Dave240Z

2000 M Coupe Freakin' love this car, but family is expanding so it is going up for sale. There are a few faster rides out there, but this car is incredibly enjoyable to drive. Best kept BMW secret IMO. -Dave

I'm familiar with Rob's car. Definitely not that one. This one had much larger wheels and was carbureted also a much darker green. License plate should read more like "Ribbit" as in Kermit the Frog (due to green color), not RB26TT as in RB engine.

Nice to see so many folks from back then still around. I honestly haven't checked that website for probably the last 10yrs. Still have the same username here though, as do many others apparently. Haven't really done a whole lot with the Z since 2000, but I still have it. Driven very rarely now, but will be spending more time on it in the coming months. The last decade was just a whirlwind of jobs, marriage, kids, houses, cars, etc...that the Z just took a backseat. Despite it all, I managed to keep the Z. I still can't totally come to grasp with the fact that I've owned it for 15yrs now and only the 2nd owner. Speaking of Z's....saw a nice green 240Z the other day that looks to have been recently restored/modded. This is in Campbell/Los Gatos area of NorCal. Bright green exterior with "RBBBTT" for the license plate. Anyone here?

Wow. These are more popular than I thought. I agree, these are a great kit. You would be hard pressed to save any money trying to piece something of similar quality and performance together yourself. Questions: Anyone change their Master cylinder and/or booster? I assume an adjustable prop valve is required to get the f/r balance What rim/tire size is being used? I currently have 15x7 Panasport ultralights. They barely cleared a knockoff kit (Juan?). I haven't found anyone locally to try these out and Dave doesn't have a printable wheel fitment diagram either. I'm not against going to 16x7, but would prefer to stay with 15x7 for both looks, performance and cost reasons.

Seriously considering a set, but wanted to solicit some feedback from anyone who has 'been there, done that'. Any comments?

I think values are definitely on the rise. Take a look at any classic or collector car magazine. You will find references to the 240Z as an up and coming classic collectible. Grassroots Motorsports sister mag Classic Motorsports even has a 240Z project car. When you think about it, the Z has a lot going for it from a collector's perspective. 1) It is considered by most to be the quintessential sports car from Japan. It helped establish Datsun as a respected marquee and literally defined the affordable sports car. In other words, it’s not just another car; It has an iconic status. 2) It has aged gracefully and is still admired for it’s good looks today. Heck, people even complain that the new Z didn’t have enough of the original 240Z “DNAâ€. 3) It is reliable, fun to drive and easy to maintain. The same can’t be said for a lot of peers from the same era. 4) The newest samples are nearly 35 years old. This is just about the prime age for a car to start to appreciate as appreciation is usually due to people who grew up with the car finally having some extra cash and having the desire to ‘re-live’ their youth. The 60s muscle car craze of the past few years is testament to this, as is all the 50s nostalgia before that. All that said, sub $1500 examples can still be had all over the place. However, some of the top restorations and best modified versions are certainly on the rise. As time wears on, the prices of the other cars will rise as well. The fact that NLA OEM parts such as the working radios, hubcaps, etc…are fetching upwards of $100 is a good indicator that prices are on the rise.

Sounds like something similar to what I was planning to do. There is a real problem with this design for securing the clips. Both in the way they use the rivets and how the spring clip stays secured. Since the recess molded into the base doesn’t have a lip, these clips are prone to just pop off. Each time I came back from a drive, I found at least 1 or 2 loose. I too contacted [insert name here] company about this issue and after several email exchanges, was basically brushed off with the notion that we haven’t really seen this problem and don’t think it’s a problem; therefore there isn’t a problem attitude. I was also rather disappointed in the lack of a finish layer on the outside. The black gelcoat inside is fine, but the outer layer could have used a nice finish coat to make keeping it clean a little easier and dress up the appearance a little. Now that I have it all apart, I’m somewhat inclined to just go ahead and finish that aspect myself. As far as the latches go, I’m going to have a go at these…McMaster Carr p/n 1889A34 (see attached drawing). The retainer portion needs to have the ends cut off and new holes drilled to fit in the molded recess, but this should work. I will re-use the backing plates for the new rivets, but will be using blind pop rivets instead. I suppose there is a slight chance the mandrel could potentially fall into the intake track at some point, but that is fairly remote in my experience. Perhaps a little application of some racer tape might be a good insurance policy. If our USD wasn’t so weak at the moment, I’d be inclined to pickup one of yours. Looks like you’ve addressed all of the issues that [insert name here] company refuses to acknowledge.

wouldn't happen to have the initials T W M in it now would it? On that note, can you elaborate on how you are securing the clips for the airbox to the base? Mine have a tendency to open up due to engine vibrations. They are held very loosely and really should have had some kind of lip to keep them in place. Instead, they are relying on pure friction, which is marginal at best and changes with temperature and vibrations.

That's it in a nutshell. It's a purpose built road race car for the street. Any LSx powered Z car is going to put up some impressive acceleration numbers to be sure. On par with some very modern/exotic machinery even. It's part of the attraction some of us have to these old cars. However, while you may beat the GT3 in a 1/4mi. drag race, keeping up with it for hours at a time on a track would be a whole different story. That said, I doubt you would have as easy a time keeping up with a 996 GT2 (as Mr. Mikelly drives), nor the new 997 GT2 which has proven to even out accelerate its sibling, the Carrera GT.

Wowsers. Consider yourself lucky. Not many people have been so fortunate to find a real “Preludus Disgustus” in the wild. And what a find you have made. Kudos to you Aux…Kudos! Please permit me to summarize some of the best design highlights of this rare bird as I see it. - The symmetry (or rather assymmetry) of the trunk. Just compare the L/R sides. Also note the trailing edge of the ‘wing’ on both sides. This car must be designed for turning right as the right side of the ‘wing’ appears to have a greater AOA. Templates are clearly a waste of time for someone with this kind of talent. - The blending of the bondo to the painted bumper. Unfortunately, there is some issue with adherence in that area. - The inability to change the lightbulbs. Then again, maybe we don’t’ give this design genius enough credit he might be using some of those last forever “mad tite LEDs”. - The effective removal of the trunk. That must have been a truly inspired moment when this was decided. Clearly this is a dedicated racing machine, therefore a trunk is not required. - The misalignment of the taillights. Again, a template is apparently not necessary here. Who wants to bet that if you chipped away all that crap, the trunk would still open?

When I was a kid, my Dad and his best friend we’re really into Porsche’s. They would build and race them constantly. I have many memories of sitting in their garage handing over the occasional tool and watching them tune and adjust things. I even had a little Porsche mechanic suit that I wore to P-car outings. I think its safe to say that I either inherited the car bug, or caught it though direct contact. My dad daily drove a ’59 VW Bug with a complete 356 drivetrain. It was quite the sleeper in its day. His best friend owned (3) 356s, one speedster and two coupes. One of the Coupes had a swapped twin-plug Carrera drivetrain. He even drilled holes in the floor to reduce weight. Sounds crazy, but at the time these cars weren’t nearly as valuable as they are today. Fast forward a couple years and my Dad’s friend is thinking about getting either a 911S or a Datsun 240Z. I wondered what the heck the Datsun was and he simply replied it’s the only other car that can compete with the 911. Unfortunately, he died on his way to an airplane race (he was an amateur air racer, built those planes in the garage) before he bought anything. Every time I saw a 240Z after that day, I couldn’t help but remember what he said. Fast forward almost 2 decades more and many cars later. I had just crashed my homebuilt 1991 B18 powered Civic hatch. (today these are common, but at the time I did this there were no kits or adapters, so you had to do this yourself). I was in need of another car and found an early 1972 Datsun 240Z for sale locally. It was the typical “old lady” car, hubcaps and all. It was originally bought by said lady from a local dealership and daily driven for 25 years. She finally retired the car from daily duty and wanted to sell it. The car was visibly tired, but rust free and in decent shape. Everything was there, including original keys and the numbers matched. I made an offer of $1500 and it was mine. The year was 1996. I made some basic repairs to the car and upgraded the wheels/tires to Panasports. Drove around like this for nearly 2 years while going to college doing 12K+/yr. The original L24 burned a little oil, but otherwise ran fine. One day, the transmission seized. Since I had been anticipating such a scenario, I had already purchased and rebuilt a 2.8L engine and 5spd transmission for the swap. Thus ended it’s stock status. I still have the original engine and transmission though and intend on restoring them at some point to keep it a numbers matching car. As the years wore on, the car was slowly modified. First suspension, followed by webers and then brakes. I ended up throwing a rod on the 2.8L after an accidental visit to 8000+rpm during a missed shift. Continuing with the modification team, this was replaced with a fully built Rebello Racing 3.0L and fully rebuilt 280ZX close-ratio 5spd with 4:11 R180. Needless to say this was quite the upgrade. I continued driving this until ~2000 when I finally retired the Z from daily duty. Since then, I got married, bought a house and embarked on a complete house remodel. Unfortunately, the car has been sitting for most of this time due to both a lack of time and a lack of funds. It’s still regularly started and the battery has a trickle charger attached to keep everything in working order. Now that the house remodeling is finally winding down, time and cash are starting to free themselves up a bit. I have been looking at catalogs for some parts again and have finally started to re-tune the webers. New brakes are high on the list. My hope is to have the car ready by Summer of 2008 for some real driving again. In the meantime, I’ve been enjoying my //M Coupe. It’s still technically a Z I guess and it offers a very similar driving experience; sitting over the rear wheels, straight 6 under the long hood and hatchback practicality.

had an opportunity to sit in one of those a couple weeks ago. carbon fiber galore. Looks fantastic in person and sounds incredible (same engine as RS4). If the V8 version is this sweet, I can't help but drool at the thought of the upcoming V10.

Just to add a little more to this old engine stuff.... Anyone heard of sleeve valves? They were popular pre-WWII, most notably in Bugatti's. At the time, they were preferred over poppet valves which leaked and lacked the ability to rev over a wide rpm. The sleeve valve, basically a sleeve that fit around the cylinder, which either moved up and down to expose the ports, or rotated via a gear from the crankshaft is a very simple design and required very few parts. It eliminated the cam,springs,valve stems which provided for very efficient packaging with no worries about valve float. However, these also leaked quite a bit (although less than poppet valves at the time) and once poppet valves were perfected, they fell out of favor. Perhaps the rich enthusiast who rebuilt a Bugatti engine with modern materials and tolerances did so with a sleeve valve engine? I would love to read that article. I've always wondered what some of these classic engine designs would be capable of given modern materials, tolerances and compression ratios. Another fascinating little engine is the BRM V16 which debuted in 1953 F1. It was a supercharged 1.5L V16, capable of 12,000rpm and 550hp. This was later followed up with an H16. Crazy stuff. Unfortunately, these BRM engines were notorious for their lack of reliability. Here's a sound clip of it running full throttle at some track. Imagine hearing this in 1953 amid the other contenders. http://gpl.krej.cz/mp3/BRM%20-%20full%20track.mp3

I think you'll find that you need to run velocity stacks. The carbs don't work very well without them. There is some tuning to be had by running shorter vs. longer stacks, but I doubt you'll notice much difference with the length differences we're talking about. As far as filters go, I am a big fan of ITG. They sell both individual filters for weber/dellortos as well as one large filter to cover up all three carbs. They flow exceptionally well and do a darn good job of filtration. I use ITG on all my cars, including the Audi and BMW, both of which use a MAF and I have had zero issues in the years I have had them in use. Manifolds are spotless as well. MSA sells them now I believe.

Glad to help Thumper. That Z06 is going to be one heckuva car. Excellent color choice for the Z06 BTW. BTW, no offense taken Mike. I totally agree that the C5 Z06 is certainly in an entirely different league from the M Coupe when it comes to performance. However, there is more to a car purchase decision than just absolute hp. If there wasn't, I don't think anyone would be cross shopping an M Coupe vs. Z06. In the end, you have your opinion and I have mine. We'll just have to leave it at that I guess. Cheers!