w3wilkes

@Carl Beck @HS30-H You two seem to be most knowledgeable about these cars. Now back to my question. Were there USA 240Z's registered as 1973 cars that didn't have flat tops and the beefed-up front bumper?

I've been a 240Z owner since July 1973. My current car is a 12/70 build registered as a '71. I don't think I'd heard the series "n" until maybe sometime in the 1990's. I was aware from the time I bought my current 240Z in 1990 that the "series 2" changes were implemented later in 1971 beginning, I believe, with serial number HLS30-021001 but I'm not sure what the build date was for that car, looking at zhome.com my guess is February 1971. One thing I'd be curious to know is if there are any stock round top/non beefed-up front bumper cars that were registered as a 1973? Or were the emissions/safety standards tightened up to the point that all 1973 cars had the flat top carbs and beefed-up front bumper? EDIT: @Carl Beck It's kind of like having a IZCC member # 2831 showing a join date of 2017. My guess is this is really the last time I updated my IZCC membership but the join date is probably really in the early 1990's.

I'd say Dodge Ram would be at the top of that list.

At first I was thinking of doing the valve cover in red too but now I think maybe an anodized black with the raised lettering and ribs in the aluminum like they are. Then the hoses and plug wires would have a little more pop. I'm old and come from the hot rod era but when I saw the 240Z in '71, I thought "now there's a car!". Then in '73 at 22 I was able to get one, loved it and have had a 240Z ever since (probably close to 250,000 240Z lifetime miles so far). Edit: correction, probably more like 180,000 240Z miles, forgot I bought this one used in 1990, so of course it already had miles on the clock. Edit 2: I can see 9 changes between then and now but I can't tell how many changes there are between showroom and "then".

I posted in another thread on air cleaners and had a funny thought. I've not been a purist in my Z ownership which may have had an effect on my feelings of "originality". Here's a couple of shots of my engine bay, then 2015 (but it hadn't changed since 1993) and now 2022. Interesting... Then Now Yea, I changed a couple of things.

I did the ITG dual and have air horns inside. Float bowl vents and valve cover vent attached similarly to the original but I did have to drill the back plate for the vent fittings.

Sure wish I could find a Interpart rear window louvers set like I had on my '73. Install required no drilling, top had hinges and the bottom had little latches and there was a kickstand for the louvers so you could wash the window.

Since Dave's harness is good on all 240z's including 72 and 73 I would think that other than the connectors at the headlight pigtails the harness will work on 260z and 280z's if you change the connector on the pigtail to the 240z style connector (from a little google work it seems the round connectors in the 260/280 cars are unobtanium). If you don't want to cut off the round connector you could build a new pigtail to go to the headlamp.

I actually used Dave's harness on my 240z which came with a single 30amp fuse before the relays where the 80amp fusible link is shown. The harness came with a 30amp, but where I've gone LED I could probably even reduce that. Just curious what the change would be for the 260z/280z besides the pigtail connectors? Doesn't factory wiring for 260z/280z still have a single power to pin 3 in the headlamp connector and switching ground on pins 1 and 2 for Hi/Low beam switch?

On my 240z I went with this wiring diagram to take the load off the wiring harness, steering column stock/blinker switch and also change ground/power configuration for the headlamp connector itself so that I could convert my headlights to LED further reducing load on the car wiring. Here's the diagram; Once done it changed the headlamp bulb connection to this configuration allowing for the LED headlamps because the Diodes only allow power to flow one direction; The way Datsun configured the wiring connector point 3 above was power with points 1 and 2 being ground back at the steering column. I've actually converted all bulbs except for the dashboard to LED further reducing load on the wiring. If you go LED for the blinkers be sure to replace the emergency and blinker flashers with LED compatible flashers.

If you use these will the fuse box cover still fit?

Looks really nice! I'll bet you're starting to itch. I think I'd be afraid to drive it, looks more "polished" than factory.

Here's the sightings thread.

Just a word of caution on turbo. I used to have a '77 930 and the thing you had to keep in mind was you needed to have the car pointed in the direction you wanted to go before putting the hammer down to avoid having the back of the car pass the front of the car. The other thing was "turbo lag". It seemed like it took forever after you put the hammer down for turbo boost to kick in and it would then nail you to the seatback.

I've been running Joe Gibbs 15-50 HR1 oil in my untouched 100K+ miles Z motor as it has all the additives these older engines like. Amazon.com: Driven Racing Oil HR-1 Hot Rod Motor Oil Conventional 15w-50 (12 Quart Case) : Automotive

If you're searching for keyed 12V in the engine bay my car is not to far off of Duffy's - 12/70. I found an unused keyed 12V bullet connector lead in the harness by the battery. Like the plug in front of the console for the electric fuel pump it was in blue tape. I used it for the electric fan controller relay. Both the blue tape and fan controller can be seen in this shot.

What I saw towards the end of the video was the temp gauge pegged and then rev the engine to ~3000RPM and the temp gauge came back down under no load. I thought you or someone suggested trying a new temp sending unit to see if that's where the problem lies. It would be interesting to see what an IR temp sensor would show on the t-stat housing when the temp gauge is pegged.

Is the thermostat housing top on backwards?

It may be that the current vacuum advance from the intake manifold is okay. Should be able to tell how the advance is working that way with a timing light. If it's working okay this way the hole in the carb could just be plugged (with a nail 😁, not really).

The "series 1" cars have the water through the intake manifold, just not into the carbs. The picture posted by @siteunseen (the librarian) of the 2 intake manifolds shows the water line on both the early 70-71 cars (4 screw carbs) and the 72 cars (3 screw carbs) the big difference is the 72 manifold has an additional loop in each carb mounting to route water through the carbs themselves.

Maybe the green tape means GoesFast? 😇

Is there a difference between the 4 Cyl you posted vs this 6 Cyl? Electronic Ignition Conversion Kit for Datsun/Nissan, 240Z, 6-cyl Hitachi Dist | eBay

Welcome and very nice score on the car!

Since I've replaced all my bulbs except the dash lights with LED to take the load off the wiring including the headlights with the harness upgrade mentioned before the 60 amp alternator seems to be more than enough for my needs. I did do the Retrosound stereo and will be reactivating my dealer installed A/C eventually I think I'm more than good. The 60 amp upgrade I used was this from MSA that eliminates the mechanical voltage regulator where I mounted the headlight relays (there's a note at the end for 73 cars to contact MSA for some options) Motorsport! 60-Amp Alternator Upgrade Kit, 70-72 240Z - The Z Store! Nissan-Datsun 240Z 260Z 280Z 280ZX 300ZX ( Z31 Z32 ) 350Z 370Z Parts

Since I also did the 60 amp internally regulated alternator I "hid" the relays in plain site by mounting them where the old voltage regulator used to live.