Arne

No such thing as a "factory" bra, they were all aftermarket. May have been sold by the dealer, but still aftermarket. I've got a really old one as well. Needs new elastic. Tried to give it away and got no takers.

There's a thought - what did the 240SX come with for a spare? That should work quite well, I should think.

Enkei made at least 5 different mesh wheels back in the '80s. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you need Type 92s, as those were their most popular mesh that was made in 16" RWD. But you may want to post a picture here just to be certain that people are looking for the right ones.

Yes, the one I pictured is an Appliance. I used Eagle center caps on mine, from Massey's in Oklahoma, as noted in this thread: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22863&highlight=appliance+caps The Eagle caps are the proper size, are retained in the same manner, and are very similar in shape to the original Appliance caps, but have the Eagle logo stamped in the center. I'm going to try to cover the Eagle logo with "Z" stickers from MSA soon. Not sure how it'll look, the Z stickers are 1.5" but the recess on the caps is 1.75". I have found a source for 1.75" Datsun stickers, but they are a bit more colorful than I'd prefer on my wheels. I'll post pictures (maybe in the other thread) once my Z stickers get here.

I like Repco/Axxis/PBR Deluxe (not Metal Master) for a good, quiet, general purpose pad. Then I use Sta-Lube brake caliper grease on the piston-to-pad contact, as well as the edges of the pad backing plates where they contact the caliper body. I also use the grease on all the contact points of the top hold-down springs.

Hard to say, as the images in the gallery don't show the wheels up close. Not Enkei's, might be Appliance - if so they are probably 14x6. If you've got a close up I might be able to pin them down. Also look for any words or numbers cast/stamped in the back side. Here's an Appliance.

Nope. Remember that by trade I'm a server geek, so the second drive is internal as well, setup as a RAID1 mirrored pair. I've got external Firewire drives for the laptop backups.

The unloaded calipers I put on my yellow car came from Schucks. They were just less than $30 each with no shipping, since I picked them up locally. They looked very nice, came with new pad hardware, and have worked well. I generally prefer to buy calipers unloaded, as the pads are the easiest part for a rebuilder to scrimp on - and so they do. So I normally buy unloaded and pick my own name-brand pads to suit my needs at the time.

To me that's like asking when was the last time I had a hard drive fail. Doesn't mean I shouldn't be prepared, one way or another. Whether it's a useable spare tire, or a way to contact road service, I want to be ready just in case.

Not a good option for me. Too many of the roads I enjoy driving are rather secluded, and have no cell coverage. Got to have a spare.

My spare is about 20 years old, it came in the back of my former parts car. To the best of my knowledge, there's only a few small rubber companies still making 175-14s. I think the only one being imported into the USA is the Vredestein Sprint+. Vredestein also makes the Sprint Classic (whose tread design I prefer) in that size, but I haven't been able to find a US distributor that carries that one, just the +. Side note - the currently available P185/75-14 is very close to the 175-14, about the same height but 10 mm wider. Still fits a 4.5" wide rim, too.

John is great - bailed me out big time on the yellow car's wiring, including a long-tail fusebox. Great parts. I also highly recommend him.

Very true, except I believe the Konig is a FWD wheel that requires thick spacers when used on a Z. Could be wrong, but there's no other reason for it not to have any lip.

Not my taste either.

Me? Stock 14x4.5 steel with stock size 175HR14 Michelin XAS. But that won't help you.Big brakes do complicate this. I'd check the wrecking yards for one of those skinny high pressure spares the late model cars come with. Try one for a four lug Honda Accord. Same bolt pattern, steel wheel with lots of caliper clearance. Might work well.

Luke, my red '71 is totally stock with 4 speed, like yours is. I've only put 1300 miles on it since I got it, but I seem to get 18-20 MPG in mostly town driving, and 28-30 on the highway, depending on speeds. If I do freeway at 70-75, figure 28. Back roads at 55-60 seems to give a solid 30.

Oops! I guess I never closed this thread out. I ended up buying a parts car instead. The parts car had a complete, sound L24 with E31. Runs pretty good as is. Head rebuild was cancelled.

Pumping it won't help. But depending on how your carbs are adjusted, holding the throttle open slightly may be necessary of helpful. But not pumping it.

Because if you compare it to real orange, it's nor orange either. It's a half-way in between color, neither true red nor true orange.It's actually similar to the "Mars Red" color that VW used on '79-81 Sciroccos. That wasn't really red either...

Here you go. Late '71, built 7/71. But other 240Zs are similar, if not the same.

Clear coat over polished aluminum never lasts, in my experience. Problem is that if the wheel is polished well, it is very smooth, and there is no "roughness" to help the clear coat adhere. POR is great stuff, but that doesn't really change the surface condition of the wheel.

Plastic evap tanks were used through at least 4/71 production, as I have a spare un-cracked one from my parts car, as well as the one still in my 10/70 yellow car. By 7/71 production they had changed to metal, as that's what's in my red car.

Argh. There is no "easy" way to change it. Something needs to be removed to allow access to the back side. The simplest is probably to remove the inner glovebox, although that's not as straightforward as it sounds. As for the bulb, it's a fairly standard small bayonet-type bulb. Don't know the bulb number off hand. But once you have one out, you can take it to the parts store and match it. Then buy at least 3 of them, and replace the bulbs in the other two center gauge bulbs while you can get to them. As for "brights", do you mean high beams on the headllights? If so, you bet they came with them, high beams are required by law. The dimmer switch is the turn signal stalk. Pull once to switch from low to high, and again to switch back. If you make it down to Eugene/Springfield some time, maybe we can look at it...

Good quality aluminum alloy - dense and consistent - will polish just like a mirror. But it is VERY difficult to find vintage 14" wheels of requisite quality. The set I found and had polished was not even close. But the only way to know how well yours will clean up is to polish one or more of them. And don't be surprised if the results you get vary from wheel to wheel.

It would be easier to help if we knew what year and model car you have. But in general, what you are describing sounds like an internal dead short inside your battery. That would be my first thing to test.