance the "Z lust" that can take over in times like this. BTDT!! Having Rock to agree to go over it is a great opportunity. There are worse things than two cats in the house, but I think of them at the moment. (Just kidding, I have 3 cats, including one that is diabetic and needs insulin shots twice a day!)

Sure. Please post the Part Number that you have. I'll check to see if they can be aquired from Nissan in the US. Thanks! Carl

Well, be sure to keep us all appraised of how the dealing goes. Keep your eyes open for anything that, doesn't look right, and don't let your heart get ahead of your mind while examining it. If this is the one you really want you'll know it, but you don't need to tip your hand to the seller. Examine that area of "minor rust" unde the battery tray carefully. If the engine compartment was repainted when the rest of the car was done (a year a go you said?) , signs of rust may indicate that pre-existing rust was not properly addressed before paint. There could be more hiding. If is just recent "minor rust" starting to form, address it yourself immediately (or as quickly as possible) to preserve your investment! Focus Grasshopper! Carl

The add says they are for 1975-76, so they are probably not the "correct" ones for a 70-74 240Z/260Z.