Mikes Z car

All of the Z car material has been sold the lister just told me.

all sold

I put a copy of the 240Z registry from 3 July 2009 on my blog if it helps anything. Will delete if that is a bad idea. Most likely I have a more recent copy at work but if it is already being corrected maybe it is okay as is. My entry is fixed. mike

Attached is a copy of the 240Z, 260Z, 280Z and 280ZX registry from 3 July 2009. If this is a copyright thing or another kind of violation I will delete it just let me know. Mike Z Car Registry.xls

I bought a 85 turbo Z new. Only new car I ever bought. The notchy transmission and non sports car feel made me want the 71 240Z back I had before I bought the turbo. In retrospect I would have been much happier if I had spent what I did on the turbo on the 240Z to get rid of rust damage. Back then I didn't know you could replace the floor pans. I do think women liked the 85 a lot better than my 240Z due to the comfort. The climate control worked better in the 85 than any other car I have had. I remember my first girlfriend saying when she got in the 71 240Z I had for the first time after I made a snappy exit from the parking lot "is that why you like these little cars?". I tried to explain that the throttle tended to stick; in retrospect I think because the butterflies were dragging on the side of the carbs. My current 70 240Z is smooth in that regard. I use lithium grease packed thick around the throttle shaft entry points to keep dirt out and to prevent additional wear. I plan on replacing the grease from time to time. I hope that is a good idea! Mike

I like the stock look but with limited funds my 240 will have to keep the things the PO installed. I think the original Z seats look great but I remember as a young guy driving a 240 across half the country in one sitting that the no lumbar support was a killer. The seats someone put in the 240 I have now don't look as good as the original IMO but i can drive with them all day as an old duffer with no problem. I also like the stock front valence look but I wonder if the air dam on my car might keep some water out? I lost my last Z to rust, very cautious about that. I don't drive in the rain so maybe that doesn't matter. Mike

The value of a book like that for me would be if it focused on how to replace parts no longer available with parts possibly from other makes that are plentiful and reliable. A complete brake assembly replacement then ideally would be a bolt-on from a car that was made in large numbers and is known to be reliable. In this line of reasoning the assembly could come from any manufacturer foreign or domestic. Mike

blue 72 and Adam, Thanks for the info I think for what I am doing that will work. Mike

Hi all, Are all of the dimensions available for the 240Z somewhere? I have the chassis dimensions that look like they came out of a book of some kind but they don't include bumper to bumper dimensions, height of car at various points etc. What I want is something that shows all of the dimensions including interior dimensions and all exterior overall dimensions if available etc.; full details as if I were going to try to make a complete 3D cad drawing of the 240Z (preferably early 240Z if that makes a difference). Thanks! Mike

zcar70, Thank you for helping my memory! Mike

I'd like to ask a question here on carpet. Did the original carpet attach to the floor with some kind of snap on fastener? I seem to remember my 71 240Z did have the carpets attached that way. My current car, a 70 240Z has 4 screw holes on both the driver's side floor and passenger's side floor for a total of 8 screw holes; two in front of the seat and two behind. Are these holes for the original carpet fasteners or did a PO put them in for some reason? Mike

This 73 240Z just showed up on Craigslist today (Sunday 15 Nov) here in Idaho: $4000 says always garaged, local phone number for me. http://boise.craigslist.org/cto/1466705366.html

Enigma, When I bought my first 240Z someone had painted it a nice brown like your car. It looks good on your car and I liked it on the 240 I had. Mike

What program did you make the diagram with? It looks great. Mike

That is great! Wonder what else they have hiding on a shelf somewhere? Mike

Is it possible that the fusible link is missing? Wouldn't the fusible link normally blow before making wires smoke?

Worst car for me was a 61 Metropolitan. Had a nice tube radio that did work. Only problem was it was my first car and the exhaust kept falling off of the exhaust manifold. What I didn't know is that this can cause the valves to burn which did happen. I tried to drive it to school some 400 miles away and it ran so bad from the misfires from the burned valves that it wouldn't make it up this one big hill so I limped into a gas station and sold it to an attendant for $10. Poor guy, I still lay awake at night in thinking how he got screwed. Mike

Thank you Arne, Esprist and Fastwoman, Great information, it helps a lot and Fastwoman yes if I find I need a new spring I will let you know where I got one. Mike

I notice when I pull out of 5th gear I tend to grind a little because I slightly tap reverse before I get into the neutral position and have realized this is because the shift lever won't return to center when I pull out of 5th and let go of it. It doesn't return to center from other gears either. Looking at the Haynes manual there is a return spring plug and return spring to the left and forward of the shift lever looking down through the shift lever hole from the driver's seat with the shift boots removed. I can see that the return plug itself is actually there. I remember reading another thread that indicates there are at least two different 5 speed transmissions that someone could have put in this car and I don't know which one I have or if that makes a difference here. My two questions are: 1. Is a missing return spring most likely causing this and if it is missing can I get one somewhere and if not might it be possible to make one from a spring I get at a hardware store? The book doesn't say anything about there being any ball bearing that the spring pushes against. 2. Is it possible to put in a return spring without taking the transmission out? I realize that this might not be a common problem. Thanks for any information. Mike

This weekend I had the 5 floorboard sheetmetal pieces welded in to repair rust holes. Also the driver's side floor pan frame rail was straightened as it had been used by a floor jack. Unremoved rust makes the mig welder spit sparks. First I drew on the floor with a marks a lot around the holes using straight lines to make the cutting and fitting of the new pieces easier. After I cut along the straight lines using an angle grinder I made cardboard templates from the floor holes. I bought a piece of sheet steel 16 gauge from Thrifty hardware and put the templates on that and drew on the metal to outline the new replacement pieces. I used an angle grinder to cut them out but I had to use a bench grinder to adjust the shape of the 5 repair pieces to fit properly. Some would have overlapped the metal which would have been easier but I didn't want an area to trap moisture. 16 gauge is slightly thicker than the 17 gauge originally on the car. Coincidentally the gentleman who did the welding used to own a scarab 71 240Z. He put nitrous on his and I don't know if that is typical for scarabs but he said he had trouble with the rear shocks coming up through the floor and he had to weld reinforcement in to prevent that.

Back around 1980 with the 71 240 I had then I was driving through Phoenix and the points quit. I was towed a short distance to a shop where they put new ones in. Another time in Texas I ran out of water and parked on the side of the freeway and hiked a half mile to a farm house and got some more water in a container I carried due to leak worries. Mike

I had to try switching the headlight switch on and off a few times the night I got my 240 to get the headlights to work. Probably needed to break through corrosion in the headlight switch. Maybe if you switched your headlights on and off a bunch of times it might start working.

I cut the 5 floor replacement 18 GA steel pieces I need to fix the five rust holes in my floorboard. I may need one on the bottom back part of the driver's side frame rail though. Not sure how to weld something on the bottom with a MIG without getting burned. Might try fiberglassing that small 2X2 inch area to avoid that.

On the 71 240 I used to have I had to replace the back hatch (lock was damaged as well as the hatch) and wanted the key to fit all locks so I took the hatch lock apart and by using the key I wanted to work with it I was able to rearrange the order of the flat things the key shoves over when it is inserted into the lock. It is good to take that thing apart in a very small enclosed space due to risk of flying small springs (a shower with drain covered?). The flat things have to line up even with the side of the cylinder for the key to open the lock if memory serves. I had to delete one or two of those flat things as well as I couldn't get all of them to line up using my key no matter which flat thing slot I put them in. The deletion slightly reduced the security of the lock (easier to pick) but I never had a problem with it. Mike

Thanks everyone for the great information! I didn't know the first Zs didn't have the heater grid on the glass and that therefore there is no heater switch. I had assumed the car I have now is in the same configuration as the 71 240 I used to have. (insert loud buzzer here from old TV game show) No wonder I can't find where the glass heater switch plugs into because in a manner of speaking Nissan hadn't thought of it yet. Mike