Arne

Typically, for springs with a stiffer spring rate like the Arizona Z springs you want a shock with a lot of control, especially if the ride height has been lowered. You want the shock to be able to damp the motion quickly, since you don't have a lot of travel. Ideally you don't want it to bottom out. So with your cut-down Arizona springs I'd say something fairly aggressive would be a good idea. Tokico Illuminas maybe, Konis, or actually even the same Mulhollands I put in my red 240Z. The ride will end up being pretty firm, but the handling should be great on relatively smooth roads.Side note - those NOS Mulhollands I installed are great performance shocks, but not so good for back road weekend touring. Too firm for that. I'll end up going to KYB soon. Might put the Mulhollands in the yellow 240Z instead, but not sure yet.

Looks pretty good, Brian. What are you running for shocks?

My stock '71 needs premium, and the owner's manual specifies premium. You might get away with less octane if you have a later cylinder head, or a hot cam installed. But for a stock '71 L24, I'd recommend premium.

The issue is that if you use a left side mirror on the right side of the car, the stalk extends at a much different angel than the other side.

Pull all six spark plugs out. See if you've got liquid in any of the bores - coolant, oil or fuel. You may have a leak of some sort that has filled one cylinder with liquid and now it's fluid-locked.

Yes, it sounds like a problem between the switch and where the to coil feeds join on the coil feed in the Start position..

Wow. That may be the slickest option I've yet seen for night visibility yet. And surprisingly affordable, to boot.

So are you saying that in the start position that it cranks, but won't catch until you release the key? If so, there may be something wrong with the wiring to the coil. In the Run position, the switch sends power through the ballast resistor to the coil. In Start, power is sent through a different wire directly to the coil.

The FrostFree kit looks like a nice idea, but it may not work on a Z. Our rear windows are 38" wide and 28" high. Neither dimension works for their stated minimum width of 40". You might sneak by going horizontally, as 38" is not too much under the minimum. But for early cars with vertical defrosters it's not even close.

None of my '71s have or had that connector, not in that location anyway. Not even the (formerly) automatic car. I'll try to remember to look over my spare wiring harness this evening.

So it sounds like the main mount itself has really no way to go bad. That's a relief - those parts aren't cheap. I'll plan on getting replacement rear spacers before I next tear it apart.

Good thought, but all four struts are new - less than 750 miles on them.

Thanks, Ron. I too recall them as being pretty much a solid piece. Maybe a solid chunk of rubber inside a metal shell perhaps, but solid none-the-less. The noise I'm getting is almost a rumbling, almost sounds like a wheel bearing. It only happens on roads with a rough surface. My thought is that perhaps the mount has gotten so hard that it doesn't cushion anymore and is transmitting all the roughness into the body shell. Maybe, maybe not. I will be replacing all the rear suspension bushings, so maybe I'll just do the upper mounts at the same time.

I feel a bit silly asking this, considering how many times I've changes springs in my cars in the past 9 months, but here goes. Do the upper strut mounts (the parts with the three mounting studs, what Nissan calls "insulators") have a rubber cushion inside them? I know this is common in other cars, but never looked at mine when I've had them apart. My concern is that my red 240Z has a lot of road noise on rough road surfaces, and I'm wondering if the rubber inserts in the mounts (if any) has gotten stiff and hard over the past 35 years?

A quick Googling makes me think that you need to change the wiring harness and sending units to do this swap.

No, those are the standard E39 M5 wheels here in the states as well. All E39 M5s came with them. The most likely reason you've not seen them is that E39 M5s are not common.

Good call, Enigma! I've never seen that on Les' site before. I'd much rather use a new one that some old, stiff used one.

Your best bet for those types of parts is find some one who is parting a car out. I had to find a left vent elbow for my yellow 240Z, I ended up buying an entire car for parts. (Yes, it had the elbow, although that was far from the primary reason for buying the car.) I have a wiper motor bag, but unfortunately my spare wiper motor is still in it, and I'm not quite ready to turn loose of it yet. And again, it came from a parts car. Now I'm not advocating you buy a whole car just for these parts, but finding some one who is parting one out is still your best bet.

Well, I did look at it in person today, although I see that it has sold (via BIN) for $10,995. For the most part, it's as nice as they claimed. It has a set of Sears/Michelin 205/70-14 tires dating from the mid-80s, and the rear spoiler as pictured, otherwise all stock. Interior and underhood look great, no bones to pick there at all.But just as you suspected, Carl, the paint is an issue. It looks good from 10 feet, maybe even 5. But up close there's a lot of dust in the clear coat, and they didn't remove the glass when it was prepped. For the most part it was well masked, but if you look close you can tell. As for why it was painted, I saw no sign of body damage or repair, and the underside looked perfect. My guess - based on my memories of Datsuns of that era - is that the original clear coat started to craze and/or peel. So the owner had it sanded and repainted. Just a shame they didn't spend a touch more at that time to do it right. But - at $11k (possibly plus shipping costs, don't know where the buyer lives), it will make an outstanding weekend driver or casual show car. For high end show or collector use all it will need is a "correct" paint job. Someone got a really nice car...

I just checked it out, 6:55 AM PDT. Still listed for me...

Well, I've not tried the generic stuff on my Datsuns, because I had trouble with it on my MG. If the cheaper stuff will work for you, go for it.

Pictures from the other thread, converted to JPGs so they can be attachments, not downloads.

Most generic fuel hose is too stiff - not flexible enough to allow for nozzle movement with the choke and return. I'd call ZTherapy and see if they'd overnight you a pair. I bet they will. http://www.ztherapy.com

I'd call Centerline direct. (http://centerlinewheels.com) They sometimes have overstocks available on the shelf for greatly discounted price.