ZSaint

I have the upper piece (plastic) of the shroud bolted onto the stock 240 rad. It looks great. I am thinking of putting it on the car because it will provide a bit more 'direction' to the air travel. The 280 shrouds are 2-piece but do not fit the rad. I really do not want to fabricate mounts. I will keep looking for the bottom piece.

Arne: I went through the same drill with my '71. I wanted to install a fan shroud to help the cooling on my 4-row rad. I bought a shroud and it was for a 280. It would not fit my new rad. I then bought a '72 2-piece shroud and it only had the top half. I emailed the guy and asked about the bottom of the shroud and he never answered. I then bought a repro 1-piece fiberglass shroud for the 240. I decided not to use it as it was very rough. I am still looking for the bottom-half of a 240 2-piece shroud. I know that shrouds do help the fan pull more air through the rad. I have a couple of old Mopars and they both have shrouds. It's the only way to keep them cool. 240's have the same problem with cooling. I think a shroud is the way to go. I will keep looking for the bottom half!

Stephen: Thank you for the referral on the paint decal. I will check this guy out.

I am wondering if I have the one that Arne has. My '71 was built 2/71. I do not remember the indentation in the dash like the pic. I also do not remember the "on/off" decal. I will look the next time I am go to the shop. If not, I guess I will have one made locally. I just bought a decal for the paint code. I need to have the code "stamped" on and it will be ready. It's fun restoring these old cars.

I had a rotisserie built for my 240. I did not know how much easier it was to work on the car until I had it "up". I took it to the body/paint shop on the rack. The body guy had never worked on a car "up". He said it made a huge difference in working on and painting the car. The underside is just a neat as the top side! I left it for another guy who is painting his 240. Might as well use it rather than letting it sit in storage. Looking at yours makes me almost want to do anther one. Almost! You are doing a nice job of restoration. Another one saved!

I agree with you. No one has done the research and development of the Datsun hydraulic lifters like GM, Ford or Mopar. I remember when 'hi-ball' lifters were first introduced in the 60's. No one had done this for Datsun. Why should they? With the millions of GM, Ford and Mopar engines built and the few thousand built by Datsun in '83, why would anyone do the work? They will not and should not. I believe Gude is the only grinder of a performance Datsun Hydraulic cam grind. How many people/manufacturers have done research on GM, Ford and Mopar hydraulic cams... And for how long? Enough of this... I gave up on the Datsun hydraulic cam because the one performance cam available did not work with stock lifters. I changed springs and did all of the things I could think of but nothing worked. This engine worked well with a stock turbo camshaft and stock lifters. It would not work with a high lift cam either solid or hydraulic. The P90A head is an excellent example of a head with great volumetric efficiency. I now have it with a solid cam with solid adjusters. Until someone does the research and development, Datsun will never have a high performance P90A head. These stock lifters simply do not work with longer durations and high lift. Believe me!

I will have them installed professionally. They said they had to special order the 'blew ones'. I will post a pic once I get the seats back in.

I turned my 240Z 6800 on the last day before I took the engine out. When I started removing the engine, I turned the fan over and it had 1/2" o play in it. I am surprised it did not come apart on that last rev-up. They are very easy to check. Just grap the metal fan and see how much play it has. It if does, change your waterpump and change to a plastic fan.

You can get the thread inserts for doing the hydraulic to solid changeover. Or, you can do some machining of the solid adjuster and H-base. If you want pics and dimensions, let me know. I can send them to you. No sense in re-creating the box! I am doing some cam timing now to maximize the power my engine is producing. It is a bit too far retarded now. It does not have any bottom end. I am running ZTherapy modified SU's and they do not want to run below 1100 rpm's. No vacuum! It runs great at the top end but the cam is not a high end cam so I am losing power. I have an adjsutable sprocket so I will get it right. You so right in saying the P90A head is great for low output, quiet engines. Who needs it?

Thank you! I have ordered a set of blew seats!

I tore my seat cover with my plastic check book. Can you believe that? The corner of the plastic cover gauged a hole in the seat. Ouch! Where can I order seat/back covers?

We always used a big red light right by the tach. When it turned RED, you shut her down in a hurry. It would always blink when you came in after a race. With a hot motor and oil, you don't have much pressure at 1200 rpm. It was good to know that the system worked! Anmother thing is will do is check out the oil pick-up. If you are starving for oil, the light will also blink. It is an excellent tool. Easy to install and cheap! I believe we got a switch that came on below 10#. Mopar switch?

We have a buddy that had a 260Z and his son took it out for a spin. The kid spun it into the ditch upside down. Dad bought another Z and put all of his "stuff" into the new car. I did not see his 'kid' help one time with this project. What do you think this kid learned from his actions? Do you think we spoil these kids and give them too much? Duh!

I hope he kept the tank full! You can take the drain plug out of the gas tank and flush it. It is better to use up $10 of gas in flushing the tank then cranking any setiment into you fuel system. Flush out the rad and engine block, too. New antifreeze, too. I would think the brakes would need to be serviced. You can have the rotors and drums turned .005 to clean them up. Replace the pads and shoes? Be certain to take the valve cover off and lube up the cam before starting it. It will take a while to "smoothe" out but I bet it will run OK. Let us know how it runs.

I do not understand your cage. Where do the rear braces attach... The floor? What are you going to attach to the forward brace where your strut bars attach? That is NOT very strong. Who designed this cage? You need a bar running from the front passenger side hoop to the rear strut mount. I am totally lost in looking at your cage. Is it not done?

In terms of "slack", I believe Jon M. answered the question beautifully. We have all turned our engine over by hand and once in a while when the cam is just right with spring tension just right, the cam will kick ahead. Without oil pressure to take out the slack, the chain is loose and the valve springs are strong enough to catch the cam and kick it forward. Not to worry. This will not happen when running.

A stretched chain will always be a stretched chain regardless of which hole (#1, 2 or 3) you put the cam sprocket. All changing these holes does is change the can timing. A stretched chain will give you more cam retardation. You begin to lose your bottom end power. Changing to the #2 or #3 hole will advance the can back to where the factory specs were/are. The chain will remain stretched, however. Wild cams usually take 5` to 6` of advance to help out the bottom end. Mild cams tend to be 2` to 4` advanced. This is what my experience shows. (I have never timed a stock camshaft.) You really need to time the cam by the cam grinder specifications to maximize the power. Whe spend all of that money and time to just stick the cam in and run it not knowing what the timing is?

If the chain was tight when new, the camshaft must be retarded when the chain stretches, right? Going to the #2 hole advances the camshaft, correct? I am just checking my thinking on these camshafts. Confirmation?

I found the number in an old post I made. I bought a new computer in November and did not get the last of these posts. Here is the number: Zcar Link -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- <http://www.zcar.com/forums/read.php?f=1&i=614370&t=614229#reply_614370> Verbiage: They're 1.5mm thread, as are the solid lifters. Hydro are 20 x 1.5 x 28 (total lifter length). Solid 18 x 1.5 x ~19mm. www.timesert.com The Timesert item number is 18153 (M18x1.5x18.3 INSERT) Time Fastener Co 5301 Longley Lane Reno, NV 89511 (775) 829-1026 Alex I will pay myself $20 WHEN I GET THESE INSERTS FROM TIMESERT!

Hey, I am old and dates mean nothing to us old guys! I figured it out after I sent the message that is why I put the (?) behind the year, got it? I have the poster in my garage. Why can't I remember these dates? 'Cause I'm old! I went to both Helicoil and Timesert web pages. I could not find the size we need. I emailed them and called them. They told me this thread pattern we not available. (too large) I will pay anyone $20 if they give me a working number for this Timesert part. I will verify the number, of course. I know... "Here is the number, ZSaint. It is 12345XYZ. Pay me my money!" How about earning yourself $20? Get the number for these threads!:devious:

I called two manufacturers of heli-coils. They do not have the size we need. If someone can give me a "NUMBER for this heli-coil, I would appreciate it. No one seems to be able to do this. I am certain that people would be selling these helicoils on eBay if they were available. Where and what are they? Number? Manufacturer?

I hope you have a supply of emulsion tubes, air correction jets and main jets. Your can will run like crap until you get the correct set-up. Once you get the carbs set, look out! This set-up really pumps some air/fuel mixture into your engine. Check it out with others. List what you have in your engine. Someone who has a similar engine can give you the jetting for your carbs. Good luck and stand on the loud pedal!

Nissan build a hydraulic engine/head (P90A) for the 1984 (?) Turbo. I bought this head from a guy that wanted a "trouble free" engine built with a hydraulic head. His theory was no valve adjustment. He also wanted a quiet-running engine. Someone told him to run a mild solid cam in this hydraulic head. I do not care what anyone says, THIS DOES NOT WORK! I have given up on this hydraulic head and made solid adjusters for the head. To fully answer your question, ALL Datsuns had solid adjusters except for the 1984 Turbo. (And some of them were not hydraulic, so I am told) Some P90A heads came with solid adjusters from the factory. Who knows why!

Arne: I just did the 4th cam change in my '71 240Z. I went with a .450-lift solid w/hydraulic lifters, (did not work at all) I then installed a turbo hydraulic cam w/hydraulic lifters, (worked great but ran out of steam at 5500) installed a Gude .480 lift hydraulic cam w/hydraulic lifters, (did not work/pumped up the lifters) and finally, I have installed the .450 solid WEB Cam w/solid lifter conversions. It will run the first time tomorrow. I simply gave up on the hydraulic lifters. Steve Epperly modified one lifter. Put the solid adjuster into the hydraulic base. It works! I took the rest of the parts to a buddy of mine and he did the machine work. I now have 12 solid/hydraulic hybrid ifters that will screw into the P90A head. I now can adjust my valves just like the P90 head. Hurray! I can hardly wait to get this thing running. By the way... Bill Gude is going to take the hydraulic cam back and replace it with a solid camshaft. I may change to that cam once I get the car running. I have driven the car 150 miles. It isn't even broken in!

Mr. Gude said, "Enough!" I am sending the hydraulic cam back and he is forwarding me a solid camshaft. I am converting the hydraulic lifters over to solid adjusters. I cannot wait! I have had it with this hydraulic camshaft. Whoever said that running a P90A head was the answer just simply never really ran one. What a nightmare. I'll let you know how it works. I have pics of the lifters in case anyone wants to see how to do it.