Pir0San

GeoffT, if you decide to change out the rear brakes to 280ZX disc brakes, log onto Ebay, and buy the disc conversion brackets from theramz. I know him personally, and he machines these brackets himself. He has quite a few years worth of experience, and is so assured of the quality of said brackets that he even warranties them! After getting the brackets, you just need to source the rotors and calipers. I believe he even has a writeup for the conversion itself.

I've experienced that firsthand. I bought a carburetor rebuild kit from Victoria British, and the fuel hoses they include are not rated for fuel! I was driving the car, getting ready for a date that night, and went to go get some gas. My Z runs rich, but this smelled like raw fuel. I stopped at the gas station, and gas was pouring out of the nipple on my carburetor floats. Luckily I saved the hoses before I rebuilt my carburetor, and used those instead. I pulled the hoses off, and they were cracked about 12 times due to fuel rotting them.

As wfl_colorado said, what is your setup? On my '72 with the stock SU's, I removed the smog pump, plugged the spot on the rail that the hose that goes to the smog pump, and removed the hose that goes from the pump to the back of the air cleaner housing. The picture isn't great, but here's a pic of my engine bay. The part circled in yellow has a cap on it, which used to go down to the smog pump. The rail goes from the anti-backfire valve on the exhaust manifold, back into the air cleaner. I plugged the end circled in yellow with a marker end, the part that holds the ink in the marker itself. If you want to use the same thing, make sure you use one of the cheap off brand markers, not the crayola ones. My marker plug may seem weird, but you can't even tell what it is, and it fits perfectly. The part circled in red is the anti-backfire valve itself and all of it's associated pieces. I know alot of Z people remove the valve itself and cap off the exhaust manifold where the valve used to go. I left mine on, and it still keeps the engine non cluttered and nice and neat. I'll get another pic of the engine bay a little bit later, to give you a better idea of what I've done.

check out Zhome.com, the pertronix instructions are slightly vague.

Rainman, welcome to ClassicZcars.com. You'll feel at home on this site, and everyone here is more than helpful to help out.

Not to seem dense, but I'm kind of lost as what to loosen. I only see one screw, other than the adjustment to speed up/slow down the clock itself. It's running now, but I only let it sit for about 5 minutes. Here's some pics, if you could possibly point out the pivot points and whatnot. The clock ran inside the car for about 5 hours.

spoke too soon, it died. I'm letting it soak in the oil right now.

Maybe I should have elaborated. My 240Z is bone stock, with the exception of a Pertronix Electronic Points Condenser Kit, and I removed the a/c and smog pump. Nick's RSX is the base model, and his is bone stock too, with a manual tranny. I've driven both the '05 base RSX and the '06 Type S. The S would probably be a good race for the Z, but the base RSX is slightly sluggish. I don't want to argue about it, because without solid numbers, there's no way to really describe it. As LWW said on Zdriver.com, street racing is a crock to compare cars.

EScalon, you are my hero! My clock hasn't worked for as long as I can remember, and I decided to buy some sewing machine oil and try to fix my clock following your instructions. Your writeup was very in depth, but pictures would have been alot of help. I didn't quite understand every part of your writeup, but the parts that I did understand did help. What I decided to do instead was to oil pretty much the whole clock assembly, and let the excess oil run off. I bought a bottle of Singer Machine Oil from JoAnn fabrics today, and used 6 drops out of the whole bottle. I hooked the clock up, while it was disassembled, to my battery charger and watched to see what it would do. I had removed the two screws that hold the motor down to verify that the motor itself was still working, and it spun just fine. I reinstalled the motor, plugged the charger in, and nothing happened. I let the oil soak in for a few more minutes, plugged the charger back in, and then helped spin the gear that the motor presses against. The pendulum started to spin after that, but would stop. I let it sit for a little while longer, went back outside, shook it, and plugged the charger back in. It now works! Thanks EScalon! PS: My motor looks a little different than Arne's.

Actually, I think that you're mistaken. Lets just use the associative property for a second, to get my point across. I have a 240Z, completely stock. I got my friend Zack into the Z scene, and he now has a 280ZX. We've raced our cars against each other, and my 240Z pulls harder and can beat him hands down, usually at least a car length. Zack has a friend named Nick who has a brand new RSX, and the two of them raced. Zack totally annihilated Nick with his 280ZX, and even to make sure that it wasn't the driver, Zack raced Nick again, but Zack was in the RSX and Nick in the 280ZX. The results were still the same, the 280ZX beat him. So, therefore, if a stock 280ZX can beat a stock RSX, and my 240Z beat a stock 280ZX, then therefore my 240Z is faster than a RSX. I know it seems roundabout, but I do know that my 240Z is faster than the RSX. Would you believe me if I told you I beat a Celica Type S (or whatever the "racing" class of them are?)

Yeah, I'm aware. Real race cars go much faster than that lame rsx can go, so therefore a larger spoiler for more downforce at higher speeds. But of course race cars are almost all rear wheel drive...

In order to remove the lock mechanism, all I have to do is disconnect the latch from the door, remove the door handle, remove the rod from the key cylinder, and it should all come out as a mess of rods and thread, right?

This is rice, and I took this pic myself. The spoiler is higher than the roofline, and is wider than the car itself. It's got the fart can exaust, as well as the altezzas, but my datsun blasted by it no issue.

My car has a build date of 8/72 (she turned 34 this month). The key I have is indeed reversible, so that's not an issue. I have pulled the door skins off and taken a look inside of the door, but because it's such a tight fit, it's hard to see exactly what it is that I am looking for. The nylon adjusting nuts on the lock rod, if that makes any sense, seems to be in a different position for each door. I tried lowering the nut on the drivers side, but it didn't seem to do anything. I did reach inside the door and feel the mechanisms, and it didn't feel like anything was loose. Keep in mind that I am a novice, so I could be wrong . I'll take a more in depth look later. If it helps out, the "feel" of the locks on each door differs; on the driver's side it feels loose, whereas on the passenger side it feels tight. Would a worn lock cylinder be the cause of the looseness on the driver's side, considering the fact that pretty much any Datsun key can open that door?

Thanks guys. I haven't really had a chance to just sit down and figure it out, since I've been going to pick n pull and sourcing parts. I'll take a look at my door tomorrow if I get the chance, and take pics of what is going on inside. Sorry about such a vague thread, I'm just a novice when it comes to these door locks.

I have one key that works for both the ignition and the doors. Thanks for the exploded diagram, I'll take the door skin off again and have a peek inside, I may be able to fix the problem now. Arne, thanks for the response, I'll tear it off again and take another look.

any idea how to rectify these problems? I don't think the lock tumbler is broken on the passenger door, since it will unlock just fine, locking is the problem.

So, I did some searching through this site, and figured out some info, but I still don't quite understand everything yet. My door locks on my Z operate just fine, but each door lock has a mind of it's own. On the driver's side, the door will lock as soon as the door is shut, meaning that I have to keep the key turned in order to unlock the door, and I have to hold the lock plunger up in order to exit the car. The passenger side door will not lock unless the door is shut (which from what I understand is normal for the 240Z's) and I can lock it from inside of the car, but if I try to lock it with the key, I actually bend the key and have almost broken the key off in the lock! I'm not sure if this is the way that they are supposed to operate, so please set me straight!

your links don't work, sorry

what's the difference between a xenon air dam and a fiberglass one? Is the xenon made from better materials?

thanks enigma, that's exactly what I was thinking myself. I figured that if I were going to rebuild my engine, I might as well do it to the original block. I was planning on getting the block hot tanked and have the cylinders honed, having the crank micropolished (and the rods too if they need them, someone will have to chime in as to if this is necessary when doing a rebuild), buying a cast iron ring set, and replacing the crank and rod bearings.

So, I need to rebuild my engine. I have two complete P30 blocks, my original numbers matching block, and a donor block. The original P30 has a spun rod bearing, which ruined the crankshaft. The donor block is in my Z right now, but burns oil pretty badly. In the sake of making numbers match, would it be possible to swap the crank and rods from the donor block and put them into the original block, since the original crank is damaged? I figure that doing it this way would make it so that the value of the Z would theoretically be more due to numbers matching. Also, the original P30 has been sitting in my garage for close to two years, and has a slight bit of surface rust on the cylinder walls. I tried to wipe it off with some WD-40 on a cloth and buffed it dry, but it didn't seem to make a difference. Here's a pic of how it looks: By the way, sorry about the quality of the pic, I only have my cell phone camera.

My Z had a blown head gasket a little while after it had been given to me. The engine still ran great, but water would mist into my 4th cylinder. I decided to tear the head off and replace the head gasket, but that's when problems got worse. We put the head back on with a new gasket, and we thought that it was fixed. For some reason, we discovered that after taking the head off, the engine now mixed water and oil. I ended up with a spun rod bearing as a result, seizing my motor. After that, my Z sat for almost a year, until I was able to find another block. The block was given to me, and the guy who had it before said that it was a great block, didn't smoke, use oil, anything. After swapping blocks (but using the same head), my engine kept mixing water and oil. I decided to get the head pressure tested and shaved (after the 4th time of tearing the head off, new gaskets, about $600 worth of gaskets, parts etc.). The head tested fine and it was shaved, but the engine still mixed water and oil. Finally, after the 6th time ripping the head off and replacing the gaskets, discovered that my head had a hairline crack on the 3rd and 4th cylinder combustion chambers, that was so small that it would only be evident when the engine came up to operating temp. I spent $350 on a rebuilt e88 on the internet, and bolted that onto my block. The engine ran great, no water and oil mix, didn't overheat, but I noticed that it used oil very fast. I at first figured that the problem was the valve stem seals, but they were replaced, so that couldn't be the problem. I narrowed the problem down, and I believe that my block has either stuck or extremely worn oil rings, which sucks oil in past the compression ring into the cylinder. Now I'm just deciding if I want to use my stock block, replace the crank and connecting rods, but use the pistons mated to the block to retain numbers matching, or if I just want to rebuild the block that's in the Z now.

1-5-3-6-2-4, If I remember correctly

Mine came mounted on a full size spare, rim painted black, and it is running a vintage bridgestone tire, that still has it's little nubs on it.