Oiluj

That is very retro-cool! Be nice to tool around in if one had a summer place along the Cote 'd Azure or a cabin on the shores of Lake Tahoe...

Cool!

Now don't be diss'n Janet Reno. That babe is FLY! __ *grin*

Come on guys... It's in increadibly bad shape, but I've seen Z's in this condition people were willing to consider restoring. Not to mention, there are some who look at our Z's in the same light as we might view a Matilda. (They are wrong of course...). Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Mine's in the garage. It's a two car garage with room for only one car...

Installed the rear tail-light panels after painting them the same gunmetal color as the wheels. The front grill is gunmetal as well, but won't be installed untill the A/C condensor is in. Installed my hood, but it still needs a bit of adjustment. The hood line is a bit high at the center of the fender. I'm really liking the "ghost" stripe. Engine & drive train are in, and the engine compartment is about 85% complete. Painted the air cleaner "gunmetal" and yesterday I cleaned-up and installed the throttle linkages. Looking at the pic, looks like I need to "adjust" my front license plate mounts. She should be driving in late Spring.

Silver & Black. Satin black for suspension components. Powder coat is better than paint, (I painted mine). Natural aluminum for the transmission. Not sure about the correct colors for the diff, but I'm thinking black for the steel case and natural aluminum for the back cover.

Last time I rebuilt a 240Z 4-speed tranny was in 1982. I did it in the living room of my apartment. I layed-down a blue plastic tarp on the floor with two layers of double corrugated on top for my work surface. Only took two days, one for dis-assembly and measurement, one for parts sourcing and rebuild. Worked fine, but my apartment smelled like transmission lube for a week afterwards.

The vinyl supplier was: DI Specialty Specialty Division 2930 S. Vail Ave City of Commerce, CA 90040, USA. Comes in sheets that are about 15" x 40". I did take several phone calls and some convincing to get them to sell the raw stock to me... Good Luck with your project.

Bruce, Well said. I plan to drive my 240Z until they say I can't drive anymore...

Rev Bruce, I have on of those "expensive" projects that turned out to be about $4k more than anticipated. But even at $24K total, it will essentially be a "new" car, and still less expensive than the I would have to spend for an comparable car today. While it may take a few years for my car to be worth what I've invested, it is appreciating in value instead of depreciating like a modern car. Not only that, it's much cooler to drive since it's a "classic" and worth every penny invested.

A nice 510 would be at the top of my list, followed by a nice 300Z for a daily driver.

I didn't know about his background as an industrial designer.Thanks for that.As I stated in my previous post, completely agree with your statement above. In fact, I feel strongly enough about it that I don't practice illegal duplication of movies or software. FWIW, I was simply digging a bit deeper into BRE's perspective regarding "not for profit", personal use by an individual. For classic Z's, the BRE graphics are iconic, symbolizing a "fast" car, similar to the GT40 Gulf color scheme. (I've seen a couple of those driving around with Gulf graphics). It's also "where" you draw the line onwhat they consider "infringement". For example, would CoastGuard Z's ghost diagonal fender stripes be considered infringement? In my mind it would not, because it's not a direct copy of the BRE paint scheme. Of course, lawyers might happily make alot of money fighting over something like that in court... My apologies to anyone if this is a sensitive subjetc. I'm kinda like a kid poking a dead frog with a stick on this one...

I've been exposed to trademarked material and I have a few patents, so I am a strong proponent of enforcement, but only where it makes sense. Is BRE focused on limiting use by individuals making replica vehicles, or just going after those trying to make money off of their name? If the latter, I completely, 100% support their position. However, if they limit partial emulation or actual "replicas" of 30+ year old Datsun paint schemes by individuals, I don’t believe it to be reasonable. It's also a good way to hurt BRE’s reputation in the Datsun motorsports fan base... However your write-up does beg a legal question.__Is the BRE Datsun paint scheme a "registered" Trademark or “currently” valid Copyright? I'm no lawyer, (and am operating from memory here), but my limited understanding is that trademarks have infinite life span. Copyrights, like patents, expire after a period of time. My recollection is copyrights have a 28-year life span unless re-registered in the year it expires. If re-registered, they last a very long time. If BRE is using the "legal" card to limit use, it might be worth checking into.

I understand the power of trademarks, but does BRE still race S30's? If not, I don't see much issue here, as long as it's clear that the car is a "replica". Am I off-base on this?

It even has nice mags. Very nice for the price. Too bad cause I'd be sleeping on the couch if I bought it!

Very Nice!

I put an oil cooler in my previous car, a 1960 MGA. It always ran warm and the oil cooler did make a difference, but the cooling system on that car was under-sized for "slow-n-go" driving in hot weather. Based on my previous 240Z experience, The Z's cooling system, (in good condition), is adequately sized to meet the task.

I'm a dummy... The fill & drain plugs in the diff were frozen as well, so I had to remove it from the car to work on them. Did figure out a little trick to getting them loose. I pulled the mustache bar off and installed it on the diff to act as a reatction bar so it didn't roll around while I stood on the pipe wrench to break the plugs free. Worked like a champ. Filled it with MT-90 and re-installed with no problems. Also installed my new aluminum radiator and the engine underpan. The radiator sits a bit lower than the stock unit, so I had to install some 1/8" spacers and gently bend the pan edges where the interfred with the lower front corners of the radiator. Everything fits fine now.

So who here boaught it? *grin* My guess is it was probably a "collector". Very nice. In 5 years we just might see it on Mecuum's Auto Auctions TV program going for $80K! Still, it's hard to believe it sold for that in today's economy.

That's interesting... I did need to use a spring copressor to get my eibach's re-installed in my 72 240. Only a little, but I could not have done it without the copressors. I wonder if I got different springs? I'll be lowering the car back off the jack stands this weekend and can see what my drive height looks like...

I don't recall how much shorter the Eibachs I recently installed were, but they were significantly shorter than the stock springs. I seem to recall that they were 2-3" shorter, but don't go by this info alone...

To my eye it's fine for a track car but a bit too much for the street.for this paint scheme I'd go with the dark hood, (doesn't have to be CF), and BRE stripes. Guess I'm just too conservative...I do agree with the others about the matching yellow air dam. I think would look better yellow. But don't worry about what we think._Bottom line, it's YOUR car, paint it the way YOU like and have fun with it!

Welcome!

JC, I'm in San Mateo, about 20 miles north of you. My car is still undergoing restoration, but should be driving in the Spring. I'd be happy to meet and talk Z's. Julio