abas

Hi all On both my z's I noticed this residue on the jute. On mine it only seems to be on the central tunnel jute and the pieces behind the seats. The other pieces of jute ( original as far as I can see) are just dirty/discoloured with no residue. I always thought the residue might have been some kind of contact adhesive to stick the jute in areas where it might fall off if not held in place by something. ( like the tramsmission tunnnel and the areas behind the seats) Andrew

Kats Great pictures. I'm sure many people on this site will thank you for identifying how everything in the area behind the seats goes together on the early z's.:classsic: Andrew

Kats My car also was very slow to defrost. I had a half hour journey to work, and it was just a bout defrosted when I got there. Perhaps we expect too much from our 30 year old cars as new cars defrost very quickly. regards Andrew

I have been fortunate to drive 2 elises. (Guy at the end of my street owns a garage that specialises in them:classic: ) I drove one on the road recently and another a couple of years back at a company bash where I could drive a variety of cars around autotest stages and for a short while on a track. Can't afford one though Puts just about anything I have ever driven in the shade and not surprisingly totally blows a standard z away. Shame it is only 4 cylinder job though, I really miss that 6 cylinder sound. Best description I can give is similar to alfadogs - big go-kart or lotus seven. You will have to forego the creature comforts and the wet weather gear sucks. And don't crash one. Even low speed shunts cause a lot of damage. Perphaps they will junk the k series engine over here soon too as it is has an awful reputation once the car has done a medium amount of miles. I'd say if you can afford one go for it, and perhaps you may feel that you might never get the chance again ( assuming you might follow the ususal pattern of house/wife/kids = no money until you are about 45) but I have to add my 2c worth about making too many sacrifices now which perhaps you might regret in a couple of years time. Good luck if you get one. I will envy you :classic:

I would say that the sludge and muck that has built up in the engine over time is starting to dissolve into your oil. Most oils you can buy nowadays are 'detergent' oils that will slowly clean out the oilways. Is it using any oil or blowing it out of the engine breather? If the rings/bores are bad then piston blowby can contaminate the oil with combustion residue. If it is not using any oil then it is probably OK. I would keep changing the oil regularly and hopefully it will stay clearer for longer once the sludge buildup has gone. Hope it helps AndrewB

Dave/Daniel Good job:classic: Can you post some pictures of what you have done. I'm getting confused over which bits of the throttle linkage need to be changed/bent. Many thanks AndrewB

Proxlamus I understand it to mean 'New Old Stock'. Having said that I have never asked anyone else what they think it means :classic:

Chloe I might have a spare. I'll check before I commit myself Andrew

I would guess these items are pretty rare anyway as I think they were only on 70&71 cars. The racks I have for later cars have a factory small plate welded over the larger hole to take a smaller grease gun fitting. Is that a zerk fitting? The reservoir wouldn't fit into the smaller hole.

Must be a pretty good car if you are taking it back to the US with you.

St Stephen One upside of having the place to yourself is that you have a nice warm workshop to undertake any work on the z. ( Like - inside the house!!!). Is this enough to offset the lack of food?:classic: Andrew

Chad Sept 1978 is an early 'T' reg plate. This registration ususally stays with the car for its whole life whilst in the UK. Changes of engine don't affect this. From this I would say that the production date for your car is likely to be June/July 1978. I don't know what model year that makes it. I'd be interested if anyone else comes up with a different date. If the engine shown on the DVLA V5 is different from the engine in the car then the DVLA number will probably be the original (no-one ever tells the DVLA if they change an engine in a car!!) this might give a more accurate indication of production date. Hope it helps AndrewB

the barracuda I am assuming you bought the car with a V5 (blue regsitered title form you get from the UK DVLA). You can apply for one if you don't have it. It should give a date of first registration and 'normally' (although not always) this is a couple of months or so after the production date. Does the registration end in an R, S or a T?. This gives the year in which it was registered. Gav 240z is correct in that no UK cars have the production plate on the door panel. all the best

$700+ each!!!! For the truly committed only or for a very special car where total originality is paramount. Way too much to pay for 'just in case I crash my car' spares.

Paul Hello to another UK based zed fan!!!!:classic: In the UK there are very few places to get decent secondhand z stuff. I'm guessing you have already tried the ususal places. I would look to the US if I were you, as anyone in the UK will charge you an arm and a leg for anything half decent ( and it probably came from the US anyway!!!!) Indicator wise I assume you mean the under bumper indicators that go in the lower front quarter panels. These come up on ebay quite regularly for not much money. Don't be too concerned about shipping costs from US as its pretty cheap as long as its sent USPS and total excluding Shipping is less than about $25. If you are willing to pay you can get new ones for about £190. Bumpers are a bit more difficult to get/ship, and again come up on ebay fairly regularly. As an example the shipping cost of a rear bumper centre centre section was about $60. Front bumper would be a lot more as it is oversize for USPS. Having bought the bumper rubbbers myself recently they are not too expensive, about $30 a corner, but rear ones are quite difficult to find I hear. I get most of my stuff from Midwest z , one of our sponsors and have done for a while. Chloe is great. Shoot her an email and she will probably be able to sort you out with secondhand or new if she's got them. All the best Andrew

I 'vented' the crankcase on a motor bike I had that had knackered rings. The pipe exited out the back by the number plate. The smoke was so bad I ended up getting car drivers leaning out of the window and telling me my bike was on fire ( like in the John Candy film - Uncle Buck):classic: Why didn't I replace the rings? I'm a cheapskate - except where it comes to z's.

Kyteler Escort Mk11 - my first car. Where I learnt about oversteer and 'tuning' (in the loosest sense of the word). As a general knockaround fun car it couldn't be beat.:classic: I'll stop hijacking this thread now:classic: Andrew

St. Stephen Jesus. I'll never complain about the rust on my 1972 z ever again. :classic:

My 1972 z (that I was going to scrap - but not any more!!!) had similar covered up accident damage on the front left corner. What the previous owner had done was drilled a new set of holes in the inner wing to locate the headlamp pod so that it lined up with the bonnet. This repair did for some 10 years before I took the front wings off and discovered the damage. Incidentally those wheels are the same as what came on my 1970 car. I wasn't going to use them but they actually look pretty good.:classic: Hope you manage to keep the car away from the scrapyard. There are too many heading that way:cry: Andrew

Guys At last I've got the replacement plastic tool boxes that I got off ebay. The seller decided to ship them surface mail (6 weeks!!) despite him charging me for air mail. Hmmmm........ As promised I'll post up some pictures of original/replacement as soon as I can. What I can say at present is that: 1) replacement plastic is thicker/more flexible (good) 2) replacement doesn't include the plastic hinges (bad unless you have a broken original set to take the hinges from 3) Grain/contour etc looks the same as original ( good) Andrew

Nick Looks pretty standard to me. Virtually the same welds on my unrestored car. That's a pretty good original inner arch if you ask me, if the paint is mostly still there under the dirt. Over here in Pomland we got a black underseal coating in the wheel arches and on the floorpans ( fat lot of good it did though .) My ex US CA car has no undercoating at all just paint and 30+ years of dirt all the best Andrew

One of the 'European' contingent here. Although I think the rest of Europe would agree that the UK is not really part of Europe after all :classic: I'm close to the South Coast of the UK, but far enough away to avoid the salt air. Only 150-200 240z's left in the whole of the UK and so I tend to see one about every 2 years or so unless I go to a club meet:cry:

Kats I'll clean it up a bit and make sure it has no damage. It looked pretty good despite the dirt and cobwebs. regards Andrew

my 1970 z has the plain 'oil' cap on the nissan 2400 ohc valve cover.

OK, not in a film as such but I did see some TV footage a few years back showing someone stealing a tank from the US army and driving it around squashing cars and things. There was a shot of a z (can't tell which) which had been squashed from front to rear. It looked about 2 feet high !!!! Andrew