Hi Z friends

[oldhemi]

240Z bumpers will fit with a little work. The easiest thing you can do right now is to evacuate the gas in the bumper shocks and push your bumpers inward. To do this, you will have to remove the bumpers 1st, then turn the Philips screw on the end of the shaft to let the gas out. Push the mounts inward to where you like(a tack weld will keep them there) and re-attach the bumpers. BUT, the hardest part is removing the bumper w/o breaking the screws on the fender sides. It looks to me that your rear rubbers on the sides are already bad. You will also have to remove the front and back center rubber filler pieces. Some modification is also likely neede to mount the sides in their new (pushed back) location.

BTW, the '73 240z bumper is more like the 260z's and bigger than than the 70-72 bumpers.

Another tidbit on lowering. The 260Z was the 1st year than Nissan raised the rear. They did it by increasing the size of the spring isolator - rubber top hat on your spring. Its .79" higher than a 240Z. The springs are the same on all four corners on the 260Z and are also different than the 240Z. There are many threads on lowering a Z and the different affects on the ride after doing so. I changed my stock springs and struts in '77 to Mullholland(NLA) springs and Interpart struts(NLA) which lowered the car considerably. The car handled like a go-cart but rode like it had steel struts. I could tell when I rode over a cigarette butt in the road.:sick:

IMHO, I would not change a thing on that car right now, but do some preventive maintainance. Download a service manual from Xenon's.com. Change or at least inspect belts, filters, hoses etc. Dont forget that there is a filter inside your electric fuel pump also! Also inspect your wiring - especially the connectors. Clean as needed. I know that this is not sexy stuff, but the wife will be more impressed when you are not broken down on the side of the road due to something that could have been fixed. These processes will also get you started on becoming familiar with your Z and some rust - hopefully not rot - that you will inevitably find.

If you still have the original "flat top" carbs and they are not giving you any drive-ability problems, leave them alone. If they are, get some 70-72 round top's from Z-therapy - about $750. Or some 40MM triples - Webers, or Mikuni's(sp).

Oh, congrats on acquiring a fine looking 260Z and welcome to the red-headed stepchild 260Z club! If you are serious about your car, I advise you to search and read! Here, at Hybridz.com and Zcar.com. Unbelievable amount of good info!

Last BTW, Datsun ONLY offered steel wheels and hubcaps from the factory on 240's and 260's. Any "mag" wheel that you see are aftermarket. The dealers would load these cars up with crap including viynal(sp) roofs. wheels, sunroofs, bumper overiders, decals and side protective strips/moldings.

I hate those side strips - only thing that I see "wrong" with your car.

Edited June 15, 2010 by oldhemi