Arne

Different story on that thread - on that one both ends were tall, not just the front. (At least, that was the case after all four were installed.) Your situation seems more like BuDavid's.

Check this thread: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23673&highlight=st+springs Short version - in the thread above, the ST springs were mis-marked. Sounds like the same issue to me.

Mine are "the red car" and "the yellow car". Never been much for naming cars, in 35 years of car ownership I can't remember ever naming one. The only reason for identifying by color is the "the Z" or "the Datsun" doesn't work when you have more than one. As many of us here do...

I've got Speed-bleeders on my motorcycle. They work great.

Related note - The latest batch of paint that Les had made is too glossy. The color is good, but the gloss looks wrong on both the tail finishers and the grill. (I've tried it both places.) Les is aware of the problem and is working on getting it corrected.

Based on personal experience, a set of un-cut Euro springs (either original or repro) with Mulhollands (or any non-gas-strut) will raise the ride height about 3/4" over stock both front and rear. The change from your current height could be even greater, depending on whether or how much your current springs have sagged. I cut my Euro springs down 1.5 coils in front, and 1.25 coils in back - with NOS Mulhollands that gave me a ride height 1/8" to 1/4" higher than stock. About the same as using KYBs with good-condition stock springs. For stock ride height with non-gas shocks I'd recommend cutting 1.75 coils in front and 1.5 coils in back. If you want the nose just a touch lower than the rear, go 2.0 coils in front and 1.5 coils in the rear. For use with KYBs I'd take an additional quarter coil off each of the above recommendations.

Do it on a clean concrete floor. The pins will generally fall down and sit on the tail lights, or the flange of the tail light gaskets, but sometimes they can fall clear through to the floor. Generally not though, they normally get trapped somewhere between the tail finishers and the rear body anel itself.

Don't be surprised if you don't find much - a lot of those old wheels weren't really marked on the back.

The wheels remind me of Western or Superior. Not sure without more data. The three-bar spinners are third party - they did not come with the wheels originally, as they were for "off road use only" due to DOT regulations. As such, the emblem on the spinners are a red herring, at best.

Here's an interesting addition to this thread. I drove my yellow car a bit today. It has a stock L24, and the entire cooling system is new. New 3 row radiator, all hoses, heater core, sending unit, thermostat and housing, everything. Has a larger diameter 260Z fan. But the thermostat is not OE, just a cheap aftermarket that came with the parts car when I bought it. With my entirely new cooling system, my gauge runs about where yours did in the first picture. That's at 80 degrees (F) outside. If the OE thermostat helps yours, I'll be after one as well.

That explains it. While I like Japanese motorcycles, cameras, some cars and such-like, anime and manga leave me totally cold. Always have.

Synthetics don't directly cause leaks. But they are more detergent than fossil oil, and so they can clean up sludge and varnish that may actually be what is doing the sealing. So an engine may leak after changing to synthetic, but the only fault of the oil is that it is cleaning too well. But it takes the blame anyway. I use synthetics in most of my vehicles, but will probably stay with fossil for the Z. But if I had a freshly broken in L2x that I knew was clean inside, I'd probably do synthetic there as well.

At the risk of branding myself as 'old' and/or 'ignorant', who is Speed Racer, and why should I care if they make a movie about him/her/it?

Assuming you want to keep the system intact (and there has been some discussion recently on the pros and cons of this), you'd need to find some sort of material that will bond and fuse to the existing plastic. I'm fairly certain that such a product probably exists, but identifying it may be difficult. If finding a suitable repair product proves to be too difficult, I have a spare plastic evap tank that appears to still be airtight. Came out of an Oregon car so hasn't been baked by the desert temps.

This is very hard to pin down, as 240Zs changed a lot, not just year to year, but sometimes month to month. Short answer is that you can probably make it work, but don't be surprised if the parts don't match exactly.

Gary's got it right. Six plastic rivets across the sill, similar to - but smaller than - the interior panel rivets. The two side panels can then be carefully pulled off. No need to take the three screws out of the license light cover, the whole light will come off after removing the two screws in the sill. The trim under the license plate was retained by two more of the small rivets on my red car.

I also agree, Randy. Done right, it should be almost impossible to tell. I'd do the tail, rockers - and if it were mine, the spook as well, as it looks like there is some black accenting on it too.

Did you check the profile gasket while the engine was out?

Enigma's picture shows it all. Disconnect the halfshaft, brake line, parking brake cable, and sway bar (on later Zs). I normally disconnect the brake line at the chassis end, and leave the hose connected to the backing plate as it is easier to cap the metal line than trying to plug the hose. Also watch out for the drum, if your brakes are not adjusted tightly it's possible (although not likely) that it could fall off the hub when the strut is pivoted out.

By actual count, I've R&R'd the springs in my 240Zs at least 7 times in the past 12 months. (Long convoluted story.) I never pull the spindle pins or the control arms, I always pivot them down as noted by Mike.

That and the fact that the increased weight of the metal fan was very hard on water pump shaft bushings.

Been there, done that, wrote a tech article. While my situation was not exactly the same as yours, this should give you an idea of the basics, and the video from ZTherapy will give you specific info on setting them up and tuning them. The tech article I wrote: Fuel injection to SU carb swap Link to ZTherapy - click the Videos link on the left: ZTherapy.com

You can't CarFax (or similar) on cars earlier than '81 when they changed to a 17 digit VIN format for US market cars. R - means L26 motor L - for left hand drive S30 - first generation Z-car chassis The rest is just the sequential number. Not a lot of info available from the VIN of an early Z.

I believe the lower control arm is the same, but the strut housing is not. The 280Z was taller (to meet bumper height requirements) so its strut tube is longer, I believe.

That's what I decided as well. I'd love it, but 500 miles each way towing a car trailer with a big diesel-sucking pickup, plus a night in a motel just isn't worth it right now. Although the VIN is only 4 off from my yellow car, can't get much more compatible than that.