240z Under Valve Cover Photo

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1971 Datsun 240z. Roughly 70,000 miles. Not bad considering it's unknown maintenance history combined with it having the wrong thermostat for who knows how long. Using 15w40 at the moment.

 
They were really groovy cars
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My brother had one the same year and of course this is the east coast but it ran very well but
he got it used and here the undercarriage was known to rust out quickly.
My brother sold his 1970 Mark Donohue Javelin to go to this when he decided street racing was a bit dangerous
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My dad had 2 of them when he was around my age. One was totaled due to rust and another was getting there. We used to have inspection here and he used bondo and paper on the floor boards even.

This one actually came from California around 10 years ago.
 
Is that 70k milse since a major restoration or rebuild? Or 70k total miles?

It's hard to wrap my mind around only 71k miles on a '71 240Z. These cars were driven!

Either way, that's a gorgeous engine bay, and engine. What a car.
 
Now imagine if you posted an image of this in the PCMO section saying this was your 2016 Nissan... Cue the suggests for 3 month / 3K oil changes with Shell Ultra-Platinum-Gold-Super-Duper oils
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Not too shabby. Older engines run quite a bit cooler, as I understand, so hardly an issue here.
 
Originally Posted By: BHopkins
Is that 70k milse since a major restoration or rebuild? Or 70k total miles?

It's hard to wrap my mind around only 71k miles on a '71 240Z. These cars were driven!

Either way, that's a gorgeous engine bay, and engine. What a car.


70k original on the engine.
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Developed from a 35mm photo negative of a Mercedes 6 cyl engine. Mercedes had the manifolds on the other side. The 4 cyl engines were very popular here, and they also made 4 and 6 cyl diesel versions. The LD28 had the chain driven cam, but the injector pump was belt driven...and that caught a few people out.
 
Emissions I imagine. They couldn't get them any cleaner.

This one had the California smog stuff on it originally.
 
Originally Posted By: mjoekingz28
Was the 300Z when they went to a V configuration?

And why would they do such a thing?


Emissions. My brother was working as a salesman during the time that the 240Z, 260Z, and 280Z were each introduced. It was their understanding that the primary reason for Datsun to introduce the upgrades from the 240Z were to meet new emissions requirements, and at the same time try to give a little better performance so they could convince the public that the upgrade was really about offering a better car.

Having driven all of them, by brother's favorite remained the 240Z.
 
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Back in the '70's I had the head off a 4 cyl L series engine, and it had bronze valve guides and bronze valves seats. Nothing special about the car, it wasn't an SS or anything, but always remains a puzzle.

In 1985, before the wave of domestic imports hit New Zealand, I did a head gasket on what I thought was a Datsun C240...but it was a 2 litre version of the 6 cyl L series engine. No parts were available in the country, so had to get a headgasket custom made. At the time I had just done engine rebuilds on a '64 220 and a '65 250 Mercedes, the similarities were obvious.
 
Awesome car. I had a 1970 for almost two years. Weighed under 2000 pounds with AC!

The engine is simply the 1600cc Nissan 4 banger with two more cylinders. Same timing components, same pistons, rods, valves, and the niftiest external oil pump. Only rated at 150 hp.

Nearly indestructible, and with the factory racing setup of triple webers and a 2 piece header it ran very strongly. Silly gearing for such a small car, 3.31 I think. It would exceed 100mph easily in 3rd gear! Some 4.56 gears and a 5 speed would have made it fun...
 


This was a part of the parts car bundle he bought last month or so. This came out of a 1970 Series 1 240z. The car was used as a "dirt racer." The body has since been scrapped from I'm assuming rust. Note the header.

It's been sitting at least 5 years. Not bad IMO.
 
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