Marty Rogan

Just thought I would throw in my experience for reference. I have had them on my show car for about 5 years. Have had no issues whatsoever. It is very true that you don't want to hamfist them as they WILL break. I have had them on my race car for about a year and a half. Again, no issues. If you do alot of bleeding, I recommend getting the tube of sealant to re-caulk the threads occasionally. I also recommend the optional clear fluid collection bag. I bought a 10' section of tight fitting clear tubing and connect it to the collection bag. I can attach it to any corner of the car and watch the fluid flow into the bag, right from the driver's seat. You can easily see when the bubbles stop. This set-up has worked great for me. I have also put them on all of the other bleeders on the car: master cylinder, and clutch slave. To each his own, but I like them alot. Marty

Curtis/All, Thanks for the reply. I spoke to tech support at Koni USA. He confirmed that not rebounding would be normal for an oil shock. He also said that the bubbling up may be normal. IF they are leaking, oil would be dripping down the side. He said there really isn't a way to test them without a special machine. Having them rebuilt is $140 + parts. Incidentially, he said that they started making them for the 240Z again beginning last year. P/N's are: Front 861811 and Rear 861812, about $140/ea. Available from Classicgarage.com. So its actually cheaper to just buy new ones. He also said that if they were built after May of 1980, that they would replace them under warranty, with a receipt or proof of the date of install. There is a 3 digit date code on them that they can decode if you call them with it. You can contact Koni USA at (859) 586-4100. I guess I'll pull one out of the tube and check the date code. Marty

Anybody know where you could get Koni's rebuilt in the USA and how much it might cost? I suspect that I would probably be better off just replacing them, but would like to explore my options. I was really hoping to stick with the Koni's. Marty

I am working on the suspension on the '71 that I bought last year. Putting PU bushings and re-doing the tie rods, ball joints. From the receipts I got with it, the PO put in some Koni red shocks, around 20+ years ago. I am wondering if they are still good. The car handles well and seems to ride fine. I had a set on my first Z in the early '80's and recall something about being a "lifetime shock". Aren't they adjustable in some way as they get older? I pushed the pistons down and they stayed there. Aren't they supposed to rebound back out? Also one of the rears seemed to have bubbles escaping next to the piston. I figured that couldn't be a good sign. Probably leaking? LEt me know what you think. Marty

Thanks for the tips Ron! Marty

Hi Ron, I just pulled the rear struts out yesterday to start on this job. What did you use to reduce the bushing size? On the Energy Suspension bushings, do you keep the OEM outer bushing casings, or cut them out? TIA, Marty

Try Zbarn: http://www.zbarn.com/ I believe I read one of our members got this part from them. They are in the Southeast and may have some rust free shells left. Good luck, Marty

I had one of those on my first 240Z, back in the early '80's. It's the Datsun equivalent to the grille Badges you see on Mercedes. Is it worth anything? Well, I 'll give you $2 for it, for 100% profit!! Marty

If the '79 is the same as the 77-78, that would be a good thing. From what I hear, they are more durable than the 80-83. This would be going in my track car, so that would work out a bit better, maybe. It has 136K on it and I don't know its condition yet. Good news is that it is in a driveable car, that I can check it out. Marty

I might have a chance to pick up a '79 ZX Parts car for free. It has 136K on it. I have heard people say the 75-78 and 80-83 5 speeds are good. I have not heard people talk about the 79 model 5 speeds. Are they junk? If they are ok, it might be worth it to grab the engine and trans out of it. Can a 79 engine be converted to carbs easily? TIA, Marty

Courtesy Nissan used to give a 25% discount for Z Club and Internet Users. Not sure anymore. I stopped using them when their service declined and they would not always give a discount. I went to Midwest Z for everything until Chloe "vanished". The last couple of small items that I got came from my local dealer. They give a 25% discount for Z Club members, and I don't have to pay for shipping. The only issue with them is that on special order parts, like Z specific bolts, etc. you sometimes have to buy a pack of 10, or however many Nissan packages them. Courtesy will genereally sell you just what you need. Marty

ez73, I agree with Carl. Check your vent lines, as this is a very common problem. There are 4 cables that are attched to the heater panel slider rods. Follow them to the ends where they connect to the various vents. There are phillips head screws that hold the wires in place. Loosen the screws and the wire will pull out of its slot. Then when you remove the 4 face plate mounting screws, you can move it forward out of the way. Does anyone know what that "contact point" is that Daniel described? The guage on my 71 drifts like he described, and I can't trust the accuracy at all. So, from this discussion, it sounds like the guage may be flakey. I wonder if it would do any good to take it out and clean it, or just replace it? Marty

Sure, you can buy only the o-ring. Check the parts CD for the #. I would also buy the lock ring that holds in the sender, as you will probably destroy it trying to get the sender out. I won't assume anything with these flaky gauges. Mine recently read 3/4 full and I ran out of gas. I reset the trip meter at fill-up. When I hit 200 miles, I fill it up again, just to be safe. I would recommend that you clean up all the connections first. When you put it back together, just remember that the "G" post on the sender means GAGE, not ground. Those tricky, tricky Japanese!! ! Marty

ez73, Going through the glove box will likely destroy it, and those are NLA. You can disconnect all the heater cables and remove the entire heater panel with only 4 more screws. That will give you easy access to the gauge. If the guage is reading empty when there is still gas in the tank, and you know your sender (float) is good, there is an adjustment screw on the sender, inside the tank. You could try adjusting it there. Make sure you only have about a 1/4 tank of gas though. You should change the "O" ring while its out so you don't have a leaking problem. Let us know the final solution once you find it. Marty

Looks like it didn't work. How do you attach a picture to a post? I tried the attach file feature, but it didn't seem to work. Marty

ROOPZ, I will try to attach some pics of the fender. Sure hope this works! Marty

ROOPZ, That was a typo on the tire size. It is 215/60/15 Yokohama AVS. I believe that is equal to the stock size diameter, but am not positive. It has been a while. I had a body shop roll the fender lip. I don't have a pic here, I'll have to look into it. As I recall, He tapered it, so that by the time you reached the bottom, the width of the lip was folded inward. Hope that makes sense. It's kinda hard to describe. Definitely go with the 15 x 7 for better performance. You won't be disappointed. Marty

I would go with the 15 x7 rims. 16's will give you somewhat of a harsher ride and you will have more potential for rubbing. I had 16's on my blue 70 when I bought it, and took them off. You are limited to no wider than 205 wide upfront to avoid rubbing. Plus it just looked weird to me on a 240. By the way, the springs are not usually the rubbing problem, unless you go with some strange offset, or crazy wide tires. It is usually the front lip of the fender in the wheel opening that rubs if you go wider than 195. 205 MIGHT fit, but not sure. This is for a 60's series tire. If you go with a 50's series tire, you can go up to 225 wide, but you loose some ride comfort (and gain performance). On my blue Z I have 15 x 7 Panasports with 216/60/15's. I had to roll the front lip of the fender. I like the way it fills up the wheel well and the ride is great. Performance is good too. On my Yellow track Z, I have 15 x 7's with 225/50/15's. I believe this tire size will fit with no rubbing. I rolled the lip on this car anyway, because I had the other tires on there for a short while. Check my gallery to see how they look. So it depends on what you are looking for, ride comfort or performance. I bought my last set of Panasports from Les Canaday at Classic Datsun. You should check with him on his current pricing. I know he was significantly cheaper than MSA: http://www.classicdatsun.com/ Well that's my 2 cents worth anyway. Marty

Looks like you took a walk in the ugly forest, and bounced off every tree!! Take a long walk off a short pier. F#*& you and the horse you rode in on! Marty

Chris is correct. There is a big difference between drivers and show cars. Mine is in the class of a clean driver that is also shown. It does really well at the local/regional level. I have often wondered how well it would do at the National competition. It is all stock , except for the radio, which I have the parts to put back to original. HAve the original hub caps too. The biggest issue is, that it is not a factory color. That fact alone would probably put me out of the running. I was thinking it might do ok in the daily driver class though. Anyway, back to the stickers. I picked up the magnets at an office supply store. They come in 8 1/2" x 11" sheets. They are meant to be used in an inkjet printer, so they are very thin, only slightly thicker than paper. Glad to hear there is a good coating for you to use on the stickers. Those little buggers are pretty pricey. Marty

Z boi, These are rates specific to a 240Z. James, How do you use your car? Progressive springs may be ok for a street only car. Quite a while ago one of our experienced racers said to stay away from progressive springs on a track car. He said it is down right scary when the springs make an abrupt transition in spring rates. Yep, been at MOT for 14 years now. We're having a pretty good year. I'll keep you posted on what I decide. It will be a few months before I can free up some cash, so I'll be going through the tear down mode first. Take it apart, clean and POR -15 all the parts. I already have the PU bushings. Springs will go on last. Its entering winter time here, so I'll have till the end of March to finish it up. Marty

Hmmmm. So how did you get it in there? Looks pretty awkward and heavy to get into a back seat! So, did he buckle the setbelt to keep it safe!?? Marty

Hi James, I am looking for springs for my dual purpose car. It is a 71 that I drive on the street and do about 6 high speed track events per year. So, I am trying to figure out the optimum balancing act. From the research that I have done so far, it seems that 125 front / 165 rear would give me that balance. It will be stiff enough to give good performance on the track, without being punishing on the street. Unfortunately, I have not found anyone that makes this combination. I need to do some additional checking though. I beleive Eibach's website says you can get springs in any rates you want. We'll see if that is true. To help you understand the whole picture, the car has Koni shocks, 1" front and 7/8" rear sway bars. This winter I will be installing PU bushings. That is what got me thinking about the springs, since I will have it all apart anyway. Actually, I am not really unhappy with the way it handles now. It handles pretty neutral and reasonably flat in the corners. It just seems I should replace the old stock springs while I am in there. Marty

In case anyone else is interested, I just talked to the tech rep at Suspension Techniques. He quote the following spring rates: Front: 125 Rear: 182 Drops the car 1". Marty