Carl Beck

About 1800 240Z's came into North America with rubber mats. That included the footwells, the area behind the seats and the rear deck area. By the end of 1970 we had lots of customers ordering the rear deck mat via the Parts Dept. - they used it to protect the carpet in their cars. There are minor differences between the rear deck mats that came in the very early 240Z's and the later type ordered via the Parts Dept. in late 71 and forward. As I recall... the early mats did not have cutouts for the luggage straps to bolt down in front... But I'd have to go dig them all out to be sure... FWIW, Carl B.

They usually have one roller per side. There is a right and left roller - don't get them mixed up. If you look at how the window comes up - you will see how the roller should hit it. The windows come up and the glass moves forward..so the roller should be angled a bit forward as the glass contacts it. Also important to have the "stop" in the bottom of the door to prevent the glass from going down too far. {it can drop below the rubber/felt wipers - and when you try to roll it back up - it get caught under them.. FWIW, Carl B.

It seems that when the carpet sets made in the US were installed, most of the dealers took all the rubber mats out. A few it seems put the carpet sets over the rubber mats.. Funny - Jim and I talked about this when we were in CT to see #13. The answer is Yes - it was fairly common on early cars. I can tell you that #20, #42, #239, #584, #1632 And #1777 all had screws holding the bottoms of the door panels in place. #1777 was my first 240Z and at the time - I thought that some of the other cars that came in afterwards were "missing" their screws. If you pull these panels off, and look you see why. The holes in the door panels that are supposed to hold the door panel clips - - do not line up with the holes and door panel clip holders in the door itself. On a couple of cars that I have taken apart, the clips were smashed flat and left in place - but most of the time if the door panel had the screws - it was completely missing the clips at the bottom of the panel. If you have a door panel from a Series I car - that did not use the screws - line it up with the door panel that did use the screws - and see if the holes in the panels are in the same place. If they are, you will know that the holes in the door itself are in the wrong place. FWIW, Carl B.

Flush the entire brake system out with fresh fluid - BEFORE you change out calipers, or rear brake cylinders. That way you don't flush old fluid into new parts... If you need rear wheel cylinders - make sure you have the right one's before you start.. Make sure you have NEW rubber lines at the wheels ready - most have never been changed. If you are by yourself - the harbor freight vacuum bleeder, that hooks to your compressed air - is cheap and handy. Other than parts - it's a very simply system.. good luck, Carl B.

Looks like Mustang 42% Datsun 28% We need everyone to keep at it... and get others to do the same. Still a couple days of voting open... FWIW, Carl B.

To get sound I could hear any stereo separation in - I wound up building custom enclosures and mounting them on the kick panels up front, with the speakers slightly angled up and toward the center of the car. Stereo Speakers facing one another in the rear seemed to cancel themselves out. So 5.25's with tweeters up front made a huge improvement. If I do it again, I'll mount the tweeters on the "A" pillars near the dash... with a small sub in the rear. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi olzed: Good to hear from you. Post some pictures of your Z, there can't be too many of them in NZ now - so it must draw a lot of attention when you take it out for a drive. Welcome to the group... Carl B.

Just so no one is confused - - The Blue Oval Z - - - - is listed as "Terry's Datsun 240Z" Just a reminder - You can and SHOULD remember to Vote once every 24 hours - - - just because the BOZ is ahead now - let's not let one of the other groups sand bag us, by holding out votes until the last couple of days. Also - while you are there - Under "Best StreetFire Video" - - I have to admit that Ray Millen's Pike's Peak run in the Hyundia Genesis is pretty amazing... http://blog.cardomain.com/2009/12/22/peoples-choice-2009/ Vote Now... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Ron: Here in the State we have Automobile Titles that show ownership. You can Own a car without paying for a license plate needed to drive it on public roads. So a State Automobile Title shows ownership only. Then on top of that we have Registered License Plates {to show that you have paid the license tax each year}. So here you would would search the Department of Motor Vehicles for VIN numbers associated with the Title, then look to see how many are currently "Registered" as having current license plates for road use. However - being 50 individual but United States - State Laws are not completely uniform. In some States, they quite tracking Titles after a car is 25 years old - for them then the Registration of the license plates shows ownership as well. The transfer the license plates from person to person as ownership changes {meaning that the plates stay on the car}. In other States the license plates belong to the individual, and as that individual trades cars, the license plates are moved from car to car. In either case - tracking Registered License Plates would most likely provide the most useful data. Even if the license plate isn't current {meaning that the current year's fee's have not been paid} the older record would still be in the system. FWIW, Carl B.

The car has rust in the doglegs and the front fenders - but not major. The front frame rail has what looks like surface rust forming on one side. A friend of mine inspected the car and sent more detailed pictures. Yes, I am helping an over-seals buyer find a good car. $7K, $8K, $10K, $12K doesn't matter a bit for the right car.. but he wouldn't give $2K for the wrong one... Overall - I told the owner I wouldn't take less than $8K for it. If he is now quoting $7K he is foolish. A one owner Z is almost always worth an extra $4K just because it hasn't been hacked to death by 10 stupid previous owners and almost always has had far better care than usual. IMHO - unless a 240Z has had the doglegs replace - they are about to rust through anyway, no matter how good they look from the outside. Likewise there is an 80% chance that the front fenders are about to show rust unless they have been removed, cleaned and some type of rust prevention work done. The exceptions to the above are cars that have less than 15K miles, have been stored carefully and properly cared for - they are all over $20K now and usually over $25K. The other expecitons are of course the fully refreshed or restored examples - with photo documentation of the process - they too are way over $18K now if properly refreshed - over $25K if properly restored. Again - just my opinion - if you are looking for something for $5K you are looking for a car that will need at least $10K in repairs and work to get it to a reliable and presentable Classic Car condition. Even in California now it takes at least $6,500.00 to find a "good" car... and even then it will need another $5K to make it road ready and presentable. There are always "exceptions" - if you look at 100 cars, travel all over the country, spend the next year looking - who knows you might get lucky. Most of the time people get tired of that and come to the realization that it will take at least $8K to $12K to get started with a good 240Z, then once they start fixing, imporving etc - they wind up spending another $5K to $10K... Heck - the bumper on that car would cost $2,500.00 to replace.. FWIW, Carl B.

"Well maybe next year".... Hang in there Arne - no good deed goes unpunished. thanks for the effort... Carl B.

So I guess that this means that I won't be giving any of these away as Christmas Presents this year...... FWIW, Carl B.

I agree - it looks way to dark in that picture. Put it on the white floor and take the picture again.. could be it is picking up some of the color from the chair.. I've seen a few engines painted with paint from Les - that look way to teal... Motorman's engine looks about right. The engine block should pretty closely match the OEM bracket/crank pully's etc. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Guys: Just a small correction - although somewhat off Topic - the Rear Spoiler was a Factory option. The BRE Rear Spoiler is just slightly different.. no flat place molded in for the badging, and no reinforcing ribs on the external front side. The BRE Spook - for the front is strictly a BRE development/design. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Derrick: Go to HybridZ.org and do a lot of reading/research BEFORE you start to ask questions. The guys there will help in any way they can - BUT they have no desire to educate nubee's with basic information already discussed/coverd - all the information your looking for is there..... Read/study/search and only after you have done that - ask questions that you can not find the answers too... good luck Carl B.

Looking GREAT Dave....That does it - I'm going to go pull my Webers off and refresh them...! FWIW, Carl B.

That is because the seals on the piston in your Clutch Master Cylinder are shot - fluid that is supposed to be pressurized into the line, is leaking past the piston and getting pushed back up into the reservoir - - Replace the Master.:stupid:

It was another beautiful day in sunny Florida, with just enough cloud cover to keep things cool and comfortable. Just the day to stroll along the Z Cars at Jim Frederick's ZMeca. People were coming and going all day - but I did manage to get a few pictures in case you missed the gathering in Lutz. I've put a few pictures up on the server See: http://zhome.com/Dropbox/ZMecaChristmas09/Jims09Christmas.htm FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Lonny That is a bummer.... most likely it just reached its limit on thermal cycles. Subjected to thermal cycles over an extended period of time - all of them will most likely crack sooner or later. The one's sitting in the most stable climates will probably last the longest - but they are man made plastic after all - the truth is that it is amazing that many have lasted as long as they have. While extreme swings between the high and low temperatures in the thermal cycle will hasten the break down, even smaller differences will cause expansion then contraction within the materials - and sooner or later they reach their limit. VU and Ozone are two of the environmentally hostile agents that attack the long chain polymers used in the vinyls such as this. Coatings/Protectants might help shield or slowdown the chemical actions/reactions that break down the original structures - - but the sad truth is that sooner or later they will reach the end of their life-cycle. The dashes in both my 72 Z's have had Armor-All used on them since new - both are still crack free - but as they approach 40 years of service - it's just a matter of time.... FWIW, Carl

According to R& T - the first boat to carry 240Z's arrived in Jan. 1970 with 20 cars. BRE got their first Z in early Jan. and that was HLS30 00492. So very possible that #488 was one of the first 20 to arrive in Jan. 70 FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Dan: Agreed - If you bought the car new from your Authorized Datsun Dealer and you still have it today - you are the original owner. Now - we also have 2nd Generation Original Z Car Owners. As the Original Owners pass their 240Z's on to their family members. Otherwise all Original Owners would sooner or later be passing on themselves;-) That is however somewhat different than the original question ask in this thread, but once and original - if you have the car you are still the original owner. FWIW, Carl B.

I talked to him last year. He has been thinking of selling it - but so far he hasn't let me know it is available... Ann said she bought her's at the end of 1970... Not unusual for the Dealers at that time to keep the first 240Z for disply and to take orders off of. I'm guessing that is what happened in that case. FWIW, Carl B.

The longest owner on the IZCC's Z Car Original Owners Register" http://www.zhome.com/IZCC/ZRegisters/original.htm 39 years, 8 months..and 9 days Original 240Z Owner, #28, 4/17/96 HLS30 00415, 11/1969, 901, Silver/Black Donn Walklet, Los Altos,CA, DEALER...Mobile, Alabama Datsun ...4/1/70 FWIW, Carl B.

Change the master.. sounds like you don't have time to screw with it.. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Arne: There is an interview - Posted somewhere else on the site - where Peter is talking about the man that did the lettering on the BRE Cars - - originally they were hand painted. I think Adam C. was mentioning the fact that one could see the brush-marks in the lettering on one of the BRE cars... So it might not actually be a BRE copyrighted design - but rather the hand work of the original sign painter - who is no longer with us. I doubt he ever actually released a Font in his name or intended any copy rights for an entire set of numbers/letters... More likely the sign painter used some existing font released to the public domain. FWIW, Carl B.