Jeff G 78

If the handle on your car has a broken rod, simply swap them left to right. Both sides are the same, but they each just use one of the two arms. If you do need a new handle, I see them on Ebay all the time and MSA or BD have them as well.

Yes, the crank bolt is 27mm. I think the cam bolt is 19mm.

I've poured 5 quarts of nice clean oil onto the driveway. Right after finishing off the last quart, I saw the plug sitting on the driveway next to the wrench.

Good catch John. I hadn't even noticed the inconsistancies that you pointed out. The one thing I don't see is wear marks from the tank straps. The scuffs on the tank seem to be more like those that would come from sitting on a shelf for 30 years, than from being under a Z. Of course it could have come from a Z that was wrecked early in life. Who knows??? It sounds like the seller stumbled across the tank and doesn't really know much about it. If it ever did have gas in it, there's a chance it has some level of corrosion inside.

Great story! Do you have any pics of what it looked like the first time around or after you bought it back - before going to paint jail?

With three days left, it's at only $83. I would think it should bring between two and three hundred dollars. My POR 15 kit was about $60 and it took me a full weekend to clean and reline it, so I could see spending a few hundred for it. Anything higher and it would be cheaper to have an old tank refurbished by Renu or whatever they are called.

You're right. I didn't notice that at first glance. I had the typical Cannon intake on my '72 and the runners were much longer.

I just stumbled across this and thought it would be worth posting. This isn't mine! I just know how many of us have gone through tank rust issues. The seller does not know what year it's from. It isn't from a '78 because my tank has the sending unit on the top and the inlet/outlets on the front. This tank has them on the back with the sending unit on the front. I can't recall what my '75, or '76 tanks looked like, but I don't remember any of them having the sender on the front like this. Anybody know what year tank this is? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/75-76-77-78-DATSUN-280-Z-NOS-FUEL-TANK-GAS-TANK_W0QQitemZ320168184719QQihZ011QQcategoryZ33556QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Holy Mazdas Batman!

I didn't reuse it when I did the clay test. It sucks throwing away a brand new $20-$30 gasket, but it's just part of the rebuild cost, I guess.

Sweet! Congrats on the GRM coverage.

Awesome vids. Thanks for sharing them. I can't wait to get mine out on the track.

That's cool Carl. It's funny, because I actually HAVE given Bob driving tips. I was the vehicle dynamics engineer on the SVT Lightning and Bob drove it when he was visiting Ford in Dearborn. He drove a few laps on our handling course and I was giving him tips and tricks on how drive a hotrod pickup truck at its limit. We have worked with him several times out in Arizona when we were testing. He's a nice guy. He's pretty scary to drive with these days though. He can't see too well anymore :paranoid:

Yes and no. If they were off the shelf items, then yes the buyers might want to get them on their own, but a unique DOHC head would require cams that are designed for the specific engine and head layout. 1FastZ bought custom built cams. I'm sure those weren't cheap. Either the head would have to be designed to use some other manufacturer's valvetrain parts (i.e. Toyots Supra valvetrain), or the person making the heads would also need to supply everything required and build enough spares to have stock for years to come. :cross-eye

Also, tooling for gas tanks isn't cheap. There are way too many different tank designs as well since the floor design kept changing over the S30 years. It just wouldn't be profitable. :disappoin

Yep, zpizzaman20 is correct. Look on your carpet and you will find weird plastic chunks. Those are what's left of your plastic button. I replaced mine with a bolt and nut as well, but the buttons are still available for a nominal fee. It's a 10 minute fix.

Arne posts here all the time. Do a search for 'arne'.

Ah yes, that's my old Z! Glenn did a great job with the restoration. The car is very clean and started as a rust free AZ car. I have no idea what he hopes to get out of it, but I assume it is quite a bit higher than the current bid. I know he hates to sell it. Since he has to sell it, I would hope that it stays local. It is probably the nicest 240Z in SE Michigan. I haven't gotten together with him this year, but he had it running very well last year. Like he said in the ad, it costs WAY more to restore a car than it does to buy a finished one. Michael, you must be right around the corner from me - I'm in Northville.

Here in the Detroit area, we have an import parts chain. They stock almost every mechanical part I could need. Look through your yellow pages to see if there are any import part stores in your area. If not, try Napa. They carry good quality parts as well. If all else fails, call Courtesy Nissan or go to MSA for your internals.

That's what I see. It looks like only your '71 still has 240 hubs and rotors. The other two have the later design.

The 240 hub is flower shaped, while the 280 hub is round. Check Modern Motorsports for photos http://www.modern-motorsports.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=48

You should have at least 1-1.5 stud diameters of useable threads. So, since your studs are M12x1.25, you should have 10-12 threads engaged in the nuts ((12*1)/1.25=9.6 and (12x1.5)/1.25=12). Some lugnuts have a pilot with no threads for the first 3-4mm, so be sure you have 10-12 real threads. 10 is MINIMUM, 12 is recommended.

It sounds like the BCDD. It might just need an adjustment. The BCDD is supposed to hold the revs on decel until the car gets under 10 mph and then slowly drop back to idle. Mine was doing the same thing as yours, but hanging at a bit higher rpm. There is a screw on the bottom of the BCDD to adjust it, but I didn't have any luck moving mine. I decided to disable it and the car now runs much better. If you decide to disable it, remove the rubber intake hose between the AFM and the throttle body. You will see two holes at the bottom of the throttle body. One hole goes to the BCDD and the other goes to the distributor if I remember correctly. If you plug the hole that goes to the BCDD, it will disable it and make your car run better (assuming you can't get the BCDD adjusted properly). In my case, I used a piece of QUALITY tape to cover the BCDD feed hole TEMPORARILY so I could determine for sure that the BCDD was the culprit. As a precaution, I cut the strip of tape long enough to extend upstream and wrap around the opening of the throttle body so that the rubber intake hose would help secure it in case it came unstuck. I didn't want to risk sucking it into the intake. Make sure the tape covers the BCDD hole only (the larger one) and does NOT obstruct the butterfly valve. After replacing the intake hose, take the car for a quick drive to see if the problem is gone. If so, the BCDD was the problem and you can either replace it or disable it by plugging the air hole with some RTV. On my car, the tape trick worked, but at the same time the idle was much lower and the car would stall when coming to a stop when the car was cold. This told me that the AAR was also not working. I replaced the AAR and the car now runs great cold and warm.

I don't *think* so, but you can go to their websitehttp://www.panasport.com/ and call them. There are several distributors around that you can go to. Your dealer should be able to buy them from one of them. Do a search on Panasport as I think Les Cannaday (sp?) sells them, but I don't know the website. I got mine from the East coast distributor, but he closed up his shop. I got his last set. Good luck!

I'm with you there. I have seen a few that look awesome, but I don't see the point.