coupe72001

Hi, I checked the wreck at the workshop and couldn't find the the rubber strip you need (or any sign of the windows either!) Another friend who has a coupe must have poached it already! Sorry about that. I'd seriously take a chunk of the old strip into Clark Rubber and try to find a match. Mr Skyline was running a 253 from memory. You can do a search and read some of his old posts relating to the car. Also what kind of friend want sell you back your own car for $6G??? That's an amazing amount of money for a C210, the thing must be absolutely wild. Try and get a picture or two up for me if you can. Cheers, D

Hey Ricky, I'm hitting the workshop today so I'll let you know what I've found to suit tonight. I know of a few swaps into C210's. V8 Skyline Man was running a... well you can probably guess, until someone hit his car, and another guy I know in Tasmania is selling off his Rb20 C210 sedan to fund an Rb26 C210 coupe project! I'm staying old-school though, and am building up a warm L28, as do most of the the guys with C210s and 240ks in my Japanese "Enjoy Retro Car" magazine have. If you want to read up on bizzaro engine transplants into 240z's and the like I'd head over to the hybridz website. D

I'll have a rummage around and see if I can't find something for you. Failing that you can try Clark Rubber. They have an amazing selection of rubbery bits. Drew

Those JDM lights on ebay are $250 down from $350. That's getting a little more realistic now - especially seeing the chrome trim around the outer edge of the plastic hasn't dissolved into a brown ring of rust yet... Like mine. Shame they don't come with the centre garnish though.

A few things to keep in mind are that there is no difference in diameter between L24 and L26 pistons (as far as I know) - so you may look to broadening your search. Also if your bores are badly scored or scratched and you need to hone them substantially you may need oversize pistons. If you haven't already try www.thezstore.com in the US for a range of pistons sold (oddly) individually. It seems that, for the most part, if folks are going to go to the trouble of replacing/upgrading pistons and rings they find an L28 block to overhaul. Good luck with it.

Great news about the mirrors and badges and I'm more than happy to help with the lense. I'll try pulling the smashed one apart on the weekend. No promises though, all the wrong bits may be busted! Ill get back to you shortly, D

Excellent! Is is a complete console, or just the original radio? If you find the knobs that'd be great, but no biggie, I'm sure to find something that will fit. If you PM me your details Ill ping you the cash electronically. Cheers!

Hey mate, They $770 set went to a guy named Ralf in Germany, who is doing an amazing restoration on a red C210. Oddly, no-one bid on an identical set listed for $550. There are more sets readily available on Yahoo auctions Japan, some going quite cheaply, although you will have to ask around politely in the Japan forum to find someone in Japan willing to bid and post on your behalf. NO-ONE ships internationally from Yahoo Japan. Grr. Which lense got broken? I have some semi-smashed up hotplates and may be able to salvage the lense you need anyway. Cheers, D

The coil was made by a crew down here called ICE (google them, its an interesting website). They do performance coils and leads mostly. Apparently I went a bit overkill though, the stock 280zx coil would more than suffice.

Hey Rick, They are 2 inch from a Rover (most likely) and they are now going like the clappers. I had a poke around and it doesn't look like I use my fuel return anymore! I had forgotten that I disconnected it way back when I first swapped the carbys. I don't know if they are HS series or not, but if you tell me what to look for Ill find out. Good work getting the carby bits promptly from the UK. I am learning to love ebay UK and US for getting some of the hard-to-find parts.

When I got my first got my car someone had cut the centre console and stuck a fugly old tape deck in it. I stuck a nice head unit in its place, and cut up the door trims to install splits. Now of course I am kicking myself, and want it all back to original, but... I can't find an unmolested (black) centre console anywhere - they have all been hacked up. Moreover the original AM radio and tape deck appear to kind of impossible to find too. While I am happy to hide the CD player in the glovebox and I have dug up some uncut doorskins I don't know where I'd hide the 6" splits anyway. They are kind of chunky after all. Any ideas? Anyone still have old audio gear for the C210? Cheers

Finally some news. I took the car to Randy at Nissco in Bayswater and he diagnosed the problem to be the air-fuel mixture as being way to lean. At high RPM my car could hit 20:1 air-to-fuel, as opposed to 13.5:1, the ideal ratio. So... I had to go back to my fuel guy and ask him to sort it out, which was kind of awkward, especially seeing I'd already paid him that lazy grand-and-a-half. He said that he would replace or machine the needles and see if that made a difference. Fast forward a month or two and I finally got my car back. Putting the needles on a lathe and feathering the ends has added 32bhp at the rear wheels. The latest Dyno found at 122bhp at the rear and the car basically flies. It will also hit any number you choose on the taco without any hesitation like before. The SU's are now full of automatic transmission fluid, to answer Mr Elk's question, unlike my old Austin Kimberly (now that was a really bad-ass car) that ran Singer Sewing Machine oil in its single SU. Apparently there is a genuine SU lubricant that is between ATF and sewing-machine oil in viscosity, but I've not come across it yet. The grinding noise from the rear end is actually due to a really badly worn caliper. An engineer found the problem by yanking on the handbrake cable really violently and the whole unit slopped around everywhere! Anyway... thanks to everyone who posted a suggestion in this thread. Hopefully 2008 is going to be a more merciful year on my car and my sanity. Cheers for you help guys!

You may be all well and sorted already, but I finally got my car back and was able to take some pics of the carby set up for you. Hope its of some use.

I have the same set up as you... more or less. I have an L26 with a electronic distributor. The 260z used a points distributor, so I'd say your electronic distributor has been poached from a 280zx like mine. So... you need to ditch your C210 coil and get one that suits. You wont need the ballast resistor any more. I couldn't figure up how to wire mine correctly for sure and finally gave up and had an auto electrician do it. Now all the wiring is hidden so a pic wont be much use to you.

The blue 240k coupe is owned by a mate of mine who lives in Deer Park in the west of Melbourne. He is also working on a completing a blue 240k sedan body shell, and a blue C210 coupe so that he can have a matching set! I'll let you know next time we are all meeting up if you like.

Thanks for the tip re: the dipstick. I bought some flat tops today - I'm getting excited! If anyone can make recommendations about which engine components to replace the existing stuff with I'd love to hear them. I'd like this engine sorted out before it goes in the car.

Ok... 1. I had a regulator, but my fuel guy threw it out! Said it was unneccessary - which has probably proven to be true as the fuel PSI holds steady. 2. My electric fuel pump seemed to suck well, but to be on the safe side I mounted it below the fuel tank at the back of the car, so it is "pushing" rather than "sucking". 3. It's noisy as all hell, which is good because I know when it's broken and I like noisy cars anyway. 4. I am using the same fuel line setup as the stock setup... I think. 5. I threw out the stock fuel pump. Steal a block-off plate to cover the hole from an injected car without power-steering... (maybe a 280zx or an r30???) or buy a nice billet chrome one from ebay America. Hope that helps. I can post a few pics of my carby setup if you'd like. For the record can anyone confirm how many PSI of fuel flow would be needed to feed twin 2' SU's. I thought it was only 3-4.

Hey mate. I am running twin SU's on an L26 and my Peirburg electronic fuel pump is maintaining a steady PSI right through the rev range. While I am having plenty of other problems, the fuel pump isn't one of them. Have also seen good results with the Japanese Toiko pumps or even the stock electronic fuel pump from the 280zx. Good luck with it.

Hi mate, The hotplates pictured have all come off Japanese Skylines (C210 or C211) and then shipped to Australia at some stage. The Australian cars were robbed of the round lights and some other nice options available in Japan. If you look carefully at the orange coupe you'll see that it has the Japanese seats, headrests, the electric mirrors, and the GT badges too. I think your auto will cope with a 260z engine and twin carbs fine, but it may rob you of some of the performance you'd get with a 5 speed. Adding photos is easy. There is a button at the bottom of the screen when you click "Add Reply". Cheers

Kuwait is a weird place; restore your 240K to museum quality and then do burnouts in it until you smash it into a school bus, someone's house, a police station etc. Marginally less suicidal than a Saudi behind the wheel of a Toyota Camry.

Pics from a BBQ at a friend's place on Saturday. By some strange co-incidence everyone turned up in a Skyline. Even Ken and Mary were there.

Thanks for the heads up. To clarify I was thinking of staying N/A, and recycling my overpriced carbys and E88 head (as they have both been checked/rebuilt etc), unless there is good reason to do otherwise. I have a mate shopping for parts in Japan as we speak, maybe I should put him on the case to search for dipstick holders. Do you know which model you need to poach it from to suit this application? Cheers

I have started to lose compression and seriously blow some blue smoke. Looks like its time for new piston rings, which is a shame because they were only done 4 years ago. I can buy an L28 engine on the cheap, but it is from a series one 280zx, with an N47 head and dished pistons. It has not been in a car for 3 years. Questions: Should I go for flat-top pistons, and if so which brand/where from? Do I stick with my E88 head or change to the N47? Will either head need modifications to suit flat-tops? Would it be easier/cheaper to buy a 280zx series 2 engine that already has flat-tops and the P90 head. Cheers, D

Im pretty sure that the first link for Yahoo Japan is an auction for headlight surrounds. Those tail-lights on ebay are out of control. Up to $610 already. Bloody hell.

My carby specialist is happy to replace/reprofile the needles to get a richer burn at the top end at the first available date... January 7, 2008. Looks like Ill be short-shifting for the festive season. Probably just as well.