Finally got an S30--my 260Z 2+2

[Joel]

My brain might be broken. In order to put together the down payment I want as soon as the FR-S comes out, part of my plan was . . . to go out and buy an old car? It all makes sense in my head, as the majority of my down payment will come from selling my WRX... anyway I'm now the proud owner of what seems to be a pretty rare combination: a 260Z 2+2 with a 5-speed. It's running rough and the brake pedal goes almost to the floor without doing much, so I'll be working on it this weekend to try to get it on the road ASAP. Some rust, but pretty solid for an old Datsun. I'm digging the color combo--light blue over white.

 

[ggzilla]

That's just about the nicest looking 2+2 i've ever seen. without the bumpers is looks good

 

Great color. I think those are the 32-spoke 200SX wheels.

 

What's an FR-S, that Subayota half-breed? I like the Subie version from the photos.

[Yurikaze]

It's official. This has to go down as one of the best ideas you've ever had.

[I'm BLUE]

Nice color ... love s30's! Hehe ...

 

Check both wheel cylinders and front calipers ,

and all rubber brake lines for leakage .... first .... ( if buldging or really brittle looking ... replace e without question. )

before going to master cylinder ( very possible and likely)

 

Replace points, condensor, and gap them correctly

Tune carbs ( buy tool) ... ;)

clean su domes in carbs ... they get varnished ... can reuse gasket if careful...

Check for intake leaks ....

[I'm BLUE]

Double post ... damn phone ....

[gokiburix]

nice! I think this one was on CL for a while...saw it many times.

 

 

It's nice to see the 2+2 community finally growing! ;)

[Yurikaze]

Sup.

 

 

[gokiburix]

^ cool pics! :thumbup:

[gokiburix]

@ Joel and Yurikaze....

 

 

come out to the Korean BBQ Meat & Eat part 3 this friday!

Korean BBQ Meet & Eat part 3

 

there will be other 2+2 there (mine and NiMB) ;)

[Joel]

@ Joel and Yurikaze....

 

 

come out to the Korean BBQ Meat & Eat part 3 this friday!

Korean BBQ Meet & Eat part 3

 

there will be other 2+2 there (mine and NiMB) ;)

 

Crap. This Friday's not going to work. Mine needs carb work and, more importantly, brake work. And Yuri will be in Pasadena so his car's out too...

 

To make up for it, a few pics with the whole family this morning:

 

 

DTP thanks for the tips, I'll check those out.

[gokiburix]

Crap. This Friday's not going to work. Mine needs carb work and, more importantly, brake work. And Yuri will be in Pasadena so his car's out too...

 

 

 

darn it <_<

[Alex Datsun]

I want a 2+2 as my dd, how much legroom is there for the backseat?

[Joel]

Depends... how tall are you? I'm 6'5" so a 2+2 is actually a 2+1 for me. Fortunately the dash is pretty thin so the front seat passenger can move forward for decent rear seat legroom. Haven't tried sitting in the back to see how the headroom is though.

[Ratty260z]

I've owned two 2+2's and I'm 6 foot they have decent headroom but otherwise if you like your knees in your chest it's perfect for small people and children.

[Bronzehydra]

Man, Im diggin the hell out of your Z's!

[Brock_Samson]

thanks for saving a 2+2 someone has to.. i never will.. but there are people out there...

 

and i think with the right touches they can actually trick the eye into looking good

[NiiChan GT-R]

...Car too long?

 

Well, if it's worth doing, it's worth over-doing :D

 

MAKE A DRAGON.

 

[Unfriendly Garage]

G-nose FTW

[Joel]

Brock, I've seen pics of that 2+2 somewhere online, but it's still amazing every time. NiiChan, that one's hurting my head--there are several things on it that I've decided I don't want on mine, but it all looks so right when it's all together.

 

My car took me on a little roller-coaster ride of emotions this weekend... First things first: progress! Since the car wasn't running very well when I bought it, I had an excuse to ditch the crappy/stock 260 carbs and found some used Webers on eBay. Drove to San Diego to pick them up several weeks ago and installed them to the best of my ability the next weekend. Being a CA 260 I had some emissions equipment, vacuum lines, etc, that were no longer necessary with the simpler carb setup, so I took the car to Datsun Alley in Signal Hill to have them sort it all out. (I used to all my own work, but after working on my old E12 5er every weekend for months on end just to keep it on the road, I've come to appreciate the ability to do other things on weekends and support a good local indie shop in the process...) Also had them check out the brakes, and it turns out it needed everything. So it now has a new master cylinder and new front rotors, calipers, pads, and braided stainless lines. They also had to send the carbs out to be fully rebuilt, so I'm glad I didn't just get a simple gasket/rebuild kit and do it myself--I bought them from someone who got them out of a junk yard car, and a previous owner had drilled holes in the butterflies to let more air through... Not very good. So anyway, long story long, I picked the car up about a week and a half ago, and it runs amazingly well. Sounds great, revs way more smoothly than I expected for how long the car had apparently been sitting before I bought it.

 

Here's a little photo montage of my carb swap as well as what Datsun Alley did for me--

 

This mess came out:

 

 

And left a gaping hole:

 

 

Which I promptly filled with these:

 

 

And by promptly I mean... late that night:

 

 

Almost forgot, picked up some weatherstripping at the Eagle Rock swap meet, so the windows don't rattle anymore:

 

 

Now it stops:

 

 

All assembled, along with my birthday headlight covers--thanks Yuri:

 

 

Still a lot to be done, but it's getting somewhere.

[I'm BLUE]

Good work. How you like the webbers?

[Joel]

Ok, so now the emotional roller coaster I mentioned--

 

Friday I was going to meet up with my room mate at the kick-off party/GTG for the Z-Car West Coast Nationals in Orange. (Does the phrase "West Coast Nationals" actually make any sense?) Got about 5 miles and my car started to overheat. I was on a part of the freeway that's under construction so I couldn't pull off as soon as I wanted--ran hot for a little while, but didn't make any weird noises aside from the hissing of escaping coolant pressure. Then when I tried to turn it off it dieseled for a full 15-20 seconds. Haven't had that happen in a car before. Called Yuri to cancel plans for the night, waited for it to cool off, and put some water in the radiator.

 

Started it back up to try to limp it home in multiple short trips; slow to restart, but it did start and ran fine, no rod knock or anything that seemed catastrophic. But then it started heating up in less than a mile again. This time there was a kind of metallic smell, it didn't restart after letting it sit a while, and while it was cranking little puffs of white were coming out of the exhaust... I left it alone, had it towed home, and didn't touch it for all of the next day. If it really did have a blown head gasket and/or bad motor I wasn't ready to see any more proof just yet...

 

Sunday night I wanted to see if I could start/move it. Fired up on the first crank, absolutely no smoke, runs great again! I think the cooling system is clogged up from sitting too long, so I have some things to replace before I try to drive it any farther than around the block. But that's much more acceptable than needing a new motor.

[Joel]

Good work. How you like the webbers?

 

I love the Webers. Nothing insane, just 32/36 progressive downdrafts, but I liked the one I had on my 610 so I was ready to try a pair on this car. The sound is fantastic, and it pulls a lot harder than I expected. I'm very happy with them.

[Syncro]

I wish I had a 2+2 <_<, then I could toss my tall friends in back and go full speed at speedbumps like I did in my eclipse. :thumbup:

[new2Z]

Hey Joel!

 

Cool car! I just bought one myself, back in Malaysia.

It's a very rare car to come across for us, and I fell in love with it when I saw an abandoned one 6 years ago. Wasn't for sale though, and after 6 years, I found mine:-)

 

While I love cars, I am not an expert on them sadly.

[Joel]

Pre-update update: I may have mentioned that I don't like working on old cars so much anymore... So I sold my daily driver WRX and took the Z back to Datsun Alley about a week and a half ago to finally get the cooling system sorted. I'm anxious to get it back later this week with a fully rebuilt cooling system, as well as Eibachs with Tokico shocks. The tires have dry-rotted flats from being completely stationary before I bought it, so I'll need to put new ones on still before I drive it any farther than home from the shop.