Arne

My car now is virtually clunk-free. I have to do something pretty stupid to make it clunk now. But prior to the transmission rebuild, once the car had warmed up it was difficult to make any torque change (on throttle or off) in any of the lower gears without it clunking badly. During my hunt, I replaced the following parts with new: Front differential mountRear transmission mountAll six u-joints (professionally done, not a hammer and vice job)Driveshaft balancedRear struts, with bump stopsInner rear control arm bushings I also swapped in the following parts known good from different 240Zs: Both halfshafts, several times (from two different parts cars)Rear mustache bar (from parts car, which had fresh bushings)DifferentialBoth strut assemblies, including the bearings and stub axles What I finally found was that the primary drive gear on the countershaft was moving under torque changes due to worn woodruff keys. After replacing those woodrff keys (along with all four synchro rings and all bearings for good measure), my clunk was gone. Now I expect that my problem was rather unusual. Most clunks will be taken care of by the usual suspects. But if all the normal stuff fails, don't forget to look for the unusual.

I almost hate to bring this up, folks. But I've been through all this on my low miles '71 as well. Took me many months to go through it all piece by piece. And in the end, the clunk from the rear on my car was actually in the transmission. Sound travels in funny ways through the body shell, and what I swore many times was coming from the differential area was actually in the transmission. In my case, the clunk was much worse when the transmission was warm, and I could make it clunk in first, second, third and reverse, but not fourth.

You violated rule number 1 - never adjust the carbs on a good running engine! Why does everyone figure they need to fiddle with them all the time. Once they are set properly. leave 'em alone! I second the ZTherapy video. Go through the entire routine, start to finish. Don't skip around.

Steve, I'm going to assume you've seen this thread with pictures. No measurements though. Maybe you could PM Marty and/or Jon? http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24759&page=3 By the way, when are you planning to update that avatar and sig picture?

Fair enough. Now, how far are willing to travel or ship?

So let's see if I can guess what you are after -- you want a numbers matching 240Z that can be built into a nice, period-correct weekend driver? If that is the case, don't rule out the later 240Zs. There were improvements in each production change. The Series 2 (late '71s) had improvements over the Series 1 cars, the '72s had more improvements, and the '73's were the best of all once the carbs have been back-dated. Are you willing to ship or travel for the right car? There are a lot more to choose from here on the West Coast.

OK, simple tests first. Try hot wiring it to see if it will run consistently when the ignition switch is bypassed. Do this by running a wire from the positive terminal of the battery to the + terminal on the coil. Then try to start the car with the key as normal. See if it runs. If it does, you will need to kill the engine by first turning off the key, then disconnecting your new wire to the coil. If the problem goes away, it is in the ignition wiring, probably the ignition switch itself. If the problem remains, more testing will be needed.

No, the braided hoses are gone. They were rather hard and brittle, so much so that I knew that I would never re-install them. But that's about the only OE parts that I haven't kept.

I just stuck them over the embossed logo, Randy. I didn't want to mess with flattening them until I find the correct size emblem someday, if and when.

Drove it to work yesterday, in fact. Yes, I have the original dated plug wires in storage for safekeeping. Right next to the original gray-green distributor cap, metal cooling fan/clutch, AM radio and antenna, Koito headlights, and 40 amp alternator. I've been known to reinstall some of this stuff for shows, but for normal use I have more modern replacements for all this stuff. But I wouldn't get rid of any of it, as it's all very hard to replace these days.

They'll fit just fine. No issues.

A quick note - larger versions of the above photos are in my Gallery.

Randy, the Z decals are not the correct size. The Eagle caps require a 1.75" decal, the only Z decals I have found are 1.5". So I have the smaller decals carefully centered on the cap. Not ideal, but it works for now. I have found 1.75" Datsun decals, but not Z. I have started looking for one or two more wheels. A couple of mine are in less-than-ideal condition. So if anyone has or knows of one or possibly two vintage Appliance brand Wire Mags like I already have in 14x6, feel free to contact me.

Something to bear in mind - it was my understanding that only the USA-spec S30s had the VIN attached to the dash. That was not required elsewhere, the rest of the world had no requirement for the VIN to be visible from the outside of the car, as we did here in the USA. So matching the dash pad up with the proper chassis would not have been an issue for any Zs other than the US-bound cars. In fact, considering how we've seen that the build date on the door jamb plate in the US cars does not always follow a sequential order, I'd almost bet that the dash VIN and the door jamb plate (with build date stamped) were the two very last parts to be installed, after all QA checks were completed. If, for example, a car were to be held up because the dash pad were faulty, you wouldn't want to have to remove the VIN from the bad dash and then reattach it to a replacement. Just wild guesses on my part, I've never been in the car building business and don't really know how it works. But it seems logical to me.

Yeah, I suppose so. But if past history is any indication, if I bought it I'd probably never get around to selling it. It'd just sit in my garage waiting, along with the spare Type A 4 speed, entire spare wiring harness, brake drums, halfshafts, etc., etc.

Well, neither one, not immediately. I don't want one for the car I have now, but who knows what the future might bring? I know where I can get my hands on one, and could either keep it for the future, or try to flip it to make a few bucks. Haven't decided which or whether, yet.

I've looked longer than that several times over the past year, without any luck. I've considered seeing about getting one made locally.

True, the part we are looking for is at the top of the windshield in this picture. http://classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=22201&d=1205430997

I haven't found them anywhere either. If you find a source, please share.

Any ideas? What's a fair price for a 4.11:1 R180?

Doc, welcome. Hope it works out for you. In answer to your question, there is no digit back then that identifies the model year. The VIN didn't start to contain that info until 1981 or so. Instead, in the USA you can use the build date, which should be on a data plate riveted tot he driver's door jamb. Or we can make an educated guess from the VIN itself. First, if it is an automatic, it is definitely a '71. If the build date is prior to 9/70, it is a '70. If the build date is 1/71 or later, it is a '71. If it is between 9/70 and 12/70 (inclusive) it is generally considered to be a '71, but may have been titled as a '70.

Same seller as this car: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31271