AZ-240z

If I am interpreting the rules outlined on page 7, paragraph A, Stock Class, correctly, it appears that the statement, "Air-conditioning must be factory installed", now eliminates the dealer installed York units of the early series 1 cars as a stock item? Do the firewall holes for the A/C hoses need to be patched, or will rubber plugs be adequate for no point deductions? It will probably be a long time before a convention makes it back to the Western region where this could to be an issue for me, but I just thought I would ask for clarification for all who may be concerned. And kudos to 26th-Z for all his good work with the Z.C.C.A. Dan

Tomo, Here is what Wick Humble says on page 118 of his book "How To Restore Your DATSUN Z-CAR". If the harness is salvageable, but the tape is loose, peel it off and rewrap it in manageable sections. Duplicate the "factory" look when retaping a bundle of wires by starting from the extreme branch end by the terminal and taping toward the thicker baundle. By using a blind-end technique--taking a wrap of two toward the terminal end and then over-lapping back toward the trunk of the bundle-a very slick appearance can be obtained. This also helps prevent the bundle from unwrapping later when age and heat have taken their toll. This book is a must-have, in my opinion, for doing quality work on any Z. Dan

I say, take the original bones of this very early example of a car that we all cherish and covet, replace and repair that which has rusted and worn out, renew that which is salvageable, and it will be the pride and envy of all of us. As we all know, the task of finding NOS, or equivalent, parts worthy of this pedigree will be the challenge and, in my opinion, would be much more desireable than, as Chris eluded to in post # 15 above, a much less than perfect "time capsule" of originality. FWIW/ Dan

Mike, I believe that the correct decal for a US 1970 240z would be the football shaped decal shown in your first attachment. I talked to Mike at Banzai about the install of this decal, and he said that it should be placed so as to be read from a position standing in front of the radiator looking to the back of the car (just the opposite of the antifreeze and pain color code decal placements). I also have a 1970 Road & Track picture article on the 240z which shows this decal on the car profiled in the article. I know that Mike went to great pains to make sure that the gold color was exactly correct for this decal and this is the one I put on my 1/71 restoration. Hope this helps. Dan

My window sticker for my 1/71 series 1 car is like the one seen in the first pic attached to post #81 above. Under Port of Entry, the top box says in all caps "LOS ANGELES, CALIF", and the box underneath this says, "M.O.T.TRUCK". Hope this helps. Dan

Well, at one time I was tempted to chime in with some back slapping exuberance to try and elicit more pictures, and information on this very unique find, but! I fear that that might, in some way, might be misconstrued as being politically incorrect or erroneous, in some unintended way, so! I'm just going to have to wait and postpone my enjoyment of things of real importance about 00013 until the petty commentary subsides. I am far too old, with life concerns of a far greater magnitude, than to allow a terrific place such as this forum of total enjoyment to add any anxiety that already exists in my life. Sorry, just had to vent. Please ignore the previous as it was just for me. Dan

The early factory choke cables were originally twisted wire strands contained in the plastic sheath housing the cable. These were later replaced by Nissan with single wire cables, as the original multi-strand cables had a tendancy to kink and separate within the plastic cable housing. I agree with 26th-z. If lube doesn't solve the problem, most likely replacement, especially if it is the original multi-strand cable, may well be the answer.

The early 45 amp 240z alternators on series 1 cars had triangular cut out sections on the rear of the housing that resembled sections of a grapefruit that had been cut in half.

Carl, I have no direct documentation, but I can confirm that my 1/71 series 1 car came from the dealer with the summer/winter flapper feature as standard equipment. Carl, you inquired of someone else, as I glanced through other responses to this thread, about documentation in the owners manual. Well, I just dug out my original manual, in presitine condition I must say, and issue dated of 15th November, 1970. On page 16 of my manual, under -cold engine (cold weather)-subtitle for - Operating the Car -, I will quote the relevant paragraph. Quote, "When the outside temperature is 60 degrees F (15 degrees C) or below, turn the frost control valve lever on the air horn of the air cleaner to the position "Winter". It has always been my understanding, and this seems to be corroborated by by ZTherapy in there discriptions of the air filter housing that they are selling, that the summer/winter feature started with the 1970/71 change-over in either Aug or Sep of 1970. Hope this is helpful Dan Dan

These numbers are from the club parts CD: #18415-E4100 up to 01/70 #18415-E4101 02/70 to 08/71

Hello Kats, Arne, Your point about sufficient rigidity of the fuel hose was also a concern of mine. I have two of these fuel hoses, one for each of the master vac hoses, and am planning to use 1/4 inch copper tubing inside these fuel hoses to both shape, and strenthen them. Can you think of any reason that copper tubing wouldn't work, instead of using the brass rod that Kats used? I will also put a lenth of 1/4 inch electrical wire in the copper tubing while shaping it, just to keep the copper tubing from kinking during the bending process, then just pull the wire out (hope it doesn't bind up in the tubing). Let me know what you guys think, and, Kats, this was a terrific idea. Dan

Try Banzai Motorworks, www.zzxdatsun.com, and look in the catalogue under wiring. He, also, has a lot of things that aren't necessarily listed in the catalogue. Good luck. Dan

Let me try that address again. Somewhat computer challenged. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/body/doorhinge/index.htm Never mind. I guess this is what you had previously found. Sorry for the duplication. Dan

I don't know if this is the thread, but look at the thread "Door hinges" post #14 started by a7dz. It will give the the following address. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/body/doorhinge/index.htm

I may be able to give a somewhat accurate answer. The very early 240Z had this oil pan which seemed to develope cracks due to vibration. The welded, or braised, area you are refering to is a factory authorized repair to reinforce the pan until a better one was developed. Others may have more specific information for further clarification. Dan

If you're askin', I would use lots of bubble wrap, large bubbles, please.

Thanks, that's good to know. I have pretty much gone though my car replacing bolts and fasteners with original OEM fasteners. having talked with Eiji about other things, he a terrific person to work with. Dan

I have a NOS dash in my car and was concerned that I needed to use the right product. After talking to the guys at Car Care Specialties refered to in another related thread by 26th-Z, I settled on the Lexol Vinylex and have been very please with the short term results. Time will tell, but my car spends most of its life, now, covered in the garage. Dan Guess I should mention that it has been about 6 years since I started using the Lexol Vinylex. It gives everything I put it on a very natural and new low gloss appearance, and doesn't seem to attract a lot of dust or sticky residue.

Thanks, Randy. The color is not exact, but very close to the seat slider rail color. It is difficult to see the difference unless the colors are viewed side by side, and then the new paint just appears a little less faded. Motorman7, it'l be fun watching the refresh of your extremely nice survivor. Hope you will have as much fun as I have had doing mine. Dan

Guy, Do the bolts in Aiji's kit have the same numbers cast into the face of the bolt heads? Depending on there use, the originals had either a 4, or 7, or 9 cast into the bolt heads. Many of the bolts with the correct part numbers I have ordered from Nissan are identical to the originals except for these numbers as rarely the numbers are there. And I grant you, this is only important to fanatics like me. Dan

I finally finished restoring my horns and thought I would add a few pictures of the results. I made a set of gaskets for each side of the diaphram as the old paper diaphram material was pretty much toast. Also having a tough time getting these horns to work properly using the adjustment screw on the back plate, probably because of these new diaphram gaskets. There is a proceedure for volume adjustment in the Electrics section of the FSM but I'm doing it by trial and error for now. I was tempted to paint the heads of the phillips screws, but this thread shows both painted and bare metal. Anyhoo, I'm glad they are done for now. Dan

The temp gages in the 240z are notoriously inaccurate. When I bought my car new in Arizona, the temp ran 3/4 scale in the summer. My owners manual, I have a series 1 car, says normal operation temp is from 170 - 220 F (3/4 scale). I used an infra-red thermometer to measure my coolant temp with the car at operating temp and, as I recall, the temp averages around 185-195F at the radiator, hoses, block, thermostat housing, etc. Joseph Demers did an article for an early Z-CAR issue about calibrating the temp gage using a charted resistance value. I used his method, and calibrated my gage by plugging in a small resistor between the temp sensor and the pickup wire. I am trying to find that article and will post it when found. The gage reading in my car in the Arizona summer heat now registers around 185 (mid gage) - 195F which correlates very well with the thermometer readings that I had gotten. All components of my car, after restoration, are new or rebuilt. Dan

Thanks, Mike. The color matches up pretty good with the seat rail color so I think you will be happy with that paint color code. I bought it at my local auto paint supplier. I would also like to create a stensil for the "H" & "L" on the mounting brackets, but my just pass on that because it would have to be perfect to look correct and original. Dan

My date codes are not going to be accurate to the manufacture of my car. Pierre Z did most of the restoration and he had a tendancy to swap parts out from other cars. He probably did this with the Vintage Restorations also. One horn is T10 and the other is U3. I will try to attach a couple of pictures of the olive drab I used. The color went on a little too glossy, so I used some super fine steel wool to knock down the gloss and then do a quick polish. I think the final result came out real close to the original. Tell me what you think. Dan Mike, I just noticed (not able to absorb too much at once as an old person) that #210's mounting brackets also appear to be painted olive along with the mounting bolts. Your right, not able to tell if the backs were painted or left metal colored. I think I may just paint the phillips screws, nuts, and mounting brackets olive also, and leave the back natural metal. My mounting bolts are new gold zinc which I will leave alone.

Mike B, Nice pictures of #32 horns. I found some olive drab paint to pretty closely match the color of the seat rails and have just painted the fronts of my horns. Boths sets of your horns have been a big help in determining the correct finish for mine. I plan on spraying the backs, mounts, and phillips screws and nuts with a clear satin finish, but I do have one question. In your fifth picture above, it appears that the phillips screw heads are also painted olive on #32's horns. I assumed that they were clear zinc colored like the backs of the horns. And in the next two pictures of #32's front covers, the area around the screw holes looks to be painted olive. If the screws were painted on the horn, wouldn't these screw hole opening have a clear metal ring around them as if blocked by the screw head? I know, way too anal, but curious minds need to know these things. Great job, Mike B. I'll post pics of mine when completed. Dan