SJGREEN71

Victor posted this to the calendar: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/calendar.php?do=getinfo&day=2007-4-12&e=298&c=1 I'm wondering if anyone is planning on doing this. I am in Northern Cali, so I plan to meet up at Ollie's in Taft on 4/12 rather than drive all the way to Pasadena.

No, most driving courses held at a track tend to be more oriented toward track driving. Threshold braking, proper line through the corner, trailing braking and the like. These skills will also be very useful, however, if you find yourself in an emergency situation on the street. Defensive driving on the street boils down pretty much to pulling over and letting the asshole who wants to drive 20 miles per hour faster than you in any particular lane when you are already doing 10 miles over the limit. That and maintaining a safe distance between cars.

Why is a European style balance tube better than the ones that came stock on the early 240's in the US?

TomoHawk, I believe NASA (National Auto Sport Association) not the guys with the rockets, puts on track days and perhaps driving schools at Mid-Ohio. Their website http://racenasa.nasamidwest.com/ doesn't seem to say anything about this, but it could be worth a call. NASA is based on the West Coast and sponsors track day events for street legal cars and at reasonable cost. Check it out.

TomoHawk, I don't know about Ohio, but I believe this guy is in Washington. Portland International Raceway (PIR) hosts a driver school for $159: http://www.cascadesportscarclub.org/training.asp?page=home We have one in Northern California too at Thunderhill for $225: http://www.thunderhill.com/html/driving_school.html I have not attended either of these schools, so I am not endorcing either one, but the track time alone seems worth the price of admission to either.

BJHines is right. High performance driving is not the kind of thing you want to learn from mistakes made on public roads. Track time with an experienced instructor is fantastic, and SCCA and other organizations host training events at relatively low cost. To learn some theory behind the techniques, including double clutching, I highly recomend Bob Bondurant's Bob Bondurant on High Performance Driving . You can pick up a second hand copy on Amazon for a couple of bucks. Well worth it.

Well they are both pretty big boys.

Mark, I just sent you a paypal. I know my '71 Z can use this bit. Peter

I will be traveling on business in two weeks, and plan to do some senic driving the last Saturday in September. I will be leaving Woburn, Massachusetts in the morning, and plan to roughly follow the route John at Bad Dog Parts sent me. This was the '03 ZCCA convention route and goes from Nashua East to Hancock, to **** Hat Hill via Hwy 123 before looping back to Hwy 10 North, which I plan to take to Hwy 89 into Lebanon where I spend two nights. I hope to rent a Chevy Cobalt, but would love to meet up with some Z owners along the way on Saturday. If there were anything planned for Sunday, I would be happy to hear about it.

I took a look at some of the videos on youtube. It looks like an interesting road, but there also seems to be a lot of traffic, SUVs, big trucks, and loud obnoxious Harleys to share the road. Is it really that great a road that it is worth traveling a long distance just to drive the 11 miles?

I tend to agree. Some people will save a few bucks at Summit on a widely available part, then pick the brain of the Z specialty suppliers like Classic or MSA when they can't get it to work. If enough people do this pretty soon those Z experts stop waisting their time giving free advice, and the community suffers. When I see vendors who are contributing to the community by answering questions, supporting events, etc., I tend to buy from them even if they might be a little more expensive some times.

And for $9,000 you can get a Datsun roadster that is in good driving and cosmetic condition. I don't think Datsun made that many more roadsters, it's just that so many of them are still on the road.

Bambikiller used to have a post on how to install the pertronix but it seems to have disapeared. The main thing to remember is that the wires on the pertronix are too short, and you have to lengthen them by about 12 inches in order to reach the coil. Other than that, the instructions with the product are okay.

I like the quote from this article where it says "with 7-sec 0-60 mph and 18.2-sec 0-100 mph figures recorded before the head gasket gave up...." Somehow I don't think I want one of these on my Z.

I'm an accountant by profession and $150K does not equal $28K. I am not saying that there is not someone out there willing to pay the $150K, just that that person may not be that good at math.

I had my first experience ordering from MSA a couple of weeks ago. The hydralics on my clutch went out and my car was stuck 50 miles from home. The mechanic where I had the car towed said the local Nissan dealer wanted $80 for the slave cylinder alone. MSA sold me the master, slave, and the flexible line all for about the same as the dealer wanted for the slave alone. All the parts were either Tokiko or Nissan and they sent it the same day. My Z was back on the road in a couple of days. I couldn't be happier with the transaction.

I had a '68 Datsun roadster that went to the Maaco in Palo Alto, CA three times for body and paint, and each time I felt it was a good deal. This shop has been owned by the same folks for many years, and they really take pride in doing a good job at a fair price. Maaco seems to be able to quote a whole paint job for what other shops quote for the paint alone. First time, my fault, I spun the roadster in the rain and ended up caroming off a mini van. Insurance took care of the mini van, but I was on my own for the roadster. Left rear 1/4 panel was pretty badly tweeked. They beat out the panel, rechromed the rear bumper, and repainted the whole car including removing lights and emblems for about $2,000. This was a daily driver, and not a show car, but I got a lot of people at Solvang and Mt. Shasta who were amazed at how good a Maaco job could look. Next time, I got rear ended by a Beemer. He paid. Maaco again did the body work and a lot of prep work before painting. It was less than $2,000 and came out looking pretty good. Third time, I gave the car to my son. He rear-ends another car, both sides in front get crunched, but not too bad. This one was a little more, and he had it painted a different color, so they also did the door jams, and some under the hood and trunk. So the Maaco process does work in my book, but a lot depends on who owns the shop too.

Devin, It will be difficult to find a car like this in similar condition if you sell it now and find out down the road you want another Z like it. The '72's are not that rare, and not particularly sought after, so you have to take that into consideration in setting a price. If you don't have to sell it the best strategy may be to hang on to it.

I will be traveling on business to New England in September and plan on being in New Hampshire the weekend of Sept. 16 - 17 or 23 - 24. I am just starting to plan things now, so I am not sure of the weeks I will be there. My clients are in Lebanon and in Silver Lake, but I should have the weekend to my self. Sadly no Z, but a rental car with auto trans. Still, I would like to see what some of the back roads have to offer. Sometimes it's just fun to practice drift maneuvers in a Chevy roll-o-flex on skinny all season tires. Any advice on general areas, specific roads, or even detailed route plans would be welcome.

I must admit I was baffled by the original post. Thanks to others who filled in the back story. I assume this "Pinks" thing is a 1/4 mile kind of thing, while I am more of a "how does this thing handle in a blind corner on a mountain road" kind of guy. I wish these Pinks guys all the best, but I have no idea what I would do with a fire breathing 1/4 mile Z motor even if it was given to me for free. I think I'll pass on the raffle.

Carl Beck gives us more information than we may want to know about the subject. He says it was the stage musical. http://zhome.com/History/FairladyName.html

I would second this suggestion. Rob can be reached at (408) 452-0300. Don't waste your time e-mailing him. He is too busy to be likely to reply. I would expect that if the RB is installed in a professional manner that that would be worth the asking price alone. I do not have any hard facts on that, just that any time you ask what it cost to someone who has done any kind of later year engine swap on a roadster or Z they just roll their eyes and sigh.

I was one of those odd people too.

I thought I would add a little to what has been said. I had a wonderful time on the Iron Bottom. This is what our cars were designed for. Chris A. writes "Thanks Victor for all the great links and photos. Did you really drive the roadster through that stream over the road? Brave man you are indeed!" Indeed we all had to ford that stream. I don't know how Victor was able to make it through by making a run at it at 85 mph. I lost my BRE spoiler on about the third crossing. I stalled the engine when it came off too, but was lucky enough to get it started again so I didn't have to swim. Richard writes "Would"t have thought all those collector type cars would have participated. Then again cars were made to be driven." It was funny that there were a lot of cars that showed up at the bar car at night that you would never see on the back roads. The Muria for one was never seen off of major highways. That gorgeous Aston Martin convertible, however, was there every inch of the way, and he was not babying that beast either. Victor writes, "It was a Blast - Really! As in, there is no paint left on my air dam." I think this sums it up nicely. Three days of flat out back road hijinks. You want to make sure your car (and you) are up for the challenge. Besides loosing the front spoiler, my Z was about to loose a bolt on the drive shaft by the time I got home. Driving back North on Hwy 101 at 55 mph (to keep the car from vibrating apart) was the least fun part of the trip, but I'll be back again next year.

I don't think it is that far off that someone might bid over $200,000 for a prime example 240Z on eBay. All you have to do is set the reserve price at $225,000, have some of your buddies bid the price up over $200,000, and hope some fool believes your story about it being one of a kind because it has a special noxious green paint code XX73... But then again, your Z might go un-sold like this 442 Olds.