I went to visit my dad in Arkansas. He gave me a great idea to buy an older Japanese car there, because there is no rust due to lack of salt. Only problem may have been hail damage. I was on the hunt for a Datsun 240Z. Right when I gave up hope, my brother spotted this beauty.

1990 N/A Auto Convertible with 98k miles.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6251725025/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6251725025/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr

After waiting 10 days and $870 of shipping costs, she finally arrived


http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6310545935/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6310545935/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6311067024/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6311067024/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6327713810/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6327713810/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6327713884/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6327713884/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6327713938/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6327713938/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr

 

Looks like its in decent condition, will tidy up nice with a few dollars thrown at it.

 

nice, what are the plans

 

Money can fix many problems
I was going to keep it the way it was. I didn't want to much more money on this car, although part of me wanted to go crazy too. It ran with occasional smoke. I fixed the smoking and thought it was fine.

Funny story..... My car was not letting me put gas in it. I drop the tank to find out that the vent tube to the filler neck was not connected. I buttoned everything back up and refilled the tank with gas that was in there, and some more from another container.

The next day my friend shows up and asks me to start the beast. It started smoking like crazy. I was like WTF. So, I got upset and immediately ordered a J-Spec 13BT with manual transmission (inevitable). I started to rip the engine out starter with the radiator,etc.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6328388705/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6328388705/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr

Then brother-in-law comes down to the garage to mow the lawn. He says,"Did you use all the gas? Did you take all from the small gas container?" I said,"Yes, I'm sorry I used it all. Why do you ask like that?" Come to find out, the supposed gas in that container was a mixture for the ride-on lawnmower. It was 2 cycle synthetic with gas mixed !!

No wonder my car was smoking like crazy again! So I ripped everything apart, ordered an engine/trans, and went crazy, all over that. LOL. Like my friend said,"It was meant to be"

 

Love it! Can't wait to see some progress with the new motor.

 

Hahahahaha oh wow that sucks man. If I were you though, unless the J-spec is already rebuilt, I would have kept what you had in it and rebuilt that. Decent find though, Can't wait to see it on the move again!

 

Looks good. Wish I had taken pictures of my vert when I first got it. Its fun to watch the progress

 

when you do the top, go with the canvas material, youll thank me later

Lloyd

 

Look what came in? Thank you Tiger JDM Engines.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641385/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641385/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641247/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641247/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641503/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641503/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr

 

I went ahead and unpacked it. I immediately checked for weird oil leaks, and took out the spark plugs to check for puffs of air coming from the rotors. checked out ok.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641649/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641649/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353642255/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353642255/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr

 

I went ahead and removed the transmission the replace the clutch with a new Exedy unit. Glad I did. Rust anyone?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641791/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641791/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641885/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353641885/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353642121/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353642121/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353642005/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6353642005/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr

 

I removed the air control valve and sanded down the old gasket leftover

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6354169191/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6354169191/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6354168981/http://www.flickr.com/photos/43291434@N03/6354168981/ by http://www.flickr.com/people/43291434@N03/, on Flickr

 

oh no, why did you order from tiger japan....................................
i have money its blown, should have researched bro

Lloyd

 

Before you do ANTHING else, put the transmission/starter back on and do a compression test.

 

Oh Man WTF!!! Do they have a bad reputation. They seemed legit. Have they been known to sell bad ones?
How do I do this with the engine out of the car? I know how to do a compression test on a rotary, but not out of the car.

I hand-turned the engine via the alternator and can hear puffs of air coming from the chambers.

 

um, like i said, use the search button and look up "tiger japanese". there are soooooo many threads about them, and they are KNOWN to sell absolute garbage.

Lloyd

 

Take off the exhaust and push on each apex seal. If all 6 are moving (they spring back) it should run.

 

If the engine fails the compression check then you can do what I am doing, use the JDM engine as the core ($1000) and order an S5 TII reman from Ray @ Malloy.

 

Can I tell compression just by turning the motor and listening for puffs of air? Can I hook up the valve-less compression tester and find out that way?

 

Yes. I'd remove both lower spark plugs and crank it over with a ratchet on the main pulley bolt. If you hear 6 equal "whooshes" of air when you crank the engine then it's probably fine. I like to see the apex seals because they tend to develop a blunt point when they're highly worn. The radius isn't smooth. You can also see how much carbon build-up is on the rotors through the exhaust holes.

 

how much did u pay for everything.

 

Put the engine/trans back together and get some cheap booster cables and a fully charged battery. Chop off one set of clamps and put some ring terminals on. Bolt them to the starter, then use a screwdriver to apply power to the signal wire on the starter. Check compression. I tried it once with just unmodified booster cables, but the contact the booster cables made wasn't really enough.

I hope everything works out for you... fingers crossed

 

gonna need some luck, ill keep my fingers crossed for you as well...

 

Well, looking at it, it seems to be in pretty good shape. I just saw a horror story about Tiger Japan:

http://www.classicminis.org/tiger%20japanese.htm

 

U should see the thread on this forum with the katie looking like it was used asa boat anchor with all the water that was in it. Japan2la on this forum sells good motors, I highly recommend him.