bumper – the DAILY DATSUN

March 4, 2013

Front bumper!

I had some time this weekend to finally put on that front bumper.

I bought a bumper on CL a while back, and while it isn’t in perfect condition (dent in front), it’ll do for now. On with the install! (and lots of pics)
You’ll need:
– bolts that held in the 280z bumper shocks
– nuts that held on the 280z bumper to the shocks
– 14mm socket wrench
– drill w/ a bit between 1/2″ and 3/8″ bit (if you’re going to drill the 2nd hole into the frame)

A few posts ago, I was ~~cleaning up~~ whipping into shape those stainless steel Z bumper brackets in order to put a 240z bumper on a 280z. Now that they’re ready to go, it’s time to fit the bumper.

After some finagling, I figured out how the brackets should go and attached to the car frame. Here’s a diagram:
240zBumperBrackets
Note: the brackets point outward and positioned so that the slots are on the lower half. You can see where the existing hole lines up.

However, the bumper guards didn’t exactly line up! Ugh – off by an 1/4″ on both sides. So for now, off they go, until I can figure something out (because I do like them!).

A quick dry fit – not too bad. From the bird’s eye view, you can really see that dent. Eh, we’ll roll with it for now!

Okay, so the bumper isn’t show room, but I at least want to clean out some rust and polish that chrome up. But first, and little straightening.

The inside was fairly rusted so i took to it with a drill wire brush attachment, primed with rust enamel and finished it with good ol truck bed lining black. At least it’ll look super clean should anyone take a peek.

Daily-Datsun-240z-bumper (19)

0000 (quadruple zero) steel wool is the way to go for cleaning up chrome. Anything more coarse will just leave scratches. Here’s what looks to be some oxidation and left over gray paint over-spray from the previous owner. Cleaned up nicely with the 0000 steel wool and polished with Mother’s chrome / mag polish. And now i can see the reflection of the car.

Another example of cleaning on the license plate tabs.

Daily-Datsun-240z-bumper (9) Daily-Datsun-240z-bumper (8)

Mount and screw with the existing bolts / nuts from the 280z bumper… viola!

Overall, not too bad of a fitment. The brackets (if i may say once again) are a little less than desirable, so be prepared to modify them to get the right fit. At stock, the brackets are pretty much maxed out, pushing right up against the frame of the car, so I won’t be able to move the bumper back any further. There are additional bolts that help keep the bumper in plain with the ground, and they barely meet up. If you notice from the passenger side picture, the bumper tip and hole into the body don’t quite match up (which could also be in part to the dented bumper). I’ll figure something out, but for now, I’m happy.

Next up will be drilling some holes in the frame for the 2nd slot in the bumper bracket; give it some some extra stability.

But for now, another 240z bumper has been installed on another 280z, and all is looking good in the Z world.

February 24, 2013

240z bumper brackets on a 280z

I love the look of the simple, streamlined bumpers of the 240z (and used on 1/2 of the series of 260z’s) over the heavy and thick bumpers of the 280z. Just check those out!

As the mid-70’s emission standards crushed down on the carburetor’d engines of the day and gave way to fuel efficiency (see, not all change is bad), safety standards tightened it’s seat belt and created a war on unsafe aesthetics. Thus, Datsun had to change it’s more or less cosmetically thin bumper for a safe, unwieldy hunk of steel that people today still loathe. Nearly 20lbs of loathing.

If you remember back in March, my brother and I removed the bumpers and increased gas mileage.

Well they’ve been off ever since because the brackets I got from ebay..were less than satisfactory. I’ve already mentioned that correspondence with their maker, v8-240z, was non-existent. But even worse, when I finally got around to test mounting the brackets… the bolts didn’t fit in the holes.

Wait, what? Yep, the original bolts do not fit in ANY of the mangled, burred, half-ass hand-drilled holes. Awesome.

Time to break out that Dremel. The grinding stone attachment worked wonders and allowed me to clean up those unsightly edges to something relatively straight.

You can see the top slot is the one currently being widened / cleaned up. The bottom slot is actually 1/2 cleaned up by me and doesn’t really show the maker’s work in all its wavy glory, but you get the idea.

Had them done in 10 mins. Now to mount…

March 13, 2012

No Bumper = +5% MPG

You read right: by removing the hefty bumpers on the Datsun 280z, i was able to get a solid 5% MPG increase (19.5MPG).

While safety takes a nose dive, an extra 1 mile per gallon actually translates into quite a bit over a tank ~10-12 miles.
Though the real question here is: ‘is it worth it?’. Probably not. Which is why soon enough i’ll be putting on the 240z bumper (better than nothing, right?).

Now if only that guy on eBay would get back to me…

For anyone looking to purchase 240z bumper conversion brackets for their 280z, I’m not having a good purchasing experience with eBay user: v8-240z.
I’ve already sent two emails (via eBay and personal) and I haven’t heard back yet on anything (‘hey i got your email, i’m working on it”, or “shipped, here’s the tracking”, or “i don’t want your business”).
I would suggest zspeed240‘s listing instead.

March 5, 2012

No Bumper – Let the MPG Experiment Begin!

Obviously the Datsun 280z was never purchased as a gas saving, fuel sipping, economy car. Prius’ step aside in horror and repulse as the 280z zooms past their 60mph earth loving vehicles. :] But on the flip-side, with the rise in fuel costs (currently $4.40 for 87 grade gas in the San Jose area), I need to take action.

I found something interesting this morning: my average fuel economy, 18.5 MPG, is actually better than the average passenger car in it’s time!

Since my first tank, I’ve consistently maintained 18.5MPG on the 280z (my worst and best being 18MPG and 20MPG respectively).

Now fast forward 35 years, and it’s not quite the same. Though the fuel economy from the late 80’s to the mid-2000’s was stagnant, cars in the past 5 years have had a huge increase in fuel economy (the 2012 Hyundai Elantra pushes 40MPG highway). Though the 280z may never see those types of numbers w/ it’s L-series engine, the alternative to drive train replacement is to reduce weight. This weekend, Kris and i popped off the front bumper, est. a weight savings of ~25-30lbs.

Best to have all the right tools.

Stock bumper shock, ~5lbs each

Remounting the horns. There’s one on both sides.

While I wait for the new 280z bumper mounts (made to hold a 240z bumper), I’ll roll around bumper-less and see what kind of MPG we can get!

February 29, 2012

Bumper time!

One of the visual drawback to the 280z, in my opinion, are the bumpers.

They’re big, thick, and heavy. We have rising safety standards of the late 70’s to thank for that.
A very popular change up is to put on the thinner, more attractive 240z / early 260z bumpers.

There are a few options here:
1) Fiberglass / Carbon fiber bumper (new) – For those who like bright and shiny, there are several options in materials you can get for a brand new bumper. Motorsport Auto has replacement bumpers in both fiberglass and carbon fiber – $160 – $300. Fiberglass / carbon fiber is great, because it’s lightweight, but unfortunately not that strong in case of a crash. Like most modern cars, fiberglass is used as just a cover to look nice. Unlike modern cars, there’s nothing underneath here: no bar, no frame, nothing.

2) Stainless steel bumper (new) – Hop on eBay and you’ll find a company selling stainless steel reproductions of the thin 240z / 260z bumper. They’re supposedly exact matches to the original, and since it’s stainless, it’ll be at its best for corrosion protection. But not without costing a pretty penny: at $1000 – $1400, is it really worth it?

3) Original steel bumper (used) – Every now and again people are selling their original steel bumpers from the 240z / 260z, $130 – $200 a piece. Whether on Craigslist or eBay, this is truly the best option in my opinion. Not only will you be using something more durable / original than fiberglass or carbon fiber, but also re-using instead of helping the cycle of re-producing.

So i picked me up a used steel front bumper!

Straight outta Fremont, and guy was selling his slightly dented 240z bumper for $80. A sweet grab on Craigslist if i may say so. Actually it was originally $120 if I remember correctly, and it dropped down during the course of the week. Snagged!

Safety / Mounting – These two topics go hand in hand, and rightfully deserve a new post, but i’d like to just briefly touch on the topic. Of course the Datsun 240z / 260z bumper won’t mount directly to the 280z without some modifications. Long story short, I’d like to maximize safety (and reduce extra cost) by utilizing the current bumper shocks on the car. Many people would opt to go for aftermarket brackets, but those just hold the bumper in place and offer minimal safety.

Enough talk, time to pound it out!

there’s a slight bend on the left side, where supposedly an old lady back into it

the resulting gash / dent needs to be pounded out