Welcome to the Connecticut Z Car Club Forums




Username:  
Password:  
Log me on automatically each visit
Register 
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 9:44 am
Welcome to the Connecticut Z Car Club Discussion Forums   
If you have trouble logging in or encounter any issues, please send an email to webmaster@ctzcc.com.

All times are UTC - 5 hours





Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 10 posts ] 
  Print view Previous topic | Next topic 
Author Message
 Post subject: Looking for some advice.
PostPosted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 4:15 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 2:12 pm
Posts: 30
Location: milford, ct
Awhile ago I picked up a 1974 Datsun 260Z. I was the original owner & owned it for about 25 years, sold it about a dozen years ago. The subsequent owner did an engine rebuild & few years later blew the differential & the car has been sitting ever since. I happened to see it & since I had fond memories, probably because I was 40 years younger, bought it again. Other than not running, it appears to be in pretty good shape for a forty year old vehicle. My goal is to get it running & restored to reasonable driver condition. I'm a pretty competent wrench man & believe I have necessary tools & equipment.

What I'd appreciate is input from folks who've been down this road on what they feel is the best way to proceed. I'd also like to improve original performance. My recollection was it had pretty good handling & responsiveness, but could have used a few more HP. Since I don't have much invested, I'm willing to spend some $ on improvement & would like to know what folks think is the best "bang for the buck". Currently appears to be 100% stock, including emissions.

My game plan is to pull the engine, tranny & gas tank. Check & inspect engine, repair differential, clean/or replace tank, clean/or replace lines, rebuild/or replace carbs. Performance items I currently had in mind were headers & 2.5 inch exhaust, electronic distributor & ignition, HO alternator, some head clean-up & exhaust matching, & carb rebuild/or replace.

Cars has original SUs that have been sitting for about a dozen years. Are they salvageable, should I rebuild or consider something like after market Webers? Will Webers improve performance with the better exhaust & ignition.

Have access to a Datsun shop manual. Any suggestions on materials (manuals, literature or websites) for performance work, SU carb rebuilding, carb setup & emissions elimination.

Right now I'm wondering what I've gotten myself into. As I said, have fond memories from 40 years ago, have time & believe I have necessary skills, so here I am. Hopefully the consensus doesn't come back & tell me to run away as fast as I can. Thanks in advance - Harry :?:


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 4:48 pm 
Offline

Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14778
Location: CT
1. Do NOT run away from your Z. It loves you and missed you, too.

2. SUs are re-usable. You must clean out the 'shellac' and gooey residue which the old fuel has left in them. No big deal. SUs are simple to clean. Call us when you're ready to set them and tune them.

3. Webers are wonderful ~ they increase your intake by THREE TIMES the airflow. But they are difficult to tune well and require a bigger cam and special distributor work to make them perform as you expect them to. Personally, I would forego the expense of Webers for now, until you got the engine running again on the SUs. Just my opinion.

4. Absolutely go with the uprated electronic ignition. Best improvement you can make to your car, and it's pretty cheap. I use the PerTronix system and it has never disappointed me. There are several others available which other members speak highly of, as well.

5. The higher output alternator is an excellent idea, but you MUST (as in, *MUST*) install an upgraded wiring harness and MSA blade-type fusebox as well. MSA makes a good 3-part replacement loom which is snap-in and you can do it yrslf in about an hour if you're sober. It has twin headlamp relays which handle all the current your lightswitch used to try to handle. That allows you to mount really bright headlamps in your Z, which actually let you zee things at night which the old lamps sort of ignored. But the replacement loom is mandatory, or you can melt your whole wiring system with the higher output alternator. (Experience speaking here ~ learn from other fools' mistakes).

6. The emissions pump system was the first thing I ever removed from my 240 (it froze up so it I had to remove it). Car runs fine without it.

7. Lots of companies make excellent exhaust headers for our Zs today. You're going to have more fun than you might expect ~ there are hundreds of new upgrades available for these cars now, whereas we were trying to make our own back in the day. I can remember crimping carpet slices into our front sway bar to make the car handle better back in the '70s :lol: .

8. Depending on which month your 260 was made, you may have the 'big valve' or 'small valve' head. You of course want the big one. Our member Vinny Bedini (New Miford) did wonderful things to an E88 head for me, boosting the compression to 10.3:1 with big, fat SS valves. You might want to talk to him about reworking yours, or trading yours for one already worked. ( Bedini Motorsports 860.355.1829)

9. We will want to follow this project, so please take many pictures and post your progress (and questions). THere are a lot of experienced Z builders on here, who would love to help guide you thru this.

Frank T

_________________
1970 240Z


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Mar 13, 2013 10:04 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 4:19 pm
Posts: 1644
Careful Harry, you have now snatched the attention of the most knowledgeable Z people in the state! Kudos to you for wanting to bring her back to the glory days :wink:


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 8:27 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:55 pm
Posts: 3594
Location: Naugatuck CT
everyone knows i totally believe in keeping the supposed lost causes going. my 280Z is one of them. it has inspired others ti restore their Z's that they thought were too far gone. minus some issues i am having now the car has gone on some far road trips on a short amount of time. Frank can tell you all about that. and i am not far from you so if you need help let me know. :D

_________________
Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:33 am 
Offline

Joined: Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:38 pm
Posts: 3411
Location: rhode island
I have some Diffys and Dizzys if needed.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:42 am 
Offline

Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14778
Location: CT
Harry, meet Paul.

Paul is a Master Mechanic who has the largest collection of spare Z partz this side of Japan.

Frank

_________________
1970 240Z


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 14, 2013 9:45 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Sep 21, 2009 3:55 pm
Posts: 3594
Location: Naugatuck CT
Frank T wrote:
Harry, meet Paul.

Paul is a Master Mechanic who has the largest collection of spare Z partz this side of Japan.

Frank


and that is no joke. :D

_________________
Mike Tubiak
1978 Datsun 280Z - HLS30-438694


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Mar 15, 2013 8:56 am 
Offline

Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14778
Location: CT
And since your Thread is titled LOOKING FOR SOME ADVICE, here's something further to consider:

Webers are wonderful, but they are no longer necessarily the best thing you can do for your Z. SInce we (you and me) last owned our Zs, several other options have emerged which factually out-shine the tried-and-true Weber setups.

First, several other companies now make excellent side draft triple-feed setups for the L series engines. Each of those have some slight advantages over the old Weber systems. SK, Solex, Mikuni, DellOrto and several others have duplicated and exceeded the patented Weber idea of multiple concentric venturis and individual jets to feed each engine need. The new systems might lure you away from a newer Weber setup because:

1) In the first place, they're now cheaper than Webers;
2) In the 2nd place, they are easier to set up and tune;
3) Some of them actually out-perform the old Webers;
4) Weber has recently sold out to the same conglomerate which also bought Solex (Weber's arch-rival), so that fierce, decades-long competition is gone. So is the urgency to make Webers better than Solex (or better than anybody, for that matter). The company now makes several other items (including backyard BBQ grilles :roll: ), so they no longer focus only on quality fuel systems. They have moved the Weber name and manufacturing out of Italy completely, and centered it in Spain. However, most of the casting and parts manufacturing is now done in far-off overseas countries of cheap labor; Korea, South America, and the Philippines now make Weber carbs. The Italian craftsmen have been replaced by part-time 3rd world housewives. As a result, today's Webers only cost about $200-$300 each, rather than $500-$600 each, but you get what you pay for. They still work, and are better than the twin SUs. But the Webers of today are not the same wonderful world-leaders we remember from even two decades ago.

May I respectfully suggest you call Vinny Bedini (860.355.1829) and speak with him about professional fuel delivery systems before sinking your money into a set of today's Webers? Be prepared ~ he will tell you about Extrudabodies Individual Throttle Bodies (ITBs) and even newer innovative systems which have sprung up since you and I last looked. They are now much simpler and actually more reliable than the older Webers we remember. They really qualify today as "set-em-and-forget-em" systems with performance superior to the Webers we knew and loved as kids, and are surely superior to the 'new' Webers you might buy today.

Frank


Last edited by Frank T on Thu Mar 21, 2013 4:47 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Mar 17, 2013 3:21 pm 
Offline

Joined: Tue Mar 12, 2013 2:12 pm
Posts: 30
Location: milford, ct
Thanks for the heads up. Haven't started project yet, hopefully in the next week or so. Will be sure to call Vinny before tackling any fuel related items. 8)


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Mar 22, 2013 7:10 am 
Offline

Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2008 5:53 pm
Posts: 14778
Location: CT
....just checking in to keep our fingers on this pulse..........

_________________
1970 240Z


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 10 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 5 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 12 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron









Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group
mile200 v1.0.1 designed by Team -Programming forum- .