blue72

Why wet paint on the air cleaner box? Isn't all paint wet? If it were dry it would be powder coating. And $500 for a L24 shortblock? I got lucky someone came by and removed mine from the alley behind my house in the middle of the night. Good laughs from this guy.

This topic comes up here often for some reason. Here is a thread discussing it. This thread contains links to at least four other threads on the same subject. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=135425 My DD at the moment is a '92 Cherokee with the FI 4.0 inline six Over 200XXX miles on the odometer and it runs perfect. Great motor, and voted one of the most reliable of all time. All kinds of aftermarket support for these as well. Ranging from stroker kits like ZednotZee pointed out, to overbored TB's, to superchargers. You could sure make some impressive torque and power with that extra displacement. Just don't make the mistake some other people here have. For some reason they try to throw the 4.2L in with the 4.0L crowd, but they are not even in the same category.

I've done it by two different methods. The first time I bought a long piece of clear pvc tubing at the hardware store. I made sure it was the largest diameter that would fit in the fill hole. I filled it from the top using a funnel to get the gear oil into the tube, and consequently down into the tranny. The other method I used was a pump. The pump had a piece of pvc tube on the end, so it was the same basic principal, but I was filling it from below the car.

Great starting point. I wonder what kind of class it was set up to run in the first place. I personally haven't delved into Weber carbs, but a rule of thumb is to give them a good cleaning inside and out. Especially if they have been sitting for a while. If they weren't drained properly the varnish turns to goop inside the carb bodies, and seals dry out. There is some info about the Sumaru cars over at zhome.com

Hey, that's great to hear. Good thing most people don't know what we've paid for all those little parts on our cars, or they wouldn't have left the p'n'p stuff. Ha ha. I'm pretty sure mine would fall apart too if it was in the wrong hands.

From the discussions I read (iirc), it seemed difficult to find a new reaction disk. I re-edited my post to include its dimensions in case anyone needed to make their own. As a matter of fact, in one of the posts I found on reaction disk problems, calpoly-z mentioned his solution. From this thread: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=134982 It is just a simple piece of black rubber, but it can push you near the brink of insanity.

Perhaps I should preface this with my reaction disk story. Don't worry, I'll get to the pictures. I own a '72 240Z, and had experienced all of the reaction disk symptoms. The problem was that I didn't know such a thing as the reaction disk existed. I had a pedal that did very little until the end of its throw, and then it would lock up the brakes if pushed beyond 3/4 of the way to the floor. There was only a narrow, touchy window of weak braking before lockup. I initiailly bled the brakes and replaced the master cylinder with a rebuilt '79-'81 280ZX unit to no avail. I then replaced the booster with one from a junkyard '72 240Z, but no help. A few months later I installed new pads and shoes, a rear spring kit, and added new rear wheel cylinders because mine were leaking. After adjusting the rear cylinders, and thorough bleeding, there was no noticeable change. I had taken apart the old brake booster and found a mysterious rubber disk floating around inside it, but didn't think much of it. It fit nicely into a little pocket on the diaphragm anyway. This is what the innards look like. The rubber boot doesn't belong in there, it fits on the back side of the booster, through the firewall. Ignore the voltage regulator. I'm pretty sure it doesn't belong in there either. After having run out of things to replace I decided to activate the good 'ole search function on this site. Lo and behold, after reading through a few dozen posts I came to the conclusion that the reaction disk would be something to have a look at. What follows are the pictures I took while assessing the damage. This is what you see when you pull the MC away from the booster. First remove the metal clip and pull out the push rod/plate and seal assembly. It might just reveal your worst fears. The little rubber spacer shown here is the reaction disk. This photo was taken after it was fished out of the booster with long needle nosed pliers. This also shows the backside of the push rod/plate and seal assembly. Note that since the reaction disk is rubber it makes a dull noise if you shake the booster. It only took a minute of shaking and bumping to get it within reach of the pliers. Next is a view of the reaction disk epoxied onto the back of the plunger. You can also see what the inside of the booster looks like without the reaction disk in place. Just in case, I took measurements. The disk is 5.5mm thick, and has a 25mm diameter. As you can see, its diameter is exactly the same as the backside of the push rod. The whole assembly now slides back into the booster, and the reaction disk/push rod assembly fits into its receptacle on the diaphragm. Next, the whole reaction disk/push rod/plate and seal assembly is held in place with the metal clip. In trolling these forums I had also come upon a post by 240playtoy with a nicely done diagram. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=112496 It shows the difference in depths between the 240Z and 280ZX master cylinder pistons. Initially I adjusted the push rod 1/2 in. further out to compensate for having installed the 280zx MC (as per 240playtoy's instructions). However, reinstalling everything proved impossible with it threaded out that far. I simply turned it back down with my 7mm wrench until there wasn't any more interference. With everything bolted back up, now my brakes actually work, and they work very well. Needless to say, I'm glad to have a vehicles that stops rather than just contemplating the concept of turning inertia into friction and heat. I hope this helps someone in the future.

Looks very much more betterific. Your car looks a bit like mine. Can serve DD duty if need be, but undergoing restoration and body work while being driven. You must be the same guy selling another Z on craigslist, because I recognize your car from the background of one of the ads I saw recently.

I think it is called an expansion tank. The small tank that sits behind the interior plastic on the passenger side in the rear. The previous owner of my '72 plugged up one of the holes in the tank with JB Weld and chopped off the end of the nipple. I had to remove the tank, drill out the JB Weld, clean the area and then weld back on an appropriate sized pipe end. I wanted to utilise the system Nissan put in there from the factory. It was a big mess undoing the modification someone else had come up with instead of using a system many engineers thought hard to come up with. In all fairness though, you could probably get away with just pickup and return lines, block everything else off, and buy a vented gas cap.

'73 240Z. It has the 240Z taillights, but the front bumper has a small valance to fill in the gap between it and the body. From the outside it looks very complete. If it has always been a California car, then you have less to worry about as far as rust is concerned. It won't be rotting away any time soon. You might be in the market for some earlier, "round top" SU carburettors if the previous owner(s) haven't swapped the "square top" carbs for drivability. Or it might be early enough in '73 production to have had the round tops, I'm not sure when exactly they switched.

The body kit looks similar to Big Sam, but not quite the same. That thing is way too far gone for me. Just the e-bay picture of the strut tower i.d. tag with serious cancer below it would have scared me off. The whole bottom of the car would disintegrate before your eyes when you started into it.

There is a post here about the 350Z dash going into a S30 chassis: http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=123140

The Nissan cylinders are a little pricey, but I think it was worth it. Mine were $76 each, genuine Nissan, and ordered from a Carquest auto parts store. I have a '72, so it is the same part number. I just checked the Autozone website, and they listed off brand ones for $23 a piece. Maybe some more searching might prove useful.

Bummer, I would hate to have this happen to me, much less anyone else. I just had someone syphon the gas from my Z over the weekend. Not quite the same as loosing the whole car though. What I've done in the past was to unhook the wires going to the coil. I've got a 280ZX dizzy on a 240Z, and I'd like to find someone who could hook those wires back up in the right sequence while leaving out the wires that don't do anything. I forget myself half the time.

Just think of all the things we project on these objects we call cars. We develop a whole range of feelings toward them, plead with them when things go wrong, and pamper them when we feel guilty about neglecting them. They probably do have souls, but we're the ones deluding ourselves about their existence. That said, I do talk to my cars to make sure they don't get lonely.

Aww, the post got flagged for removal. I do know of a late model 300zxtt 2+2 w/ 132k miles for sale in my area with a blown head gasket for $2000 though.

Okay, I'm in. William Wilhelm Cedar City, UT 1972 Datsun 240Z (same car, different iterations) 1970 Datsun 510

Here are some of last year's pictures and some from this year. They were developed at Wally World then scanned, so this was the best I could come up with for quick corrections. Lake Powell last year Highway outside Kanab, UT last year Highway outside Page, AZ On the way to Flagstaff, AZ Beaver Falls at edge of Supai reservation Havasupai Falls Now I have to finish off that last roll. Then I'll develop pics from Powell and Zion.

First I'll post my favorites from Z land. Later I'll have to dig through my recent Zion, Lake Powell and Havasupai pics. I still shoot with a film based SLR, so some have yet to be developed. The head 1fastZ built for me. My rebuild going back in. Yes, that is climbing webbing and carabiners. This was done in the backyard.

How about some interior before and after? When Purchased: Dash replaced, POR-15 going on floors: Now:

Wow, incredible engineering, let alone the stunning paintwork. Glad to see you stuck through everything to see it all come together.

Are those pedal covers, or a replacement pedal set? Also noticed the little pocket near your right leg, hadn't seen one of them before. Nice work all around.

Interesting discovery. Any pictures of the carnage? At least now you can swap/clean/degrease everything easily.

I have achieved the exact same results as your "mod", but did it by another method. Mine didn't even involve any driving at all on my part. All I had to do was park my Jeep on the street in Phoenix, and "Voila!" overnight someone else came along and performed a modification I was at first loathe to do my self. Sure saved alot of work on my part. All I had to do was pick up the "instrument" from my driveway afterward. It didn't leave any black marks on the rock, only white glass powder, but I did note the same "impact crater" effect rather than spiderwebs across the whole thing. Sorry that had to happen to such a nice looking S30. My windshield installer was fine with removing and replacing the chrome around the windshield on my Cherokee.

Some people can actually know a thing or two, but still be unknowledgeable in other areas. I was trying to diagnose a fuel delivery problem on the side of the road a while back. Someone from the neighborhood I was in pulled over to help (nice enough). He told me he had had a Z back in the day and how much he loved it, etc... I was telling him about mine while looking for fuel gremlins when he immediately "diagnosed" my problem as being "those SU carburetors". I told him no, it wasn't the carburetors as I'd just had those overbored and rebuilt by Rebello Racing (they perform admirably when properly fueled). He told me about how they made his car run like crap and had air leaks coming from the pistons inside. Further explaining that he'd replaced his with webers and never had a problem. I just told him "OK, thanks anyway" and got back to work. I didn't feel like trying to explain his lack of understanding of SU carbs, or the fact that mine probably perform just as well if not better than the Webers he had installed on his car some 20+ years ago.