Arne

First, let me say that over the nearly 3 decades we've been married, my wife has been very tolerant of my car habit. I've learned (self-preservation) to take note of the little warning signs that indicate when I'm about to go too far. The warnings are starting to show tonight, I've got to chill out for a while. My wife and I took a short road trip late this afternoon to pick up an engine. I got word of a supposedly low miles L24 about 50 miles away that I could get for $100. It was described as very low miles (although the current owner admitted she had no way to confirm that), and complete. I envisioned (from this lady's very un-car savvy description) a complete L24 with carbs, air cleaner and the works. It was supposed to be out of a '72 240Z, so I figured if it was true, the round-tops alone would be worth the $100, and anything else would be gravy. Worst case, I need a timing cover and flywheel for my current L28, so those two pieces would also be worth the $100 even if everything else was scrap. So I hooked the trailer to my wife's car, and we drove 50 miles to see what it really was. I found both more and less than I expected. Yup, it was an L24 from '72 or '73. Has an E88 head, anyway. But it is far from the complete engine I had thought she described. It's not much more than a long block, actually. But it does have the flywheel and timing cover I need. And while I haven't pulled it apart yet, it does show indications of being fairly low miles, although I'm not counting on that. So the motor is definitely less than I had hoped it might be, but that didn't surprize me. What did surprize me was when the lady told me about some other 240Z parts she found as well, that she would throw in with the engine if I wanted them. A miscellaeous bunch of engine and clutch parts for the most part, but also a pretty darn good pair of tail lights, and a rear hatch strut that appears to still have it's gas charge! So I loaded it all up and brought it home. Almost feel guilty getting all that for $100, but not quite. But I can see that my wife is losing her sense of humor about all the Datsun stuff I'm randomly collecting. The garage is getting a bit cluttered. I'd better focus and make some positive headway soon. And probably slow down on buying parts I don't really have to have right now.

Well, late Series I cars have much different stickers. Mine appears to be thick, fairly durable, and different. Luckily, mine is in great shape. Here is the picture:

That's been my experience also, on the Datsun as well as several English cars over the years. If you are following the normal tuning instructions and still having problems, most likely the throttle shafts are leaking.

I forgot about this thread. I looked at my Series I and it has a sticker, but I believe that it is different. There is no recess on the Series I dash, and the sticker is on the other side of the switch. Memory tells me the sticker is not quite the same, I'll try to remember to take a picture of it soon. Might not be this evening, going on a parts run tonight. (Spare motor!)

Bear in mind that the engine is already out of the car. I don't want to hurt myself either, but I'm still trying to figure out an easy, cheap way to collect this motor.

Let's wait until I am sure that my gauges are otherwise OK. I'd hate to put you out if I end up replacing them anyway. Thanks!

Planning on something like that. Someone has already tried to do that in the two dual gauges, with very sloppy, poor results. So I'm going to have to try to clean that up while I'm in there. It also looks like none of the small gauges still have their green bulb cover in them. To get them all to match, I may have to remove those from the tach and speedo as well, then use colored bulbs instead.

I was afraid of that. Hmm, maybe three husky young guys from the Guard? I might be able to swing that. Problem is that I found a spare motor, but my trailer (which has a very low lift height) is blocked in by my 240 which won't run right now. The gal that has the motor wants it gone ASAP, so I'm assessing my options.

I've only got one son, and he's away at college. So time is no longer a problem, but money is!!

Assume that there is a complete L24 sitting on the ground, manifolds, carbs, airbox, flywheel and clutch. How much does it wirgh? Can two (or maybe three) guys pick it up to load it in the back of a Land Rover?

If you do anything to seal it, you are just covering it up. The problem will continue to get worse. You should have that filler removed to see what is underneath it. It may not be all that bad, but either way the only way to deal with it is to have the filler removed and properly repair the damage underneath.

Got the dash out yesterday, have all the gauges out for cleaning, and will swap out the harnesses soon. All looks good so far. Now that the dash is out of the car, I can see the engine compartment harness, and I find no sign of overheated wiring there. It is beginning to look like the damage was restricted to the dash harness. If so, I may be past the biggest hurdle. I will likely build a relay setup for the taillights before I put the dash back in, and will build a headlight relay set before the car gets back on the road. The melted fusebox strongly indicates that the headlights were the original problem - which should surprize no one.

Welcome! Good looking car, looks like a good starting point. Rebuilding the L24 will be simpler than swapping in a V6 of some sort. And swapping in a running L28 will be simpler yet. Food for thought.

The zebras definitely seemed to have it in for the 'Hawks, but even so, I'm not sure that it would have made a difference. Might have been a bit closer at the end, but probably still would have gone to the Steelers.

Well, after checking it over and cleaning terminals for the better part of the day, I'm happy. This harness is in remarkably good shape. Not perfect, but I didn't expect perfection from a 35 year old harness. But far, far better than most. Might find time to pull the dash out of the car tomorrow before the game, if not it'll be next weekend. I will say that after going over this thing thorougly, I am now well educated on the dash wiring of the Series I cars.

Severe left pull when braking is not the alignment. More likely to be either bad bushings in the front suspension, or a brake problem (right caliper not working). Or possibly a combination of the two. I gather that your rear bushings are shot, if the fronts are bad as well don't waste you money on alignment until you get them replaced. The best alignment in the world can't help a worn out suspension.

Oh! I mis-read it, thought you were looking for something for the distributor, not the alternator. You don't need the adapter that I came up with, it can be done with normal wires and crimp connectors. But you also have to solder a diode into the circuit. Search the forum for diode and you'll find lots of (sometimes contradictory) posts. The adapter that I came up with is designed to simply plug into the main harness in place of the external voltage regulator. It has the required jumper wires and diode all self-contained. I have now found suppliers for the factory-style terminals and connectors, but now that I am hip-deep in replacing the wiring in my car, I don't have the time to build them. (Maybe later this summer, after I get my car sorted.) For now, I have only built one - and it's on my car.

New master cylinders should be bench bled first, to get the bulk of the air out of the master cylinder itself. But you will still need to bleed the rest of the system once you get it on the car, to remove the air that was introduced when the metal lines were connected to the new cylinder.

Don't waste your money on a 4 wheel alignment. The S30s don't have any adjustments on the rear. Instead, ask for a "thrust-angle" alignment. That will still measure the rear and relate the front to it, but should be less money. It will still point out if something in the rear is wrong, too.

Cosidering the tooling that it would take to reproduce a complex stamped sheet metal part like hubcaps, the repros would likely cost just as much as good originals. Me? I'll end up with something totally period-looking on mine - slotted mags, or maybe a set of Libres. Leave the big dollar hubcaps for the trailer queens. (No offense intended to any trailer queen owners who may be reading this. You need those hubcaps way worse than I do.)

Congratulations! I remember how stoked I was when I got my car re-wired to start correctly and get the tach to work as well. Glad we were all able to help. What adapter do you need for the distributor? Are you using the dizzy from an '81 that has the 3 wire module (E12-93)?

Glad I got it, John. It has cleaned up quite nicely. Still checking the harness over, it looks very good as well. While I'm thinking about it, anyone have a wiring diagram for the heater blower? There's no hint of that in my FSM. And since all that was disassembled when I got the car... I can figure it out if I have to, but I imagine that someone has already done so.

Yeah, I hear you. And I pretty much agree. I do know about all the branches and such in the wires, got my FSM sitting open to the wiring diagram next to me even now. I probably won't check each and every wire, since all the original connectors are intact and unmelted. Perhaps a few spot checks on some of the more critical wires, but definitely cleaning all the terminals.Just spent an hour cleaning all the terminals on fusebox, it is great. One down...

I assume that the European model is similar to the US model. If so, the turn signals and hazard flasher units are separate. The hazard flasher unit on my '71 is gold in color, about 50 mm long and is bolted upside down to the steering column. It has two wires, blue with white stripe, and green with white stripe. The turn signal flasher unit is smaller, and may (or may not) plug into a white plastic base unit. The two wires for it are solid green and solid white.

Yup. Had my car still had an L24 in it when I bought it, I'd stick with it. Nothing wrong with a sound L24 for a daily driver.