Honda cars less dependable than Toyotas?

"C. E. White" wrote in news:hp2d75$lmg$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

Now *that's* lateral g's !

One reason they don't use standard gas tanks in race cars. The other of course is to stop from the fuel pooling and catching fire and burning the driver to death, like what almost happened to Niki Lauda at the 'ring.

Nothing would be - in a straight line, but on a track (road *not* oval) the Fairmont wouldn't stand a chance.

I don't know. I had better luck autocrossing the Fairmont than the

280Z. My 280Z was the very early ones with the HUGE bumpers. They weighed a ton and could knock down buildings. I had a little old lady in a Chevy repeatedly back into mine when she was trying to make room to get out of a parking space and she didn't leave a scratch on the front bumper. The 1975 280Zs were also jacked up compared to earlier 240Z's. This was done to put the bumpers at the "correct" height. All this really screwed up the handling. It rolled in turns worse than the Fairmont and didn't have near the power. I think a good driver (not me) probably could have out run the stock 280Z on any course with the Fairmont. I am sure if I had lowered the Z and installed better shocks and tires it would have done better, but I kept mine stock. I think the most disappointing thing about the Z was how slow it was. Top speed was less than 120 - and the only time I got that was on a long down hill run. Of course they only claimed 140 HP (net / 170 gross) for the engine and mine only had the 4 speed. With a 5 speed I suspect the top speed could have exceed 120. My 280Z weighted close to 3500#, and the Fairmont wasn't much different. The bumper standards really hurt the 280Z.

Still I loved it. Wish I had it today (well minus the ineveitable rust).

Ed

The 280Z weighs well under 3,000 pounds, right around 2800 pounds iirc.

I dropped that about 100 pounds by removing the bumpers from both of mine and a friend with a 1977 model adapted a set of the smaller bumpers from a 240Z with very nice results.

Also, I owned a 1978 280Z with a 5-speed and a 1976 280Z with a 4-speed, and the 280Z with the 4-speed was the faster top-end car because it had a little more power after some "upgrades".

That 280Z hit the maximum speed in 4th gear, 5th was basically an overdrive.

My brother had a 1971 240Z with a 350 V8 conversion, now that was an interesting car.

Pat

"C. E. White" wrote in news:hp2kmm$jdq$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

My sister had a 260Z,and I found it would only reach 115MPH.

I was very disappointed at the time,as a guy in a Caddy was trying to kill me with his car,and passing me easily(the LLB kept trying to run me off the road).My sister was in the passenger seat at the time,hysterical. I eventually escaped him by subterfuge and a pack of traffic. He went for the head fake.

I cut my teeth at a Datsun performance shop in the late '70s, and worked on these things for 3 years. We sold a performance package, springs struts and sway bars that really made the Z cars and 510's come alive. It was an invaluable education, learning porting, cam set-up and valve geometry (chevy LUV rocker arms, selective lash caps and a ton of prussian blue) 5 angle valve grinding; knife edging cranks, shot peening rods, mod'ing SU's and Weber setup, distributer curving, diff setup and transmission o-haul including welding clusters all in house. I wasnt paid much but made real good money on the side. Ah..the good ole days.. Ben

Yes, they could be made to handle quite nicely. My upgrades did little for the power but a lot for handling.

This is the front piece that I had on my 280Z.

It did not do much for protecting the hood, but it looked nice, imho, and weighed a LOT less than the tank bumpers.

The rear bumper was removed and smoothed over, a lot of people thought that I was driving a 240Z.

Might be time for me to subscribe to a Datsun newsgroup too.............

Pat

True, but how does one reach such a conclusion?

Sounds like a nice setup!

Pretty easy at this point. :) You can leave the left side as is, but I usually raise both sides and set the car on jack stands (makes it easy to check CV boots on both sides at the same time). I remove the R/F wheel, which gives me a lot of room. Open the drain plug & drain the oil ... new washer & use a torque wrench to tighten the drain plug. I can remove & replace the filter (OEM) from a sitting position. Once the drain plug's been retightened - I'm done under the car.

The local Autozones accept used engine oil for recycling, so no problem there (I save a gallon container from spring water, which takes the bulk of the used oil, with a bit in a quart bottle the new oil came in). I try to buy my new engine oil (Castrol GTX 5W20) from them as a thank you for recycling used oil (pretty much don't shop there otherwise). I have a hydraulic floor jack and stands which makes things pretty easy, plus at this point I know which wrench to use for which nut (19mm lug nuts &

17mm drain plug). If I'm pressed for time, it's pretty quick.

Persoanl opinions / experiences. The Pinto was cheap, got decent gas mileage, never failed, lasted forever.

The Sable was dead solid reliable. I drove it for 143,000 miles, sold to a freind who drove it past 200,000 before totaling it in a crash.

I had a 1981 Plymounth Reliant that was purchased new. It was in the shiop at least once a month for the 10 months that I suffered through owning it. It did drive nicely, when it was mobile. The 1983 Toyota Cressida was just a rolling POS. Something was constantly wrong with. I could count on a new alternator every summer. The paint just disolved. The interior plastic discolored and warped. The AC crapped out in less than 3 years. The automatic transmission failed, etc., etc. AND, it drove like a ten year old pick-up with half the cylinders disconnected. It was a horrid horrid waste of scrap iron.

I just loved the Thunderbird. Never should have sold it.

The 1969 Station Wagon saved my ife. I was only in one bad collision, and I came out without a scratch. The car was a tank. Even today, if you asked me to be involed in a crash with the most air bagged equipped Honda you can buy, or that '69 Wagon, I'd pick the '69 wagon.

Ed

It's not gov't managed.

Do you believe in Father Christmas, free markets, the withering away of the state, etc.?

:)