Arne

I've been reluctant to remove my grommet until I'm ready to replace the boot itself - either with one sewn up by my wife, or one done by LBO730 or someone else.But I can say that - while I don't think one of the A/C grommets are likely to work (too large, I'm guessing) - from what I can see of it in place I'm pretty certain it won't be too difficult to find a workable replacement once I have mine out for pictures and measurements. When that happens, I'll post it all here in this thread. Marty/LBO730 - please let me know when replacements are available. I'm interested in one.

Exactly. Not all rare or uncommon Z parts are valuable - or even good!

Yup. Like I said, he's been trying for months.

Jon, next time you have yours out of the car, I'd love to see a picture of it.

My red 240Z and I vote no.

That dude has been trying to move that thing on craigslist-portland for months. No takers at that price. Maybe it's not worth as much as he hopes.

Looks like I should snag one of those levers if I ever see one.

Could you post a picture of this shift lever?

The R&T data was what was given them by Datsun/Nissan just prior to the US launch. They included data on both the 5 speed and the automatic, neither of which were available at launch. The automatic was introduced with 9/70 production, the FS5C71-A was never offered in the US 240Z at all. (But I'd love to have one.) I've always assumed that the data they were given was based on what was going to be available in the rest of the world, but that may not be the case.I'm going to have to double-check my FSM, which I thought had specs for cars other than HLS30U as well, but now I'm not so sure. Of course, I don't have my FSM here at work.

No. They came with the 3.90 diff ratio.If you say so, as you're there and I'm not. But my factory service manual for '70-71 S30s shows a 3.70:1 with the Type A 5 speed, as does this clipping from the original Road & Track Tech Analysis for the 240Z. R&T might be wrong, but I'd generally expect the FSM to be moderately accurate.

Hmm. Same radiator my '96 328i uses, all six cylinder E36 '92-98. Easily available, and not too expensive. New ones can be found for less than $175 online, probably about the same from local shops without the shipping. BUT... The radiators out of those E36 models have a well deserved reputation for the upper plastic neck cracking. I've had to replace mine once already, they frequently seem to fail after 5-7 years. So it's definitely an option, but maybe not as durable long-term as an OE type one. But probably much easier to find in some parts of the world.

I had heard that there was a lever that worked, so that's good to know for the future. If I ever have a problem with my Type A, I may want to put a 5 speed in and store the 4 speed for a while. That's probably the right way to go. The 240Zs that came with the Type A 5 speed (outside North America) came with the 3.7. Probably a nice compromise, although a bit hard to find these days?

I agree with Carl. It totally depends on how you use the car. While I actually wouldn't mind having a tall fifth gear for cruising, I certainly don't need quicker acceleration around town. If I were to put in a five speed, I'd stay with the 3.36 also. (It's not likely that I'll go that way though, I don't want to have to cut the tunnel of the red car, which came with a Type A four speed.)

In my opinion as a life-long car enthusiast, current 240Z owner, and someone who has driven many 280Zs over the years, I don't think the two models are directly comparable. The lightness and more visceral feel of the 240Z make it a different car than the admittedly much more sorted 280Z. Both have similar performance and capabilities, both are great vintage cars, but the appeal of the different models is - well - different. I test drove a brand new 280Z 5 speed in 1978. The last of the line, and obviously the most well developed. I recall it vividly. It was a very nice car, but as a freshly married 21 year old who was trying to buy my first house, I couldn't swing it financially. Now that I can buy what I want, my choice was to look for a 240Z. If you extrapolate my age back, you'll see that the cars I grew up with were all much simpler than the later cars, and that's what I gravitate to now. Nothing wrong with the later cars, they are definitely improved in many ways. But I prefer the simpler cars with a less refined feel. It's just the way I am.

I guess it depends on your motivation. Are you after appearance, or improved lighting? I've been using E-code lights (mostly H4) exclusively, in every vehicle I've owned since 1976. In the 7" round size the Zs use, I have personal experience with Marchal, Cibié (pre-Z-Beam, Z-beam and BOBI), Bosch, Hella, Carello, Lucas, Wipac, Stanley and now Neolite. While the Marchal and Cibié were both quite good, all of the best I've ever used (in any size/shape) have been Hella. Good range, and most even, shadow-free pattern. So if improved lighting is the goal, I recommend Hella. On the other hand, while I am always after lighting improvements, for some cars I factor appearance in as well. The Wipac Quadoptics mentioned above are British, but have a convex lens as opposed to the flat lens of the Lucas lights. To me, the Wipacs looked much more appropriate than the Lucas on my restored early MGB. Similarly, when I removed the Koito sealed beams from the red 240Z for safe-keeping, I wanted a convex lens that was as inconspicuous as possible, and was willing to accept lesser quality lights to achieve that look. I ended up with some really affordable lights made in India (Neolite). The light output is good, but not great. But they are much less obvious than Hellas would be.

Yes, although the lens pattern is not at all optimized for H4 bulbs. The attached screenshot is from Daniel Stern Lighting.

What I'd really like to find is a nice pair of Marchal Amplilux headlights. Each lamp used a pair of H1 bulbs, one for low beam and one for high beam. Each bulb had a separate reflector. Since the H4 bulb was not introduced until 1971, Ampliluxes were the high performance choice for 7" headlights for early Zs. I'd love to have a pair.

Not tri-bars, those are easy to find. We are talking about headlights with lenses that dish inwards, not outwards. Much tougher to find.I appreciate Her Majesty's kudos, Chris. I try hard to be useful.

Not an Enkei, but it is a Gotti-replica. My memory tells me that it was probably made by Ultra Wheel in So. Cal. in the mid '80s. American Racing may have made them in the '80's as well.

I know what you are talking about, I've seen them now and then in the past. But those are old, vintage tungsten bulb headlights, not halogens. I'm pretty certain they've been out of production for years, but there may be a few sitting on shelves somewhere. They are going to be hard to find, and likely expensive. (And frankly, the light output won't be very good either.) To hunt them down, you'll need to look for places that cater to owners of vintage '50-60s European cars, as that's what they were originally designed for.

The 240Z fenders will work fine. The holes to mount the emblems may be slightly different. The marker lights you now have will fit fine. But I suspect that the rust you see in the fender itself is not the end of the issue. There is almost certainly matching rust in the rocker panel extension behind the fender. Replacing the fenders alone is only going to hide the main problem, not fix it.

Depending on the year and condition, a stock 2.8 will give 20-25 more HP than a stock 2.4, and will have considerably more torque. If you are going to stay with carbs, it's pretty much bolt in job using all the L24 exterior parts. The only catch would be if the L28 you will be using is '77 or newer with round exhaust ports. If so, you'll need to get a round-port header, or use the L28 exhaust manifold, neither of which will mate up with your current exhaust. Is it worth it? Only you can decide if 20 HP is worth the work. I personally have found that a good running L24 is quite acceptable for normal street driving, but many others will disagree.

Man, I'm sorry people! The red captions seemed like a good idea at the time, but they're darned hard to read now. Try this one instead.

The tach looks like an aftermarket unit fairly well fitted into the stock housing to me.

All 240Zs came with 175-14 standard. either SR or HR depending on the production date. That size pre-dates the current sizing conventions, and most closely equates to 175/80-14 in today's terminology. The following 14" sizes are within a couple percent of stock height: 185/75-14 195/70-14 (stock size on 280Z, and what I have on my red 240Z) 205/65-14 (rare size these days) 225/60-14 (only a couple choices) Another issue is wheel width. 240Zs came with 4.5" wide wheels until '73, when they went to 5" wide. For best handling and wear, you really don't want to go wider than 185 on the 4.5" wheels. For 5" wheels you can use anything up to 205 wide, although 195 is better. For 5.5" aftermarket wheels 175-205 width are fine. For 6" use 185-205 widths, and 6.5" should be good with 195-225 widths. For 7" or wider, use 205-245 widths.