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I've attached a word doc you might get a kick out of if you've dealt with Lucas Electrics on British cars. A TREATISE ON THE IMPORTANCE OF SMOKE BY JOSEPH LUCAS.doc

Banging pots and pans is cheaper.

Finally sold my ITB's ? Threw in a few extras too:

I wish they'd take the dollars being spent on all these flyovers and put it to good use on the ground. Hazard pay, feeding the hungry, supporting small businesses, The list is endless.

At the usual hobby going rate of $3.00 per hr. it's a smoking deal!

Funny, I was just looking at a 77' for sale in Arizona and they had a small pic of the seat with an obvious cloth inner. I'm willing to assume (and all that entails....) that dealers offered that option?

I did the MSA 6 to 1 Ceramic and 2.5 all the way back. Did both resonator and muffler. See;

Just wait... Edit - I overlooked the first part of your comment. You're forgetting, maybe, about The Wall. Defense money was moved over to finance a few extra miles. "Emergency declaration" I think is the key phrase. https://www.vox.com/2020/1/14/21065352/trump-diverting-military-funds-border-wall-construction

If you are one of the people who understand pictures better than words, this should finally bring clarity to an often mis-understood subject of electrical current flow. Another way to look at this, is that VOLTS Is your undeniable drive to buy car parts, OHM’s is your wife doing her best to slow the purchases, and YOU are the AMPS, trying your best to buy stuff anyway!

Arizonan's really have a thing for cloth seats (and white cars) - if not cloth, it's gotta be leather. (Just sit on vinyl through an Arizona summer.) Even if you have the coldest A/C in the state you're still sweat-stuck to the vinyl if you're in the car for more than two minutes. I'm sure that some of the dealers here had an ongoing relationship with an upholstery shop to re-do the seats in these cars as soon as they came in. Otherwise they would have never sold a Z in the summertime.

I have mixed feelings about it. It's a great morale booster for the cities where they fly, and right now is a good time to boost public morale. The downside is indeed that it is expensive, but in the wider perspective, it's a flyspeck in the military budget. Money just doesn't move from the military budget to the public service functions named. I am also pleasantly surprised that so far, I haven't heard any members of the current administration claiming credit for it as a PR device. In that regard, they deserve my compliments.

Yeah, rattle can and heat gun. Worked out well. Tires are still very good, don’t get many miles per year and never in rain. But aiming for new wheels next season.

Selling here for almost $1800 https://jdm-car-parts.com/collections/wheel-nissan-datsun-fairlady-z-240z-260z-280z-280zx/products/wheel-hub-cap-set-for-1971-76-datsun-240z-260z-and-280z-nos?variant=786396845 Personally, hubcaps like you have shown in the pic I would say $1200-1400, if not more. Nice ones are getting very hard to find. Re-chromed ones usually to not turn out real well from what I have seen.

The rumor last week was Dr. Fauci was to be fired. He's being marginalized and (IMO) will be gone soon. Just like everyone else who doesn't wholeheartedly agree with every oddball whim and crackpot idea that pops into our President's head.

Thanks Jim! I've never had the opportunity to examine them side by side. Thanks for the details. So then the answer to the "what's with the nubbies?" might be as simple as "We wanted a way to keep them from getting mixed up at the factory."

I don't think it's a leverage issue. The bolt head moves, it just turns the inner bushing sleeve along with it. In other words, when you put the wrench on it and turn the bolt head, it'll move easy, but then spring back because you're rotating the inner bushing sleeve inside the control arm bushing. You're just torqueing up the rubber in the bushing. I think if you put the breaker bar on it and just kept spinning and spinning it, all you would do is shear the vulcanized rubber joint and separate the inner tube from the outer tube. Still wouldn't help get the bolt out of the inner tube. Ideas on solutions? If there is enough room to get in there with the recip saw (without hitting the frame member or the control arms) and cut it off at the sides. Or if there isn't enough room, cut the head and threaded stub off and spread the frame member a little to give you clearance to pry the remainder out Or if you can't spread the frame enough, drill shallow holes into the bolt shank until you have opened it up to the point where there's no metal left and it should fall out.

And, of course, those are Canadian dollars, so our American friends can get this done for 40% less!

That's going to be one nice 280ZX Mart..

Have you tried using more leverage? With the wheel off place a block of wood under the ball joint, get the socket on the bolt head and an extension pipe over the breaker bar, 4-5 ft. should be enough to crack it.

Sounds like the bolt has rusted solid to the inner sleeve. They generally do, but your case is extreme. Reading your post, sounds like you have tried most things possible. Heat could help release it, but you can't get enough heat into the sleeve section. It will just dissipate into the control arm and burn the rubber in the process. I think your bolt is a gonna. You have a new bolt and rubber bush. I think your best option is cut through the bolt and sleeve on both sides of the control arm with a saw. Once it is out, heat the control arm and remove the rubber section with the remaing inner sleeve and bolt. Tip: I see a lot of people litterally burn out the rubber section. This creates a lot of toxic fumes and smoke. I heat the outside section until the heat penetrates through to the rubber and the rubber release. Grab the bushing with a pair of pliers or vice grips and keep trying to turn the bush while heating the outside. When it's hot enough it will release and slide out with a minimum of smoke and fumes. You can then push out or cut through the outer sleeve.

There's been some "end tails" on that seat, large too IMHO. Kind of squashed huh?

Thanks! The hourly rate? I'd starve ?. But I figure it probably took me 40 hours - the next one would be a lot faster - maybe 20 hours.

Here is the VTO wheel that BRE sells. VTO sells a gray spoked wheel also and some smaller sizes. Mine are 15”

So I repositioned the car a bit on the rotisserie to get better balance. It was fine side to side, but I could feel the weight increase as I rolled it to the vertical position - meaning that it was bottom heavy. Or the center of gravity of the shell was too low relative to the rotating axis. So I moved the car up about 2". For reference: The mounting bolts are 3 inches below the axis of rotation in the front and 5 inches below the axis of rotation in the back. The car is still very slightly bottom heavy (on purpose - safer) but she rolls over well by hand (with one hand) or with the worm gear.... so I probably spent around $350 on steel, $200 on the worm gear, bearings, drive shaft and pinion gears, $50 on bolts and hardware, and I already had the casters laying around - maybe $60 or so. So around $650 in round numbers not including shop supplies... Let the games begin ???

Shelby, Rockwell and U.S. Mag were contemporary manufacturers of the Libre design that, I believe, originated and was initially produced in magnesium by American Racing Equipment for track use . ARE was heavily involved in the growing aftermarket alloy wheel market for Domestic and Import automobiles. The design was so popular, especially after the successes of BRE on the track, that they were quickly copied by these competing companies. Branding was found inside the rim in the casting. There were variations in the castings made by each manufacturer, some with more reinforcing "webs" or "ribs" and different internal sectional profiles. I have owned sets of the Rockwell and U.S. Mag versions and can attest to the fact that in some aspects they were inferior in quality of construction to the ARE product. I currently have 2 sets of the original genuine ARE Libres and, in my completely biased opinion, consider them (and the Le Mans design) to be the most period correct alloy rims for a 240z (14") or 510 (13"). The only company currently offering this "Libre inspired" design is VTO. They also offer the Le Mans design. BRE has partnered with VTO to provide them. https://www.bre2.net/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=B&Product_Code=020C02&Category_Code=bre_datsun_libre_wheels Futofab is another authorized dealer for VTO. http://www.futofab.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=53:vto-wheels-now-available-from-futofab

LOL! I thought that might be the case. They needed to haul the heavier 2+2 around! Haha!!!!

I did the exact same thing just the other day! We actually got two days in a row where it did NOT rain, and I took my Z out for a bit. On the good side, it started right up and ran exactly the same as it did when I put it away last fall. On the bad side, all of the unfinished winter projects are still un-finished.

GK: Thanks for the reply. I ended up using a vinyl from JoAnn Fabric rated for 50,000 double rubs meaning it is very abrasion resistant. A reviewer said they used it for boat seats 10 years ago and it was still holding up. Total cost with shipping and several stacked discounts was $26. At that price I can afford to make some mistakes.

Well the dragon had been slayed... almost. Dash is in with the Haltech, power steering, ignition system and RFID wired. Left to do is the power door locks and windows and the console wiring which will be done together as that’s where the new switches will be located.

JavelinZ has a late 280 with southwestern pattern cloth seats that appear to have been dealer installed. His is 110 and the seats are Red/Orange Arizona looking. Guess it fits. My sons '76 also had cloth with a Tan/Gold weave pattern - it was originally 304 Gold Metallic. Both Arizona cars (where NO ONE likes to sit on black vinyl that's been sitting in the Arizona sun!).

Painted my wheels (rubber paint so it can be removed) anthracite grey. Nice with a new look for awhile till i can pull the trigger on some other wheels. Also changed my interior bulbs to leds.

Sister 1972 240z cars. I have been in contact with the previous owners for about half a decade. They decided to sell to me recently. ? Serial Numbers are only a few hundred apart. Restoration in progress will be posted to instagram at @240zisters

I had a huge mouse nest in mine on the right side. The drain is rather large and empties out directly on the inside of the fender thus all the corrosion in that area on every S30 made.

Nice, are you also going to post the restorations here on this forum? Not everyone does the instagram/facebook thing.

Good eyes! Yeah, that's a really good catch! Grab all those D hubcaps you can find!! There might be more up in that car. Just don't get hurt in the process! And watch for snakes!!

I would get this D hubcap and hang it on a wall. They are from the beginning, the first cars.

On a positive note. Just landed back on Near home. Went to my secret JY to see what Distributors they have (since I can’t buy the parts I need. Look at all these Z’s. All have engines and trannys. All manuals . Got another dizzy for $50 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hi everyone! I have a highly original 71' 240Z which I purchased from the original owner about ten years ago. It's a beauty that is missing only one thing...the original wheel covers. My question is, what style would a 1971 240Z have...would they be red centers or with the "D" in the center? As a final question, is ANYONE out there selling a set of their steel wheels and wheel covers

Depends on your serial number. 'D' wheel covers lasted until about HLS30-46000 according to Carl Beck. The Nissan parts catalog lists HLS30-46001 beginning in September 1971. 40315-E4100 was replaced by 40315-E4101 and used up to 7/73; 40315-E8800 was from 8/73 according to the parts catalog. I would recommend 40315-E4101 - shown below - unless you have a build date and serial number later.