Arne

First 11 or 12/71 is not a Series 2, but is a 1972 car (rarely called Series 3). The so-called Series 2 was from 1/71 through 8/71. There are numerous differences between electrical equipment between your 12/70 and a 1972 car. It may be possible to change connectors to make it work with your existing rear harness, but it would be a considerable amount of work, including verifying that you are getting the correct wires connected to the right stuff. One small error there and you've melted another wiring harness. To me, and I've done it twice, it's not that tough to do it right and replace the rear section so that you know for a fact that all three main harnesses are 100% compatible. I don't know why you are so reluctant to pull the rear section. Trying to use your early rear section with later front sections is just begging for future electrical problems. Far better to spend a little extra time up front than to trash yet another harness. Especially given how hard they can be to find.

Stebro While they certainly looked Italian, Stebros were made in Canada. (And still are for some high-end and exotic cars.) As shown in the attached ad, they were distributed in the USA by BAP/Geon. The one shown in the ad (both the rear muffler and the smaller image of the 240Z) have twin horizontal tips. I do not know if there were any other designs available. <hr /> Supersprint Like Ansa, Supersprint still exists today, although they haven't built anything for a 240Z in many years. Supersprint is another Italian maker, who offered yet another variation on the classic Italian exhaust. The Supersprint system (at least in the late '70s, when these ads were printed) used three bullet mufflers, probably glass-packed. One in the center section, and then a pair at the very rear with short chrome tips. The second picture below appears to show the rear mount and that the dual rear mufflers and tips were mounted vertically as was typical for 240Z. I've seen pictures (but can't find any right now) that seem to show that later Supersprints may have had a single rear muffler with dual vertical tips, similar to how Monza did it. Can't confirm that right now. Modern Supersprint ads frequently make note that they apparently have what they call an "Archival Tooling Program" and to contact them about that for info on out-of-production systems. I've tried to inquire about that several times over the past 3 years, with absolutely no response. <hr /> Targa The Targa system was sold as recently as 3-5 years ago, notably by MSA. It was apparently made here in the USA, and was a very close replica of the Ansa system, but with mandrel bends and aluminized pipes. It was available as a complete system, or as the rear section only. As we would expect by now, dual vertical resonated tips. Not sure who built the Targa system, but I suspect it may have been Thunderbird, which is part of the Pertronix family. Thunderbird now offers only air-cooled VW exhausts, but seems to me they used to have a broader range than that. In any case, the Targa is apparently no more. <hr /> Velocé Not much is known these days about the Velocé system. I found it mentioned in numerous ads in the mid-70s, but only this one rather small image, and a poor image at that. Velocé was apparently yet another Italian maker, and their exhaust appears to have followed the normal pattern of center resonator and rear muffler. The image appears to show horizontal tips, but it is not certain if that was truly the case or not. More info would be needed to confirm that. Info that is probably not forthcoming. <hr> That's all for now, I'll add to this if/when I get any more info.

As a follow up to the thread discussing the discontinuation of the Monza period-style exhaust for the 240Z, I thought I would post some info and pictures of some of the various true period and later period-style exhausts that used to be offered for the 240Z. First, a couple of definitions. Back in the '70s, many of these exhausts were offered in sections. You'll see references to front, center and rear sections, as well as complete systems. In general, the rear was the part that replaced the rear muffler, and the center section was from the stock downpipe back to the rear muffler. The center section generally included a resonator, but not always. The front section was the headpipe or downpipe. Many systems did not offer a replacement downpipe, their center section attached to the factory downpipe instead. So most often, a "complete" system was just the center and rear sections. Also note that the true period pieces did not use mandrel bends back in the day, that is a relatively recent development, as is aluminized pipes for longer life. Also note that none of these were larger than 2" pipe diameter, and many were actually smaller at 1 3/4" or 1 7/8". Again, that was pretty standard for that time. The pictures below are either quick snaps from period magazines that I own (mostly '70s R&T), or in a few cases picked out of other threads. As I get time, I'll try to replace these with cleaner scans and better photos as I can find them. So, in alphabetical order... <hr /> First up - Abarth Abarth was built in Italy (as were many of these systems). It very typical for the Italian-made exhausts for 240Zs (as we will see as we continue). The center section had a small resonator, the rear muffler was a small oval hanging vertically with twin resonated tips. The rear hanger appears to be a bit unique. <hr /> Next - Ansa Here are pictures of the classic Ansa system. Note that the rear section was really not intended to be used separately, but always shown with the center section as a system. It has the now classic dual vertical resonated tips that many today consider an Ansa trademark. (Not so, as we'll see throughout this thread.) Ansa made several changes to appearance and pipe bends throughout production, but all were fairly similar in basic design. Ansa was made in Italy. The Ansa parts have been discontinued for quite some time, although NOS parts do show up now and then. <hr /> Clifford The Clifford exhaust was a true dual exhaust system. (a.k.a. Twice Pipes) They were designed to connect to the twin collectors on their Clifford 6-into-2 headers. This system was made here in the USA, and was also offered through the Datsun Competition catalog via the dealer parts department. Things to note - the Clifford had a pair of glass-pack mufflers at the very end, mounted vertically, with chrome tips. There were no true center resonators at all, but some drawings appear to show an additional pair of glasspacks in the pipes that go across the car just behind the rear suspension. It was possible to order a pair of straight pipes to replace the mufflers for competition use. (Race tracks had no dB limits back then. The sound must have glorious!) Note that the current "Twice Pipes" offered by MSA are not at all the same. Those apparently ship with a Y-pipe at the front to split a single exhaust to dual, and the dual rear mufflers and tips are oriented horizontally, not vertically. The Clifford was only available as a complete system, not as separate sections. Indeed, it was most often packaged with the header to which it was designed to connect. Clifford stopped production on these (both header and exhaust) quite some time ago. While the company still exists, they no longer have the tooling or specs, and so no re-issue is likely. <hr /> Daytona Daytona was another Italian exhaust company, a bit lesser known than Ansa, but often considered by those who had used both to be a bit higher quality and longer lasting than the Ansa. They may have been somehow related to Abarth, but that connection (if any) is not clear today. Here in the USA they were distributed exclusively through Al Cosentino's FAZA company, who also had strong Abarth ties. Al (who apparently passed away in 2009) was quite an eccentric character, which made buying Daytonas a bit of an adventure. Seldom seen on 240Zs, what few pictures I found confirmed my memory that they looked much the same as the Ansa. The only confirmed pictue I found was of the rear section, which shows dual vertical tips, apparently resonated. It is unclear whether Daytona as a company still exists, solid info is tough to find. The website that Al had up for some time now seems to indicate that FAZA has a new owner, but gives no details and looks like a placeholder. No idea whether any old product for Datsuns might still be available, but it seems unlikely at this point. <hr /> Monza The most recently available of the period-style exhausts, the Monza was discontinued by Pacesetter (the parent company) in 2008. The final 240Z parts dried up this Spring. The Monza was a modern interpretation of the classic Italian style exhaust. It consisted of a center and rear section, and had the ubiquitous dual vertical resonated tips with a center resonator. But it was a more modern system, at least near the end of its life, having mandrel bends and aluminized tubing. The Monza was made in the USA, and the design of the rear section and tips changed several times throughout production. Recently, I found that Monza also made a rear section as a separate part at some point, designed as a replacement for the stock 240Z rear muffler. The part pictured below is one of them, and it had a 1 3/4" inlet to mate up with the stock 240Z piping. The twin tips incorporate glass-packed resonators.

For a 12/70, the only ones that I can guarantee will fit with your current rear harness are the following: Dash harness pair from 10/70-12/70 Engine compartment harness from 2/70-12/70 Both the dash and engine harnesses are different between manual and automatic transmission, the rear harness is the same for both. If your car is an automatic (and you plan to leave it that way), you'll want the proper automatic harnesses. For a manual, you can use either style. The auto harnesses will have a few things you'll ignore, and one pair in the engine harness that will need to be jumpered together. I suspect—but can't promise—that you might be able to use the earlier dash harness (2/70-9/70) as well. I think it'll plug into what you have OK. But again, I can't promise that, so treat that as a unproven possibility. To use the later Series 2 wiring, I think you'll want all three parts, plus the fuse box and a pair of tail light harnesses. I know the rear section is different at the tail light connectors, but don't know if the connectors at the main harness junction behind the glovebox are the same or not. So to be safe, I think you'd want to at least make certain that the matching rear section was available, if not on hand. Man, this is deja vu...

Been there, done that, ended up parting the car. But not because of the wiring. The wiring for a late Series 1 car is officially the same for only a three or four month production range. And automatics and four speeds take different harnesses. All the details that I went through when I dealt with this are in the following thread. The part numbers and build-date ranges are about half-way through the thread. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19793 It may be simpler (in my experience) to replace the entire harness—all three main parts—with a good harness from a single car. That would give you a bit more flexibility in finding what you need. Done that way, you could use an earlier Series 1 harness, or even a later '71 (Series 2) harness. By '72 the changes start piling up and it gets more difficult to swap this way, and '73 is worse. If you use a later '71 harness, you'll also need the later short-tail fuse box to match. I actually have a complete spare harness including fuse box from a 4/71 four speed car. Pretty good shape. I was planning on hanging on to it as a spare, just in case. But I might be able to be convinced to part with it, for a reasonable offer. PM me if you want to discuss that.

Rich, for 16" you'll want 205/55-16, not 205/60. The 60s will be taller than stock. Or you could do 205/60-15 on 15x7s, about the same height as stock.

McGard makes non-locking nuts too. Really good ones.

Massey's doesn't have a web page that I know of. Your wheels look like the early style to me. I didn't think the early Appliance mags were that thick—I know my Wire Mags aren't. If they are truly 19mm thick measured in the lug hole, you should be able to use most any normal mag shank lug nut. As mentioned above, I'm also partial to McGard lug nuts as well as their locks, available from places like Summit or Jegs.

Appliance slots will need something special, depending on when they were built. The earlier wheels will use mag shank nuts of normal diameter, but the shanks are a bit shorter than most at 0.55". Later Appliance wheels will require Rotolug type, which are much larger in diameter—the lug holes in the wheels are about 7/8" or so, IIRC. Either choice should be available from Masseys in Oklahoma, whose address I believe we mentioned earlier in regards to center caps.

There are flats in the shift lever just above the bushings for a 14mm wrench.

To clarify, Stephen is referring to the bushings for the early style, Type A transmission, not the later Type B (which is a completely different process). Actually, the easiest way to change the Type A bushings (IMO) is from underneath, but after the driveshaft is pulled. With the driveshaft out of the way, the job is very simple.

And for that you posted to a four year old thread??

Richard, I'm afraid really close is the best you're likely to find. You can't expect to perfectly match 30+ year old vinyl that was originally sourced in Japan. The chances of finding material that will match your current passenger seat is pretty darn poor. So this leaves you with a few options. If you don't like the MSA kit, you could try another vendor. I've seen the kits from Classic Datsun Motorsport in person, and they look absolutely first rate. But you can't expect even these to match your original passenger seat perfectly. Or you could look for another original seat to rob the cover from. I currently have the passenger seat bottom from a different '71 in in the driver's side of my car now. Eventually I'll recover both seats (probably using the CDM kit), but this has bought me some time.

I've had no problems with the currently available gaskets, so I don't know how much demand there might be for such a beast. Also, I moved this thread out of the "Using the Website" forum and into the Engine and Drivetrain" forum instead.

It IS personal, and it can even vary from car to car for a single person. I changed to clear on my silver BMW E36 quite some time ago. On that car, I prefer the clear. But even on a silver one, to me the colored side markers are part of the character of the 240Z. I certainly would understand if Stephen had kept the clear, it's his car. Of course I'd continue to poke him about them, too.

We do have auto thumbs, if you actually upload them to this site. But no thumbs when you insert a link to a photo hosted somewhere else. Uploading them directly is preferred. You just missed the big vintage Datsun show in Canby, it was last weekend.

Posted it in the tech articles.Modify US 240Z rear turn signal wiring (JDM-style)

Welcome to the forums! Now I do my Moderator thing - I deleted all the photos you hotlinked. Please don't hotlink to full size photos like that, it makes the thread impossible to read in many web browsers. Make certain that any hotlinked photos are re-sized to a reasonable width, generally not more thann 800-1000 pixels wide. Thanks!

Even without the admittedly interesting body mods, there's a fair number of worthwhile parts on that car. I wonder how pie-in-the-sky the reserve is set at?

Ahhh! Good call, Will. Since I've never had a set of louvers personally, I didn't know that.

I've been using Griot's Garage's Vinyl & Rubber Dressing. Said to be silicone-free and no petroleum distillates either. I've been using it for a number of years on multiple vehicles.

Wasn't someone making an adjustable TC rod? that would be an easy answer.

I've had that problem before on FI non-Datsuns.

I use factory Nissan rubber bushings. They are firm enough for me.

I'm with Stephen, other than the rough running on start, that sounds normal. I'm wondering if it's not maintaining fuel pressure and the fuel is boiling. Just a thought...