The Wingnut

Okay, got an update. The weather has cooled down and now the car starts with just a little cranking. I'm thinking I might have had a vapor lock problem. I also found a loose connection on my ignition that might have been causing problems. Since I fixed it, I've been able to get a start every time. Thanks for the tips on the choke, I did find it odd that it helped a bit while it was hot. I'll see what I can do about checking the float level. if I recall correctly, the floats should be 1/8" from the underside of the float bowl cover. Tomorrow, I'm going to install the fuel pump at the tank. If I really do have a vapor lock issue, that should help. If it persists, I'll find some insulation for the fuel lines in the engine bay.

I tired starting the car after it sat for about 10 minutes, nothing. Then gave it half choke, and it fired. Unstuck one of the choke plungers and it evened out. Plungers and choke linkage are now lubed and a non-issue. I can consistently get it to fire if it's not hot. I can get it to fire if it's cold, looks as if it's a hot start issue...not sure if it's relevant, but I heard ticking coming from the (on-block)fuel pump during cooldown. I just bought a Carter inline pump for back by the tank (it's a 260, so there's an old one back there that got disconnected when it stopped working). Putting that on should at least eliminate any fuel delivery issues.

The shop I went to was Petaluma Auto Works. It's run by two brothers who do look Hispanic. I suspected there's no accelerator pump. I can't imagine in this weather(balmy spring weather) I'd need the choke to start...should I use it? The valves were adjusted. Not sure how to check them.

Just tried to leave the house again. Car started, idled, backed out, then stumbled and dies when I tried to drive away. Won't restart. PLEASE HELP. I AM GOING OUT OF MY MIND.

Just took another jaunt to return a video and pop in at the office. Caught fine and ran fine after a 5 minute stop. Did not use choke and did not pump the pedal before starting. Am I flooding it, maybe? I usually give the pedal about 3 pumps out of habit before starting. I've got PLENTY of spark. I took it to Petaluma Auto Works in Petaluma, CA. Bernard did the tune. Both Bernard and Jason said the carbs were in good shape(and it started fine before the tune)

Just let the car sit about 10 minutes after grinding on it like a madman. Caught easily and idles fine after cranking. I can't have it unreliable like this. It's my daily.

Hey folks, Got an L28 in the car with SUs, just had it dialed in yesterday by a Z specialty shop. I'm having severe difficulty in getting the car fired now, one in every 15 tries does the car fire, if that. When it's cold outside, I don't have a problem, but if the weather's warm, or if I just shut it down a little while ago it doesn't want to fire at all. All I get is a little catching, the occasional lighting of a cylinder. A shot of ether doesn't seem to help, either. I've definitely got spark. Not certain it's vapor lock. Never had a problem with it before. I'm desperate because I've got to report into to my AF unit Monday morning at 7 AM. The shop where I got the car tuned is closed. This is infuriating. Prior to the tune I didn't have this problem. I'm going nuts with this, until now, my car's been VERY reliable.

You, sir, on top of having no tact whatsoever, have no clue.

I harvested a ticket for 69 in a 35 in a very pale yellow '68 Plymouth Fury. The cop was actually a pretty nice guy for handing out a $400+ ticket...and I have a feeling he knocked it down below double the limit so I wouldn't get my car impounded and spend a night in jail. I have no way of telling since the 440 had just been dropped in and the speedo was still disconnected. :tapemouth Never harvested a single ticket with my white '72 Fury...but then again, that had pushbars, spotlight, 5 antennas, and the plate read 'PRSOOT'. Did get pulled over once for 'looking suspicious because I was talking on a radio'. ...that's what the antennae are for, numbnuts. I've picked up two tickets for being stupid with my white Z. Deserved it both times. Runnin' and gunnin' when and where I shouldn't have. One was right past a police station...STUPID. Don't worry about your paint, worry about what you're doing, and keep good situational awareness. Don't look at your speedo as soon as you see smokey, just take your foot off of the gas. Run 'eyes out' and keep your eye on your mirrors if you insist on keeping a heavy right foot. Every time I've been dinged, I never saw the officer that caught me until the lights were flashing in the mirror. Being stupid will do that...first one, I was having a bad day and letting out some frustration. Second one, I was pissed off that some 5th wheel trailers were blocking the road and driving 10 mph under the limit. I passed them, hung a rude gesture out the window, and had the hammer down so they wouldn't see me again. Third one, I was showing some zipperhead in a Maxima with dark tint, a crappy lowering job and loud stereo who was boss. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ticket, ticket, ticket. :stupid::stupid::stupid: Being stupid gets you in far more trouble than having flashy paint does.

There's no option, it ships with it whether you want it or not. Fairly certain they're metal.

For those of you that want these mirrors( they're a design copied from the heinously expensive Talbot of Berlin which is used on vintage Italian, German and British marques), the least expensive I've managed to find them is at Finish Line Accessories. Not only are they inexpensive as hell, but you get the extended base and you can order them in convex as well, which greatly increases the viewing area(ideal for the passenger side). MSA overcharges on a lot of their stuff...

Be very careful with those 'cross' wheels. I had a set on my Z, loved them, got them pretty inexpensively. I had them for about a year when while having a flat fixed, the tire shop discovered that one had cracked completely through the center of the face, running diagonally through two opposing lug holes. I had to switch back to my slot mags. Don't over-torque them! I really like the design, wish I could find a set in 15 x 7, but I doubt they were ever made.

Lots of work yet to do, but the colors came out perfect. Currently working on the trim and hardware. The body shop made some mistakes and has some more work to do once the paint dries.

It's inspiring...you can run diesel, jet fuel, just about any combustible with a low flashpoint and burn residue. The major weakness is that it's using a free turbine for power transfer. ...drop the turbine into the hatch area(put in a firewall and replace the rear hatch with a vented plex cover), use a shaft driven generator, hook the output to a transformer / rectifier. Put a small battery pack in the engine bay, and a high-torque electric motor(combined weight enough to offset the rearward shift from the turbine) on the trans input shaft. Run the motor off of the power output from the generator and dump the excess load into the battery pack, use the battery pack for electrical load balancing and emergency power. Insane? Yes. Easier said than done? Sure! Makes cool noises? Oh, hell yes.

Gasoline is already at that price in many other parts of the world. The shift is not to different sources of power, but to more efficient use of it. Petroleum exploration will not cease as long as mankind wishes to produce polymers, lubricants, solvents and myriad other petroleum derivatives. While billions of gallons of petroleum are used annually for fossil fuel production worldwide, yet more is used for other purposes. It would remain one of the most important commodities even if fossil fuel production were to cease entirely. Disregarding the consumer level, fossil fuels are essential to rail, ocean and air cargo transport and the methods of powering these transports - especially ships and aircraft - is next to impossible without fossil fuels. The global switch to non-fossil fuel powered transportation would not only be impractical, it would create other unforeseen loads into different methods of power production. In California, the state that styles itself as leader in environmental consciousness, the majority of electrical power is produced by coal and natural gas fired plants. A 31 year ban on the production and upgrade of nuclear powerplants is in effect and will not be lifted until a '100% safe method of radioactive waste disposal' is achieved...meaning never. If our own crippling of our power generation continues(year after year of power scandals and rolling blackouts have plagued California because of its elected officials' and bureaucrats' mismanagement of electrical power generation), how can we hope to produce alternate means of energy at the consumer level? This is the state that is leading the charge? The solution is not to eliminate the current technology, but continue to refine it and supplement it with means that fit the existing infrastructure. The internal combustion engine is not going to disappear anytime soon.

...this couldn't be further from the truth. Of all the '50s, '60s and '70s U.S. automotive products, Chrysler products handle best due to the torsion bar suspensions, superior suspension geometry(to their contemporaries) and unit-body construction(Chrysler built thier first unit body in 1934! By the late '50s, all but a few of their products were body-on-frame). The reason you see so many going in a straight line is because people have a limited imagination and corner carving wasn't popular in the U.S. when those cars were new. A-body Chryslers can easily be made into very competitive autocrossers and road racers. But, I'm biased. My first two cars were Plymouth Furys. You make an excellent point. Cars are considered classics or memorable not because they're good cars, or even attractive / well styled, but because of the impact they made on people, and even because of how common they were...they reach icon status. Personally, I'm sick of mid-late '50s GM shoeboxes, because people act as if they're the end-all, be-all of the era when in reality, the majority of them were ho-hum, marginal family haulers. The remaining examples are now mostly highly desirable trim level and models or clones of the same. People tend to think back on their youth to their first cars, or their parents' cars, and consider those classics, no matter what they were. In 30 years, people will consider a number of cutting edge modern cars as 'classic', 'old', and even antiquated. Personally, I like my Z, it does exactly what it's supposed to and hardly ever what it shouldn't. I'd like to keep it forever, but that doesn't happen very often.

People listen to music while they drive? :stupid: I haven't had a working stereo in any of the 4 cars I've owned. The Z takes this one step further with the gaping hole in the console where the stock stereo once was. I drive close to 10,000 miles per year in the Z. I've still got about $400 worth of speakers and head unit in a box somewhere waiting to go into a car...and I bought that when I had my first car. Someday when the time is right it'll get installed...but it's never really been a priority.

'Classic' is highly subjective. I'd consider the Z a classic, but someone writing for the WSJ is probably thinking along the lines of rarity, value / price, and probably popularity most of all. These are the same people that'll drool over a line of 10 nearly-identical '57 Bel Airs at a hot rod gathering. Modern cars as classics? Maybe...cars are now built more for immediate value / impression than they are longevity. 'Classic' implies withstanding the test of time, it the attitude toward motor vehicles is increasingly 'Use 4-7 years, discard'. Cars older than 15 years are now coming under fire as gross polluters and clunkers, regardless of how well they're maintained. As far as styling goes, there are a number of vehicles that have classic potential, the Chrysler 300 being a good example. Much of their impact on the automotive industry should be considered, as well. The PT Cruiser, New Beetle and New Mini are good examples.

I asked what was under the hood, the guy fueling it said it was an L28, he didn't know what had been done to the motor. Didn't get to see under the hood, by the time I got back to the paddock the owner had left. I emailed the photos to Brad Frischelle last night, already got a response. He was glad to see the photos but didn't know who has the car now. You're right in that all of the references to the car I've seen call it a 240. The 260 / 280 tails threw me off, those might have been changed to stay current with the model years as they progressed.

Aha! Here's the car in its early years.

A few more. This is Brad Frisselle's car, not sure if it's the Bob Sharp 280z with a repaint.

Just got back from the Monterey Historics. After 10 years of going, hey presto, a 280 Z. I told the guy fueling it that I was really happy to see the car, and wished there were more present. He said they were trying to make a difference, so it's well known that Datsuns don't get much respect in vintage racing. This particular Z has evidently been a racer all of its life, and ran in the GTU series.

I'm running NGKs as well. If you can't find them, keep shopping until you find an auto parts store that carries them, and don't buy anywhere else! Make sure your money goes to the places that put forth the effort to carry quality parts.

Gotcha.