260Coupe

Guys on the subject of tyres, why do many people skimp on the only things that keep you stuck to the road No amount of big brakes or trick suspension will compensate for crap tyres Everyone seems to spend plenty on big HP engines , big brakes and suspension (and great wheels) and then buy a tyre that "looks good" and "lasts a long time" and is cheap (I have heard the "I don't drive it that much so I don't need good tyres" a thousand times an the first thing I look at at a driver training day, when playing instructor.....is the tyres on the car....most guys go for the rediculously big wheels fitted with the Chinese brand mega low profile tyres that are just rubbish) If your Zed is not a daily driver and you do less than 10,000 km per year then go for a track tyre like the Yokahama 048R, or Dunlop D01R........these will transform the performance/grip the car has and last years if you only drive on weekends. They are street legal with 5mm tread depth and the wet performance will always out grip a normal road tyre in the wet (as longs as your not into burnouts and donuts etc). If your car is a daily driver then go with a Yoko C drive sport or any of the major brand soft compound sport tyres with a Traction indicator of AA (AA being the best then A, B, C etc) See explanation of tyre tech stuff here http://www.toyo.com.au/tech_info4.html See various street legal R spec tyres here http://autospeed.com/cms/A_0593/article.html My 2 cents anyway cheers Alan

or go right to the source..............Steve Newing has them made by Chris Wood. Give Chris a call on 0438 772031 and save heaps of $$$ cherrs Alan

Andrew Lou is on 9555 9591, his work shop is at 5/23 Wren Rd Moorabbin, near the corner of South and Warrigul Rds I have found the KYB's are great value for money and when matched with King springs they work very well .........I bought my springs and shocks for around $600. The Tokico's are another option but they are around the $800 AUD landed, although the 240z I had years ago had them fitted and I found the spring rates on the soft side. As far as rear discs go my road Zed has drums/discs and it stops better than a lot of disc rear ends, the problem with installing rear discs can be brake bias problems causing the rears to lock up prematurely or not apply enough pressure............like anything ...it all comes down to how much you want to spend. Driving a well balanced Zed (ie one that is not a slug but over powered, handles nicely and has stoppers with a nice progressive feel ) I think far outweighs a car that becomes a chore to drive on the road and is more suited to the track Anyway choice is yours cheers Alan

Lou Mondello in Moorabbin can look after all your mechanicals, he specialises in Roadsters but has moved to Zeds over the last few years. Lou is flat out but if its a quick brake and suspension upgrade he can sort things out quickly. Asa suggestion, unless you intend on punting you car around the circuit for 10 laps than the standard brakes can be upgraded without the big expense of vented discs, heavy four spot calipers etc. My road Zed runs DBA cross drilled and slotted rotors (not vented) , braided brake lines, rebuilt standard calipers and Lucas pads and it stops brilliantly with no fade and no bias issues and is fine for 6 hard laps around Sandown without fade. (big vented brakes often mean big increase in unsprung weight and bias problems with rears, more weight makes the front suspension work harder which means bigger spring rates, firmer shocks etc etc..........the secret is keep the weight as low as possible) The suspension is easy with standard King Springs (cut down) and new KYB gas shocks which gives you around 220 lbs springs, a firm yet supple ride with no dive under brakes and great handling. (I junked my Konis in favour of the KYBs and they are excellent for the $$$) This is a very inexpensive brake and suspension upgrade that is perfect for a road going Zed. cheers Alan

It all comes down to your budget (You get what you pay for) Rob as flat out with three Zed on the go so you will struggle getting him started on you car (I waited 5 years to get my Zed to him and gave up waiting) I had my 260 restored by Rankins in Bayswater last year, they specialise in Alfas and Fiats so they know how to fix rust properly!!! They had done a few Zeds before and a couple of Roadsters so they know the product. My Zed had the usual rust in the sills, hatch, top of guards etc, after a complete strip back to bare metal alot more was discovered lurking under the paint . All the rust was welded up with new metal (no bog or fibre glass) and the panel gaps all reset. The end result was excellent two months later and almost $10K the car came out better than new. Paul Rankin is a good bloke and will not dick you around 03 97290622 cheers Alan

The standard clutch type fan sucks around 3-4 hp at 4000 rpm (I tested one on the Dyno) so best go for the elctric thermo fan. Davies Craig make all sorts of electric fans with shrouds (must have shroud fitted for best efficiency) and the temps sensors and pots. Steer clear of the bolt through fans that use lon bolts thru the radiator caore as these can chew out the core with age (due to vibration) Davies Craig fans can be quite excy , the cheaper other option is to get an electric fan and shroud off an N12 Pulsar, I picked up one for $50 from the wreckers ..........it works a treat. http://www.daviescraig.com.au/main/display.asp?pid=11 Alan

Windscreen seals are identicle, sounds like they are referring to the rear screen seal. I have a brand new original Nissan/Datsun front screen seal if you are interested (some EOM screen seals tend to be poor fitting) cheers Alan

Mossy I agree , my NC MX5 in stock standard form (ie on road tyres) makes 102 rwkw and is good for a comfortable 2.01 at P.I..........a few guys in the MX5 club are posting sub 2.mins in stock new MXs It's all about clean fast lines with good corner speed (which the MX5 excels at), the fastest time I posted in my old Sc Zed in an Historic event (1:59 prior to the engine refresh) was done with very smooth driving and no drifting. The only "drift" that was apparent was if you have the conyonnies to go flat out round the sweeper onto the front straight and allow the car to "drift" across the track right to the endge of the ripple strip (same as thru turn one) which is more understeer push than a rear wheel drift (not enough RW HP to do that). The Sc rules state that you cannot run any wheel bigger than a 14 x 6 hence the 195 wide tyre, the old addage is that great handling improves grip immensly.......wider tyres may improve grip a little but do not improve handling. BTW l was at P.I and did not see any evidence of drifting far as Pter Hall was concerned, all his lines were consistant and as smooth as silk with great exit speed out of the corners. As a matter of interest the Porker 944s making less than 100 rwkw are doing 1:26s around Sandown......for a car with a greater kerb mass than a Zed that is a great time......and it's all down to the handling set up (and some good helm work of course)

Guys I built and raced an Sc 240z a few years ago and I can tell you that 230 rwhp is a liitle unrealistic breathing through 1 3/4 " Hitachi SUs. I had my SUs bench flowed and the max calculated HP was around 220 (BHP - at the fly wheel), this was further backed up by my car marking around 118 rwkw (155 HP) on the chassis dyno, this however was on standard points ignition (yes I stuck to the rules- all other Zeds were running illegal 280 transistor ignitions) . I also had a set of triple 44mm solexs and squeezed 135 rwkw with the potential for around 145 with transitor ignition (yes this is from an L24) At the same time Michael Jones's Zed had around 110 rwkw in his Sc Zed and was doing 1:56s at P.I, so you don't need big HP just good handling and big conyonnies ! The week point was always the brakes, the pad material was critical, most race pads like Hawk or EBC were way too agressive and caused lock ups when hot (not enough tyre grip from the 195/60/14 A032s), I then when to a cheap and cheerful Lucas pad and they were brilliant and less than $60 a set and would last two meets (I was paying around $300 for hawk pads and flat spotting tyes). The new owner of my old Zed did 2:01s on his very first drive at last years P.I Historic meet (using the old Hawk pads and flat spotting tyres- I did tell him to stick with the lucas ??) and agreed the car would be good for sub 1:57s once he got the hang of steering a Zed and changing the pad material) I see now that most Zeds are also running with front spoilers (only the original rubber chin spoiler was homologated so all other types are illegal), I would suggest that Peter Halls Zed is making around 125- 135rwkw (170hp) on 2" Jag SUs with very good suspension/brake set up......and some damn good steering ability. This was my old Zed (with illegal front spoiler) Alan

Hi Guys For those who are looking for a period style wheel and don't want the mega heavy Performance Superlites (Superlight - yeah sure ).......Full Throttle Performance in NSW has the Panasport wheels now available I replaced my old Super"heavy" 15 x 7's with the same size Panasports and saved over 4 kg per corner!........the difference in handling and all round performance is amazing. The old Superlites weighed 19.6 kg each......the new Panasports a smidge over 16kg (same tyres fitted) There is also a Panasport Ultra light wheel available which is another 1.2 kg lighter again (stamped for moter sport use only). Whilst not cheap (about $100 per corner more than the Superheavies) I think they are great value and look sensational. For those interested go to http://www.full-throttle.com.au/ cheers Alan

HM headers make an acceptable set of extractors for the L24-L28, it is wise to port match the headers to the exhaust ports and clean them up for best results as there is some overlaps bewteen the ex ports and the flange. I think the latest batch have a thicker flange to match the thickness of the inlet manifold. These retail for around $370. A good option is to have them ceramic coated after cleaning them up, this will improve flow and heat transfer and prevent rust......they should last forever

I restored my Zed in 1992, bare metal repaint and rust fixed for $2.5K and just did it again earlier this year for $10K ! $10K is not a lot of $$$ these days, I spent $10k on a complete bare metal repaint, rust repairs and panel realignment...... yaddah yaddah.............like anything ...you get what you pay for. Alan

Hi Guys I'm after a set of Triple Mikuni's 44mm on a manifold (preferably late models) Top $$ paid depending upon condition. I sold the last set as spares with my race car and now regret it !!! cheers Alan

Guys There is a definite difference between the right an left mirror, I used to have a stock right hand mirror mounted on the left which stuck out miles as it is reversed and the angle of the arm is wrong (as per the picture of Mr Cammo's Zed). I recently bought a left hand mirror from the US and it is a "real" left hand mirror...ie. it sits on the same angle as the right mirror............When viewed from the front the mirrors now are exactly "mirror:" images with the same mounting angles. Check on the US Ebay site and you see Zed mirrors come up quite often (LHS only) Hope this clarifies things cheers- Alan

Guys if you are on a budget and wish to "get on the spanners" yourself then just ensure you get the final assembley checked over, particularly the cam timing and valve clearance measurements, I have heard of many an engine buggered from owners trying their hand at an engine refresh. Whilst the L series engine is quite straight forward correct cam and ignition timing can be the life and death of an engine........ cheers Alan VP NDSOC

Wow........mine also was an Otto with Air and $8500 sold in March 77 ........nearly $3500 cheaper nine months earlier........certainly a wealthy mans toy back then ! Al.

You could try Allan Fielding (mechanical engineer and engine builder) 07 5574 7880 Located in Nerang Allan has a workshop and builds a gun race engine and has a brilliant Marque Sports 240Z, he is a member of the NDSOC and moved up north some years ago. cheers Al.

Guys Without highjacking this thread, I came across some sales figures many years ago. Anecdotal evidence I uncovered many years ago suggest that less than 2000 260z coupes (2 seaters) were sold in Oz from 74 to early 79, (the last of the 78 models) 2+2 sales outstripped them almost 4:1 due to the modest cost increase for the 2+2 over the 2 seater.....and the majority of the 2+2 were autos. The sales receipt for my 8/76 build 2 seater is for $8500 sold in 3/77.....huge money back then !!! (you could buy a house for that !) I believe this makes the 260z 2 seater the rarest of all S30's cheers Alan

dalee Stuart Kent had the Red 240 at the end of the row towards the Roadsters. Nice to see some young bloke appreciating and restoring Zeds !!...........instead of buying cheap import Sylivias and Skylines Alan

take a look on the US ebay.........there is a BNIB mirror for $76US http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-240Z-260Z-280Z-510-Day-Night-Mirror-NEW_W0QQitemZ290182497830QQihZ019QQcategoryZ46093QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Joel wheels are now sold........sorry Alan