AZ-240z

Look inside the filler cap and count the rows. Dan

John, Do you happen to have a copy of Wick Humble's "How To Restore Your Datsun Z Car". On pages 97 and 158 Wick explains the relationship of those number, which he calls ISO, to Datsun Bolt-Torque Specs. Basically he says these ISO numbers bear no direct relationships to SAE numbers as they relate to torque value, but indicate a lower torque value than the SAE numbers. I need to find out how to copy and paste and will try later if you don't have this book. Dan

Another place to try is www.zparts.com Dan

Chris, this is probably what you meant, but the air pump pulley is painted blue engine color and fastened to cad plated pump drive wheel with cad plated fasteners, all yellow cad, I believe. Dan

Steve, nice job, looks perrrrfect. A place to find those little rubber front bumper end bracket insulators is www.zzxdatsun.com. Your rubber washer spacers look good, but this is a good place to find other neat "Stuff". Just go to the catalogue/ rubber/ BO-52 to find this item. Dan

Steve, I agree with Jim. I would not cut the bumper as this probably would change the correct fit and geometry with the bumper brackets and body mounting holes at the ends. Perhaps someone could give you the correct measurements of a good bumper from one tip to the other and some other cross-referencing measurement to confirm which way you need to correct the bends. I would think that a bumper and re-chrome shop would be able to, with the correct tools, and these measurements, true up your bumper without cutting. Either way, the chrome is probably going to suffer some abuse. Just my thoughts, and good luck. Dan

Arne, is your support strut stock, or aftermarket? I just had a look at mine, and, with the hatch down, not latched, and just sitting on the latching mechanism, there is absolutely no tension pushing up from the support strut as it is lying almost parallel, now, with the hatch. unless the support strut is too long, ie., not designed for your z, I can't see how it could be pushing up on that corner of the hatch. I don't question what is going on with your cars, I'm just trying to envision what geometry is creating this kind of push. Could it be that, with your hatch closed, the piston rod had reached the end of its travel length before being fully retracted into the strut housing? Does that make any sense? Dan

What am I missing, here? The hatch hinges are adjustable four ways where they bolt to the body. There is no adjustment where the hinge bolts to the hatch, itself. I would just remove the support strut from the hatch, loosen the hinge bolts at the body, and see what you can do to realign the fit of the hatch. You will need another pair of hands to support the hatch while you make these adjustments. Hope this helps, but let us know. Dan P.S. Wick Humble's book, "How To Restore Your DATSUN Z-CAR", is invaluable when doing anything to your car, as well as the search function of this site. Good Luck!

Take a look at www.new-datsun-parts.com, page 2 of exterior parts. Not sure if those are what you are looking for, but worth a look. Dan

I agree with Ron. I would not be surprised if someone on this site has a nice spare, or, I frequently see examples surfacing on ebay, depending on your time horizon. Another thought is used parts suppliers out here in the southwest where rust in not as large an issue as compared to the southeast. Although pricey, www.zcarsource.com shows some available. I would much rather find the correct part, if at all possible, rather than hassle with re-engineering a newer part. Best of success Dan

geezer. The early caps with fewer, less aggressive clips were often lost due to wheel flex. The fix was more clips with a more aggressive grip design, thus, the later design. That has always been my take on the difference. I, also, noticed in my copy of the early 240z dealer brochure, the valve stem location was in line with a spoke and below the D ornament. Kats, a credible historian of early z parts, also has a picture of his early D caps on his web site, and offers that they are the earliest D caps, which correlates with what we have been saying. If the set of early D caps I bought were actually original to the four 11/70 steel wheels that they came with, then early caps could have been correct up to the end of the series 1 production. An interesting twist on what is EARLY! Dan

It would be nice to know, for the sake of accuracy, an approximate date which would differentiate the use of the early vs. later "D" hubcaps. As a large percentage of cars were never delivered with their caps, and they were so fragile and rust prone, surviving cars with original caps, I am going to assume, are too rare to provide a data base to approximate when early vs. late caps were used. As Chris said in the past, it would be difficult, in a show, to zap someone for incorrect vintage "D" caps without this knowledge, so it would appear that the only benifit to owning the early set is bragging rights. The only info I could find was in our parts CD, which showed a date "up to" 7/73" for the use of the "ornament-wheel cover "D". This date sounds way too late from what I had originally assume, which was the transition from what we call series 1 into series 2 cars. My logic would be to make an assumption of around July of 1970, a transition from 1970 to 1971 model years, when early D caps were replaced by later D caps, but with no real proof. Anyone think of some other way to validate the correct use of these two different "D" caps? Just my opinion Dan

If you replace the thermostat, just be sure to use a NISSAN ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT thermostat from your local Nissan dealer. Aftermarket thermostats have a smaller opening for coolant flow, and I guarantee that your car will run warmer than with a Nissan thermostat. Been there Dan

Arne, The bumper shims or bumper bracket isolators that you refer to are available in reproduction form at Banzai Motorworks. See www.zzxdatsun.com and look in the catalogue under rubber parts. No need to build your own. Dan

MikeW, Thanks for your response, and clearing up this mystery. Now, why can't I think of using Google? Just toooo easy. The picture shown in that reference is the exact hose that I have. Anyone with a Datsun 610 and looking for a NOS braided upper radiator hose? Dan

I need a little help trying to identify the correct car for a braided upper radiator hose I acquired. I bought it for my 240z, but when I read the part number (barely visible) on the hose tag, it looked like #21501-U0100, not for a Z, but for what? With a little trimming, it would probably fit (pretty close to same "S" shape),but not an exact match. My Nissan parts guy doesn't have the capability of matching a car to a part number on his system, so thought someone might be familiar with this upper hose part number. I am sure someone would be interested in finding the correct braided radiator hose for there car. Thanks Dan

That is very interesting. My car, hls30-20419, one of the very last of the series 1 cars, came without the brow, and did not have the vertical diffuser bars in the center air vent. I remember replacing those items not long after purchasing the car with the later modified items, not caring about originality in 1972. Dan

Chris, are you saying that the early cars had the brow, or glare shield, above the map light lens? I don't believe that this brow was added until series 2 cars.

I have a set of D hubcaps with the larger (earlier) retainer clips that came from the same original car. One has 00.81 and another has 52.13 on the back behind the center medallion area. The formula would seem to not apply to these numbers. Another set I have, again with the larger clips, has number "101" on one, and "107" on another along with "IKI JAPAN" printed below each number on the back center portion of each cap. Maybe someone can decipher the meaning of these numbers if the above formula may not apply. Dan

Stephen, I couldn't agree with you more. This is one of the few places I can go to mentally get away from all of the worries and concerns that bombard and impact my life as a retiree trying to survive in a very volatile and controversial environment. Dan

Chris, also, as to the dash, I, again, thought that if one puts a NOS '71 dash into a '70 car it is listed in the parts catalogue as a direct replacement part number if the '70 dash is NLA.

moonpup, let me jump in here, again. That is correct, the finisher as seen on Kat's car is the original finisher as installed from the factory on the early 240z, up to what year or vin, I do not know. They could be purchased as a separate part, if you can find one, but I think they are NLA in general from Nissan. The finisher that comes installed on the muffler from Nissan is obviously different but may be considered correct for stock judging, but Chris would have to chime in with his thoughts. I ground off this finisher and will tack on the correct original as seen on Kat's car that I bought some years ago from my Nissan parts counter. Chris, as to the windshield, as Nissan glass is no longer available, I thought that repro parts would have no deductions. How about reproduction interior panels, carpet sets, center consoles, etc. All with point deductions? I may never have the chance to show my car at a National Convention, again, but ...............guess I need to read the judging criteria a little more closely. Thanks for any input Chris. Dan

Hello Kats, This may be slightly off topic, but, your exhaust system components look great. I, too, have all of the pieces, including the original hangars and early chrome finisher, in NOS condition except for the front down pipe. I found an unrusted downpipe that has the same early 2 into 1 fitting as yours. Did you paint the system silver, and if so, what paint, or finish, did you use? Kats, in my opinion, your car is one of a rare few that sets the standards for perfection in restoration. Thanks for the great pics. Dan

moonpup, I also have purchased an NOS exhaust system which was paint black. The black paint on NOS parts has been discussed here before and I think the majority opinion is the black paint is for shelf life protection. My car was delivery from the showroom with an unfinished, raw metal exhaust system as is found today with most new cars. Now, to your question. I believe that Zulaytr's orange 1972 car won the gold medallion award a couple of years ago at the nationals. His NOS exhaust system is black as can be seen in one or two pictures in his gallery but I don't know if he lost any points for being painted black. Hope this helps. I plan on stripping the paint from my system before installation and probably get some high temp galvanized steel colored paint to protect it from oxidizing from repeated heat cycles. Dan