Jeff G 78

The pics are fuzzy, but doesn't it have a whole lot of 280Z parts on it? The dash, console, door panels, hood, hatch, tail light panel, etc. are from a 280. I can't see the front turn signals in any of the pics, but they might be from a 280 as well. Also, unless the camera is playing tricks, there is something going on with the stripes. They look very crooked from the back. The engine bay VIN and inspection lamps are located in 240Z position, but it looks like there are 280 parts there as well. Did the '71 have a vacuum canister there? What about the radiator support to fender ducts? Are they on the '71s?

It's too bad that the 1st gen Sentra SE-Rs were throw-away cars. You just can't find good ones for sale anymore. People don't have the respect for them like they do for Z cars. When Sentras start getting old, they are cast off and quickly turn into beaters. The NX2000s get no love at all. They are Nissan's "Pacer".

I used the POR-15 kit. Prior to using the kit, I washed the tank out with water to get the big chunks and then again with muriatic acid and several feet of chain in the tank to loosen the particles. I then rinsed again with water and let it dry before I used any of the POR-15 kit materials. The whole job (not counting tank removal) took an entire weekend. It was a lot of work and fairly hard on the back, but it did the trick.

The whiteish bottle is the vacuum reservoir. The vac hose that starts at the firewall does go that direction, but it might(I'm not near my Z right now) go to the solenoid rather than the bottle itself. The solenoid is right near the bottle in the metal box. I can look at mine tomorrow and let you know exactly what the routing is supposed to be if you don't have an answer before then.

I simply blew mine out throughout the process to make sure it didn't clog. I didn't have any problems. If you do the DIY cleaning, follow the instructions EXACTLY. Pretend they are telling you how to deactivate a bomb. If you cheat on any aspect, you will be worse off than you are now and will be looking for replacement tank. It is a lot of work and is a bit tough to do, but if the directions are followed, it will work. I waited for a nice, warm day to make sure it had good drying, but you shouldn't have a problem in California. Just make sure you get it 100% dry before the final step.

I don't know of the KBS kit, but I can say that the POR-15 kit works very well. I am going on three years and it looks great so far. It was around $55 for the kit and another $15 for misc supplies.

I think that would look good. The spook always seems to look best if painted black. I like black wheels if they have a polished lip.

Just ask Ron (Geezer). He knows that the pictures hide many of the flaws in my car. It's a really clean car, but it looks much worse in person. Some day, if I ever have any money, I will have it painted.

Yours looks great 5&D. Your 510's satin black hood really breaks up the bold orange. Orange is a great color, but it looks even better when it has a contrasting color added. I have considered swapping my big bumpers with fiberglass 240 bumpers and painting them satin black. If I do that, then I might do a satin black hood, black front air dam and black rear spoiler as well. I think it might look good with my gray Panasports and light gold car.

My hood is black, but it's only because I haven't had the car painted yet. It certainly looks better than the green /primer hood that used to be on my car, but still looks crappy compared to a body colored hood.

I actually tried to buy the Infinity 4022i speakers, but they went on backorder right as I placed the order. That's how I ended up with the Bostons. I actually bought something else first, but they didn't fit, so they went back. I bought the speakers and head unit at Crutchfield. They were great to deal with the same pricing as anywhere else I looked.

I too love the 240SX. I had an '89 about 7 years ago. It was a rusty car with a ton of miles, but it was a fantastic handling car. It's too bad that the drift crowd has pretty much ruined every stock 240SX. I do like the SR20 DET that the drifters use in place of the stock boat anchor, but otherwise, they ruin great daily drivers.

Wow! Very nice! Keep the progress pics coming.

Here works.

Heck, my smelly old tennis shoes have lost less percentage of their value than my 401K :tapemouth

All together now... Hiiiiiiiiiiii Richard. Yes, we all share your addiction and unfortunately, our little support group will do little to help you get over yours. Even though your car is only partially finished, we still need pictures. It doesn't matter wether they are from 15 years ago, or from recently with everything taken apart. It's all part of the therapy for us. Welcome aboard.

So, is there any chance you'll ever do a plug and play harness upgrade for the post- '73 cars? If I remember right, there was an issue with availability of a connector. I would love to upgrade mine, but don't have the time to cut and splice a 240 upgrade harness into my car.

Your car looks great Jared! I have lost out on quite a bit of nice weather. Right after I got back from the Cleveland Nationals, my radiator started leaking. I pulled it out and took it in, but the core is shot. I can't get a new radiator locally, so I'll have to wait for one to arrive from out west. November 15th is bedtime for my Z, so it looks like I'm done. What really stinks is that I couldn't even go fill it with gas or wash it. I'll have to make a few trips with gas cans to get it full of fuel. There is no point in putting the leaky rad in, so now I have open hoses, so I can't even start it to circulate the Sta-Bil. With the 70 degree weather here, it would have been really nice to drive it a bit more. Oh well.

Has anybody here bought an aluminum radiator from AEON Imports? They sell an aluminum 3 row 75-78 Z radiator for $140. My radiator is shot and it looks like there are no local stores that can get me one here in Michigan, so my choices are MSA's 4 row for $200+shipping or an aluminum on off eBay for anywhere from $140 to $250+shipping. My car is a manual and I'd rather not give up the bottom of the radiator for the trans cooler that I won't use. Most of the radiators now come only wih the trans cooler so they don't have to make two different units. From what I understand, copper/brass radiators are slightly better than aluminum for heat rejection, so I don't really care which I buy.

Tom, be very careful about which 4" speakers you choose if you want to fit them behind the factory panels. They MUST be almost flush. The Boston speakers were one of the only ones I found that fit the bill. Several others claimed to be flush only to not fit. Even Crutchfield wasn't aware of the real dimensions.

I bought Boston Accoustics 4" speakers and they sound ok with my very good head unit and amps. I will add the MSA speaker box and 6x9's which should make it MUCH better. With the 4" speakers alone, I can hear it okay with the windows up, but it's useless on the highway with the windows down.

Skip, I don't have any pics, but it's really pretty straight forward. You VERY CAREFULLY cut the two post opening in the console to be the correct size for the DIN sleeve that comes with the stereo. I used a cut off wheel on a die grinder. A dremel with a cutoff wheel works too. Once the hole is cut, slide the sleeve into the console and bend the tabs to hold it in place. It holds very well and doesn't require any kind of additional support. After attaching the wiring to the car, reinstall the console and finally slide the head unit into the DIN sleeve.

I hate the looks of my big bumpers, but I am really worried that if I remove them, I will get rear ended at 5mph and total my Z :disappoin Just a few days ago, a woman ran into the back of my Toyota 4x4. She was going less than 5mph, but it was enough to buckle her hood, bend the core support, and take out the grille, lights, and radiator. Her bumper went under my bumper and she took the hit right in her grille. My bumper did bend up, but only because it is rusty. I bent it back today by hand. If I had been driving my Z with a 240 bumper swap, it might have been enough to do serious damage. On the other hand, I think my car with its big, ugly bumpers would have taken the hit with little to no damage.

I don't have any pictures handy, but in my '78, I have an Alpine 9886 headunit, 4" Boston Accoustic speakers in the factory spots under the 1/4 windows, two Alpine amps under the wood deck, and a Sony crossover under the deck as well. I still need to pick up a rear speaker box and get two 6x9's. I love the headunit. I have a 4Gb USB flash drive hooked to it to house my music. I hate the heavy wood flase floor in the '77-'78 cars, but it does make for easy stereo component installation. The components are out of sight and protected from cargo.

Every now and then some weird things happen. For example, I have a factory externally oiled cam N-47 head on my Z. It must have been an early '77 head. I don't think there are too many like it floating around. I bought if from a guy in San Diego about seven years ago. Apparently it was a brand new take-off head that had been sitting on a shelf since 1977. It came complete with the cam and valvetrain parts. The cam didn't even have a wipe pattern yet. The seller said it once belonged to one of the factory race teams. It *might* be possible for TomoHawk's car to be a really early '78 or something.