2ManyZs

Sorry, but the diameter of the strut cartridge for late 260-280 is larger by a good bit, so they won't physically fit inside the 240 tube, and they are also longer. No good at all.

I've done business with MSA exclusively until the past few years, and yes, when they were starting out their customer service was much friendlier as they didn't have nearly as many customers. Back in the early 90's, I could call them up to order something and the person who answered the phone would many times recognize my voice and ask me which one of the cars I was buying for this time... If MidwestZ can't get it, that's the only reason I can think of to go elsewhere at this time, and then I'd go with MSA before any of the rest.

Largest selection is right here... http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=BSC

I would suggest some strenghtening in the rockers, floor pans, under floor frame rails, a cross brace in between the rear shock towers at the very least. Also, a roll bar wouldn't be a bad idea either, just in case and it could be used to further strenghten the chassis. The ZX probably has a bit stronger uni-body than the 240's, so it does have one thing in its favor.

Almost makes me want to sell mine at a 150% profit.... NOT! I guess it's just like the "euro" taillights that everyone thought I was crazy to pay in excess of 500 for the pair, now the cheapest price in the country is almost exactly what I paid for mine, and the highest price is 50% above that..... Live and learn (to stock up on some things):devious:

From what I found in Wick Humble's book the chrome trim can be pried off the top of the door with a flat blade screwdriver (carefully) and the weatherstrip is stapled to the trim. You can either re-staple, glued, or rivet it (I'm just guessing on rivets).

Hmm, 600 is a bit outragious, and only someone who absolutely has to have them is gonna pay that.

Why bother with Courtesy when we've got MidwestZ as a sponsor, can get darn near anything Courtesy can, probably has access to parts that Courtesy can't get, has lower prices to begin with and gives us a discount on top of that? 20 years playing with Z's, and I've yet to need their services...too many better choices out there if you ask me.:pirate: :bandit:

You're gonna have to get one of those sunshields that you can put your name on in reverse so people will recognize you when you come up behind them.:devious:

I think on the 280's it's bolted to the bottom of the intake manifold. You just have to feel around for them.....

The intake and exhaust share some of the same mounting studs and some of them are a PITA to get to. The best way is to find some wobble extensions and both shallow and deep well sockets along with a couple wrenches and take your time, you can get to them all, it just takes a little patience. Some of them, it's best to use two short wobble extensions together to get the correct angle to get the socket on the mounting nut. By wobble extensions I don't mean the sockets with the universal joints. Go to the nearest Sears and ask them for a wobble extension and they should have what you need. They come in handy and are a good addition to anyone's toolbox. The hardest part of taking the intake and exhaust off a 280 is unhooking all the wiring and the fuel lines IMO. Be careful not to lose any of the wire retainer clips on the wiring harness plugs, and don't try to force the plugs apart as they tend to get a little brittle in their old age. Once all the wiring is out of the way, you can usually see most all of the mounting nuts on the intake/exhaust. Just be sure when you put it back together to put the cone shaped spacers back on the shared studs so that the intake/exhaust are torqued alike.

Even if you bought the parts used on your own, it's gonna cost close to 300 or so by the time you get a fender, headlight bucket and all the other little parts to fix it. If the insurance company would write the check to you, you might be able to fix it and put the extra money towards a re-paint, but most insurance companies quit doing that many years ago. Your best bet might be finding a body shop that will work with you, and you supply the parts and use whatever the difference between what the insurance company pays and what you pay for parts and he might be able to do a fairly decent job of blending the new paint into the door so it doesn't look out of place till you get the money for a total re-paint. In other words, if the insurance will pay 700 for parts only, and you can supply them for 300, he could apply the 400 leftover (plus whatever they allow for paint) towards painting a little more of the car to blend the paint into what is one the car now.

Get the hinges and tranny out of nearly any other ZX in a junkard or in the classifieds on one of the numerous Z sites. They are all interchangeable, although, if yours has a 5 speed, you might have to search a little more, but you should find quite a few.

Have your battery and charging system checked and check all the grounds and cables. The starter not engaging could be too low voltage and it's not engaging the solenoid. Just quitting like that could be because the battery was low and it wasn't supplying enough voltage to the electronice ignition.

I always wanted a set of Recaro's, for the simple fact you could mix and match the bottoms and backs to fit what you wanted. Don't know if they still do it that way or not, but at one time you could use the back that had the type of bolstering you desired with a seat bottom that had more or less bolstering depending on your personal preferrence. You could use an adjustable seat bottom with a non-adjustable back and vise-versa. Most of the aftermarket seats have a selection as to how much bolstering you desire. It's all in what you want. The biggest problem in a Z is finding one that is narrow enough to fit.:disappoin Miata seat would be my choice, I've sat in a couple of Miata's and the seats were pretty comfortable, even though the rest of the car wasn't, at least for me.

N42 head was on the 75-76 280's. The question would be is the head still on the block it came on orginally? This might help you a little. http://geocities.com/zgarage2001/heads.html

I can't seem to find an interior pic that shows the seatbelts, but didn't the ZX's have color coordinated seatbelts? Seems you ought to be able to make them work, of course, finding a set in red might be the hardest part. I know they had a red interior in the ZX's, but it probably wasn't the most popular color.

They were also used on a lot of other Nissan cars in the 80's. I had an 82 200SX that had it, and it was the about the only thing about the car that I hated. It was extremely annoying at times, but put it nicely.:devious:

There's a few things that could have caused it, but no matter what caused it, that center section is now junk. Could have been low lube that caused the spider gear or gears to overheat, improper assembly on a rebuild, or bad side carrier bearings. Hard to tell with just that pic, you'll need to completely disassemble the rear to find out. The ring gear looks to be in fair shape (at least what is visible)considering....

#28 in the diagram you posted is the Air Regulator, if you tell them the correct name I'd be willing to bet they have it.

Well, the only thing I can think of that could possibly cause the problem other than a sway bar that isn't bent correctly or is just plain defective would be the control arms or the frame itself. Have you checked to make sure the control arm bushings are mounted correctly, that is, if they have been replaced? The thicker part of the bushing should be at the rear of the control arm, which mounts the control arm offcenter of the opening towards the front? Has the car ever been dinged in the front or backed into that you know of?

The only thing I can think of better for my dash than just having Mr. K's signature, would be Mr. Matsuo's signature along with Mr. K's. One would be good, both would be perfect.

I've been friends with numerous drivers, crewed for, and driven an ITS car with the aluminum/delrin/or poly, and I've yet to hear of any problems with control arms or T/C rods caused by the bushings. This goes back all the way to the mid-80's.

Never had that happen. Aren't the mounting plates slotted for a little fore/aft adjustment?

Replacing the balance tube isn't a true necessity, you can just block off all the unused ports of the original one if you wanted to. The earlier balance tubes may flow better according to some, but I don't think it has really been established in print that they really do. I think they did it more as an ease of installation, since a lot of times you will have trouble getting the lines removed and their hardware out of the old manifold in order to plug them. This way, it's just a simple matter of taking one of and putting the other one on. Looks good to me Ben, guess you know what you'll be doing now eh? The more you look at that, the more you'll want to start polishing everything up to match since it's now running better....:cheeky: