MikeW

I've done this and was quite happy with the outcome. I used metal repair tape which I then polished. At first I polished it using a board to back it up but the wood grain pattern came out on the tape. I then used a clean piece of plexiglass to avoid that particular problem. After getting it highly polished I used a metal straight edge and a razor cut a 3/8" x 34" strip. The metal tape will easily hold the radius required unlike some metallic pinstrip material that I had tried earlier. I had to peel off a few remnants of the orginal material to get a nice smooth surface. The only tricky part was making sure that it was aligned properly. It would be quite difficult to do with the door panel on the car because the tape would want to sag. I took the panel off and placed it flat on the floor to avoid that problem. Keep in mind that it's quite difficult to photograph this properly but attached is a good attempt I shot a few minutes ago. Please note that my door panels have been dyed gray.

I got a used pair from 2ManyZ's a while back and used RIT dye on the stovetop to dye them back to black. They came out quite well.

"Your driver’s license must be in your possession when you drive, to be displayed to any police officer upon request." Source: http://www.dmvs.ga.gov/forms/pdf/dls/FullDriversManual.pdf

I'm kind of wondering the same thing. I can't imaging ever getting myself into a situation where I'd need the plugs and you're right, a shop vac would be a much faster way of getting the water out. However, since I used POR15 and Dynamat I just cut holes in the Dynamat and put the plugs back in. Actually, I could only find 7 out of 8 so if you don't need them I could use one.

Post some pictures ...

Which you can add youself to any wheel for a mere $5.95: http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=WCC

I'd ask for the VIN instead of the date stamped on the door plate as that's sometimes hard to read. I'm guessing it says 11-73 and not 11-75. If it really is 11-75 then it's a 280Z that someone put older bumpers on but I doubt that. With the wildly inaccurate information you've gottem so far I wan't trust the new information. I'd want to see a clear picture of the VIN through the windshield.

This particular car (2nd generation RX7 convertible) had an 8K redline and the tach pegs at 9K. These two dimwits claimed that the motor was already blown and wanted to see how long it would last sitting in the driveway in neutral with the pedal floored. They had a bet - one said 10 seconds, the other claimed 20. After warming it up slightly they had at it. The camera stays focused mainly on the gauges with wisps of smoke or steam blowing past. It easily makes it 10 seconds. Then 20 seconds go by. It keeps going and going. It starts heating up (partially because it loses pressure since the radiator cap it off). An engine warning light comes on. In the end, with the tach at 9000 rpms almost the whole time, the poor engine lasts a whopping 6 and a half minutes by my watch before it finally just drops back to 0. No big explosion as I was expecting. It then catches fire and we get to see dumb and dumber scrambling first into the house bathroom looking for a bucket and finally back outside for a garden hose. They've already ruined the engine and they are about to ruin the rest of the car (and possibly the other RX-7 parked next to it). Fortunately the fire is not as bad as they thought. It's more like an exhaust system that's glowing red. Oh well.

Since it's LHD it's definitely an early 1974 260Z 2+2. The late 1974 models have the really big 280Z bumpers.

I'm surprised there's been so much activity about this car. The guy posted it 3 months ago but hasn't had the courtesy to follow up either to answer questions to to indicate that it's been sold already. I don't think there's much point continuing the discussion.

Just to clarify a bit (or perhaps to confuse things) there are some other issues at play here. Temperature, altitude, and driving conditions affect things. A car may run just fine on 87 octane but might start knocking when driving uphill in hot weather. Driving at a high altitude actually lowers the octane requirement. Also, unless your tank is completely empty when you change grades you will have a mixture of octanes which might affect your evaluation. Sepeaking of octane mixtures: mid-grade gasoline is often a mixture of regular and premium. If the 3 octane levels are 87, 89, and 93 the mid-grade is actually 2/3 regular and 1/3 premium. Around here the mid-grade price is often right in the middle (say $1.90, $2.00, and $2.10). If that's the case you'd be better off mixing it yourself.

I'll be happy to do that once I get the templates from Andrew. Another thing that would help tremendously would be to get an idea of the proper thickness and density of the cardboard. I plan on shopping around (craft stores, art supply stores, etc.) to find the closest possible match. If anyone has an original glovebox that's beyond all hope it would be great if I could get a scrap of the cardboard. If that's too much to ask a close approximation would be useful (such as if you could find a scrap of an old pressboard box that matches).

Octane requirements have nothing to do with the number of cylinders in the engine. Octane is a measure the fuel's resistance to detonation. The higher the octane the harder it is to ignite the fuel. Pre-detonation (or knocking) is when the fuel ignites too soon. This is more likely to happen in engines with higher compression ratios and therefore those are the engines that require higher ocatane. If your car runs fine on 87 octane then you're wasting your money on the more expensive stuff. If your car pre-detonantes with the grade you're using you'll ruin the engine if you don't switch to a higher grade.

If I were him, I'd be worried about the statements rubber seems ok and sold as is ...no warranty

The answer to this question depends entirely on how much money you're willing to spend. However, it sounds like much more than a simple repair. You may be able to use some more Bondo putty to fill in the cracks but you'd still need new paint to make it look right. If you're going to go to the trouble of painting then you might as well fix the problem properly. There may be a lot of rust hiding under all that Bondo.

The center pin is required to hold them in place. To remove those that still have the center pin you'll need to push the center pin all the way through which will allow the rivet to be removed from the hole. Once you get the panel off you'll need to search for the missing pins (including those you just pushed through yourself). Once you're able to examine the complete plastic rivet you'll understand how they work.

Understood. However, after removing the factory tar mat, removing the residue with Xylene, cleaning with Marine Clean, prepping with Metal Ready, and putting down two coats of POR15, I don't plan on ever removing anything from the floorpans again once I'm done with this little project. How thick is the 300ZX style insulation? I'm worried about building up too many layers and having the carpet not fit properly.

Don't worry, I wasn't planning on that ... I've only done the driver side floorpan so far but it only took 8 sqaures (12"x12") and I bought 5 boxes of 5. I should therefore have 9 squares left over for the doors and any other place that makes sense. The Dynamat has an adhesive layer so I'm not sure I understand the spray adhesive part. I do plan on using spray adhesive to hold the other insulation down.

You're officially at the top of the list. All you have to do now is encourage Andrew to get me the information. I'd like to try to match the original as close as possible so high quality close-up pictures would be quite helpful.

As you can see in the picture I already have a layer of Dynamat installed which is a commercial sound deadener. I think the "thermo shield" layer that I'm going to put on top will be more useful as padding than a heat reflector but should still provide addtional thermal insulation.

I've been busy POR15'ing my floorpans and the work has progressed nicely. I've added some Dynamat and I'm ready to install some heat insulation that I picked up at Pep Boys called "thermo shield". I think it's similar to the stuff that places like MSA sell but this was only $20 for a 4'x6' roll. It's an insulation material bonded to aluminum on one side. My question ... which side goes down? I'm assuming that the foil side goes down but the installation instructions only say to put in in place with adhesive.

That would be fabulous. It's been over 15 years since I ruined mine (probably trying to get to the clock) and as you say I recall that it was fairly fragile cardboard just stapled together. I'd even consider fabricating extras for anyone else who might need one. I don't recall if it was symmetric but I can always reverse the pattern if not. Which car is it from, the LHD or RHD?

On mine a 16mm socket is slightly loose as is a 5/8 socket but not as loose. 5/8" is 15.875mm. Something makes me think that the seat belt bolts really are standard and not metric but I don't have a good way of measuring the threads. Eyeballing it with a ruler looks like the thread diameter is 7/16" and the and the pitch is 20 threads per inch as was stated previously.

There are probably plenty of us around that would love a 240Z cardboard glovebox. I've heard that the later plastic boxes (260, 280?) will fit but can only be installed with the dashboard out. I for one would happily settle for someone just providing me with a measured drawing from which I could fabricate a replacement.

Take a look at this: http://zhome.com/History/DesignChanges.htm You'll notice that the design changes were introduced gradually. There are no strict cutoffs. There are even plenty of cases where there are overlaps in model years. I have a very early 1972 car which was built before some 1971 cars.