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Hmmmm, need to install those two bolts on the lower bell housing. Pics are always good for stuff like that. Also need to add the black paint to the muffler tip. Will take care of that tomorrow. Here are the latest motor pics. Got the final decals on and voltage regulator cover.

The ZDDP kills Catalytic converters is just another example of " Internet misinformation " or " Partial information ". Catalytic converters are a consumable product. Just like Brake pads or Clutches. Thye have a finite Lifespan. Alway have... alway will have. ZDDP does not " Kill " Catalytic converters. Cars have had Catalytic converters since the Mid 1970's and the oils back then had a hell of a lot more ZDDP in them back then. They lasted fine back then and still do. The only reason for the reduction in ZDDP in Motor oils is because the EPA upped the testing standard for Catalytics from 100,000 miles to 150,000 miles in the mid 2000's. Now one of the main materials of a Catalytic converter is Platinum. Platinum is freakin' expensive. Almost equal to the cost of Gold per once. Now ZDDP does slowly, very slowly degrade the performance of the Platinum Catalyst. But it takes a super long time and Manufacturers used just enough Platinum to last 100,000 miles and still pass the EPA test. But when the EPA decided to raise the test standards to 150,000 miles . No problem, the engineers could meet that standard. They just had to use more Platinum in the Honeycomb Matrix. So this was just an engineering problem.... and then the " Bean Counters " got involve. They didn't want to fork out more money for added Platinum. And studies had shown that if you reduced the amount of ZDDP in the oils, then you could meet the new tougher EPA test with the same Catalytic converters and amounts of Platinum in them. Note: ZDDP's main function is to reduce metal to metal contact in extreme load situations. It is a VERY effective extreme pressure agent. The interface between a flat tappet lifter and camsahft, or sliding finger follower style Valvetrain is the highest load pressure point in an engine. Since all of the BIg 3 manufactures had been using Roller Lifter or Roller follower Valve Trains since the late 80's to early 90's, this sounded like a great idea to the Bean Counters. Make an oil with less ZDDP and problem solved. The oil makers were on board with this as they could save a couple of pennies in additive amounts of ZDDP in each bottle of oil. Only 1 company objected. GM. They did not agree with the amount of ZDDP reduction that the oil companies and EPA had proposed. They were worried about, older engines... that still used Flat Tappet Cams. Like those in GM SBC.BBC,, and Pontiac and Buick engines still being used buy Vintage car owners, hot rodders and Racers. And also in older trucks, generators and agriculture for pumping stations etc They actually proposed a les strict Oil standard in ZDDP reduction , that would be compatible with older flat tappet Cams ( and finger followers ) and could meet the the new 150,000 mile Catalytic tests.... with only a slight increase in Platinum amount required, compared to the Current SG/SH oils. But this proposal was shot down by the EPA and other manufacturers. Vintage cars, old vehicles and Lord forbid " Racers ???? F**k them. Let them all buy new Jelly Bean cars. They're all a bunch of degenerate heathens. And this in the mid-2000's, you started seeing the " Great Camshaft Meltdown " with horror stories of Hot Rods and High Performance engines grinding their Camshafts into mush. Problem was exacerbated with High Lift cams and stiffer Valve springs. But fear not. The Oil companies came back with a solution. They would introduce new " Specialty Oils " , that did not have to the new Energy Star ( SM/SN API rating ) . So they basically introduced an old formula oil, then slapped some fancy stickers on it and called it " Hot Rod " oils. And of course they charged double the money, because this was " Special Oil "...... and they had the Hot Rodders, Muscle Car and Vintage enthusiasts by the balls. PT Barnum would have been proud... So in short... if you have a pre 2006 car, older higher Zinc oils won't " Kill " your Catalytic converter. At least not very quickly. If you have a later model car and are concerned about maintaining the Emissions warranty for 150,000 miles ... then you may want to use a new Energy Star rated SM/SN oil. Of course if you do ANY modifications to the valve train. All bets are off. Oh, and if you have a new car with Direct Fuel Injection? Good Luck. Better find out how the High Pressure Injection Pump ( Up to 1,660 PSI ) is made. The bosch systems ( Audi/VW. BMW, Mercedes Porsche and others ) use a Bucket lifter in the High Pressure pump. Guess what... they are wearing out in as little as 20,000 miles. Even with numerous recalls on DI Injection pumps and " Diamond Like Coatings " being spayed on the buckets,. All because the new oils are SH*TE. It's a HUGE industry problem. Especially in Europe on the Autobahns. Higher speeds, higher engine temps, oil thins out.... buh bye $2,000 to $3,000 dollar injection pump. Some of the Japanese manufactures were smarter. They used Roller Tipped actuators to operate the High Pressure pump. No issues with reduced ZDDP. FWIW. BTW, all of this information is available in SAE White Papers and Technical articles like Engine Tech and Race Car engineering. Also covered on dedicated sites such as " Bob Is The Oil Guy ", Despite the rather strange name, BITOG is one of THE best sites for accurate lubrication information. Where actual Chemical, Mechanical and Petroleum engineers contribute regularly. an Laboratory Testing results are abundant. Well worth a visit and a long read. https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=cfrm

Looking for a picture of the original factory installed 240z inner door plastic vapor barrier. I have been so busy the last 3 years with www.240zrubberparts.com helping out other owners with their projects, my project has been stalled out. I started working on getting the doors back together today. Everything has been replated and installed new window rollers and cups.

Here's the latest update: All - ZCON 2018 host hotel will be at the Sonesta. In order to book your hotel, you may use the following link and Group Code. They promised to simplify the code after the new year, but this one works so you can get your hotel now. The event is October 16-20 in Atlanta, GA - the website is www.ZCON.org. Event registration will go live 1/1/18. Get booked now within the room block for $105/night with free parking and free wifi included. We've extended the group-block two days before and after the event for those coming in earlier or wanting to enjoy the area after the event. https://gc.synxis.com/rez.aspx… USE BOOKING CODE: 10166823ZC

I wonder what's left.

Hah! I remember using wintergreen oil on the tires of my slot-racing cars back in the 1960's. Nothing new under the sun, it seems. As for trying it out now on old Datsun rubber, I'll wit for someone else to try that and report back. I'm still not over the pain of the epsom-salts-and-vinegar electroplating set-up that was also 'guaranteed' to work.

Cool! It would be nice to see some West coasters @Mike @Zed Head @Mark Maras and others... You all could compete for furthest attendee

Mike will be sending me the original for a factory correct reproduction....

ZCON registration is open. http://zcon.org/conventions/2018/?page_id=132

Got my Oem Euro front valence (predrilled with built in nuts for the Oem front spoiler) back from paint. Discovered that the Us valence and the Euro valence have different ways of mounting. Euro has built in nuts Us don't, or is it something that depends on what year it's made? Hope to get time to put the valence and spoiler on the car this week.

I've got two originals I could send you. One is softer than the other. I guess one hardened over time. The overall height is the same but one has a bigger gap than the other. Sent from my [device_name] using http://Classic Zcar Club mobile

Exhaust 2.0. This is so much better. The resonator is tucked up there nicely.

Gary those fender fasteners between fender and hood were painted. The bolts fastening the bottom of the fenders at the pitch welds just behind the front wheel wells were painted. the 4 fasteners on the front of the radiator support fastening the edges to the inner fender are painted. All of the other fasteners you mentioned are correct. Let me know if more pics would help. Dan

I’ve read all the threads on LED lights for the interior, and here’s what I ended up doing. I got a bunch of different LEDs and tested them out with the clock. To keep it simple so I did not remove the green domes, or alter the inside of the gauges in any way. I set up the camera on a tripod and used an 8AA battery pack to power the light bulbs. I shot in RAW, the color temp is 5000K. I used the same exposure values for every shot. Here’s a picture of all the bulbs I ended up testing. Bulb 1 This picture is the bulb that was in the clock. Regular stock tungsten filament bulb. It might even be original. It’s pretty dim. The surprising thing is how hot the base of the bulb got when powered up for a short time. Bulb 2 The second picture shows a bulb from superbrightleds.com. Cool 7000K 120° 4 Lumens. BA9s https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ba9s-ba7s/ba9s-led-bulb-1-led-ba9s-retrofit-car/3/ It’s noticeably brighter than the stock bulb. Bulb 3 The third picture shows a bulb from superbrightleds.com. Cool 5500K 270° 40 Lumens. BA9s https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ba9s-ba7s/ba9s-led-bulb-1-led-ba9s-retrofit-car/958/2359/ I shaved the plastic end down with a Dremel so the bulb would fit inside the green dome. Looks pretty good. Bulb 4 The fourth picture shows a bulb from superbrightleds.com. Green 40 Lumens. BA9s https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ba9s-ba7s/ba9s-led-bulb-5-smd-led-tower-ba9s-retrofit-car/2077/ This bulb did not fit inside the green plastic dome. To take the picture I taped it in place with as much of the bulb in the dome as possible. The color was too green for my taste. Bulb 5 The fifth picture shows a bulb from superbrightleds.com. Cool 6100K 96 Lumens. BA9s https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/ba9s-ba7s/ba9s-led-bulb-5-smd-led-tower-ba9s-retrofit-car/2077/#/attributes/10855 This bulb is the same as the previous bulb, but cool white instead of green. To take the picture I taped it in place with as much of the bulb in the dome as possible. Bulb 6 The sixth picture shows a bulb from amazon.com White. BA9s https://www.amazon.com/64111-3-7020-Lights-Extremely-Bright/dp/B01MEFGAAI/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1505518231&sr=8-3&keywords=ba9s+LED This bulb came in a four pack. I decided to try this bulb since it was cheap. It’s nice and bright. Close to the same brightness as the 96 Lumen white bulb from superbrightleds.com. It surprised me how evenly this style of bulb illuminated the clock. I like this one the best so far. Bulb 7 The seventh picture shows a bulb from amazon.com White. BA9s https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MQOXU74/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 This bulb came in a 10 pack. It is bright but not as bright as the bulb in the sixth picture. Bulb 6 in the speedometer Overall I went with bulb number six. Here’s a picture of my speedometer with that bulb. It lights up nice and bright. Here’s a picture of the clock powered up and resting on the dash of my jeep. Overall it’s about the same brightness feel to the jeep gauges on full brightness setting. The dimmer in my 280z did not dim the LED bulbs at all. It’s either full brightness or off. I also put LED bulbs in the turn signal indicators, high beam indicator, and brake warning light in the gauges. I tried a couple different bulbs but forgot to take pictures. I don’t have everything put back together yet, but when I do I’ll update with a pic of all the gauges lit up in the car.

Here's a thread from this year that kind of shows how things are still confusing. Some people like them, some people like them after they fix them, some people don't like them. Old Eibach doesn't seem like new Eibach. Nobody knows where they really come from. It's madness. But the name sounds good - Eibach. Like salsa.

CREE LEDs? What are those? I think they are some kind of high-efficiency, brighter LED than you could get before now? I saw some products for cars (spots or off-road lamps mostly) but most of it was for household use. Super-bright LED spots sounds like a nice idea.

If you have this thing installed, how is it working? I see it has a feature for a bulb failure, have you tried it? It supposedly has a feature that will flash at a double-rate if a bulb is out, and it's supposed to make some kind of sound too?

Please be aware that there are two flashers in your car. One is for the hazard lights, and the other is for the turn signals. I purchased the Bussmann 232 flashers for my cars.

Dave, what I love about these LEDs I used is that they are just drop in replacements. I really like how your tail lights turned out, but frankly, I'm just too lazy to try to go to the lengths you did. Anyway, given what I've seen and read about the parking light circuit, I can't overemphasize the value of a solution like this. To me it's even easier to implement than your relay solution. The dash lights are on the list for me. I just need to get smarter on taking out the gauges.

If you used LED Headlights - would you still need the relays etc? Carl B.

Forestry work sounds good to me, except, are there forests in NJ? . Maybe I will just switch out all the corner marker lights, plate, dome, and tails, to LED, but leave the rest alone. That should lighten some load and still leave the blinker circuits factory.

On the flasher at least you didn't remove all the bulbs so you know it works with the front bulbs being the old stuff. That's not as bad as some of the things I do at work (for geekyness) like measuring the flow rate of tree sap. The are the leaves cover in a tree just to name some of the dorky things I do at times not to mention the ever fashionable forest surveyors vest with the built in backpack section for extra marking paint and lunchLOL.