Arne

John's car (in the linked ad) is a definite buy, and that car as well as the low-miles Series 2 '71 I bought last month (see my third 240Z) show that this $7000-9000 range may be the sweet spot right now, if you are patient, but diligent in searching them out. John's car is perhaps even a better buy in some ways than mine was, unless you are after strict originality. Because as good as mine is, it will still need tires, weatherstripping, all cooling and vent hoses replaced, struts, carpet, etc. But John's car looks to be ready to drive right now. If you can swing it, you should do so.

James, you'll likely find more answers to these questions at Hybridz.org, where swaps like this are the rule, rather than the exception.

I'd watch Craigslist for your area. Don't watch for the rods, look for people trying to dump '73 L24s. I've seen intact '73 L24 engines from free to $100 or so.

Hmm, I've got a decent spare '71 gas tank. Might be expensive to ship to CO, though...

I personally prefer the old school look of the rewinds, but that might not be the case for everyone...

I'll second this, as that's the approach I took with my yellow Series 1. All it lacks now to be drivable is exhaust. It still needs a bit of rust repair, but that can wait. I might have paid a bit too much for it just over a year ago, but I made that up by buying a parts car to affordably get some of the things I needed. I'm in mine for about $4000 now, and the engine, drivetrain, suspension, brakes, electrical and cooling have all been taken care of. If that one runs and doesn't burn oil badly, you should be able to get to that same spot for that much or maybe less.

Hey Gary, if you truly want to get that fixed, throw the rest of the parts in the back of the car and drive down to my place for a Saturday. We should be able to get the rears handled and the fronts cut down in a single afternoon. Then you won't have to apologize for this all the time. It'll probably ride and drive better, too...

If anyone is going to have the "correct" color paint, I'm betting it'd be Les Canaday at Classic Datsun Motorsports.

None that I can see.

Chrome is personal preference, I don't care for it, but others do. Chevy engine orange is really close, probably close enough for most any normal car. Decals are available from several places. For example - http://www.zzxdatsun.com/decals.html

You know, I think you're right.

I do like the stability (set-it-and-forget-it) and hot spark of the electronic ignition. But I don't like the seeming lack of reliability of most of them. I keep hearing of odd issues with Pertronix now and then, and the ZX ignition ignitor-boxess seem to be prone to sudden failures - not too surprising, I guess, considering their age and all. But disconcerting in that when one of those units dies, it just flat dies. Nothing you can do on the roadside unless you happen to carry a spare ignitor unit.On the other hand - for cars like mine which are mostly stock, a points ignition still does the job. Sure, I'll have to replace them once in a while, and set the gap and dwell angle, etc., etc. But I can carry a spare set of points with me in the car pretty easily, and they seldom fail without warning anyway. I'm strongly thinking of staying with the points in my new red car.

Yes, it was a nearly perfect day. Great weather, great roads, great company, pretty hard to imagine how it could have been better. Since Deanna and I live in the Eugene-area, we had to come a completely different route from the south. We drove up the mildly winding back roads all the way, through beautiful country with very little traffic. No freeways at all for us this trip. We arrived at our destination first. (No, I won't share anything about why the main group was almost late. Other than - free air. ) We got to watch the group of four 240Zs drive as a group down the street one after the other, then parade around the corner to the parking area. Very cool! I can sympathize with the poor SUV driver Enriqué mentioned above, because it could have easily been me! You just don't see 240Zs on the road that much anymore, and to see a group of four at once... Enriqué's pictures seem to cover most of it, I'll only add one as the cars gathered for the group shots.

Hmm.... I wonder about the health of my yellow car's ZX ignition now. There have been a couple of times that I felt the ignition was acting a bit funky, and the tach is intermittently bad. Might be worth swapping the points dizzy back on for a test...

What kind of fuel pump are you using? If it's an electric that delivers more than 5 psi, it can overpower the needle valve.

That's one thing that never got started here in Oregon or Washington - SALT! Even up in the Cascade mountain passes, no salt. Which is why - even though it rains here a whole lot during the winters - you still see old cars like our early Zs on the roads here.But that goes the other way as well. Because easily repairable Zs are readily available here, a whole lot of cars that would be prime restoration candidates in other parts of the country are simply crushed out here, being considered too rusty to be worth messing with. Sad, but true.

Ouch, that's harsh to have winter so early. Today, here in the beautiful Pacific NW, my wife and I drove our 240Z up the old highways to McMinnville, OR to meet four other 240Zs (and their owners, of course) for lunch and conversation. Had a fantastic day and a great drive. Clear blue sky and 65-70 degrees. Ate lunch outdoors. I feel bad for you guys (and gals) in the upper Mid-West.

E88 has smaller valves, and (unless it's been previously rebuilt) will not have steel intake seats.

Carbs don't change anything for the plugs, so use whatever is recommended for the ignition you have. If it's the stock '77 ignition, use the plugs for a '77.

Actually, in this application, the P is for Projected tip. P only indicates platinum if it is the first letter.The gap is the final part, after the dash. The 11 numbers are good for electronic ignition, if you have points you'll probably want to stay with an 8 there. I have used BPR6EY-11 in an L24 with the ZX ignition quite successfully. I attached the official NGK part number de-coder, freshly downloaded from their site. partnumberkey.pdf

For my own cars, for my own driving, I'm not much into radical mods. But I can really appreciate well executed modifications, especially those that serve a real purpose. I've never been much for mods that are appearance-only, that don't really make the cars better.

I hate to burst your bubble, veritech, but the chances are that if no one at either hybridz or here recognizes this car, it almost has to be a one-off. Between these two sites, you've contacted both of the most informed and active Z enthusiast pools out there. If it was an off-the-shelf kit, somebody would recognize it.

Not a chance....

IIRC = If I Recall Correctly.

Cartridges were available from the parts department as replacements, but were not installed in the cars from the factory. I disassembled many of those smelly, messy things in my previous career.