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Guestimates: MOR - More Or Less ROM = Rough Order of Magnitude SWAG = Swinging Wild arse Guess A “little” a “lot” are relative terms. To me, it is worth a lot - how many people have $30,000.00 in savings? For that matter how many people can plunk down $30K for a fun purchase? Regardless, the fact is you did the research and now both you and your Parents are in a better position - should any need to actually sell the Z arise. That's a Good Thing.

More progress. Got the fuel tank cleaned up and installed along with the vent hoses and sender unit. Rear bumper is assembled and installed. Wiper motor and linkage installed. Got my braided hoses in, so started installing those. Added the air cleaner decals. Will order starter and alternator this week and get those in next. That gets us pretty close to starting this baby up. Still waiting for center console vinyl. Long wait for that item, over a month.

Why... BRAND NEW spindle pin from all appearances - can't get it out. Whomever installed this (these - other side was "replaced" as well): A. OVERTIGHTENED the lock bolt B. A little lubricant would have been nice or maybe some ANTI-SEIZE... Now I'm going to have to saw these once perfectly good spindle pins and press the centers out... I can guarantee you that these pins will be mushroomed in the middle because the installer didn't position the pin properly and OVERTIGHTENED the lock pin! PLEASE stop doing that!! I understand that not everyone knows the value of anti-seize but given the level of frustration the spindle pins usually deliver, it should be used whenever you're replacing them. The center section of the hub should also be checked and cleaned thoroughly before re-installing the spindle pin. If not anti-seize, a good coat of lithium grease should be applied and you should always be able to both move and rotate the pin after it's in place. Try to get the notch in the pin aligned correctly before installing the lock pin. Don't just use the lock pin to bully the spindle pin into position. The spindle pin is relatively soft metal and it's easier than you think to deform it in the notch area. If you overtighten the lock pin it will mushroom the spindle pin on one or both sides of the notch and even with anti-seize, you'll have trouble removing it. There is NO reason to tighten the lock pin like most people seem to do. (For me, this is like the 99% overtightened fill and drain plugs on transmissions!). If you've aligned the spindle pin correctly you can push the lock pin in with your finger and just SNUG the nut on the bottom. THEN follow the FSM instructions and torque specs for the spindle pin nuts. DON'T torque the hell out of one side - especially without snugging up the nut on the other! If you do, you'll drag the spindle pin back tight to the lock pin and... MUSHROOM the spindle! Evenly cinch up the two opposing nuts on the spindle until you get them into proper torque range and finish up with your torque wrench (NOT an impact wrench...). If I ever find the guy that installed these, I'll kick him in the nuts. <end rant> <for now...>

Hi orangecounty240Z - your Dad has a wonderful 240Z and I’m happy that he has enjoyed for 50+ years. It is actually amazing how many people purchased their Datsun 240Z new from the Dealer, and kept them to this day. There are about 189 of them listed on the “Z Car Original Owners Register” on the Z Car Home Page. Most likely twice that many out there still not Registered. Speaks volumes about the desirability of the Datsun 240Z’s from 48+ years ago. http://www.zhome.com/IZCC/ZRegisters/original.htm We would have to see a lot more detailed pictures of your Z - to give any real estimate related to its market value. Engine Compartment, dash, interior etc. With what we know - a ROM - $25K to $35K as it sits. Other than a good detailing, I wouldn’t put any more money into it, as it won’t seriously effect its sale price in the market. Actually most serious buyers would rather fix whatever they want, the way they want. They would rather see it “as is” than worry about “cover-ups”, or “cheap fixes”. (not saying you would do any of that - just pointing out the skepticism in any used car market). The paint flaking on the hood - that is just paint peeling off of the galvanized sheet metal, usually see it on the firewall as well. The cracking of the paint in the rear deck area - that is just the tar mat heat&sound insulation shrinking with 50 years of age - quit normal.

Torquing a fastener requires that you have clean threads (male and female) and correct lubrication of the threads and the clamping surface around the bolt head/washers according to the manufacturers (bolts) specifications if you are going to get ANY prayer of getting an accurate torque. You can remove a bolt and clean its threads, and grease it up, but how are going to do prep the head hole with the head on? Long story short, if you have a leaking head gasket, then sure, what’s the harm in trying a bolt re-torque first, but without some indication of problems, why in the world would you poke a bear? Ne-touche-pas!

I have a new mistress at the moment. She is very demanding of my time and attention. I’m sure you-all understand.... Peachy.... She has her warts, but beauty is skin deep I have to keep her eyes covered or I risk attack, like a trained hawk... yes, beer is involved. I shall continue the clip search.

I decided to leave well enough alone as from reading the consensus from ever body. but I did retorque my header bolts and intake today as is seems some of the header bolts were a little loose. I also decided to remove the heat shield and paint it with vht aluminum 550 degree paint , It needed it and looks a lot better . thanks for the support from every body great forum!!!!!!!

Perhaps when the FSM was issued Nissan wasn't thinking about 50 yrs in the future with its recommendation of a retorque. With an engine that has been sitting for 30 yrs there is the distinct possibility of rust forming on the head bolt threads. Retorquing on a realitivly fresh engine wouldn't bother me at all but I sure wouldn't want to do that on an old engine, they are set in their ways so to speak.

I think that same guy worked on my Z's as well.

The reason you had oil spilling all over the place is because the original strut (as described in the factory service manual) did not use an insert. They built the damper right into the strut tube. The insert that you substituted for the original design takes up much greater volume than the original. And because of that, there is a lot less volume left over for oil.

Thats a photo of the complete "sub harness" that connects the radio to the main console harness

Those are great compression numbers. Did you ever try removing #s 3 and 4 spark plug wire and switching them to see if the problem moves to another plug along with the wire?

Hi! To my surprise, my dad has decided to sell his baby, a series 1 240z. I know the value of these is pretty high and need your advice on how to sell it. He is the only owner, and it has under 90k miles, which he has documentation for. It is all original except: radiator (oem replacement), brake pads, oil filter, headlights (generic), spark plug wires and plugs (generic), distributor rotor and points (generic), engine hoses (oem replacement), some hose clamps (non oem replacements), aftermarket shocks and struts, wheels (mom bought him a set of mags for Christmas 1970 - he kept the covers but not the steel wheels), tires, hatch strut, battery, and antenna (oem replacement). He says he may have changed the pedal pads but can't remember. It runs great. All original rubber trim still looks good. Known flaws: rear bumper was rechromed around 1980 due to a ding, radio (AM only) does not work, exhaust is rusty, tachometer does not work, heater does not work, antenna does not extend, several door dings (some of which show surface rust) and a few shallow door dents from parking, paint is peeling a bit on the inside of the hood (about 7 square inches of metal are exposed, no rust yet), a few spots of surface rust. Inside of the hood, where the fan is, has 2 square feet of surface rust looking paint - not sure what's going on there, but dad thinks the fan splashed water there when it was wet. Paint is all original but oxidized and faded. The chrome bits show some surface oxidation, not pitted and I think can be polished out. Clock doesn’t work. The spare well is perfect, but the flat area under the hatch carpet has cracked paint - don’t see rust there either. I have done extensive reading on this and other forums. I checked all the common rust spots and they're great. I have not yet gotten it on a lift to check the underside but what I can see looks fine, including inside the wheel wells. Questions: 1. where should we sell it? Bring a trailer, conventional auctions, private/forum sale? 2. what should we fix? I can try to find a set of 1970 wheels, and mount those instead of the mags (the mags don’t even have any curb rash but the center caps are rusty). I can try to find original wires and plugs, headlights, etc. The dash has never been out, so he didn’t replace the tach; we don’t think we have the skill to do so without damaging something. I can have the dents pushed out, and the rust spots cleaned and put on touch up paint (impossible to match maybe?). I will definitely have it deep detailed to restore the luster of the paint. Or should I do it myself? Been reading about it, the paint is so thin I am worried about a detailer using the wrong products on it and damaging it. I’m happy to put in the time to waterless wash and buff it by hand. 3. any recommendations on detailers in SoCal? We're in Orange County but can drive/trailer it anywhere from LA to SD. 4. If you think we should have the non OEM parts and broken parts and paint problems professionally replaced, which shops do you recommend? I’m willing to pay to ship it somewhere if the right shop is not in the LA area. Thanks for any advice!

Hey all, Been away from Z's for a while, but, have owned 3 in the past. My best (kicking my own arse) "son you won't believe the car I sold" story is my 1970 240z which I owned in the 80's for about 5-6 years. I sold it to support my racing habit. I don't think it went to a good home, so I don't think it may have survived. Anyone know of HLS30-00798? It was white with the blue interior. It was in pretty good shape when she left me. Also had a '73 in orange that I picked up and fixed up/flipped, and a 1978 280 2+2 that my father purchased new. He drove that car into oblivion! He loved it! Anyhow, I will dig up some pics and post them up later.

Took her out for a short drive (one of very few drives this season). Now it’s soon time for winter sleep. IMG_1001.MOV

WOW First Class Posts Bob S.! BIGGGGG THANKSSSSS Here is Schematic... (not exact match but they are known to have differences)

You can use nylon, rubber, fiber flat washers on the studs, available in different thicknesses from McMaster.

I just used a strip of black electrical tape trimmed so it wasn't visible, could not stand the thought of putting bare metal on the paint I worked so hard on. The rubber seals are pinched against the door handle 99% of the time so I just snipped the thinnest part of it, removed it and cleaned them and put them back on, it's 4-5 yrs and they are still on there.

And here's the car-side connections of the radio sub harness. According to my FSM the speakers are the wires that are Black & Black w/ Red stripe....although I haven't tried to confirm this in my car

"I was talking to my dog, Dog and he had a thought..."

Here's a photo that shows specifically which color wires connect to each of the "spades" in the back of the radio. Note that on the 6 pin connector that the lower right position is unused...at least in the hitachi radio in the 78 year model Z. So there are 8 wires that connect into the radio. The other end of the "sub harness" has the wires grouped together differently...I'll post a photo of that end of the sub harness below...

I found something on the wheels and caps. There's a lot of info in those pictures. Pierre did it in 2017. Picture #324. Also noticed that it still had the CA license plates, 615 DLK. The current owner must live in Nevada! Edit 4:47 pm - @lonetreesteve I just saw your comments on the BAT listing about the wheel caps. Why would Pierre "restore two caps" one way and two another way? Really looks more like he bought two from one place and either restored or bought two others from another place. Either didn't notice the difference or didn't say anything about it. Who knows. Just odd. 246 has done quite a bit on ID'ing the eBay repro caps and how they're being passed off as real. @240260280

Looked for Z shaped leaves while stretched out on my deck. They're were many or maybe none? It was a Bloody Mary morning.

The one on the car for sale is embossed, and has a validation sticker, the classic from the DOL is flat, and has the state outline where the sticker should be. Hmmmmm . . . . . . . . . seems inconsistent, but not impossible. I see the Nevada DOL page that lists the blue plate states: So it is possible that someone had the plate made, then submitted it for use on the car. But being from 70/71 the car isn't old enough. I have year of manufacture on several of my Z's, and here in Washington the registration sticker is not issued or required when a collector car is permanently registered that way. Some guys will get an unused sticker for the year they are using the plate for, or use a reproduction. One of the cars plates were too far gone to be restorable, but I found a guy who makes reproduction plates using the correct dies, reflective material and colors, so I'm saving for some from him.

You must change the whole wire. Like changing a known good battery to a suspected bad battery. Just use the two that are similar length. Take them completely off both sides of connection then see what happens. Wires go bad believe it or not. The ends get loose and won't "snap".

Kind of looks like this one ...... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Engine-Mount-Rear-for-Datsun-200B-2-0L-4cyl-P810-L20B-LPG-MT8215-/141748203683 L20B 4 cyl.

Could a Z expert get on there and explain repro parts to these guys? Lots of dancing around the fact that two of the caps are from eBay.

Might be a Vintage plate from 2002. I can't imagine a car collector and auto dealer sticking fake tags on a license plate. That would be absurd. Any cop would be all over it as soon as they saw it on the road. Here's today's. https://dmvnv.com/platesclassic.htm

Hello Miljack - welcome back! HLS30 00798 was on eBay 12Jan2015 in Conyers, GA. Then it was offered For Sale in Pompano Beach, FL 8May2018. Good luck with finding another one... still plenty of very nice 240Z's - FWIW, Carl B.

So, just to sum things up, there's an undisclosed owner who bought the car from Malamut in 2017 and Wob is selling it for him now in 2020. Does that sound right? Wonder why today's owner is selling it, and why is it still at the Collection site, after three years. Just questions. The paperwork, registration, etc. up to today would be interesting to see. Seems to end in 2018. The last few puzzle pieces... The tags expire this month. Maybe he doesn't want to pay the fee.

October, 1970 London

Hahaha ... yes we also call it a "bus" overhere! schoolbus is also a schoolbus ! 👍

Wellll over here...we call that a bus.

It's a series of older comedy movies with the Griswold family. This has a huge station wagon "The Wagon Queen Family Truckster". That older guy is Chevy Chase, he's been in a lot of pretty funny movies. Caddyshack? Also had a talk show for one season. He sucked at that. https://en.m.wikiquote.org/wiki/National_Lampoon's_Vacation

Bathurst is the hallowed sacred ground of Australian Motorsport, if you said anything bad about it we would have to declare war. 🤣

AK260 and Zed head are on the mark. "Pressure will build up when the pads and shoes make contact. The harder you press the pedal the more pressure applied." The front and rear system is balanced in volume. If the volumes needed to apply the brake are different the pressures will be different as well. In this case, the shoes are not adjusted correctly and the distance is excessive you will get an inbalance in pressure because you need more volume for the rear system. This system has a self adjusting mechanism that is activated by the hand brake. When you park the car, pull the hand brake on and release it several times. That should correct the distance or the rear shoes. Sometimes the adjusters will seize over time. You can check this by watching the levers at the backing plates and comparing them. If one moves more than the other then you have a seized adjuster. When I rebuilt my brakes and after the run in I noted how many clicks the handbrakes makes. If it needs more than two extra clicks, and it doesn't correct itself by applying the handbrake several times, I know I have an issue with the adjusters.

Oh boy! Well, that explains it. The Captain lives up to his namesake.

I saw the hoses, all the worm gear clamps, a strip mall auto parts store battery and oil filter, the do it yourself air conditioning, and the price dropped 40%. I looked through the pictures, read the listing, and some of the comments. It isn't a doubt this car has potential, with proper restoration, to be quite valuable. But as presented in this auction, it is nothing more than a cobbled up misrepresentation worth only a fraction of the current bid.

Also, as you can see from the photos, the 6 pin connector only uses 5 of the 6 wire positions

These photos show which color wires from the sub harness I mentioned above connect into the 3 and 6 pin connections in the back of the radio....is this what you need?

My 78Z has the original radio and doesn't use the 5 pin DIN connection. It does use both the 3 and 6 pin "molex" connections. My radio model is a KMS-2411Z. The original set up uses a "sub harness" that connects the radio to the main console harness. These sub harnesses can be hard to find since many owners simply discarded them when they installed aftermarket sound systems. Give me a little while and I think i can come of with a few photos of the set up showing the wiring scheme.

Real on right (Thanks @kats) Left is badly painted or fake; too much chrome showing.

The self-adjuster was probably involved as noted. You should make a habit of using the parking brake, because it's what adjusts the back brakes. I was going to ask about brake pedal travel earlier because that's what happens before the brake warning switch is actuated. But, after just two weeks of ownership, baby steps are best (no offense). Your brakes probably still need bleeding, the pedal should be high and hard. More stuff will happen. See you soon...

You’re most welcome chap, but I’m intrigued to know the root cause. What I would guess at is that your self adjusters on the rear drums may have been stuck such that the rear shoes were very off the drums and travelling a long way before engaging. The action of the handbrake and the brakes together may have somehow released them? But all of this is conjecture! Let’s hope that has really fixed it. When you next take off the drums have a look at the self adjuster mechanism and see if it’s smooth or needs a good clean. One of mine had rusted solid and one side would brake before the other.

That looks leakproof!! Tell dad thanks for saving you the trip to the store!

Was it Country music?

I googled the Pangborn guy, he died in 2010. Frigidaire wives...

The internet is now monitoring my stress level and advising therapeutics through Google AdSense, apparently.

As I understand it, the use of a capacitor (aka 'condensor') in points-type ignition systems is not dictated by tachometer issues -- although it can create them. The capacitor is there to store the electrical energy that's generated in the ignition coil's primary (12V) circuit when the points open and the electromagnetic field around the coil's windings begins to collapse. That collapsing electromagnetic field generates a reverse-direction current in the primary circuit -- a process called 'self-induction'. The capacitor is there to absorb this electrical energy. Without it, a heavy electric arc would occur across the separating/closing contact points, resulting in pitting and burning of the points surfaces. The capacitor dumps its stored energy back into the primary circuit when the points are actually closed. A nice side-benefit of the points capacitor is that it eliminates/reduces the 'noise' that the car's radio can pick up when points arcing takes place. I'm not sure whether that 'noise' is electric (travels in the wiring), electromagnetic (travels in the air), or a combination of both. Unfortunately, it appears that the cyclic energy storage/dumping action by the capacitor interferes with the ability of some electric tachometers to see a proper signal. You'd need an oscilloscope, I suppose, to be able to study the difference in the shape of the signal, with and without the points capacitor in place. Our absent friend, Blue, did a nice write-up a couple of years ago on how to swap a later-generation Z tach into an early car.