ajmcforester

I had a similar setup on my first 240z, that a Flagstaff custom exhaust shop made with that same Magnaflow muffler and 2.25" pipe, except I had it mounted so the tip where over/under than side by side (looks better). One problem with that setup was when I moved outside of Philly the low vibrations you could not hear, in low tree cover neighborhood, I'd set-off every car alarm down the street even idling within 25' of the car. Ya you knew I was coming. The system was not much loader than stock, but the tone was great. I'd recommend it as long as you don't live in densely populated areas.

If you are going to modify look for a good 260z they are a lot cheaper to get than even a 280z. Also they are nearly identical to the 73 240z and easy to convert to the early bumpers, and many other parts to look just like a 240Z. The 240z are more rare and the most expensive, the 69-71 are the best years for racing because they are a little lighter from the factory, but not by much. 72 into 73 is the best driving year of the 240z they eliminated the drive shaft vibrations, and made the ride smoother with some very mild changes to the suspension. Cons of the 240z the carburetors stay in tune with each other for about 1-2 weeks and need constant adjustment; 69-71 series I had exhaust inhalation problems, fixed in 71 series II, and need much more maintenance compared to the 280z. the 73 240z may have the dreaded boat anchor carbs (flattops) that the 260Z have. The 260z is the slowest do to emissions being changed, and are looked down on. I'll tell you why in a minute why you might want one. The 280Z is a good daily driver with fuel injection, easier to find parts for when I lived in Denver I saw them in almost every junk yard. Now the fun thing about the 240-280z is that most of the engine parts can swap between the years. So you can take a E-31 head (early 240zs) and bore it out for the 280z valves, put the 280 fuel injection on. Body parts are a different story 280 parts don't transfer well to 240s and some 260s. However 240 and 260 transfer well in fact my 240 has a 260 door. I'd also like to know your location in PA I live just outside of philly. Hey! I just remember seeing a 280z for sale about a month a go near Vineland NJ I'll be down that way do you want me to get the info? It was green and looked good along the road.

Another point is these engines lasted longer than the car so you can find a lot of good engine blocks in the junk yards. I don't know a Z guy that would blame you for taking out the flattops they are bad compared to the other SUs. By the way I do like your car when I restore my current one I think I'll put some pictures up also.

Take the block to a really good engine restorer many times a cracked block can be repaired, but you need some of the best to do it. I swapped an engine in my truck and the truck never felt the same, and I loved that truck.

I find as much as possible about part suppliers and get to know your salvage yards by first name basis, especially in CA. So many cars in yards with good cheep parts. If you don't look at time in the project as a waist, but entertainment keeping track of time is not bad and tells you how much better you get at tasks on the car and actually can be rewarding. Get as much research material as possible catalogs, factory manuals, microphish parts listing, old pictures, and take a lot of pictures sometimes the cluse to how something should be is on the car.

Thanks for your two picts I was looking up info on wheels and a guy had the catolog pages from Shellby which had the stipes from the green car and the silver looks like the factory one, just shows that there are many vintage styles out their.

If you are going to shell out the buck to restore a large portion of the car you might as will do it all. If not you run risks of rust out in spots under the paint. I have a car I'm restoring that you could not find the rust spots until I striped sections, I may have a low rust car but I found two spots that might have not been done on the underside of the car (under paint and undercoating) if I did a partial restoration. Now I do have areas I'm not repainting where the original paint has the hand brush strokes and has no wear, but that is because that is part of the history of the car. I believe you can over restore a car they are classics from history and removing all the history making them new makes them less classic. Don't get me wrong I enjoy like new restorations, but I love to look at great originals or mild restored cars more. I wish I could have found a nice unrestored car that met my needs, before getting the one I have, but it wasn't in the cards, besides you learn a lot about your car when restoring it if you can do it your self.

Hey I remember watching a special about the z and was stated their, but with no pictures of it happening and no pile of badges it could be a wise tale.

Thanks for confirming my earlier statement, I knew someone with one of the first originals and I remember he was contemplating not putting the Datsun side badging like the picture his dad had purchasing the car. manny1973 I've seen black stripes on silver never seen white on silver. theirs a guy in Denver with the black stripes on silver it looks good, I think white would just blend into the silver and would not look right. Beside the nice thing about vinyls is if you don't like it take it off

FYI the strips where a Datsun available add on. With the exception of the first few z cars in the US, which where sold with them on. The strips where made to cover the holes from removing the Fairlady badge from the car, the cars where sold without the Datsun side badge with a promise of getting the badges later. My 71 was sold with the strips added by the dealer.

That is a nice custom setup, with some good craftsmanship.

If no one makes what I end up wanting I'll make it including mufflers. I have a motorcycle shop that wants to help, with almost every tool I might want. On my first 240z I had a one into two straight Magnaflow muffler in the rear on a 2.25" exhaust, looked great. The sound outside of the car was mellow and as loud as stock. It did have a noise problem it had low vibrations below what you can hear, you would barely feel it, but it would set off every car alarm. My first time in Philly with the car I was setting off every car on each side of the road, block after block. My current car is going to be more vintage style the stainless steal muffler looked great, but it will not give that vintage look. Also I'm wanting to use the stock downpipe. On the over under glasspack I'm also interested in how they where fastened together and dimensions used. Also in the 70's what size glass pack would people have used in the rear and/or the center of the car?(demetions, color, was Cherry bomb and Thrush red back then?) And what other types of resonators or mufflers that would have been used in the 70'S?

I'm restoring a 71 240z with some early mild 70's style mods. One thing I'm looking for are ideas on the exhaust system, the factory system is a little quieter than I like. I'm was thinking of going with over under glasspacks, but was wondering what other types of setups that might have been used in the 70's does anyone have some ideas or pictures?

The best shows are the simplest show a bunch of car guys getting together and talk about cars. It is not about who has the best car, but what have done and what you have plan the history of the car. No awards needed, well a free lunch is nice. the KISS rule applies. The best shows I've been in is the ones that a group of guys just meet in a parking lot no rope prizes or cover just a good time, and if someone brings a grill that's a plus.

I own a 240z, a little different, but I'd get the factory manual they have them on CD and it has good wire diagrams. Also the CD comes with the parts microfiche, this is a great help in getting the right parts while at the junk yard.

When I bought my first Z I found out that one of the vent hoses leaked, so the guy left the tank really low, also the fuel pump was worn and was not pumping at compassity. So got a OEM Kyosan (SP?) pump. then the gas came out like you discribed. So I replaced the seals in the carbs since the car was not well maintained under the hood (needed to be done besides the problem at hand), still had the problem. The next thing I did was blow with my mouth air threw the return line that was hard to do so I pulled the line. What happened is all the air in the fuel tank aided in the return line to start varnishing and collecting rust that jammed in the line. What I did was use pipe cleaner and wire to clean most of the rust partials. Then soaked the line in fuel treatment to break down the varnished gas and cleaned it again with pipe cleaner until a new piece of pipe cleaner came out clean. Also if the line is not clean check the main fuel lines, the vent tank and the gas tank, you may want to have them boiled out to remove any rust. If you know a radiator shop that still boils radiators they can also do your tanks

I’m restoring a new 240Z since my last one was rear-ended while stopped at a high rate of speed. I will not tell you how fast since everyone just tells me how lucky I was. My current 240Z suffers from over tightening of bolts, and various fasteners from the former owners, and some non-matching bolts. Does anyone know of a company that is selling complete original looking bolt sets? I do not want the stainless steel I like the Cad look under the hood, the 240z engine compartment when restored properly is one of the nicest look factory original engine compartments in history.

OK take a mangnet when you look at this car some things look to smoothe not to have a lot of bondo. some of the details are missing or not a pronounced. On the rear deck-lid and the rear lower pannel you should see the spot welds check her with the magnet also feal the back panel on the inside, and see if it has the right shape. the price and the look of the car just tells me something might be hiding. The orignal seats are not to bad to find and they make the foam and vynle so all you need is a good seat frame. I'd recomend holding off, and doing some reaserch on the Z cars I'd recomend for a daily driver getting a 280z. They are not as fast, but have fuel injection and are easer to maintain and get parts. I know they look the same, but take it from me they are not as interchangeable between 240z(s) and 280z(s). The other advantage to the 280z is that they made alot more of them and are easer to get parts. I would recomend a 240Z if it is not a daily drive and more for enjoyment, they are faster, but they take more work to keep running, prone to rust out easer, and harder to pass emmisions compaired to the 280Z. Stay clear of the 260z not a lot of good things unless you need a shell to build a race car, or have a 240z and need parts that match. Not to say the 260Zs are not nice, they just don't compair to a 240 or 280 in proformence and have the same maintence of the 240. I hope this will help, also check out at the libruary "How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car" by Wick Humble, it might help on what to look at on the car, it is not one you need to buy, but is has good diagrams of rust locations and things to watch out for when buying a 240-280Z

can you use a 240z motor and a 280z antenna mast and what is the difference between the two masts. I was once a Corvette restoration judge, and detail on cars means a lot.

Yes you can, it is a 102 class of electric diagnostics. Think of how it works you have one wire to the sensor, so the sensor is grounded to make a cercut to the block. So with the car in the on position use a wire tester unplug the sensor, place the wire on the tester and connect the tester to the block. If the light comes on that means you are getting power, if not you have a short some where. If the light came on, you need another person, well not really but it is a lot easer to test the gage do the same thing as before, but have someone watch the gage it should move if not make sure you have a lot of power and if you do and it still won't move the needle, something is wrong with the gage. If the gage is bad remember the sensor may also be bad. This is where I'd go next this way you are starting to pin the problem down; electrical can be easy if you take your time and think about haw it works. If you don't take your time with electrical problems don't mess with them you will frustrate your self and posibly make it worce.