SMW

This car is now on ebay; item number 4509170057

Also -- has anyone here sold a z on ebay? I'm wondering what you thought of the process. Thanks -- Steve

Hi SB: I would check with both Zspecialties and Zsport to see if they have the springs you are looking for in stock. I'm sure either shop can get the parts you are looking for, but they may have to order them since I imagine it simply doesn't pay to keep those types of parts in stock around here. So if your buddy is only in town for a short time, you may be out of luck without some sort of pre-ordering. That said, I haven't been to either shop for a couple of years, so take what I say with a grain of salt. Both shops are north of seattle proper -- 25 to 30 miles away from city center. Let me know if you need more local info. Cheers, Steve

I'll post some pictures in the thread...

Time has come to part with my 1970 240Z (#4978) project car. Asking price is $2,500. Pictures are available in My Gallery. Please feel free to PM or email me at swinter AT earthlink DOT net with questions and/or picture requests. General Info: ~168,000 miles 2.4L engine (NOT ORIGINAL - SEE BELOW) Type A 4 speed Not drivable -- will have to be towed/otherwise transported I do not believe that there is any structural rust on this car. One of the reasons I bought it was that it was a Central CA car that had been well-maintained. Garaged since 2002 History with me: I bought the car from a professor at UC Davis (his daughter was about to turn 16, so he had to get rid of the sports car) in November 2001. It worked great for about 3 weeks, then a water passage in the short block gave way. I was in grad school, so I slowly (and with the help of some of the Central CA members, Royce in particular) took everything out of the engine compartment, cleaned and replaced parts as necessary (parts list below). I finally finished just in time to move to Seattle in June 2003. The car worked great for about three months and less than 700 miles, then the electrical system caught on fire, melting portions of the harness and frying various parts. The fire was directly after a day when it rained 5+ inches, so I think something (probably the wiper motor) shorted and overwhelmed the old wires. Since then I have been working on restoring the interior and replace the wiring. But, to be honest, I haven't gotten very far. The interior is pretty well taken apart and I've scraped the tar stuff off of the transmission tunnel. I've removed all of the wiring and I purchased one of the Painless Wiring kits as my intended replacement. History before me: Everything with this car before 1980 is unknown. I believe I have all of the receipts since 1980, through. I can only guess that the first 10 years were rough, since the new owner had to replace the short block (thus this is NOT a numbers matching car) and various other cosmetic items when they first purchased it. The two owners between 1980 and 2001 appear to have been pretty diligent about preventative maintenance. The car stayed in the Central Valley its whole life before 2003, which makes rust less of an issue than most. Systems Description: Cooling: The radiator was boiled out and painted less than 700 miles ago. I replaced most hoses at the same time, and I have the rest ready to be installed. The heater core has been removed and could use an overhaul. Suspension: Stock and ready for some major attention. Drivetrain: Rebuilt differential at 127,425. Only u joints and half shafts replaced since then. It has the "thump" in reverse sometimes. Clutch: New at 155,700. Looked good when I was swapping the engine. Brakes: Rear brakes new (including cylinders less than 700 miles ago. Front brakes are okay -- last done at 151,472. Tires -- nothing special, Michelins with about 20,000 on them. Engine: 2.4L with E-31 head. I think the head may be original, but impossible to say for sure. Head surfaced, pressure tested and valve job less than 700 miles ago. Once again, not numbers matching. When I installed the engine, I installed new water pump, Nissan gaskets, radiator cap, timing gear, thermostat, plugs, and the Z therapy SU's. Ignition: New distributor cap and wires. Pertronix Ignitor just installed. Induction: Z Therapy SU's (Scott B. era) less than 700 miles ago. K&N air filter in stock housing. Stock manifold with most emissions stuff in place. Electrics: This system has major issues. I would not trust any electrical piece in it, except maybe the headlights. I will include the Painless kit with the purchase price. Wiper motor is dead. Interior: Dash has a half cap, but looks okay. Glove box disintegrated on dash removal. New wheelskin cover on steering wheel. Seats need help ASAP. Carpets are okay but have seen better days. Quilt patterned stuff has rips and tears. Clock didn't work. Someone installed odd speaker boxes into the hatch area. Aftermarket cassette/radio. Exhaust: Stock manifold seals well. Pipes and muffler are at end-of-life. Paint: White overspray over original orange. They didn't get to the engine bay during the paint job, so as an interim solution, I rattle-canned the bay white. Looks like there was a layer of black protective paint on the undercarriage, it is flaking off and should be dealt with soon before it holds water against the metal. Body: I don't see any evidence of an accident with this car. Clearly age has set in with the paint and some of the fitment of panels and doors. I only found surface rust when I removed the carpet and scraped the tar of the tunnel. There is some surface rust near some holes that were cut in the firewall when an A/C system was installed in the past. Battery tray was okay but not great. I cleaned it up and painted with POR15. I've found one pin hole in the passenger side floor pan -- right below the holes for the A/C. Bumpers are both intact and straight, but the chrome is showing its age. The rubber pieces are missing or at end of life. Other parts/misc: The purchase price includes all of the assorted pieces I've picked up over the years including a couple sets of round top SU's, a straight rear bumper, tune up pieces, new hoses, some PU bushings, etc. I'll also include the books (Wick's How to restore…), manuals (Chilton, Datsun CD, Haynes), and the SU video. Price: I find it very difficult to price this car. Obviously it is a project and is not driveable, but has great potential and comes with a lot of new parts. I'm asking for $2,500. I'm willing to discuss the price, but I'm focused on not taking too much of a bath with this deal. Thank you for your time in reading all this.

I would just like to add my interest in your custom wiring project. My electronics (stock '70 240) caught on fire a couple weeks ago, and I'm in the midst of redoing parts of the interior and wiring. I was just about to order a painless wiring kit, so if I could get a more custom set, and support a Z-specific enterprise, I'm all for it. If you need any pictures, my dash is out and I can get you a digital picture of anything back there that you are interested in. Let me know -- Steve

One option is to go to the junkyard and grab the linkage from a 280Z. The later linkages engage with less slop at the firewall. Also, they bolt right up in the same place as the 240 linkage. If you go this route, get everything from the donor car from the cross-piece (parallel to the firewall) to the long piece that goes from the firewall to the manifold. -Steve

First things first, what all the screws are: 1. The one on the balance tube. This is only there to help with carb balancing. It allows you to set the rpms to 2-3,000 or so for high speed balancing. Under normal circumstances the screw should not be doing anything. 2. The screws on the center linkage between the carbs. The one on the left (towards the front of the car) doesn't need to be adjusted. The one on the right allows you to balance the carbs at the higher engine speed. You can see when you work the throttle linkage that there is slop in the system. This screw allows you to account for the slop, so when you hit the gas, both carbs are opening the same amount at the same time. 3. The idle speed screws. These are the ones right behind the dome. I believe that these only act to crack the butterfly open at idle to allow enough air to enter the engine so it'll run. These are adjusted on both carbs during the balancing sequence. I think that they only affect how the engine runs at idle, after the butterfly is opened by the throttle, these cease to function. 4. The mixture nut on the bottom of the carb. These move the jet nozzle assembly up and down. The higher the assembly, the leaner the mix. Float level: 9/16" sounds right. Other things that may lead to the ultra-rich condition: Sticking float. I've also heard that if the float is punctured it may, well, float causing the fuel level to be way too high. Sticking needle. Check to make sure the pistons are moving smoothly. If the metering needle is binding in the jet nozzle, it could allow fuel to continue to flow. Chokes. Make sure the chokes are fully disengaged. On one set of SU's I had the choke wouldn't release all the way because of road grime/grease in the jet nozzle assy. Return springs -- attached? I suppose even having the carbs way out of balance (which you probably have now, since all of the adjustment screws are all the way out) could have mixture consequences. Is the midnight black color on all of the plugs? Other possibilities would go to the general condition of the engine; ignition timing, valve clearances, etc. Sorry, running out of ideas -- perhaps something here will be useful. Steve

If you have only changed the idle and throttle (high speed balance - the one on the linkage) settings, then I don't think you have addressed the amount of fuel being supplied to the engine. I would recommend checking both the float levels, and the position of the mixture nut (located below each carb). I believe the baseline setting for the mixture nut is found by tightening the nut as far as it will go, then backing off 2.5 turns. Then you will use the idle and high speed balance screws, along with a syncrometer/tester, to balance the carbs. I can't remember the float level specs at the moment; they should be in any of the manuals. Also, it is a good idea to lift each piston by hand and make sure they fall smoothly. HTH - Steve

That blackout photo isn't real, unfortunately. Looks like a photoshop job over that 'earth at night' sat photo that circulated about a year ago. More info here: http://www.snopes.com/photos/blackout.asp The NOAA shots are great, more in line with the descriptions I've heard of the blackout. Cheers, Steve

A couple options for you: I recalled an ad in the forums, an L28 out in Carnation http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8466 There are also a couple of Z shops around, there is Zspecialties in the Monroe area (www.zspecialties.com), and Z Sport [3532 Smith Ave. Everett, WA (425) 259-4691 (800) 633-3308] up north. There are more possibilities linked on the Z Club of Washington's site (www.zccw.org). As far as junkyards go, I haven't gotten that far yet -- let me know if you find a good source. HTH, Steve

I saw this ad on the local craigslist.org, and I thought I would pass it along to the group. The ad states: 1982 nissan 280zx turbo in great condition. needs a small amount of work im only asking 600 obo, I need money for school. car is black with tan interior, automatic, t-tops, new tires, brakes, struts, new injectors only 7000mi ago Original page with contact info: http://seattle.craigslist.org/car/14975259.html I have absolutely no knowledge about the car, so please do not contact me about it. It might be a good way for someone to pick up a turbo set-up. Cheers, Steve

Another zbra picture, this one shows where the metal of the clip is showing through the velcro (on the side facing away from the car).

Pictures of the zbra:

Hello: I'm moving soon, so the extra z parts need to go. I'll list them here, and I can take digital pictures if anyone wants them. I'm not looking for a lot of money for anything here....all reasonable offers accepted. Items are in Davis, CA (10 miles west of Sacramento). I'd rather not get into shipping at the moment, especially the larger items. 1. A/C parts for 240. These came in a box with the car, condition unknown. 2. L24 crank 3. L24 pistons 4. Rear bumper from a '72. straight, with surface rust on the inside. 5. Z bra 6. flattop carbs 7. choke cables 8. E88 head (used) 9. later 240 valve cover Cheers, Steve

1. Where are you located? 2. Is the L28 still available? 3. If yes, which head/block combination is it? Thanks in advance, Steve

Anybody want this thing for parts? I'll take a low offer if you can decide/pick up in the next day or two (by 2/28). Email smwinter@ucdavis.edu if you are interested.