Warty

I have some photos I downloaded a few years ago when this project started, of the front floor jute. These, for example, have file names like "Kats repro 1970z", etc. I might have downloaded from here! Anyway, I'm trying to figure out 2 things: 1) would the jute in my 1970 Z have had this "stepped" cutout pattern, or not? 2) anybody know why Nissan might have put that pattern in? It's not like there are floor plugs there. Here's examples without it: (photo, for what it's worth, is labeled "jute-1970 240z":

Glad to hear it, as I couldn't see how it would be helpful / workable the other way around. I have only, conversely, seen them pointing down (from random online searches, not in real cars). Bring a Trailer 1970 240z auction # 13:

Just wanted to thank everyone who contributed to this thread. I finished up my firewall snaps and carpet snaps, and am satisfied with the results. Not perfect, but those snaps weren't on my firewall when I got the car, and they seem to be unobtanium. I guess I could make a 3D printed model, and maybe get some online place to print it in metal. might work.

I am at the point where I'm ready to install snaps in my replacement firewall and replacement carpet. I have references photos. I did some dry fitting last night in the car. From that, it looks like this little tab that I thought was always bent downwards, to hold carpet from slipping "up"/forward, is actually supposed to be bent up, to... hold up the firewall? With the carpet I have at least, the carpet pretty must must come this far forward. So that the pedal bracket rests right at the bottom of the "big toe" crack, and the back of the carpet rests up against the seat support (but is not curled up there). Just wanted to check this is all good and expected before I start placing snaps. Thanks! Screen Shot 2023-10-16 at 2.43.13 PM

perfect, thanks for info. I think I'll do the 3D seam sealer.

Not sure which forum to put this in, so admins, please move to body/paint or heating/ac or whatever is appropriate if this is the wrong one. Wick Humble says I can use clear silicone sealer for the floor plugs, but what is an appropriate sealant for the firewall plugs? When I removed the old grommets from my firewall, the sealant was dried up, and black. Is it ok/safe to use silicone sealant on the firewall? I have some 3M Seam Sealer 08367, would that work? Not sure how well this stuff would stick to the rubber plugs.

not sure. this is probably the closest to the Nissan part number, but is 1 mm longer. https://belmetric.com/m5-5-pan-phillips-tapping-stainless-steel-din-7981-c/?sku=MSM5.5X13SS The thing is, I don't know what the 1970 original screws are supposed to look like. Is it a hex head or something? Not sure I interpreted this part number right, but it seems to "tapping screw pan head", 5mm diameter, 12 mm length, zinc cadmium coated. That's how I would describe my screws that you can see in the bag. So, pretty confused...

Beautiful Z. And it's rocking the louvers. Always loved those.

Does anybody know a modern source for the self-tapping screws used in the dashpad? I found what I think is them: http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978/body-240z/dash-panel-side-instrument/7 SCREW-TAPPING MS TO 08510-51210 Not having any luck find what that looks like, size, width/height of head, etc. It seems to have been replaced with 08510-51212. I found this (probably a successor to that?): https://www.autopartsprime.com/nissan/screw/oe-0851351212 Anybody know if those are the same? Any recommendations for finding a physically identical screw? This is probably the washer for it, based on both needing a count of 17. WASHER-SPRING MS TO 08915-13510 That one appears to be still available. eg.: https://www.amayama.com/en/part/nissan/0891513510 Looks like the washers I have match based on that photo though.

I agree on the cupholder-in-ashtray. I also really like the orange stitching on the shift boot. What's the color combo on your Z?

It got an air conditioner, but I think that was actually from the Datsun dealer, about a year after purchase (but still aftermarket). I know I saw a receipt for the install. But that was gone (long gone?) before I got the car. The 2 holes are there in the firewall. whelp... hopefully they didn't need to be there (wherever "there" was). This car project reminds me a bit of the Johnny Cash Cadillac song, except in reverse. Another 10 years, and I'll have gotten it all back to factory(ish), one part at a time.

This is a 1970 240Z, but it did have a new dash installed at some point. I need to check records, but I think it was around 1980. I don't believe it was actually factory new (the 2nd dash). Then that eventually cracked, and some PO put a top cover on it. I threw the cracked dashed and top away a few years ago when I took out the dash. It would NOT surprise me at all to find non-Nissan parts in here, because I've been finding them everywhere. I am generally trying to restore towards factory, but lots of limitations of course. Any idea what the original screw hardware would have looked like? This is best series of photos I've found of inside of 240Z dash, from HybridZ, but the screws look awfully shiny to be original. https://forums.hybridz.org/topic/128881-240z-reproduction-dash/

I removed my dash a few years ago, and am getting the point where I can put it back in the car, but in checking parts today, I came across these 3 metal brackets, and I'm not sure what they are from. I failed to take good photos or a video when I took it out, and well, the old Mark I memory system is giving me nothing on these. They were in a bag with the screws that held the dash to the dashed, so maybe they are dash related? I've looked around at photos here and at HybridZ, and it's not obvious to me where these would be, if they are dash-related.

That looks a lot better. I am going to copy your idea, thanks for posting that! Does anybody have outer diameter of the snap at the widest point? Masonite is "1 5/8" in dia. and 3/16" thick" from an earlier post in this thread.

I don't suppose anyone has 4 firewall carpet fasteners they are willing to part with? (can't hurt to ask!) I'm trying to reproduce the look, at least, for now. The carpet side female snaps I found look very similar to what people have shown above. I got these from Honda 600 car parts (https://www.honda600store.com/Floor-MatCarpet-snap-set_p_5398.html) For the firewall-side fastener, I'm using a washer, a slightly longer screw I got at my hardware store, a plastic spacer to center the washer better, and the snap kit below, which helpfully came with an ESD pad which acts as the masonite in this setup. I did not have any luck finding a conical washer (let alone conical snap). Hardware guy thought maybe I could manufacture a conical shape out of thin metal. I bought a little sheet for like $4, I may try that, but it wouldn't look the same due to the snaps available all having that shoulder.

Does your Z have the rear deck deadener, or bare metal? Still trying to figure out if my Z is weird and never had it, or if it had it, but someone (very) carefully removed all trace of it. When you apply the heat gun, it will make the single sheets join nicely?

BTW, thank you!!! for making those templates! They are going to save a ton of time.

Hi Mike, Yes, sorry, I was running out the door when I posted that, I should have linked to them. That's what I started from. I worked from there, to what my look like. Some of the obvious differences I see from looking at car photos and the drawings: On your car, one of the little insets near the drain channels in the seat riser is "deep". On my car, both those insets are shallow. On your car, the back edge runs straight across. On my car, it has another cut out, roughly square. One side of yours had a different shape than the other, but mine are the same. If I flip one upside down, it fits perfectly over the tar on the other side. The dimensions are somewhat subtly different. Your 7/70 car has the back-of-seat extra rib, mine doesn't. Maybe there was a change to the tar shape that accompanied that? My car also didn't have any deadener on the rear deck, but I haven't seen any other Zs like that. The tire cover alignment sticker is there, but I guess someone could have carefully removed the tar and sprayed, and stuck the sticker back on.

I have a 1/1970 240Z (#1427). I have removed the sound deadening tar from the floor pans, and am preparing to replace it with new tar, using Wurth tar I found recommended here. That same post had a pattern for a 1970 Z. I printed out the pattern, but when I went to check the fit, the portion under each seat is of a different pattern than my car had. On mine, there is an additional (useless??) area cut out towards the rear. The front floor pan pieces DO match up though. I tried to look on Bring a Trailer/ etc for photos of other 1970 Zs, but the under-seat area doesn't seem to get photographed regularly (have to remove the seat, duh). Lots of photos of completely stripped an repainted Z interiors though of course... Does anybody else have a similar pattern? Is this a known thing? (Google didn't help here).

Thanks for the suggestion on the dry ice. I didn't see that until I had chipped up under both seats, but it saved a lot of time on the front pans. I didn't get it quite right when I started, but eventually figured out that I needed to crush it smaller, and use more alcohol. I used WD-40 to clean up the tar that was left after chipping. You can see where the rust was pretty clearly now. Passenger side worse, but a little rust on the driver side, too. This is my plan, please shout out if you think I should do something differently. treat rust and bare metal with RustBullet Metal Blast rust remover. Probably do some sanding/scrubbing of rust as well, depending on how magical Metal Blast ends up being. Apply POR-15 Patch (POR-15 epoxy in a paste form) to the 2 through holes, plus to the holes left by carpet screws. Sand away the remaining glue from the seat risers and other painted spaces that will be visible when carpet is peeled back. Apply Rustoleum primer (metal, light rust) (brush) lay down tar (do you glue tar in? or does it stick based on being heated with the heat gun?) apply primer to tar (brush) apply base coat 903 blue (sprayer) apply clear coat (sprayer)

Kind of coming around to it. I found this great thread here, with templates to create your own new tar mats, and link to place to buy similar-to-Z mats. Lots of paint involved, and probably overall a solid extra 7 days of labor, but... Probably the right thing to do.

The grill mat thing came. here are some first impressions: It is, in fact, very thin. Kind of like a sheet of thicker paper, but definitely not as thick as yardstick. It feels very tough. I think a carpet snap attached this would not pull out/tear away The pattern, if you could call it a pattern, is very very subtle. It has a very slight sheen though, it is not a fully flat black I think it's going to be good, but I have a new idea I'm going to use instead of putting this in front. I'm going to remove the cardboard-like backing that came with the firewall piece, glue this to it to make it much stronger, glue the jute to the back of this, and then glue the jute directly to the firewall. That way, I think it will look very original, but will have some extra toughness which will hopefully prevent the carpet from pulling it to pieces.

I have a 1970 240Z which has some unoriginality to it. In other words: PO(s) did a lot of work to the car, including stuff like disconnecting the wiper fluid pump, etc. Anybody know what this single-wire connector might have run to? It's on the firewall side, just before the main cable bundle goes through the firewall to the cabin, and before the (I believe) windshield wiper motor wires split off. I can't make it out on the Engine Compartment Harness diagram in the FSM.

So… I spoke too soon about rust under the tar. For whatever reason in this car the driver side has less rust than the passenger side. On the right side, in the seat riser area, there is some rust. I trimmed away the edges of the tar along the front seat riser and for the most part the rust only extends back 1/8 inch into the tar. Deeper around the hump. I also chipped some more off near the outer rear seat attachment and there was more rust under that (all light surface rust). I suspect more under there somewhere. Recommendations? Strip off ALL the tar on the car, assuming there is more? Strip just this right side tar? After sealing the rust, would you try to remake tar as replacement? Just lay down some kind of rubber material that can be cut to match the same pattern? BTW, some of the brown in the photos is not rust, but residue from where a PO glued down carpet to every surface in the car.

I think I found a better choice: https://www.amazon.com/CHERAINTI-Grill-Mat-Non-Stick-Resistant/ 16" x 70" (firewall insulator pad is about 15.5" x 52.75"), and looks very thin. Described as 0.2mm (seems off, but...). Good for up to 500 degrees and looks pretty tough. $15. I'll take some pictures when it is installed.