Datsun Roadster Forum-311s.org

During the process of "tuning the mix of my fleet", I said goodbye to my Banana car.


It was a decent foundation for a build but after dealing with the smog (it's a '77, missing exemption by 2 years here in CA) and realizing it was never going to be what I really wanted, decided to sell it to someone who'd appreciate it for the "hot roddiness" of it with its moulded air dam, big cam, exhaust, etc.

In it's place, this '71 S30 arrived a few days after the Banana departed:

And yes, I pat myself on the back for my marvelous restraint in waiting until the 280 was paid for and on the transporter out of San Jose before buying the 240.


With bone stock, matching number L24, and the "good" roundtop SUs.

The usual baseline stuff has been ordered (or sitting in garage already)... suspension basics (T/C kit, nylon steering coupler, rack bushings), fluids, filters, valve adjustment, tune and Pertronix making for Christmas in August! Oh, and a clutch setup.... existing is toast and I'll be refreshing all of the hydraulics at the same time. After baselining, will turn my attention to the brake system (fine for now) and develop the rest of the build sheet. It's not going far from stock, that I know. Probably a bit of suspension stuff but beyond that, no hot rod stuff.

Looks amazing from the exterior, something I didn't want to deal with with the yellow Z (needing finish and paint). But.... the interior, while not trashed completely, does need a fair amount of freshening up. Note the usual earthquake fissures on the dash.

Dismantled to access the non-existent shifter bushings and prepping for a temporary "new" steering wheel.


Period correct Momo Monte Carlo, had on my '88 Shiro Z for a bit. This actual wheel DID come off of a period Ferrari (or so purported) making it the "real thing"! Laff....

Nothing wrong with the stock wheel, which will go back on once I finish refurb'g the spokes and horn button.

But the wood.... oh my, it's pristine, no refurb necessary! Guess having a steering wheel cover paid off!

Speaking of wheels...

Obviously, the top set for the 240. (Bottom is my last Z33 spare set - one of my "keep forever" sets. Hahaha.) Also proud of myself for letting go of my other four horded sets of RPF1s and Nismos... enough to finance part of the project car and the refurbishing of same.)

Finally got a chance to recycle/re-use the tires that came off my Shiro - which were brand new when I bought that car and got taken off during the first week of ownership. Date coded 2015 FTW!


So, my Datsun/Nissan madness continues. That's the problem with buying my roadster with nothing much to do to it but drive it and I get itchy to crawl around and do some "real work" on SOMETHING! And this one will occupy me for a little while.

Oh, and while scouring all the Z sites hunting for parts, had to do this:

What the heck, $10 for whimsy.

I have my eye on a '77 up in Vermont for $3900. Has the usual cracked dash and some really ugly gold colored carpet. I'm tempted to buy it and convert to SU's and a nice lopey cam.

Would love to find an early "Z" but those I do find are usually way out of my price range!! Maybe someday I'll stumble across a "barn find"...

Mainer311 wrote:I have my eye on a '77 up in Vermont for $3900. Has the usual cracked dash and some really ugly gold colored carpet. I'm tempted to buy it and convert to SU's and a nice lopey cam.

The diesel crank stroker is supposed to be fun.

[ Longish Z-Car update; read at your own risk of dozing. You are warned. ]

This past weekend at a social gathering, was asked the usual "So, Mic, you buy any 'new' cars lately?"

"Welllllll, as a matter of fact...." Laff....

I ended up trying to explain to some non-car-people friends why my roadster is actually a progenitor of the original Z car. I had to explain that while there's no direct resemblance or commonality of parts, there are enough design cues and common/shared engineering decisions made that there's no denying the familial DNA shared between them. Further, explained to disbelieving ears about the overall layout and geometry of the car, relative similarity in the placement of things in relation to other working parts, etc.

That was brought on by friends saying "But Michael, they don't even look the same except for the color!"

Coulda saved a lot of breath and just explained it in pics....

Both cars with the forward hinged, longish hood (complete with hood bump even), and nacelled headlights (the Z's obviously more pronounced than the SRL/SPL. Hoods even open to almost exact same angle. (Don't know why but I really enjoy this picture. )

Common engine compartment layout right down to battery location, engine configuration, position, and setback plus other stuff you can't see such as the hydraulic system, the steering layout (despite different actuation assemblies) very similar between the two cars. Then I had to explain that it shouldn't be a surprise at all since the two models did in fact co-exist/overlap for one year.



Heck, if my roadster had the original SU-carbs instead of the Solexes, even the induction system would be very similar despite feeding the four and the six-banger with eerily similar carburetor setups. (And yes, I know I need to address that ITG filter on the 2000; don't need anyone getting on my case about its condition. Laff....)

Finally, after not really paying attention to it until yesterday, got around to getting photographic proof of the car's originality to finally settle the nagging - wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night feeling swimming around in my OCD head - that maybe it wasn't so original; here showing the symbiotic chassis-to-engine combination (numbers matching).




So, an admisstion.... At first, when I discovered the car's overall condition upon arrival not quite living up to how it was advertised (it needs a clutch and hydraulics), I was less than pleased. But after going through the rest of car with a fine tooth comb and finding positive things like absolutely no rust - even in the typical trouble spots - no signs of abuse on the undercarriage, all the hardware being pretty much original and intact; I started to have a lot more fun and enjoyment as I went about performing little chores to fix things and removing old tossaway stuff like weather stripping, "broken" interior panels, etc.

Best part was finding that there's nothing "wrong" with the removed stuff other than their being old and needing refurbishing, replacement, or in the case of the interior panels, just needing a big supply of those Datsun specific interior rivets to secure them. Hell, the original jack and lift equipment complete with the factory wheel chocks are in place in the cubby compartments, the original spare tire and wheel are still housed in an immaculate, no-rust tire well, etc.

So, all in all, I have a much higher level of confidence in building out/restoring the car to its ultimate endpoint than the one that I just sold. And, it's taken me a couple of weeks to finally decide on a "build objective"; that is, "Not an original, full-on resto but neither it being a full on track/canyon runner." Heck, won't even be "resto-mod". It'll fall somewhere in between - a sweet spot if you will - with some modernization (but only using period correct components). In other words, "a driver".

It'll ultimately look a lot like this one:

Right down to the wheels, tail lights and ride height.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go hunt down some carburetor heat insulators and a choke cable plate.

(That was an inside joke I posted up on the Z33 site and finding inner amusement that probably half the forum members there (those under 40) barely even know what a carburetor or a choke are.)

Been a whole month but I finally got the S30 back from Don (Don's Nissan and Z Specialty in Campbell, CA), where it's been going through a whole bunch of unmentionables that I didn't want to deal with myself.


At Don's, ready to go home.

Clutch/trans troubleshooting, rear diff work, electrical gremlin chase. Only took this long because once the problems were identified, the no-longer-made parts made of Unobtainium had to be sent out and re-built. (And in one case, twice on the same part.)

But the results are great! Drove it for the longest drive I've taken in it since I got it two months ago.... 4 miles. Hahaha! Clutch/trans is great, all the electrical maladies that caused the non-start, headlight non-op, tail lights broken and partially non-op plus a number of other things that I had him fix as he found more lttle issues have been resolved.


It's back in my garage now and not a moment too soon.... the parts I've accumulated were overflowing from the garage into my office! Now they can go where they belong.... on the car! MY work begins, now that it's baselined. Improvements in aesthetics in/out, dialing in the motor (new carbs, ignition upgrade, cam advance) all to match new gearing, fix a few things that I had Don leave alone, and my favorite/forte... building the brake system and the suspension.

I have wheels/tires for it but am resisting putting them on until after I've addressed the undercarriage and suspension. (See first/original post in thread.)

But I'm fighting a losing battle with myself and that'll probably be the first thing I do.

Tomorrow.

put the wheels on it now!

Hahahahahahaha!! Simon, you're. Not. Helping.

I "needed" wheels for my E30 and when I saw how good it looked with them it lit the fire under my butt to finish the suspension. Do it!

Very nice!

After watching a '71 Z sell on Bring A Trailer - and reading Simon's comments on the Panamerican roadster selling today hahaha - I confirmed my neighbors' suspicions that I'm crazy. Put the S30 on stands in front of my house (a first for me as I live on a pretty busy street) and crawled around underneath with my pressure washer.

Undercarriage now ready for next step of sanding, painting, coating underneath! My OCD self was dying for the last month wanting to clean that. But to my amazement, not much came out as it was pretty free of anything that shouldn't be there. Onwards!

Crap what did I say now?

Ha ha, nothing bad at all.... lots of constructive stuff on BaT. No worries, no bad media exposure. Laff.

BaT is like a candy store. Uggggggggh.... so many temptations, all bad for the teeth, waist and "car hobby savings account". (Hmmm, "car hobby" and "savings" in one sentence. Oxymoron Alert!!) But ya, that's where I indulged my "roadster Jones'..."

The funny thing is, this thread has me looking at 240z hahah

Started out last Friday going about with stuff straight off the build sheet....



Brake inspection and a cure for the incessant hot brake low frequency squeal. Lots of life on pads, but no backing shims, no chamfer on pad, no lube. Rectified all that, all good.

Rear brakes lots of life as well.

But what a mess!

I'd spent some hours previously going over the back half undercarriage that started out as this...

...the only decent component was the rebuilt diff!

And ended like this:


So figured I'd go ahead and finish the rear half cleanup:

No concours winner but my OCD alarms have stopped going off when I look at the car knowing what the underside looked like.

Finally, thanks to prodding by friends, plus my own lack of self control, I went ahead and jumped a few steps ahead on my build sheet.


Wheels ON!


Oh well, all good... it's just about at the final "look" I was going for and is now a motivator to get other tasks done sooner than later.