Air cleaner - Blue or orange?

[GregP]

My air cleaner on the my 73 240z is blue. I am assuming it was changed out by the previous owner since I see everyone seems to have Orange. Was the blue from a specific year?

[esprist]

My air cleaner on the my 73 240z is blue. I am assuming it was changed out by the previous owner since I see everyone seems to have Orange. Was the blue from a specific year?

Well, not necessary...............

I have had series 1 with blue box as well.

Since 240Z cars were mega hit and alway behind its production in warly 70's, Nissan ran out of many parts. So blue air cleaner box (JDM spec ones were in blue) were used.

Esprist

[Arne]

It was my understanding that while virtually all originally installed airboxes in the USA were orange, many replacement airboxes (as ordered through the parts counter) were blue.

[GregP]

Mine has all the original decals and is in very good shape. The previous owner kept excellent records of every little minute detail that he did to the car and there is no mention of changing air cleaners. I just assumed it was changed due to color. So this may be a dealer replacement or it may have come that way due to parts shortage? As I am thinking of restoring to original concourse condition will this be a factor?

The car is in good driver/cruise in type condition and I went to my first outing last week. I had lots of questions on the air cleaner color.

[HS30-H]

JDM spec ones were in blue

Not so.

Tsuchiya Mfg's 'house' colour was blue, but the orange or red airboxes / filter housings were 'specials' for certain Nissan models. Replacements sometimes came in the Tsuchiya house blue because they were not made in large enough remake batches to warrant the special Nissan paint.

We have discussed this more than once on this forum in the past I think......

[beandip]

Allen , I may be wrong ,but I seem to remember some postings from Australia about this. It was several years ago, but I seem to recall it was common down under to have the blue air boxes.

Gary

[=Enigma=]

I found an L26 in a local junkyard which had the larger blue air cleaner, and was under the impression that all the 73-74 air cleaners for the square mouthed flat tops were blue.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15079&d=1163855130

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15080&d=1163855399

Edited July 7, 2009 by =Enigma=

[Two6TZ]

This is my '74 260Z from Down Under. This is an early serial number - 000692, but in general, most were Red.

[26th-Z]

Mine has all the original decals and is in very good shape. The previous owner kept excellent records of every little minute detail that he did to the car and there is no mention of changing air cleaners. I just assumed it was changed due to color. So this may be a dealer replacement or it may have come that way due to parts shortage? As I am thinking of restoring to original concourse condition will this be a factor?

The car is in good driver/cruise in type condition and I went to my first outing last week. I had lots of questions on the air cleaner color.

Greg,

As Alan pointed out, this has been discussed in the past. Blue air filters should be commonly accepted as a standard color although fairly rare here in the states. With decals fitted to yours, there should be every reason to believe that it came stock that way. I would photograph it before any restoration and keep it blue as an interesting conversation point about your car. Somewhere in my mound of photographs I have a pre-production photograph of the HLS30 fitted with a blue air filter.

Chris

[Bonzi Lon]

I found an L26 in a local junkyard which had the larger blue air cleaner, and was under the impression that all the 73-74 air cleaners for the square mouthed flat tops were blue.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15079&d=1163855130

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=15080&d=1163855399

My flat top 73 had the orange air cleaner, 6-77. The dealership kept it and the carbs after the swap, 8-80. They also took my under hood lamp. :mad:

Bonzi Lon

[GregP]

Greg,

As Alan pointed out, this has been discussed in the past. Blue air filters should be commonly accepted as a standard color although fairly rare here in the states. With decals fitted to yours, there should be every reason to believe that it came stock that way. I would photograph it before any restoration and keep it blue as an interesting conversation point about your car. Somewhere in my mound of photographs I have a pre-production photograph of the HLS30 fitted with a blue air filter.

Chris

Chris,

Good advice.

Thanks to everyone for responding. I had done a search and there were huge amount of threads but I couldn't find this particular issue. Maybe I didn't go back far enough.

Greg

[=Enigma=]

Always learning something new...Here's some pics of the later 73-74 style air box in orange.