Richard McDonel

I've often heard that a typical car manufactured in North America will cross an international boundary five times during the course of manufacture. Last week I found out why. Last week I was replacing front wheel bearings and seals on my 240. The local Nissan dealer, bless 'em, had what I needed, specifically an inner bearing, an outer bearing and a seal. So I'm buying parts in Canada for a Japanese car. I get three packages, all marked SKF - a Swedish bearing manufacturer. The seal is made in Taiwan, the inner bearing Brazil, and the outer bearing China. Nothing made in Sweden, Japan, or North America. Must be a good time to be in the shipping business.

Zed, Thanks for the tip. Actually I have a shed full of all sorts of misc. parts. I've promised myself not to sell any of them until the car is on the road, because I just know that the first part I sell will two weeks later be needed to complete the job.

Final chapter, My machinist friend decided that weld-filling the existing hole in cast iron, then re-drilling would be very time consuming, and was not the best answer to the problem. Instead, he filled and re-drilled the exhaust pipe flange. In doing that, he made sure that the pipe stubs still fit snuggly in the manifold. Result; manifold, gasket and pipe all fit like the proverbial glove. Thanks for all your thoughts and advice.

Thanks guys, If the 280Z hat measures less than 1.5", then it would appear that the larger ones are for the 240. Bolt pattern - hub to disc - is the same on both. I appreciate the advice.

I'm back again. Having the remains of three 240s available to build one really nice one (that's the plan) has its benefits, but is not without its challenges. A brand new, and apparently stock pair of front discs came with one of the cars / wrecks. I installed them, but then found I couldn't fit the aftermarket mag wheels on. I started poking around the other parts on hand and found that I had two different "hat" sizes available (see photo). On both types of discs, the diameter is 27 cm (10 5/8"). The hats however are different, with the new ones being 4 cm ( 1 9/16") deep, while the others (off which car?) are just 3 cm (1 1/4"). Does anyone know which discs should be on a 1971 Series 2 (sr. # 28726)? Thanks, ps I chose the backdrop for the photo to ease the guilty conscience of others on this forum who may be feeling that they are the only garagehounds who neglect to regularly mow their lawns.

"Blue is now 240260280" You are referring to our country's largest parts supplier, Chinese Tire?

There have been several posts on how to - and how not to - install the headliner in 240s etc (tricky job). In comments there seemed to be some confusion over which adhesive was most effective. 3M Super 77 was suggested by some, and denigrated by others. I called the 3M factory, and they replied by e-mail, and flat-out said that Super 77 is "not strong enough," and further that it will deteriorate anything with foam. They recommend 3M part number 08088 "Spray Trim Adhesive." This is considered an industrial rather than an automotive product, so your local auto supply shop will likely not have it - you have to go to an industrial supplier. Looking forward to getting my fingers sticky.

Namerow, Please let us know how you make out. Good luck.

240DKW Dan & Namerow, Thanks guys. I believe that between your two suggestions, you may have identified the problem. While I' pretty sure we installed the upper seal the only way it could logically fit, that particular area is apparently where the problem originates. The two seals in the kit (the third piece is just an o-ring that fits on the screw-on cap) appear identical, whereas in the FSM drawing, they are not. Hence the blockage. I'm sure I can't be the only one who has had this issue - 47 year old rubber on any car will fail at some point. Motorsport and others have a rebuild-exchange opportunity available to them. Again, many thanks All

I have brakes! Thanks to "Grannyknot" (Chris) who replied to my May 24 post and offered me a clean, used proportioning valve, I now have brakes. With neither my original valve nor the one I rebuilt passing fluid to the back brakes I was stuck. I installed Granny's and it works. Never before been so happy to see $$$DOT 5 brake fluid coming out of a bleeder. Many thanks Chris.

240dkw Dan, Thanks for this. I've already taken the manifold into a machine shop to have the third stud hole re-drilled. I decided to do that based in part on the fact that I already have a lot of time invested in it. I plugged off the six air-injection holes from the outside, had them welded over on the inside, then carefully filed / ground down the welds. The end result is a smoother port than I started with. Having said that, I'm open to suggestion, and when I get the manifold back I'll do some detail comparing before deciding which to install. Are you still in town?

Zed, Thanks for your reply. My original photo did use as a model the cheapest looking of the three gaskets I had - I didn't want to try reaming out the stud holes in the good stuff. I have two pipe assemblies. With the good one, the pipes do fit nicely into the manifold as you suggest, but as you can see from this photo taken from below (1010012), the stud holes don't work. The second pipe assembly (1010011) is likely the one that came with this manifold. As you can see, the pipes have been cut off flush with the flange, and some stud-hole widening has been done. Curiously, both manifolds have the same casting mark, "E30." If anyone has any idea how all this came about, I'd love to hear about it. In the meantime, it looks like I'm going to have to remove the carbs, manifolds etc. (nasty fit some of those studs and nuts) and get the mis-fit stud hole filled and drilled.

I have parts from three 240Zs; a Series 1, and later '71, and a '73. From these I am building one - hopefully - very nice one. I picked the cleanest looking of three exhaust manifolds and installed. Now that I'm ready to hook up the exhaust piping, I find that the manifold-to-pipe gasket does not fit. I have new gaskets from three different kits, and they all perfectly match the holes on the "pipe" side, but not the manifold (see photo). Comparing the manifold on the car to one of the others I have, the centre-to-centre measurements are 7.1 cm from centre hole to corner hole on the manifold, while the other is 6.7 cm. Corner hole to corner hole on the one in the car is 10.6 cm, while the other is 10.7 cm. Does anyone have any idea of what the manifold is supposed to fit? Or what it's from? The photo makes it look actually closer to a fit than it really is; I did drill out a couple of the stud holes a few /64s. Installing all the studs and nuts on the intake and exhaust manifolds is a royal pain, but with regrettable practice, I'm getting better at it. many thanks,

Chickenman, Thanks for the information. Interesting to learn that there is more back-brake power available than is stock. I would hazard to guess that the factory designed it that way to be absolutely sure that there was no inadvertent rear-wheel lock up. I'm not clear on gutting the prop. valve. With only two connections ( M and R), I don't see how we would achieve a "T." Would it not make more sense to simply remove the factory valve and install the Wilwwod in its place? In any case, I'm hoping it is all academic. "Grannyknot" is mailing me a cleaned up old unit, and we'll hope that takes care of the problem. I really do appreciate all the replies I've had on this one. With respect to my reply to Namerow a week or so ago, I believe I misunderstood his post. The question he posed was not whether I had the guts of the valve installed bass-ackwards, but whether I had the lines connected to the wrong openings. The answer to that is no; I've checked and double checked that "M" goes to the Master, and "R" goes to the rear T. My apologies for the confusion. Best regards All

The saga continues. Z-car veteran DKW and I worked on the rear brakes for a couple of hours yesterday. Work included dismantling and re-assembling the back-brake proportioning valve. Same thing. Brake fluid to the valve, but only the occasional drip gets through to the T and the wheel cylinders. Someone advised me of a used valve for sale on E-bay. Price was right, but somehow the seller couldn't figure out how to get it from the U.S. into Canada. Questions: Is this much trouble endemic to the early Zs, or is mine a rare case? If it is rare, I'm open to hear from anyone who might have one to sell. If it is common, I'd like to know of peoples' experience with the Willwood adjustable prop valve. I notice that it is recommended for use with disc brake conversion, which is not the case here. My only previous experience with Willwood stuff is in-cockpit adjusters on oval-track racers. Thanks All

Namerow, Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't believe so. I put it back together as per the blow-up photo I attached earlier, and with the FSM at hand. I'll give it a few days, then remove and have another run at it once my head clears. In the meantime I still have a hundred little things on the car to keep me busy ps Are you, or are you related to Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame member Norm Namerow?

Further to my self-congratulatory post of May 8, I must advise that I'm back again to Square 1. I installed the rebuilt valve, and now brake fluid is getting to it, but not beyond it. Anyone have an operable one to sell? I appreciate your interest and support.

Two more pics

REALLY not sure what is happening. Try again: For $12 for a kit consisting of three tiny pieces, I think Motorsport should be providing some instructions. As seen on this forum, we, a number of people who are familiar with Z-car repairs, have all been uncertain as to how this job should be done. How many of those $12 kits are going to remain unused? For now, I'll attach the relevant photos. Thanks again All

Not sure what happened there. Must have pushed a wrong key. Anyway, the point I was making was that for $1

"Eureka." Or "Mr. Watson, Come here." That`s how I feel today. Thanks for all your thoughts and ideas guys. After more than a couple of hours fiddling, pondering, writing, reading, and more fiddling, I have the spring and its snap-ring in place. While I think there is some merit in SteveJ's suggestion of compressing the spring with fishing leader, the only fishing line I have is about 40 years old, and it was not up to holding a steel spring in compression. I tried Cap't Obvious's suggested of carrying the clip into position by squeezing it into a tube or pipe, then compressing the spring using the resultant assembly, but as you can see from the first photo attached, the clip was simply too big to fit into a 3/8" i.d. piece of pipe. Finally, I took my snap-ring pliers, and set the pins in for maximum exposed length (see photo), as the groove is 16 mm. below the outer end of the cylinder. On this latter point I should mention that the factory service manual drawing BR-8 is just about exactly to scale. It took many tries, and in fact the notches on first spring clip I used simply wore out. Fortunately I had another old proportioning valve, courtesy of ZKars (thanks Jim), and was able to salvage its spring clip. With the spring in place, I set the clip on top and pressed down with the snap-ring pliers, while simultaneously forcing the opposite side down with a small pin punch. After xx tries, it finally set. So it`s done. But having said that, I remain a bit concerned that the inevitable scratches on the side of the piston may cause some grief down the road, although it appears to me that the real work of the piston all happens at the bottom end. With respect to the repair kit from Motorsport, i think I`ll drop those folks a line and suggest that for $1

Patcon, SteveJ, Cap't. Obvious, Thanks for your suggestions. It might take a day or two for me to get back into the shop, but I'll try them. The fact that the piston / push rod has to be in place before the spring, may crowd things a bit in there, but we'll give it a shot. As for the order of the spring clip and the flat washer, I thought of that too after looking at the photo I took. I did look back on my notes, and that's what I wrote at the time. Also, if the flat washer was between the spring and the spring clip, that would leave the other side of the spring clip pressing on the rubber seal, and I would question the rationale for that. Mind you, if everything on Z cars was rational, we wouldn't need this forum, would we? Thanks All

SteveJ, The kit was purchased from Motorsport Auto, part number 24-5556 Thanks,

EuroDat, Thanks for replying. Here is a photo of all the bits and pieces, lined up in the order of disassembly. Arrows point to the three parts of the rebuild kit. They are two seals, and an o-ring that fits on the threaded end plug. To hold the spring in compression while inserting the washer and spring clip is the challenge. Given that the original rubber seals were in not-bad condition when they came out, I'm wondering if seal replacement is even needed. There was dirt and grime inside, so should I find another old valve, leave it assembled, and clean it out with air and brake cleaner, alcohol, naptha or whatever?