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My 240 has never been subject to emissions testing in the years I've owned it. All they do at inspection is make sure all my basic safety equipment works -- seat belts, brakes, indicator lights, horn, etc. Not sure where you've been taking your car for inspections, but the DMV says any car older than 24 years in Texas is an "antique" and exempt from emissions testing. Maybe you should drive out of Harris County (?) for your inspections. FWIW, I dumped all my smog equipment years ago and haven't looked back. That hardware was heavy enough to make for a battleship anchor. I eventually installed the MSA A/C kit, making up the difference in weight, I suppose.

What do you mean by "vent intake" ? The cowl? If you mean the front lower valence, they are totally different between a 240 and a 280 and would look pretty strange with the small 240 bumpers.

May want to consider putting some adhesive on there when you reinstall the needle. Maybe a tiny dot of RTV or something? You'd hate to have to tear everything down again because the needle pops off on a hot or cold day inside the gauge.

Pretty much. If you view building up your car as an investment (as may be the case here, since he is selling it seemingly right after finishing?) you WILL be disappointed. This is probably true of any car out there, and definitely true of cars like ours that were mass produced.

Wow so by that definition, THIS is a classic now? Never thought I'd see the day...

Edit: Decided it's not really my place to call the asking price silly or not. If someone wants it, they will buy it, and I wish him the best of luck!

How are the beam patterns of the bulbs?

Correct. These tubes are welded up on a jig, and when they're welded on, the pipes will be pre-strained towards the port on the flange they're welded to. There's probably not an economical way to manufacture it such that all the pre-strain will be removed. Thought experiment: Take a wire coathanger and bend it out into a straight wire. Next, bring the ends around and weld them together so the wire makes a circle. If you then cut the weld, that wire is going to straighten out somewhat, at least into a U or C shape, if not nearly straight. Same principle, just the strains will be a lot smaller since we're not talking about something that is so flexible....

Almost all the 280s I've seen with stock suspension were riding super high to my eye (is it just me?). I think a 2" drop in that case may make it ride similar to a 1" drop from stock on a 240...

Forgot about this after the North American stock got depleted by our friends north of the border! Just ordered a pair, this has been on my to-do list for quite a while

A hum you can hear over the engine running? Haven't experienced that myself. Is yours rebuilt?

I'd checked out the local Z club a while back, and early Zs were few and far between. Anyone in Austin interested in having an S30-only get together? I know there are at least a few of us around -- I've seen "Austin" on a bunch of forum signatures and I've been seeing more S30s around town than in previous years.

I'd try to work the bend out like 5thhorseman said, personally. Like others have said, I've seen the wimpy aluminum threads get pulled right out before (thanks PO). My head has a few helicoils now thanks to someone putting too much torque on the studs. Keep in mind that the studs are spec'd for a low amount of torque (maybe 12 ft-lbs IIRC?), and that may not be enough to force the entire flange down against the curve from end-to-end.

These guys were on here a while back looking for someone to loan them their Z. Thanks for posting the link, I always wondered what became of it

My AAA+ card has been worth its weight in gold in the years I've owned by Z. So many times I've had problems I just call them up and tell them I need a flatbed tow truck, and I am on my way for no charge out of pocket - just some cash for a tip to the driver. Gets me a discount at NAPA too (last I checked, anyway). There's a place up in Jollyville that specializes in Z cars called the Z Clinic. I think It's changed ownership within the last few years. I couldn't tell you if that's a good or a bad thing since I've been doing all my own work since then. The previous owner knew his way around the S30 pretty well at least.

Come to think of it, I do have the 4 wire tach. Back then, I read something to the effect of what coop posted, and I tracked down a 3 wire tach out of a 280Z (I think). If I remember right, that tach may have been DOA. I spent some time mucking around with the 3 wire tach insides trying to determine the problem before giving up and putting everything back to stock.

From seeing them on the road, I feel like the Xterra color is much brighter, more of a neon color, while the 918 has a slightly darker tone... It's damn near impossible to tell from a photo though, you'd have to compare side by side. Photos will all be different depending upon the type of camera, settings, and lighting conditions.

FWIW my tach became completely worthless after installing the Pertronix ignitor. It bounced back and forth and the position had no relation to the actual engine speed, it would just peg from left to right and sometimes float at some totally random value in between. Pretty sure I hooked it up right, followed the instructions (can't remember if it came with them, or if I read them in a thread here). Obviously not many people have this problem. I suggest you just take a lot of good pictures before taking anything apart and make sure not to do anything permanent, so that if something does go wrong it's easier to troubleshoot. Going back to the stock points put my tach back in order.

Here's another link I found: http://www.300cforums.com/forums/general-discussion/31190-oil-filters-dissected.html The FRAM filter has cardboard end caps where all the other filters used metal.

Was it the driver's side door? The actual metal handle on mine broke a few years back (at the most inconvenient time too). Basically, underneath all that nice chrome on the outside, there is a really low grade pot metal (for lack of a better word), and it has a pretty rough unfinished surface. That rough surface ended up letting a crack develop through the arm on the back side of the pivot point (roughness results in more stress concentrations). When I got it taken apart I could see the telltale striation and cleavage marks on the crack walls, just like in my materials lab in college. It was a textbook failure by fatigue crack growth. The drivers side door tends to break like this because it gets heave'd on the most. Anyway, if you can swing it/find it, try to get the Nissan genuine door handle replacement. I bought a reproduction from Black Dragon that was made in Vietnam or Thailand, and the fit was awful. The only thing that was nice about it was the chrome on the outside. The rubber gaskets have already crumbled, and it never quite fit right. I'm gonna have to take it off and take a grinder to it to make it function without a hitch -- I may as well buy a new one!

But really, here's a good place to start: http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/index.php Search for louvers.

Here you go! The caption didn't say so, but they sure look like lovers to me.

I think the biggest thing to worry about there is if your compression ratio will be really low as a result? Maybe I'm remembering it wrong and they lowered the CR just by using dished pistons, but the head geometry may be different... Searching the forums for the casting number would probably tell you

Embarrassed to say I did not even know there was such a thing :x I'll have to check if mine are still intact when I get home...

I imagine New Zealand has the advantage of not having a ridiculously huge subsidized corn farming industry, fuel probably has to be imported either way, whether it's ethanol or the real deal -- may as well get the real deal, I suppose.