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Hi all, Just a note to tell you how much fun I had at ZCON. My son Bill and I were there Friday and Saturday. We got to drive my "RedBird" 280 Z in the parade lap at the track. That was exciting. Then we lined up for the areal photo. My car is number 35, counting from the top left. So cool, she is in posterity forever for the 2018 ZCON. We met some members there, Capt. Obvious, Charles, Zup, Cliff, Mark and his wife Kathy, Greg, and others I can't remember all. I just wish I had been able to be there all week. A great time was had by all. First photo lining up for the parade lap. Second, driving in the lap. Third, aerial photo of Z's, #35 is RedBird. Fourth, Mark Maras and Lissa Sunday ready to go home.

Among the fondest memories, I have from ZCON, was the drive to and from Saturday's show at Coolray Stadium. Jai hands me the keys to RedBird and says, "I'm going to ride with Bill (her son) and you and Kathy follow us to the show". Since it has been a good number of years since I had been back in a Z and never driven a 280, I jumped at the chance. The adventure started crossing lanes of traffic to get to I-85. Quickly discovered that RB's turn signals were intermittent. Hoping that modern drivers would recognize archaic hand signals, I found that Southern Hospitality was also in effect on the roads. Being in a beautiful bright red 280 probably helped. We managed to stay behind Bill but as we started down the ramp onto I-85 he takes off like he's being shot at. As the smile starts to spread across my face I shift into 3rd and then 4th gear and put the gas pedal to the floor just to keep up with Bill and Jai. Soon I think, OK, time for 5th gear. Slip it into neutral over to the right and up. Goes in easily, I let out the clutch and immediately realize that it was in 3rd and also realize this is a 4 speed. (trans is in excellent condition, btw, but could use some shifter bushings) Pull it back into 4th. As we gracefully weave our way through the slower traffic I look down and realize we're going 90 mph. Ah, this feels good. As I settle back in the seat the memories and feelings of driving a Z at speed come flooding back in a huge wave. Does Bill realize that the I-85 signs aren't speed limit signs? Who cares, I'm back in the 1970's when I was was bulletproof and much like back then, I just want to go faster. Much too soon we safely pull into Coolray Field and find a parking spot. When Bill gets out of his Xterra he has the biggest $hit eatin' grin on his face I've ever seen. Come to think of it, it probably matched the one on my face. After thanking him for the experience, we got to know each other better. He wants a 510 for the street and occasional track use. The apple didn't fall far from the tree. Good work Jai. The other great memories are of meeting Y'all and putting faces with names. Being able to talk with Matsuo-san, Cliff coming down for the day and providing transportation for us (thanks Cliff) and the warmth and hospitality of everyone we met in and around Atlanta. We wish we had more time to bench race with the other members but we're grateful for the memories we have. Thanks to all.

Yes, they probably are, but most of the people that have them are holding them for a special project. Some of us hoard stuff like this. Very few of them will be willing to sell them. You might find a pair but if you do they will be exceptionally expensive. You could buy a whole rear clip for less, maybe half of what a NOS panels cost

Use an easy beat to pull out the dings... it uses a tiny weld at the tip and then you use a slide hammer to pull it out. Useful for tricky areas like this with limited access. RE: The original post, these are definitely aftermarket 1/4 panels. Not sure why someone would go to the effort of making the lower half only. Why not do the whole section? I have a couple of NOS rear 1/4 panels, investigating scanning them and reproducing entire rear 1/4's. Seems a lot of S30Z's could be saved if we had those options. Shame about HLS30 00059.. I can promise HS30 00051 won't end up the same!

44G's in a lap belt, hhhmmm? or better yet the steering wheel! "That's gonna leave a mark!"

I would think NOS quarters are worth North of $2000 each side and I could get a good rear clip for probably $1500, which gives you both sides. It seems sort of silly to try to get NOS unless you have the special car that needs them (ie #10, 12, 26 etc) since the rest of the car has 50 years of wear and tear and surface rust. A good clean rear clip would accomplish the same thing and reserve very special parts for very special cars. Now if you're doing a very special car, speak up, somebody might be willing to part with them if your project is more special than theirs.

Staying on the reflection theme, here's me cruising down the I-5 to the 64 Funny Cars event at SIR in '79

Is there an abridged version? ?

In an attempt to consolidate the help in the previous threads, Ignore (for now) all advice that doesn't pertain to a complete tune-up. We need to eliminate all the gremlins that are eliminated in a tune-up before we can get into the finer points of the carbs. You may want to review Jalexquiano's threads titled "1972 float adjustment" and "Misfiring while cruising".

Shameful brits.... next they will be faking 432R's and pooping on your front step!

Thanks blue , I must add one thing , each car has each smell . I always feel “ USA “ every time I get in the orange 240Z. And I really like the smell . I can not say well enough, what makes me feel like that ? Maybe you are not realized , but I am sure there is a certain smell in the US . Each time I opened the box bought eBay USA, , there was a smell which I like . It brings back good memories to me when I was at a flight training in Bakersfield California . Supermarket , warehous , airport , everywhere. Kats

By July of 1970, the Nissan Factory Team had entered the 432R in four significant* endurance races. They did very well at quickly reaching number one place in a short period of time: January All Japan Suzuka 300Km (dnf) [it snowed too] March All Japan Stock Car Fuji 300Km (2nd) April Race de Nippon Fuji 6hrs (1st) May All Japan Suzuka 1000km (1st) 1970 All Japan Suzuka 300km (Jan 18, 1970) Car #68 Fairlady Z432R Moto KITANO (dnf) 1970 All Japan Stock Car (March 21/22, 1970) Fuji 300Km Car #20 Fairlady Z432 24 laps Time 39: 36.16 Moto KITANO (2nd) Car #16 Fairlady Z432 24 laps Time 39: 36.43 Masahiro HASEMI (3rd) 1970 Race de Nippon (April 12, 1970) 959km Car #1 Fairlady Z432R 159 laps Moto KITANO / Masahiro HASEMI (1st) 1970 All Japan Suzuka 1000km (May 23/24, 1970) Car #19 Fairlady Z432R 167 laps Hiromi NISHINO / KOJI FUJITA (1st) The next significant race was on July 25 and 26th. It was the All Japan Fuji 1000km Race. 104 teams battled for the 50 slots available for the final 1000km event on July 26th. By this time the Nissan works team had several 432R's configured and other teams had access to the 432R. A total of seven 432R's qualified for the final in the GTS-2 category. This race was particularly interesting as the GTS-2 rules enabled engine displacements up to 2.5 litres. The Nissan Oppama Factory Team availed of this. In one of the 432R chassis, they replaced the S20 DOHC 2.0 litre engine with a 240z's L24 SOHC 2.4 litre. The S20's were further embellished with mechanical fuel injection where as the L24 had triple Mikuni carbs. Due to the fact that all the bodies were the same lightened spec of the 432R, this race became an apples-to-apples engine comparison where a more sophisticated and complex, but smaller displacement, 4 valve, DOHC S20 was pitted against a relatively simple 2 valve SOHC L24 with more displacement.... but it was six against one. As they say in the USA: "K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid." and "There ain't no replacement for displacement.". Above is the L24 with Triple Mikunis that challenged Six S20's in the very early days of S30 racing. The 1000km race took place during a heat wave with air temperature at 30C (look at the crowd sheltering from the sun in the upper grand stands in the photo above). The race ended after the first car completed the required 1,000km (233 laps). The seven 432R's starting places were: Car #32 Pole Position (Kenji TOHIRA & Takatoshi TERANISHI) Car #30 2nd (Yasumori TOSHIMORI & Kazuyoshi HOSHINO) Car #31 5th (with L24 engine) (Takahashi KUNIMITSU & Motoharu KUROSAWA) Car #28 6th (Saburo KOINUMA & Takamichi SHINOHARA) Car #34 7th (Masami KUWASHIMA & Kenji TAKAHASHI) Car #37 15th (Minoru SATO & Kazuo ISHII) Car #27 20th (Isamu MIURA &) The race had the classic "Le Mans" running start. During the race, a GT-R in the TS class challenged the L24 432-R There were also crashes. Car #27 crashed on lap 35. Several spins: Lots of exciting passing And problems with lug nuts: While in the lead at 5 hours into the race, Car #31 had to repair a broken lug nut that was discovered on a scheduled pit stop. This allowed the GT-R Car #54 in TS3 Class, piloted by the great driver, Masahiro HASEMI, to grab the lead. On Lap 225, the L24 powered 432-R reeled in the GT-R and passed it. After 233 laps of the 4.3km course, the 432R with L24, Car #31, got the checkered flag. It won the race and it won the class. More interestingly, Takahashi KUNIMITSU and Motoharu KUROSAWA in their "Datsun Sports 240 Z HS 30" easily took on, and defeated, six similarly prepared 432R's with S20 engines. Car #31 432R with L24 Engine Wins the All Japan Fuji 1000km Race. Motoharu KUROSAWA(l) and Takahashi KUNIMITSU (r) The L24 in an effectively "lightened 240z chassis"**" finished two laps ahead of the nearest S20 432R competitor. The rest of the S20 432R's finished 34, 95, 146, 198, 210 laps down. The L24 had no competition. It was strong, reliable, and a race worthy engine that proved itself on its first outing in Japan. As an epilogue to the race, there was great disappointment for the S20 engine. The All Japan Fuji 1000 km results were the writing on the wall for the relatively new S20 power plant. Going forward, it was generally not favoured by racers in classes where the L24 could be used. In fact, the following year's 1971 Race de Nippon 6hr was won by a Factory 240z L24 piloted by Takahashi KUNIMITSU & Masahiro HASEMI. If you recall from the top of this post, this is the same race where, in April of 1970, the S20 432 alos piloted by Moto KITANO & Masahiro HASEMI captured its first win. The reign of the S20 was short indeed. Masahiro HASEMI, the former great racer and team owner (who was the first to place first in the 432-R and who placed 11th with the fastest lap in the famous wet 1975 Japanese Grand Prix race at Fuji (Lauda withdraws, Hunt gets 3rd) ) states: that in having raced the Factory 432R's fitted with both S20 and L24 (as a Factory team driver for Nissan), it is the L24's mid-range torque that gives it the advantage when battling S20's. When going off the racing line, torque matters. With the experience as a team owner, he comments that the L24's simple design is easier to tune and to maintain for racing duties compared to the more complex S20. This is why privateers in Japan welcomed it with open arms following its first showing and first win at the 1970 All Japan Fuji 1000 km. HASEMI also comments that he favoured the Skyline GT-R over the 432R. He found the 432R to be too flexible for circuit racing. Note: HASEMI piloted the GT-R in this race that placed second. This placed him first in his TS3 class. A few interesting food-for-thought take-aways: The Japanese Automotive Federation, rigorous in its ways, records the winning chassis to be a "Datsun Sports 240z HS-30" (RHD version of the same chassis shipped to the USA) where as the other 6 Z's are stated to be Fairlady Z432 PS30. So, was the winning Chassis really a 432R with an L24 popped in? Also, was the 432 JAF record missing the "R"? The heavier 240z body exported to the USA was further race-strengthened there through stitch-welding, panel reinforcements, and bracing yet it still continued to win championships for a decade with the additional weight; therefore, was the designed weight savings of the 432R chassis variant along with the accompanying rigidity challenges, lost in the mix? Is it possible the 432R body was designed for, or was just a better fit for rallying purposes rather than track? Notice the evolution to chin spoilers between May and July. I wonder what parallel evolution was going on in the USA? Should the winning L24 & Chassis be renamed from 432R to 231R? S20 engine seems to excel at high rpm, high speed, open track qualifying as per HASEMI's comment that it works well on the racing line and by its favourable qualifying times. * Other races include: Photo TBD. Jun 6/7 All Japan Fuji 300 Mile Race Tournament Masami KUWASHIMA Car #4 Fairlady Z432 25 laps Time 56: 53.98 (1st) Jul.5 6/7 Hokkaido Speedway Yasumori SHINOMORI Car #3 Fairlady Z432-R (PS30SB) 57 laps Time 1:09'51"09 (3rd) Jun 28 All-Japan Driver Championship Round 4 Tsukuba Tournament Masami KUWASHIMA Car #66 Fairlady Z432 50 laps Time 59: 23.56 (2nd) ** 432R chassis was of nearly same dimensions as 240z HS/HLS30 chassis but with thinner sheet metal in places and thicker gauge steel in areas and components requiring it. There were some replacements of parts such as the hood and some glass with lighter materials. It sat ~ 5mm higher than a typical 240z.

Mark, as someone who drives on Georgia 400 every day, I can assure you that Georgians believe those are the speed limit signs. You should see how crazy it gets on I-675.

I guess my hope for an NOS would be good fit to the chassis and very little filler. After that I don't know that anyone other than a really skilled body man could tell whether a panel was NOS or off a donor. As for cost, if I am building a $70k+ pristine low number car and a NOS quarter is what I need, then I pay-to-play. I could see paying 3K if it's something I really need. Like I said I can't see paying that over a good SouthWest donor. Of course I don't own any of the really special cars.

That one is beyond restoration. You can find some good used ones or buy the Asian reproductions. Repros are still better than shorted lights

Yes Mario I would use some galvanized steel in the thickness you need then prime or plate them before use

BTW don't use aluminum as spacers! The dissimilar metals causes other issues. I agree, your best bet is to make some. I like originality too, but sometimes it's not worth the effort. The older I get, enjoying the car on the road becomes the priority

Cruising back from USA to Canada with 3 old Z's. 72 240z auto mirror, 76 280z manual in mirror Somewhere in western New Brunswick ~ 2005

This was my same experience with Hagerty. Also when I increased the value a few years ago, they did not ask for any further photos. I think I may need to increase the value again next year when its due for renewal.

Looks great!

Now it's up to date!!! Sorry about the first photos...they were from a site that broke some links! Weekly I'l up date the Z restore! Regards Mário

Hi, here I come again with fresh news! This weekend we made a new up-grade on some parts, and finally we start the assembling…slowly, but started… During the last week, I got most of the important parts to assemble the car, parts like bolts kit, rubbers kit, details for doors and some engine bay parts. I’ll make a list as lonf as we will put them on the car. Most parts are original and the aftermaket ones are excelente quality, Today Mr.Vitorino woke me up at 8:00 o’clock… - Hey, where are you???? - I’m sleeping…jump off the bed and come immediately to work on the car!!!! And so I did…ehehehehe A stubborn bolt…it broke when we dissemble the engie…but Mr.Vitorino saved the day!!! This is the resulto of the sandblast and metalization…this part is not ended yet, it will be painted with high temperature paint. This was missing part for the gearbox… New parts arrival and some care on organization! Center console up-grade My car is a second series from March 1971, but the previous owner changes some details, and the center console was one of them. I bought a series II to make this up-grade to make the car as much original I can. This console is much more attractive than the other…I’m extremely happy with the final result. 0https://i.postimg.cc/sf80mzk1/IMG-20181117-143115.jpg Even the leather pattern has small disserences… And this is the beginning…the first part that goes to the car…the exterior chrome trims… Mr. Vitorino cleaning them with a moisture to make them bright. And the final result…applied on car… Hope you enjoy this weekend work…next week will have more news…we will strat with the rear end! Regards Mário

Hi, I'm back with fresh news! Here is the car after the painting job!!! It looks awesome!!! I'm very happy with the results!!! The colour is the original...I´m waiting for the final result!!! The comparison... Regards Mário

The mudflaps holes were covered too…they will no longer be used… The back of the car was in bad shape too…minor dents…but needed some repair!!! No holes….yeah!!!! Now some photos… The oil pan is in great shape, just needs to be painted grey…the colour is not bad…. Mr.Vitorino focused… No doubts…903 blue… Warriors relax… Now we will wait 15 days…and deliver it for painting… Hope you still enjoying it!! Regards Mário

And we all star the mechanical part…new parts arrive… Meanwhile they arrive and put in place… Cleaning parts… I need a new fuel pump…but i think Ican get one new…I haven’t search for it! Electric system waint to be revised,,, MR.Vitorino completely exhaust… See you nest week…Z Hope you enjoyed it…next week I’ll put some more upgrades! Regards Mário

This is also true. I would want to use something that's not going to rust. You may also find if you get the fender end of the door lined up with the fender, that the rear edge no longer lies flat. In that case I literally twist the door by hand until I can get it to lay flat. That is one of the nice things about thin doors. This work is easier with out the door latch installed. So you can get the door right without any pressure on it

I think it's not very likely that you'll find these Nissan shim plates. Not impossible. Just unlikely. However. they're nothing more than pieces of stamped metal plate. You can easily make your own. For reference, auto body shim plates are typically provided in four thicknesses: 1/64", 1/32", 1/16" and 1/8" (0.4mm, 0.8mm, 1.2mm and 1.6mm). For the door shim plates, a little adjustment at the the front of the door will make for a lot of angular adjustment at the bottom and top of the door, so I'm thinking that a set of 1/64" and 1/32" plates would be the way to go. The thicknesses don't have to be exactly 1/64" or 1/32". Use what you can find conveniently. These shim plates don't need to be pretty and they don't need to be shaped to +/- 0.001" tolerances.

@JLPurcell Didn't you make some shims at some point?

Good luck with that. I hope your wallet is prepared. Your best bet would be to find donor panels from the Southwest. There are some of those available

One of the pics was the car parked in the garage. They asked if the garage doors were operational and would lock. The only thing I didn't like is they require the same 50/100 on my little d-21 pick up. I had the minimum on it prior but it's still cheaper all around and I have better insurance on the pick up. Nice folks located right out of Atlanta somewhere. Alpharetta maybe?

You can unplug any you want. Unplug them at the fenders and corners. Leave the column alone. Once they are unplugged and the lights will stay on then you know the issue is down stream. Add them back and see where the problem lies. Easy, peasy

*** SOLD AND SHIPPED *** FREE 1977 Used Tachometer and Speedometer. Condition UNKNOWN. Found sitting under a deteriorated cardboard box on my open back patio. Fits 1977 - 1978, may fit other years but the font style is different. Dirt and dust included at no charge. Includes trip odometer reset cable, rusty buzzer. Spiders were not found, but were not searched for, either. Recipient to pay for shipping from 23462 Wayne

At the request of @brigtek23 I have created 3D Cad Models of the Interpart lock parts and uploaded the to our downloads section here:

I always like Volvos had planned to buy an 1800 coupe when I came back to the States in 1971. However, the body style had changed to "sportswagon" and the coupe was no longer available new. Bought the Z instead. Interestingly in the article about the 3 million mile 1800, his daughter said they weren't close. No wonder....... .he was cranking out 100,000 road miles a year to get to the three million mile mark. I wonder how she'll word the Craigslist ad when she sells it. "One owner, retired school teacher, rebuilt engine." Dennis

That is an ugly SOB only rats would like!

Hoover!!!

I understand. I remembered the smell of Florida from 1973 holidays as a child when returning for work in 1997. My Z's smell the same too. It must be the plastic or some fungi that likes the interior. There is one Z that I did not like the smell. It had 12 dead mice in it when it arrived. Horrible lol Everyone liked the pink colour and Ford V8! We tried washing the interior, smell remover, etc. but no success The paint guy in our car club had to strip the interior and clear coat the inside to seal in the stink.

Those plugs should be near white to a light tan if it was running with the choke off. I'm going to assume a few things like; there's a good hot spark at the plugs, compression is good, the ignition timing is OK. Let's start with the easy stuff. When the choke is operated, the cables pull the nozzles down in both carbs. The nozzles are known to occasionally stick in the down (choke) position when the choke knob is pushed forward (off). You can reach under the carbs and feel the nozzles come down with the help of a friend operating the choke knob. When the choke knob is pushed forward, manually push up the nozzles to see if they're sticking in the down position. Do your round tops have 3 or 4 screws and is there a drain fitting on the float bowls? Ztherapy has a video called just SUs that explains the workings of SUs and how to tune them. SUs are really quite simple carbs IMO.

Pioneer metal finishing has potential. They look like a small operation. No website DF Enterprise might too. No website Tomken looks too big Elkem is out New Brunswick Plating maybe, you would have to call Deptford plating has potential My 2 cents, I don't care what the building looks like or if no one has teeth. All I care about is what the plating looks like and what does it cost!

Not sure about the first two photos, but the last one is part of the sale of HLS300059 back in 2007. I tried to buy just the NOS panels, but the seller would not split it up. Here is the car.

Ensys, thanks for the kind words and advice. I agree with you that my biggest issue is work space. Won't even get into details how I got the engine out and car moved without a front suspension on a gravel driveway. I do have a garage but not that I can get the car into. Previous home owners built a porch and planted trees so it is a big shed now. But that's god news as at least I have a workshop. Funny, this all started because I wanted to just change some rubber bushings on the front suspension! No intention to do a "refresh". This weekend I have time to practice welding some scraps.

Nice to see where the factory ends are on the weather strip! THANKS!

For what it is worth, I used to run a small shop in Virginia call Z-Car restorations, but got out of it in the 90's for various reasons. I have installed many of these on customers cars, and they work well as some others have stated. I had about 17 sets at one time, but went through all of them but one set. Mine were originally distributed / sold by Keystone, and it was my belief (at the time) that they were Tabco parts. As soon as I can dig out my old set I will see if I can still read the labels and report back if I can find any useful info.

Hey if you’re looking to get rid of them I know the guys behind vintage dashes wanted NOS panels to use as templates for reproductions, might be worth while contacting them, can probably pay what their worth /get panels back to the community Sent from my iPhone using Classic Zcar Club mobile

They are not Nissan quarters. Blue shows pictures of the correct NOS panels. I used have about 50-75 sets of these aftermarket panels. They do install very well as compared to Tabco panels. I probably have some of the original cardboard wrappings but they're at my other garage. I think they were made in Taiwan. Chuck

Who made them? Any markings or tags? Factory replacements I used did not look like those.

You must have said that after I walked away.

Yeah Site......Nice to finally meet you in person. Sorry you couldn’t have made it to the Sonesta bar.....or maybe that’s a good thing. The Rusty Nail would have been fun too! Guy

Looking over the engine compartment pic above... In addition to the stuff you mentioned, here's a couple things that caught my eye: Special "racing tape" secure on the clutch and master cylinder caps. Multiple piece upper radiator hose? Hose clamps in the middle? Vent nipple on valve cover angled forward to adapt to different PCV system. "OIL" cap. I thought the early ones were elephant? Couple unharnessed wires up and over the left strut tower. Is that stock? "D" shaped washers on some of the fender bolts for clearance into sheet metal corner.