Evie 1972 Datsun 240z

[gilltech]

many 240Z with laughable rust now were scrapped and raided for parts

True. There are people on this forum who just amaze me with the challenges they are taking on. Admirable.

 

But the Zeds have always been a concern for rusting, much as I love them I'm under no illusions. Back about '86 I had a friend in NZ who bought a pretty presentable looking '71. Floors & rails & underside & areas that you'd usually check looked reasonable for a 15 yr old car. Until it got tee-boned whereupon it pretty much split apart structurally (luckily he was OK). All the pillars particularly the A-pillars, had already had rust repairs & were full of bog. Only the roof skin could be salvaged, as even the roof frames were rusty.

And just prior to that there was a Z that was tee-boned in an accident on a motorway. Car split in half in front of the rear wheels, driver was killed; I understand the seatbelt broke his neck.

 

So rust repairs on our beloved Zeds need to be done to the highest standards as they are lightweight to begin with.

[gilltech]

a mate in the early 80's passing up a 240 in favour of a 260

 

Well I did precisely that! Back in '84 I looked at several '71 & '72 240s, but after doing my research opted for a 260 2-seat because people were already aware by then that the later cars were a bit better built & stronger, less rust-prone in the rear wheel arches, but of course heavier. And the later the car the more it benefitted from running improvements, same with lots of cars. (Or not, in the case of the carburetors on the Zeds...).

[gav240z]

So before I left Melbourne I managed to do a couple of other tasks on the 240z.

 

I decided to fire up the old girl just to have her running again. So in went the battery (I don't leave it in the car) and after getting the mechanical fuel pump to suck of the fuel it finally spurted to life.

 

It took a while to start because I need to mount the choke to a custom plate (instead of the stock attach to the console) so I don't end up with a cracked console in future. So the choke was hard to pull out completely.

 

Even though I replaced all the fuel lines last time I worked on it, I noticed a fuel leak again. I think the problem is that the fuel hoses are slightly too large diameter (if anyone knows what size they should be comment below please).

 

The jubilee clips holding the hose onto the fuel rail is not the best.

 

So after I shut off the car I decided to replace with the OEM style clamps I raided from my spare motor that's been sitting in the garage for years.

 

I much prefer these to the Jubilee clips and you can still source them.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NOS-Nissan-Datsun-240Z-Roadster-620-1200-Fuel-Hose-Clamps-/161498911835

 

But they are quite expensive...

 

 

If you have a source for finding these at a good rate? Let me know.

 

Fitting those seems to have provided a better seal on the fuel lines and stopped any leak.

 

The next job was to change the bulb in the amp / fuel meter. Many years ago I fitted the wrong bulb (too big) and burnt out the green plastic cover that gives it that colour.  Hence my question here: http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,15194.msg161402/topicseen.html#msg161402 - although I had some spares for this job I couldn't get anymore at my local service station.

 

Getting to the amp gauge is a bitch of a job in a 240z, mainly because you have to disconnect the battery, remove the console, undo the fuse box, remove the heater facia and map light (without breaking it) and then you can unscrew the bolt that holds the gauge in place.

 

Here is the back of the amp / fuel gauge. You can see what wires go where.

 

Also on the right hand side you'll note that the green plastic piece is missing (it fell into the gauge housing itself after it was over-heated thanks to the too large bulb).

 

I had a spare amp / fuel gauge in storage so I swapped over the housing on it (since the original lens and bezel were in better condition on the original) and put the new lens in and now all gauges light up green (instead of 1 white and the rest green which really messed with my OCD).

 

The final job was to fix the heater / demister vent switches, since 2 of them would go between all 3 settings but the 3rd would not move beyond half-way. Upon close inspection I noticed that the cable was not properly fastened down (or griping the sleeve). If you think of a bicycle cable you'll understand. Anyway it would just so happen that the screw holding it in has fused in place and trying to do undo it just damaged to the screw head). I didn't have vice grips handy so it will have to wait until next time. I think I'll sort that out and install 1 of the Rally Clocks at the same time.

 

So the interior is slowly coming along and the car is starting to feel like it should again. When time / money permits I think it will be seats, a new heater facia panel with stickers for defrost settings, an OEM 72 model radio with antenna switch and new 1/4 plastics. Ahhh it never ends

[gav240z]

So a couple of updates.

 

1. So got new tyres, I couldn't believe the old ones were made in 1987!

 

Oh and club plates also. As you can see she's registered and back on the road.

 

2. I went to visit Ashley at Moorabbin Auto Spares and got some bits and bobs for road worthy / maintenance.

 

He told me about a replacement rear strut for the hatch that seems to work on an S30z. Mine has been wonky for years and would always fall on my head. It's out of some model Toyota and whilst it's not perfect it seems to do the job ok. For $40 I can't really complain either.

 

The only negative really is that it doesn't extend as high as stock.

 

After installing the new strut.

 

Here is the part packaging and numbers...

 

It now sort of opens on it's own with a little nudge which is good and it no longer falls on my head. The only problem I had with install was the old nut and thread on the original strut was damaged and I couldn't remove it, so I had to cut the original strut a bit which I didn't want to do in case I want to rebuild it later. However I should be able to repair the original without too much grief if I ever want to go back to it.

 

For $40 though it's a decent alternative. You can order them through Ash.

 

3. Unfortunately my Twin Knob Rally Clock seems to have stopped working, it had a hiccup about 7 days ago. Ron has given me a few items to check before I send the clock back to him, but I suspect it's the oscillator box. Bit of a shame as I was enjoying the working clock and ticking sweep hand. Just goes to show that old electronics can be a bit fickle. Ron did say he's never had 1 work for 7-14 days and then quit so he's interested to look at it and figure out what went wrong.

 

 

 

 

[gilltech]

Looking good Gav!

But that gas strut is too short, it'd drive me nuts. Surely you can get one the correct length? Better yet, you get a longer pair & retrofit one to the LH side as well a la 260.

Those plain vinyl strut covers shown up the page a bit look the same as on my '74 260 2-seat, no diamond embossing on mine, original.

[PB260Z]

Hi Gav

 

Bit of a mixed bag for you

 

Great - to have the CH plate

OK - to find gas strut that is close enough

Bad - that the clock has stopped, hopefully it is only a simple fix.

 

Have you taken her for a decent drive yet ?

 

Cheers

 

PB

[sydney mike]

Hi Gav,

 

sorry to hear about the clock, has Ron given you any sort of warranty?

 

Also see you ended up with Turanza tyres instead of RE002's?

[gav240z]

@Mike - I think warranty will come down to what's wrong with it, if I somehow damaged it or it failed on it's own in some way. Won't know till he looks at it.

 

So in other news, before I left Melbourne I made up a choke bracket to help prevent breakage of the center console. Using a cardboard template I tried to replicate what I saw in this image.

http://datsunpartsllc.com/cart/index.php?p=product&id=225&parent=5

 

I made several attempts by laying the cardboard over the trans tunnel to try and guess the right dimensions, but after that wasn't working out I actually just randomly sketched it out as seen below and it happened to be the right dimensions. Figures... the total guess was most accurate.

 

 

To give a sense of how it works I tried to take photos.

Choke Disengaged. It doesn't sit ALL the way forward.

Choke Engaged.

 

Underneath ashtray view.

 

It was actually quite a challenge to figure out where to screw it to the trans tunnel because you need to make sure the choke is in the right place relative to where the console sits when installed. I spent a couple of hours on this thing, at first I thought $30 USD was expensive for this piece, but after all the messing about I was ready to just buy the Datsun Parts LLC bracket.

 

It would have saved me 2 hours of messing about and several cardboard tempates and cutting out a bracket with tin snips twice! So if you've not got the patience buy their version  .

 

After that I adjusted the choke cables on the carbs, but this made the starting mixture WAYYY too rich and she ran like an angry pig spitting fuel out the exhaust. So I had to dial it back so the choke on lightly engages.

 

Speaking of SU carbs...

 

I've always felt that that my 240z feels a bit flat as the revs climb. Below 3,500 rpm torque is strong and it feels good, but as the revs climb it seems to feel a bit weak. The car has been sitting 6 years so the carbs could use new gaskets and a rebuild but even so before that it always felt a bit unwilling to really rev.

 

But looking at them closer I noticed something odd.

 

Left Side

 

Right Side

 

Can you see it? My 72 240z has the 3 screw version of the SU carbs. I had never seen an AU delivered car with these, and always thought we only got the 4 screw dome tops. However since my 1/4 panel was from an early car, the SUs are from an early car and I was given some early car parts like the straight gear shifter from the 71A gearbox.

 

The previous owner had Triple Dellortos on it and before he sold it went back to the SUs so I assume they came off an early girl that was used as a parts car to restore my 72 model.

 

So anyway I went to the garage in Sydney and looked at the carbs that came off HS30 000150 - what do you know? 4 screw domes.

 

So perhaps at some point it was changed over from it's original SUs - perhaps due to wear and a 'good' second hand set of 4 screw dome tops replaced the originals. Funny enough it still has the original style early heat shield.

 

So what does it all mean? Well the SUs could use an overhaul on the 72. So I'll rebuild the 4 screw dome top SUs and then bolt them onto my 72 240z. I'll keep the 3 screw version for car #150. Although it's likely I'll install Triple Mikuni's if I can come up with a suitable airbox.

[PB260Z]

Hi Gav

 

Amazing that you have 2 cars and they have each others Carbies, what are the chances of that ?

Time to buy a lottery ticket.

 

Cheers

 

PB

[gav240z]

3. Unfortunately my Twin Knob Rally Clock seems to have stopped working, it had a hiccup about 7 days ago. Ron has given me a few items to check before I send the clock back to him, but I suspect it's the oscillator box. Bit of a shame as I was enjoying the working clock and ticking sweep hand. Just goes to show that old electronics can be a bit fickle. Ron did say he's never had 1 work for 7-14 days and then quit so he's interested to look at it and figure out what went wrong.

 

No I'm not in Melbourne, but the g/f is away and it's given me bachelor time to work on the S30z a bit. Although I've got responsibilities of looking after the dog and mowing lawns (man it never ends). I honestly don't know how the blokes with kids ever get time to work on their cars. You guys must be super men!

 

Anyway I went to JayCar and got some much needed bits and pieces to test out the clocks (safely). Because these clocks are so expensive I was a bit nervous about damaging them by just hooking them up to a 12V car battery.

 

So what I've done is talked about in this 5 mins long video of waffle.

 

I'm not sure if anyone else finds this stuff interesting, but I do and I talk about the calendar clock and compare it to the earlier rally version. You can't really hear the clocks though.. but the later Calendar style one is very quiet. Can't even hear ticking and to be honest with you if I wasn't such a stickler for 'period correct' I'd say the Calendar clock is as good if not better than the earlier ones. Much cheaper also...

 

None of my original (4 of them) 240z clocks work, except for the 1 originally out of my 72 240z which ticks but doesn't keep time properly. Given that the lens bezel is a bit dodgy I'd say the previous owner tried to fix it at some point and may have managed to get it working a little.

 

Shameless self promotion, but if anyone is interested in the calendar clock it's still for sale.

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,15588.0.html

[gav240z]

By the way I found this the other day looks like a fellow Melbournian came up with a fix to his 240z Jeco clock.

https://hyllest.wordpress.com/2014/09/28/quartz-clock-movement-into-a-240z-clock/

 

I haven't tried it yet, but might give it a go if I feel creative enough.

[PeterH]

Hi Gav

 

I didn't read the all thread here in detail but with regard the original 240Z jeco clock...all the 240Z's that I looked at , including the one that I bought , came with the comment " the clock keeps it's own time " or similar...I took the clock to my local instrument repairer and asked about fitting it with a quartz movement and his advice was to have the existing clock cleaned and checked...... They did all the instruments ...clean and check for calibration...my car is in bits......( bet you've never heard that before ).....so I ran the clock for a few days from the power supply of a cetec charger and it kept time for that period I guess time will tell when the car is back together and running.

 

Pete

[PeterH]

Me again....just reading back through the thread about the  carbs...... the original Datsun  S30 RHD parts catalogue lists the 4screw carbs as being fitted up to August 1971 and the 3 screw from September 1971 to August 1973...doesnt seem to make sense with that cut off period but that's what is in writing.

[GongZ]

Hello Gavin - I just read this through this topic again and this time I picked up on this statement;

...

So a couple of weeks ago I found another 240z gear knob on eBay. The button was cracked as they usually are, but the chrome and wood were in good condition. So using the same technique as I've outlined before I glued down a replacement button and installed it.

...

 

Can you please tell me where you got a replacement button, and where you discussed the technique to replace the button?

[gav240z]

So 2 threads to look at.

 

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,13624.msg152549.html#msg152549

 

and

 

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php/topic,14508.msg155020.html#msg155020

[gav240z]

I haven't updated this in a while...

 

Let's see a quick summary of recent happenings with this car..

 

1. Rear bumper photos are here:

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/12896-wtb-rear-bumper-2-seater-s30z/?p=186589

 

Which I still have to fit, but I am in 2 minds about it, on the 1 hand it will look awesome. On the other the rest of the car isn't perfect. So I'm not sure if I should use the bumper off #150 and use some elbow grease and autosol + brasso to tidy it up and stick it on. Keep the re-chromed bumper for #150?

 

I still have to get all the hardware to put it on too!

 

I also need to source some rubber trims (which are expensive) it all adds up.

 

2. I taped up all trim and rubbers and finally got around to using the dual action polisher on the paint work. Before I knew any better I used to polish by hand using all sorts of products. It would take me hours and the result was never perfect. I once tried a cheap polishing machine which left bad marks all over the paint. Using the DA polisher I was able to correct a lot of imperfections but not all.

 

It was painted in the early to mid 90s so I guess I can't expect too much. It's a single stage paint also. When I didn't know any better I used cut and polish products that took too much paint off near a couple of edges on the front fender. Hence why I tape up all edges now. I was a lot younger and more naive and of course there was less information in general 10-12 years ago re: clay bars, polishers, techniques etc..

 

 

 

3. I finally installed a Hazard Switch in the car. I reckon it's the best mod you can do for $12 (not including cost of switch - just relay).

 

 

Only negative was the hole I cut looks wrong. I later figured out why. The dashboard was vacuum formed many years ago during restoration. Since AU market cars never had the hazard switch they also didn't have an existing hole in that indentation in the dash. When the new skin is formed without a hole behind it, the vinyl won't sink into the hole.. Hard to explain. If you watch the process on video you'll understand. (There is a couple 240z/260z dashboard videos being done floating around also).

 

 

Top tip: Cut a hole here when restoring your dash so the vinyl properly sinks into the hole. if you plan ot use hazard switch of course.

 

I need to come up with some kind of garnish trim to place around the switch and neaten it up at some point.

[gav240z]

Since I was working in Melbourne I didn't get a whole lot of time to take the car out and work on it. But I did manage to on a few days.

 

Even when the weather was less than brilliant like New Years day, I was a bit worried the wipers wouldn't work but thankfully they did so long as the windscreen was wet first.

 

In this first photo I used a bit of photoshop to remove the vents and fix a couple of minor things like remove a mirror on the side of the car and the white patch on the bonnet. I also added back a bonnet badge. All things I intend to do at some point.

 

I think it looks much much better. In fact I ordered a set of louvered inspection lids to retain the benefit of a fluted bonnet but at the same time keep the aesthetics pleasing. I also think the louvers are a bit of a hat tip to what Tony (previous owner) had on the bonnet. I always liked the look of them peering down the bonnet from the drivers position also.

 

The benefit of the inspection flaps being vented is that if I change my mind later they are easily interchangeable unlike a bonnet if you cut holes in it, they are much harder to find in good shape now. 

 

 

I managed to read this book.

http://www.viczcar.com/forum/topic/15545-datsun-240z-engineering-development-by-hitoshi-uemura/

 

In it Hitoshi mentions some vapour lock problems they had with 260z's in the US and 1 of the solutions was they added vents to the bonnets (as in cut them!) I've seen some US market cars with lots of flutes in the hood which I always thought was odd or aftermarket but now I'm thinking they were part of the 260z remedy to vapour lock.

 

Next few photos are also slightly doctored, I took these in Port Melbourne right before the West Gate Bridge. I thought it would add a bit of flair . Lighting is crap and it was totally off the cuff so not planned. But I think the setting worked.

 

My partner tried to snap a photo of me driving the car also, but with the overcast day, the flash and not being able to look at the Camera for longer than a second while driving it turned out blurry, you can just see the wipers are on and the rain.

 

 

I also renewed the registration for another year whilst in Melbourne and some bloke came up to me at Vicroads asking about the car. You can't take these things out 1 day without someone wanting to buy it.

[gav240z]

By the way the louvered inspection flaps I bought look like this. They had 6 individual louvers. I'd seen others with only 3 and it didn't tickle me the right way.

 

These look a lot nicer and price was right.

 

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/222367624892?rmvSB=true

eBay seller: http://www.ebay.com.au/usr/arizonas30?_trksid=p2047675.l2559

Name: arizonas30

 

Price: $99 USD + postage.

 

I may give making a set a go if Tafe resume's this year since they had a machine to make these.

[gav240z]

So, I don't know if anything else will think this is cool. But it's pretty exciting if you ask me.

 

I managed to find a classified listing for my 72 240z back in 1980.

 

To be precise it was Saturday 7th of June 1980, found in The Age - Melbourne.

 

Datsun 240z 5-spd. Man, S4295 AS TRADED.

Silver duco, air cond...mag wheels. GD value from $100 dep.. weekly $28 wkly. LCU540.

497 2653 AH: 5787 649 L.1011

So anyone know what the S4295 means? I'm guessing L.1011 is lot no. for the dealer it was traded in at?

 

The Air-Con was a surprise. I never saw anything to indicate that was fitted to the car.

07 Jun 1980, Page 113 - The Age at Newspapers.pdf

[PB260Z]

Hi Gav

 

Impressive find, one more piece of the puzzle drops into place.

 

In response to your question, I would have educated guess that

S = Stock Number.

L = Dealer Licence No.

 

Cheers

 

PB

[gav240z]

Thanks Peter that would make sense. I will have to call Anthony "Tony". To talk to him about the car again. I looked up his address and looks like his phone number and name are still at the same location.

 

He showed me photos during its restoration in the 90s when I looked at it in 2001. I'd love to scan them for my own records.

 

I'm curious what mag wheels it had on it before the superlites. My guess is the same wheels as on #150 the Aunger Hotwires you see on so many Aussie S30z's.

 

I would also like to ask him about the dealer fitted aircon. I'll tell you I had the car out on a 35 degree day in Melbourne and I think I need to put aircon back in it. It's a hot box without it.

[Enzo]

Hi Gav,

             After looking at the add, I would think that it is $4295 as traded. ($ instead of an S ). It is 1980 and second hand cars were cheap.

David

[PB260Z]

. I'll tell you I had the car out on a 35 degree day in Melbourne and I think I need to put aircon back in it. It's a hot box without it.

Hi

 

Maybe I am getting old and soft (definately getting older) but I took my Z out yesterday in the heat and humidity. Having the A/C was a blessing.

 

Cheers

 

PB

[Brabham]

Do you know if the 240Z factory air conditioning was the same as in 260Z models Gav/others?

[gav240z]

I think the air-con would have been an aftermarket job. I don't know what it looks like because there is nothing left of it on the car.

 

But it might explain a couple of mystery wires under the dash I was trying to figure out.