Marty Rogan

Be careful about sanding the paint if you have never done it before. I believe it takes great skill to do it properly. I have an alternate suggestion that you should try first. Get the following from a detail shop: Clay Magic clay bay; Zymol HD Cleanse; and get some Zaino Brothers wax for the type of paint you have (clear coat or single stage). Might have to get the wax from the Zaino website. 1) Clean your car very well with Dawn dish detergent. 2) Get a bucket of car wash, nice and sudzy 3) Dip the clay bar in the sudzy water, keeping the paint very wet. This acts as a lubricant for the clay bar. Rub the bar back and forth in a line with a fair amount of force. Don't ever go in a cricle with anything you put on paint! You may have to go over it a couple of times. This will lift all of the grit out of the paint. After this the paint should feel much smoother. 4) Wash the car again. 5) Put the HD Cleanse on a polishing pad and rub it in well like you did with the clay bar, except without the water. May need to do this step a couple of times also. IT should make the paint feel even smoother. 6) Put 2 or more coats of the Zaino wax on according to their instructions. You don't need alot of this stuff. If you put too much on, it actually looks worse! It should only take 1 once or less to do the whole car for 1 coat. I recently did this to an early 71 that I bought in NC. It was pretty dull and sun faded. It took about 12 hours of work, but when I was done, it looked like a whole different car. Had a nice shine to it. It is not perfect, like a fine paint job, but it really made the paint come alive. Well, as they say, that's my 2 cents! Good luck with your new car. Marty

You can buy the parts CD from this site!!! IT is a must have item. Not sure where the link is at the moment, since I have not looked for it in a long time. Surely Mike can help you find it. Marty

Classic Datsun Motor Sports makes the BRE "Spook" under license from the original molds: http://www.classicdatsun.com/ I have one on my car and like it very much. Marty

Ken, I thought their was nothing you could do with a melted box. Never would have thought of using JB Weld to build it up. The inner holder od my tail light circuit is suspended in mid air too, and it still works! It sounds like JB Weld is the duct tape of the adhesive family! Marty

One thing I learned to do a while ago, is to put the wheels, or a sturdy tool box under the side sills. In case the car falls, it will land on the wheels, leaving some space, so as not to pancake you into the floor. Marty

TexasZ, Let me guess which circuit melted down .... Third one down on the right side, the dash/tail light circuit. Am I right??? I have 2 early 240's a 1970 and a 1971. Both melted down in that same circuit. MSA is coming out with a more modern replacement for the fuse boxes. The "Long Pigtailed" version, which is correct for an early car, is supposed to be available in October. At $199, it is not cheap, but neither are used ones that could suffer the same fate. I am keeping the stock one on the 70 show car, but going with the MSA model when its available for the 71 racer. Anyone out there tried one of these? The later "short pigtailed" version was supposed to be available first. Marty

Did the US spec 240 Z's come witha spalsh pan. I have owned 3 of them, and have seen dozens of others and cannot recall ever seeing a 240 with one fitted. Marty

So, where are you located? Thanks, Marty

If you have an early car, you problably need to adjust the slack at the clutch slave cylinder. If it is out of adjustment, you can have trouble getting it into gear. Later models have the self adjusting slave. Marty

Beandip, I run 215/60/15's on my car with slight clearance problem. I have to bend the back edge of the front valance in a bit. With a 14" rim you may not have a clearance problem. 205's would fit for sure. I am using the Yokohama AVS tires. They are great performing tires at a very reasonable price. Check out Tire Rack for prices. I use them on the street and the track and would highly recommend them. Marty

If you are looking for NOS parts, check with Chloe at Midwest Z. She is very resourceful in getting scarce parts. I have also gotten linkage parts from Too Intense Restorations. Good luck, Marty http://www.restorezone.50megs.com/ http://www.midwestz.com/

Mike, I totally agree that correct color would be prefereable. I am just interested in his results. I did get a set of blue seat covers from MSA, but I was not very happy with them. The pattern was close, but not exactly correct. The grain of the vinyl was flat out wrong. If I could find original Nissan blue covers, I probably couldn't aford them. But, if someone out there has them or knows where to find them, I'd love to hear about it. Marty

Hi Kats, Your seats look great. I have never seen that plastic protector piece before. I just acquired a seat bottom Saturday, that appears to have remnants of that piece at the anchor points. Is that still available from Nissan? I also have a blue interior in my 6/70 Z. Are your seats original Nissan seats that were black and then dyed blue? I am interested in hearing more about your special techique. HAve you had any issue with the color coming off when the seat material flexes? Thanks, Marty

Fred, I also had a Previa that my wife drove for 8 years. Other than being a little slow, it was a nice, very roomy vehicle. We replaced it with a Toyota Sienna. Its built on the Camry platform with a nice V-6 engine. A little smaller than the Previa, but big enough. Also the new Sienna is about as big as the Previa. Its hard to beat Toyota quality. Do you get Siennas over there? I would go that route over a Pontiac or Chevy. Good luck, Marty

Mark, I saw that too. Looks pretty nice. They said they won't have the long pig-tailed version available till October. $200 is a bit steep but, I had to pay $80 for the last one I got, and that was used. How long it will last is anyone's guess. I think I am going to bite the bullet and buy one for my 71 race car and hopefully solve the problem once and for all. For the 70 show car, I will have to take my chances and stick with the original crappy design. Marty

I just got off the phose with MSA. He said that they were expecting a shipment of the rear panel for the 70-72's in early August, but it hadn't come in yet. Quoted me $250 for the part. It goes from the valance up to where the tail light surround is. That would meet my needs. Marty

Thanks. I looked at the MSA catalog last night. It showed the 70-72 model as NLA. The 73-74 has the shock absorber bumpers, so that panel would be different. Is the P/N 30-7240 for the 74 model? I don't have the catalog here in the office ? Marty

That's kinda what I thought. I was planning to visit a body shop today and wanted to know if there were any options available. Looks like he'll have to fab a panel. Marty

I have a 71 that is starting to bubble up some rust in the area directly behind the rear bumper. This is the body sheet metal, not the tail light surrounds. I have never seen a Z rust in that spot before. IT must be rare, since the Victoria and MSA catalogs don't show replacemnt panels for that part. Does any one out there know of a source for that panel? Thanks, Marty

2ManyZ's So you can change those hoses without dropping the tank? I always thought you had to take out the whole thing. The large hose on the back is leaking on the new 71. Another one of those jobs that I am not looking forward to. Just got the brakes straightened out again. The left rear wheel cylinder went bad. Sure felt good to drive a Z again! Marty

MArk, I just went throught this same situation. I have a 6/70 240Z. Definitely the early ball joints are NLA from Nissan. I thought I could get away from this problem by using aftermarket Moog ball joints. Wrong! They would not fit the original knuckles either. I ended up geting some used knuckles from Z Barn. Supposedly, you can ream them out. However, I took mine to a good machine shop, and due to the tapered hole, they said they couldn't ream it out. I believe all of the knuckles from 72 - 78 were the same. Pull them off the 78 and compare them to the 240. the only difference should be the diameter of the ball joint hole. I wish I had a parts car sitting around to pull from. Marty

Mark, Thanks. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. My car is an early 71, so I believe it should be the same as yours. thanks again. Marty

Mark, Once you push down on the wheel cylinder arm, which way do you turn the knurled wheel? Toward the center of the car or away from the car? TIA, Marty

While driving my 71 yesterday, I noticed a lot of drag while not even touching the brakes. This is the car I picked up 2 weeks ago. Last night I checked it out, and the left rear wheel seems to have the brake stuck in the "on" mode. I was only able to turn the drum by placing a long bar on it to spin it. I also noticed that the parking brake was not connected to the wheel cylinder. I don't have a whole lot of brake experience yet. It' not the parking brake cable, since it's not connected. I did not notice any leaking fluid. Could it be the wheel cylinder gone bad? What would cause the brake to be stuck on like that, and what should I do about it? TIA, Marty

Victor, How much does Gas Tank Renu charge to clean and seal a tank? And does that include removal and reinstall. I was thinking of having that done to my early like the sounds of trying to drain a gas tank in my garage. Marty