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Do you mean the 10mm flare nuts on the end of the hardline where it goes into the flexible segment? Be careful, make sure you get a real flare nut wrench for them. A standard open ended wrench is an awesome way to round the hex corners off or warp/crush the nut, then you're seriously hosed. Mine were pretty mangled by a PO who obviously tried to use vise grips or something. They need to be re-placed someday, and I am not looking forward to it (specifically the body-side flare nuts). Edit: Like Zed Head said, remove the fitting from the body mount. Usually there is a little metal spring clip that is holding it in, and you just have to grab some pliers and carefully pull it off the fitting. It should pop free then. Once it's free and clear, you can get a big open ended wrench on there (I think it may have been like 17-19mm, somewhere in there). I find it's easier to turn if I have it grabbed in a wrench rather than those flimsy little sheet metal 12 point cutouts on the body mount. If the flare nut is in serviceable condition, definitely only use a 10mm flare nut wrench on it. It's a great investment anyway, and I wouldn't try working on the brakes without one. Get a good one, Craftsman at the very least. Before you do any manhandling of it though, I'd definitely put some penetrating oil on there and really let it go to work for at least a day or so. The first time I pulled all the brake fittings free, they were stuck pretty bad. I went around twice a day for a few days spraying Kroil on all the parts, so I was sure to soak a ton of it in. It was much easier to get those suckers free after that.

The backlit controls were not added until sometime on the 73 model, IIRC. No need to feel like Helen Keller, just remember which lever is which. Alternatively, some have swapped in '73 panels into earlier cars, I recall there being an extensive thread about it somewhere, but I can't seem to find it.

My major issue with external hosts for images is that they tend to not last. Take a look at the forum - there are a lot of threads with useful information dating back up to 10 years. A Photobucket account only lasts as long as the owner continues to use it. Once the account dies (or in the case of private hosting, the owner gets tired of paying hosting fees or registration fees), then all the images are gone forever, and we're left with a thread with a bunch of broken links. If the images are properly added to the forum and stored along with the rest of the thread data, this will not be a problem.

You should convert them to .jpg files first, then you can upload them easier. .bmp files are uncompressed, so they take up a huge amount of space relative to the amount of image data they can hold. It creates an unnecessary burden for your internet connection to upload.

Is it really 905 red? It looks like it could almost be 918 orange, although it really looks to be somewhere in between to my eye. Probably just wishful thinking on my part.

Looks like a good deal. I know it would be a hell of a deal around these parts. I hope the damage to the rear is not severe underneath. Hopefully you can find a good body man to work it out

Finally received the Eiko A-72 bulbs. Got 30 of them for only $12 plus shipping from PlanetBulb. In comparing the three types I now have, they are not an exact match for the LIFE 12V3.4W bulbs that were in there, but hopefully they will fit. They are much closer than the Autopal bulbs MSA is selling. The car is up on stands right now for new ball joints and tie rod ends, so I'm not inclined to jump inside and monkey around with my body hanging out the door to reach the gauges, but maybe by the weekend. As you can see from the picture, the Eiko bulbs (on the left) are slightly larger than the perfect-fitting LIFE bulbs. I whipped out my caliper and figure there should be about 0.020" clearance between the glass and the green dome, based on my previous measurements. I just can't believe MSA is selling these Autopal bulbs, when clearly they have issues, at least for some of us. 28 bucks down the drain!

What became of the old motor? Did it suffer a blowout or something, leading to the 2 year storage?

I wish there was a way to donate aside from Paypal. I refuse to use Paypal because of a previous incident I had with them on another forum. When Katrina hit, we started taking in donations to submit to the American Red Cross. We had gathered together several thousand dollars (~8K IIRC) when Paypal abruptly locked the account. The owner of the account explained to them what we were doing - their response: (paraphrasing) "you can donate YOUR money to OUR chosen charity (United Way), but under no circumstances will we allow that money to go to the ARC." Aside from the corruption and embezzlement going on within United Way, we did not like being strong armed like that. We chose the alternative and everyone was painstakingly refunded their part of the donated funds. The biggest problem with Paypal is that they act like a bank, but they are not, in fact, a bank. Thus they are not subject to all the consumer protection regulations that apply to banking institutions, so they are free to abuse customers any way they see fit. This is how people are crippled by Paypal arbitrarily locking their funds up when they need it, as we saw here yesterday. There are PayPal alternatives out there. I quickly Googled, and this looks promising (haven't actually ever used it before): https://payments.amazon.com/sdui/sdui/index.htm

You may want to check your state laws before you do what it sounds like you're contemplating.

May be moving to LA in a few years for work; do insurance policies out there cover earthquake damage, like if the roof of my garage were to collapse down on to my precious Z during a quake?

It makes one wonder why the PO would go so far, then just stop to sell it on ebay... Result of an estate sale?

Welcome to the forum, You should try the search function out, you should be able to find threads related to your question. There are numerous threads about this topic, and you would know best what you're looking for since you have not told us anything about the vehicle in question.

I bought an "18/10 stainless" pot at the local Chinese supermarket the other weekend, got a really great deal on it... Cooked my first batch of tortellini and several spots on the inside began to rust immediately. On the other hand, my roommate has several 18/10 stainless All-Clad pans, made in the USA, with a price to match. They still look perfect after extensive use. Just saying, just because it says it's 304 doesn't make it so, and even if it is, there's no guarantee that it would pass muster for corrosion resistance. I would be especially wary of metals originating in the 2nd or 3rd world. Hoping this isn't the case with these bumpers

It was only mid 70s today in Austin, but the sun was coming down at full strength. I was getting hot even with the windows down, so I decided to turn on the A/C and give the new blower its first real test. It was definitely a huge improvement over the stock fan. When cruising at a decent RPM, my little 40A alternator was putting out enough juice to keep the fan blowing pretty hard, and man, was it blowing hard and cold. I felt like I'd transplanted the A/C vents from a modern car into my Z! I stuck my arm into the back hatch area when I was feeling pretty cold up front - still pretty warm back there. I guess louvers or a tint job would fix that, but I'll just wait and see how the system handles this summer. I heard something making a *thwap thwap thwap* noise at random intervals while I was driving, and after I got home, a flashlight down the center vent revealed it was a strip of ancient foam insulation (you know, the stuff that instantly disintegrates as soon as you touch it) bouncing around around way in the back of the central air box. Not sure where it came from, but I guess I'll be removing the front panel and getting at it with a pair of chopsticks or something. Guess the new fan blows hard enough to kick that debris around in there, while the old blower just left it alone.

zKars, I believe you were correct. I measured the depth of the green dome from the back of the housing and came up with approximately 0.530" The tip of the MSA bulbs stick out of the socket by about 0.650" meaning that when they are snapped in, the bulb is pushed back into the socket against the rear spring. When pushed in, the side of the bulb base must lose contact with the grounding tab inside the socket. Bummer. I went by the local AutoZone tonight hoping to find the Sylvania #53 bulbs that EScanlon has posted about in other threads, but no dice. Everyplace is closed now, so hopefully I can find them elsewhere later this week. Need to find some proper bulbs before I put my glove box back in for the second time this week. Here is a picture for comparison between the 12V 4W MSA bulbs (Autopal brand) that were giving me trouble, and the old 12V 3.4W bulbs that have been in the car for years. The difference in length is about 0.2" FWIW, these Autopal MSA bulbs are great for the sockets that don't have the green dome. The brake light, turn signal indicators, and high beam indicator are all very nice and bright. This is actually the first time in the 7 years I've owned my car that I've seen that blue high beam indicator come on. The previous owner didn't have the bulb correctly seated in the socket. Silly that it was dim for so long over something so simple. Edit: Did some more reading, and learned that apparently the Sylvania 53 is now a 1.8W bulb. Another thread recommended the Eiko a-72, so I just ordered some online here: http://bulbster.com/lightbulbs/eiko-a72-48002-p-3002.html They look to be a much better fit than the Autopal bulbs. Edit again: Bulbster.com was taking forever without telling me anything (after more than a week), so I contacted them only to be told they were out of stock and waiting for a shipment from the manufacturer. A heads up would have been nice. Anyway, I went on google and searched for Eiko a-72, clicked the shopping option at the top, and found lots of stores selling these bulbs for a fraction of the price. I ended up buying 30 bulbs at $0.21 each from PlanetBulb (http://www.planetbulbstore.com/a-72.html)! Bulbster.com wanted $1.30 each.

I read over this thread when I was deciding on which brand of ball joints to buy, so I figured this was as good a place as any to post this. Ended up going with the Moog units, which RockAuto had in stock for a decent price. They seem to be highly regarded on the various Z forums. The first thing that surprised me is that they're made in Japan. After reading about how most of these aftermarket companies are outsourcing to China now, this was a pleasant surprise. Anyway, they use castle nuts, rather than those nylon lined lock nuts, and it comes with all the necessary hardware, including a grease fitting. I nearly ordered ball joints from MSA when I placed my order for tie rod ends and steering rack bushings, but now I'm glad I went for the Moog units. I won't be able to install them until the weekend (assuming my MSA order comes this week), but they appear to be a top quality unit from initial inspection. One of my minor gripes with MSA is how they don't list the manufacturer of their aftermarket parts, like RockAuto does. It really makes it tough to make a decision when all you can search for is "MSA Ball joints," when clearly they change their part sources from time to time. On the upside though, I did get some good advice on alignment when I called into MSA to place my order.

You could check with a place like ZBarn and see if they have a good used inner glove box door they could sell you. As I was taking my glove box out the other day I was just thinking how fragile that little hinge looked. Sorry to hear it broke for you :/

I copied the entire CD contents to a folder on my hard drive. It's too much of a hassle to dig the CD out every time I need to look up a number, I don't even know where it is anymore. After coping it to my HD, I went in and made a shortcut to the starting PDF (S30_1a.pdf) that has the table of contents and all that, and put the shortcut on my desktop. "C:\files\240Z Microfiche\ZCD\BASEQ3\PAK\YODA\S30_1a.pdf" Easy to click on it and get started right away.

Hmm, The sockets don't seem to have any trouble staying inside the holes. When inserting them, before they've snapped into place, a lot of times the light will come on, but as soon as the socket is snapped into the housing, the circuit cuts out and the gauge goes dark. At first I thought it was oxidation on the inside edge of the lip on the housing, but I thoroughly scrubbed it down to get a clean contact edge, and it only seemed to make things worse. But, I can imagine that maybe the green housing is pushing the bulb in slightly, and it's losing contact inside the socket with the grounding tab... I really wish I could get my speedometer out - I managed to get all the cables detached, but the damn wing nuts are frozen solid. I even managed to get a pair of vise grips up there on one of the wings pretty tight, but it just slipped right off when I tried to turn it. This was for the bottom one, there's no way there is enough room to do the same on the top nut. Instead, I swapped those bulbs out doing acts of contortion under the dash to change them in-place. It really makes me wonder why Nissan didn't just make a single plug for each gauge that has all the inputs AND power for the lights, so that you can pull it out as one unit and easily plug it back in. I feel so ridiculous plugging them in one by one as I'm sliding the tachometer back in. The lines are so short, I can barely manage.

Having the exact same problem today. Did you ever resolve this, Shakey? It happened for me when I upgraded to the 4W bulb kit from MSA, and hadn't had problems before doing so. I totally cleaned the contacts, and "re-sprung" them, along with sanding down to make some fresh bare metal on the lip of the housing holes. Nothing worked at all. The bulbs light up fine when I ground the contact to a bolt in the dash. I even got desperate, sanded the back of the housing to get a nice clean patch around the holes, then bent the contact the other way, so it would be laying down against the clean back of the housing... Performed just as poorly. Right now I am thinking that it may be due to the bulbs themselves. The older 3.4W bulbs had longer "stubs" on their sides, which may have made better contact with the end of the ground connector inside the socket. I got fed up tonight, but later this week I'll just try throwing some of the old bulbs in there. They clearly figured out that this "ground to the housing" method was a bad idea by the time the 280Z came around.

Figured this out today too, but with my right arm snaked all the way back to the center gauges from the glove box opening. I was about to have some major rage before I figured it out

Just did this upgrade myself. I removed and painted the back cover on the new blower satin black, as I couldn't stand the thought of installing it with that ugly pot-metal colored cap. I was really dreading taking out the glove box, but I somehow managed to remove it and put it back in without destroying it, or really damaging it at all. A small miracle based on what I've read in a lot of other posts on this forum. Contrary to what I had sometimes heard, I don't see how this swap could have been done without removing the glove box. In my case, there was simply not enough room between the blower housing and the glove box for the cage to come out. I was a bit surprised when I hauled the old blower out. I had been under the impression that my blower was stock, and I was expecting to see a metal squirrel cage inside. Instead, I found a dingy old plastic one. I'm attaching pics of the two motors side by side. I checked the motor part number shown in the picture in my microfiche, and it is listed as the correct number. Could someone have swapped out the cage at some point, or did the 240Z really have a plastic cage to begin with? I've yet to see other pictures of the original unit. The newer Honda motor blows harder than the old one, but not by a whole lot. Still pretty happy with the upgrade, nonetheless. I was only testing the blower without the engine running today, I'm excited to see how it performs when the alternator is putting out a lot of juice. I also have the 60A alternator upgrade from MSA on the way, so hopefully I can get frostbite while idling at stop lights this summer. Edit: Forgot to mention - not 100% sure what car model my "new" blower came out of. I bought one of those package deals on eBay a few years ago, with the little dongle wired to the 240Z connectors. It was literally sitting in my house for the last 3-4 years collecting dust before I finally had another reason to remove the glove box to upgrade the bulbs on the center gauges to the 4W variety from MSA. Here's to hoping I never have another reason to pull the glove box until I do a full restoration in 5-10 years.

In the process of replacing the center gauge bulbs, and upgrading to the Honda blower motor, I decided my glove box door could use a little touching up. I didn't have a silver sharpie on hand, but I did have a silver Testors Enamel Paint Marker that I've used for a lot of other projects. The first two pictures show the glove box door as it was when I removed it. From the looks of the original, it doesn't seem to have been "chrome" to begin with, but then again, it was pretty beat up. The last three pictures show the result. I didn't do a perfect job on the first pass. Having used this marker for a lot of other stuff, the tip was a little bit ragged, which led to a little paint going where I didn't want it to. I tried to use a black sharpie to cover up the "overspray," but of course the sharpie didn't make a true black... more like a dark purple. My fix is easily visible under the right light and at the right angle, but I'm not too worried about my passengers noticing in any lighting condition I've ever seen in my car. In retrospect, a silver sharpie would have been easier to control, and I'll definitely pick one up to try on other trim jobs I have yet to do. The rest of the glovebox door is pretty faded, and could use a little love, but that can wait for another time. I'm more bothered by the warped shape of the inner and outer door surfaces (from that silly little glove box light plunger - doesn't even work anymore!). Edit: added an installed picture. Keep in mind this was with the flash, so it really brought out all the weird color fading going on with my glove box door. The radio and wiring are all pulled out because I dropped a bulb down from the center gauges, and had to go looking for it :stupid:. Couldn't stand the thought of a piece of metal floating around back there

Just ordered a pair of Moog ball joints, and the code worked great. Saved me $4! Thanks!