Arne

Maybe. I may instead swap the entire harness into my car. But if I did that, I would likely have the dash harness that is now in the car available. But it may not be for several months, in either case.

Jim, to answer your question about the automatic harnesses for 10/70-12/70, they were 24013-E4705 & E4706. All the harness info I had at the time I did mine is in the earlier thread - http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19793 Something to note - I'm now parting out a 4/71 manual transmission car. I already have the body and engine compartment harnesses out, will pull the dash sometime in the next few weeks. I'll post back what the harness numbers on that are at that time. But more to the point, it appears to me that the later '71 harness is VERY similar to the 10-12/70 harness, the only difference I've found so far being the fusebox is a short pig-tail. So if you went with a matching short pig-tail fusebox, I think a later '71 harness would probably work, perhaps with minor mods.

The part numbers on the actual tags on the two dash sub-harnesses are not generally listed anywhere in the parts list as they were not available separately. So I would not expect to find those two sub-harness numbers in the parts CD.

OK, I'm still kinda new to the local Datsun scene - "REAL" as opposed to... what?Is there a local get-together for artificial Datsuns?

Electrical - no doubt. This earlier thread on my issues tells it all. http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19793

I love that look on a 240Z. I'd put a set on mine in a heartbeat - except my wife doesn't like them. So I'll have to stick with something else equally old school. Haven't found what I want yet...

First, remember that my car currently has under-sized tires on it - 205/60-14. The rears aren't done yet, probably this weekend. But the front ride height at the rocker are - Before = 7.25", After = 7.75". I'd never heard that definition of "installed length" before, I've always called that spec "loaded length". And it's hard to measure that, and trying to allow for the step in the spring seats, and such. But the installed length of the Euro spring in front appears to be about 7.5". All of this could change once the rears are done, the weight distribution might be messed up right now with the mis-match. I'll post the final results when I finish the rears.

If you use the old cam, use the matching rockers. (Keep the rockers matched to the same lobes.) If you use new rockers or cam, replace it all.

That's one option, for sure. The better one for me is: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21274

I used to work in the auto repair industry years ago, and we used to see this fairly often in both Nissans and Subarus when their ignition locks got worn. You can try to fiddle with it yourself, but we always found that when one of the guys did this to a customer's car it was quickest to have a local locksmith fix it.

A good set of Libres will go for more than your $200 on eBay - closer to $400, I'd guess. Shelby (as a wheel manufacturer) is no longer in business. There were several companies that made that style wheel, all copies of the original American Racing Libre. They are all similar, but a different brand may not match your Shelbys exactly. Your best bet is to have that one repaired, as noted above.

Ha! We might have to get together on this, I have a spare front cover, but no spare back plate!

Those are for the late '71 and on. The Series 1 ignition key was single sided like the early door key, and the head was not oval, but shaped more like a pennant. Search for 'key blanks' and you'll probably find out all about them.

I just pulled a set of Eibachs off my parts car (posted on eBay right now as #120017599781, shameless plug) and I can tell you for certain that the Eibachs are definitely preloaded. In fact, the free length of the Eibachs is very close to that of the stockers. I don't know about the Tokicos first hand, but I too have heard that they have no pre-load.

A couple of thoughts on this to add:You're right Carl, it is more likely that the free length has been changed on the lowering springs, if they are linear rate as the OE springs are/were. But if they are progressive rate - which is the case for Tokico and Eibach, to name two - they could easily have tweaked the initial rate without having to make big changes to the free length. Also, installed height is not an issue here, as the installed height is determined by the amount of shock travel. Since the springs are pre-loaded (i.e. you have to use a compressor to install them) the installed height will always be as much as the shock travel will allow. It is still a factor for the spring engineers, but it will not change from spring to spring on the same shock. Lastly, I have finally started installing my Euro Stage 1 springs, and I now believe that the increased ride height issue on those is not solely caused by the gas shocks, but also that we are comparing to old, sagged out stock springs as our reference point. I have not done the rear yet, so I won't share all the measurements yet, but I have replaced the 35 year old stock springs on the front of my car with the Stage 1 springs. I did NOT change the shocks at all. The Stage 1 springs alone raised the front ride height about 1/2" when compared to the stock springs on the exact same shocks. My car still has non-gas shocks in it, but that is immaterial here, because I am comparing changes from the springs only. More details on this when I finish the spring swap.

Jim, for use as an emergency spare, it should be OK as long as it doesn't bleed off pressure too fast, and has no weather-checking that might be deep enough to expose the inner cords. For a tire that has never been in use, there are two major age-related concerns. The first is that the fabric and steel inside the carcass has never been exposed to oxygen or moisture. So if there are no cracks in the sidewall rubber or in the bottom of the tread grooves that exposed the cords, you should be fine there. The other concern is that over the years, all the volatile compounds will have leached out of the rubber. The grip and durability of the rubber becomes badly compromised. For use as a spare tire (seldom used, and at limited speeds and stress) it will probably be OK, but no way I'd want to use it as a normal-use tire. General rule of thumb for normal use would be 10 years old at the most.

That key is correct for Series 1 cars, for all the locks other than the ignition. I still have one of the originals for my car, although it isn't even close to that nice!

No, the warping I'm talking about is not on the mounting surface, it's the whole thing. The manifold ends bow downwards, eventually bending or breaking the exhaust studs on the far ends of the head. I heard of this a while back, and started checking them as I found them. All the early 240Z manifolds I looked at were bowed in this manner to some degree. The 280ZX manifold now on my L28 has done this also.

I pretty much agree with the above, with only one reservation. The stock manifold is a good option for a stock engine - IF you already have a good one. But the early manifolds by now are often junk. I know, because I was looking for one and gave up. The ones I found were either rusted badly (with broken and missing studs) or warped, or both. A header isn't the perfect solution, as they do often have fitment issues, they aren't as durable as stock, and they won't give you much benefit on a stock motor. But it may be a better solution than a messed up manifold.

Even between two cars, I don't have any original tires for my spare. But I do have a pretty cool (to an ex-tire guy like me) vintage 175HR14 Michelin XAS to use as a spare. Not new, but probably 60% or better.

Try it first, Jim. My car came with w 5.5" slot mag in the spare, and the wheel was too wide to fit in the spare well. The round fiberboard cover sat 3/4" above the floor. That's why I'm going back to stock steel for the spare.

Black it will be. Thanks, everyone!

Thanks, Carl. That makes the most sense to me, as I'm fairly certain that the wheels and tires were just pulled from a pile and either bolted on the car, or put in the spare well. It didn't seem right to me that they would use a special, non-black-painted batch of wheels for the spares. On the other hand, all indications are that the wheel out of the spare well on my parts car was original to that car. Granted, it is not the original tire (has a vintage 175HR14 Michelin XAS on it), but the date code of the wheel (3-71) matches well with the 4/71 build date of the car. And even after sanding and prepping it for new paint, I can find no trace of black on it, and the silver-gray sure looks original. Curiouser and curiouser...

Hey folks, I know that the original road wheels had a silver-gray base coat, with a quick coat of flat black on the face. But were the spare wheels the same? Or did they not have the black paint on the face? I ask because my Series 1 came to me sans spare. I have one out of my parts car, which appears to never have been painted black. Does that sound right?

Assuming of course, that the guy who looked at it knows what he's talking about. But I wonder about spending $900 to rebuild it when used replacements are cheap.