Variations on radiator caps

[Arne]

I split this part off into a separate thread. It's deserving.

While I was at it, I looked at the cap on my car. It is also the same as Chris' or EvilC's cap. 7/71 build date.

[Mike B]

I found what looks like a reproduction of the earlier radiator cap on ebay recently. However, it looks like the Japanese writing at the bottom is different, along with other differences. Can anyone translate?

Arne, I am surprised that the caps with Japanese writing were used as late as your 7/71 (but don't doubt that yours is original to your car). I am pretty certain my 5/72 has the later style with no Japanese writing.

Also, why do many people leave the sticker on these new caps (see last picture). Is that supposed to be the correct sticker? I have never seen an original period picture of a 240z with one on it.

-Mike

[Arne]

Mike, I bought one of those caps for my yellow car in August '06 from Nissan for $10.83 (after discount). Part #21430-89990. First thing I did was to peel that sticker off. I suspect the sticker carries the lawyer-required warnings, and they can't be sold in the USA without it.

[Mike B]

Mike, I bought one of those caps for my yellow car in August '06 from Nissan for $10.83 (after discount). Part #21430-89990. First thing I did was to peel that sticker off. I suspect the sticker carries the lawyer-required warnings, and they can't be sold in the USA without it.

That's what I would do too Arne, but it seems like I have seen many cars at national conventions or MSA where people intentionally leave the sticker on, like it is supposed to be that way. Here is a picture of the first in class stock 240z at the 2005 national convention. This car is supposed to be a survivor with 23,000 miles a (7/70), yet it has the sticker still on the radiator cap.

-Mike

[Arne]

I suspect that many people don't even know that there is anything under the sticker. I felt it looked cheap with the sticker on it, and ripped it off immediately.

[zbane]

Out of pure curiosity, I dug up the radiator cap that came with my '79 S130. My cap still had the sticker on, and when I peeled it off there was still a good amount of yellow/gold plating underneath. Since I don't intend to ever use it again (not sure why I hadn't pitched it, to be honest) I cleaned up the corrosion (and removed the plating-it doesn't stand up to sandpaper very well) and shot it with some paint to make the letters stand out better.

It appears to me that this is the same cap that Kats posted as original to his 432...

[CanTechZ]

My Series one S30 also has the "Don't open when hot" cap. I can't confirm that it is the original cap but it was on the car when I purchased it in 1978. Anyone else have one of these on an early car?

[240260280z]

On 2009-01-09 at 10:42 PM, AZ-240z said:

Chris,

I bought a radiator cap for my car which is supposed to be for the series 1 cars. Practicng my picture attachment upload skills, (real novice here). It is gold cad and all early caps I have seen were the same gold finish.

Do you think these were available in both silver or gold finishes from difference suppliers? Let me know what you think as there seem to be some subtle differences in the scripts engraved in these caps. Kats 432z also has the gold cap.

Dan

HLS30-00249 came to me with a faded Cadmium cap like the one above.  It is probably not original but it is like other earlier caps but w/o the Japanese text.