Namerow

Having seen the pain that others have gone through for this particular job (Exhibit A: Blue's write-up on the Atlantic Z-Cars site; Exhibit B: Hardway's write-up on this site), I don't think there would be an issue with $80 - $100 for this tool -- if it proves to be effective. The big socket would only add another $10 or so.

Puzzle solved (unless that extra '012' stud shows up in another location on the engine!). Or maybe Nissan already knew that the rear stud was going to break on 90% of the L-6 engines they produced and decided to equip each car with a spare .

I'm still confused. For the '013' studs, I assume that these are for the outermost holes at the front and rear of the head, each of which also serve to locate an engine sling/hoist plate (this agrees with the fiche/e-fast, which says 2 required). I agree with the count of 6 required for the '014' studs. However, for the '012' studs, I count a total of 6 + 3 = 9 required (fiche/e-fast says 10 required). So, which is correct: 9 x '012' + 2 x '013' ? or, 10 x '012' + 1 x '013' ? Or is it something else?

When installing my new vinyl seat covers (made by Distinctive Industries, bought from Banzai Motorsports), I discovered that the cover for the 'cushion' (bottom) part of the seat is sized specifically for the aftermarket replacement foam. That aftermarket replacement foam bottom piece is molded so that it's about 2 cm taller ('thicker') than the original Nissan foam. This was only an issue for the bottom part of the seat. However, you can't buy the top and bottom foam pieces separately. I was able to get proper fit with my old Nissan foam (which, on my car, was in remarkably good shape) by putting a 1-inch-thick slab of upholstery-shop foam under each molded bottom piece. Nevertheless, for best fit, my experience suggests that new seat covers should be accompanied by new seat foam. I expect that the leather seat covers will also be sized for the aftermarket replacement foam. Maybe somebody who's bought the MSA or Innovative Industries leather covers can comment.

The British car restoration magazine, 'Classics Monthly' did a comparison test of several different paint strippers in 2013. They found a significant difference in performance (speed) and ease-of-use (incl. fumes) across the products tested. Also in price. Some of their notes and tips: New UK government environmental regulations forced a change in formulations at some point after 2000. The banished chemical was a solvent called dichloromethane (DCM). After the DCM ban, some of the revised stripper products no longer performed as well as they had previously (meaning that some brands may no longer live up to their reputations, while others may no longer deserve a poor reputation). Not sure whether a similar ban on DCM occurred in the USA.Gels are preferred over liquids because they stick to vertical panelsFor best results, etch the paint surface with a utility knife or single-side razor blade, creating a 1"-spacing crosshatch patternDon't let the stripper get into panel gaps or joins. It's hard to flush out afterwards and can foul up your new paintwork. The recommendation is to tape off fixed-panel edges and all panel seams and gaps before applying the stripper.After application of the stripper, cover the panel surface with cling wrap (aka food wrap or Saran wrap) to keep the stripper from evaporatingThe best product tested worked quickly went through several layers of paint with just one application. A less expensive stripper worked equally well but had to be left overnight to work.The least-effective products worked slowly and require multiple applicationsA few strippers are -- with care -- safe for use on fibreglass, Most, however, aren't.In conclusion, using a poor-quality stripper will result in a lot of unnecessary work. Using a high-quality stripper can be a surprisingly easy process. Pre-etching the paint with a knife helps a lot. The magazine's test winner was a product called 'Rustins Strypit' (www.rustins.co.uk). Sells in various-size containers, from 250ml to 4 litres. Due to transportation safety regulations, I'm not sure whether these kinds of products can be shipped from the UK in small or single lots.

JAlex: If you decide on the option of replacing, 're-skinning' the dash (Just Dashes) or 'restoring' the dash (filler, followed by truck bedliner spray), the dash has to come out of the car. Your Z will be disabled and undriveable for weeks. Maybe months. Do you really want that? Also: My sense from your other posts is that you're not really a do-it-yourself kind of guy, so be warned than any of these three routes is going to cost you a LOT of ca$h for shop labour. Also, if the shop you choose hasn't got previous experience with a Z dash remove/replace, there's a good chance that they'll screw something else up in the process. If -- for whatever reason -- you choose to re-skin your dash, I expect that you'll need to add several hundred dollars to the Just Dashes price to pay for crating and two-way shipping. Same applies to buying a NOS dash (if you're willing to wait for a good one to show up on eBay), although in that case it will just be the cost for crating and one-way shipping. To summarize: Lots of work, lots of time, lots of co$t$, lots of delay, lots of new risks. Then there's the 'dash cap' option. You can choose between a full-coverage cap and a half-coverage cap. Half caps are easy to put on, but not pleasing to all eyes. Full caps look much better, but are more difficult to install successfully. The work and techniques involved are well-described in other places on this site (use the search tool). Done wrong, the cap will probably not fit well around the gauges and the glovebox opening. Also, the cap may split around the corners if you try to force it into place. There's also the risk of warping the cap if you're over-zealous with the use of the heat gun. Nevertheless, despite all of these installation 'challenges', hundreds of Z's have full dash caps that have been (more or less) successfully installed. Note: There are techniques for getting the speedometer or tach out afterwards (again, well documented elsewhere on this site - again, use the search tool), although there's not a 100% guarantee that those techniques will work for you. Ask yourself, though: How often am I going to need to service the speedometer or the tach? Looking at the puncture mark on your dash -- along with the 3" crack that was already there and apparently wasn't bothering you much before the puncture mark occurred -- I think that the epoxy-and-paint suggestion may not be all that bad a solution. If there is more than just this one crack in your dash (and I'll bet there are), I'm even more inclined to suggest that a spot repair makes sense. If you want to try something a little 'better', Eastwood Tools (www.eastwood.com) offers a leather-and-vinyl repair kit that permits taking a small mold of the texture of undamaged surface and then applying it to the repair compound so that the repaired area blends in with the rest of the surface. That sounds easier said than done, though. You'd probably want to practice with it on some other textured-vinyl surface first, before you commit to trying it on your Z's dash. Remember: If the results of a spot repair don't please you, all of the other options still remain available.

Steve: What are you using for your bath heaters and temperature controllers?

Chris: Don't forget about Interior Innovations ( www.interior-innovations.com ) in Saginaw, Michigan. They offer full-leather interior panel kits for Z's (in a full range of colours), along with full-leather seat covers. Although door panels aren't listed, they might just get interested in producing them if the probable level of demand catches their attention. JJ

I noticed the same problem, but I was fortunate to be able to deal with it while the dash was out of my car. There often seemed to be a lot of 'stiction' between the bulb's locating pins (what you call nibs?) and the plastic socket. Might be a combination of micro-dirt on the plastic and oxidization on the pins. Something I did that really seemed to ease the bulb lock/unlock action was to put a tiny bit of grease on the ramps of the plastic socket (i.e. the surfaces that the pins on the base of the bulb ride on). I used dialectric grease because it was handy at the time. I suppose that any grease would be ok, though, because the ramps are the strictly for mechanical engagement and don't function as electrical connection surfaces. Because you're working on this while your dash is in the car, you'd have to resort to putting a bit of grease on the end of each pin. Not quite as effective as greasing the ramps, but it might work. Just don't over-do it with the grease. And use dialectric grease for sure, because some of it may get onto the electrical contact on the side of the bulb. Try it out first on the bulb that's easiest to reach (usually the one for the clock). If you like the result, you can do the same for all the rest. I can't comment with confidence on your 'yellow bulb' problem because I'm using a different bulb mftr and wattage. Doesn't sound right, though.

Yes, I read the write-up by the engine shop too. Very interesting. Carrillo rods (no surprise) and a billet crank (!). The Aussie builder (located just east of Melbourne, by the way) sounds very knowlegable on the topic of L-series engines. Note the comments about cam wipe patterns and use of Nissan parts. I didn't realize that the 3x2 Mikuni carb setup was that rare and sought-after. Maybe just this particular size? Also, I wonder what kind of power this engine made on the dyno. There was a suggestion that the head had been 'flow-rated for 400 Hp', but there were no figures given anywhere that I could see about the actual outputs achieved at the crank.

1970 Datsun 240Z Gets Hot Engine, Attacks Laguna Seca: Video http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1100300_1970-datsun-240z-gets-hot-engine-attacks-laguna-seca-video

Nice work, Chris. Pretty labour-intensive, but a great end result. Looks like the acid prep and chromate finishing dips have paid off, so I guess I'm off to the hardware store to buy a few more buckets to add to my growing collection. Your findings about the lack of first-level sensitivity to voltage seem to mirror those of others who've tried this. Anything from 1.5V to 12V seems to be fair game. I need to put together a hi-load potentiometer for my setup so that I can get a bit of current control happening.

Thanks, Jim. That's what I was afraid of. Fortunately, I decided to do one seat at a time so as to learn what to do / what not to do before tackling the second one. Interesting how such a small but important point has never surfaced in any of the the how-to write-ups (not even in Wick Humble's book). Maybe it was just more obvious to everyone else than it was to me!

Yup. I just did a new post and that's exactly what happened. Fortunately, I'd seen the double/triple-posts by others, so checked first before being tempted to press the 'Post' button a second time. I suppose that frequent posters know all about this, but newbies probably don't. Not an issue when responding to an existing post. Only when creating a new post. Funny, though. I don't seem to remember this being an issue in the past. Has something 'shifted'?

The topic of installing new seat covers has been covered nicely by Hardway and several others. However, having completed the job on the first of my 70 Z's two seats (Distinctive Industries covers, purchased from Mike at Banzai), I've run into a little conundrum that nobody seems to have ever commented on: For the bottom half of the seat, I installed the seat cover with the sliding seat tracks removed from the seat frame. This seemed only logical, since it provides full access to the underside for purposes of pulling the hem of the cover over the metal tangs (and also for purposes of pulling the listing wire fabric loop down through the slot in the foam and clipping the wire in place. The problem sets in when I try to bolt the track to the frame. The tracks' mounting studs insert into cupped plates welded into the four corners of the tubular frame (the studs, of course, are pressed into the track ends and don't turn). So, now the hex nut needs to get threaded onto the stud (not much access, but do-able)... and tightened. Problem. The raised edges of those cupped plates is making wrench access impossible. I've tried every type of box-end, open-end, and socket wrench that I have in my toolbox. Nothing seems to work. There's not enough space between the underside of the foam and the plane of the hex nuts to get a socket wrench in there. An open end won't work because the cupped edges of the mounting plate gets in the way. It looks like a high-offset box-end might do the job but, as luck would have it none of the five versions of 12mm box-ends in my toolbox have anything more than a minor offset. Even so, what a PITA that would be to tighten all four of those nuts with a non-ratcheting box-end wrench and a swing arc of about 20 degrees. Am I missing something obvious here?

The PICO website and catalog (downloadable) makes for some very interesting reading. For example, they offer DIY fusible link kits. They also sell not only loom tape, but loom tape tools and accessories. Deutsch connectors, relay pigtails, crimping tools, etc, etc. They're a wholesaler, of course, so you'd need to source a retailer by way of one of their sales agents. www.picowiring.com

The springs that appear in the ebay vendor's site (PN 951606) are not listed in the 2015 Vogtland catalog. They're probably a discontinued item. The 2015 catalog contains no parts listings for the 240-260-280Z's. Before you buy, you may want to check with Vogtand customer service in Germany ( http://www.vogtland.com/en/contact_persons.php ) to make sure that these are the correct parts for a Z and that the characteristics (stiffness, amount of drop) are going to be acceptable for you. A quick read of the Vogtland company materials indicates that you should have no worries about product quality or customer support. If you manage to get the specs for these springs, please remember to post them here on the CZCC site. I suspect that a lot of other Z owners may be interested.

Re the brand of brake shoes that MSA sells, I think you mis-heard the sales rep. It's 'Valeo' -- one of Europe's largest automotive parts manufacturers for both OE and aftermarket applications. You can review their service parts catalogue here: http://www.valeoservice.com/html/export/en/produits.catalogueproduits.php Valeo started out in business in the 1920's as 'Ferodo' making brake and clutch linings. They moved into heaters and air conditioning systems ('SOFICA' brand) in the 1960's, and then into electrical systems ('Marchal' and 'Cibie' brands) in the 1970's. Originally a French company. Tt now has plants all across Europe, as well as in the USA, South America and China.

Motorsport Auto sells a product called 'Battery Mat'. It's an acid-resistant, absorptive sheet that fits inside the plastic battery tray. Under $10, IIRC. Can't vouch for its long-term effectiveness -- probably good for one or two incidents. Way better than the alternative, though.

I have the next-smaller size of the Eastwood series . It's loud. I put in in a separate room and close the door. These things aren't, '5 minutes and you're done'. More like several hours (of noise). I use the pyramid-shaped green media for the de-rusting step. I'm not sold on this design as a 'one stop solution' for de-rusting fasteners. I suspect that use of a powered brass wire wheel may still be a worthwhile pre-treatment (although I bought the Eastwood shaker to get away from that). Someone else in another thread has provided a lot of suggestions about adding detergents to the media. Check that out. In the end, I suppose these 'tumblers' have a place in the workshop, esp. if your budget doesn't permit buying all-new fasteners like some do. The idea of media-blasting fasteners seems a little silly, and chemical de-rust treatments leave a residue that isn't very attractive. The real issue is what to do after you've de-rusted the fasteners. Paint? Plating service? I'm playing with a DIY plating rig. Results are promising but the jury's still out. Not sure if I'm up to doing this with all of my de-rusted fasteners. Life is short.

Might be easier to find and install a different balance tube than to find a early-style, engine-side vacuum hose that's in good condition. I have the same issue with my 5/70. I measured both the OE hose (tattred braiding, ok hose) and the brass fitting and found that they're 'odd' compared to all of the other S30 hose fittings: Hose ID: 9.5mm Fitting OD: 10.75mm Hose 'stretch' over fitting: 13% Hose Wall: about 4mm (compares with 3.5mm measured for an OE coolant hose... | 10% thicker wall) Unfortunately, all that`s out there in the way of braided hose is 9mm or 11mm (ID), both with a coolant-hose-type wall thickness. Neither is suitable for the Nissan OE fitting -- one is too small, the other too big, both are too thin. But: An 11mm hose with a formed metal-tube liner/shaper might work -- if you properly seal the two ends over the slightly-too-small OE fittings. Just thinking out loud, here...

Some further insights into wiring for a dealer-installed aftermarket A/C system, as posted by member 'AZ 240z' on 21 January 2014: "The dealer added FrigiKing air conditioning incorporated a micro-switch that may have utilized one of these wires. The micro-switch was mounted at the intake duct actuator located behind the blower motor in the passenger side footwell area behind the dash. When the top slide lever on the heater control panel was moved from the center "vent" position to the left "off" position, the intake duct door moved to close off fresh air intake and open to allow the air from the evaporator to pass through the blower assembly for cabin distribution. Also, with the movement of this vent lever to the off position, a circuit was completed via this micro-switch through the dealer added A/C ON-OFF/ RHEOSTAT switch to allow electrical actuation of the A/C compressor. This on-off switch was mounted to the bottom of the dash below the hazard switch. The micro-switch assembly on my car is incorporated in a red plastic housing mounted next to the cable actuator for the intake duct behind the blower motor." I believe that the FrigiKing A/C system was just one of the two or three different aftermarket systems that were installed by Datsun dealers back in the day. The choice of system may have depended on the sales region, or it may have been simply up to the individual dealer (carl Beck would probably know more on this). They probably all operated and were wired in much the same way. So: The wire connection point you're looking for may, in fact, be at the microswitch that is, "mounted at the intake duct actuator located behind the blower motor in the passenger side footwell area behind the dash." I wonder if anyone else has ever posted a wiring diagram for one of these aftermarket A/C systems?

According to carpartsmanual.com, the Instrument Harness went through a series of PN changes in the early days of the S30. Not sure, though, exactly what this means with respect to actual changes in the design and features. The production periods for the first five (of many) iterations were: 1 SOP - 7009 2. 7010 - 7012 3. 7101 - 7108 4. 7109 - 7112 5. 7201 - 7206 My May-70 car has an Instrument Harness whose design matches (mostly) with the factory wiring diagram labeled, 'Late Model' that appears in the 71 FSM Supplement. The next available FSM wiring diagram appears in the 72 edition of the service manual (and probably a lot of the 'transition' cars' built in the few months leading up to the formal start of MY-72 in/around Oct 1971). Your car's Sep-71 build date falls squarely in that transition period, so who knows what you've got and what wiring diagram and PN apply. There is a label with the PN that's taped into the Instrument Harness loom, but you'd have to pull the dash to find it. FWIW, the owners manual that was shipped with your car might have a wiring diagram at the back. In the case of my May-70 car, this version has proven to be the only one (of the three or four possible) that accurately depicts the wiring and switching that's in my car. If you have an owners manual and you know that it's the one that was shipped with the car from the factory, it may prove to be the only accurate reference for your car's wiring. SteveJ is an expert on these cars' electrical details, so perhaps he can comment further. The equipment anomalies of the MY71-MY72 'transition cars' has been the subject of owner comments in many past threads on this site.

Not surprised you couldn't find the earlier reference. I posted it in a thread about a 4-relay system for headlights and I referred to what you call the 'bowl' as a 'bucket' (we're all colonials over here and we use different words). Anyway, the bowl that I have was purchased new some thirty years ago and has sat in its box ever since. It's ink-marked 'L' on the back face of the mounting flange, and that means its designed to be mounted on the 'traffic' side (as opposed to 'curb' side) here in North America. Looking from the front of the bowl, the mounting tab for the alignment tensioning spring sits at the 7:30 position. My LHS unit has to following info stamped,into the front face of the mounting flange: "110-24152 Koito Japan SAE H 69 DOT" There is a second stamping, located on the stamped-metal headlamp mounting platethat, itself, mounts to the bowl: "10-41371 Koito Japan" This leads me to believe that the numbering is just Koito's internal parts numbering (i.e. not a date code). Nissan PN for the complete (from the label on the original box) is 26060-E4601. It includes outer bowl (c/w 4 body-mount bolts), headamp mounting plate, alignment tensioning spring, chrome trim ring, rubber mounting gasket, alignment screws and plastic bosses, 3-wire electrical pigtail c/w black plastic and white plastic connectors, connector dustboot, and rubber grommet (where the pigtail passes through the bowl).

Different part numbers, FWIW. Changeover was as of 7409. Part number changed again in 7608. Hard to say, though, whether the PN changes mean that the rails are/are not interchangeable.