ajmcforester

Just make sure one is the factory book the Haynes and Chilton are not that good. It is good that the tank is clean, I'd clean the carbs and line again so make sure they havent glazed over with bad gas. If you want to learn how to work on the carbs Z therapy has a video.

I'd recommend learning how to work on the carbs and how to adjust the valves. These are two things that mechanics seem to have a hard time doing. I hope you got the factory service manuals, and microfiche of the parts, these are great resources to how the car works so you can do repairs. I'd recommend cleaning the carbs out the fuel lines and the fuel tank. Untill you are driving it regularly keep at-least one fuel filter on hand, when the gas goes bad you will plug the filter up quick, and see what color it is if it goes rusty red drop the tank and get it clean. Another great trick to keep fuel problems down is straight weight non-detergent oil in the fuel tank. Ad a quart every oil change and you won't have rust in the tank. How I do it is add when the tank is haft full. Then drive it down a quarter of a tank you want it to slosh around the tank so take some corners. Then fill it up. Also don't store the car without a full tank air is your enemy hear. If you are close to any Z guys in your area get to know them well buy them some Coke and help on what ever car they are working on you can learn a lot about these cars from them. Good luck

Missing oil and you say, you don't see smoke or oil in the coolant. Then it is leaking on the street, but if it was than much you would have large puddles under the car. MY bet is you are burning out when you step on it and you just can't see it in the mirrors. Has anyone you know drive behind you while you put her under a load? Also do a compression test and leak-down test you need to see if your seals are good worn piston rings can cause a lot of damage. These cars are old a lot can go wrong. If you used a heavier weight and no leaks, but when you went to the lighter weight you might need to rebuild the engine the tolerances are not up to snuff any more. My 4/71 engine has never been rebuilt no leaks, at a 120,000 On top of that, I run 5w-30 with no oil loss. I had a Ford Ranger that I drove for 240,000 mile when the engine was getting warren and started to louse oil I used a heavier weight before the rebuild it can delay the enviable, but if you do this check your compression and do leak downs regularly. to see if the piston-rings are still good. I made it to 40w60 before the rebuild when the head cracked (common problem with the 2.9L V6 with cast iron heads). Heavier oil is a band-aid it only hides the problem for a while.

IF your doing an original restoration why skimp on the antenna. If your modifying who cares

Take it easy with the car when you have it tuned well it has some go. This isn't the best first time car it can get you in to trouble. Just take it easy and if you can take the test take it and get it over with. Just remember these cars look fast and people think they are going faster than they are, your young the cops will pull you over even more. If your smart you would trade for a 510 or something that doesn't look as fast until your in your late 20's. Their are a lot of great cars with speed that don't look fast like a Mazda 323 GTX or 82-86 200SX . . . I had a 84 200sx that I modified it was a blast

What year are your rims and do they have the right bolt patern. If so you need to buy a 1/4" spacer to off-set the wheel.

Scary I noticed a wobble the first time and only had one lug nut, you think the guy who sold me the car would say something about that (what a jack arse move he did). For a rim go to a junk yard for some steel rims or Honda rims. You need a 1/4 wheel spacer for Honda rims. It should cost about $50-$100 that way to get new rims, and if your lucky new tires. Classic Datsun sells a rim that most people like, it is not my favorite though. http://www.classicdatsun.com/

Watch those lug-nuts I had a set of old magnesium rims on a car the worked the lug-nuts louse I had to tighten them every 50 miles. If this is your case clean the oxidation off and recondition or get new rims, just be careful. If you want some ideas about how to make your more daily driver picks can help and some descriptions. I find a good set of struts and some new bushing does wonders. Also if your looking for new rim go to a 15" you will reduce tire cost and have a lot more choices of tires. Other things to look at is adding a second fuel filter near the tank and a simple camper adjusters they had one the mounted in place of the control arm bushing nice upgrade to keep tire wear down. I know you hate to hear it but the factory setting are probably best for a daily driver for the most part.

I've been calling my project proses an original restoration with early vintage aftermarket modification, but if I went with their argument I'm original (as long as I don't put the Supersprint exhaust on). In original restoration competition it is not original to have anything that didn't come on the car from the factory (nothing added on after the fact), except with direct documentation that it was sold from the dealer new with these accessories. Example, us early Z people may or may not fall under original with a vintage AC system, it depends were it was installed. So let say I bought a Z in 71 without AC and I wanted AC so first thing I did from the dealer is drive next door to the shop and had the AC installed, that would not be original. Now if I bought that car and before we finalized the deal the dealership installed the AC it could even been done at the same shop, now it is original as long as I have the documentation that the dealership installed before the first sale. In the by laws of the rules they define factory, factory options, factory aftermarket options, vintage options, and aftermarket or non-period correct. I'm going to keep the definitions simple and short if you want to read what is what get a vintage competition book, I'd recommend for a Corvette (they are the easiest to read). Factory is what came on the car from the manufacture's factory that is it. Factory options are the options that came on the car from the manufacture's factory not added on afterwords, note some cars you can ad some factory options they are listed out for each car, but depends on how well documented the parts are from the factory to what is allowed. Also with some factory options you need documentation that they came on the car. Factory aftermarket options these are options offered by the manufacture for the cars. So how it is determine if the item is a factory aftermarket option is if it is in the manufacture's parts aftermarket catalog or in the factory parts books for that year only. Example the Datsun version side-stripes is, and not Shelby's version like most people seem to have. For them to be considered original to the car they must have documentation prior of sale. Then their are vintage options like what came from AMCO, they can be factory endorsed options, but they are not factory under definition. This does not mean that they didn't make the options for the manufacture. Sorry for not going into more detailed definitions but these sections on this argument in the rules covers abut 40-50 pages.

Carl could you post a picture of the transmission tunnel scuff plate I might want to get one with my big feet. I drive in socks to keep rub marks off the the tunnel. I had have 2 sets of the door plates, one in the box with everything, my first Z with the white interior I was so glad to have them I'd find scuffs on the plate whenever someone else road with me never found them on my side though.

Hear is my concerns, they where not lined to begin with, please make sure he knows that we don't want any suprizes if he decides to do this. Second $245 each is way up there they are selling new for about $200-$250 a set new. I know you can get good money for the Buick drums hotrods have used them to replace the Ford drum. The reason I know this is that is what I'd do with a hotrod. I think we all would like to stay with aluminum it is a higher performance drum. I hope I didn't smash your idea I just see some problems.

Why don't you see if you can trade bumpers one wants with and one without what an idea. That way we are not drilling more bumpers and filling more holes than needed. I have a set on 73 non drilled overriders for the front. the nice thing about the front bumper is the holes are drilled into the rubber just put a non-drilled rubber peices on and they are gone

Mine the holes are already their and in NJ they are not bad to have they provide protection from how people park out hear (they really wizz me off I grew up in Colorado and can't see why you need to rub bumpers to park).

Look at the backyard buddy their lifts are some of the better ones out. I hadn't been to their site in a long time they have a new product the Easy Access that I called them this morning. They didn't have much info on line so they are sending me some, Ill post if your interested when I get it. http://www.backyard-buddy.com/

You know you have the names and do you have where they lived. Maybe you could do a people search for them. I found many people with whitepages.com they have all different types of searches

Does anyone have the original hardware that I could get a look at? I have the hardware for the rear but not the front.

If you have the room look at a good 4 post lift, they are safer to use. Be aware of the cheap ones their are some flimsy 4 post ones out their. If you want one that takes less room look for a Denver lift, they have never had one fail in their history, but they haven't been made in 20 years.

1)Non-factory option 2)I know they had them for the 260Z and 280Z. 73 was the last year for bumpers listed above 3)Yes I have 3 of them, they don't wrap around like the rear. They are bolted to the override bumpers 4)I really like the the rear ones for looks and it would look odd not to have the front one. If you want them I'd look at picking up an original their are a lot of them around. You usually can find them being sold with the bumpers so you won't even need to drill. Usually on ebay the bumpers go for almost the same with or with out the override bars, so you could get most your money back in the purchase. besides the rear has a lot of bends in it. It would be a lot of work to replicate. After I find out which one is the early style I could let one of my front ones go. I do not have hardware for the front.

Neat business the only things I didn't like is they stated sand blasting and they didn't tell you what sealer they use. I'd like to see a less aggressive media used first, and I would ask about the sealer that was mentioned. I'm glad to see people like that are still around I'll remember this one for when I need to take a tank in for repair:classic:

I agree take your time;)

I thought it was fun to talk to the original owner of my car he also filled in a lot of history on the car and I've added things to my restoration that he had on the car that I thought was cool to have. I got a lot out of it and it has increased the enjoyment of my car. I wish him luck, but the chances are he is just going to run out of options soon.

I've been looking for someone who does relining. This was a common practice at one time. I would be interested on what the cost would be and the method to be used. Their are several methods and they give different results. I don't mind steel sleeves and it works well if done properly and allows you to use harder brake shoes with less drum wear, the machining is key for this working well and how the edges are finished. beside if your drums are at the max measurement this would give a little more. I have a lot of aluminum drums that are nearing the end of their life, what is out their is nearly used up.

I haven't had one brake yet but it's only time if you ask me. I haven't found anything my self, so I have been collecting parts to make a set in-case one brakes.

I don't see why you can't.

You should use a flared wrench on the hose fittings. I'd also look at getting a set of crescent wrench they can be a great help in a jam. I have crescent wrenches that expand only to 15mm to ones up to 3" I don't like to use them to tighten things they can work louse while using them or to brake fasteners louse that are very tight because the damage the adjusters and makes them sloppy. Where I do like to use them is to hold a nut or bolt head from the other side while lousing or tightening with a socket or standard wrench. The other times if I can't find a wrench that fits well or at the junk yard where I have limited tools.