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 Post subject: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Wed Dec 28, 2016 9:59 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:11 am
Posts: 678
Hello Guys and Gals! I'm overdue to introduce myself, my name is Jason (or Jay if you prefer). I live in Pennsylvania and I'm a new member here, but i'm not new to Z ownership. I'm the 2nd owner of my 260z, and I have owned it now for 18 years. She's a silver 2 seater with a 4 speed, and she's currently got 62k miles on the clock, with only 600 miles so far since the engine rebuild last winter. My car is a work in progress, I can't leave anything alone! I love driving my Z and I have more improvements planned for the future.

Pic from a ride last summer
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Anyway, I'm looking forward to attending some of the meets/events this year and getting to know some of you and of course checking out all your Z's! :D

Jay


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 12:06 am 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14779
Location: CT
WELCOME, Jay! We're very glad to add another of the unique 260s to the Club's Cyber Stable, and that one is a beauty. We have added about 3 260s in recent months and have been discussing them at length. You will find a number of proud 260 owners in here who will want to exchange info with you.
Hoping to meet you this coming year and Zeeing your 260 in person. In the meantime, pleaZe stay in touch with us here on the Club website. Z-talk helps some of us remain semi-sane while the cars are hibernating.

Frank T

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1970 240Z


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 10:08 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:11 am
Posts: 678
Thank you Frank! I love talking Z cars so no problem there. Looking forward to meeting some other 260 owners as well.

Jay


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Thu Dec 29, 2016 11:23 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 25, 2015 7:39 pm
Posts: 697
Location: Long Island, N.Y.
Welcome to Z club Jason. You made a good choice in your car and your decision to join the CTZCC family.

Howard J
Long Island, NY

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1985 300ZX- GLL Dark Pewter Metallic - Survivor


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Fri Dec 30, 2016 7:51 am 
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Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:11 am
Posts: 678
Thank you Howard!


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Sat Dec 31, 2016 11:27 am 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14779
Location: CT
Be sure to visit our Member Rides gallery and add a picture of that beauty for us to lust over. :mrgreen: :thumbs_up:

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1970 240Z


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:01 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:11 am
Posts: 678
So I thought I'd give a little backstory on my car, as I think knowing an older car's history is neat.....and I'm fortunate enough to know the tale.

My Z was purchased new from a Datsun dealership in Stroudsburg, Pa from what is currently Abeloff Nissan. Although they are in a different location than they were back then. The original owner is an old friend of my Dad's, a fellow by the name of Bob. Bob bought the car during he and my Dad's senior year of high school, and I believe he told me when he purchased it that there was still a waiting list and that when you bought one you did so without getting to select the color. (The car was delivered in 306 silver BTW) The 14" Appliance wheels the car currently wears were an addition Bob made in the 70's, fairly early on I think. I never did find out what happened to the original steel wheels. I do have two of the original hubcaps which are currently being used as wall art in my garage. The other two had gotten lost along the road at one time or another when Bob was still using the Z as his main mode of transportation.

I don't have many notable stories involving the Z when Bob owned her, although there is one where he let my Dad borrow it one night to use it on a date. The girl he took out turned out to be a good friend of mine's mother :roll: (of course this was all a few years before either of us were born). Bob used the Z as his main source of transportation through the rest of the 1970's....up until 1983, clocking just 58k miles with it. He noted that the car had some trouble with headgasket failures, having replaced 3 in that time. He'd also had some rust repair done on the lower front fenders at one point, and replaced the original exhaust with a monza dual tip system. He said he'd begun having trouble with vapor lock issues in the early 1980's, and on top of that the floor pans had rotted out requiring replacement. So he opted to purchase a different car and stashed the Z in a barn to repair "someday".

In 1998 Bob had stopped over to visit my parents, as it had been many years since he had been in town and they had kind of lost touch. This was my senior year of high school and also the first time I remember meeting Bob. Well he's a car guy, I am as well, so we very easily talked cars for a good hour or so. I remember discussing our opinions on the "new" beetle and the retro Thunderbird Ford was planning to market.

A few days later Bob called my Dad and told him he wanted to give me his Z! Mind you the Z hadn't come up during our conversation...in fact I didn't know he had one. His daily at the time was a Porsche Boxster. He told my dad that he didn't feel like he could tackle all the work it needed, which was a lot, but that he knew I'd probably be able to take it on and that I'd take good care of the car.

What an awesome day that was! I'd love to share pictures of the day I dragged it out of the barn, but they were polaroids and they have faded badly. The car was pretty rough.

First thing I noticed was the wheels wouldn't roll, the brakes had rusted to the pads/shoes. Of course she was sitting on 4 flat tires. And there were weeds coming up through the floor that were as tall as the dashboard! Mice had been living in it for years.........and there was rust. Lots of it. The dirt floor in the barn hadn't helped it in that regard.

Back then I worked part time in a body shop, so at least I had access to the tools needed for the rust repairs, which I was anxious to get cracking on. My boss insisted we get it running first to make sure it didn't need engine work. The fuel tank was full of varnish from sitting half full all those years, so we gravity fed the carbs some fresh fuel, and with help from a fresh battery it started.....sorta. It ran rough and could only turn about 1200 rpms at most, and sprayed fuel out of the tops of the flat top carburetors and all over the left inner fender. I'm sure more fuel was going into my engine bay than into the engine. But it ran, so I called that a success! :wink:

After searching online for some carburetor rebuild kits I read in quite a few places about how the recommended course of action was to replace them with roundtop carbs. Ztherapy seemed to be the place to get them from, so I ordered a set of 3 screw units from them. I haven't regretted that purchase since.

I also purchased, through Nissan, a new fuel pump, tune up parts, and an NOS fuel tank and sender, which I was told was the last tank in North America. I also purchased a pair of NOS front fenders from Nissan too. With these parts and replacing hoses and fluids I was able to get it running pretty well, although it was stubborn to cold start. But I could drive it. I remember thinking it was a fun car to drive but not as snotty as I expected it to be given all the attention these cars always received.

Also that summer we welded in the floor pans/frame sections which we just made in the shop. They are not going to fool anyone into thinking they are original, but they worked and were in my budget at the time. I would like to one day redo them more correctly but for now I'm not worried about it. After completing the rust work I painted the car too, which is the same paint job it has today, and was my first overall paint job. I'd done fenders and doors before, but not a whole vehicle. I wanted a brighter silver than the original color, and chose a mid-70's GM color (don't tell anyone :lol: ) One day when I re-restore the car I'll likely take it back to the original, although I do like 901 silver better.

I was very excited when I finally got the car on the road and I though I'd be able to drive it everyday in the summer...I was about to learn something about old cars that are still mostly original. They break alot. Anything old that you haven't already replaced will likely need replacing shortly after you begin using it again. At least that was my experience. I think I covered less than 1000 miles and went through struts, a clutch due to slipping, slave cylinder due to dripping, brake master cylinder due to leaking, alternator, then shortly after voltage regulator, one month after the starter failed, etc.

I resolved to keep the car, and just use it sparingly until I could afford to really go through it. What ended up happening was life.....I went to college, struggled financially for five or six years until my wife and I found decent jobs, we got married, built a house, had two children, etc. I stored the car for 15 years (thought it would be 4 or 5 at most) but I'm not a quitter, and when the time came where I could revisit my project car I did.

So in July 2015 I rekindled an old flame if you will. I started back on my Z with the intention of not really modifying anything (at least not yet), but more taking what I have and making it work well. I figured I have a complete car with low miles, I should be able to make what I have function well. I started by cleaning the carburetors and reassembling them, making sure all parts move freely and work as they should. I replaced the fuel pump and drained the fuel tank. My next move was going to be firing it up but then I thought I'd pull the valve cover to run through the valve clearances, that was when I noticed the rear piece of the oil spray bar had come lose and was laying on the rear cam lobe. I then pulled the plugs and noticed that cylinder 6 plug was fouled. I remembered that I'd run a compression test back in 1999 or so and the cylinders all ranged from 110-115psi except for cylinder 6, which had 85psi.

I debated about trying to light it off but ultimately decided now was probably a good time to just pull the engine for a rebuild. I figured if nothing else I knew she was down on compression, and the gaskets were ancient. Also I knew there was a history of head gasket sealing trouble, which I wanted to investigate.

URL=http://s1027.photobucket.com/user/jpearce1010/media/IMG_20150723_193934046_zpsnnws8v83.jpg.html]Image[/URL]

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To be continued....

Jay


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:30 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14779
Location: CT
Well that's pretty exciting so far. I guess what I like most is that you know your Z's history. I'll save my 50 questions until you finish your story. I might get answers before I ask them!

Frank

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1970 240Z


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Wed Jan 11, 2017 11:03 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:11 am
Posts: 678
Thank you Frank! Please, ask me all the questions you want. No problem at all.

Picking back up on the story, after I pulled the engine out I took it to a local machine shop (with a great reputation) to have it evaluated and rebuilt. The owner Phil said that he had rebuilt many Datsun engines in the past, but it had been a good 20 years or better since he'd had one in the shop.

The rebuild ended up consisting of a .040" overbore (needed .030" minimum to clean them up), new ITM pistons to fit the bores, new rings, .010"/.010" grind and polish on the crank journals, all 3 head surfaces were milled, as was the block deck, all of the valves were replaced with stainless ones, and all other components in the head including the valve seats were also replaced with the exception of the rocker arms, which were reground. The compression ratio after all the machining was done works out to 8.9:1 - essentially stock. I have to say the car is much more snappy and responsive than it was before, it is a night and day difference....I'm very happy with the outcome.

The engine block deck was milled for flatness, but also to clean up some excessive corrosion that existed there. Phil believed that to be a likely contributor to the repeated head gasket problems. Also he repaired my oil spray bar by drilling and tapping the rear portions of the mounting blocks for set screws to keep the spray bar tubes in place. He drilled them on the backsides and with them installed there is no visible evidence of repair. A nice solution I think.

I spent the winter that year reinstalling the engine, replumbing all the hard lines on the car, removing and cleaning the fuel tank thoroughly, replacing a blown rear strut, replacing all hoses, repairing some poor electrical connections....just going over everything basically. I also added new front calipers and new tires.

Since the rebuild I've covered 600 trouble free miles so we're off to a good start, although she's sleeping peacefully in the garage till springtime. Before I parked her I was working on getting the exhaust note right, I started with the MSA 2.5" manifold back system but it had a terrible drone to it. So I replaced the muffler with a Walker 2.5". which was quieter and no drone, but this had a surprisingly noticeable impact on performance. So I swapped that out with a Magnaflow, which I like much better but the drone is still there. So my next move will be to add a glasspack in the midpipe...hopefully that will do it.

Future plans for this year are to install a 5 speed transmission, new carpet and a really nice pair of stock 260z seats I picked up last fall. And lots more driving!

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Fire away Frank! :D

Jay


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 8:13 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:11 am
Posts: 678
I just had the pleasure of meeting Vinni Bedini today. My friend and I drove to Vinni's shop to buy a pair of transmissions he rebuilt for us. What a really nice guy he is! We had a great time hanging out with him and he seemed happy to answer all our Z questions. Also he had several Z projects under way which he gave us the background on. Several engine projects too!

Jay


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Sun Jan 22, 2017 9:58 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:16 pm
Posts: 1181
Location: Ansonia, CT
Great story on the resurrection of your 260Z Jay! :thumbs_up:
When you put your heart and sole into an old car like that, it becomes part of you. I know, I've had my '71 240 for all it's life. I just wish I looked as good as it does. :lol:
Welcome to the family.

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 7:52 pm 
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Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:11 am
Posts: 678
Thank you John! I'm so glad I found this club! What a great group this is, I can't wait to meet everyone.

I've admired your Z in the members rides section many times, that's a gorgeous car! I'd love for mine to be that nice someday. I'm anxious to see it in person!

Jay


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 8:30 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 30, 2008 2:16 pm
Posts: 1181
Location: Ansonia, CT
Thank you Jay. From the effort you are putting into your Z you are well on the way to creating a stunning example of a 260Z! She looks great already!

I also look forward to meeting up with you and your Z :D

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John Kish
1971 240Z - original owner


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Mon Jan 23, 2017 11:15 pm 
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Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14779
Location: CT
Jay, tell us about your cam and distributor, pleaZe?

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1970 240Z


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 Post subject: Re: New member from PA!
PostPosted: Tue Jan 24, 2017 7:45 am 
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Joined: Fri Dec 23, 2016 7:11 am
Posts: 678
Sure.

My distributor is the original unit, just with a fresh cap and rotor. It must be electronic though, as there are no points and condenser to service (thank goodness).

I left the cam selection up to Phil at the machine shop. He chose a mild compcams part, part number 84-119-6. It's very mild, the specs are 252 degrees adv. duration, 204 @50, and only .410" lift intake and exhaust. It makes power off idle to about 5500 rpm I find, and idles very smoothly.

Jay


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