bobc

Rich, I'm just giving you a hard time. Seriously, I hope they work out for you. Must say I'm impressed that you got them to work so well. You might become the board expert on flat tops if you're not careful!

Hey Rich !!! They didn't make that V3 kit for nothing. Just wait until it gets hot this summer! Bob

Mark, That's a great story and great advice. We've all seen it told here time after time! Andy, The transmission swap isn't bad and certainly not blasphemous. Plan on getting rid of those carbs first! And at great risk of insulting my 73 owning friends, they make great boat anchors! Bob

Hey Rich and others on this post. I've had a few PM's with Andy regarding his car search. I wrote him earlier and told him that I didn't think he'd find a Z without issues (some rust, cracked dash, light to medium mechanical problems) in the $3000-$3500 range. Just curious for your opinions. I thought they might help Andy. Rich, I know you've bought two Z's recently and I've seen your first silver Z which is very nice. Can Andy get something like it in this price range? I may not be the best guide here, because I've been more into the show quality Z's and VZ's. Thanks for your opinions. I hope Andy checks in and sees them. Bob

I was in Motorsports on the 6th and they told me that the show was not going to be in Irvine Park due to "scheduling conflicts." They weren't sure yet what they were going to do. I said it would be nice if they just went back to having it on the street in front of the store again and the guy said Greg was considering some kind of barbeque, but probably not that big. I guess we'll just have to stand by for the "big" announcement. Best, Bob

I asked about the engine plate a couple of days ago. Here's the email chain. Read from bottom up: Dear bccal, thank you ..I will look again but if it's not there then what..I talked to the previous owner tonight..he said he owned it 20 years and it's the same motor..he said he did get it painted..there is the plate in the door and on the dash..now I'll have to ask him why it's not there..I'm pissed now.. - bluertorch Dear bluertorch, There are three plates on a Z. The vin number is on a plate riveted to the dash. The mfg date/VIN plate is riveted to the door jamb and another mfg plate is supposed to be screwed to the passenger shock tower. This is the one with the engine number and VIN on it and is used to match the car to the motor. It is missing in your pictures. It is the only way to match the motor to the car. I don't know how much this effects the value of a low VIN Z, but in my opinion it would have some effect. - bccal Dear bccal, the plate manufacturing is located in the door jamb,it says thats where it's suppose to be in the book I have..(I got the car with it there & didnt move it.(says 11-1969 manufactured)also it gets blurry when I try to take a picture of it.the motor is rebuildable ,the pistons were siezed in place from sitting...sports car specialty told me to save the engine because it belonged with the car..Theres no cracks in dash and no pad on it,the guy I got it from told me to never leave the car out in the sun with out covering the dash because they are known to crack ,also because of age.hope this answeres your questions..ty for you interest... - bluertorch

Rich, you need a 12 step program!!! Congrats on the new edition.

Rich, When did you buy those? I didn't see you with them all day. Nice purchase and they look great on the "spare" Z. BTW, paint it green!

Andy, There is a San Diego Z Club and the Z Car Club of Inland Valley (ZCCIV) in Temecula that are both close to you. Just google both for contact info. Any of the members will be glad to assist. You joined the right board here. Members will (and have) done inspections across the country for other members who are interested in a car close by for them. Be sure to give them an honest description of what you want to buy and how much you want to put into it. They will help you find the right car. Be patient. I'm in Orange County and will be glad to help. Try Rich Scharf (motorman7) on this board too. He's located down in the San Diego area and is also a member of ZCCIV. Bob

Simon, again living in So Cal has it's advantages. You are within driving range of Motorsports Auto in Orange, Ca. as well as other new/used part suppliers in Arizona and Washington. There are some parts that are beginning to get hard to find and are expensive, but for the most part, OEM and replacement parts are pretty easy to find. Part of the answer to that question depends on the degree of restoration you plan on. I totally agree with starting out with the best car you can find and go from there. You can easily sink $8K-$10K into a car that costs you $15K to start with or $5K into a car that costs $5K. Again, just depends on what you want to do with it and your objective for the final result. Overall, Z's are not complicated to work on. The engines are more or less bullet proof and parts are easy to find. Rust is your biggest enemy when buying and maintaining a Z. My two cents, Best, Bob

Bummer! Did you every use anything on it? If so, what?

Jan, Gary and I may not be talking about the same thing, but the rear engine mounting (cross bar) is held on with two bolts. One bolt in the center holds the transmission to the mount. The Datsun Service Manual shows this on page TM-2. They call it a rear mounting member. As far as getting the oil pan out without lifting the engine, I've never done it but heard it could be done. It all depends on where the crank shaft is in relation to the pan. That said, I probably would just go ahead and lift the engine up a bit instead of going through all the aggravation of trying to get the pan out. I also bet it would be hard to keep the new gasket in position when you have to slide it forward versus just straight up onto the block. P.S. Just for fun, try getting a torque wrench and torquing the bolts down to between 3-5 ft.lbs. first to see if that solves the leak. Best, Bob

Did you get a spark at the spark plug? That is, did you pull out the spark plug and connect it to the number 2 wire and ground it against something to see if you had spark at the plug? If no spark, did you try another plug to make sure it's just not a bad plug? If you've tried two plugs and no spark, I'd suggest doing a compression test next to see what's going on with the #2 cylinder. Check valve settings, next if compression is good. Just my thoughts, Best, Bob

Gary, If it's only that amount, then I'd just say keep an eye on it and enjoy driving your car. Be prepared to replace it in the future, by buying the materials now and start asking around for a good machine shop. It may blow out in the future or it may not. Since it's an occasional driver, you have the luxury of replacing the gasket whenever the problem gets worse. That's just my two cents! Best, Bob

Gary, I see no harm in trying to torque the head bolts first. I doubt this will fix the problem though. If you're only talking an occasional drop or two, not seeing anything in the oil, then you might want to just keep it under observation a while. If it's your daily driver then I'd change the head gasket. Best, Bob

Try this: http://www.zcarsource.com/ Best, Bob

Try Z car source: http://www.zcarsource.com/ or Motorsports http://www.zcarparts.com One of the two should be able to help you. It's the plastic pipe for the defroster. That should be enough of a description to get you started with them. On the one on the passenger side, it may have just come loose from the duct and need to be reconnected. Best, Bob

Jan, The pictures really help. For some reason I thought this hole was on the passenger side, but it looks like it's on the drivers. That said, definitely not a/c, but I still feel it's man made because I've never seen rust that high on a transmission tunnel. And still, no worries about it damaging the car either. Now to your question in the photo about should something be connected to the round extension from your heater box. The answer is yes. There should be some black plastic pipes that run from these on both sides and connect up to your windshield defroster. I'm not totally up on 280's, but I pretty sure I'm right. To be sure, set your heater controls to defrost. If no air is blowing out the defroster on the left and air is blowing out the hole, then I'm right. or if there is a black plastic hose off the one on the passenger side, then I'm right as well. You might call the P.O. and ask him what the deal is. He was probably installing something there and took out the pipe at the same time the hole was made. If he didn't do it, he still might know what the deal is. Good luck Bob

Can anybody check their car with a/c and see where the drain hose runs out? It's been a while since I had a Z with a/c, but I seem to recall the hole was pretty much where Jan described this one to be. But in a senior moment, I could be getting it confused with one of my other cars. Thanks. Bob

Yes, get it fixed before you hit a bump one day and it's too late. I've used the diy kits before with mixed results. One good, one not as good, but still not bad. The problem is this is a one time shot. If you do it and it doesn't work a pro can't fix your work because the resin you did get in the crack stops his from going in. Good luck! Best, Bob

Ok back on topic! Jan, one thing you'll learn on this board is the more info you give us the better info we can give back to you, so pls try to describe the problem or question the best you can or attach a picture. I'm going to go out on another limb here and suggest that someone put that hole there for something. There's a big difference in a rust hole and a man made hole. One has thinning edges, isn't perfectly round and the other shows no metal thinning and the hole is round. It could have been for an A/C drain. You didn't say if your car had a/c or not or if it could have in the past. That's not an uncommon place for the drain to go out towards the bottom of the transmission tunnel. Try the hardware store for a plug that will fill the hole, or just go with the repair you've already made. Sounds like it will work. There's nothing structurally wrong with the car because of this hole and the P.O. probably didn't even consider this as a problem with the car. Try to relax and as someone else said, learn your car. It takes a while and not one of them is ever perfect. I had a Vintage Car that was supposed to be restored by Nissan to better than the original specs. It had only 2000 miles on it since it was sold by Nissan. I spend a good month getting that car in order after I bought it! So, Kimosabi, don't feel like the Lone Ranger!!!

Jan, Sorry you ran into a problem, but what you've described so far isn't a big deal. In fact, it may not be a problem at all. Z's had a couple of quarter size hole in the floor board that had a rubber/plastic plugs in them. Your post doesn't say if this was rusted through, etc. If it was pretty much round, it could have been just one of these holes. See the picture attached.

Just a quick suggestion. Don't limit yourself to just North Texas (mine came from Alaska). It's getting harder to find a good quality Z these days, so plan to travel. You didn't give us an idea of your budget, but air fares are so cheap these days, you can make a round trip most places for $400-$500 and ship the car back to Texas for around $1,000 or less. I'd rather have spent the extra $1500 and get the best car versus compromising on a car that's closer to home. Of course if your budget is $3000 that makes a big difference! I was contacted earlier this week by Adam Tannen (CK1) on the board and he's planning to sell a stock 71 with only 39,000 miles on it. He's in New Jersey. PM him if you're interested. Good luck, Best, Bob

First thing to do is IMMEDIATELY check the amount of water in your radiator. Of course with the engine cool. It's possible that the shop either didn't put water back in or enough water back in and it's blown the head gasket again. Or, the head gasket blew and you've lost enough water that it is not flowing past the temperature sensor. It could just be coincidence, but the temp guage to suddenly stop working is worrisome. Did it work when you picked it up from the shop? Assuming the water level is good, pull out the spark plugs and turn the engine over. See if any water comes shooting out. If so, blown head gasket. Check the oil, if it looks like a milk shake, blown head gasket. You can do this by draining it out, looking for water on the dipstick, or remove the oil cap and look down on the top of the cylinder head. Nothing you've described is normal. Since you had the work done at a shop, take it back. They should honor their work for the little time period you've had the car out of the shop Best, Bob

Chris, Try this out: http://www2.zhome.com:81/History/ZColorGallary/index.html BTW, KEEP IT GREEN!!! I love that color. Best, Bob