Poindexter

I see a headlight trim ring I could really use! And like Zero Z, I too love photography, and if a car wasn't salvageable, at least it might make a great photographic subject.

I'm going to try my hardest to be there too! I'm just having a pain reinstalling my shifter bushings just right. Nylons keep smushing.

My feelings are certainly not hurt. Why would you even suspect that you have that ability to do that to me by typing little words onto a screen from 3,000 miles away? I have just perceived a "holier than thou" attitude frosted with a bit of pedantic overtone that I thought was best being addressed by people with much more seniority and greater bona fides than little old me. And I have said as much before. I submit: The carefully-chosen non-reflexive "The message" appears all at once passive-aggressive and yet smacks of lording your superior knowledge over us Colonials, as if we need "getting through to". If you don't at least see that perception as a possibility, whether or not you agree, then that certainly makes its own point quite clearly. It has been established that even absent any such disclaimer, "we" are talking about the US market, if I may be so bold as to speak for anybody without their express permission. That point should be inferred, and any related appearance of impropriety or error, as well as any anthropomorphism of our cars, or the use of any other 5-dollar words should be excused. My $00.02 USD of course. Sorry if as a relative newbie I am getting somehow out of line. I'll be shutting up now.

:tapemouth

Has anyone here ever thought of a "Z car rescue/location info clearinghouse" thread? I've seen more than enough people willing and able to travel even long distances with tools and band-aids, just to reclaim and preserve these ever more scarce and precious parts. How about a sticky thread for just such sightings? Somewhere central to go... I would gladly travel or provide location support for such deserving safaris. Just an idea...comments?

@Walter Moore- perhaps you should consider getting a Ferrari/Fiamm triple airhorn like I did? After nearly getting run down twice in one day by obnoxious drivers in an Excursion and one of those perfectly ridiculous International Harvester CXT SUV/wagons (14,500 lbs!) I decided that if they couldn't see me they certainly would hear me! They're actually under $30 on Amazon/ebay and worth their weight in gold. I added a rear red fog light as we have a serious fog issue here on the ocean, and I also installed "selective yellow" fogs to the factory front install points under the bumper, with Cibie driving lights going behind the grille as soon as they arrive. It's better to be seen and heard rather than end up furry red goo wrapped in Safari Gold foil. I love that green too, btw.

K- I can't imagine when the last time a Z car was brought into an auto shop class. Isn't it usually a Mustang or Scion, these days? I remember when Camaros, Trans Ams and Mustangs were the only "respectable" cars for a teenager to work on at school. Of course the reality was that most of us owned everything else but. Have you come up with a final list of work? I love watching projects progress, so keep us posted. Maybe even start up your own page at Car Domain to document it all. Watching others move forward reminds me to keep up with my own long list of work too.

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be inside the cap, the accumulation of brass powder/filings from the cap and/or the was rotor causing intermittent ignition. It limited me to around 5k rpm too. I fixed it, went for a ride and promptly my floor mat got caught in the gas pedal and the engine revved wild until I turned off the key- in like 3 seconds, but I had pegged the tach for those few seconds! Luckily the only damage was blowing a teeny tiny hole in the exhaust manifold gasket. These Z's *certainly* can rev like a sono***un! Glad you fixed you problem so that now you can really enjoy that sweet silver beast.

Somebody recently mounted a videocam under their car trying to find the source of a noise too. Perhaps this might help some? It's a great idea, and if it ever stops raining here I want to do it too, to capture the sound of my car under heavy acceleration because with only a resonator and no muffler she really screams above 3,000, but silent below with a soft foot. Good luck tracking it down.

I need to drive out to the beach *immediately* and stare at the ocean, to "wash" my eyes of those colors! "Clown cars" they are indeed! Thanks for looking out for unique photos though.

I agree with the folks who have commented on the oblivious state most 350Z owners drive around in. Much like DougN, I consider the Z the forefather of all Z's so when this gorgeous 350Z convertible pulled up next to me in a Whole Foods parking lot, I said playfully, "Hi cousin!". The driver put down his cell phone and said "Do I know you?" I asked him "you do recognize my car don't you?" to which he replied "no, I don't like Corvettes." At moments like that it's hard for me to *not* be incredulous. Stereotypes are usually based in fact. Next- I usually go to at least 2 Cruise-Ins a week during the summer. They each both have well over 100 cars, sometimes 3 times that, and universally the people there are among the nicest I encounter anywhere. Besides having the same Japanese license plates that I have in my signature, "Datsun" appears literally at least once on every side of the car. "Hey what you got there?" can be heard more often than I can believe. But mostly people come over and tell me about their Z's from back in the 70's and how sad they are to ever have sold it. They also freak out when I tell them that my Z is in original paint. She represents herself pretty well. Rarity does play a part too, as I have yet to see another Z in any of these shows. There's a real Hemi Cuda, but no Z cars. Finally, I have been chased down by a guy in a 280ZX who wanted to show his gf "the car that started the whole 'Z thing'." That was cool. On the street what happens most of the time is some variant of the thumbs up, "nice car" and "what year is your 260?" kind of thing. Most of the recognition actually comes from the 20ish year old crowd, or from someone in their 40-50's and the most appreciation seems to come from the 8-12 year olds who recognize the car from video games I think. They seem to uniformly love the car. The 920 gold color does have something to do with it, as really nothing on the road is that color so she really stands out among all of the Corvettes, Mustangs and Porsches. To my knowledge, as told to me by many, there are no other Z's on the road in my whole county- which is pretty large.

Isn't this kind of like playing a country western song backwards...and you get your horse, your hat and your dog back? Well done Carl! And IMHO this is tailor-made for being a project to watch as it's happening on here, if possible. I just love watching as a project comes together.

Maverick? Pinto?? Vega??? That's what they say was the US response to the Z car??? Maybe the Cosworth Vega...but seriously!

I just noticed that my "original" seats, which I'm intent on replacing anyway as they're shot, do not have any vent buttons on the back. If this is within the scope of this thread, (so as not to begin *another* one on seats) can anyone tell me if they ever came that way in 2/71? Also has anybody any experience with the leather rebuild skins? Just trying to figure our which way to go. BTW- the tips on the elastic webbing are excellent. I'm 6'3" and was also worrying about the overall height of any rebuild putting my head through the roof. Still got that sunroof skin you cut off Arne? I might need it.

Almost all real cover glass will reject much of the UV wavelengths- which are the primary causes of fading; some of the IR wavelengths will also cause some damage over the long haul. The glare-preventative plastic usually does not contain any UV blocking properties, but they might be making it now. Obviously keeping anything of value off the wall where direct sunlight will fall is the best answer, but depending on the size/number of windows, and considering the other things of value in the room that might be damaged by the sun- i.e. good furniture, fabrics, wood flooring, rugs, etc... "they" make clear or slightly (5%-15%) tinted UV rejecting films that can be applied to window glass quite easily which will prevent sunlight/UV damage to everything in the room. I'm a builder and install this stuff in almost every E, S & W facing window in all of the high-end apartments I've built. North light is the best, and doesn't need any filtering. It's also the light with the best visual qualities that most galleries live for. These films are really the best way to proceed. FWIW.

Yeah Danglybanger. DEFINITELY an RB26DET in a stripped 240 frame!!! The electronic dash was the thing for me, and perhaps 2-tone seats with black and the paint color. My first idea was flat black- second is the lime green/Saturn Yellow. Screaming Yellow Zonker. Perhaps some subtle CF flares and a small rear wing and front spoiler too. And those cool laminar air flow winglets too. Do they make paddle shifters that will mate up with Nissan engines too? Now I'm going too far, but not over the fence into Hybrid territory! All Nissan. And that would definitely make them drop their jaws in auto shop class, huh? Sorry I'm on topic. I'll stay meandering from now on.

BTW K, here are 4 very unique Z car pix I think could potentially serve as some inspiration. Certainly different. Very stealth fighter-ish. Make sure you document all of your work with lots of before and after pix. I know I like watching the progress of other people's project, as mine is glacial at best. I'd really like to build a second, more powerful Z with some details like this, but still retain my original golden girl unaltered forever. PS- @hls30.com- How cool would it be to live in Kennesaw? I bet they feel VERY safe there!

I'll show you mine if you show me yours... What did you think I meant?

Danglybanger, I've noticed the same thing, it's a bit sad in a way. We seem to share quite an actual- dare I say love?- at least a deep interest in this particular classic. I've even encouraged one thread that I began in particular to be completely wide open and free-ranging- and it succeeded for a while- reaching almost 3,500 reads, while managing to meander around a common group of ideas. Can't the creator of a thread "suggest" that there is almost nothing off-topic, and therefore nobody can threadjack? Apologies if I'm stepping in it right now by doing this, but I think K appears OK with this freestyle posting. I've even tried to get a bunch of NJ region Zedders to get together at any one of several popular local venues- including an amazing National seashore park, several different Cruise-In nights, and a few great classic old-time drive-ins. It just doesn't seem meant to be. BTW your characterizations of various owners is very funny. I'd suggest you start a thread where everyone can make their observations about the other marques and their owners in a similar way.

I'm usually gun-shy when complaining about either text-speak or misspellings, especially when I explain that since I read so fast, hitting that kind of thing is almost like hitting a speed-bump for your eyes. Wah, wah, wah, I know. I'm not exactly a spelling nazi, but I am aghast sometimes when I see what passes for spelling and punctuation by adults these days.

Ah, ok AggieZ, I thought when you said "My Z car is approaching 20 grand" you meant current value. I'd love for mine to be worth even that, and some day it might, but I've *only* had to put in around $5k worth of work/parts as I didn't want- or really need- to change much, so another measure of value is called for, for mostly original cars I think. What I've been trying to do here is understand what makes one car worth $10k and another apparently similar worth $20k or more, and if by doing work on such an original car, trying to "improve" her, I'm really ruining the value of "originality" in the first place! She just this week turned 70,000 miles- barely broken in- so most of the work was voluntary and preventative, like tie-rods, ball joints, all hoses and only about half of the weatherstripping, new braided steel brake lines, calipers and brakes all around, just the basic wear points and safety issues. All that's left to do is to press out a few small dents, touch-up a few square inches of paint, re-do the seats and re-install of existing all original diamond vinyl and carpeting after I remove the horsehair and replace it with various butyl sound & heat barrier materials along the tunnel and throughout the entire interior- from firewall to hatch, and inside the doors and behind the interior paneling- just to snug everything down and take away any remaining rub or rattling inside. Everything else is untouched except for the new plug wires just changed from the original set in May, and a new Ferrari airhorn- for self-defense purposes only. I also have the old radio and speakers in reserve, so I can always drop them back in, but I have an aftermarket unit in for now so I have some decent sounds, since I drive her a lot. Really not much more "big stuff" to do to bring her to a very nice, very clean, and still very original condition. That's why I'm wondering whether I should do some of the busy work- like cleaning up the engine compartment and changing out all of the bolts and hose clamps to shiny and new- will it actually ruin the patina and the bona fides of being all original? I doubt I'll ever have her judged, as there is dash a half cap- albeit a perfect one. I just don't know. I'd kind of like to display her more around other Z's, at least for comparison. I go to at least 2 local Cruise-Ins a week, but I'm usually the only Z there. I guess I answered my own question.

FWIW the Homeless Depot will make keys for the Z- and for around only $4 for both keys! Big spender that I am, I got several copies made, primarily to retire my original colored and numbered set, and even hid a set under a mailbox near a good friend's house I visit often in case I lose mine away from home. Her dogs love shiny things and regularly bury them! It's an old trick/habit my Dad taught me. You duct-tape a set of your keys (primarily house keys) under a mailbox a few blocks from your house "just in case". If anybody happens to look *under* a mailbox- like anybody would ever bother - they won't have the slightest way to figure where they belong. Obviously this works better in an urban/suburban setting than somewhere in the grain belt where nothing is within walking distance. I like being prepared for any eventuality. Hope this might help some of you. It's saved me more than once.

John, and others- Danny has this posted on his site, copied at the time of this posting, so it appears that he has elected to stay around for a while longer. I have not confirmed this, but it appears so- QUOTE- NEWS FLASH: Since giving notice to the agent for the shops owner, the owner himself left numerous messages to come see him directly! After some serious talking he convinced me to continue renting his shop (the HUGE rent reduction didn't hurt , so I guess I'll stick around for awhile longer. I'm now going to deal almost exclusively with 1970 to 1978 unless something premium of other years falls in my lap. I'm down to just 10 cars plus a few parts on the shelf. END QUOTE