g260

Although it rained at least 2 men and a dog were interested in the Z's.

Our accommodation in orange

Hey Steve, When we went on the drive to Orange last month (about 280klms/170miles) for the 50th anniversary of the old Gnoo Blas racing circuit we had 10 cars from the club with 9 old (240/260's) and 1 300 and they all performed well with no break downs or any problems. Apart from the rain it was a good drive. A few pics attached. g260

240Z, I removed mine yesterday and replaced them with two others I had with urethane bushes. I had no real problems with the bolt removal. The lhs came straight out and whilst the rhs (drivers) was close to the rubber gait around the steering arm it still came out and went back in with little trouble. The biggest problem I had was rebolting the TC rod to the lc arm as I didn't undo it at the frame end. All in all a fairly simple job, made easier by having a spare pair of lc arms with the old bushes already removed. fwiw, cheers, Geoff

Nigel, Try Shox.com, they seem very competitive and will give you an online quote. Geoff

Hey billcapp, I understand you were in a hurry. I only put 2 c's in to make the point. cheers, Geoff

Bambi, On the passenger side I did not need to make any modifications to the car. The rear seat rail holes lined up perfectly with the Z mount holes and I only drilled new holes in the rails to line up with the front Z mount holes. On the drivers side seat the rails were slightly wider apart (probably less than 1/2") and so I elongated the original holes and bolted up. As for the height, I am 6'0" and I have ample head clearance and also leg room. My wife is about 5'4" and I used a couple of the black plastic spacers from the original seat mounts to raise up the rear of the seat about an inch for her. The only point I would make is that I am medium build (meaning not overly large across the shoulders) and the MX5 seats are OK for me, however I think that a person of large build would probably prefer a wider seat. Will try and post some more pics and maybe write up something for later. Cheers, Geoff

Hey billcapp, Without trying to sound too pedantic, there is only one l in Australia. Cheers,

Steve, With the overhang, I could either cut of the front bit shown in the pic, or I could bolt at the front and cut off the rear. 6 of one, half a dozen of the other I suppose!!. As for the sound, it is not earth shattering (like my son's car!!) but it works ok for me. Previously, with the speakers way down the back I couldn't hear a thing, but now with the headrest speakers, they at least fill in and the sound is much improved. I wired them in parallel with the rears and they are fine. It really isn't too big an issue at the moment, but I have seen posts on MX5 forums where they upgrade the headrest speakers regularly. If you ever decide to do the change, I have a diagram of the seat wiring with the positive and negative colour codes. Cheers, Geoff

Steve, The way I have mounted them at the moment I will probably just cut of the excess from the front of the rail which protrudes forward of the front floor mount. This could be done before the seat is bolted in. I haven't taken any pics yet but will try and do so during the week. Yes, we did go to Orange and the country folk are forever in our debt as we broke the drought for them. After checking the Bureau of Meterology all week, the rain held off on Saturday until we were about 40k's out of Orange, then it p***ed down for the rest of the day. All in all though we had a great weekend, with ten cars (5 240's, 4 260's and 1 300) 20 people. Will post some pics during the week. ( I have to fix a few leaks I found!! and repair my rear window demister that I thought I had fixed) We looked upon this as a trial for the trip up to the Queensland Nationals in April. Cheers, Geoff

Why not contact the Qld Z club, http://www.zcarclubq.org.au/, there is a fair chance they may be able to point you in the right direction. HTH Geoff

Hey Derk, We have just had our Australian version of 60 Minutes on here tonight (Sunday) and they have been with the Wiggles in the US of A. I think you guys need to 'come out of the closet', every where the Wiggles went they were mobbed. It's about time we got back at the US after some of the shows we have had to put up with over the years. 'Enjoy' Geoff

As a matter of interest, just before christmas here in Sydney I was at my local garage and the panel beater across the way was restoring a 100/4 Healey in British Racing Green. When I looked in the engine bay it had a n/a 300zx engine. It was a very neat fit and the only external difference was dual exhausts. Unfortunately at the time I didn't have a camera. Geoff

Steve, One of our club members has a 260 2+2 with the 4.4 President motor. At the last dyno night it put out 102kw at the wheels. geoff

Rick, This site may be of assistance. Simon De Groot also had instructions for doing the same, however his site has closed down. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pparaska/Headlight_Relay_pg1.htm If you have any problems loggin on, go to Google and type in Pete Paraska and headlight wiring. Cheers, Geoff

After much fanfare, the 350Z is about to appear in Nissan showrooms 'downunder'. About time!! http://www.drive.com.au/news/article.asp?article=http://drive.fairfax.com.au/content-new/news/general/2003/02/07/FFX8D44ZUBD.html

They're finally in!! I had originally intended to use the front rail mounts and some flat steel and have the rails extend past the rear mounting holes on the floor. However, on the passenger side the rear rail holes lined up perfectly with the floor mounts, so I then measured 320mm forward from the rear holes and drilled a hole though each rail which lined up with the front Z seat mount hole. This meant that the front rail mount extends past the front floor mount by about 80mm or so. Ultimately, if I am happy with them mounted this way I will cut of part of the front mounting bracket. On the drivers side I found that the seat rails were about 25mm wider than the passenger side so I had to elongate the floor mount holes and just bolted the seat in. I went for a drive tonight and I found the seats to be very comfortable. More importantly, the passenger thought so too. Just in time for the drive with the Z club to Orange in a few weeks. I wasn't sure how the seats would look in the car being black, when I have an off white interior. However, with the black dash, centre console and door rests, they blend in very well. Will post some pics when I get a chance. Cheers, Geoff

Steve, When I have finished I will try and get a digital camera to take some pics. With the seats you really have to ring around all the wreckers. The price can vary amazingly! As I said I paid $285 for the pair, but I have had quotes of 650, 995 and 1100!!. One of the guys in our club picked up a pair last month for 475 which we thought was pretty good, so you can see that I was quite surprised when I got mine today. By the way, I met a guy the other week at the Historic race meeting at Oran Park in an immaculate Datsun Sports. He lives in Newcastle somewhere and is also restoring a 240. He is apparently in the Z club, although obviously because of the distance he doesn't come to the meetings. I only got his first name (Allan), but I will check at the next club meeting and try and find out his location. It might be someone you can touch base with up there if you were interested. Geoff