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A photo of the Z from 1973 showing the steering wheel: I did not really like the "feel" of the bare steering wheel, so in 1974 or 1975 I installed a black wheel cover for a better grip. Always had a wheel cover on from then until Motorman7 took it off last year. (I believe I replaced it once during the time I had it.) So for 44 years, it had that black cover on the steering wheel. (and 170,000+ miles). That and heat during its outdoor storage period might explain why it was "dark" for Motorman7. photo from arrival at Motorman7 (the interior is looking better now...:-):

The "240ZGuild" didn't do anything to the car other than buy it and flip it on BaT. The car was restored in the 1990's by Bill Reagan with additional work done by Banzai Motorworks subsequently to help get it up to gold medallion standards.

The solution is insert a washer to lift the fly wheel just a little bit .Thickness is the matter , you need to be sure that not to insert a thicker washer which would make impossible to snap a E shape clip at the bottom of the fly wheel’s shaft . And also shave the stud to make a gap between the stud and the fly wheel . Kats

Here is the fly wheel . You see the scratches made by the stud . Kats

If your wife gets mad at you for spending countless hours looking at the site linked below, it is NOT my fault. You just have no self control. Found this while looking for something else (we've all been there, and then SQUIRREL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!) https://archive.petersen.org/pages/home.php All of the photos do have a "P" watermark on it, but some amazing pictures taken back in the day... For those who don't know or can't remember (like me), Petersen Publishing created the magazines of Hot Rod, Car Craft and the like... If you click on a photo, there is an option to request a copy. Not sure of what costs are involved with that, I confess. Enjoy

Hey guys, good afternoon. I recently got my hands on a 1972 240z and decided to join the forum so I can learn more about her and Z cars in general. She's an automatic and completely matching numbers. The car itself runs beautifully and drives great. I don't regret the purchase one bit. Its white with a red interior and is almost entirely rust free save for some minor surface rust in the battery area and a few other places. The original interior is in great condition. The dash is not cracked and all the gauges work. The car itself came with a lot of dealer options installed. It has the AC, Dual Racing Mirrors, Front and Rear Guard Rails, Shade Kit on the rear glass, Arm Rest/Glove Box, Parcel Bar, AM/FM radio and the 240z side stripe kit. Interestingly, it also came with a full set and spare of original Radial Snow Tires that were sold by Datsun dealerships. It also has the original floor mats. I think its only missing the luggage rack and air foil. Also, I don't know if this was a dealer option, but it also came with a pristine Beltek 8-track player in the glove compartment as well as two Beltek speakers installed in the trunk. I'm only the second owner, so I hope to learn a lot more about her. Thanks.

Before: Bumpers are in good shape. Roof liner is perfect.

Can't agree with the statement that "interesting comments" get flagged as "not constructive". There are a few self proclaimed experts who like to do a little "baiting" on BaT. They get flagged. As for Friends of Seller adding comments, why not? Sometimes they may offer valid first hand information about a car to inform a bidder and sometimes, they may be shills. It's all part of the auction adventure and if a bidder is uncomfortable with that, it's time to move on. I think we've flogged this deceased equine sufficiently. Dennis

My '73 also had the pointy tip. (I've also seen it called the "acorn" or "bullet" tip). I had a slide of my '73 from a couple of weeks after I bought it (new, in April of '73), and I recently cropped and zoomed to see what the shape was. Its a little hard to see, but it looks like the acorn/pointy tip to me: blown up from this photo taken late April, 1973:

Fortunately, the steering wheel was not in too bad a shape prior to the start as it had a steering wheel cover over it for a portion of its' life. @jayhawk could add a little more detail to that. The steering wheel is pretty much a 'minimalist' restoration. It was fairly dark at the start, which I think is mostly from a lot of crud (accumulated dead skin, oils, candy bar coatings, etc). All I did was wipe down the wheel with paint thinner to remove the dark gummy material that accumulates. Then, I lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper till the brown dust started to appear. At that point I stopped and move to the next section. I sanded mostly in a circular direction on the drivers side of the wheel. I sanded, perpendicular to that on the finger or bumpy side, so that the high parts of the bumps were not worn off. If you sand circular on that side the valleys will be dark and the bumps light. The area with the smallest diameter on the wheel was a bit darker than the rest for some reason. I wasn't exactly sure if this was still 'gummy material' of just darker wood, so I sanded this area a bit more, till it was similar in color to the majority of the wheel color. After that, I just sprayed with two coats of gloss clear. I have used some red oak stain in the past, but the color seemed to be just about right, so I left it as is (I sprayed a light gloss clear coat over a portion to verify the color) . I was aiming to get it just a little darker than the stick shift knob shown in the picture. If the wheel would have been too light, I would have sanded off the small gloss section and used the stain. I will spray the center spokes satin black in the next day or two. Need to get new dash vents....

A bit of progress from this past weekend. We finally found some time to tackle replacing the worn/broken EFI connectors in the engine bay. Got to everything but the AFM. I also swapped in a new coolant temp sensor for the ECU. This made a noticeable difference in how it started when cold (less turnover time) and allowed the engine to idle a bit smoother: somewhat sewing machine-like we noticed. It still isn't 100% and I've got a laundry list of things to rule out. But we took it around the neighborhood and even got it out on some of the higher speed busier roads: 40mph, woo! Unfortunately, about halfway to the nearby Autozone, it started to misfire and stutter under load. So we turned back. I'm borrowing a fuel pressure gauge to make sure it's getting enough fuel and will probably be checking/replacing the AFM wiring next. I've also bookmarked a few things in the EFI Bible to check out. Sunday's work was a bit of backwards progress: I got tired of the sharp hazard that was the cut/pinched antenna mast. So I tore apart the rear half of the interior to remove that for the time being. Found a touch of thin flaky rust in the inner driver side rear wheel well (not surprising) and lost about a half dozen plastic rivet pins to the quarter panel abyss. I also found a couple old Datsun space-saver inflators... or make-shift CO2 bombs as my SO reminded me. Those have been relocated to a shady spot away from the cars for the time being. I've also removed the hazard switch to clean and refurbish. The turn signals work, but hazards are non-existent. Pretty easy to see why with how corroded the rocker inside was. The little light bulb was also burnt out, so I'm trying to find what size/style to replace it with. Other than installing new tire & detailing, I'm not planning on doing much work to get our Z31 ready for ZCON. So I'm hoping we can spend a bit more time on some side projects with the S30 in the following weeks. Stay tuned. Doing wiring work. EFI wiring old & busted. Sorry about the blurry pic - I was feeling a bit over-caffeinated. Part-way through install with new connectors. Sharp object hazard removed. Temporary hole. The cubby-hole find. Getting a closer look at it. Broke one (!) bolt while removing the raised floor brackets. So frustrating. Sitting pretty-ish.

Glad my sarcasm came through ?

Good one! I got a chuckle out of that last sentence. Part of the fun of buying a car at auction, or any 50 year old used car, are the surprises that come to light after the sale. All part of the adventure. Used car salesmen, horse traders, military recruiters, Trojans bearing gifts.......they all bear watching and the exercise of due diligence. Still chuckling. Dennis

Based on reports Fender/hood/cowl/battery tray area all replaced inner wheel well andFirewall and frame rail damaged. I'd guess that the BAT seller told the buyer and/or disclosed this in the auction?

Didn't see or generate any black spots. No surprise they exist.

Check out what I just found in my files. This was the original order form that was sent to me from the Franklin Mint. I used one of these to order my model. I have two copies of this set and am willing to send it to the new owner of the Z purchased on BaT (if you don't already have a copy). Just send me a PM.

Bill Reagan an E.E. by profession - restored the car in his spare time over about one year. As a member of the Texas Z Car Club, he wrote a series of articles covering the restoration process for the Club's News letter. He also published a booklet that combined all the articles, and sold the booklet to help others. He said he spent about $12K-$14K in 1990-92. Then sold it to Paul who then spent a ton of money on it between 92 and 95. Wonder if the Texas Z Car Club still has any of the Newsletters in digital form? At one point I seem to recall them being on their Club Web Page... In the Articles Bill tells how the Z was saved from a trip to the Salvage Yard - when a tree fill on it. The damage would have totaled it out in 1990, but But Bill purchased it for $100.00 and started the restoration. So a large part of the amazing story about its history is how it went from $100.00 Datsun 240Z - to a $124,240.00 Datsun 240Z. All of which makes it quite unique.. even in the Pure Stock world.

Put in the rear panels, light and turn signal assemblies, and started steering wheel clean up. Will update more later.

WOW that is a big flywheel. Must be for stability during turns and bumps!

Thats correct. The 'guild' were just the flippers.

On a related note: The car has made the mainstream interweb, along with the obligatory volatile commentary. https://www.thedrive.com/news/28433/completely-stock-1970-datsun-240z-sells-for-baffling-124k-on-bring-a-trailer?fbclid=IwAR0nh7iO5NCfTMXx05cZ8wdaIBRRM81KMINsIVwRoD4t-_NsMh5MTYQBhgc

Hi , today I have a lot of things to post here . Gavin, I have only one tip which I can tell you about is , a repair of a 8 track cassette operation . Seems nobody would be interested in it, but anyway I will give it a try describing it. There is a big fly wheel in the middle of the deck . This fly wheel is driven by the rubber band . This is so heavy so that it has a tendency to sit lower gradually in its life . What happened next ? The result is Lowered fly wheel scratches a head of a tiny stud . This is a cause of slower turning of the fly wheel , and the music ended up “ very slow “ . Also you will hear a dragging noise dusting operations, even worse some decks can’t turn the fly wheel . to be continued. Kats

Here you are Zed.....I have no idea what I’m looking for. Motors are what I do.....transmissions and diffs are Greek to me!

The worlds slowest car build has had some progress. 1st off, its off its wooden dolly, the one that was suppose to be for 3 months, lasted 6.5 years. I put it on the suspension mounting points so couldn't bolt anything to it. I was fortunate enough to have tracked down all the correct moustache bar parts, with a little help. Had to make a former to make the ends correct. Subaru 4.44 plated r180. Had it apart and checked bearings and wipe pattern, all perfect. I'd like to use bolts instead of the studs though for the rear mounts, can't see why not? All the rear end is now in place(chassis stuff). Rear suspension is now on. I've just gone for new rubber bushings everywhere. I need to check with with Ad at VA motorsport exactly how the suspension tops go together in the car, its intrax suspension with VA's road/rally topmounts. Theres little adapters/spacers. I can't work out if they go on the underside or inside. Nothing is torqued down yet, i've ordered a few replacement bolts for ones i've lost. I've got to do a bit of stonechip on the front rails under the engine. Not looking forward to that. Knackered steering rack doesn't please me. Some pretty things put back on..... Firewall insulation cut rearlights and panel

Thanks. Shows it at just about 65,000 miles.

Thanks for that, so this car wouldn't have been marked down for the bits that aren't 'correct' or missing? I must point out, I think that this is a great car, just not 125k great!

rturbo 930, Well, it IS a big deal. Its a Gold Medallion car, the car used for Mr. K's induction into the Hall of Fame, restored by the guy who wrote the book, detailed by a leading authority, and campaigned heavily. It will forever be the Franklin Mint car and will draw a crowd at car shows. Its called provenance. I personally share your thoughts, but the provenance thing is ruling (like the idea of value for a car Steve McQueen once drove).

Thanks mate, I've actually found a shop like that that deals in antique radios along the central coast of NSW, but it's a bit of a drive out that way. I was hoping to figure it out myself and share the knowledge with the community. My mum is good friends with someone who used to repair old Television sets and has been doing part time work (he's retired) repairing vintage fuel injection systems for early BMW's that are being restored. I've been meaning to ask him to take a look, but he lives in Melbourne and I'm up in Sydney. So it's a little difficult.

Gav, See if you can find an electronics / TV repair shop in your area. I took all my radios and the tape player for inspection years ago. They are not very common anymore, unfortunately.

Kats do you have any tips on repairing these? I've got a couple of TM-1081ZB(S) radio's and some of them only move in 1 direction, but don't return and come back the other way. I was looking for a switch to clean. I've sent the housing off for gold plating, so until I get it back I haven't looked at it more, but would love to learn more about refurbishing these radios.

Knowing I needed to do something about the super loud exhaust, I set about a temporary solution to connect the new header to the existing exhaust pipe. This is so I could finish filling it with coolant, purge any air, and be in a position to drive it to the exhaust shop for something more permanent. I bought some 2.5 inch flexible exhaust tubing at the parts store and trimmed it to fit the oval shaped opening and around the O2 bung. Once I was close I closed the hole with some HVAC metal tape. Not leak proof by any means but sure quietened things down some. My wife helped me put the hood back on and I got the cooling system filled. With so much accomplished I decided a quick jaunt down the street was in order. The clutch action felt really good, brakes worked, the engine ran and rev'd great through the first three gears. I was honestly shocked as I expected coughing and sputtering from the carbs until they were tuned. After almost a year, it is back! All in all, I am super happy to have it back together and running again. I hope to get it to the exhaust shop next weekend or earlier and start tuning the carbs some. Stay tuned!