240 in OZ

Alfa Make sure you take your silver 71 and the for sale signs. It will be a great opportunity for you to sell it. Joseph

Hey Make sure you guys attending the show take a heap of pictures and post them to the web for us poor southerners that cant make the trip. Wishing those attending all the best for the weekend. Cant wait till its in Sydney ;>

Hey. I wanted to take this posting in a different direction. Can anyone here shed some light on how this car should have been stored away and maintained correctly. Is it possible to store a car away for this period of time, clock up zero miles, keep it maintained, and roll it out 12 years later, start it up and take off? (Im assuming not). Anything specific to the z car anyone knows of which requires extra attention? Keep in mind that I dont want to start a flame war against either the current owner of the car or the current 'keeper' of the car. Lets see what we can come up with. Joseph

It is. Follow the directions carefully though and if you intend to spray it on make sure you only use the thinner that they recommend, it is also available from them. I have heard horror stories before where a different brand thinner has been used, then the POR15 topcoated with the final coat only to find that it all peels off and you have to start again. Again, follow the directions carefully if you intend to spray it. Joseph

No problems. Id actually recommend that you put POR15 on the bare metal after the repairs are made before you paint etc. For it to work effectively it needs to be painted on either bare metal or rusted metal. Bare metal requires a prepping medium before the POR15 is applied; this is also available from the guys at PPC. For a temp measure you could try some cheaper rust converter available at auto stores or even fish oil the heck out of the area. Good luck, looks nasty. Joseph

Hey POR-15 is available here in Australia directly from the distributor located in Mona Vale, NSW. Check the website at www.ppc.au.com (they are known as Permanent Painted Coatings). I have also seen it for sale in a few auto paint stores here in Australia. As for frame rails, Warren at All-Z may be able to help you out. He is in Thornleigh, NSW. Regards Joseph

Hey 2Many is right, only the very early cars into Australia would have had the metal badges, the remainder are plastic. There was a set on ebay last week. They are also available new from Nissan or try Warren at All-Z in Thornleigh, NSW. Joseph

Steve Hmmmm, looks more like rust to me ;> If this is the case it is definately not the car that I saw all those years ago as the one I looked at was definately originally silver. BTW, next time you plan on heading south from Newcastle give me a shout and we can hook up. Im only about 10 min drive off the Sydney-Newcastle freeway. Joseph

Hello I think that I may be familiar with the white car you were considering buying. I believe it is the same one I looked at here in Sydney about 6-7 years ago when I first started looking to buy a 240z. At the time it was for sale in Kirribilli here in NSW. It was in OK condition back then, but wasnt the car I was looking for. Big plus I guess is that back then it had the original L24 in it. It did have metal patches welded into both frame rails on the underside in the engine compartment area. The interior was also pretty trashed back then. It also had different wheels on it, factory 260z mags. Steve, Im interested to know why you say it wasnt a white car from the factory based on the photographs that have been supplied. I have seen many cars with a black engine bay and it was common practice to rust proof the engine bay area of the car when new; the finish commonly being black. You are right though, it definately wasnt a white car from the factory. I am of the belief that it was actually silver as the floor pans on the inside of the car are silver. Hawkwind, you must let us know where you found this stash of 240z's for sale here in Sydney. It probably is Carlos, but I would like to know for sure. If Carlos has so many z cars in his yard, why when I call him does he tell me he has no parts? Maybe just me I guess ;> Let us know about the $16k 260z that is for sale as well. I also want to disagree with the thread discussion a little. It is fair enough to buy a good car to begin with, something that someone has poured countless $ into, but where is the fun in that. I as a 240z owner enjoy fixing my car up bit by bit and spending money on it and improving it and making it into the car that I want, as I bet a lot of owners of z cars out there also believe in. It is very hard to find a good z car here in Australia, I looked for over 5 years for a good 240z in original condition. At the end of the day I settled on a car that I could see had the potential to be what I wanted it to be, and I could make it into what I wanted it to be. I paid $6000 for mine about 4 years ago. If I sold it today as it is I would ask $10000, but I definately wouldnt get my money back. If you want an investment, leave the classic cars alone and go and buy some land. You will never get back what you put into a car when it comes time to sell it. Sorry to go against the grain. Joseph

Carl and others As requested, here is the part numbers: As per the official Nissan parts fiche, 26370-E4100 Assy-Blade Windshield Wiper. I checked with my local Nissan dealership here in Australia and they were available ex. Japan to us for AUS$56.61 each. They are the early type and fit cars up to 76 I believe when the wipers underwent a change in design. They are the same as the ones which are pictured in the ebay auction which is part of this discussion thread. I ordered a pair of them from www.nissanautoparts.com based in the States. The part number arrived as B6370-E4100 which was for a set of two (they came as a pair in a single box marked with the above part number). Cost was US$16.58 each at the time of ordering which was late November, 2002. I also believe that they are available from Nissan in the US for around US$25-30 each. www.nissanautoparts.com sells genuine Nissan parts at wholesale prices. I found them extremely good to deal with and highly recommend them. Their website also has a useful database of part numbers which you can search and find out if a particular part is still available from Nissan. Be warned though I attempted to order several parts which their database said were still active only to get an email about a week later saying that they were either no longer available or on back-order (meaning as good as no longer available). Hope this helps someone out.

The guy obviously has more dollars than sense ;> If anyone is interested I can supply a Nissan Part Number for the blade replacements. Also, they are not a direct match to the originals. The new ones have no stampings on them whereas the original ones are stamped with the Trico brand name. They look a little different as well. They come coated in some kind of grease. Must protect them from the elements or something. Joseph

Im in Australia and recently purchased a pair from nissanautoparts.com. Cost was about USA$16 each. They are identical to the ones in the auction. The guy is obviously a dill. Regards Joseph

Try Les Cannaday at classicdatsun.com. He has the right shade of paint pre-mixed in spray cans for sale. He also has the correct block blue and the paint for the grille, hubcaps and rear finisher panel. Regards Joseph

Getting a bit off track ;> Anyway, also try watching A Current Affair, at least here in NSW. It is sponsored by Nissan and usually features at least one new 350z ad each night. It is the only reason I am watching it at the moment ;> Regards Joseph Gauci

I just wanted to correct something that Steve mentioned in his reply for the record. He said that he believes that the brackets could be sourced under the same part number. I dont believe that this is correct. If you look closely at the mounting holes which are drilled into the brackets which fit into the front grille cavity of the car the holes are offset from the centre of the bracket, looking from top to bottom on the bracket. Hence if the same part number was bought the bumper bar would not hang straight as I dont believe that there would be that much adjustment in the fitting of it to correct this offset. FWIW, the brackets are mounted correctly when the bolt holes are towards the top of the bracket. Sorry Steve, just wanted to set this one straight. I have also contacted a friend on mine in the meantime since I posted this message to the board who has restored several cars including both 240z's and 260z's here in Australia and he has only ever seen the L shaped brackets on the cars that he has done. He is of the opinion that only the very early cars that would have come into Australia would have had the Y or T shaped brackets installed. I am still yet to work this one out. If anyone can post a tracing or some measurements of the correct bends to the list, from the USA or from anywhere of the L shaped brackets Id appreciate it. I can then rebend mine so that they look right. Thanks Joseph

Please email me privately off the board at joseph.gauci@crowncastle.com

As what, Y shaped or L shaped? I still need some Aussie feedback on this one, no offence to the LHD guys. Joseph

Yep, that much I know. You have to remember that here in Australia we didnt get the fedral impact law bumper bars on our 260z's and we also got the 260z until 78 when the 280zx was introduced. We didnt see the 280z here. The picture in the fiche shows the 240z style to have a "Y" shape on the end that the bumper bar bolts to while it shows the 260z style to be essentially an "L" shape.

Hello Anyone out there in Australia able to tell me if the 240z had the same front bumper bar mounting brackets as the 260z. The RHD fiche shows two different styles, one for the 240z and the other essentially for the 260z. Would anyone out there that currently has some brackets off their car be able to measure them for me or trace around them and post some measurements to the board. Im particularly looking for the bend dimensions to get the correct profile. I am currently having some difficulity in mounting my front bumper on my 71 240z. Im in Australia. I have had to bend the brackets totally out of shape to get the holes in the brackets to line up with the mounting studs in the bumper bar. To do this I installed the brackets into the grille recess of the car and held the bumper bar to them. I then removed the brackets and bent them in a vice to get the holes to line up with the studs. The result is that they are now totally out of shape. I also had to bend them so that they wouldnt clash with the body panels. I fear I am doing something wrong or missing something. I think that I have the incorect brackets as I have the type that is shown in the parts fiche for the 260z model. If anyone is willing to help me Id appreciate it.

Steve Are you able to tell me exactly where you saw these cars in the Newcastle area near the airport? I live on the Central Coast, about 45 min drive from Newcastle. I have been told of this place by a few people but they only gave me vague descriptions of where it is located. Im planning on heading up there soon so an exact location would be appreciated. Thanks Joseph

I paid AUS$100 for mine two years ago from Lindsay Drife at Z Spares in Melbourne. When I got it turned out the knobs were not correct. Anyone got a set to spare?