Getting a new headliner for our Volvo S70 T5 and across the parking lot is Rebello Racing.

Legendary Datsun engine builder, talked to the owner for about 20 minutes and got a tour of the place, really cool guy.

They had good collection of other cars and motors besides Datsuns, a turbo BMW with Megasquirt, LS1 motors and many more.


Anyway, I took a picture of Robs engine, seems like it is ready to pick up.

Speaking of Z cars, a guy at my work just bought this exact car being used in the 1990 Superbowl commercial, never been registered, has 635 original miles.
1990 SuperBowl commerical for Nissan 300ZX


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Picture of said "Z"

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One of The most under appreciated sports cars ever. Vintage styling, cool toss able handling. Rusts way worse than any 914.

That was my all time favorite Superbowl commercial...

Loved this one in ORANGE!

Oh shizit!

I just realized my phone number changed! Dave can't get hold of me! LOL!!!

Did you tell him you know me?

Yep, I dropped your name, that is how I got into the shop to look around!

He mentioned a few times how he had been trying to get a hold of you..

He was nice about it

Car looks a little different now. I changed out the spoiler for a period correct BRE spoiler direct from Pete Brock himself. I also changed the wheels for period correct Panasports.

The motor is a 3 liter stroker motor with a 240Z E32 head that has been modified to accept fuel injectors! The head is ported and polished and has the larger 280Z valves. Dave Rebello has picked a cam that will work and play well with the EFI. The CR is in the 11:1 range which will cause a little groan from the starter, but the dynamic CR will be pump gas friendly. I'm using an early non-EGR intake manifold which has been extrude honed. This will be used with a "Big Throat" single TWM throttle body. Ignition will be crank fired and I will be using Megasquirt Pro to manage the fuel.
The car has a new interior and the paint is good enough for anything short of Autorama I suppose...
This is a car I have owned since 1980 and I am the second owner. Lots of autocrosses, maybe 500? Quite a few track days as well.

He didn't laugh or make me leave the shop when I told him I was building a '78 Volvo so he is a good guy in my book, hahaha

Ya, it's amazing how personable he is considering his engines are THE engine to have in your Z car and have been for 30 years...

Back in the late 80's and early 90's I was heavily into BMW 2002's. The go to guy back then was Jim Rowe. Shop still is going strong. The Metric Mechanic. The was doing crazy things with swirl cut valves and crazy grooved porting.

If I had a bigger garage I would have a full tilt 240. The coolest one I ever say was right hand drive Fairlady Z with metal flake vinyl interior. The owner worked in Japan and brought it back with him. Only reason it was cooler than yours Rob is because of the right hand drive. Ya, tacky but the metal flake was vintage cool too. I know. I'm a little

Picture of said "Z"

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^^ Looks great! ^^

Did you do ground control coil-overs and section your struts?

Nice car Robbie!

Hi Rob, we drove past this place when you came over to Antioch to look at that 914 near the water....

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^^ Looks great! ^^

Did you do ground control coil-overs and section your struts?
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Yup. I know Jay Morris (Ground Control) personally...

Yep that's the way they are,great engineers that built these the motors that were very strong and I believe based on a truly awful British motor copied and sorted.
IMO the best sports car they ever did,bodywork ?,well that just turned to dust just like similar Japanese cars of that era .
Good friend had one when I lived in Australia, many great times in that car.

Great car, Rob! Any side pics? Would love to see the Panasports. Easily my favorite wheel for the car.

A blue 240Z showed up at a PCA autocross a few years ago and was just plain stunning. 16-inch Panasports, black bumpers that looked stock until you got close (they were carbon-fiber), and very "period" at a glance. Clean clean clean. Then he opened the hood and that straight six was just stunning.

The black 240Z at SEMA last year was unreal, too...

Underappreciated? Maybe—by most.

pete

Not a great view of the wheels, but all I have with me Pete...

A couple more shots...

My mom has an orange one in the garage . All stock right down to the radio. The one and only time I got to drive it was when the brakes went out. Had to down shift and ebrake to get it to the brake shop. Garaged from the day she got it in 74. To think us kids used to sit in the back!!??!! Ah the good old days

Been there!

almost looks like this...

Yeah, but Z on race track.

This one belongs to my friend Craig from SimTec Motorsports - Twin Turbo 3.5 - custom FI - extended wheel base, yada yada
Seems like fun

This is the one that blew my mind at SEMA. http://www.speedhunters.com/2016/02/os-gik...as-exotic-240z/

^^ Car sounds amazing from the videos I have seen of it. I wonder how much of a pain tuning those individual throttle body carbs is?

You guys are CRUEL exposing us to new rust buckets.

A few weeks ago, a 280ZX (40 more than perfect Z's) came into the parking lot with the owner going into the license DMV for new MI plates. Knowing now what you guys are excited about I should have waited to talk to the owner if it was FS

Are 280ZX Datsun worth collecting??? It was rust free & the next generation after the 240Z??

Tom

The good news is you didn't miss anything, Tom! That car has at least two strikes against it.

As the Z Doctor once told a friend of mine, when looking for Zs...
Strike 1: 280Z
Strike 2: 2+2
Strike 3: Automatic, T tops, and/or vinyl roof

Good 240s are no-brainers if they're dry. 260s I am not as sure about. Rob?

Thanks Pete,
It was an out of state South Carolina car driven in the snow and covered with road salt. I got excited seeing it in our area.
Now I have to keep my eyes open for early 240Z's. I think a buddy has one in his barn??
Tom

Its like how they thought a 914-4 would never bring any money as a collectible. As I understand it the 280Z has a more rigid chassis than the 240/260 ( yes slightly heavier), but I agree that the 2+2 & smog years would be much less desirable.

It is lots of fun on track. Interesting thing though, with so much more hp than my 914 when it was a 2 liter, the lap times were nearly identical... This is Thunderhill in that pic.

http://forums.hybridz.org/topic/119641-twi...at-datsunworks/

Seriously cool Datsun motor project that I was following for a while!

Tom,
The rest of the world got 260Z's from '74 until the '80's. US 260's kind of suck though. It was a transition mostly from carbs to EFI and bumpers to impact bumpers.
I wouldn't write off the 280Z though. It is very easy to pull the impact bumpers and replace them with earlier 260Z bumpers. Rebadge it, and you have a 2faux0Z that only an expert would notice.
Hard to find 240Z's in good shape so...

Here's a guy you should meet Pete, Glen Chiou. He lives in the Bay Area and works as a project manager. I think I got him into old Porsches. We met at a carb clinic I organized at the old Original Customs location. I had met a retired scientist from Lawrence Berkeley laboratory who had re-engineered Weber side draft jets to use hypodermic needles that he modified. Glen showed up with his Fairlady which is perfect and his girlfriend Patricia who is any car guys dream. She dug right in changing out jets and wanted to know everything about them. She is a chip designer at AMD.

Glen now owns an old 911 and a period 240Z race car that he is restoring for vintage racing, as well as his Fairlady...

TBliz,
This one is for sale in Northern Arizona. Almost 1 owner. Cleanest I've seen in a long time and only $8400...

I can put you in touch?

Rob,
I'll have to pass on this one, no garage space until next year after we build our forever new home in Northern MI with extra garage space. It is tempting though & a beauty.
Tom

I had a '72 240Z back in the mid 70's, Probibly the best Sports car of it's time back then for the cost. Datsun copied the styling from Ferrari and made it affordable.
Only problem I had was if I locked up the brakes the car would slide forever, yet at speed the faster you went the more it hugged the road. I remember takeing the clover leave ramp on to I95 in second gear doing 72MPH.

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The man has good taste in cars, and partners—and my father worked at LBL for 37 years. Color me intrigued.

And sitting here tonight thinking a 240Z could be in my future... Hmm.

pete

Hmm. Better without the side markers? Or is that a Fairlady faux pas?

Haven't seen many with the side markers removed...