coupe72001

Errr... Took the car to Nissco to try and find out what is draining the power so badly. The consensus is... wait for it... Carbies! That's right, the $1500 rebuild that I am bitching about in the title of this thread is the culprit. The needle and jet setup is wrong, causing the car to run way lean. About 18-20 to 1 air fuel mixture, as opposed to the ideal 13.5 to 1. So now I have to go back to the carby specialist, to ask him politely to sort it out... or Ill be forced to throw a stick on his roof. I fixed the crappy caliper though. Interestingly, the rest of the car came back with a fairly clean bill of health. Anyway here are some pics of the mr30. Mags, you are welcome to come and get the spoiler (which is fairly convincingly attached to the boot) and the glass if you still are interested.

Good news: I located the source of the grinding noise from the rear. One of the calipers had a lot of play in it. By reefing on the handbrake cable you could see if flopping around. An easy fix! Bad news: I relocated my fuel pump to the rear, but the car still cant be pushed past 5,000 rpm. Grrrr... I got more out of my L24 running a single carby! Looks like I'll have to see a specialist. Some of the guys and the NSDOC show and shine were squeezing out triple the horsepower that I make from their L series engines. I haven't forgotten about the mr30 "coupe", Ill get some pics etc up tomorrow. D

Hi mate, The 260Z is a great score as the engine, gearbox and diff are all easy enough to swap over as you require them. Unfortunately I don't think that the 260Z exhaust is going to fit with the C210, so you may want to look at upgrading your exhaust. Try to find a 280zx and poach the entire disk brake rear end plus the electronic distributor and coil. I'd look for aftermarket springs and shocks. I've made every mistake possible doing the above conversions to my car, so feel free to ask me what NOT to do! Good luck with the car - it looks like a great project. Drew

No worries guys. Ill grab a couple of pics and see if my mate is happy to break it up! D

Hi, Yeah, a mate picked it up to use as spares. It looks ok from a distance, but when you get up close its just a 4 door with the roof crudely cut of and the rear doors welded up! A guy was using it to belt around on his farm!

Ahhh! (Slaps forehead) it all comes clear now. Im going to have a look at centre rd probably this week. Good luck with the K's by the way.

Hi, I'm sure I know who you guys are now, sorry I didn't introduce myself on the day. Your R31's were lovely by the way!

Pics from the show. My car doesn't look that good in real life, but everyone else's did.

Yep, black T-shirt with a Datsun logo. I was looking out for your 240k's. Did you come with a different car? Ill post up some pics this evening under the NDSOC post.

Anyone looking for C210 or 240k parts is welcome to get in touch. A friend and I are having the mother of all garage sales!

Ok... I took the car to the NSDOC show and shine and it actually made it there in one piece! It got a good run later that day and went well, but I still think the car is falling short of its full potential. At the moment the grinding from the rear has gone; clearly the wheel bearings were absolutely cactus, and brake pedal pressure is good. I am yet to try experimenting with different proportioning valves, but if things go well over the next while I may not need to. The engine is also going much better than previously, but the power still seems to drop off a little too early, around 5,500 rpm - pushing on to 6,000 rpm and above just seems to upset the old girl. I am acutely aware of this because on the few good runs that I have had over the last year she would scream up to 7,000 with no signs of resistance. Something just isn't quite right. Next up I'm going to move the electric fuel pump to the rear and insulate the fuel lines with heat-resistant wrap to see if that makes any difference. (many thanks go to Blind Elk for the tips and the chat on the weekend).

Banzai! I got my car running at the last minute and I'm off to the show and shine. Its the scruffy white C210 (obviously) but nowadays it has a black bonnet and wheels. This is so I cant loose it at the supermarket. Hope to see some of you there. Drew

A Newman on ebay. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/1984-Nissan-Skyline...1QQcmdZViewItem

Thanks again for info. I had the (nasty, as it turns out) wheel bearings pulled this week, and a new set pressed in yesterday. Im going to reattach the rear trailing arms ASAP, and then reassess the situation. If things STILL aren't running smoothly the valves are next on the job list.

No - the 280zx was complete, except for the engine and rear brakes. I poached the brake master cylinder as a spare seeing Im prone to blowing those up. The Range Rover episode was a bit of a travesty. Bought on ebay, we picked it up Monday morning and I had blown it up by Monday evening. Had to go home with the RACV. It was hilariously quick for such a big wobbly truck though, till something went POP!

Had a bit of a set back (no surprises). My mate who was going to help me with suspension arms has been hospitalized, so I hit both Pick-pay n go places and some bugger has got in there before me and stolen the rear suspension! I found a new (as in just arrived) 280zx at Centre Rd Springvale, but the hub assembly and drive shafts were a different design to mine. I had assumed that the rear suspension set ups were all much-of-a-muchness. D'oh! In the end I handed over the suspension arms to a local mechanic and have asked him to pull apart the hubs to see what he could find. Hopefully I'll have them back on the car soon and everything will run smoothly from then, unlike my flatmate's 350 Chev powered range rover which I borrowed and blew up yesterday. Looks like I killed the transfer case. Oops.

Im seriously thinking about it. It gives me a couple of weeks to try and knock my car into shape... god knows I don't want to go there by bus. More info is on the NDSOC website: http://www.ndsoc.com.au/mambo/index.php D

Maybe the extractors have increased the under-bonnet temperatures some, but yeah, the problem seemed more noticable when it was hot, or when I got stuck in traffic. I had a really long run last night and the problem wasn't there so thats a great sign. I guess the next stinking hot day will be the real test. Also thanks Mags - Ive got a mate who may be able to sort me out with the suspension on the weekend, but if it goes pear-shaped Ill shoot out to Pick a Part and check out what they have there. A couple of 280zx's is promising - I'd be surprised if anyone had pulled out the rear suspension arms!

The fuel line is on the opposite side of the car to exhaus, right up until it reaches the carbies, which are on the same side as the extractors. Funnily enough, often I see the (metal by this point) fuel lines wrapped up in a heat-resistant bandage on 240/260z cars... maybe there is a good reason for that. Still, I did the first test run today with the new coil, and it seems to have made a huge difference; she's not choking up at all. So that's a really promising beginning to sorting out some of the bugs. Can't wait to try new hubs (or valves) to see if the grinding noise goes away.

Thanks so much Matty, that's a hugely useful reply and now I don't feel half as despondent as I did a week ago. If a new hub doesn't quiet things down in the back Ill know exactly where to look next. Thanks again. Drew

My auto electrician got back to me on Friday afternoon. The new coil is all wired up correctly and the car runs - but don't know how she'll hold up on a proper test run yet. He also pulled of a wheel and had a play around and is convinced that something the rear right hub assembly has gone to hell and is the source of all my grindy woes. Does anyone have a rear right suspension arm with an intact hub assembly from a 280zx that I can poach? I don't actually need the whole arm, its just a lot easier to grab it as a unit rather than pulling the hub to pieces. If not Ill start sifting through the wreckers from Monday morning.

Mate - that is an eye-poppingly useful reply! I should have added some info before I started whining about the brakes. You are correct in guessing that the entire rear end (280zx series 2) is disk as opposed to drum, with overhauled calipers, machined disks and fresh brake pads. I have also upgraded to a 280zx (1 inch from memory) master cylinder. BUT I never even considered the pressure maintenance valve or proportioning valve. Actually I can't even remember if I used the C210 or 280zx valves, not knowing exactly where they are even located on the car. At a glance the pads have been wearing evenly, but the problem having a "cumulative" effect sounds all too familiar. Finally, my auto electrician (of all people) is convinced that there is something gravely ill with the rear bearings/axle. I assumed that seeing the grinding disappears with brake pedal pressure and that the noise doesn't increase when cornering in one direction that it had to be a brakes issue - but hopefully it may be something as simple as a nasty bearing. In short, if a bearing change doesn't sort the problem Ill start hunting for the correct valves. Also, said auto electrician fitted my fancy new coil today, then called to say that the taco had stopped working and he didn't know why. Worrying. Anyway, fingers crossed, D