Arne

You're probably correct, Stephen. I've never known anyone to install the delay valve on these conversions. That may be the answer for mine, but lots of people use these successfully w/o the valve.

Carl's post above is dead on track. I found that the particular E12-80 dizzy that I tried was not a good match for my engine. Seemed like too much advance too soon. With it installed, the engine suffered from pre-ignition under load with the best street fuel I can get around here, and with the static timing set to 5 degrees BTDC or less. As is most commonly the case, I do not know whether the dizzy I used was from an auto or a stick, nor what year it came from or if the vacuum advance mechanism was original or not. I could have experimented with different ports and other things, but in the end I decided it made more sense to ditch that and go with a Pertronix in my original dizzy instead. The results that way have been excellent. That's not to say that you can't get good results from an E12-80 on your car - the many, many people using them now proves that they can work. But occasionally (depending on many other things) you may have to fuss with it a while to get it right.

Unlike modern large diameter wheels, small 14" wheels can be significantly lighter than you might think. Your Shelbys were probably a touch lighter than average for a 14x6 aluminum wheel, but not totally unusual. That's one of the advantages of smaller rims. Of course the flip side of that is that 14" tires with all that sidewall are frequently heavier than 15, 16 or 17" tires of similar width and overall diameter, so the end result is not as different as it first seems. But in general, expect each inch increase in wheel diameter to add 2-4 pounds of unsprung weight. Don't forget to delete your classified ad....

Not much digital, I was all film back then. I need to sit down and scan some of this stuff. Here's one in progress, and a 'before' shot to compare.

After I finished restoring it, I drove my B daily for 4 years, regardless of weather. (Well, not in the infrequent snow, but every other day.) No failures, no special maintenance, nothing broke. I changed a few filters and fluids, replaced plugs and points, lubed it now and then, and kept the valves adjusted. Nothing special. It was stone reliable while I had it, and the lady I sold it to had similar experience until she sold it. Last I heard, it was sold to a guy in Atlanta, or thereabouts.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think either kit is still generally available. The Black Pearl stripes were pretty much just silver and red pin stripes and should be fairly easy to replicate, given a few good pictures of the originals. But the ZZap stripes would be much harder to do. You'd need to probably work with a vinyl sign shop for those. Both pictures and measurements would be necessary.

No, it's a later RD-108. Dates from 1980 or so. If some one looks at it, look VERY carefully. In addition to the blue right rear quarter, both the hood and - worse - the radiator support show signs of orange paint. It may have been pieced together from multiple cars....

I't's been posted in our classifieds here as well.

Moving thread from the S30 (240/260/280Z) forum to the ZX forum.

I don't have any codes. But I do know that the stroke lengthened in '74 to make the L24 into the L26, and then the bore was increased in '75 to make the L26 into the L28. So only two different bore sizes, and two different stroke lengths for the three engine sizes we got here in the USA.

I could do that. Or maybe if it catches on we could get Mike to put a link on the Front Page, or somewhere visible like that.

OK, I finally remembered to check my spares. I do have a good working spare switch that appears to be the same physical style as yours, but the logo on the handle is different. I think the one I have is from my 10/70 Series 1, as your 3/71 and my current 7/71 are the same. It looks like the early style has one longer pigtail, but may still work. The one Enigma has that's under the lighter appears to be the correct switch. First picture is the spare, second is the one in my current car. PM me if you're interested.

The ones in that auction are for '73 only. The '70-72 are much simpler. Looks like 62656-E4102 and 62657-E4102 are the numbers.

ZX was the US designation, I believe. I think that the S130s were called Fairlady 280Zs in Japan. Can't swear to that, though.

Yes, if you remove the inside trim panel from the hatch you can get to the latch mechanism and probably open it. It's a pain, but can be done. In my experience, this problem is most frequently caused by the button lock, not the latch itself.

I wanted to try something, could be fun. I've shared a Google map where we can all post our approximate locations. Don't worry about posting your exact address, be close, but don't feel you need to post your real address if you don't want to. The URL is: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=116791503026316859130.000465ae5d1eeaea6a54b To add a pin for yourself, click the Edit button as circled in the first picture, then the Pin button as shown in the second picture. The save and click Done. The results should be interesting.

Please Tim! Not into the parking lights! Totally illegal and annoying to oncoming traffic! Don't give Zs a bad reputation around here! Use a relay and hook them into the high beams instead.

I got my calendar way back before the first of the year, came with the January issue, I think. It's hanging on the wall in my office at work. I guess I'd have to send it to Carl for an autograph.

I know where you are coming from, Mike. I also have restored a B in the past. For the most part, repro parts were easily available, and relatively affordable. (Except for the pre-'68 overdrive vacuum switch, which took years to find!)But consider - they built more than a half-million MGBs over an 18 year run. Far more than there were S30s.

Brad, it's time you were introduced to the Search function here. Virtually every new thread you have started with a question has been answered before - not just once, but many times. Please make an effort to look for previous answers before starting a brand new thread. A quick search for "ignition switch screws" turned up this thread, among others. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25965

Some day I'll want to see you car in person, Tim. I'm interested in seeing how this all turns out. Canby in June, perhaps?

FWIW - I cured my similar problem this morning. This may or may not apply to your car, but might be worth a try. With the electronic ignition on my car I had been using wider gap NGKs as specified for 280ZX - BPR6EY-11 V-Power, to be precise. This morning, after reading in an old generic troubleshooting guide from the '70s that a miss under acceleration is often plug gap too wide, I installed a set of stock BP6ES-8 instead. Both sets of plugs were nearly new, and the wide gap plugs looked beautiful coming out. But with the narrow gap plugs, the car runs perfectly. Pulls smoothly and strongly past 6000 RPM. No issues at all. I know that conventional wisdom is that wider gap is good if you have electronic ignition, and especially with a bit hotter coil (I've got a Pertronics Flamethrower in mine). But the wider gap does not work well in my car, for whatever reason. May have to do with the combustion chamber shape, or who knows what. Anyway, it may be worth looking into on your car, Sean.

Whatever the Datsun dealer applied back in the late Summer of '71...

I agree with Roger on the long tail pipe and the sound. Much more of a mellow, almost musical tone that way. My car is seriously undersized in the exhaust department by today's standards, with a single, stock-size 1 3/4" pipe. But it sounds quite nice with a single 24" glass pack in the center and the long tail pipe. As Roger noted, the exhaust note makes me think of Jags from the '60s.

Part of the issue is that this forum has a significant number of members for whom English is not their native tongue. They can't help or get help from posts which contain slang, txt, poor spelling or lack of punctuation. It really helps these non-English speakers when we try hard to use complete sentences, good spelling and proper grammar. Just courtesy, IMO.