Jeff G 78

Thanks again CO. Not having the return spring would suck. I will have two keys to deal with, but it's better than being locked out of the car.

Makes perfect sense Cap'n. Hopefully the spare lock I have with the long arm is as wear-free as it feels. At least I'll have one side working properly. I'm glad I figured out now that the Ebay ones are not an option.

My only thought on the root cause of the second failure was if the used head you bought had been shaved before you bought it. That would make the distance between gears to be short and cause chain slack. Did you check the notch and mark per the manual after you put it together?

Those are purdy Matt. I'm thinking the long arms might have come with the redesigned '77 latch system.

OK, I dug through my boxes and I found four door locks. One had a pair of keys in the lock and in the box was one other key along with the other three locks. After a lot of WD40 and key wiggling, the lock with the key started working very smoothly and the shaft/lever combo appears to have very little wear. The other key fits one of the three other locks and I managed to get it to operate, but not smoothly yet. Both working locks with keys are marked with an L on the lever, so I assume they are both lefts which is better than two rights, I guess. The lock that works like new has a much longer lever with a rubber sleeve on it while the other three have short arms with a hole an a plastic insert that snaps onto the pushrod. From what I remember, my '78 locks have the long style arms with the rubber sleeve, so at least the one that works well is the right style for my car. The Ebay ones are the short kind with the plastic insert so I don't see how they would even work on a later S30. It looks like the Ebay option is off the table for me. If the one I have fits the left side and works well, I'm in business and I can remove the worn lock and see if I can mend it with a wire for future use.

That makes no sense. When you tore it down, was there any sign of damage to the chain or guides? How many teeth did it jump? When you replaced the chain, did you also replace the gears, guides and tensioner? I have never had a Z chain jump regardless of the age or condition of the engine, so for it to happen 2 or 3 times means something else is going on. Please give us more details about exactly what happened, the driving conditions, assembly method, etc.

I know this has been discussed and the general consensus is that the quality isn't great, but will these replacement locks last for a while? Mine have the typical shaft wear and they no longer move the arm far enough to push the rod an unlock the door. Datsun 510 240Z 260z 280z 1600 Door Locks with Keys | eBay My locks are both shot and my options are to find better old ones, do the wire fix on mine, or replace them with new ebay ones. I have a few old ones that might be less worn that my current ones, but they don't work smoothly. Some oil might help, but I haven't tried yet. The wire fix doesn't look too hard, but how long does the fix last before something bends or breaks? And finally, how bad are the ebay locks? My car doesn't get driven much, but I do need to have working locks. Right now, the only way I can unlock the car is to open the hatch and reach in lift the rod on the door. It's hard to reach and I look like an idiot trying to get into my car. :tapemouth

Ugggghhhh! I'm sorry to hear you still have a leak Steve. Depending on how the prep on my 260Z race car goes, I might be able to make the 16th. I'm building a new motor and I have a bunch of other mods to do as well. The plan is to have it ready for a track day at Grattan at the end of May. If we get it ready in time and that testing goes well, June will be pretty quiet, but if it needs additional work, I'll be thrashing to get it ready for our 12 hour July race at Nelson Ledges. I hope to get my street Z out of the garage pretty soon too. Last year, it stayed in the corner of the garage with the cover on it all summer.

When is it Steve?

Exactly. I learned the hard way what happens when you put them in the wrong way. When you tap them in the wrong way, they can grab the seal and slice the rubber.

Steve, the steel strips have a blunt end and a sharp end. The sharp end goes inwards, but if you look close, it is beveled like a wood chisel. Like a wood chisel, if you put the sharp edge towards the seal, it can slice into it. Instead, you face the sharp edge towards the iron block to protect the rubber seal. Does that make sense? I'll see if I can find a picture of one.

You didn't cut the excess off? That might have caused your leak. I've always stuffed them down and then trimmed the rest off. I've never had a leak. One thing your pics don't show is the right way to insert the steel strips. The bevel needs to be such that the longest part is against the block and not against the rubber. If the sharp edge is towards the rubber, it can slice it. Good luck Steve!

Since it's the easiest, I'd start by checking for spark first.

Looks like 305 Light Blue to me. 70-78 Datsun Z Paint Code Gallery

Check out the color that Greg Ira painted Woody's BRE themed racer. It's a really nice gray. For wheels and tires, I'd stay away from 14". The tire selection is really getting slim. You need to decide what type of tires you need. Are you looking for a summer-only performance tire, or a comfy all-season tire? If you just will want want a black and round tire and aren't looking for performance, you can go with a 15" rim, but for performance rubber, a 16 is safer for future tire choices. There is a really nice looking XXR 16x8" rim on ebay. XXR isn't the best quality rim, but they cost less than 1/2 as much as Pansports. 16 16x8 XXR 531 Black Wheels Rims 0 Deep Dish Lip 4x4 5 Datsun 240Z 260z 280z | eBay

Good point Steve. They are right in the front corner of the door where the window frame lands.

I saw your Vitaloni thread. Those look pretty nice. Do they vibrate at all?

There aren't many good mirrors for our cars. Anybody try the BRE mirrors yet? If so, what do you think of them for vibration, looks and function? BRE: *NEW* BRE Datsun 240Z-280Z Mirror Kit

Their new flanged exhaust sure is purdy. I might have to buy one for my street 280 and then add a flex coupling and resonator up front.

Zombie thread claims another victim. hee hee. It happens to all of us.

Hey George, you answered a question that was asked almost six years ago. Arne doesn't even own a Z any more.

I'm always on the lookout for a cheap used Xenon urethane airdam for a '74.5 - '78. It doesn't have to be perfect.

As far as I can tell, all '77 MY cars had N47 heads and probably 99% of those N47's were internally oiled. I have one of the few externally oiled N47 heads, but I am fairly certain that it was a pre-production head which is why it had the earlier spray bar oiling system. I got it in 2001 from an original factory race team. I was told that it was taken off an engine when new and had been on the shelf ever since. The head was clearly brand new and not refurbished, so I had no reason to doubt his story.

Nice work, but at first glance I see a few issues. The cam lubrication line isn't correct. The N42 head used a spray bar and even a few of the N47 heads had spray bars, though the vast majority were internally oiled. Also, flat top pistons didn't come into play in the ZX until the '81 MY with the intodction of the P79 head. You have them coming in early with the N47 head which would have produced 9.83:1 CR. EDIT: The late E88 heads have 44.6 cc chambers just like the N42 and N47 heads. EDIT 2: Flat top carbs came in later than listed. The '73 MY had the flat top Hitachi carbs, but you have them coming in in Sept. '71.

Koalia, the problem is that there really aren't any wider tires available in a 14" size. They still make racing slicks wider, but otherwise, the selection is dwindling.