jackboxxx

heres a link to Z cars (within 250 miles of my house for sale...) from the recycler... link to Z cars for sale Hmm theres a 1970 for sale..in my area maybe ill go look at that one... also the 1st one with a photo, 280 looks in good cond....from the tiny pic... have fun do a search in your area... JacK

are you in calif? going by your name i thought NYC all this time...

Sigh....so much going on in Sept. that ill be missing...ill be stuck in Pennsylvania in a month of work training classes...No Z to drive, living in a hotel.. When will this type event be happening again in Calif???? JacK

Welcome looks like your doing top notch restoration work there! My 1st Z was the same color green as yours USED to be in those 1st pictures. JacK

if your stuck on orange-ish Z's with the big bumpers (the those orginal slotted mags arent all that hard to find by the way) i was bored so i went to see whats on ebay.. Orange.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1976-Datsun-280z-with-low-miles-Show-winner_W0QQitemZ4572938529QQcategoryZ6187QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem I kinda liked this one (based on the current bidding close to 3k) if the reserve is low enough..and its a 1 family car but its the wrong color etc... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1972-Datsun-240Z-ORIGINAL-OWNERS-Excellant-Daily-Driver_W0QQitemZ4573611774QQcategoryZ6187QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem heres another orange one... AND finally whats wrong with the BLUE! (mines blue ORGINAL paint. so im biased) anyway, I totally understand what you mean, about getting a feeling about a car...soon as i saw mine i was sold. and i wasnt looking for blue at all...i didnt really have a preference that way, i was more worried about finding a nice orginal owner, clean, un butchered wiring, orginal interior, no rust, etcetc Good Luck to you, i'll be waiting to see what you finally buy. JacK

well depends on how you look at it...that header is a 3 into 2 style that requires a "collector" at the end of it prior to the final exhaust tubing. any muffler shop can weld up a collector while doing the rest of the exhaust.this setup is better than a 6 into 1 style header from a performance standpoint. its more "free flowing" than a 6 into 1 style, a 6 into 1 has a "all at once" bottleneck at the end of the header.. and though it may not make a whole lot of difference on a stock motor, if you get to doing some internal performance upgrades it can add several more horsepower going 3 into 2, into a collector, to your 2 1/2" exhaust.. than 6 into 1 straight into your exhaust tubing. So if your able to get it for close to the 29.00 bucks, and dont mind doing a little refurbishing...id get this header over a old rusty 6 into 1 anyday. (which i happen to have for sale ) does this make sense to you? i understand it but its my brain but...my translations to text sometimes dont quite seem so clear.. I can send you a pic of the way a collector should be setup/made..if you like JacK

if by venturi you mean the intake side...(where the air comes in) thats what i meant. JacK

anyone have a set of flat tops they can measure the bore with? im just wondering i dont want to flame > 10mm just seems a lot...and how would that work in comparsion? round vs square intake measurements..are the flattops perfectly square like 55mm x 55mm? Jack

My 1st car was a hand me down 68 chevelle, 327 w/ powerglide 2 speed..it ad been collecting dust in the driveway for a couple years when my dad bought a new car..within a month of getting it running a drunk ran a red light in what i think was a umm old datsun maybe a 510? which ruined the drivers side, and sent the chevelle into a spin which threw the passenger side into a telephone pole...bent the frame...but it still ran great! though the car was shaped like an hourglass now. i drove that car for like another year, and even used it for a delivery service job i had. then I finally bought another chevelle, this time a 69 SS 396 muncie 4 speed...green w/ white fac racing stripes. for 500 bucks....(this was the late 70's they were cheap then) it had some electrical issues and i traded it away for a motorcycle..(still kicking myself for that deal) a year or 2 later, my friend showed me his step dads car in the garage.... a silver 240Z he bought while in the service overseas...he never drove it. it just sat in mint condition...my friend and I took it out at lunchtime one day and drove it around the block. I was hooked! ive had 4 of my own Z's since then. JacK

So what is it about this specific car that makes you want it so badly anyway? I ask because for 3000 dollars, theres quite a few Z's to pick from, in as good condition as this one, yet maybe has the manual tranny already, or early carbs, or perhaps a 240 or early 260 with small bumpers etc etc.. i spent about 2-3 months looking for the right Z this time around, and Im happy with it because its just what i was looking for..all my previous ones were more "spur of the moment" buys out of the local paper.. just a thought as I was browsing ebay Z's for sale this morning. dont settle JacK

Ztherapy offers an upgrade kit for 260Z owners, $700 (core included) gets you a basic setup (you use your 260 balance tube.. and $950 gets you the complete 240 carb setup...including 240 balance tube and linkage.. as a previous customer I can highly recomend them, the work is top notch..everything is completely redone, all new small parts..screws nuts bolts etc.. as for the round top flat top issue, the round tops are 45mm bore...stock. if you bore out round tops, you can get about 50mm max..which comes out to about a increase of 100+cfm per carb. I dont have a flattop carb to measure anymore..so i dont know the bore of those. as for the exhaust, check with some local shops before buying the pre made msa kit, I have had one of those, and the one i got didnt fit together all that well...and hung kinda too low..at the muffler area, this time around I went to a local muffler shop and got a nice 2 1/2" setup, custom bent aluminized tubing into a stainless magnaflow muffler for $250 (installed price) and its tucked up way better than stock...MSA headers will work good for what your looking for..but if you end up going for high horsepower, youll want a larger diamater tubing than MSA offers..Nissan motorsports has the bigger tubed headers..but up in the $400+ range. and chickenwafer is so right about doing a detailed once over of everything on the car replacing all fluids, checking brakes, suspension etc etc.. JacK

They are pretty much right on the money..with that setup. I wouldnt go past 7200rpm maybe keep it a bit lower like 7k. Mines been dynoed up to 7250rpm but my HP peaks out around 6200rpm @ 289hp / 245torq , but by 7200 it drops down to 263hp / 192torq. Are your SU's bored out at all? What header /exhaust setup are you going to be running? JacK

I bought some outer tie rods to install when i swapped out my springs the other day and for the life of me I couldnt get the "locknut"? off...is this common? they arent reverse threads are they? Anyone have any tips for getting that locknut loose? its very clean..just seems super tight...once the wrench slipped, i thought it was time to ask around. Thanks, JacK pic...

Im sure those flat top carbs can be tuned with a LOT of effort, but they are known as "boat anchors". they were designed for emmisions not performance. dump them, your Z tuning life will be better for it. as for mods, I used to have a late 73 240, I did 1 1/2" headers, only a 2" exhaust (it was a stock motor internally so it didnt need 2 1/2-3" exhaust...) electronic ignition, new coil, 5 speed, lightened flywheel centerforce clutch and had some properly overhauled early 240 carbs. it ran in the mid to low 15's in the 1/4 mile. (stock is like 17 seconds.) it seemed to really be a lot quicker off the line especially... Jack

But would'nt you ummm want a load to test power output? if you want a true reading...

I knew that! i did really... JacK

yep i will indeed, hopefully ill figure it out over the weekend and let you all know.

Ahhh i like this test good idea. but i started doing the headlight rewire thing tonight before I read this so...i gotta finish that up 1st.

*I meant the mechanical one. *Im running sealed beams sylvania "performance" from kragen auto. *the battery is about a year old, its a die hard, its never stranded me, always cranks strong has never given me any reason to think its not holding a charge I drive the car 10-20 miles daily. *new cables as well. * 1500 miles ago, i replaced the belt, then this week i replaced the alternator which required me to readjust the belt, and i did check it today, its nice and tight. *I replaced the ign coil because the one i had is not rated for over 6500 rpm so i bought a MSD blaster coil. its only a couple weeks old. *I dont think its the float chambers only because of the uphill testing I did, I sprinted up a long grade of at least 2 miles, the car pulls hard all the way to 5k rpm, then sputters...but if i keep it under 5k, itll go up hill all day. ((i was told by a good mechanic that if you are not getting enough fuel once it begins to sputter or die from lack of fuel itll keep doing it through the gears i can race up to 5k, shift race up to 5k...etc etc no problem. the uphill part creates much more load on the engine thus using more gas. im going to focus on the headlight issue i think..perhaps ill do the rewiring thing so they get thier power directly from the battery...

Sorry, Im using 50mm SU's, stock pump at the moment, what does a stock fuel pump put out in pressure anyway? no I havent checked the floats, I did just richen the carbs a couple days ago by 1/2 turn because it did seem to be running a bit lean. as for my distributor its been professionally re curved and is nice and tight maybe moves 10 1000ths. its pretty straight. But besides all that stuff, I went out yesterday, and found out this misfiring is only happening when my headlights are turned on....see I usually only drive my car late in the day, becasue its so dammed hot out here..im about 40 miles or so from palm springs. point is, half the time im out driving, it gets dark enough for lights, and it never occured to me turning the lights on was related till yesterday. So,, I tired tearing out all my front lighting, refurbished all the harness's looking for maybe some wire intermittinly grounding or something. once all was reinstalled, the same thing was happening,the instant i turn the lights on above 5k rpm. feels like the lighting is robbing the ignition system of needed power to fire properly. what do you think?

Was your Flux Capacitor fully charged at the time? and what rating resistors were you using? most people screwup and use the 720 ohm. JacK

Ive got the clear glass filter, that has a replacable element inside, which i like for seeing whats coming from the tank, and yea once they start clogging you get a similiar miss. I just replaced the element a couple hundred miles ago shortly after this problem started thinking the same thing you did. thanks, JacK

Nope not that...sure woulda been an easy fix..thanks though! JacK

its only a couple bucks no worries, ill try to get it out to you by tomarrow. JacK

do you just need the bottle or the motor too? Ive got a couple bottles lying around i think. JacK