mdbrandy

I've watched BTTF probably 5 times and never seen it. I was watching Fletch the other day (Chevy Chase), and I believe there is a 280Z on the highway that Chevy roars past in an Alpha Romeo during a chase scene. Only on screen for a second, and it was on network so I couldn't rewind to confirm...

Ok, so who made them for you?

Oops. It's right near the beginning, so don't miss the first few minutes.

Yup. Nice series one 240 - vents on the hatch, but they had removed all the badging from the car. Probably didn't want to pay Nissan royalties!

It wasn't as good as I hoped. They're raceing a matchbox against a real car (by gravity, down a 1/4 mile). They were working with a 280Z during early design, but then the FOOLS switched to a Viper for the actual race :surprised

There's what appears to be a '75 or '76 280Z on mythbusters on discovery channel right now (8:06 Central).

That's for sure! I haven't worked on my 240Z for a while, but the last time I was doing some welding on her was on the rear dogleg underneath the rocker panel (rocker removed). I was doing my best to figure out what the original panel arrangement looked like, so I could exorsize the rust demon and rebuild the panels in their original configurations. There must be six different panels coming together at the rear dogleg/wheelwell/floorpanel juncture. Kind of tough to figure out from just the fiche! A "panel map" would be a godsend!

Tomo, I'm not quite sure what you're seeing, but I'm worried for your car. The inner wheel well (metal) should keep you from "seeing through to the road" from the inside quarter. Having said that, I had the exact same experience with my '75 280Z. Remove the inner plastic panel on the drivers side rear, and you could see all the way to the road. But that is not because Datsun messed up. The inner wheel well had rusted completely away, and separated from the rear quarter! So if you can see the road in this area (other than through small holes like the antenna drain), then yours must be rusted away too.

And some of us enjoy the intellectual exercise. I love to drive my Z. I also enjoy studying it's history, and debating unknown things about Z cars. Who cares if we never learn the whole story of this car. If we don't ask the questions, we definately will never know! As with many things in life, if you don't ask, you don't get. Sometimes you don't get anyway, but it doesn't hurt to try. Bottom line: there are lots of other threads to read. All our discussions are Z related. Don't complain.

I bought a repro firewall insulator from Classic Datsun Motorsports. Not Nissan original, but after the car is back together, I suspect no one will be able to tell.

I had to remove louvers from my '78 because the rear hatch is leaking (still havn't quite figured that one out). Mine were double-sided-tape attached. They came up pretty easily after all those years with a putty knife, and then I had to use some solvent to get the residue off the class. Worse, however, was where the metal had been slipped under the rubber seal, there was a nice gap left after I removed the metal. I sealed the gap up with a flowing glass sealer, but I still have a slight leak from somewhere.

I don't know if Japanese models had fuel tank vapor collection tanks or not, but the 1969 production US cars didn't (at least mine and 26th-Z's don't), 1/70 production and later cars do. Since the gas tank is there, that might help date it if so.

No, I believe all US model 240Z's had air pumps. And yes, '70's had them.

The VR is definately internal on a '78. Low voltage will certainly mess with the FI and cause things to act wierd. But if you had the alternator tested, didn't they test the voltage too?

OK. the backing plates are definately different. The spring setup is different. The 240 cylinders "clip" to the backing plate in a sliding setup, where the late 280 cylinders have 2 bolts that bolt them to the backing plate. A late 280 cylinder will definately not work on a 240 backing plate. Now, having said all that, I'm going off my early 240 versus a late 280. If memory serves, late 240 and early 280 setups may be the same. But the cheap cylinders are the late 280 ones.

Who are you asking?

My 280z is also a CA car. It has the floor temperature light and sensor, and has a catalytic converter. It has no V in the VIN on any of the car number plates. I don't have the original paperwork. It was purchased near San Francisco (I am the 2nd owner - the first owner bought it new and kept it until 2 years ago when I bought it).

yes, but Red-eye brought up a question about the hatch vents, so I answered it.

There are several pieces to those vents. The exterior plastic grills can still be found reasonably easily NOS (new-old stock). Then there are the plastic tube/ducts inside the hatch that mate up to those grills. Those are much harder to find NOS, but it can be done. Used is easier. Then, there are clips that go over the pins on the grills, and hold the ducts to the grills, sandwiching the hatch metal between them. Those, I have NOT been successful in obtaining NOS. I also have not been able to obtain them used, but I haven't looked too hard. Anyone have 4 hatch vent clips to sell?

I do not believe that is a replaceable U-joint. WAY back in the late '70s, I was trying to get rid of shimmy on my '71 240Z, and thought that joint was sloppy. Even back then, the best I could do was grab one off a parts car that looked better. I actually found an entire NOS assembly with that U-joint last year on e-bay. Going into my 240Z restoration now... Oh, and BTW, on my '71 all those years ago - it wasn't the problem...

I believe you are looking at the sealing strips that run UNDER the fender from up near the inspection lids down toward the headlight buckets. It is a seal that seals off the air channels that are under the fender. I don't have much experience with them, and when I took my 240Z apart they were missing, but they are shown in the parts diagrams. You can't see them without removing the fenders.

I saw an interview with the manager/owner of that $6.00 per gallon GA station. He was telling the interviewer that he did it because he wanted to slow down the sales of gas from his store because he didn't want to run out. He priced it high to drive people away, he said. The interviewer was skeptical, as you might imagine....

Just be careful with the heat. I just replaced the pinion oil seal on the diff on my 280Z, and it is only a couple inches in down a shaft from the flange that those nuts are on. You DON'T want to melt it. The bolts are special - the heads are flat on one edge so that they don't rotate on the back as you try to take the nuts off/ put them on. And the nuts have a nice flat built-in washer on them. Probably best to use what is supposed to be there.

Wrong, wrong, wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong,wrong, etc. I own both now, and I have owned both in the past. My 240's are/were great. My 280's are/were also great. If I had to pick one as a daily driver again, I'd pick the 280z. Lose a little speed and agility, but keep the fun as well as a little more refined ride, the wonderful fuel injection, a bit more safety (more sheet metal), etc. Now I have both so I don't have to choose. The are both very similar, great versions of the same car. They are definately not "completely different". That's just silly. Move on to the 280ZX, and then I'll agree with you. :mad:

Part of it depends on how far you're going to go. You can replace the strut cartridges without actually removing the strut from the car. if you do that, then replacing the front strut bearings would be reasonable, and not too expensive. You should also be prepared to replace the bump stops at the top seat that keep the strut cartridge from bottoming out on metal at full compression. Past that, if you haven't removed the strut, there isn't too much more to do. If you remove the strut, then you can get into bushings, ball joints, tie rod ends, wheel bearings, etc, etc., etc., ....