landmizzle

Hi all, Well I've pretty much finished my suspension upgrades to the 72 240Z I've recently finished. She now handles fantastic! What's pretty cool, is that I still have the original steel wheels and hub caps on her which gives a very stock appearance. With those wheels, the bumper over-riders, and the automatic tranny she comes across as a "grandmotherly" car. Watch out though on the back roads because she can stick pretty good to those curves. The weak link in the handling is the tire and wheel combo at this point. I've been kind of enjoying the sleeper look and want to know if anyone is aware of wider steel wheels ( probably from another make and model vehicle) that would fit the Z. I would need one that is about 5.5 to 6 inches wide. The current wheels are 5" wide and I wouldn't put a tire any wider than I have on it now which is 195/70/R14. I would like to put something like a 205/60/R14, but again would need a wider wheel. Any thoughts or ideas? Best Regards, Landmizzle '72 240Z

Howdy, You may be jumping ahead of yourself here. Just because you have an oil leak doesn't mean you have to rebuild or replace the engine. How is the engine running? Check the plugs to see if it's buring oil. While you're checking the plugs for the presence of oil, do a compression check to get an idea of the condition of the engine. A compression check will tell you more about the condition of the engine than trying to guess the cause of leaking oil. As far as finding the source of the leak, go down to the auto parts store and pick up a can or two of engine cleaner. Thoroughly clean the engine and you'll have an easier time of telling where the leak is coming from. May be just the valve cover gasket, could be the head gasket, the main seal, or a myriad other places. However, a leaking engine does NOT indicate a tired engine in need of a rebuild. Even with 100,000 miles on the rebuild, if it has been well mantained, you should probably get another 100,000 miles out of it. The L-series engine are very dependable and robust. Best Regards, Landmizzle '72 240Z

Hi all, I'm considering getting an A/C unit for my '72 240Z and wanted to get some input on which unit to buy. My car came from the factory with no A/C and currently has nothing A/C related installed on it. If you were starting from scratch, what unit would you buy. I'm pretty sure I don't want to go the factory A/C route as that unit is not very effecient. I believe the MSA and Courtesy Nissan units may be the same brand but, I'm not sure. Vintange Air and Classic Air are very popular with the Mustang and Muscle car crowd but they don't make a unit specifically for the Z. They do have generic kits that "might" work. What would you buy? Has anyone had experience with the above listed (or others) units? I believe many people have done 280Z(X) swaps and been satisfied but, I really don't want to go that route as I want to have brand new components all around. Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Hi all, I went out into the garage and took a closer look at the wheels. Couldn't see anything new to add to the debate. So, I took some carb. cleaner and thoroughly cleaned the interior side of the wheels. Off, came about 25 years of grease, road kill, and asbestos dust. Gleaming on the center section, directly behind the lug nut holes....."Made in England". So maybe I have orginal "Minilite" wheels after all! Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Hi all, Just to and more confusion...... When I bought my first 240Z back in '89 that had the wheels in question, I remember coming across a brochure for the wheels with the included paperwork. Two lines of wheels were listed; Mini-lite and Maxi-lite. If I recall correctly (and I'm probably not....) the Mini-lite wheels were made of Aluminum and the Maxi-lite wheels were Magnesium. The brochure appeared factory and had the Mini-lite logo imprinted on it in various places. I even had several Mini-lite center-cap stickers. It was based on the brochure, stampings, and now my recent phone call to Mini-lite that I assumed I had "REAL" Mini-lite wheels. So now, based on these facts and the replies posted here, I'm positively, 100%, absolutely, convinced, that I have no clue as to what I really have....... Anyway, the wheels do not have any "Made in England" markings on them. They do have some more very fine stampings on the interior that I overlooked, but, they vary from wheel to wheel. Additionally, I weighed the wheels and they come out to be 14 lbs. each. Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Hi all, Based on Bambikiller's advice I called Minilite and spoke with them. The 6-77 stamp is indeed the date stamp for the wheels; in this case, Jun 1977. The "SM" stamp represents the "Sport Mini" model of wheels which are made of aluminum. Thanks for the replies folks. I've updated this thread just incase someone else in the future has a similar question. Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Hi all, When I purchased my first 240Z (may she rest in piece....) she came with a set of Minilite wheels. I still have these wheels and plan on putting them on the '72 240Z I recently purchased. Unfortunately, one of the wheels is "out of round" with a very slight flat spot. I've talked to several places that claim they can repair aluminum wheels. My question is whether the wheels I have are Aluminum or Magnesium. I ask this because many of the places that repair aluminum wheels won't/can't repair magnesium wheels. I can't tell by looking at them if they are aluminum or magnesium. I took them to a local tire shop today and they couldn't tell me either. I'm almost certain these wheels are genuine Minilites. The only markings on the wheel I can find are stamps on the exterior side with the following; 6-77 SM 14x6 1/2x 13 1/2 I believe the 6-77 SM is a date stamp (don't know what the SM is for) and obviously the next sequence of digits is the wheel size. Are there any Minilite experts out there that can tell me what I have? Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Hi Brandon, I've put a Petronix ignition on both my 66 Mustang and my '71 240Z. Really, the main advantange is ease of maintenance. You won't have to to deal with points anymore. Dwell angle is constant and does not need to be dealt with. Some/many folks will claim performance increases. I've not seen any effects on performance in the cases of my cars. YMMV. I also like the Petronix units in particular because it keeps a stock look. Most people won't be able to tell you changed anything. The dual points that Nissan put on the automatic tranny equiped 240Z and I believe the 260Z, were not done for performance reasons but rather emissions. In your case, on your '71, the dual points won't help you any. Probably won't hurt either, it's just more complicated to tune. Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Howdy, Thanks for the compliment! I found the problem! The front passenger side marker light was incorrectly wired. I couldn't tell at first because the wires where covered in undercoating or some such goo. Following advice given, I disconnected the front marker lights and the problem went away. Bingo! Narrowed it down. Thanks to both of you folks for your input. I really appreciated the quick response. Now, I get to go for a ride after the sun sets. The wife wants to drive the Z now too. She's never cared to drive them in the past but since this ones an automatic, she's all jazzed about the idea. Go figure....... Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Hi all, Well, I've only had my new '72 240Z for a couple of days now and I've already discovered numerous things about her that set her apart from manual transmission cars (she has an automatic transmission). One of those things is a dual point distributor. I was talking to my mechanic about this and he said that this was an emissions thing and suggested that I just drop in a single point dizzy for simplicity of maintenance. Has anyone done this before? Would it actually work? Additonally, if I had a single point dizzy in there, then could I not take the next step of putting a Petronix ignition in the single point dizzy? I can't put a Petronix in there now because an ignition unit is made for the dual point dizzy's. Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Hi all, The good news is I finally purchased a new (to me) '72 240Z and have her at home. The bad news is I can't drive her at night because the 20AMP fuse to the tail-lights (third fuse from the bottom on the right hand side in the fuse box.) burns out after about 3 secs once I turn the head-light combo switch to the #1 or #2 position. I knew about this problem when I bought the car but figured it was just a bad switch. Nope. I've replaced it and that didn't help. I'm not an electrical expert so I'm hoping someone on this forum can point me in the right direction. Here's what I know. This fuse has a green-white (gw) wire running to it. It feeds the tail-lights, running lights, and dash lights. When I put a fresh fuse in, the dash lights come on briefly then the fuse burns out. The tail-lights and rear running lights (side markers) also come on but are very dim. The front parking lights and side-markers do not appear to come on. I've looked at the wiring diagram and have observed that the dash-lights, rheostat, tail-lights,license plate lights and rear marker lights are feed by the gw wire. The front parking lights and side marker lights are feed by a green-blue (gl) wire. On the head-light combo switch there is a plug that on the switch side has a gw wire. It ties into the plug and connects to a gl wire on the other side of the plug. If I jumper the fuse that keeps blowing, the gw wire on the combo-switch gets very hot and well begin to smoke within about 5 secs. The hot spot is just before the plug on the switch side. I assume a high resistance is developing somewhere in the circuit and thus the smoking gw wire. I really don't know where to go from here though. Does the hot spot develope near the short point? Since the gw wire connects to the gb wire near this point, does that mean there's high resistance in the gb wire? The connectors in the combo switch plug look fine (i.e. no corossion.). All other electrical components work fine including the head-lights, turn signals, etc. The hazard lights worked when I first inspected the car but didn't when I picked it up. Don't know if this could be related. I've checked the bulbs and connectors on the tail-lights, license plate light, and left rear marker lights and they look fine. I haven't checked to the front parking lights and marker lights yet as far as the bulbs and sockets are concerned.I've also followed the gw and gl wires around the body and engine bay and haven't found any obvious cracks in the wiring from what I can see. Certainly haven't checked every inch of wiring yet though. I've considered removing the fuse box and taking a closer look at it but, that will necesatate the removal of the center console. The fuse box from top side looks fine with no melted plastic or corroded contacts. I can remove the console for a closer looks but I wanted to get some advice before I start blindly removing parts that may or may not be involved in this issue. If anyone can give me some hints/advice on what may be wrong or what I should do next to better isolate the problem, I'd be extremely grateful. Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z

Hi mushupork5, Congratulations!!! Thanks for sharing your experience with us. I bet quite a few people are going to follow your example. I know I probably will. Of course with all the junk yards getting inandated with civic blower motor request , the laws of "supply and demand" will take over and the price of those little beauties is going to go up! Best Regards, Landmizzle '71 and '72 240Z