jayhawk

So you had a hard time starting a 45 year old car, and from that you concluded the flat tops were a "major step down"? Hmm. My flat tops ran just fine during the 70s while commuting and making sales calls all over southern California, but like many of us, I was convinced by a 1980 mechanic's presentation at the Orange County Z club meeting that the round tops were so superior, and paid him over $500 to replace my carbs. Funny thing, he (and zTherapy) made a lot of money, but I had NO performance or drive-ability improvements. One can only speculate why mechanics (and zTherapy) love to disparage the flattops...

Some notes about a couple of questions raised in this thread. 1. The A/C unit was an aftermarket kit I installed myself sometime in 1974. I recall it used a rotary compressor, which I thought would be smoother than the traditional reciprocating piston type. However it was never very effective and the restoration will not include any A/C. 2. The condition of the interior likely comes from storing it in my side yard for 10+ years after I quit driving it. It gets hot in the sun here in N. California east of the SF Bay. Plus it has 188,000 miles on it. It was my daily driver from 1973 to 1988. I did get it back inside the garage in 2005, but the damage was done...

I think I’d like to use the original carbs if possible. My goal is to restore it to the way it was when I drove it off the dealer’s lot. The only changes I made to the car over the years was to add the aftermarket a/c unit (that I personally installed. Maybe that’s why it never worked very well ?) , replaced the radio with a Blaupunkt, and the carb “upgrade” (which cost me $554 in 1980 dollars!) The Datsun shops back then made a lot of money off of gullible flattop Z owners like me who bought off on the supposed superiority of the round tops. For the record, I had never had any vapor lock or other problems with the car, and this was during a time I was driving all over southern California making sales calls. I just wanted to “improve” my car after listening to a presentation at the Orange County Z club meeting by the mechanic who I then went to for the conversion. Hmmm...

Hi, I’m the “gentleman” (Rich may be a little too generous ?) that is the original owner of the ‘73 Z of this thread. I’m happy I managed to hang on to my Z this long and yet ashamed I have let it sit so long. I bought it new from Gubrud Valley Datsun in Mt Vernon Washington shortly after returning from an 11 month deployment with my US Navy A6 Intruder squadron aboard the USS Kitty Hawk. ( which was a great way for a young ensign to save his pay to buy a Z!). I’ll post more info about the history of this car when I get back home after the 4th.

Uh, those are not flat top carbs in your photo. Unless you have already swapped the roundtops in the time since your first post. If you do have the flat tops, I'd love to have them for my restoration project. Especially the linkage parts. PM me if you are interested in ridding your garage of those terrible, awful, shameful flat tops. <grin> By the way, I like your Fiat 124 you have on your website. I've always loved the clean lines of that car. My brother has a Fiat Dino Spyder, which is another cool looking Fiat roadster. Let me know, especially if you are willing to part with the linkages. Thanks --Bob

For those of you that are still using flat top carbs (you know, the "boat anchors" that are so reviled by the jealous masses...:-) I have just found and bought on eBay a Datsun "National Service Document" that cover Carburetor Adjustment Procedures for the 260Z carbs. It appears that it will be useful for the '73 flat tops (like mine) also. It is a 23 page, well illustrated and detailed manual. I've scanned it into a pdf (774 Kb) file and if you have flat tops and want this, just PM me with your email address and I'll sent it to you. (Owners of inferior round top carbs need not apply...) Is there a site where documents like this can be placed for free download to those who want it? I also have the 240Z 260Z Fuel Modifications Manual (in pdf format thanks to sblake!) but it is 34Mb, and too big to send for my ISP). --Bob Original Owner, 1973 Metallic Blue (115) 240Z HLS30-125678

Interesting that whomever made it did not paint the trim edges like the original radios, since they did the lettering and antenna switch trim and arrows correctly. And if it is thicker than the originals, i don't know why that could not be done either (but since I don't know much about forging maybe there is good reason). But the value of a complete radio is really in the faceplate and a complete set of knobs. The faceplates are prone to cracking at the corners and so they are the rare component of these radios. Which still raises the question of who is making these. I think I'll send an email to the seller to see if they can or will shed any light on that. --Bob

Argggggg! meant to post the eBay link and forgot! Here it is... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/DATSUN-240Z-1970-1971-1972-RADIO-FINISHER-FOR-OE-RADIO_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6763QQihZ016QQitemZ260158040448QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW --Bob

This eBay ad is for a "forged metal reproduction" faceplate for a 240Z radio. I've seen this item and one for a '70 radio faceplate a couple of times recently on eBay. Anyone know who is manufacturing these? Looks very good in the pictures. --Bob

Curtis, welcome aboard from a left coast Original Owner. This IS a great site with at lot of very helpful and knowledgeable folks. This recent thread (http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=27804) has a post describing installing seats from a '92 300ZX. As those are power seats (driver side only, though) this looks right up your alley. Have fun! --Bob Original Owner, 1973 Blue Metallic 240Z S/N 125678

Wow, no one has responded to this yet? I'm way far from an expert on this, but I'll be glad to help with what little I know, especially since my limited knowledge is limited even more to the US domestic cars. The early 1974 260Z in the US had "skinny" bumpers that were somewhat different than the '73 bumpers. (and the '73 bumpers were slightly different than the earlier years). Late '74 260Zs in the US got the "fat" bumpers that the 280Zs had. But these are all US specs, caused mostly by government mandated safety, and collision standards. Hopefully the Aussies avoided a lot of that! Our 260Zs had different center consoles and dashes also. Don't know of any other body differences, but likely there were some minor ones I'm not knowledgeable about. There have got to be some Aussie posters here or in Australiane Z clubs that can tell you more! Good luck --Bob

HS30, thanks for the link to that interesting thread. I should have searched and found that myself. Thanks! --Bob

Z train, you said "While the performance of "flattops/Hitachis/whatever"can be dramatically improved,they are still inferior(completely) to a PROPERLY set up pair of "roundtops/SUs/Three screws/whatever". OK, why? ie, what specific design features of the flat tops make them inferior? It seems to me that "properly set up" the flat tops ought to be better than round tops, since we know they have some nifty features that the round tops do not (separate idle circuit, power valve). I don't know that they are better, but I cannot find any posts by any knowledgeable posters that point out the actual features or faults other than very generalized and incorrect claims that they are "emission" carbs and somehow cause all kinds of problems that they do not. (like the higher underhood temps of the '73s and '74s) I look forward to your information. Thanks --Bob

Stephen, I'm honored you like my turn of phrase. While I did just think of that while composing that post, I would not be surprised if someone else had not thought of that earlier. Seems sort of obvious to me...:-)

Like TonyD, I'll be happy to help you eliminate the pollution in your garage by taking the flat tops off your hands. (I really need the linkage actually..) But Weasel, you might want to look a little deeper into the whole flat top story than the oft repeated "boat anchor" or "emission carb" claims by posters who believe that round tops are "SUs" and flat tops are not. Or who believe that only the flat tops were made by Hitachi. I'm going to try and scan into PDF format a copy of the "mythical" and "impossible to find" 1975 Nissan 240Z and 260Z Fuel Modification Plus manual that turns out not to be very difficult to find (2 have sold on eBay in just the last couple of months). It has all of the service bulletins, fixes, and tuning information on the flat tops in one manual (that should have been in the FSM, but wasn't....) Conventional Wisdom may be conventional, but it is not always wisdom. --Bob Original Owner of 1973 240Z HLS30-125678, who drank the Conventional Z Wisdom kool aid and paid a lot of money to replace the flat tops with round tops. And now regrets that....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-240Z-Rear-Bumper-End-Filler-Set-NOS-NEW_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ34204QQihZ016QQitemZ260156378918QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW This eBay auction is for something called a Rear Bumper End Filler. I don't recall ever seeing a Z with these. Was this ever a standard item on some year/model of Z as the description in the auction implies? ("Correct replacement....") I've had my Z since it was new in 1973 and do not recall every having those. Am I losing my memory (as my wife claims...:-), or what? Thanks --jayhawk

An NOS uncracked dash. Bidding up to $1000 with about a day left to go. I just wish it were for a '73.... http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-240Z-dash-NOS-new-260Z-280Z-OEM-Nissan-factory_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ40017QQihZ007QQitemZ170140631471QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW --jayhawk

Like Galaxybj, my first Z drive was the one I took driving it off the lot after I bought it new in April, 1973. I was just back from an 11 month cruise on an aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin (Vietnam), had been planning to get a Z for a couple of years but that was sort of hard to do while at sea! Incredible feeling! Felt bigger than I thought it would, powerful, quick, and NEW! Bought it at Gubrud Valley Datsun in Mt. Vernon, WA. Jack Gubrud sponsored lots of Z gatherings and runs in those days. Had one memorable trip in 1973 with about 30 other new Zs over the North Cascade Highway. Will try to find the pix of that run and post here someday. Still have it. Restoring it now, hopefully will have it ready in a couple of years for the MSA West Coast Nationals. --Jayhawk

Discharged from active duty at NAS Whidbey Island in 1974, I drove my 1973 240Z from Oak Harbor, Washington, to Vancouver, to Victoria (sightseeing), to Banff (visit a cousin) across the Trans-Canadian highway to Winnipeg, down to Chicago (visit my brother), then to Kansas City (visit parents), then to Huntington Beach, CA for the job I had there at McDonnell Douglas Astronautics. Spend a night at a lodge in Banff National Park, got a speeding ticket from the RCMP near Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan (was allowed to continue and mail in the fine later! - which I did!), cheap motel in Regina, SK, slept in the car at a rest stop outside Minneapolis, then at relatives or motels thereafter. Canada was great fun. I thought of taking the ferry from Vancouver to Prince Rupert (near the border with Alaska) but decided I needed to get going east. Should have done that - would have been a neat trip. Used the Z as my daily driver in California (and 3 years in Georgia) until 1992, finally got it back inside my garage a couple of weeks ago to begin the full restoration. Maybe I'll take it back to Canada and do that ferry to Prince Rupert someday! --jayhawk Orginal Owner, 1973 240Z HLS30-125678

After a search of the forums, it appears that "Les" at Classic Datsun Motorsport has the vinyl interior kits and door skins. --jayhawk

Have fun on you project. I finally got my '73 240Z (I bought it new in '73) in the garage after 10 years in my utility yard. Gonna take a long time to get it back in proper shape. Should be a lot of fun, though! --jayhawk Orginal owner, 1973 240Z HLS30-125678

Thanks to all. The online version is helpful, but still kind of hard to navigate through. The CD may not be better, but it might, and if buying it helps support this great site, then thats a cheap price to pay. Thanks --jayhawk

I'm trying to see if the ZCar Microfitch CD has the illustrated parts breakdown and part numbers for the 73 240Z. But when I click on the advertising link on the first page of this website I get some certificate warnings, and then, after accepting the certificates I get the following error message: "Server Requirement Error: register_globals is disabled in your PHP configuration. This can be enabled in your php.ini configuration file or in the .htaccess file in your catalog directory." Anyone know where or how I can get a complete description of this CD and how I can buy it? Thanks --leftcoastjayhawk Orginal Owner 1973 HLS30-125678

I need to restore both my door panels. They are both in pretty good shape, except for the chrome strip (blue tube is OK), and the vinyl. Is vinyl to match the orginal available anywhere? Does MSA or anyone else use a vinyl that matches the orginal grain and pattern? Thanks! --jayhawk

Hi oldroaddog. Even though I love my 240Z, I think the 300ZX may be the prettiest car of the series. I bought a 93 "Cherry Red Pearl" 2+2 3 years ago as a sort of daily driver. (ie, i use it about 3 times a week...) Also use it to go on Z club events while I'm restoring the 240Z. The 300ZX is a great car, but tight and/or somewhat expensive to work on. In the 3 years I've had it I have only had a broken door lock to repair, and I did most of that myself. Did have the timing belt changed and thought about doing that myself, but decided to let a local Nissan shop do that. Bought it with 99,000 miles on it (My experience with the 240Z's engine and the 200,000 miles I've put on our '89 Maxima gives me great confidence in Nissan 6 cylinder engines...) I'd highly recommend paying a Nissan dealer service department to check out any 300ZX you get serious about. These cars when new were something like $30,000 15 years ago, and now I think nice clean ones are going for around $6K (check Edmunds for pricing). And I LOVE the T-tops! (most all of the 300ZX's have them. I take them off every chance I get. Another good resource is twinturbo.net. Its focused on the twin turbo crowd, but is a great source of information and help for us "NA" (Normally Aspirated") owners. 220 horses is plenty for a daily driver, but I still have to resist the temptation to lust after the twin turbo models. Fortunately my insurance bills help me resist that temptation...:-) I have a 19 year old son in the household and I do occasionally let him drive it - but not often. Its MINE!!!!! --Jayhawk