Carl Beck

Hi Guy: I think that "A" - Automatic & 3.54 is a valid assumption. Should be a good rear gear with the 4 spd. Carl B.

Looks Great Guy - nice to have parts that aren't dented or all badly pitted to work with. I think you are enjoying this -.. Carl B.

Jerry - for God's Sake - 6 years you have been waiting - if the car is finally done, have it put on an enclosed carrier and sent to your house. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Rolf - thanks for letting us know. I try to keep track of where the known Scarabs are. #154 is a very nice example! FWIW, Carl B.

Exactly - as I said above: "For that matter all the 240Z clutch pressure plates you get today are what were originally 280Z Pressure Plates". The original 240z Pressure Plates were "thick" - and the matching collars were short. The 280Z Pressure Plates are thinner than the original 240Z Pressure Plates - - so you have to use the longer 280Z collar. For many years - ZOOM and ZOOM though NAPA had kits that came with the complete clutch assy - and a new matching throw-out bearing collar. Sadly they no longer come with the collar.. FWIW, Carl B.

Just a thought - under the "been there - done that" heading Recently rebuilt L28 - you might want to watch for any signs of the rear seal on the engine seeping a bit of oil. Be sure your PCV valve isn't clogged or stuck as well, sometimes they are overlooked on an engine rebuild. Other than that - I've never had a problem with a stock 240Z Clutch. For that matter all the 240Z clutch pressure plates you get today are what were originally 280Z Pressure Plates. So they should hold a mildly modified L28 with no problem. If you swap to a 240mm 2+2 Clutch - I'm pretty sure you also need the matching flywheel. FWIW, Carl B.

Rare as the calipers are here in the States - the rebuild kits are even more so. They have a pretty unique piston seal set up. Eiji was able to get me a few rebuild kits out of Japan - seems that the vendor that carried them was not too far from Eiji's Parents Home. This was years ago - but AsIRecall - the calipers were around $650.00 for a pair. When the Z is fitted with the MK-63's - you change there rear wheel cylinders to larger diameter units as well - - the difference in braking is significant. They give much better pedal modulation and feel.. There are two types with different Part Numbers listed in the 73 Sports Option Catalog, one used with solid rotors and the other used with ventilated rotors. 41000-E7201 / 41010-E7201 and 41000-A7600 / 41010-A7600 {Ventilated Type}. FWIW, Carl B.

Agreed -there are a few things I'd personally change - but I'd just keep it a nice Street Mod. At least the 260's had decent A/C..finally - so it would make a better driver in Texas etc. A lot of work seems to have gone into that Z - $15K would be far less than the cost to duplicate it. FWIW, Carl B.

I have no idea what year the MK63's were first released by Sumitomo. They are listed in the Nissan Sports Option Catalog in 1973 at 15,000 Yen {$41.67} each, with a set of 4 Pads for 3.000 Yen {$8.34} when the Yen was 360 to 1 USD. They are quite a bit more today! They were registered by Nissan and approved by the FIA for use on Datsun 240Z's in 1970 {not valid for Group 3} - that is what make them "FIA" approved. Otherwise a MK-63 is a MK-63... FWIW, Carl B.

If the car checks out in person - I wouldn't take less than $14,500.00 - might be a consignment by a customer. I don't think you'll find too many new car dealers that are dull enough to take a lowball offer. Anyone in the area that can go check it out? See if it starts and runs out as it should. Looking at the details shown - someone seems to have done a first class job.. But you never know... Carl B.

Depends if you are retaining the R-12 or if you have switched to R-134a. Condensers for R-134a have more and smaller diameter tubing - and are usually refered to as "uni-flow" units. If you have, or are converting to R-134a I'd get a condenser designed for that. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Rick: Your problem is finding a 240 Z anywhere near you - in good enough shape to start as a project car - that isn't at least $5K to $6K. Seems to still be lots of them in the Western States - but then you have a couple grand in shipping. At any rate - good luck in your search. FWIW, Carl B.

If you are replacing the dash - yes - go ahead and move the VIN Tag - and keep the correct VIN on the car. That is what is on your Title!! IMHO - The half dash Caps never look very good - but the full dash covers properly installed look great - actually hard to spot if your not looking for one. Keep at it ... Carl B.

Call me slow... but that is "36mm" - and what do you have to do to use them? thanks, Carl B.

Easy enough to tell - look behind the Right Side Kickpanel and see if you have the relays show in the image I posted. If you do - a failed relay "could" have caused your initial problem. FWIW, Carl B.

All the US Spec. Datsun 240Z's 70-73 had wires in the harness for an electric pump. They were wrapped in the harness, and not used until later production 73's. Yes, you have to put a jumper in the harness under the dash to supply power to the rear. When the 73's first arrived they did not have an electric fuel pump installed. It was only after the 73's were found to have significant problems with vapor lock and percolation that the cars were retrofitted with electric pumps - and after a certain date they started coming from the factory with electric pumps as standard equipment. When they were retrofitted with the kits supplied by Nissan - the Dealer's installed a relay. See attached image. Before the kits were available - most people just put a jumper in the harness under the dash - and installed the electric pumps in the rear. {no relays or safety shut-off's}. If you have 12volts at the HOT wire in the rear - and a good body ground - the pump should work fine. If a shop installed a relay - and installed a new wire - that should work just fine - as long as you have 12Volts on the hot wire - and a GOOD BODY GROUND. As I recall - there is a body ground on that rear harness - on the right side, inside the car {not certain of that - it might be outside the cabin?} ... but it sounds like you have a floating ground ...I'd make sure that you have a clean body ground from the pump - and clean grounds in the engine compartment {from the battery to the body}.

I can't find your Z there - at this point. Am I looking in the wrong place?

Looks like a real gem.

Interesting to compare this review - with the Personality of your 240Z. I don't believe I've ever heard anyone say that they were bored with their 240Z. In effect I think the owner of this BRZ is really just talking about the "fun" of Driving. Something we all feel that the 240Z offers just as much today as it did when it was new. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Alan: Oh.. I thought you were just being pissy about the use of pronouns like Factory and/or Dealer. Serously though - It was not a situation like one would have with Bilstein for example. Where the shocks would have to be removed and physically returned to Bilstein for rebuild. Leaving the car with no shocks in the meantime. Since the original shocks used the strut tube as their outer shell - only the internal moving parts had to be replaced. Nissan supplied "Rebuild Kits" for them - so it was a simple matter of removing the defective parts from the strut tubes at the Dealership - and replacing them with the new parts supplied in the rebuild kits. That took about 30 minutes per wheel - so the car wasn't tied up for more than a couple hours each time. When I wrote that the factory rebuilt them under warranty, and even after the original warranty had been exceeded - I intended to indicate that Nissan supplied the parts and authorized payment to have the work done each time - rather than me or the Dealership having to pay for it. FWIW, Carl B.

Either I'm not reading the above correctly - missing a period or comma somewhere - or something is wrong. "up to HLS30-4600(L24)" - - that would be 70/71 Model Year 240Z's "and from HLS30-46001 (L26)" - - NO - HLS30-46001 would be the start of the 72 Model Year and would have the L24 Yes - from 8/73 forward it would be an L26, but then that would be an RLS30 Also - I'm not sure what picture your looking at when you say "above right" or "above left"... the pictues in the original Post all show up one on top of the other. Are you looking at the last picture - that shows the two mounts together? FWIW, Carl

Hi Will: I'm surprised that you actually found a Z that still had its original re-buildable shocks in place! I haven't seen any in years. The shock valving on the 70 Z seemed to be fine for a stock Z - the problem was with the seals on the shock rods and at the Gland Nut. For some reason they were just not holding a seal. At first they thought it might have been some contamination, dust/dirt that got on the shock rods or past the seals there. By the second or third time they were beginning to believe that the rubber seals were simply compounded incorrectly. Auto-crossing on the weekends shouldn't have been a problem for them - at least not that soon. If you don't plan to drive the car much - say a couple thousand miles per year or less - you might get away with using the now 40 year old rebuild kits. Personally I'd keep the rebuild kits as "Collectibles" for display only.Maybe pull the original guts and disply them as well. At least get pictures to share - The Koni's were quite a bit firmer. Helped on the auto-cross course, but too harsh for Daily transportation or GT use. I made several trips from Spokane, WA to Columbus, OH, then on to Clearwater, FL, then back up to Denver, CO and on back to Spokane. Mostly freeway driving, but the expansion joints on the freeways "thump'ed" when you hit them using the Koni's.. you didn't feel them nearly as harshly with the factory shocks. The new KYB's are a great shock for stock / street use today. The best compromise between handling and ride that I found were the Gas Pressure Bilsteins - which are sadly no longer available. FWIW, Carl B.

When I bought my first 240Z in March of 1970 - the only problem I had with it was the shocks. The factory rebuilt them once under warranty, at around 6K or 8K miles. Then again at no charge at around 13K miles. Then again at no charge at 20K miles. At around 28K miles the Datsun Dealer installed Koni's as we gave up on rebuilding the original shocks. At that point the Datsun Dealer installed the clamp with the rubber bumper as well. I was auto-crossing the Z on weekends - and we had previously added a 2" long section, of stick-on wheel weights to the top of the rack bushings, to lock the rack down. So I really don't know if the clamp with the bumper did all that much good or not. The rubber bumper was just glued to the clamp, and over time they usually just fall off. FWIW, Carl B.

There is a Bump Stop in the Strut Mounts in the 240Z's - I'd guess that the 260Z's were the same. The Bump Stops decay/dissolve over the decades - I always replace them, but the Strut Mounts very rarely need replacing. I doubt that replacing the Strut Mounts will get rid of the vibration you feel. When new - the cars were smooth - but measured by todays standards for new cars - the Z's weren't nearly as quite. In addition to wind noise - the body design - ie. the hatch back coupe - becomes an megiphone for road noise as the struts are bolted directly to the body on relatively hard rubber/steel mounts. I'd say that tire selection in terms of size, tread patterns etc play the largest roll in providing as smooth and quite a ride as you can get. FWIW, Carl B.

I just grab them with a good long handled Pipe Wrench, the more force you put on the piple wrench the more it grips the fill plug. FWIW, Carl B.