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That car is super clean and preserved condition. Time capsule! Only thing I would change would be the propeller shaft which is incorrectly applied to the car. The spline is exposed from the front piece of the shaft, which is not good. From Sep 1971 it was extended 35mm to cope with the new rear differential location. The part number E4100 was replaced by E8700. It’s very complicated even for Nissan parts center service man. I wrote memo to avoid making mistakes when I order parts for my cars. Hope this helps someone. Kats

Hi Kats: Your information is of course correct, but only applied to this Z in hindsight. I would guess that due to the usual delays in technical information translation, communication and publication - the newer parts were not listed in the US Datsun Competition Parts Catalogs until late 1972 for the 1973 Catalog edition. There may have been earlier Competition Dept. Bulletins on the subject, but I’ve never found any. When this Z was put into service in 2/72 the only 5spd. listed and the only Drive Shaft Listed are the one’s put in the Car. Perhaps if the owner had waited 8 months to start the process the Dealership might have ordered differently.

Recently, I saw an ad for some Datsun NOS parts for sale. The photos didn't really reveal a lot, but the lot appeared to have some good stuff included, and the price was fair. It was an 8-hour round-trip away, though. After talking to the seller a bit, I somehow felt the urge for a little road trip to collect that stuff, so we agreed on a date. Unfortunately, we had heavy snowfall in the blackforest: After I made it across the snowy hills, the highways weren't any better either. Luckily, the weather changed after 2 hours and I eventually made it to the owner. A collector of various Toyotas, as he told me. He bought a Lot of Toyota parts, and the Datsun Parts were included. So he wanted to get rid of them quickly. Good for me. After an hour or so, my car was loaded to the brim with dusty and dirty old panels and various stuff. Luckily, we found even way more stuff than originally advertised. Luckily, the way home was much better, so once at home I laid out everything to see what i got. Most is NOS (new-old-stock) Datsun / Nissan stuff, still with all original Packing, Number-stamps or labels on it. Which makes it easier to identify the parts. It included various Emblems. Hubcaps, panels, lights, door hinges and whatnot. Even a few NOS gauges and some random stuff. Heater cables, etc. After sorting through the stuff quickly, i managed to find some nice and cool Z-stuff. A quick de-dusting makes a huge difference. Now, before you ask: Nothing is for sale here. I'll keep the Z-parts for my own project and I have an agreement with my friend, who takes all the other parts, so please don't ask.

It's the stock E4100 propeller shaft for 'early' (FS5C71A) equipped cars. It might look 'strange' because it has been fitted to a car with a rearward-mounted differential position, and is therefore over-extended on its splined centre joint. The car in question requires the longer E8700 propeller shaft specific to the updated, rearward, differential mounting position. EDIT: As Kats has pointed out above.

That's a very lenient take. Quite simply, Waverly Motors sourced and fitted the wrong part. They fitted an E4100 propeller shaft when they should have fitted the longer E8700, which was already available as a stock Nissan part. And having fitted the short shaft - with the splined centre joint clearly over-extended and NFFP - they sent the customer on his way. It was wrong then and it's wrong now. Waverly also appear to have sourced a competition option version of the FS5C71-A transmission, then took it apart to install a set of 'street' ratio gears when they could have simply ordered an off-the-shelf Nissan transmission which already gave them what they were building. Stock equipment in the rest of the world. You can call it Monday morning quarterbacking if you want, but Nissan had been knocking out FS5C71-A equipped Zs since late 1969 and it seems to me that a franchised Datsun dealer might be expected to have noticed. It was fully noted in the Factory Service Manual for the car. Harsh maybe, but I'd say fair.

So, Waverly ordered the wrong shaft when they ordered the transmission. For anyone wondering, the 5 speed transmission used here has a flange on the output shaft. The slip yoke is replaced by the splined section. In case you stumble across one in the future.

Thanks, I do put some effort in to finding the civil middle ground. I know that you see these cars through a different lens than many. There's a new one on BaT. Might have more potential. Too bad it's not the original white though. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1973-datsun-240z-300/

Zed, I have to thank you for phrasing your response the way you did. Given the abrasive times in which we live such language is indeed a breath of fresh air. Of course, one can do most anything they want to or with their car of any heritage. I was just exposing my druthers. I generally drive my old machines 500 or so miles per year and want to look good while at the same time being confident that I won't say to myself when 200 miles from home "what's that funny noise". Cheers

What an ugly thing