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I've been replacing all of my 11 year old fuel hoses with braided cover hoses and decided to do the flow guide valve vapor hoses for a consistent appearance. My valve cover breather hose was already a OE braided unit but I gave it quick inspection. Uh Oh - big crack at one end, time to replace it as well. A visit to MSA showed me a repro unit for (choke!) $90! 😲 So it was back to Belmetric for possible options. The valve cover fitting is 16mm in diameter but Belmetric only has 14mm and 17mm hoses. The breather hose is about 14" so I ordered two feet of the 17mm hose at the most attractive price of $7.15/ft. (today it is $8.01). At 1mm oversize, obviously it is an easy fit but the OE circular spring clamps hold it securely in place on the valve cover and air filter box. All of the hoses at Belmetric are from Germany and are typically marked so on the hose. If you don't want the word Germany on your Japanese car, the markings can easily be removed with a vigorous rubbing with mineral spirits. I really like the feel of $75 still in my pocket! 😁 https://belmetric.com/m17x21-braided-continental-hose-rh17-n203701/

You won’t be able to change gear ratios by simply changing the ring gear only. The ring and pinion gears are always matched. It doesn’t matter what make or brand of differential. A gear set is machined to work together as a set. So if you have a 4:11 gear set, and a 3:90 gear set, the ring gear from one will not mesh with the pinion on the other. If you want to change gear ratios, the ring and pinion both have to change. Will a ring and pinion from a Subaru R180 fit in a Datsun R180 case? Maybe. But why take them out of a case and put them in another? It takes special tools to set up the pinion bearing preload, as well as training and skills rebuilding differentials, getting the bearings set and the gear wipe pattern correct. If you want an R180 with a given ratio, buy it and swap the whole unit out.

Hi Bart , yes justdashes is my top list . I have heard recently price $2000 , need to wait a half year . Plus shipping from Japan returning from California will surely be painful. Someone wants a PZR look dash , send it to them and ask them not to cut out the side vents and the clock , glove box key cylinder. I want to have it fixed by my hand , it will be fun and yes a lot of money saving . And I want to remain its details as much as possible , every old originals are one and only! Kats

Take a look at the one star reviews for that item at H.F. They describe the same problems with the unit.

That dash is a nice piece,Kats, to compliment your other nice pieces. I personally think you are on the right track by doing it by hand. The parts that make that dash special are still intact, from what I can tell, and fixing the cracks by hand is imho the primary way you’ll guarantee they stay intact.

Not quite sure I understand which tach you have (it appears you have two of them?), but the correct tach for your 73 is the style with the loop on the back. The other style (without the loop) will not work in your car without some other modifications. This is the correct style for your car:

It would be highly unusual for a wire to break in a wiring harness unless the harness was pinched hard or pierced. The usual suspects would be where the connectors are attached to the wire. That would be fatigue breaking the strands or corrosion. However, if you wanted to look for a break in the wire, you would need something like this: https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-Wire-Tracer-Continuity-Automotive/dp/B08L6NYQYK You would detach the C1 connector and clip the red lead to the yellow wire. Then clip the black lead to ground. You would use the probe to "sniff" the wire through the harness, and if you lose signal, that would indicate a break. The bottom line is that you should inspect the connectors carefully at both ends (C1 and at the sensor).

Hi @kats, A place in Australia does the same kind of work and for half the price. https://www.dashboarddoctor.com.au/reskinning-and-restoration For LHD dashboards Hung Vu offers completely new remanufactured dash pads. @theguppies https://www.instagram.com/vintagedashes/?hl=en

You know, I bought my first Z in the 1980's while in my 20's, for $700 from a Dr. in Whittier CA, the car was probably 15 years old at the time, a good looking & running driver in green, but a bit aged of course, and it was quite common and i'm sure it still is, when your young and poor, to hit the self service junk yards for what you need on the weekends , and that being said, I recall going quite often and having a "list" of things I needed in my head but when you got to pick a part, and started walking around you might very well find a "new" Z in the lot with almost everything still on it and start "drooling" over what you could and did get. I might be going in for this or that but remember hey! my seat belt was frayed, and grab some new ones off the new Z in the yard...even though I was just looking for a grill or whatever that day...THIS might just be the case in Zspert's car...

I will get my geek on and start a thread about such things.

Well, since I have this parked in the garage, we have a reference for you. My daily driver. ( I live in the mountains )

Bring a Trailer has this summary for your reference as well; Datsun 280Z For Sale - BaT Auctions (bringatrailer.com)

Hi Carl , I love the story. In that case , did the dealership give some discount for the customer to compensate for displaying in a showroom? I am just curious about it. Now my question is, Nissan did numerous changes for S30 series not on late 1970 but early 1971. Seems it doesn’t relate to American ‘model year’ system . Was the change of S30 series considered normal for Nissan including other Nissan cars, or only for S30 series? I mean our S30 series cars , Nissan changed things when they thought they needed. Mr.Uemura wrote about the test report in US and Canada late 1969 . The test crew listed many things to be improved. I think the changes in early 1971 were originated by the test crew , and voice of customers all over the world , and by test groups in Nissan Japan. One of the issue which was not seemed easy for engineers was the vibration from the rear floor . I believe Nissan might want to fix it sooner and knew how to fix well before mid 1970 but the changes of propeller shaft and differential mounting , also had to make a new bracket (brackets for Z432) for the exhaust system under the floor would have needed more time . Or it could have taken more time to prove ‘no-problem’ of recessed the diff 35mm back still safe when the tail hit and the gas tank pushed forward. The new drive train was not available until late 1971 though. Here is a picture provided from Mr.Miyazaki , he was an engineer and a test crew in Japan . A lot of interesting stories he has , I am keeping in touch with him and listening as much as I can . Kats

That gas hatch door look looks exactly like a door lock cylinder. Only thing unique is the bracket on the end that engages the bracket on the body. Should be dead easy to duplicate that.