Arne

Adjustable struts (such as Tokico Illuminas) won't change the ride height at all. But you could firm up the damping so that it doesn't bounce down as quickly. That would - of course - cause a significant increase in ride harshness.

Yes, that might work well. But I'm very pleased with my cut-down Euro springs. Nice ride, stock height (even with the gas struts). Cutting the Euros down seems simpler to me than fine-tuning the 280Z insulators.

Hmm. My '71 pings noticeably on 89, even with the timing set to 5° BTDC. Might have to look into it a bit.

I run 92 in my '71. Later cars have lower compression ratios and might be able to use less octane, but the '70-71s typically will ping on lesser grades (in my experience). The original intake valve seats in a 240Z were bronze, so if the head has not been re-done with steel intake seats, there is the possibility of valve seat recession. I'd be concerned if you were going to drive it really hard, or a lot. But for a typical stock weekend driver, I wouldn't be too worried about it. Some day (if you keep it long enough and drive it enough miles) when it needs a valve job, have the seats replaced. Until then, just drive it.

Yeah, I'm actually surprised at how quick it all went down myself. I'll finish reassembling the interior this weekend, which means from the first trim removal for the roof job to totally complete will be exactly 6 weeks to the day. Rather amazing. The guy that did the paint has done other 240Zs in the past (part of the reason I selected him), and he said he was amazed that he couldn't find any rust anywhere. Said he'd never encountered a truly rust-free 240Z before. Made me feel pretty good.

New factory springs have been unavailable for quite some time. Courtesy Nissan -- with assistance from Carl Beck and others -- did have a batch of reproduction stock replacement springs made up, as well as reproductions of the European Stage 1 springs. I believe that they have sold out of the stock replacements, however. Possibly sold out of the ES1 springs by mow, too. I seem to recall that Arizona Z Car's 240Z springs are designed to not lower a 240Z, but they are considerably higher spring rate, and so the ride will be significantly firmer. I have the Courtesy ES1 springs in mine with KYB gas struts. The springs are cut down to give the stock ride height. Works quite well, I think. My factory stock springs are in great shape, but are not for sale.

I'll have to look at mine again, but I think mine are also in a sealed plastic bag, like Stephen's.

In addition, I think most Zs also had a small bag with four spare lug nuts. At least my late '71 did, and I've seen others with them too. Like Ed, I have no clue on the green strap.

That might be OK with Gary, but probably not so much with "She who must be obeyed".

Garden variety Z hubcaps for 240-260-280Z, from '72 through '76.

According to the parts CD, the clutch pedal itself is different for the '73. The early pedal is 46540-E4601 and was used through 6/72. The '73-only pedal was 46540-N3300 and was used from 7/72 through 7/73. All later cars (8/73 on) used a third pedal. My guess is that the clutch pedal and the pedal box must match.

Yes and yes. The two guards are definitely different from side to side, and the '73 guards are much larger, and mount closer to the center of the car on the front, but farther apart on the rear.

Actually, while they look fine in the pictures, the rims (along with the carpet) are the weakest parts of the car, visually. Some of the wheels are rather badly pitted, the result of trying to machine polish a set of wheels with non-uniform alloy. Lots of small soft spots that machine polishing turned into mottled pits and uneven surface. After my wallet recovers I'll deal with the carpet. And I will need to start watching for a different set of vintage rims that I like. No hurry on the rims, the current set look OK from 10 feet or more, and are quite functional.

You mean the passenger mat, don't you?

No, I have a great wife. She supports and tolerates my obsessions very well. She's seen me go through this before, and acknowledges that I'll probably do it again in the future. Maybe. But I'm a pretty mellow driver for the most part. And I don't think it's any worse than beandip's "Arrest me" yellow, so as long as he's leading the pack... I've got both the stock headliner from the yellow donor car and a new headliner/pillar padding kit from MSA. Turns out that the pillar padding was not damaged in the process, so all I need is the headliner. I'm going to try to re-use the original since the MSA liner lacks the little perforations in the vinyl. That job is still a ways down the priority list.

Well, as you have probably figured out, the car WILL be reassembled in time for Canby, so I will drive it. The only exception is that it is possible that I won't have a headliner in it by then, but that's about it. So any of you who will be at Canby will be able to see it in person than.

Yeah, the red front spoiler is definitely a hit with me, I love it! I put the spook on first thing, before I had done any cleaning, because it seemed to me that the safest place for it to not get scuffed was on the car. Cleaning has been done now. Maybe, but its work I like doing. I figure if it's cured enough to color sand, it can stand me (carefully) putting it together. I've considered that, but not sure yet.The exterior is now done. Haven't tackled the interior yet, lots of dust to clean up in there before I can start putting it all back together. Yes, I've found a few (very small) flaws, but on the whole, I'm very pleased. It was a good looking car when I tore it apart 5 weeks ago. Now, the roof is right, the color is far less 'orangy' and is uniform from top to bottom, and it is not covered with door dings and rock chips. In short, it is an even better looking car now.

Here: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30588

All the glass is in, as is all the door hardware, and the hatch parts. Front lights and side markers first tomorrow, then the grill, maybe the bumpers and emblems. Lots more cleanup to be done inside and under the hood.

Mike, my 7/71 car has the one with a longer side, and is original. I can no longer say for certain (since the car is gone), but I think the 10/70 car had the equal length part.

An interesting comparison, since I just got mine back yesterday. I did pay a lot more than you did, but my local area Maaco isn't interested in this type of work. So mine was done at a shop that does both normal work as well as custom and rod work. I'd seen a hybrid Z that he'd done in the past, so I had some idea of the kind of work he'd do. For the type of job I wanted, I feel the price I paid was fair. Yours was a bargain.

Since my car is back home and reassembly has begun (see my car refresh thread), I don't see any problems with me making it to Canby, we'll plan to meet at the rest area also, just like last year. Might have a tag-along, the husband of a woman who works in the same agency as I do recently bought a '77 280Z (Sunburst yellow, former Zzap car, now without decals) and they want to come up for the day as well.

It's home, and it's good. Reassembly has begun. I've called it a night for now, don't want to work on it if I'm not fresh. The results look to be just what I wanted, not a showroom or concours job, but a very sharp refresh of an original survivor. It's going to look great with all the trim and lights back on it. Doors are going to be hard to close for a while, damn weatherstripping...

Just got off the phone with the shop, it's done!! He's cleaning it now, I go to pick it up as soon as I can sneak away from work!

Blazing Saddles was OK, but many of the skits on the Carol Burnett Show with Harvey, Carol, Tim and Vikki are true timeless comedy. I could watch those over and over. Harvey (and the others) was not just a comedian, he was a true showman. He will be missed.