Jeff G 78

I saw a nice '78 Black Pearl in CA on CL. It's not perfect, but it's pretty nice for $5k. 1978 280z datsun

Sounds like a great trip. Thanks for sharing the pictures. It's funny to see the old Caprice police car in the museum next to the DMC-12.

30 years ago I had a '76 in #240 Green with white interior and my current '78 (bought 24 years ago) in #517 Light Gold had white interior. Both were swapped for black. I just never liked the white in either car. In both cases, I bought rusty parts cars with PERFECT interiors and I swapped the white for black. These days though it's getting much harder to find donor cars.

Site unseen cars have been hit or miss for me. All in all, I'd do it again, but those first 10 minutes with the new car are really scary.

I SWEAR it wasn't me. Seriously!!! Heck of a coincidence though. It looks like you got a great car. I hope you were able to talk him down from his asking price, but even at that price, it was a good deal. Are you going to keep your red '72, or sell it and put the proceeds into this car? It looks like it could be brought back to driver status with some TLC or show status with some time and money. Congrats on the purchase!

Awesome Roadster! Great add to the garage.

I see an ad for a '71 on CL for $2k with no pics. Is that it?

Maybe he thinks we'll swoop in and buy it first. He'd rather just tease us... :pirate:

Mine first. It doesn't even have any rust! It would take you about a week to complete.

To me, starting last fall is super fast considering how much has been accomplished.

I agree with Blue. You are doing a great job. I can't believe how fast you are moving!!!

Hey Chas, your link doesn't work for me. It just takes me to the forum home page. I plan on doing the 240 bumper mod on my '78 so I'd like to see the best methods.

Wow, great job HaZmatt! I love seeing lots of before and after pics. You are going to have a beautiful and rust-free Z when you are done.

See my other posts on this topic. I've had some that wouldn't turn no matter what.

Congrats! Time to update your signature!

Mike, you fixed a link from a 7 year old post!

Looks like Kenshin hasn't posted here in about 4 years.

I like the 3 wheeler method. Super redneck, but it sure would save time and reduce the back strain. I don't have a neck tattoo or a 3 wheeler, so I guess I have to keep doing it the hard way.

The rear stud usually breaks after the transmission exhaust hanger is removed during exhaust replacement. The exhaust was designed to be rigid back to the rear hangers so that engine roll doesn't put load into the manifold studs. Once that trans hanger comes loose or is removed, the stud will regularly break. The best bet is to make sure that hanger is in place and install a flex pipe in the system to help reduce stress into the system. Here is a picture of my flex pipe while I was mocking it up. You can see the trans hanger at the left side of the picture. It was in terrible shape, so I fabricated a new section to fit with my exhaust. I installed the flex pipe to ease the stress on my race motor and mate the MSA exhaust to my freebie header.

Yeah, I love old Yotas too. I've had seven of them over the years. I'm truckless right now though after a woman hit me in January and totaled my Tacoma. It's the first time in about 20 years I haven't owned one.

Gas tank cleaning isn't a simple procedure. I've done a few tanks and they each took about 20 man hours to do them right. There is nothing wrong with the POR-15 kit, but it can't do miracles. The tank must be 90% cleaned with other methods before using the kit. I start with water. Rinse the tank out many, many times to flush the big stuff out. I then switch to a 1/2 gallon muriatic acid and 1/2 gallon water solution with a few lengths of chain and roll, shake, flip, and roll the tank. After 20 - 30 minutes of shaking, fill the tank with water to weaken the solution and pour the contents out. Rinse with water for another 15 minutes and start the acid wash process over again. It takes at least two gallons of acid (4 washes) to get the tank clean. This is a two man job and takes many hours of back breaking work to complete. Only after this cleaning is finished and the tank looks clean should you start the POR cleaning. The POR 15 directions MUST be followed to the letter. If you are not willing to take the time, don't start the job at all. You will waste time and money and ruin your tank. The POR process takes another few days to complete. I can't stress enough that the tank must be 100% free of moisture before you apply the sealer. Drying time varies by temperature and humidity, but figure 24 hours on average with hot air. I used compressed air followed by a heat gun and then switched to a fan blowing air into the tank overnight. The tank must be turned and rolled during the drying process too or moisture will be trapped. For areas that are hard to dry, you can use a 500W halogen lamp aimed at the area on the outside of the tank placed about 10" from the tank. The heat from the light will help dry the tank. The first tank I cleaned was more typical of most tanks, but the second tank was probably worse than most people would ever attempt to clean. Both tanks came out like new and are still in use 10 and 5 years respectively after cleaning and sealing. The hardest part of the process is getting the sealer off the pickup screen. Use dry compressed air to blow through the fuel supply and return lines after the sealer is applied. There should be very little back pressure. If there is, the screen is likely clogged with sealer and will cause problems with fuel delivery. 280 tank before cleaning 280 tank after cleaning 280 tank after sealing 260 tank before cleaning 260 tank gunk that came out after water rinse 260 tank after muriatic acid cleaning 260 tank after POR cleaning 260 tank after POR sealing

Glad to see you again Arne. Stop by anytime and say hi. Glad to hear you are having fun in the 911. I've always wanted one, but the prices have gone through the roof in the past few years.

In Sweden you likely had 98 RON which is the same as our 93. In the US, we use the (RON + MON) / 2 method of calculating octane while Europe just uses RON. I have no idea why the methods are different, but the octane rating is actually about the same here and there. I run a Web Racing #91 cam and I really like it. The engine pulls strong to 7,000 RPM. My cam is .450 lift and 280° duration. It was a new billet so I can run OE lash pads. I bought new rockers and lash pads, but I believe people have had good luck reconditioning the rockers at a much lower cost. I paid about $12 each for my rockers 20 years ago. You can't go wrong with Rebello, but remember that speed costs money.

Where do you live? The western part of the US doesn't have above 91 octane which limits your compression ratio. My street Z has 9.83:1 CR via flat top pistons and an N47 head and it runs great on 93 octane with no detonation. For my race motor, I went with the P79 head that is better to resist detonation just to be safe during long races as well as unknown gas near various race tracks. I shaved it to get to about 9.3:1 CR. I did not shim the towers and use longer valves, but rather just shaved and modified my chain guides and cam gear to get my chain slack and timing spot on.

200 crank HP isn't terribly hard to get with minimal cost. I built my race motor for about $1500 and it makes great power. I started with a F54/P79, but it would be about as easy to start with a N42/N42. Triple carbs are nice, but they are not needed to produce your power goals. 9.8:1 CR, a mild cam, and a good set of SU carbs will be all you need. I had my stock flywheel lightened. Make sure you replace your front pulley/harmonic balancer. Check with Dale Manufacturing to have them rebuild yours. I've seen many engines destroyed from failed dampers and a rebuilt one is not expensive.