Currently i'm daily driving my 74 datsun 260z 60+ miles round trip to and from work 6 days a week. I love the car, but the 18-20 MPG I'm getting is starting to become quite expensive, especially for a college student.
I'm looking for some suggestions on other cars to look for that I could get in a straight up trade for the datsun.
Was thinking maybe a Miata or MR2. Something along those lines. I want something sporty, manual transmission, and good on gas.
Heres a pic of the datsun:
Would also be interested in hearing opinions on whether the datsun has the potential of getting a lot better gas mileage, say from EFI conversion, aero mods, etc
what's that thing worth where you live? might help us keep suggestions relevant.
1984rampage wrote: Would also be interested in hearing opinions on whether the datsun has the potential of getting a lot better gas mileage, say from EFI conversion, aero mods, etc
this is a great idea. even though it would probably never pay for itself. but you could score an efi intake manifold + any old megasquirt and probably improve 20-30%
belteshazzar wrote: what's that thing worth where you live? might help us keep suggestions relevant.
Not too sure as I got a good deal on it, and cant seem to find many listed for sale. NADA has it valued in low condition at $4,375
Off the wall suggestion but what about a Nissan 200SX (aka S12)
What about swapping in a 5 speed manual with overdrive from a 280z or zx?
Also, if that Z is original, it has some pretty crappy carbs on it. EFI conversion would really help, along with the 5 speed.
grab the intake and injection from a 280? The MR2 would be a great highway car too.. good on gas and fun to drive. Not sure how comfy it would be for 60+ miles a day
The old Z car has one of the worst drag coefficients ever. Chasing high MPG in it will be difficult.
I'm sure you could get someone to straight trade for a gsr or something like it. maybe a crx si if you can find one?
celica gt/gts?
miata.
the answer is miata.
If that thing is worth $4k than you might see if you can get into a last-gen celica gt as mentioned by corytate.
As i and at least one other have said here before, it's one of the best FWD sporty cars of all time, imo, and it will probably knock out 35-38mpg highway with careful driving.
I personally dont like miatas ("cheap" ones being na and nb) as highway cars. They're also geared pretty short and dont get great highway mpg for what they are because of that. low 30s seems to be tops for them, i think most do ~4000 rpm on the highway.
A crx could do. I have an 85 CRX HF (and an 01 Insight for that matter, similar cars besides the age), and i think an Si could do what you're after (definitely not the HF!!), although it suffers from the same problem as the miata with the gearing.
There's actually several hondas that could work, how do you feel about FWD hondas in general? FWD hondas have the advantage that there are probably a lot more of them in the sub-$4k 'trade market' than almost anything else!
I know you had considered a rampage... if you are going to megasquirt it i am all for that. There was one guy who MS'd a non-turbo 2.2 rampage and did 42mpg highway. Stick a turbo swap in the mix and you have high-30s mpg POTENTIAL (with tuning and effort), but also hilarious power potential.
ProDarwin wrote: The old Z car has one of the worst drag coefficients ever. Chasing high MPG in it will be difficult.
THIS!
Hilariously bad, something like .45. What's sad is that the contemporary Corvette (early 70's) was right at .50. Terrible! I can't imagine you're going to get far with a Cd like that.
I hope a big party was going on the day of this picture or your neighbors sure own a lot of cars....
I used to get 30mpg (imperial gallon, so 24-25ish per US gallon) in my 240Z with triple Webers, mind you only on the highway.
This was when I had the stock 3.36:1 rear end mated to a 280ZX 5 speed.
Car and Driver did a feature on an early Z, probably a 73 240Z, back in the early 70s about exactly this.
I seem to remember headlight covers, blocking off the top off the grille, and a deep front spoiler added up to quite a difference.
Of course all the usual stuff should be addressed before you give up on it. Things like tire pressure, a good alignment, good quality synthetic fluids in the diff(Redline 75W90), tranny (Redline MT90), and engine, valve adjustment, and a good tune up should do the trick.
It's much cooler to drive an old Z than almost anything else, so don't give up!
I've got a 1982 Corolla SR5 hatch that needs to move on.
I'm on the left coast of Canada though.
Shawn
I'm getting 28 (mostly highway) in my '95 M3 after 750 miles. $5500. They exist in good condition for that price, if mine means anything. I'm falling in love with this thing. 
Vigo wrote: I know you had considered a rampage... if you are going to megasquirt it i am all for that. There was one guy who MS'd a non-turbo 2.2 rampage and did 42mpg highway. Stick a turbo swap in the mix and you have high-30s mpg POTENTIAL (with tuning and effort), but also hilarious power potential.
If I had the time for a project car I'd just get my 87 GLHS going and drive that. Should get pretty good gas mileage like my old Shelby charger did. Unfortunately that cars 2 hours away and has too much I be done before it can be driven
Pete240Z wrote:
Haha I live at a fraternity house and a sorority was having a car wash for us
1984rampage wrote:Pete240Z wrote:Haha I live at a fraternity house and a sorority was having a car wash for us
Someone asking for pics in 3, 2, 1.....
Trade for a 1999 4 cyl ranger? Gets mid 20s!
Joey
Pat wrote:1984rampage wrote:Someone asking for pics in 3, 2, 1.....Pete240Z wrote:Haha I live at a fraternity house and a sorority was having a car wash for us
tuna55 wrote:ProDarwin wrote: The old Z car has one of the worst drag coefficients ever. Chasing high MPG in it will be difficult.THIS! Hilariously bad, something like .45. What's sad is that the contemporary Corvette (early 70's) was right at .50. Terrible! I can't imagine you're going to get far with a Cd like that.
I believe what you say, but that does not make sense to me, just looking at both of these cars.
Vigo wrote: I personally dont like miatas ("cheap" ones being na and nb) as highway cars. They're also geared pretty short and dont get great highway mpg for what they are because of that. low 30s seems to be tops for them, i think most do ~4000 rpm on the highway.
So? 
Thats still 50% better in fuel economy over the Z. They really are cheap to own and are a blast to drive. But I'm biased- I drive my miata 30 miles to work and 30 miles back home during the non-winter months and get 29-30 mpg. 29 mpg on 87 octane and 30 mpg on 91 octane, and I never taken it easy on the car.
I've gotten ~30mpg in my Miata for the last 13 years.
That being said, what have and can you do to the car? That has a SU style carb on it, doesn't it? A friend of mine figured out how to tune those really well- by putting the needle in a drill press chuck, and sanding down the diameter to get the mixture more correct.
Between leaning the carbs out (and if you can swing a WB sensor to do that) and advancing the spark, I suspect you can get out some fuel economy. Maybe not 10mpg, but into the 20's, I bet.
60miles/day= 300miles/week, at 20mpg (being lazy) that's 15 gal of gas a week, aka $60. Up that to 30, and you drop the cost to $40/wk, saving you all of $500 a year. If you can find a delta car that's only $500 more than what you can get for the 260, then you can pay off the delta in one year.
$500 on a MS system, using 280 intakes that have the hardware- that will be tough to pay off.
A very important question- are you REALLY willing to part with this car? That may be the real tough part of the question. It's a very cool car.
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