Finally an owner of a Z: early '74 260

[Datsun-San]

Hey everyone,

 

Currently I'm in limbo acquiring a 260z I looked at and payed for at the beginning of January. It was the reason I shifted my 710, as there was no other space in the garage to fit a car. I'm pretty psyched though, as its my first Z car after many years of pining and fantasizing about Zs through my adolescence. Basically, I found an ad on Seattle Craigslist that was for an early 260z. To be frank, the description was only a short sentence stating it was in good condition, a phone number, and no photos. Not much to go on really. Anyway, I thought it wouldn't hurt to check it out considering the car was close by. Upon arrival, I found the car to be in much better condition than I expected.

 

 

 

The car is an early '74, Leaf Green metallic with a black interior. The L26 is number matching stock, and the only modifications were to the flat top SU carbs which have been replaced by dual Weber DGVs. The EGR has also been partially been capped off, but beyond that the engine is pretty much original. The L26 is linked to a three-speed auto, which I'll drive around with for a bit before switching out for a 4-speed 240 manual I picked up. The Z has been stored in a garage along side some dragsters for the past fifteen years, and although the tabs have been kept up, the car has only clocked 89k through its lifetime (logbooks confirmed this :J ). Because of its long storage, the underside is very clean and the only area of rust on the car is underneath the battery tray. Body wise, there are chips and a couple dings, but beyond that, the body is very straight. Wheels on the car are 4-spoke Cragar Keystone's. They look pretty sweet, but I think I'll switch them out for my Watanabe RS' which have fresh tread on the tires. I'll definitely keep the Keystone's nonetheless.

 

 

 

Test drove her and it went all went pretty nicely. There was a bit of an exhaust roar from a crack in the exhaust manifold, but I'll illuminate on that later. It pulled strongly, and stopped strong too. Anyway, all of the checkboxes on my list were checked off. I made the deal and bought the car then and there. The previous owner was a manager at a local auto shop, so he offered to detail the car and repair the exhaust manifold at the shop. Pretty good deal overall. Problem is, that this was all back at the beginning of January. The week I was supposed to go pick her up, the whole of King County got a think dumping of snow. Then, I learn the the crack in the manifold was bigger than originally thought. So, not holding back. My father and I ordered up an MSA 3-2 ceramic coated header to replace the worn manifold with. I know it won't do too much performance wise except allow the motor to breath better (paired with the Webers), but they look pretty swag, so I'm happy with that as the replacement.

 

 

 

We managed to get into the shop the Saturday before last to fit the headers. Spent the morning taking the intake manifold out of the motor while moving the fittings to get access to the manifold studs.

 

 

 

 

The carbs came out relatively without issue and we only split one rubber hose. After some cleaning with brake cleaner, the Webers polished up nicely.

 

 

The exhaust manifold came away without much trouble, but the "crack" was actually a full split. As we pulled the manifold out, it simply split in two. Good thing we had the headers.

 

 

 

 

After the miserable task of scraping the gasket material from the block and intake with fresh razors, we set about removing the studs. All of them came away with relative ease using a stud remover, though one had broken previously, so we ended up leaving for the night settling to have the shop drill out the stud and reassemble everything through the week (I had to go back to Uni in Seattle, and my father to Dubai of all places). So, as of this weekend, apparently everything is back on the car except for the exhaust pipe which had been disconnected and left off to test run the engine with only the headers.

 

Now the problem is that the car won't turn over, as though something electrical had been damaged or disconnected en route to the distributor. Ugh, so close and yet so far. I'm beating myself because I go cloudy eyed at the mention of electronic engineering/troubleshooting, so I'm kind of hoping the guys at the shop can figure it out and put my mind to rest. I come home from uni every other weekend, so that's left me kind of frustrated and stumped. It would help if the shop let me know of their progress, but I usually end up leaving messages and e-mails to no response. Honestly, its sometimes like talking to a brick wall if you know what I mean. If you think you might have an idea as to what might be going on, please don't be reluctant to let me know!

 

So, as I sit here typing this, I hope the bug is sorted out by weeks end so I can finally get the 260 into my garage ^^;

[Booger]

I like the color and great looking Z. I'm sure you'll get everything all figured out here real quick. I'll be watching this thread.

[DAT510]

This Z is immaculate... Beautiful Z Man!!

[MkS30]

I literally just joined the forum and I can't believe this! I just bought a mostly immaculate 260z as well! and my exhaust manifold is shot as well. I went a similar route. I bought the MSA 6-1 TBC coated header though. It's good to see what i'm getting my self into :o

[Datsun-San]

Okay, so tomorrow my friend (works on Alfas) and I will be heading over to the shop to try troubleshooting the ignition problem with the Z. According to the shop owner, the electrician they called over the weekend never showed, and with a new battery installed the engine started once, but would not start again. As I mentioned before, wiring and electrical work is very much vague to me, so I'm not sure if it could be a problem with the distributor, wiring, ignition coil, any combination of those three, or none of them at all. Is there anyone out there who might have any advice? I'd really appreciate the help!

[Datsun-San]

Alright, so the problem was solved as of earlier this evening. We swapped out the coil (wasn't the problem, just had a shiny new one on hand) and began following the loom to the distributor. Long story short, we stumbled a disconnected wire that had once been repaired with a bullet clip . Before, there we weren't getting a spark from the distributor. The blue wire (one of three) had been concealed underneath a clamp as it lead into the distributor and must have become undone when we were installing the header. Once the wire was clamped back together, we had spark. Problem solved.

 

And with that, the car just needs the new battery installed, water, antifreeze, and a good run down test drive. Then, she'll be good to go until the next problem :lol: