mdbrandy

Oh, and it has the latch on the gas tank door, which is indicative of early cars, but I don't remember when it changed.

Uhh, I'm pretty sure that the original '70 Z's HAD the cutouts in the spokes, and that they started being filled in in '71. My 11/69 HAS the cutouts. The transition from the 2400 valve cover to OHC occurred in late '70 I think as well. My guess is that if it is a '70 model, it is very late, and is a transition car that has parts from both years. Either that, or it is an early '71 that has a few features of the '70. OR, it was in an accident, and the hatch and rear quarters were replaced. Doesn't explain the valve cover, though. Could be a lot of things...

Sounds good. Like I said, right now a week is nothing to me :classic: I'm in the first month of what is undoubtedly a year+ long project just to get it back on the road. And as we know, a lifelong project after that...

I'm planning to do things as right as I can on this car, so I'd rather restore it than cover it. For $450 or so, I can probably swing it. If you can get any first-hand impressions of their facility/work/etc., that'd be great. Sounds like more than just me might be interested. My first order of business, though is rust repair. No sense sinking a bunch of money into other stuff until I'm 100% sure that the body can be correctly fixed . Thanks for any info you come up with.

You're right, Bambi. I hadn't noticed that. I just went out and looked, and it certainly does say E46. And in fact, if you look in the parts microfiche, the only balance tube listed from inception through 8/72 is part number 14008-E4601. Must be where the E46 comes from. In the fiche, however, there is a plug shown where the brake Mastervac vacuum connector is on my car. I don't see that fitting anywhere in the fiche yet. I'll look in the brake section next. Yup - the variation seems to be in the brake fittings. The parts fiche lists 11 different parts for the vacuum fitting with the first change on 4/70. There are a bunch of hose combinations too. Looks like one balance tube, but different combinations of fittings and hoses for the MasterVac connection to the balance tube.

When I used to drive between Los Angeles and Central Illinois a couple times a year in my 280Z, one of my favorite tapes (no CDs in 1985) was REO Speedwagon's Double Live album "You Get What You Play For".

That's good to know, but the issue seems to be (given my limited knowledge so far) only with really early series I 240Z's. I gather they moved the differential back a little sometime during the beginning of the series 2 cars so anything in 1971 or 72 will be different from my 11/69 production car. However, what I don't know, is maybe the drive shaft and differential are positioned in each of them such that the 5 speeds will work in either version (i.e., I'm thinking that maybe the drive shafts are different lengths and they end up at the same position at the end of the transmission. Don't know. ) Anyway, thanks for the input.

Thanks for the link - I've read that one, as well as some info on Zhome.com. What I'm mostly worried about is what problems I might run into due to the fact that my car is about as early as you can get, and much of the information available alludes to potential problems with really early cars and the swap, but I haven't heard from anyone that has actually done it. I think I'd like to just swap the tranny and not the shaft/differential, and most of the info is for swapping the whole driveline. Anyway, I'm still reading and searching, and a long way from actually doing it. :cross-eye :classic:

Thanks for the link and the advice. I've never done business overseas, but I'm also not in a hurry right now (my daily driver is a boring Camry - the Z will take as long as it takes). I'll read the thread and talk to the guys "down under".

Another close-up view that has the back end of the balance tube. (Oh, and just to be clear, I'm not offering it up - just thought the pics might be useful :classic: )

I couldn't find a really good picture, but my US 11/69 car has the brake vacuum out the back of the balance tube. There are some emission fittings on the tube, though, that the PO has hacked at. The air pump is missing from the car. Pic attached if it does you any good.

Hey now, the only closet I'm still in is the one holding all the Z books and catalogs! Some of us family dudes need cars that hold more than 2 to go along with our Z addictions :classic: . And that supposedly are "reliable". At least I got the 192HP V6 and the 5 speed in my Camry... too bad about the nasty torque-steer when powering through a corner, though.

I'm looking at a full dash cover for my 11/69 car, but I'm worried that it won't have some of the unique details that the very early dashes have. I can't justify $800+ for a real restore, but $450 with shipping might be doable. I haven't been able to find the post you're talking about from Mike - has anyone had experience with this place in AU? Especially anyone here in the US?

Yup, it's #215. I'm looking forward to restoring it as much as I can. It has some pretty serious floor/frame rust issues, but most of that can be fixed with Charlie Osborne's stuff. It's amazing how simple these early cars are. I've probably only spent 20 hours stripping it so far, and in another 20 it'll be nothing but the rolling shell. And that includes taking hundreds of pictures, bagging every bolt and grommet as I take it off, etc.

In case you're interested, the interior of the car is pretty much stripped right now, and looks like the attached photo.

The attached picture is of the grommet on the passenger footwell kickpanel where the cowl drain hose goes through. The drain hose has been removed. It was just loosely glued in place. I'd like to remove this grommet, since as you can see, there is a bit 'O rust on the firewall right beside it that will need to be fixed, and I suspect welding that close wouldn't do it any good. I've poked, prodded, pulled, etc. at it, and it isn't apparent to me how it is attached. It doesn't feel like how the firewall grommets just have a groove that the sheet metal fits in. I've felt around inside the opening, and I actually can't feel a definate edge on the inside, so I'm a little baffled. Any ideas? If I removed the fender, can I see this grommet from the other side? Thanks.

I just went out and crawled under my car to see what the slave cylinder connection size is. You're right - 17mm seems a little loose. However, I have a 16mm wrench (spanner), and it is too small! I tried 5/8 inch too, and it is too small. So, best guess is that it is a 17mm fitting, but since it is thin, it feels loose in a regular wrench. Usually, it's a good idea to use flare wrenches on this type of fitting, but mine only go to 14mm. I have to take it off soon anyway (I'm going to lift the engine/tranny within the month), so it's good to know :classic: . Anyway, that's my 2 cents. My car is an 11/69 240Z, but I know the tranny isn't original.

I'm just starting my restoration, and if I can make mine look HALF as nice as yours (in a stock sort of way), I'll be happy that I did a good job!

Rats! :stupid: You are of course correct. I missed 15/16, and then, in fact, I missed that I had switched to every 1/8 after 1 inch and was still only adding 1/16! (I don't think you'll see 1/16 increments after 1 inch anyway). So, I think I have the table right this time. Unfortunately, I can't figure out how to make a good table right now. I tried saving some HTML code to make the table, but it made the post too long. Oh well, probably not that important. Thanks for catching my mistake! Oh, and metric is MUCH better than SAE/imperial, but I'm a US-educated engineer, so I was brought up with both.

I tried to download the first calculator and it wasn't available, but I put together a couple tables on a spreadsheet. The first gives the decimal inches equivalent for every metric size likely to be on a Z car. The second gives the "imperial" fraction in inches and it's decimal equivalent. Thus, for any imperial size you can look for a decimal equivalent in metric and see how close you are. As an example, look up 27mm and see that it is between 1 and 1 1/8 inches, or 19mm is very close to 3/4 inches, but is a little bigger, so a 3/4 socket probably won't work for 19mm, but just barely. If you have a sloppy 6 point 3/4 inch socket, it might work. Anyway, hope this is helpful. :classic: mm inches 4 0.1575 4.5 0.1772 5 0.1969 5.5 0.2165 6 0.2362 7 0.2756 8 0.3150 9 0.3543 10 0.3937 11 0.4331 12 0.4724 13 0.5118 14 0.5512 15 0.5906 16 0.6299 17 0.6693 18 0.7087 19 0.7480 20 0.7874 21 0.8268 22 0.8661 23 0.9055 24 0.9449 25 0.9843 26 1.0236 27 1.0630 inches (fraction) inches (decimal) 1/4 0.2500 5/16 0.3125 3/8 0.3750 7/16 0.4375 1/2 0.5000 9/16 0.5625 5/8 0.6250 11/16 0.6875 3/4 0.7500 13/16 0.8125 7/8 0.8750 15/16 0.9375 1 1.0000 1 1/8 1.1250 1 1/4 1.2500 1 3/8 1.3750 1 1/2 1.5000

All the fasteners on a Z are metric unless they've been replaced by someone (like some that I've found while stripping down my car this week). Anything with a fraction (i.e., 11/16) will be "imperial" in inches. All the metric ones will be even millimeters (although I think I've seen some of the really little ones, like 4.5mm be in half mm). A few of the metric/imperial sizes are pretty close, like 13mm and 1/2 inch. You can convert by using 1 inch = 25.4 mm.

I don't actually go to zhome.com very often, but I get their list digest every day or so.

I spent 6 years in grad school at UCLA, one of my kids is a Santa Monica Native, and you COULDN'T PAY ME ENOUGH TO GO BACK THERE! I've spent some time in the San Francisco Bay area, and it's nicer, but I find that's where more of those "Fruits and Nuts" reside. Anyway, not all of us think CA is heaven, or anything close. Enjoy. I'll take the prairies.

My 11/69 240Z already doesn't have the original transmission, and the one in the car has a problem with reverse. In addition, the PO has hacked the transmission tunnel opening for the shifter already, so there is now more throw room toward the front. I have a '78 280Z with a 5-speed in my garage ready to raid for any appropriate parts, and since the tranny alreadyisn't original on the 240Z, I figure I might as well use the 5 speed out of the 280Z. My question is if there are any other mods that would be needed to put this 5 speed into the 240Z. I know it'll bolt up to the engine fine, but is there any problem with driveshaft length, etc? I though about transplanting the entire drivetrain from transmission back, but I don't think I want to go that far. Thanks.

I tried to get a screen shot, but it wouldn't work. From what little you can see, it is a big-bumper model, but looks to have the smooth bumper ends, so is probably a late 260 or early 280.