MikeW

I'm happy with mine. I had thought about trying to find a NOS dash but my fear was that it would crack sooner or later even with proper protection. The fact is that the original design/materials is just plain bad. That's why almost everyone with a 240Z has cracks in their dash.

Yes, it's great. I plan on putting up some pictures once I get the new carpet in place and can get some good shots of the whole interior.

Having gone down the dash restoration process recently I would have to say that trying to replace the harness (assuming you could even find one) might be overkill. Keep in mind that the most likely place for electrical problems in the harness are where the connectors are. With the dash harness there are basically 3 groups of connectors: at the ignition/steering wheel, at the fuse box, and under the glove compartment. All of these connectors are fairly accessible even with the dash in. I had one connector that was basically melted closed due to overheating years ago and simply cut it out and added 4 separate connectors instead of a single molex connector with 4 wires.

Have any pictures of the Galaxie? My dad still drives a '64 that he bought new in '63. 390cid V8 and 250,000 miles on the original clutch. Within the last year or so he had a lot of work done on it - including getting the original engine rebuilt by Jasper before I decided to do the same with my 240Z. His biggest problem is rust in a couple of places. There's rust around the bottom of the rear window which allowed water into the trunk thereby causing the whole trunk floor to basically disintegrate as well as doing some serious damage to the trunk hinges. We have it easy around here with a car body that was basically unchanged from '70-'78 that sold in large numbers. Back in the 60's American car companies often came out with a whole new body every year. Needless to say, finding replacement parts is problematic.

Based on ZHead's location I'd say that might be a bit of a problem.

Don't need it anymore, eh? Got the repaired dash back in yet?

My wife's 2001 PT Cruiser actually has fairly high fit and finish. The only problem we've had in 50,000 miles was a power steering pump failure that was replaced under warranty (thank goodness as it was something like 8 hours of labor due to all the stuff in the way). It does seem to consume oil faster than normal. My 1990 240SX doesn't burn any between changes even at 150,000.

I think it's safe to call them "dealer" add-on wheels as opposed to calling them factory options. Mine are marked "US INDY MAG". The same thing goes for A/C system in 240Z's as well as some other options.

That's exactly what I want to do. I just figure that the hardest part will be finding a copuple of connectors that match those from the factory. I've already got two relays and eveything else I need.

I wondered about the round tops as well but the ad doesn't really claim that everything is original - just that it's all Nissan OEM with the exception of the coil (which is fairly ugly, I'd say).

What about the engine compartment itself? It looks as though it were poorly painted black and now the paint is coming off. Surely that's not original. I've never seen a blue air cleaner housing either but that doesn't mean it's not original.

What I'd like to see is something that plugs right in at the headlight connectors thereby eliminating the need to cut any wires in the engine compartment wiring harness.

Too Intense is a vendor of Datsun restoration parts. I got some seat covers and a carpet set from them. If you go to their web page you'll see the same car advertised. http://www.datsunrestore.com/

Amazing. It seems to me that it would have been easier to build a full scale replica. At least then he'd be able to buy some of the components (like the tires) instead of having to reproduce them.

All of the news stories I've read said 4 or 5 dogs a month, not per day as was indicated in an earlier message. Cold blooded animals don't need much food to survive.

Uhh, it's just you.

There are several people on the net who've added the relays while still using the standard headlight switch on the stalk. Is this what you're talking about? Here are the links I have bookmarked; I'm sure there are more: http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pparaska/Headlight_Relay_pg1.htm http://www.zccne.addr.com/tech-docs/headlight-relay-upgrade.pdf

It seems to me the biggest factor in a V8 swap is the availabilty of properly engineered components. Unless you plan to do a lot of fabrication yourself you'd probably want to go with one of the proven designs of a commercially available kit. That, in turn, will probably limit your choices of specific engines.

According to a road test comparison from the Jan. 1973 issue of the British "Sports Car World" magazine, the two cars are roughly equal in terms of performance. 240Z (6 cyl, 151HP, 0-60 8.5). TR6 (6 cyl, 150HP, 0-60 8.5). However, the article makes it quite clear which car they prefer. Some quotes from the article: "To sum up: In tight bends, there's just no comparison between the two cars. The Z driver can just sit back and play games with the soft-cap TR man." "Really, the TR6 is just a poor old tired thing with a ruggedly handsome body and a beautiful engine." "The Z is basically an infinitely better motor car although it has its problems with that poorly developed front end, tasteless, plasticky trim and a noisy rear suspension that's harder than it should be". Keep in mind that people are fiercely protective of their favorite cars and tend to exaggerate their advantages. I wouldn't pay much attention to the boasting.

Why don't you find a friend with more space who will let you park it for, say, $20 a month? I'm afraid that your parent's deadline is forcing you to make an unwise decision. If the car is in as good a shape as you claim you'll eventually be able to find someone who will buy it for a lot more than you're willing to settle for now; it just may take some time.

It's not very hard to completely recover the seats yourself. Plenty of places sell a pair of new seat covers (bottom and back for both seats) for under $200 US. You may need to add to that a small amount if the straps under the seat need replacing and another $90 or so per seat if you want to completely replace the foam core.

Something's not right here. You claim to have an almost rust-free 240Z that you're planning on taking to the dump if no one pays you a little money for it?

Forgive me for my ignorance but it doesn't seem like it would make much difference. Presumably your engine won't overheat until it's well above the boiling point of water (212 F). With proper antifreeze your boiling point should be over 250 F. In either case, both thermostats would be wide open at that point and therefore have the same effect on a hot engine. If you're engine wants to overheat at that point it seems like the problem would be elsewhere in the cooling system (radiator, water pump, etc.)

How concerned are you with originality? I recently fixed mine using some long machine screws (non metric) and matching nuts which I ground down on a bench grinder to make them small enough to fit in the square plastic holes.

If one of the wires to the light is always hot then that means that the circuit is grounded when the tank level is low. You should be able to manually ground it and verify that it lights up.