We're bringin' back the Flat Tops!

[motorman7]

Replaced the old Pioneer speakers with new Pioneer speakers.  I installed the new speakers on each side, however, there is no wiring going to the passenger side speaker.  I guess that can be hooked up in the future if needed.

Cleaned up the antenna and did a little straightening so that it operated smoothly.  Got the antenna installed along with a bit of sound deadening material.  The rear end of the car is mostly complete at this point. My panel rivets should arrive tomorrow, so I will start with the panel install

Edited June 8, 2019 by motorman7

[Sunline]

When did Datsun begin mounting the speakers in that location? 73?

[Zup]

If you mean on both sides, they didn't.

They were installed as shown in the photo, but just the driver side.

Mono.

Many owners added a second speaker to the passenger side just so the sound was less directional.

The original Hitachi 4 ohm speaker in my 73 still sounds like it's 73 and gives me a very nostalgic feeling listening to 70's rock as I roll on down the highway!

 

[240Z73]

My antenna does not go all the way down, is this one for an early 69 Z?  If so, I'll trade anyone for one that does.

[jayhawk]

4 hours ago, Sunline said:

When did Datsun begin mounting the speakers in that location? 73?

No 240Zs in the US came from the factory with stereo radios, only mono, so that was why they only had a single speaker.  (but 72 and ‘73s did get AM AND FM mono radios - whoopee!).  As best as I can determine, 1978 280Zs were the first to get a stereo radio from the factory (In the US anyway) 

However, according to a UK poster in this thread, some other countries had a factory option for stereo radios in their 240Zs, which would explain the unused speaker mount and perforations in our US spec 240Zs

.  

 

 

Edited June 8, 2019 by jayhawk

[w3wilkes]

20 hours ago, 240Z73 said:

My antenna does not go all the way down, is this one for an early 69 Z?  If so, I'll trade anyone for one that does.

I thought all the 240's stock antenna's had the pointy tip. At least both my 73 and early 71 (build date 12/70) had the pointy tip. My 71 now has an after-market replacement that I got from MSA back in 1991, but I don't think it's available anymore.

[motorman7]

Put in the rear panels, light and turn signal assemblies, and started steering wheel clean up.  Will update more later.

[Carl Beck]

Is it just the pictures - or does that diamond vinyl have some sort of padding applied to it? It looks like the diamonds are puffed up.

FWIW,

Carl B.

[motorman7]

1 hour ago, Carl Beck said:

Is it just the pictures - or does that diamond vinyl have some sort of padding applied to it? It looks like the diamonds are puffed up.

FWIW,

Carl B.

Hi Carl,

   Yes, the vinyl as received is what I would call 'two-ply'.  It seems as though it is heat-staked or glue to a vinyl of the same thickness which makes it a bit puffy.  It is very nice material, but is definitely thicker than the stock material which I believe is single ply.  The two ply makes it a bit harder to work with.  The folds, from when the manufacturer packed everything are a bit difficult to undo.  I have had to lay the pieces out in the sun in order to help flatten everything and reduce the creases.  Hopefully those flatten out over time.  It is beautiful material and high quality, but not exactly like the thinner stuff on the original cars.

     The panels were really a challenge and all required trimming.  Again, they are thick and of very nice quality, however, their are issues with them.  The holes for the rivets on the bottom of the panels aligned fairly well, for the most part.  The upper part was a big problem.  There is a lip on the panel that does not allow you to move the panel hole to where the hole in the body is.  The hole was off by about 3/8".  I attached a quick CAD pic to show the problem.  Not sure how clear that is.  In order to install the panels, I had to trim off the lip to install the rivets.  Fortunately, the weatherstripping rubber covers over the edge, so it is not an issue.  Although, trimming the panel was fairly difficult because the panels are about double the thickness of the originals.

   The seats, vinyl and panels are all made by Distinctive Industries.  This is the same manufacturer that made the seat covers for the Franklin Mint car.  You can tell by the deep texture in main part of the seat.

 

Edited June 10, 2019 by motorman7

[240260280]

YES!!! A light coloured steering wheel.  Please tell us how you restored it and maintained the light colour!

 

[motorman7]

50 minutes ago, 240260280 said:

YES!!! A light coloured steering wheel.  Please tell us how you restored it and maintained the light colour!

Fortunately,  the steering wheel was not in too bad a shape prior to the start as it had a steering wheel cover over it for a portion of its' life.  @jayhawk could add a little more detail to that.  The steering wheel is pretty much a 'minimalist' restoration. It was fairly dark at the start, which I think is mostly from a lot of crud (accumulated dead skin, oils, candy bar coatings, etc).   All I did was wipe down the wheel with paint thinner to remove the dark gummy material that accumulates.  Then, I lightly sanded with 220 grit sandpaper till the brown dust started to appear.  At that point I stopped and move to the next section.  I sanded mostly in a circular direction on the drivers side of the wheel.  I sanded, perpendicular to that on the finger or bumpy side, so that the high parts of the bumps were not worn off.  If you sand circular on that side the valleys will be dark and the bumps light.  The area with the smallest diameter on the wheel was a bit darker than the rest for some reason.  I wasn't exactly sure if this was still 'gummy material' of just darker wood, so I sanded this area a bit more, till it was similar in color to the majority of the wheel color.  After that, I just sprayed with two coats of gloss clear. 

I have used some red oak stain in the past, but the color seemed to be just about right, so I left it as is  (I sprayed a light gloss clear coat over a portion to verify the color) .  I was aiming to get it just a little darker than the stick shift knob shown in the picture.  If the wheel would have been too light, I would have sanded off the small gloss section and used the stain.  I will spray the center spokes satin black in the next day or two.

Need to get new dash vents....

[jayhawk]

On 6/8/2019 at 7:32 PM, w3wilkes said:

I thought all the 240's stock antenna's had the pointy tip. At least both my 73 and early 71 (build date 12/70) had the pointy tip. My 71 now has an after-market replacement that I got from MSA back in 1991, but I don't think it's available anymore.

My '73 also had the pointy tip. (I've also seen it called the "acorn" or "bullet" tip).  I had a slide of my '73 from a couple of weeks after I bought it (new, in April of '73), and I recently cropped and zoomed to see what the shape was.  Its a little hard to see, but it looks like the acorn/pointy tip to me:

blown up from this photo taken late April, 1973: