bacarl

Gotcha. Thanks!

Wow, Rock Auto has half a dozen choices for everything! Why has everything got to be so complicated. Any reason not to get all that stuff from MSA, Chuck? Does MOOG make/sell better ball joints/tie rods?

I did the same thing... the site seemed to be running slow yesterday and I got impatient. I haven't officially ruled out the old tires since I haven't installed the new ones yet, but the shimmy issue feels like a lack-of-damping issue. I'll start with the bushings and change shocks when I have more money. Funny story: the PO seemed excited that he had put new Koni shocks on the car "several years" back. I found the receipt in his paperwork - they were installed in 1975!!! Hey, we're all excited to show off our new toys! Mine was the same way, she knew I was excited so she was anxious to check it out What are you guys' thoughts on replacement ball joints? I hope the $39 aftermarket parts (with zerk fittings) are acceptable in lieu of the $150 OEM parts?

Sorry, double post.

Thanks guys, great info. Pop's Z, I fully anticipate a long and joyful/arduous process of restoring the suspension to its former sweet-handling status. Fortunately the car is a driver so I can putz around in it in the meantime. I already have a set of new tires for it. I'm not sure what direction I'll take the car so I just popped for the cheapest respectable set I could find: some 195/70R14 Falken Sinceras... $160 out the door!! I couldn't believe it. Just one Dunlop Direzza for my other car (Mazdaspeed3) is $250! As you can tell from the temp sticker I haven't had the car long, and I haven't put many miles on those old tires. I did have to drive it 150 miles home from the west side of Michigan to the greater Detroit area where I live; very fortunate that I made it safely. The tire in the picture gave out just a few days later (while I was taking my girlfriend for her first ride in the car, naturally).

My passenger side window recently turned very stubborn. Towards the top of its travel it would get hung up, and I'd have to grip the glass and wobble it upwards while turning the crank. I took the door apart to investigate and found that the felt "track" that the window rides in at the back of the door seems to have torn or separated. When the window mechanism hits this spot it gets hung up. I liberally greased the felt and the other parts of the window mechanism and it helped a lot. I also had the driver door apart to fix the lock and I noticed the same separation in the felt, although the window still operates normally. Can anyone tell me if this is normal? This is looking back towards the part of the door directly above the door handle. The camera is turned sideways, sorry about that. For some reason I wasn't able to reorient it. You can see an area of bare metal between the felt on the inside the door and the rubber on the outside.

Here's my first request for help on my new-to-me, single owner '73! Here's the car as it sits It's up like that because this happened to one of the roughly 25 year old tires The car has only 63k miles, but like any 40 year old all-original vehicle, it does not drive particularly well. I've been doing a lot of reading on the common issues, of which I have many. One that I'd like to fix right away is a pretty violent shaking in the front end and steering wheel when I hit bumps. From what I've learned here, it sounds as though the front tension/compression rods are the culprit. The bushings are definitely worn and cracked. I'll post pics of those tonight. So I have the option of replacing them with stock rubber (I like stock), or "upgrading" to MSA's hemispherical bearings or even full spherical bearing units from ArizonaZcar or Techno Toy (links added for my reference later). The car is original so I'm leaning toward simple stock replacement but I'd like to hear any strong votes of confidence for the upgraded parts. Also if other parts could be causing my symptoms, I welcome any feedback. Thanks everyone.

Well, 12 hours in and no WD40 has emerged from my choke lever end. I also squirted in some 3-in-1 oil just before I went to bed in the hopes that the heavier oil would "hydraulically" push the WD40 and/or the gunk through & out. I don't think there's enough of an oil column to achieve this, though. My problem is I have the original factory cables with the little accordion boots. This prevents the cable luber from working so I can't force in the WD40. I used a few inches of fuel line instead of the drinking straws Daniel had suggested. I topped off the fuel lines with WD40 at least half a dozen times last night so hopefully it's working its way down and not just evaporating. If anyone has other ideas I'd welcome them. The PO of my car thought he had heard that the choke handles break easily, so he was always very careful with it. Of course it's not the handle that breaks it's the console, but I think his caution has helped keep the console in one piece, despite the choke lever being extremely high effort. I estimate it takes 8-10lb of force to move the lever. The threads under the console look a little blown out, but nothing's given up yet - pretty incredible.

Scratch that, got it off tonight. I think the cracking was just thread locker breaking loose, as there was a fair amount on there.

Following up to this, I'm in a similar situation as ninjazombiemaster. The knob turns about half a turn then locks up; if I twist any harder I hear little crackles like the wood is starting to splinter... don't like the sound of that at all. The knob is original and I would bet my bottom dollar it's never been removed. How are they supposed to come off? Was a thread locker originally applied by the factory?

Thanks Pete, I'll give the WD40 & lithium grease cocktail a try. I have heard about the cable luber... can't recall where, maybe the ZTherapy video. I already have the cable ends loose; I was preparing to pull the console when I realized how entwined the choke cables are through the dash. I was dreading removing them for cleaning when I found this method.

Bringing back an old thread - is there a preferred type of lubricant to use for this method? For instance, would a penetrating oil break up and get past the gunk more effectively than a silicone spray lube?

Thanks guys. I know about the higher boiling temp and the higher rate of water absorption, but my question comes from this thread which has the following info from Carroll Smith and James Walker: I never like to "upgrade" to a not-factory-spec'd part or fluid without doing at least a little research first

Hi everyone, I apologize in advance for this because I feel like this topic must have been beaten over and over, but I wasn't able to find anything via search (probably has to do with all the search terms being too short: DOT, 4, ATE, etc). Is ATE Super Blue safe to use in stock 240Z brake systems or are there incompatibilities with the original, designed-for-DOT-3 components? Thanks much...

Any more info? Link? Poster's ID? I found my way to zcar's classifieds but no sign of a 73 roller in IL.

Couple months late but - Motorsport has it too. Pretty complete kits and I was shocked at how inexpensive the vinyl and panels are. The door panels are very expensive though. Motorsport! Vinyl Restoration - The Z Store, Nissan-Datsun 240Z-260Z-280Z-280ZX-300ZX(Z31/Z32)-350Z-370Z Parts How big a job is it to change an interior? Is all the quilted vinyl glued down? What about the headliner, roof rail and A-pillars?

Regarding that air pump... that just feeds air into the exhaust somewhere to aid in combustion for emission purposes, correct? It's on the manifold side of the block, right? Where exactly? Also (in looking for its air pump) I noticed the Green car has a battery disconnect installed. I wonder if that points to a discharging issue that might have been the reason the car got parked. That's an assumption, but I do hate electrical gremlins. I wish they hadn't started that engine with 20 year old oil in it...

Regarding the Blue not-quite-original 71, all those things would be good for a buyer if it was a typical private sale where I could negotiate and subtract here and there for specific blemishes I noticed. Unfortunately, the nature of ebay means that folks who know nothing about Z-cars (myself included to some extent) must out-do each others' bids without necessarily being aware of those specific items. I didn't even realize the seats were from a 260, or that the air pump was missing; I only noticed the speakers and the missing A/C bits (those are included in the sale, though). I'm bummed about the undercoat as well - never know what it's hiding. Unfortunately I don't have the resources to squirrel away the Green barn find until the time comes to restore it. I would have to buy it now and restore it, or simply pass altogether. And of course, the option exists to hold off on all three and continue looking. Patience is a virtue... sigh.

Hey Carl, thanks for the reality-check post. Interestingly, that's the ebay listing that generated my question earlier about the shift shafts. That looks like a super clean, perfectly-refurbished car. So this is exactly my conundrum: to buy a car like qwik's and spend an untold amount of time and money refreshing, or buy a car like that yellow one in NorCal (or this one which I really like) that is essentially turn key. The allure of the latter is obvious. However as I'm sure everyone on this site can appreciate, there is a joy in the process of refreshing, despite how painful it can get. And there's the sense of ownership and pride in starting/driving/having something you built (or refreshed, in this case). As qwik510 said himself in his ad thread, "If you didn't build it, it's not yours".

Too British! Thanks again Chuck, really nice of you to point me towards that car.

How cool, thanks Chuck. Condition- and price-wise, that's pretty much what I'm looking for. I'm not a fan of the BRG/butterscotch, but I'll think about it. Interesting that you can see where the side moldings that I asked about earlier have been removed on that car. Also, looking at qwik510's detailed photos generated another question: what is the "temp" knob at the driver's right knee? edit: I bet that knob is for the A/C, isn't it...

I know this thread is six months old, but I'm interested in Diseazd's build and this link only takes me to the forum homepage. Diseazd, does the thread still exist?

Thanks gents, good to know! Carl, my goal is to find a relatively unmolested car that's rough around the edges, but not too far gone for my meager skill set. That way I can add my touches to it without re-doing someone else's work, and ensure things are done properly (to the best of my ability). A modest but quick autocross-able street car is the end goal. There was a fantastic 1970 barn find on ebay the other day, and my dumb arse forgot to get a bid in before the auction ended. It went for $50 less than my max bid *would* have been. Still kicking myself. So the search continues.

Hi guys, I haven't purchased my z-car yet, but I'm searching. I'm looking at 1970-74 cars, and I'd really like a 240. I've noticed a few things about the cars I've seen and I thought this might be a good place to turn for answers. 1) Chrome trim down the length of the body side: some cars seem to have this trim and some don't. I don't notice a correlation with model year or state of repair/modification; was this an option? Does it indicate any other option package or content? Or does it just come down to whether or not an owner has removed it? 2) Small button or switch on dash to the right of the tachometer: in some photos I can clearly make out "ON -- OFF" (arranged vertically) but I'm curious what this is for. It's just stuck there on the dash and looks aftermarket, but all the cars have them. 3) Last, I read in one ebay auction about 1971 manual trans having "problem-prone shift shafts"... I haven't read anything else about this - is this any kind of serious problem? Thanks for any help! I'm really looking forward to joining you guys here and digging into one of these cars.