Goose52

John - I guess I should have said that the selection of 15" performance tire SIZES are getting limited and it probably won't ever get better. As tire diameters have continually grown larger - the "performance" segment has chased the larger tire diameters. Now, to have a larger choice of sizes (section widths) you are looking at 16" or even 17" or so. For instance, you didn't quote a single 205/60. The Michelin Exalto's that you quoted are available in ONE 15" diameter (195/55), it is available in several 16" sizes, and four 17" sizes. That's the point that I'm trying to make. Anyway, you did give me some tire lines to check out. Since it is a street car, I don't really want to go to a very low profile tire and have all that "air" around the wheelwell. Nor did I want to give up section width...although I know if it's a stickier tire I can give up the width without sacrificing performance. Arne - my ATS wheels are 15x6/0 offset and I've always run 205/60s with them. However, my car is lowered, and has quick-steering knuckles (if that makes a difference) and my tires DO hit the tension rods at full lock...one reason why I haven't considered any wider section widths than 205.

Dave - that's great. I think you will be getting a lot of the Z business - especially for the Retro 4. I'd be interested in the Retro 4's myself if I didn't already have the ATS wheels in the photo below my signature. John - perhaps I should have said high performance summer - not all-season and summer. I run a 205/60-15 - the photo below shows the Tire rack search results for a summer tire in that size. 4 tires - of those, I run the Yok AVS ES100. It's just a plain fact that the higher-end performance tires are no longer being made in 15" wheel sizes. If Yokohama quits making the ES100, I will just have to move over to the all-season tires. For street driving, perhaps I won't really notice any performance loss....

These look great, and it's good to see 15" versions (instead of the original 14")...but a big problem is that we're running out of high-performance 15" tires.

I understand the general point that you're making ... but your statement is not entirely true. I put a 331ci SBC in my car in 1977 but pulled it out and put in an L28 in 1982. Granted, I didn't put an L24 back in, but my car certainly "represents the brand" !

Mike - I was looking at the 3/4 digit number under the D606-52, which I thought was a continuance of the part number - guess not huh !

I still have a Euro distributor that I bought from MSA back in the '80's. I ran it until just a few years ago when I switched to the ZX electronic distributor. The Euro ran great at the 17deg static timing. I notice that the part number stamping is on different sides of the body between yours and mine and that the part number is different between the two...

I think this is the best answer so far - especially for me since I have no radio or other sound system in my car and haven't for many years (I have gauges where the radio used to be). Back when I had a sterio in the car (an 8-track ) my favorites were "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf, "American Pie" by Don McLean, and "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)" by the Looking Glass. Born to be Wild was played on a certain section of road that had lots of braking and low-speed turns then accelerations down a couple of long straights. American Pie was about 4 1/2 minutes long and was played on a certain twisty where you had to really hustle to cover that section in the length of the song. Brandy was the number one song just a few weeks before I bought my car - I thought it was a "cool tune" and named the car after the song...

Very cool ! I still have the R&T issue featured in the video - will have to get it down from the attic !!

I missed this thread the first time around. As soon as I saw the thread title of "240 Wagon" I thought of the Cider Z. I too still have that copy of Peterson's Complete Book of the Datsun © 1975 - as well as another one © 1977....

I read the Road & Track full road test in the April 1970 issue and thought - that's a cool car, and a great value. In September 1972 I bought the Z that I still have. The Z-Car in general was special when new based on performance, styling, and value. My particular Z-Car is special today since it has been an integral part of my life for nearly 38 years...

Looks good ! I've been driving my 901 silver car for over 37 years now and have always liked the color...

I've been licensed since 1968: 1963 Chevy Biscayne (owned for about 4 months) 1969 Datsun 510 wagon (owned for about 1 year) 1972 Datsun 240Z (still have it - owned for over 37 years) 1972 Daihatsu 360cc 2-stroke (owned for about 4 months while stationed in Japan) 1988 Toyota Camry (still have it - coming on 22 years) That's it - my rides for the last 42 years. Can't understand why most of you guys either can't make up your mind which car to buy or don't buy cars that last................................just kidding!

I ran a 331ci SBC in my car from 1977 to 1982 - I do have some wrinkles in my firewall from the unitbody winding up from the torque but it was no biggie. No reinforcements were made on the front end at all. I recommend you spend a lot of time at www.hybridz.org, browsing the thousands of threads on that board that relate to V-8 conversions. You might give that URL to your friends as well so they can read what it takes to put up to 900hp (or more) in a Z-car.

I voted "Period or modern, who cares?" but since most of my mods were complete by 1983, perhaps today some would consider all of them "period." For instance, I have 15" wheels which aren't really "period" (meaning early '70s) but they are about 27 years old. I had a V-8 in the car for 5 years between '77 and '82 - that was a sorta "period" way to get more power as there were no 3.1 liter strokers back then or modern turbo/FI installations (discounting the Crown turbo). Back in '72 I always thought that Datusn/Nissan should have had a "performance" upgrade package for the Z-car - and that should have been 3 liters, 180 HP (gross), 5-speed, and firmer suspension...and that's about where I'm at today (although at 2.8 liter)...

On the back side on the main wheel section (not on the spokes or the center seating surface or on the lip). I just checked and I only have that cropped photo - not the uncropped original. And, those mags were sold so I can't go look. I've attached the "for sale" photo that shows all 4 of the mags and the center caps FWIW.

My P/S mags from '72 were marked as shown in the photo...

I know you always liked that mag style - good luck in getting the group buy going! As you know, the "Per-Specs" were the "dealer install" mags on my car when I bought it in '72...

They look pretty good - espescially for folks trying for that "period" look. I hate to say this as I've never much cared for wheels larger than 15" for a 240Z, but too bad they aren't making it in a 16". If you want some "go" with your "show," you just about have to go to 16" now - not many high performance tires left in 14" or 15". If Yokohama discontinues the AVS ES100 that I run, I'll be up the creek...

But then not get the angle I needed I think...When I changed the mirror height in 1977 to clear the roll bar hoop, I basically dropped it straight down. The right end of the mirror needed to be near the right side of the car to get the view and angle I needed to see not only out the back window and the right side of the car, but also the left side as well. It's been so long since I played with the install that I can't remember what the view was with the mirror up as close to the windshield as possible. I imagine it wasn't good or I would have put the mirror there...

Rolled the car out of the garage to take a drive and snapped a few more photos of the Wink. FWIW ...

I've been running the 5-panel Wink for about 35 years. I mounted it high and didn't have any problems with forward vision. The stock brackets that come with it are flimsy and the mirror would vibrate like mad on a rough road (and I have stiff springs/shocks) so I made a center bracket that attaches to the stock rear view mirror position - this center bracket "loads" the center of the mirror (pushes it up) and eliminates most of the vibration. After that, I really liked the mirror and as said above, it minimizes/eliminates blind spots. When I installed the SBC in my car in '77, I also installed a competition roll bar with diagonal cross brace. The top of the hoop blocked the view of the Wink so I had to mount the Wink a bit lower and make a new left bracket and center bracket. I'm still using the stock right bracket (see photo). I WAS able to fit the brackets under the stock sun visor brackets so I didn't have to drill new holes to mount it. HOWEVER, if you use the brackets that come with the mirror, you WILL have to drill new holes right through your headliner trim (yikes). The bad news was that while I still have OK forward vision (I'm only 5'9") the Wink is low enough where I can't see a traffic signal if I'm stopped at a light and have to lean down to look under the mirror to wait for the light to change I recently moved to Tennessee and now have a problem with driving in hills that I can loose some "up" vision when I'm going down a dip in the road and have a steep incline to go back up... Anyway, I like it even with the drawbacks and as Steve said, I feel sorta blind when I'm in my daily driver as compared to the Z. FWIW

Well - I live about 120 miles from Nashville - looks like I will have to be there !

Wow - looks great! Where there's a will...there's a way!!

Yikes - don't envy me too much! It's true, in 1974 I bought a Datsun Comp WR OD 5-speed, driveshaft, and R-190 4.44 LSD through a mechanic friend at a dealer who got the whole package for $650!. HOWEVER, I only ran that set-up through 1977 when I pulled it all out and ran a 331ci small block Chevy. I ran the SBC until 1982 when I ran into some smog issues and other problems with the swap and decided to put an L6 back in the car so I went with an L28 out of a '79ZX and another Datsun Comp 5-speed which I'm still running today...And there are indeed some parts issues with the Comp box.... I double-clutch downshift always to save the syncros as I don't think they're available any longer .... (plus, double-clutching sounds cool )

Wow - electrical genius and also gonna be the "metal-man"! Good luck Dave !!