The car itself stayed stock as I went from flight school to F-4 training at Luke AFB, Phoenix, AZ. When the original tires wore out at 17K miles, I put a set of 14X6 Appliance "Wire Mag" rims with 195 width tires on the car. Shortly thereafter, I went to my first operational assignment at Bitburg AB, Germany in late 1974.

Driving around Europe for 2.5 years in the Z was a total blast; I would cruise the Autobahns at 95-100 MPH. Most Germans have a Mercedes for long trips, typically a 2.4 to 2.8 L (Diesel, typically) straight 6 powered sedan (NOTE: the similarities between a mid-60s Mercedes gas engines and the Z engine ARE remarkable ... ), and they would cruise at about 80 MPH. Well, they would completely blow their "cool" when passed by an American driving a JAPANESE car (Datsun sedans and wagons WERE being imported by 1973 so they recognized the badge but not the car) and they would start to speed up to about 110-115 MPH top end to pass; however, their big grins would quickly fade when I opened it up and pulled away at 125+! In the entire time I was in Europe, I saw a total of 2 non-GI owned Zs. One belonged to the Datsun dealer in Luxembourg (he had bought it from a GI!) and one with French plates in Southern France (didn't get a chance to chat, we were both going about 100 but in opposite directions …). Katie and I cruised the area castles on the weekends, these pictures were taken at Reichserg Cochem (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cochem):

The first "mods" I made were in Germany. I replaced the original shocks with a set of Mulholland inserts (what an improvement). At that time, I also installed the tensioner kit on the compression rods, stiff grommets on the steering rack and a solid block steering coupler – what steering play? The Z came back to the US in 1977 with far too much rust (in my opinion) and the back end bent from a spin-out on a very ICY autobahn as Katie and I were headed to the Black Forest for a ski trip. The accident also resulted in a bent steering arm. Much to my chagrin, I discovered that one could ONLY get the 10mm shorter "sport" steering arms in Europe in late 1976 (the 260Z was being imported with the 1977 model year). The time in Germany had also put the exhaust system on its last legs.

While in Southern California (on the way to Korea) I stumbled across a Clifford Research distributor and purchased a set of "Viper - Bundle of Snakes" headers to replace the exhaust - these are the headers that Clifford designed for the BRE race team. The headers are equal length 1.623" sets of 3 pipes leading to twin 2 inch exhausts (originally with a single turbo muffler). I got back to the states in 1978 and the "shiny" part of the body work had been repaired well (I didn't know about the rust traps - yet) and I moved to Austin Texas with my Z continuing to be a "daily driver".

In 1980, the US Air Force allowed me to become an Initial Cadre member of the first operation F-16 squadron (BIG GRIN). On the road between Texas and Utah by way of my parents’ home in Nevada I also learned of a good carburetion mod; it seems the HD-6 1.75 inch throat SU carbs from a 1964-1966 Jaguar 3.8S will fit on the stock Datsun manifolds perfectly ... Some "persuasion" on the air filter housing convinced it to also fit and fiberglass velocity stacks were added to fix the air flow in. Was I ever glad to get rid of the flat top Hitachis! The distributor shaft was getting "wobbly" (hard to get the points correct) so I added an Allison “breakerless” ignition kit (sold by Crane these days) and 40KV coil with the rebuilt (and later re-curved) distributor.

In 1982, the back of my Z got crunched again (someone backed into it) so we got the car completely repainted as it is seen today and SOME of the "hidden rust" got repaired. I also installed a 280Z carpet kit (in chocolate brown versus the original black) and a Leather seat reupholster kit in saddle tan. I recovered the inner door panels and the panels just behind the doors in matching leatherette then painted the hard plastic panels below and behind the side windows in the same saddle tan. This resulted in a 3 color interior that I feel is more pleasing than the stark black to off white.

In 1984 I moved to Florida and the Z continued to be my daily driver. In 1986, I deemed the 150K point proper for a valve job because leaded gas was going away and valve recession with unleaded gas can be a problem. This afforded me the opportunity to put in a Clifford Research 0.495 lift, 278° “street” cam and have the head shaved 0.045 to raise the compression. I also ported and polished the entire intake system. Unfortunately, the machine shop that installed the new seats did so without the benefit of an oven and liquid nitrogen (hard learned lesson #1). Two weeks later, an intake seat came loose trashing a piston and the head, and damaging the cylinder wall. The shop got a used E88 head and re-did all the custom work and basically made good on the deal (sent the head out for the seat replacement) except for the cost to bore ALL the cylinders 0.020 over size and the other 5 pistons and rings. I also built up the custom mufflers that are on the car today.

About that time, Katie was working for an after-market car parts company so I got a set of Koni adjustable inserts for one Christmas and an absolutely gorgeous Mahogany steering wheel for a Birthday present. Additional purchases include a set of Suspension Techniques sway bars (1" front and 3/4" rear) and the ARE 2-piece 15X7 rims. I have been running 205-60/R15 front tires and 225-60/R15 rear tires ever since. An interesting thing I noticed with this setup is the steering forces actually went down above 25 mph!

I found a 1982 ZX 5 speed around 1990 but discovered the 3.36 R180 rear end was a bit too tall for the ZX first gear ratio. I went to my local dealer (where I was greeted by name and got parts at about 30% off ... ) and started comparing part numbers on the microfiche. It turned out that I could order a 1976 5 speed countershaft, swap the 1st - 4th main shaft gears and input shaft/spur gear pair from my original 4 speed tranny and mate it all with the ZX 5th gear "overdrive" and housings; I now get 28-29 MPG on the open road at 70 mph. I also installed a "Centerforce II" clutch in at that time.

After years of fighting with the clunky "York" air conditioning compressor at the end of the boiler plate bracket (that complicated maintenance) and the demise of R-12 refrigerant, I salvaged a compressor and bracket (the air injection pump had already disintegrated and froze up so the pump and bracket had already been removed … ) from an 80 Datsun 810 wagon (shares the L24 block) and a condenser coil from an 82 ZX. The compressor was rebuilt; I pieced the system together with the original aftermarket expansion coil and air box, then charged it with R-134. Still not the most effective AC in the world, but is works well enough and the installation looks almost “factory”.

In the mid-90s I “discovered” the replacement E88 head had apparently been run with straight water by the owner of the donor vehicle (the coolant side looked like Swiss cheese … ) when it started leaking one day. I purchased an E31 head (BIG GRIN) and had it blueprinted and shaved 0.015 inch to provide ~9.6 compression. While spending money, and with another 150K miles on the engine, the cylinders went to 0.040 over as well. The car has been very reliable ever since. To improve the “breathing, I removed the original air filter and installing dual 7" diameter, 2" height K&N filters on a pair of modified Mr. Gasket filter housings with velocity stacks I fabricated from aluminized exhaust pipe.

2000 brought a move from Florida to South Carolina and, in 2002, I purchased an 86 300ZX to be my Daily Driver and the “Old Blue Datsun” has been made into a “fair weather” cruise machine that attends various events like ZDayZ where we challenge the Dragon:

Cruise the Blue Ridge Parkway enroute:

And we made the 2010 40th Anniversary ZCon in Nashville:

The modifications have continued as well. In the effort to create a complete intake to exhaust upgrade, I designed and fabricate a cold air inlet system that replaced the two individual K&N Filters with a single filter in front of the radiator. My first attempt with two separate feed pipes to the carburetors did NOT work out (RPM essentially limited to ~4800) so I redesigned it as a “log” manifold fabricated from 3 inch aluminized exhaust pipe and a hand formed fiberglass “S” duct to mate up with the spool piece at the front frame on which the air filter is mounted:

While living in Florida, a 3 row radiator was installed when the original 2 row unit was no longer serviceable. This resulted in the stock mechanical fan occasionally rubbing the back of the radiator. The solution was to install a pair of electric fans. Unfortunately, the stock alternator could not keep up with the fans at night when the headlights were on ... The follow-on solution was discovering that a GM alternator was nearly identical in size and appearance; the only complication being the GM unit had two ears at the engine side that the alternate case “lug” fits between the ears whereas the Datsun mounting is the other way around; however, the GM alternator case could be modified and an adapter added to the 80 amp aftermarket, external regulator unit. Electrical jumper / adapter cords were made to allow the GM alternator and external voltage regulator to plug into the Datsun wiring harness. Which brings me to the latest “updates”; electrical.

Two nagging items with the above setup were the rather unsteady voltage provided by the mechanical voltage regulator and the notorious “under-engineered” Datsun lighting circuits (melting fuse block, overheated light switch, etc.). With that in mind, I decided to convert to a current technology “single point” internally regulated alternator and to create a proper relay panel to isolate the high current equipment (which would include higher power headlights and driving lights) from the OEM wiring. The lighting relays from the Black Dragon headlight wiring upgrade kit and a separate driving light relay were consolidated with the existing radiator fan relays and appropriate fusing added for a complete package:

The power feed for this equipment is pulled directly from the Alternator output terminal thereby removing it from the load carried by the factory electrical harness. I was also intent on cleaning up the electrical wiring added over the years for such things as an aftermarket radio, subwoofer amplifier, etc. Consequently, the entire wiring harness forward of the firewall was unwrapped, the affected wiring for the headlights and alternator circuitry was cut and spliced (with solder joints and heat shrink tubing) or completely removed as appropriate. The additional electrical equipment wiring (fans, radio, driving lights, etc.) was “fine-tuned” or re-routed to follow the OEM wiring. Fire resistant “split” flex conduit was applied to all the wiring and a fiberglass cover for the relay panel was fabricated. The panel is located next to the alternator just above the main wire bundle:

The final touch was to install the new alternator (the chrome version was $10 less than the “standard” aluminum finish version, so my economically advantageous choice was obvious …). Of course, the stock 40 year old water pump pulley and belt tension adjust bracket had to go so I purchased the billet pulley and alternator adjustor to complete the installation (OK, that was more than $10 extra … ).

On the restoration front, I have collected numerous rust free / undented used as well as new parts for the undertaking: doors, hood, hatch, rear quarter panel sections, rocker panels, floor board kit, etc. Does anyone have a good deal on a rotisserie?

As I mentioned above, the US Air Force was kind enough to transport the vehicle to Europe and back. It has been driven in Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland across both modern highways and cobblestone streets that predate the discovery of America. In Zaragoza, Spain, it was driven on a bridge across the Aragon River that was built by the Romans! And, traveling has not been limited to Europe. In the USA, the car has traveled highway and byways in the following states: Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.