Arne

Dunlop was one of the OE makers of wire wheels for all the British car makers, so for the MGB that would be very normal.Not to say that Dunlop did not make wheels for Zs, they did. But the center hub and associated center cap was much smaller diameter than your Appliances.

Yeah, to a guy like me who used to make a living selling them, there are subtle differences in the shape of the center hub and other parts. I doubt I could explain it here in print, but trust me, I can tell which is which at a glance.Plus the easy part - the Appliance three spoke fake knock-offs won't fit the other brands...

Stay tuned, because it may be easier and more affordable than we think. I'll post a new thread on this when I get it firmed up

Vintage Appliance Uni-chrome slot wheels with the 'double-basket' option. If you remove the wheel from the car, the thick retaining plate has your car's bolt pattern, but the wheel itself will have several bolt patterns hidden under the retaining plate. It will be difficult to find a chrome shop willing to re-chrome them, and if you find someone it will be expensive. And in the end you will have a wheel that is very heavy, and there are no replacement parts left for them. I personally would spend my money on a different set of wheels.

You can still get the hood from Nissan. Order it from your local dealer and there's no shipping charge. MSA is the only place I've seen with the version w/o ducts these days. And they are definitely one of the more affordable places to get them. However I got mine from Les Canaday at Classic Datsun Motorsports, who owns the original BRE molds. His version has the ducts, and some people say it is better quality that the others. It is also more expensive. I can't say from personal experience whether the MSA is lesser quality than the CDM version I have because I've not seen the MSA part in person. But I can say that the quality and workmanship of the one I got from CDM is absolutely first rate.

No, don't get me wrong. I totally appreciate the true 'period-correct' look of your car, even if there are things about it I wouldn't do to mine. It's kind of a history thing. While I'm not keeping mine totally as the original owner did it, I too want to keep it looking like a typical 240Z as driven in the '70s. Which explains my vintage 14" mags, BRE spook and Pioneer stereo. I do plan to lose my sunroof, though. No, those were actually built by Appliance Industries. Mine were the exact same. They were (in the day) the only true wire wheels that were absolutely guaranteed to be tubeless. The spokes do not go all the way into the air chamber, but fasten to a lip that is welded to the rim. From the back side you will be able to see the ends of the spokes. Unique construction, and very hot sellers in the '70s. Well, if you read my page regularly you know how I can get tied up and not post updates for weeks on end. As long as that's OK with my readers, I'll keep it up when I have time.I don't get up into Washington often, but if you ever make it down to one of the NW Oregon meets you may well run into me.

As best I can tell, the clips were only used in front of the seats, not on the deck at all. The illustration is ambiguous at best.

I'm going to assume that you haven't seen Dave's Z in person yet. Originality isn't all that high on Dave's priority list.And don't get me wrong, that's OK. We can't all be worried about originality, some of us need to be worried about making them faster and better. Dave is in that camp.

Those are the factory 260Z/280Z mirrors. Yes they are still available, and I suspect they should fit on a 240Z just fine. But they never offered a matching right side mirror in that style. Only the driver's side.

Don't forget that all 240Zs came with matte silver wiper arms, Stephen. They didn't change to black until '76 or so.And yeah, I know about the sunroof and Appliance Fine Wires too. The wires are gone, and the sunroof is going soon...

Bad timing Nathan. I just shipped off a nearly new one a couple of days ago. You can try asking your dealer to do a dealer inventory search for part #36543-N3000, but they may all be gone.

Looks like a decent starting point. And boy would I love to find a supplier for that windshield tint!

Me personally? I prefer to make changes one at a time. That way if something doesn't work, you know what it is. I'd wait until you have the car running again before adding another variable to the mix.

Classic Datsun is CDM. Nice looking cut, not available in loop pile. Otherwise very nice, and may be what I end up with.The next two look similar to A1Auto, even to the description of the type of loop, and the availability of the heavier 'mass backing'. Since none of these three outfits claim to make them in-house, I wonder if they all use the same base supplier. No idea, but I strongly doubt that either of those would address the issues we've discussed here. The last (www.datsunstore.com) is Z Specialties, as mentioned in my last post. Attached is a picture they sent of their kit.

A complication is that there appears to have been a change in the loop pile as well. Go back and look at the pictures Mike B posted. The earliest cars had a loop pile that was very obvious as loop. Later cars (including mine) have a denser loop that almost appears (at first glance) to be cut pile. And who knows when that change was made.As for me, I'm rather disappointed in the selection. The two problems that stand out for me are the lack of the cut and bound notches at the rear of the deck carpet for the straps, and the lack of bound slots in the front pieces for the retainers near the seats. I could put up with a difference in style of loop, and other small differences if these two major items were addressed. The thing is, if we look back in time, it certainly appears as though the kits that MSA and TIR sold in the past were far more accurate. The pictures on TIR's website and in MSA'a catalog show a more detailed template was used. Note things like the slot for the accelerator stop, instead of a missing corner. Apparently that supplier went out of business. Both MSA and TIR had to find another supplier, quite probably the same one. In fact, judging from Dave's description early in this thread, it wouldn't surprise me a bit to find that both MSA and TIR get their kits from A1Auto Carpet. Eiji says his kits are from a different supplier, but the template used appears to be the same. (Carpet may be better quality, I don't know.) I've also been in contact with Z Specialties, and it appears their kit is similar to these others, if not the same. That seems to sum it up so far. I'm discouraged, but still looking.

Bear in mind that the only 240Zs that came with red interiors were '72s in silver and white, and '73s in white. That's it.

No, the window is completely different size.

Best I could determine was that the 2400 cover was phased out around 10/70 for manual transmission cars. To the best anyone can determine, no automatics came with the 2400 cover.

Earliest build date I've seen for automatics is 9/70. The parts CD tends to confirm that, as the automatic specific parts are all listed as starting in 9/70 as well. That said, when you plug #7969 in the Z Register, it sure looks like it would most likely have been 8/70. Which would make it a real early automatic. When you see it, if it still has the original engine, I'd be curious to note whether it has a "OHC 2400" cam cover or not. I'm betting not...

I can confirm that the faded and worn carpet in my 7/71 cat is the same as the pictures Mike provided from the 3/71 car.

Looking for a particular model of aftermarket head unit can be like a needle in a haystack. When I started watching for a vintage-styled stereo for my car, I was open to several brands. Even so, it took me several months of watching craigslist ads from up and down the West Coast before I found what I wanted. But I do think that craigslist will probably be your best bet.

All late 260Z and 280Z are different. Don't do that one.

I've heard it too, along with the the "poor man's Jaguar". No particular significance, other than the fact that the 240Z was easily compared to much more expensive sports cars here in the USA.

Looks identical to mine (7/71), although mine may be slightly less faded.

My late production '71 (7/71) also just has holes for the screws at the front of the straps, not cut-outs. But there are also rectangular notches in the rear edge of the carpet for the straps at the rear. I notice that most pictures of replacement carpet do not have those notches.