JohnnyO

Just how hot and humid is it in Savanah GA in the middle of July?

Wow! Brings up bad memories for me. The same thing happened to me with my first 240. It was 1981 and I was going to watch the Stones on pay per view at the bowling alley and some drunk in a big pontiac boat took a left in front of me on Military Trail/Palmetto park road in Boca Raton Florida. I was doing the posted speed, 45 mph (or close to it ;-)) and he just decided to take the left. I hit the brakes, put my arms up in front of me to protect my head and took the hit. The car was totaled. I remember the engine was pushing the dash into the center of the cabin, the tranny was lifting the center console and the front end was pushed into the wheel wells. His car was bent in a V slightly so that I could not open his doors to beat the shiite out of him. He was lucky. The guy was drunk but, because the accident happened at an intersection the County cops and city cops argued for about 45 minutes over who had to "deal" with the crash. By this time the cops that lost the battle just wanted to get out of there and gave him a ticket and towed the vehicles. I told them he was drunk and they didn't care. Different times back then. I was with Allstate back then and I had to argue with them over the value. They wanted to give me 1200 for the car that I purchased just 9 months earlier for 2200. We ended up settling for 2100. We all walked away from the accident. I feel for you brother. Fight with them, buy it back from them and repair it best you can. It's worth saving. John

I have not talked to my bodyman since he finished the job. I questioned him about is work habits and withheld payment until the job was completed so at this point the relationship is over. I do have enough paint left from the job to get an exact match and I think that is an easy enough area to feather in so I think I will take it to another shop and have them strip it and take a look at his so called fix. He was supposed to tack weld it first then fill it. E & Ron, I stripped the car to bare metal top and bottom, only had a few pin holes of rust on the drivers dogleg which I had removed and replaced and inspected the entire undercarraige for previous damage and repairs. The only repairs needed were the replacement of the floor pan rails that were pushed up slightly by a dummy with a jack. I guess the last 40 years of spirited driving may have weakened the frame somewhat but I don't know how 300 miles of driving only slightly spirited driving could have caused this to recur if it were repaired properly. cygnusx1 suggested that stiff suspension could have contributed to the crack but why not on the other side too? I do have a rear anti-sway bar but have not replaced my rear struts yet. I plan on using KYBs with the stock springs. I do not plan on putting in full length rails so I will have to take a good look at it with the new body guy. I will have him clean it all the way out and inspect it thoroughly and come up with a plan for a permanent fix. Thanks for all the input. John

It is attached to the center console. You should download the factory service manual here: http://www.xenons30.com/reference.html It will walk you through it. John

But can they be "cured"?

My car had a crack on the drivers side when I purchased it. After carefully sanding it down (the seam is filled with a lead bead on early cars, not sure about later S30s) my body guy cleaned and filled the seam with body sealer during prep work. The crack is starting to re-appear. I just spent over 7 grand getting the car painted and would like to resolve this. I do have a rear anti-sway bar. Could that contribute to the cracking during hard cornering? Sorry about the hijack but although it may not be a big deal you should know that the crack may come back even after it is "fixed".

I just sold a complete setup on ebay for $10 bucks. The cable connections are pretty self explanatory. Feed them out the back of the console and attach them top right to top right connection, bottom right to bottom right connection, top left to top left connection and bottom left to bottom left connection. they are all different lengths so it is pretty easy to figure out. Get on your back on the floor boards with a flash light and a phillips for the easiest approach.

Looks great Mike. Makes me want to do it all again.

I moved #979 to the correct spot. Just needed to insert a new row. Can you verify the build date though? 08/70 seems awfully late for such a low vin#. Thanks, John

Yeah, a while back I thought it was lost too. Then I started downloading backups to my desktop and found a restore feature on the website itself. Easy to restore but we lose any good changes since our last good backup. Happy new year.

I restored a copy from 11/22/10. All the data up until then is back now. John

This is exactly what I did last year with great results, although I did choose to paint the floors and tunnel while I was painting the rest of the interior. My reasoning was that it was like this from the factory and I wanted to mimic originality as closely as possible for the entire project. John

I had a similar issue this past summer. It turned out to be a broken connector under the dash on the passenger side. If you have been working under the dash it may serve you well to check all those rubber boots for solid connections, especially the white with red stripe wires that run from the fuse block. John

Nissan still sells the oem weatherstrip for the 280's. I'd spend a little extra and get that. Sorry, I don't have the part numbers. Maybe someone else can look it up and you can order it from courtesyparts.com. (or call them)

I ordered these: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/70-71-72-73-Datsun-240Z-Door-Weatherstrip-Seal-Left-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQfitsZModelQ3a240Q5AQQhashZitem5196499ac3QQitemZ350413757123QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/70-71-72-73-Datsun-240Z-Door-Weatherstrip-Seal-R-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQfitsZModelQ3a240Q5AQQhashZitem33628f4a14QQitemZ220696889876QQptZMotorsQ5fCarQ5fTruckQ5fPartsQ5fAccessories They were PRP (Precision Replacement Products). It is my understanding that these were the same ones that MSA sold before the molds were damaged. It is also my understanding that they are NOT the same as the ones sold by BD. I compared both the BD and the PRP and the profile of the rubber is different and the PRP is softer. After removing the BD and installing the PRP my doors close almost flush and I imagine that after being closed all winter I will be able to adjust the strikers in a little and they will close flush in the spring. That never would have happened with the BD seals. I should note that I had no issues with any of the other seals in the BD kit. John

Check with Les at Classicdatsun.com. Lots of chatter about a new kit he put together. Not sure if MSA has the kit right now either. BD works fine except for door seals. I found Precision door seals on ebay for 42 each with free shipping and of course you could buy Nissan.

You can trim the rubber and lift out the trim if you are going to replace the seals. The corners and center trim pieces probably have some clear adhesive holding them in place. Use a flat head to work them out slowly. I had no problem with Black Dragon Wind Screen and Hatch seals. It was the door seals that suck from black dragon. John

I'm sorry to hear that;) My floors were both pushed up somewhat. I purchased new rails and had my body guy r&r them. The floors pretty much pushed right back down and look great on top and bottom.

Hoods are different too.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36322&highlight=24+months+intensive Not my style but a very nice job on this one.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-240Z-Possibly-Top-Datsun-240Z-World-_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQhashZitem43a3d66beaQQitemZ290511547370QQptZUSQ5fCarsQ5fTrucks I'll find the build thread and post it here. It is a very nice Z. Let's hope he gets his price.

! Didn't I just send you the lens? You should have asked. I only have a spare hooded version but it is better than nothing. Let me know if you are interested and I will dig it up. John

Much easier than using the Fast program. Thanks Mike.

I agree. Even though we are in the midwest you can still find a better starting point for a project. I just parted out a Series 1 that was not save-able but was in better condition than that. I estimated that the car needed around $14000 worth of work and parts not including my labor and I try to do most of my work. I would run and keep this one on the back burner for a parts car if needed. I see a few hundred dollars worth of parts, not much more than that though. Just my 2 cents. John

You would probably have to remove the hatch hinges to check. You would know they were shot if you had water raining in from the dome light finisher. It is probably a good idea to replace them during a repaint though. Cheap insurance from having to realign the hatch down the road. John