Gas door question...?

[ZYAL8R]

Howdy! I'm in the process of "refreshing" my 72 (series II) and am in somewhat of a quandary. The gas door on my car was replaced at some point by the previous owner (obvious color mismatch) and simply has a finger indent that it is pulled open by. As far as i can tell this is one of three different gas doors made for the Z and i can't find a solid reference as to which is correct for my car. I searched "gas door" and the only real concrete thing i could find was that 70-71's definitely had the lock. The only reference Wick Humble provides in his book is that "early Z's" had the lock or latch. Whether he means 240's in general or just series 1 240's is a little unclear. Any 72 owners out there care to clue me in?

[hls30.com]

You have the type that came with your car originally, but any will fit.

Welcome to the club by the way!

Will

[theianmonster]

Yeah, they started using the "finger indent" as you put it in '72. Mine has the same thing. I thought about getting one of the locking ones, but it looks cleaner without it.

[26th-Z]

Early fuel doors came with a chromed metal finger latch that twisted open and closed. The crome knob closes in the horizontal position and the metal casting is a formed, rounded shape. Extremely early cars came with a similar mechanism, but chromed plastic in a squared rigid shape. I think, but not entirely certain, that it closed in the vertical position.

[lonetreesteve]

My '71 came with a key lock for the gas door. I have heard that this was a dealer option on the 70 & 71 models and not stock (and that the non-locking chrome knob that 26th Z talked about & showed pics was stock), is this true?

[beandip]

I have seen the locking door latches that were added . The lock can be purchased at a travel trailer store.

[ZYAL8R]

Thanks gentleman, and thanks for the welcome! Well that's a load off. I'm not really that much of a stickler, but i'd prefer to maintain a healthy degree of originality so it's good to know the PO didn't just stick a 280Z gas door on there or something. No offense to 280 owners of course!

[EScanlon]

Early fuel doors came with a chromed metal finger latch that twisted open and closed. The crome knob closes in the horizontal position and the metal casting is a formed, rounded shape. Extremely early cars came with a similar mechanism, but chromed plastic in a squared rigid shape. I think, but not entirely certain, that it closed in the vertical position.

I wasn't aware of this. Anyone have a picture?

E

[zKars]

Had to look.

HLS30 00137 has the chromed plastic (complete with peeling "chrome"...) gas door latch. It is the same round shape as the metal one pictured above, but does latch closed with the knob handle in the Vertical position, as suspected by 26th-Z.

The list of early uniquess knowledge continues to grow...

Jim

[26th-Z]

Hey Jim!

Thanks for writing in with your find. I wondered about the closed position of the knob. Now I'm really pretty sure! Have a look at the very early sales pictures and see if you don't agree. I bought HLS30-00403 about a year ago and it had the plastic knob. It was broken, but enough to make a mold from. My best advice about this fragile piece is NEVER use a solvent to clean it. The plastic is very "soft" and will desolve. And melt quite easily under heat also. It is UV sensative and gets brittle with age.

Very easy to spot - the shape is only similar to the more common metal / chromed version; not nearly as "sculpted" and rounded with hard corner edges. Possibly, it is PN 788200-E4100, but it could be one ot those things where the part changed without a number revision.

I talked with Matsuo san in California about the peculiar early parts and his conversation described them as left-over from the prototype models. My plans include making a few and I have a place in mind to have them chromed.