chaztg

Seems like kind of a douchebag move to list an auction in the way he did it--absolutely no effort, no pics, no description. A total black hole. Am I wrong? http://www.ebay.com/itm/parting-out-a-71-datsun-240-Z-/112031873758?fits=Make%3ADatsun&hash=item1a159ebade:g:hpgAAOSw~OVWyIuU&vxp=mtr

There's somethin' cool bout those wire style wheels. That car is a true survivor. Good find!

No, but If your 280Z has stock springs in it, spring compressor(s) will be required to get the height of the entire strut/spring assembly down to a level to swing it out away from the wheelhouse and body. You will probably need to undo the halfshaft (at the wheel hub) and disconnect the hydraulic brake and parking brake lines so the control arm will drop low enough. If you want to take your chances without spring compressors, you can do all of the above, but place a floor jack under the A-arm and then undo the top 17mm or 19mm nut in the center of the strut cap and to release the spring tension, lower the jack SLOWLY. A buddy would be helpful for an extra set of hands and familiarity with this procedure would be even better. Use properly rated jack stands before you attempt any of this. If you are replacing the original springs with lowering springs, you may not even need to use compressors.

I bought a pair of boots from MSA and one single boot from RockAuto just to check it out for quality & fit. I also bought a pair from a local parts retail chain called Car Quest but returned them after I found out how much I overpaid for them. I figured MSA (grey box) would be correct about finding the best fitting kind. The RockAuto boot (red box) is shorter and the outer end doesn't seem to be too big; it's the inner end or "big" end that seems too large. It's still in the plastic in my pics, because I'm sending that puppy back for a re-fund, but see for yourself. I recall that we put RockAuto sourced boots in my friend's '72 240Z ( I can't say whether or not they are Raybestos brand like the one I got ), and they did fit O-kay but we had to really cinch down the zip ties on the large inner ends. The plastic of the RockAuto boot looks shiny and seems "cheap." Interestingly it's made in Taiwan. I'm no fan of made in China junk which is overwhelmingly and alarmingly everywhere for just about every application nowadays--I try to keep it out of my Z car at any cost, but ironically, as you can see by the picture, the pair of boots sold by MSA which appear to be the best-fitting were manufactured in China. Luckily, not easily obvious when they are installed, but still I will always be uncertain that they would last as long as a genuine Nissan-quality or US-spec material. Expediency dictates that China wins this round in the steering rack boot department.

To change the bushings, I suppose is the primary reason...everything else just follows. I'm sure my car's original bushings are in less than ideal shape anymore, but do I want to change them? I dunno. Are replacement spindle pins still available from Nissan? From one the pics it looks like there was a brand spanking new one...or just get them from Motorsport Auto?

Shamefully, a friend restored one for me...it was an extra wheel I had picked up somewhere (I have the original unrestored wheel still in my car), but the color came out wrong and now I just hang it on my garage wall

Amen to the Cherry Bomb!

If you have trouble confirming the "groove - notch" relationship on any L series motor, it will cause all kinds of weird stuff, and the thing is you may not be aware of any mis-setting if you have certain parts like a cam sprocket that doesn't have a "notch" which makes it highly difficult to see the "groove"--so basically it SHOULD look like that picture or close to it, otherwise you may have a deeper problem

I can't add much more to Mike W's story, but I also have some experience with the 'lectric fan thing and aluminum radiators too. I've gone through a few "phases" myself with my 73 240. A few years ago I bit the bullet and bought a Wizard Cooling 3 row aluminum radiator new off eBay direct from the company. I cannot agree more with Mike W about the design, fit, quality, etc... The downside of my experience was that the radiator began to leak after less than a year. I contacted the company and spoke to probably the same guy Mike spoke with. Long-short, he made it right; they sealed the radiator with some kind of epoxy which to my genuine surprise has held up nicely. The thing that rubbed me the wrong way was that they made me pay for shipping to send it from San Diego to New York for the repair. I recollect I spent $300+ on the initial purchase, so I was irked. My car's always run kinda hot, I don't why; maybe it's an inaccurate gauge, maybe it's all in my head--I didn't see much improvement over stock using this all aluminum unit. I've done a lot of research into the topic and experimented with different radiators over the years. I use VDO temp and oil gauges and I feel they are calibrated quite accurately, at least more accurate than the stock gauges. I don't feel the need to upgrade any more than I already have Radiator-wise and in my experience, there is no reason to use larger than a 3-row core radiator. I've even thought that a 2-row core radiator could be the answer to my car's issues...modern high efficiency radiators are mostly 2-row but are generally larger than able to fit into an S30, but who knows...? In the meantime, I've moved onto the active part of the cooling system: the fans. With the Wizard radiator the temperature would still climb above 195 degrees in traffic on warm days or coming off the highway it would heat up in a similar fashion. I'd been running a 14" auxiliary electric "pusher" fan (Hayden) with a manual switch for a while--that was my solution for the heat-up and it worked okay in those times when the car needed it. I thought making it automatic would be nifty, so I added a Hayden controller I bought from Summit. It was the kind where the sensor threads into the thermostat housing, not a probe inserted in the radiator fins (not my personal preference). I liked the set-up so well that I removed the mechanical fan and went all electric, for a while...and it worked well until it just, uh didn't work...at all...it just went Kaput! (Made in China). This made me begin searching far & wide for another different controller. I can't recall if I came across Dakota Digital, but my criteria for a fan controller was that it had to have a threaded sensor, be of relatively good build quality and hopefully not Chinese junk, small in size, have an adjustable temp range and be reasonably priced. I think I passed over Painless and other brands because they were just too much money. The thing that made me reluctant to purchase another Hayden controller was that I had deleted the mechanical fan and turned my pusher fan around into a puller & went exclusively electric so when the controller unit failed, it made me nervous to have only one fan. SO I reverted to the stock setup and put the mechanical plastic OEM fan back in place with a one-piece metal shroud (kind of a rare part to find nowadays) and added two 10 inch pusher fans, one SPAL and one no-name eBay thing which seems to work okay but is obviously of lesser quality than the Spal fan...I agree with the opinion that Spal is a top-quality brand. I would also be happy with "Perma Cool" or Hayden in that order. I was still dubious about buying another Hayden controller, but I did anyway just because I was familiar with it and the other one did work for a few years until it quit and it's reasonably priced. Anyway, the 2 pusher fans are the now back up to augment the always-spinning mechanical fan. Pusher fans aren't as efficient as puller fans...if you doubt this then look up Griffin and they have a great tech section on their website and it explains a lot of the pros and cons of mechanical vs. electric cooling, pusher vs. puller, etc.... I think at some point it just comes down to personal preference and basic need. Unfortunately, there just isn't any room to fit a reasonably sized electric puller fan or fans AND a mechanical stock fan (unless your Z has a V8 engine !-- HA ha). My other Z, a 1975 280Z with an unmodified 2.8 litre motor runs with a happy & stable temperature all the time, doesn't vary much between 180-185 degrees, maybe a tad more on hotter days.

and they put the least desireable 14 inch wheels on it to boot

1970 datsun 240 z he could have posted more & better pics...maybe it's just meant to tease folks! If anyone out there wants me to broker a deal on this car, I'll do it for a fee. National City is about 10 minutes away from where I live

Datsun 240Z Turn Signal Dimmer Switch 1972 1973 RARE | eBay I thought the "free market" was supposed to keep prices reasonable...

Junkyard availability?

That asking price would be on the higher end of the spectrum IF that car was an early series 1 car (70 or 71 model year), with all the correct early badging, cosmetics, interior & mechanical things which are distinctive for that series; a few practical upgrades would be acceptable (5-speed, ignition, alternator, suspension, radiator, plastic not metal fan)--preferably not too "visible" upgrades. If restored, it would need to be a very good restoration inside & out. Maybe, just maybe it would hit that mark with all those factors met...and lower mileage would help too. I wish my 73 could potentially be worth that much, but I think not.

I really, really appreciated the close-up camera angle of the running RB26 with a see-through timing belt cover and six fat intake velocity stacks in an early Skyline. Those JDM car dudes do it right.