Arne

Did you remember to remove the thick spacer that was behind the flex plate? The pilot bushing won't fit through that spacer, the spacer needs to be removed and is not used with the flywheel. Next, in my case the six bolts that held the flexplate to the crank were about 10 mm shorter than the bolts that came with my flywheel (which I personally removed from a spare engine, so I know they were right). While the ones from the flex plate were long enough to start and tighten down, I fear they might not grab enough threads to stay tight. I would strongly recommend that you use the proper length bolts. The last thing you want is for the flywheel to come loose while the engine is running!! As for the starter - Datsun listed different starters and solenoids for manual and auto cars through the late 280Zs. It's my guess that the auto starter's drive gear is set to engage the ring gear at a different spot. In other words, it probably kicks the drive gear too far or not far enough (I don't know which) to mate properly with the ring gear on the flywheel. While it might work, it might also tear up your flywheel's ring gear. In this case, I'd recommend a starter that was intended for a manual transmission car. One option here is the gear reduction starters off of a ZX, those cars all used the same starter for all transmissions.

This should really have been posted in the classified section. ;-)

First, notice that you posted this in the 240K forum, not the 240Z forum. Second, there have been lots of threads on this subject. You might want to try a search, I searched for 'msd 6al' and got these relevant threads: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=15896&highlight=msd+6al http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14129&highlight=msd+6al http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=11906&highlight=msd+6al http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21287&highlight=msd+6al There is also a write-up in the Technical articles section as well: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13085

I'm not certain if it'll bring this much or not, but I'd be surprised if the reserve wasn't at least $10-12k. It would cost a lot more than that to recreate it. As always, the big question is the "R" word. (Rust.) One would hope that they had a solid car to add all that to, but you never know.

OK. First, berfore I forget, the speedo gears should interchange. Second, the Webers and associated parts should bolt straight on. I have put SUs and their manifolds on my L28, which was out of an '83 ZX and has a P79 head. No real issues. Third, a compression test may not confirm anything. It will tell you that the valves and top two rings (compression rings) are sealing, but won't tell a thing about the bottom rings which only do oil control. The L28 currently in my car has great compression: 165-170 in all six holes. It also burns oil badly, enough that I had to go two steps hotter plugs to keep it from fouling plugs until I get my L24 rebuilt. So if your L28 has a fresh head, I'd guess the oil control rings are bad. (The spreader rings have probably lost their tension.) Probably time to refresh the lower end.

You won't see mine this year, Loren. Maybe next year, but it won't be pretty by that point.

No, the early cars use a completely different ash tray, that also covers the fusebox. See http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20840

I look forward to bumping into you at Canby as well, Roger. My Series 1 '71 lives with me here in Springfield. Actually, there's quite a few Oregonians here, and a few from across the river in Vancouver too.

When you do it, I'll be contacting you - unless I find an original before then.

In my experience, it is much easier to find clean 240Z automatics than sticks - the automatics seem to have had an easier life. Swapping a 240Z from automatic to a manual transmission is not very difficult. I did it on mine, and wrote a tech article for this site on the process.http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21274

One word - RUST

It seems to me that you shouldn't have to go 5000 miles to find a decent 280Z! Since you didn't put where you live in the location field in your profile, I don't know where you live, but there have got to be some nice ones closer to you than that.

I think this is true for most of us!

My ashtray/fuse-cover is broken in several pieces, but since I have them all I can wedge them all in and it doesn't look too bad from 10 feet. (But don't touch it or it falls to pieces!) But eventually I'll need one as well. Add these early ashtrays to the list of parts I'd like to see reproduced. The other part high on that list is the chrome center trim strip for the taillights.

There's your answer. SUs will do fine for up to a moderate L28 - medium compression, mild street cam and decent exhaust. If you're planning to go farther than that, you'll probably want Webers or Mikunis.

IMO, the first mod needs to be brakes. Make it stop first. Then make it handle. Then make it faster. Because if it stops and handles good enough you might get by with the L28et...

Looks to me that they fully expect you to have to connect two pieces to make the longest runs. Please post back about how these work, I'd be interested in them for my car when I paint it someday.

The gauge wiring is pretty simple. One wire supplies power, the other goes to the sender to be grounded. So either the gauge itself is bad, the gauge isn't getting power, or the wire to the sender is bad. My first steps would be to ground the sender terminal directly at the back of the gauge to determine if the gauge works, and also to use a test lamp or volt meter to verify that the gauge is getting power.

As a side note, never use teflon tape on the temp sender threads. It can insulate the sender from the ground, and then the gauge won't work at all.

When I did this for a living, I used to simply leave a teaspoon or so of the original oil in the tube. As a side note, I recall that we couldn't do this on old Volvos - mostly 240-series. Those cars used regular cartridges from the factory, and the strut tubes had a hole in the bottom. No idea why Volvo did it this way, but moisture could get in there through the bottom hole and rust the cartridge into the tube. Very ugly...

Excellent info, John. Thanks!

Definitely won't hurt a thing. Makes it a bit messy next time you do the struts, that's about the only downside. In fact, I seem to recall that even generic Monroe and Gabriel cartridges way back in the late '70s would recommend 2 oz. of oil in the tube.

Don't use a 1/2 cup or you'll make a big mess. One or two ounces is plenty. It's probably not important for street driving, as seldom will you get the struts hot unless you're on the track.

I recall test driving a brand new 280Z in 1977 or '78. While I prefer the lighter and more 'pure' 240Z these days, a nice 280Z is still a great performing car. (No, I didn't buy the Z back then. Decided to buy a house instead.)

That's what you get when you spend 20+ years in one industry - too much knowledge. And I'll likely have too much about tires forever, even though I've been in IT for 8 years now. Age? That Sears tire is closer to 30 years old, I'd say. Look at the last three digits of the DOT number, found one sidewall only. It will be in the format of 'DOT XXXX XXXX 888' where X's are either letters or numbers, but 8's are always numbers. Those final three numbers give the production date. The first two are the week, and the final being the year. Therefore 267 would be the 26th week of a year ending in 7. (Lately they've finally gone to four digits, which means there is no longer any doubt as to the year.) In the case of your Sears tire, I'm almost certain it was built in the '70s.