cgsheen1

You may already know this, the 2-bolt hole flat "faces" of the pistons (bumper shocks) will rotate - so if the bolt holes don't line up...

I believe that would push the ends back into / over the front wheel arch. IIRC, the front bumper "sides" are longer to compensate for the amount the bumper has been brought forward. It's been a few years since I abandoned my early 260 bumpers in favor of 240Z bumpers so I may be mis-remembering, but I think that's the case...

They look similar, but they're not the same. They are shaped differently because they were pushed farther forward and mounted on pistons to meet the new US crash standards. They should mount on a 280 much like they do a 260, but they will remain pushed away from the front of the car. The early 260 had various "filler" pieces to cover the newly increased gap between the bumper and body (and grill). I doubt you could get the early 260Z front bumper to fit tight to the body like a 240 bumper.

Yes, it mounts on top of the control arm.

Right, the Tach in the earlies is "current sensing" so the wiring path to the ballast and coil is very specific and it requires a coil with the same value as stock. There are two B/W - one that goes to the ballast and one that goes to the coil. Be sure to reference the full circuit diagram because there are simplified diagrams in the BE and EE sections that don't show all the wiring involved in the ignition and Tach circuit...

? I love to see pics of 280's - with super long tail pipe extensions! cough, cough...

Well, easy in regard to the pedals themselves... You don't have to do anything there. (Or, if you already have the dash out of the car.) The pedal box is probably the very first interior dash thing installed in a bare chassis. Everything else near there gets attached to it or installed over it - thus requiring quite a bit of disassembly to replace it. (although, in my old age it's probably easier for me to pull the whole dash than lay under the steering column while trying to fish the pedal, bolt, spring (little plastic things under the spring ends), clutch pin and clip, blah blah blah...)

The middle picture above looks just like Jim's Swiss 1973 240Z we had in the shop last year. The turn signals had to be above the bumper, so no cut-out in the front valence pieces for T/S. His didn't have an air dam - I like that air dam... Also, the rear license plate lighting couldn't be above the plate so the light was mounted on the rear bumper.

Do you mean the weatherstrip that surrounds the quarter window top, back, and bottom glued to the stainless steel frame? It's a "U' channel and the longer "leg" goes to the outside - if that's what you're asking...

The thing you have circled in red IS the male bullet connector... Test between there and GROUND (battery "-") (but, this is all just to absolutely verify that the switch is bad. It is. Just replace the damn switch...)

I installed LED gauge bulbs in a customer car years ago and absolutely hate the harshness of that light. But, I'm an old dude and grew up with soft green gauge lighting. My rheostat windings are clean and it works like a champ - so does my gauge lighting...

With an OHM METER check between THERE and GROUND. Ohm meter should read "0" (no continuity). If it does not read "0" then that part (the Warning Light Switch) is bad and you'll need to remove it and repair or replace it.

Do you have a multimeter? You can test the switch (what you are calling the sensor) by removing the wire and testing for continuity between the male bullet connector and ground (the thing you have circled in red in the picture above). It should have NO continuity (open circuit) if the shuttle inside is centered properly. If it has any continuity then: - There is an imbalance in the brake circuits - The switch is stuck and off the neutral position - The switch is defective The fact that the light only illuminates when the wire is attached shows the "fault" comes from the switch itself, not a ground fault in the wire. The Factory Service Manual advises against repairing this device - but that was back when they were still available from dealers. I would probably source another one - failing that, There's a cross section picture above (Figure BR-12 Warning Light Switch) that shows how it could be disassembled.

Yes (it's a "bullet" connector and just pushes on, doesn't screw on). And clean the inside of the connector that attaches to it also. Once you get the connection all cleaned up and reattached, that light will probably get brighter. If it does, you have a problem with a brake circuit or a faulty pressure differential switch that will need to be replaced. The switch inside completes a ground circuit for the warning light. It can only do so if the shuttle inside is pushed out of it's neutral position by a brake circuit imbalance.

That's too bad... I've taken apart several clocks and I've always been able to get the mechanism loose and away from the case. I've painted all my gauge cases white inside and it's amazing what it does for gauge illumination! I've never need higher wattage bulbs in my 260Z...

OMG... I didn't know such a thing existed - but of course, you can buy them on Amazon! https://www.amazon.com/MagiDeal-Pressure-Pointer-Caliper-Lifting/dp/B07GLB3MNL/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538673176&sr=8-1&keywords=gauge+needle+puller

They press on - so the key is just care and patience. The metal is thin and easily bent.

I'm currently doing the same and have the a similar conundrum... I don't really want to cover the top of the doors. If I don't, I feel I'll need to line both boxes completely and possibly the underside of the doors. Maybe just line both boxes?? I know from building my Home Theater that an open seam equals a sound leak. I have a fair amount of the rear covered and it seems like most of my noise is now in the tail (light panels) and from the quarter panel area. IDK how I'm going to deal with those sections either...

The 240Z we had here was fitted with Euro gauges - KPH, Liters, and etc... New owner thought they were cool and left them in the car. The car also had to have a rear license plate light that was under the plate. It had a lamp mounted on top of the rear bumper. It had to come from the factory like that as the holes and the wiring weren't done after the fact. It didn't have the usual plastic light holder under the hatch. It was kind of an interesting story of a US serviceman who bought the Z over there and brought it back to the US back in the day.

Do the Swiss still have the law that the turn signals have to be above the bumper? We had a Swiss 240Z in the shop that had blank valance pieces right and left (no holes for what we consider stock front turn/park light lenses) and had turn/park lights mounted on top of the chrome bumper. Looked kinda like fog lamps but smaller...

Correct. The weatherstrip is held in place by the "pinch welt". That "U" shaped part that fits over the flange. It has metal inside and you can actually remove it, squeeze it tighter in spots, and reinstall it if it's not holding well. That doesn't solve your "slamming to close door" or "weatherstrip pinching, cutting, or tearing in some areas" and/or "not completely sealing in other areas" though... The Kia Weatherstrip workaround is a viable alternative to the CRAP door weatherstrip that Precision sells. (We had a 1975 280Z Museum car in the shop and compared the stock Nissan door weatherstrip to the Precision weatherstrip and Precision got it very wrong. The stock weatherstrip is amazing in comparison.) The Kia door weatherstrip is essentially a "side bulb" type (similar pinch welt strip with a hollow circle of rubber attached to the side of the welt) that has a sharpish 90 degree corner molded in. It comes out of an SUV so it's longer than you need for a Z (can be cut and a have the seam under the sill plate), but the molded 90 degree corner fits fairly well in the upper rear corner of the S30 door opening. You can also buy generic side bulb welt that works as well as the Kia weatherstrip. It won't have the molded 90 degree bend needed at the top rear of the opening. I just put the seam there - I cut the ends at a 45 degree angle and mate them in that upper corner. The welt fits nicely around all the other bends in the door opening and I install the pinch without any sealant. BTW, you can also use a generic "top bulb welt: on the rear hatch. It's much the same as the side bulb I described, but the bulb is attached to the top of the welt. When you install it on the lower flange in the hatch area, the bulb will be on top and the hatch will close down on top of the bulb. These bulb type seals are very flexible and will seal a surface with a varying gap. Just another alternative... This is just to show an example of what I'm talking about: https://www.amazon.com/rubber-horizontal-Seal-weather-stripping/dp/B00NELWLPE/ref=sr_1_18?ie=UTF8&qid=1536258411&sr=8-18&keywords=auto+weatherstripping

You're correct in that the damper rod coming out the top of the strut cartridge is always fully extended when the strut is unloaded. You really can't do anything to "shorten it up" when you're removing the strut cartridge. The spring can come off either way, but I prefer to remove it from the top. The thread pitch on the cartridge makes unscrewing the lock nuts and lower spring perch annoying and time consuming...

Yes, you may need to disconnect the sway bar end links. NONE of the rest of this is true for Stance-USA strut cartridge! Please strike out the lower two comments. edit: In regard to ride height: The softer springs will compress slightly more when loaded than the springs he's using now - not an inch I don't think - but you're right that the strut cartridge will need adjustment in the threaded adapter to get his desired ride height after the spring replacement.

1. You DON'T need a spring compressor! a. There isn't a strut cartridge insert - you don't need to worry about anything shooting out or springing apart. The spring is NOT compressed between it's two perches! 2. Take the strut cartridge out however you can and/or want to. Personally, I'd just pull the whole thing out and work with it off the car. a. So, yes - loosen the nut at the top of the threaded adapter and unscrew the strut cartridge from the adapter. b. If you can work with it after it's loose at the bottom, unscrew all of the nuts under the spring and take the spring out. I'm going to refer to the two nuts locked together just under the spring as the LOWER PERCH (or lower spring perch) c. put the new spring up there and install the two nuts that make up the lower perch. When you're tightening the topmost nut, INSTALL IT SNUG TO THE SPRING so the spring doesn't move, BUT DON'T tighten it much beyond that. (If you tighten it more than snug, you're adding PRELOAD to the spring - the spring doesn't require ANY preload (unless you're corner balancing the car - then, your suspension expert will add preload if necessary to get the balance he wants...)) A. If you pull the whole strut cartridge off the car the same thing will be true. Personally, I'd remove the entire cartridge, remove the top nut which holds the pillow block, spacer, and upper spring perch, and remove the spring from the top. Then you'll lower the lower spring perch more than an inch or so, install the spring and replace everything you took off the top in the reverse order. You should have slack between the spring perches, so this is the point that you snug up the lower perch and it's lock nut. Re-install the strut cartridge. Before I remove a strut cartridge I usually measure the distance between the bottom lock nut of the lower spring perch and the locknut on top of the threaded adapter to make sure I've re-installed the strut to the same height. You can't do it this way because you're changing the height of the lower perch. I guess subtracting the additional spring length will get you close though. *** PLEASE GUYS!!! Don't make comments about a specific strut cartridge unless you know how it actually works! ***