26th-Z

Jim, I used to give the same advice. But then I bought my beauty sight unseen. I was told by a friend that the actual car couldn't be much worse than the pictures. He was wrong.

No serious effort at all, Rick. I was on to one of those some time ago until I realized what Alan pointed out. Fourways has what I think is a reasonable aftermarket approach. Furthermore the center valance with the captive nuts does not fit in 26th's chassis. This was the project that allerted me to the differences in chassis and valances. Go figure. Early cars are different from later cars. The mounting tabs are spaced differently.

Yes, I like the pictures. I like the general looks of the car. I agree with the price range. I would look at the car with the intention of buying it. There would have to be something seriously wrong to change my mind and it doesn't look like the pictures reveal anything like that. Nice looking car. Let me revise buy pointing out that the engine has the smog hardware removed and the air cleaners need some....err....attention. But doesn't change my opinion, though. How does it drive?

Rick, The spoiler you are talking about did not appear on US imports. If you look in Brian Long's; "Fairlady to 280Z", page 89, there is a color photograph that shows it pretty well. Actually, the captions for the photos on pages 89 and 90 are reversed, but you can see the configuration. You are correct that the turn signals are mounted above the bumper. For the spoiler installation, the entire lower valance is different from the US spec. Here are some pictures of the actual spoiler. It is flexible - vinyl / plastic / urethane / rubber covered foam. Same material as the early rubber floor and deck mats, only thicker. I think the real ZG bumper is made of the same material. You will notice the embeded bolt tabs. They bolt to holes along the lower edge of the valance with welded captive nuts. As you can see from Long's picture, the spoiler bolts to the turn signal wings as well as the middle valance. I have never purchased anything from Fourways, but I see their advertisements all the time in English magazines and I have heard several success stories from friends. PM me if you want this center valance. Chris

Cool pics, thanks. Looks like you were having fun.

Yea it probably is, George. The age condition might support your thought as well. ZCCA stock rules list Frigiking as dealer add-on legit in the class. Your sticker sounds unique and valuable. Post a scan.

The "Buy it Now" seems pretty reasonable. Have a look. 1970 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4545347518&category=6187

http://www.ssnake-oyl.com/

Thanks, Phred. That was a great explanation.

There have been a lot of threads in the past about favorite penetrating oils. The Marine / boat industry has some interesting stuff. PB Blaster is my favorite along with Kroil.

A Z can never have too much rust. There is only too much money involved in Z cars.

Oh, I love the boobs thread!!!! I was being real tongue-n-cheek with my comment. The boobs thread is a serious grin! Its so "car guy". Sorry, sorry, sorry. Lets see...I search the archives by keywords and the search engine pulls threads that have that key word included in the text. Three or four trys to find the old thread I am lookng for is not uncommon. And by all means, buy a service manual if you are going to work on your car! Duh!!!

Will, You wrote a very polite reply and that is pretty much the crux of the issue, here. I might add that over my months of time spent on this forum, I have found a number of people just don't read. I don't know if they are lazy or what, but I believe this web site is a reading type of "magazine" and reading is required. At times I can be patient and even go as far as look something up for someone, but I would really encourage everyone to realize and appreciate the amount of time it takes and what a great favor we are doing for each by responding to similar questions over and over again. I don't reply to everything, even the questions I might know the answer to, and I skip on a lot of stuff. There are many times I see someone doing something I consider stupid and before I write my sarcastic slam, I think to myself; "let them ruin their Z. It is one less car out there which makes mine more valuable". Hows that for attitude! The other day I was reading a posting about some guy who had mistakenly poured antifreeze into his engine and wanted to know if it would hurt anything. I thought to myself that if he doesn't know, he shouldn't be changing the oil in his car, but I said nothing. I want to suggest that for fun and grins, everyone should browse through the archives every now and then instead of going directly to the current topics. You will be amazed at what you find and written by whom. The archives on this site are one of its greatest assets ( along with the photographs ) and are really under rated compared to the "Boobs" thread. Can you imagine? Here we all are - Z heads - with all this documented knowledge, and the seemingly most successful thread, in spite of the arguments about keeping our material relevant,....Oh, I'll just sit down and shut up.

All of a sudden it occurs to me; "Look it up in the book"!!! Here is what I have. The FSM goes on to say; "WARNING BUZZER It operates if the door is unlocked with the key inserted in the steering lock" The warning buzzer is installed on the steering support. And then back to Kats' original question; would the judges mind"? I find it hard to imagine the judges would know, let alone object. Further more, all of this would require removal of covers and peering up under the dash to see. Of course, it could be audibly demonstated. I'll also comment that the more I look at my cars and compare parts to later manufacturing dates and later models, the more I find different. It's maddening, the number of peculiar parts I have to deal with. I could hypothetically go down to my Datsun dealer and buy new replacement parts for my car and I would probably end up with something like a Vintage Z. Or I could take the original stuff and restore it to good working order - used, but still working. What a fun game, huh?

Yea, mine is different, Carl. 1969 stuff, ya know. It takes the single sided, egg lobe key (short one). I won't be able to get out to the shop to look at it until Sunday. The picture I posted was in the files from when I rebuilt the locks for 26th.

Don't listen to all the whining and complaining SportZ. Great magazine, love the 350Z and you guys do a great job.

Carl, Looking at your pictures again, I am noticing discrepancies between what I have and what you have. The chassis number HLS30-05401 is listed as 05041. Also, why are you listing the chassis numbers as six digits? They are five digit serial numbers. Then, you have a red car listed as a serial number I have for another car altogether! Holy Smoke! We need to get together and compare notes! I have a serious bunch of photographs of Vintage Zs for which I have no serial numbers yet. Working on it. One of the key cars missing is the first silver Vintage Z. Some of this info can be tracked down. We'll get there!

I think Kats is talking about this type of ignition switch. Notice the black box on top of the cylinder.

Carl, This is my favorite picture of Ol Yeller. Looking at your pictures, HLS20-96203 is a dead attachment. HLS20???? Here is HLS30-00630, also. "Are you saying that you have found 26 of the VZ's? Is that the half you have?" I have so much stuff here, Carl, that there are probably pictures of all 52 of them! As soon as the building boom in Florida slows down, I'll sort through all this and get something organized! Middle of May. Chris

Flip over to the ZCCA site - Zcars - Z history and check out this "compendium" about Mr. K. http://www.zcca.org/pages/ZCarsZhistoryMrK.htm This is a good example of what I am up to. Not really a book....a booklet.

Thanks Kats! I want to let everyone know that I am working hard on my research paper. A growing number of Vintage Zs have been found and documented. I have photos of probably half the cars. I have seen and photographed four of them myself. Current values have been documented. The research material includes over 30 articles and related documents. All kinds of activity is going on and I have scheduled a meeting in Virginia with my "mentor" to go over the rough draft and set the "compendium" in its final direction this May. The final document is planned to be ready for the national convention in August and I plan to discuss making it available with Mike here on this site. So many people have helped and I really appreciate every bit of information sent my way. Everyone keep your eyes peeled for Vintage Z information, cars, and photographs. Many, many thanks! Chris I hope to assemble a very comprehensive, informative look at the program and the cars. So far, the work has taken quite a bit of time, but the final result should be great reading

Ok, (Kats will love this conversation) so lets say I bring 26th to the stock class and Kats is the judge. Lets say my stock steel wheels do not have the correct date for my car. And lets say my hubcaps are the later style. As the car sits, Kats cannot tell if the hubcaps are correct or what the date is on the wheels. Should he make me take the hubcaps off? Should I refuse? Perhaps I should buy Kats a beer and try to distract him! Yes...good idea I made plans to attend the Tidwater Z Car Club "Z Odyssey" in May and hope to participate as a judge. This conversation and your other thread, Ed, will go with me. I should be able to get some good answers from the gang in Virginia. Keep the faith. Try to be as correct as you can. And we all have fun!

I suggest we not try to compare "correct" by Kats' standard, or mine for that matter, with Vintage Z Restoration Program cars. Vintage Zs are not "correct", they were not intended to be "correct", and don't belong in a "correct" conversation. Perfect examples of the differences were pointed out by Kats in the original thread. Lets say you bought a Vintage Z. Would you really want the "correct" fan that ate water pumps? Would you really want a 40 amp alternator that wouldn't power a flashlight? How about hub caps that fall off when you go around a corner? Want to pay $25,000 for those? Vintage Zs are not "correct" for many, many good reasons. I suggest we admire each other for our "correct" cars and our insane efforts to reach the ultimate "correctness" at any cost. Its a different game we play. We are crazy, correct, and it makes us smile!

Kats, I saved that list and use it for reference. You lead the way for detail - impressed Jim and many others. You would make a good judge! It is fun to talk about the different parts from early cars. If you ever see the Vintage Z in Japan again, I would love pictures and the VIN # for my research. Judges will only subtract points for incorrect parts they see. Fuel vapor tank, ignition lock and such cannot be seen easily and the chances of having points off are small. Cars cannot be viewed for a very long time because of the show schedule. Only the obvious is seen, but if the car makes it to the medallion round, judges take a longer time. For most of your questions, I would say the judges would mind if they knew what they were looking at and could see it. My impression at the moment is that very few people know as much as you do about early cars. I thought you entered the Daily Driver class on purpose! Chris

No need to fret. No gold plating - just that golden zinc / cadmium stuff!