MikeW

Please do ...

Yeah, a while back I noticed you were bidding on a NOS cardboard glovebox. It was already up to $60 or $70 and I didn't bother jumping in. I was hoping that you would win it and could then provide detailed dimensions and pictures so that I could start fabricating them and sell them for $20 each.

Yes, that's the original factory radio. Does it work? It sure is primitive by today's standards, eh? A manual button to run the antenna up and down and you have to use one of the preset buttons to switch from AM to FM.

Someone here recently mentioned this product from POR15: http://www.por15.com/product.asp?productid=246 It looks like it might be the way to go, but only after getting them polished to perfection as I'm guessing this is rather permanent. I like the idea that it doesn't leave brushmarks as I don't have a way of spraying the stuff.

In the next week or so (hopefully) I'll be posting pictures of my '72 240Z sporting a nice new paint job. The color I've decided to go with is something I've seen on Mini Cooper's recently called "Electric Blue Pearl Metallic". The first time I saw it I knew it was the color for me. Here's what it looks like on the Mini: http://my.execpc.com/47/96/amyrae/mini%20site/graphix/electric%20blue%20large.jpg

I was wondering myself. I'm guessing "personal liability" and "property damage".

http://www.datsunzparts.com/Summary.htm

http://www.midwestz.com/Z_Body_Panels.htm

I've wondered how much access potential bidders have to the cars beforehand. I certainly wouldn't want to bid on a car solely based on what I can see from my seat as the car is rolled across the stage.

MSA lists a Mallory Unilite distributor online for a whopping $489 US which is actually down from the $499 listed in their catalog: http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PEIC01

2ManyZs has good advice. Find out what shape it is in right now. It may seem sluggish for any number of reasons that are possibly inexpensive to fix (timing, plugs, valves, carbs, etc.). You may be able to end up with something good enough for a little fun without a big cash outlay. As he said you could later build up a higher performance engine on the side while you've still got a car that's driveable.

Is the current original engine in good shape and producing the expected stock output? In other words that may be all you need for fun cruising on a weekend road trip. On the other hand, if your requirements really are 200+ HP then forget everything I just said ...

I looked at it and it looks like you've got a lot of useful information there. One thing that would be quite helpful would be to create a simple HTML page with properly organized links to the data. The current directory structure makes navigation a bit difficult.

I'd be careful following that advice. I think I started with 80 grit on my wheels. My experience is that if you try to jump to a finer grit too soon it will take a lot longer in the end.

Out of curiosity, what's the "Lower Panel (below taillights)"? Is that really "behind taillights" or, more accurately "around taillights". If it's what I think it is it actually has holes in it for the taillights.

That seems like a lot of miles for a car that was only driven two years.

It looks like the same car to me. The £5000 car on page 51 is exactly the same as the cover shot but with the background edited out. The red car does not appear to have the rear spoiler of the yellow car but that may have been edited out as well. The front spoiler, side mirror, and wheels look the same. There's even a smudge on the front bumper right above the left turn signal that appears on both cars. The driver side mirror appears to be missing from the red car. It would be silly to have a passenger side mirror but not a driver side mirror. That leads me to believe that the entire background on the red cover car is fake.

Internet explorer doesn't like something about the jpeg. I saved it to disk, loaded it in MS picture editor, exported it to PNG, and then exported that back to jpeg. The file size is a lot smaller but it still looks as good as your original. Here it is (with a different name):

You might try asking one of the places that sell used body panels. I don't see a any rocker panels listed here but they list some 2+2 door shells which means they may have access to some rocker panels: http://zbarn.com Here's another: http://www.zparts.com

Here's a couple of links I've been keeping for when I get around to this job: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pparaska/Headlight_Relay_pg1.htm http://www.zccne.addr.com/tech-docs/headlight-relay-upgrade.pdf

What happened to the holes that came with the car?

There are two bolts each that attach in the space behind the grille but in front of the radiator just below where the hood hinges attach.

Not in his initial post but after I mentioned that the carbs might need adjusting he replied that it's a fuel injected '79 280ZX at which point I basically turned clueless.

Just because you had to floor it to keep it running doesn't mean it was actually using a lot of gas. It could be that the timing is off, the carbs need adjusting, etc. If you don't already have one I'd suggest getting one of the aftermarket (Haynes, etc.) manuals.

Thanks for your always valuable advice ...