Arne

Just got my Sept. '08 issue of Classic Motorsport today. It has a small write-up on the MSA gathering last April, and a great article on Carl Beck's BRE Baja 240Z! Good Z stuff! A picture caption from the MSA coverage: "Few cars can claim the era-spanning good looks and thrilling performance of Datsun's classic Z-cars."

I agree with Walter that it sounds like you have Weber two-barrel conversions. While I would not convert a 240Z to those dual Weber carbs myself, if you already have them, and if they are well-jetted and tuned, there's probably no compelling reason to replace them. If you do decide to replace them, a matched pair of round-top SUs from any '70-72 240Z would be my recommendation for a stock or mildly modified car. For a modified car, I'd recommend triple carbs, either Weber or Mikuni.

Can't tell from the pictures which manifolds it has, but the fuel rail is the shorter one that came on the '73-74s with flat tops. So I agree with Stephen's assessment, it is a flattop car that has been converted to roundtops.

Yes, a very nice example. You could not restore one to that level for that price, and even if you did, it would be restored, not original. A bargain, if it sells at that price.

I'm guessing that the '72-73 US spec head was not the same as the rest of the world. The E88 heads as used in those years had combustion chambers that were "optimized" for emissions. I suspect that the valve specs and probably the cam were the same. The head casting number may not tell the entire story. There were (IIRC) at least four different major variations of the E88 head as used on US cars from mid-'71 through the '74 260Z.

If you are looking to repaint the entire car, talk to your painter about what you expect, in detail. In my case, my car's 905 red had faded to the point that many people called it orange. After discussing it with my painter, he selected the closest pre-mixed color to 905 from his preferred paint manufacturer, then custom tinted that to match the underside of the toolbox lids. Turned out great!

Gilson Bros. must ave made the same tiller for lots of retailers. My parents still have an identical tiller (bought it new when I was a kid), except it is orange and branded as Montgomery Wards/Riverside.

Oh, I suspect that by the numbers, a later L28E that uses an oxygen sensor and catalyst would be cleaner running, from the unburned hydrocarbon point of view. But the larger L28 will burn more fuel, and therefore emit more carbon dioxide, even at its best.More importantly, for the very small number of miles that most of us drive our Zs, the total annual difference would be minute, and the theoretical benefit(s) would not be worth the considerable effort required.

If the battery is fully charged, the charging system is working properly and has enough capacity, the ammeter should be steady and just barely to the + side whenever the load is stable. Adding any load (stepping on the brakes, turning on lights, radio or fan) should bring a brief dip to the minus side, then return to near zero.Remember that all the ammeter does is show the difference between the regulated output from the alternator and the amount of current flowing through the various electrical bits. So if the battery is charged, and the alternator is keeping up with the load, it should be at or near zero. If it shows a steady negative draw, the alternator is either not working, or can't keep up with the load. Test this by turning on the lights with the engine off. If the ammeter shows a steady + charge, that can mean a couple of things. One is that your battery is partially discharged, and the alternator is supplying more current than is presently needed in an effort to recharge the battery. The other cause could be that one or more operating electrical devices have been added (or re-wired) that pull their power off prior to the ammeter connection. (Those of us with Dave's relay harnesses have seen this one, as they pull direct from the battery, not through the alternator.) This is one reason that ammeters were replaced by voltmeters. The voltmeter captures the effects of all accessories, not just the ones wired to pass juice through the ammeter. An ammeter needle that jumps when the load is steady indicated a voltage regulator issue. The old points type regulators would do this a little by nature, but an internal electronic regulator should react faster than the needle can and should be steady. Lights that dim at idle is an indication of either too much resistance in the headlight circuit, or insufficient alternator output at idle. Both issues are common on 240Zs especially, and the headlight circuit resistance can be very troublesome, leading to melted fuseboxes and burned wiring harnesses.

That's currently about US$112. Not too bad if the shipping wasn't an issue. I wonder if there'd be enough market to import a batch of them?

One of my '71s came to me with a complete injection system from an '83 ZX in it. The job was badly cobbled together. I began to research what it would take to finish the job properly, and the expense would have been huge. I ended up removing the injection and going back to SUs.

These days, with the proliferation of leather seating surfaces in most all cars, there seems to be a whole lot of people who don't know that leather-grained vinyl even exists. "If it looks kinda like leather, it must be leather." I'd rather believe that, than assume that all the ads for S30s with "original leather" were/are written by liars.

Bah! It's a lot less rusty than mine, as I haven't spoken any Français in over 30 years.

Sounds like a regulator issue to me. My ammeter is rock steady with the 60 amp ZX system. Far more steady than with the original alternator and points-type regulator. Was the original regulator properly by-passed?

Either that, or she's laughing at him straining to take pictures through the paint fog!

Soft or bad suspension bushings can cause a braking pull too, if they are soft enough that the suspension can shift slightly under braking load. As a WAG, I'd start by checking the right tension rod bushings.

No problems at all, my ammeter works perfectly. What type of device generates and regulates the current should have no effect on an ammeter, all it does is measure the current flow.

Looks like the standard 280Z rear bumper filler.

Randy, I think that refurbing it will be more work than it's worth, so you should send it to me instead. Seriously, I'd love to have one, but it's not high enough on my priority list to convince me to pay the current prices. I thought that the originals were matte silver on both sides. Not certain of that, though. If it turns out that black on the bottom is correct, I've painted powdercoated parts in the past without issues.

Picture to go with my PM.

Not too bad. Stick a set of Michelin redlines and a new top (with the reflective strips) on it and it'll look just right.

Rears from a '73.

Oh. Different issue then. Make certain that the points are properly mounted and gapped, and also that the small wire that leads from the points to the terminal on the outside of the dizzy is connected properly and that its insulation is in good shape. If you are testing this by cranking the engine, make certain that the dizzy shaft is actually spinning. You don't have to crank the engine to test this, just turn on the ignition and manually open the points. When the points break (spark) the coil should fire.

Bad distributor cap, perhaps. Make certain the cap and rotor match, too.

Can you run a P90 or N42 with dished pistons? Yes. Are those two better flowing heads than the N47? Definitely for the P90, maybe for the N42. But in both cases the flow improvement might not be noticeable without a lot of other mods. The big issue is that neither of those heads will give you much compression with dished pistons. The N42 is probably the better choice, it will give a CR in the low 8s, or about stock for an L28. The P90 with dished will only give around 7.5:1 or so - fine for a turbo, but lousy for a naturally aspirated L28. I'm going to assume that budget is an issue, otherwise you'd probably be looking at flat-top pistons instead. If that's the case, I'd skip the head change and put your money into a good valve job and cam for your N47. There's lots of good running motors with those "poor-flowing" round port heads on them.