26th-Z

Hello Carl, I think you have it described very well. The "INSULATOR" is what we are calling tar mat. It is thick (2mm) tar-paper adhered to bare metal covering the floor, tunnel, and I have seen it on the rear deck (HLS30-00332). I have new "INSULATOR" material and it is flexible, but will not fold as it is impregnated with a fibrous filler. I suspect the tar mat will adhere to the floor with a heat gun application. It was used for sound insulation. I understand the 432-R did not have this material for weight reasons, Alan? Kats' jute pictures show a light brown fibrous "JUTE" mat. I think our old stuff was soaked in a solution that leaves it "sticky" and dark (see my tunnel jute picture), but it is very fibrous almost like a horse hair material. Old Porsche jute is very similar. The jute covers the floors, tunnel, and rear deck. Now here is where it gets a little strange. I understand that the stock original 240Z import came with "rubber" floor and rear deck mats. See my picture of the rear deck mat. It has a leather texture, 2mm thick foam composite vinyl. Mdbrandy's picture looks like the floor mats, but I need to confirm. The tunnel was covered with diamond patterned interior vinyl, contact cemented to the jute which was contact cemented to the tar mat. The floors and deck were loose laid and the rubber mats were either snap fitted or Velcro fitted. My car has both. Evidently, rubber mats were not a big hit in America and carpeting is very common. The Japanese version ZL came with carpeting in place of the rubber mats. Take a look at your materials closely. It sounds to me as though you have two layers of jute. This picture shows the tunnel jute removed and the tunnel tar mat remaining with remnants of the dark brown jute fiber and yellow contact cement. Notice some of the tar mat (brittle from age) chipped off next to the seat mount revealing bare metal.

Of course, you could always do something like this

This is Tricky Garage where Her Majesty the 26th lives.

Just great, kats! Of course the woman in the photograph is beautiful. I thought all Japanese women were beautiful! The radio / cassette is probably what we call 8-track. I have seen one of those. I have the service manuals from an OKINAWA car. They list a print date of 8/70. Also, the car is in Tampa and I can look at it from time to time if you have questions. I want to tell you that I have several early service manuals and the OKINAWA set is different. The paper is different and the covers have textured paper. By the way, kats. I tried to reply to your gas cap question. the first caps listed in the parts fiche 17251-E4101 do not have chains, the the next listing -E4102 says "with chain". No date of application is given.

Nice gas cap, kats! My gas cap has no chain. The parts fiche lists the gas cap 17251-E4101 and five supesede numbers. 17251-E4102 is listed with chain but no application date. The first supersede number to list an application 4/72 date is -E8800. It is quite possible an early build date of 3/70 would have a cap with no chain. I personally do not like the chain because the cap may scratch the paint.

kats, My gas cap does not have a chain. However, it has grips on top of the cap and this is very convenient for my fat fingers! My parts fiche lists 17251-E4101 as the original gas cap. The supesede number 17251-E4102 describes the cap with chain and four later numbers all describe the cap with chain. The first date associated with the third cap upgrade is 4/72. I personally do not like the chain because the cap could scratch the paint. I think you have the option to decide depending on the date of your car. Clearly the first caps came without the chain but it was added quickly. It is quite possible a 3/70 build date would not have a gas cap chain.

And the leather texture

This is the rubber deck mat from my car. The material for the rocker panels is the same. This is a composit foam vinyl with an solid inner skin and a thicker textured outer skin. Very thin, I would guess it is 2mm

It took me a while, kats. Here is a photo of my original jute for the tunnel.

Just sent you a PM

IMSA is kind of alive in the American LeMans Series - ALMS. I just saw the 1000km, ten hour race at Road Atlanta in October. Audi is king at the moment with their R8's. The Sebring 12 hour race is also an ALMS race and I saw the LeMans winning Bentley last spring in their only American appearance. One of the things I have liked about ALMS is their "Meet the Drivers" venue the day before the race. I talked with Geoff a bit last fall. Bob Tullius keeps his collection of Group 44 cars in a hanger at Sebring and will show his cars by appointment. The Nissan GTP car is just beautiful and I miss it as I miss many of the other cars of my younger days. I don't feel very old, but lets face it. Her Majesty the 26th is celebrating her 34th birthday this month!

Yea Marty, I haven't seen them in a long time. I was talking to Les Canaday a couple of weeks ago about the rubber material. He says he can get close to the texture with sheet material he has. Might call him at Classic Datsun. I also want to note that the rocker side rubber is slightly molded to conform to the chassis shape, especially near the seat belt mount.

Ok guys, We are talking about three different things! Kats, your mat is carpet with a clear backing. My mat is simply rubber - light grey, leather texture. Marty, AMCO is an aftermarket company and sold floor mats to protect the carpeting.

Marty, I'm working on a jute source, and currently waiting for a sample. Kats, Yes, that is the shape of the rear deck mat.

Alan, I have the rear deck mat and was going to make photographs this weekend. I would love photographs of the floor mats and now kats has piqued my interest for the finish of the floor behind the seat and up to the rear bulkhead. I know all the early cars in my vicinity have carpeting mixed with side rubber and deck rubber. It is common to see carpeting over the rear deck rubber as in my car. I understand the floor mats are held in place with snap grommets and I have them in the old firewall insulation. I don't think an 'L' version was available in the early days of American importation. I know my car was pre-purchased immediately after the New York Auto Show and would have been a "here's what you bought" version! I must retrieve the sales literature from the safe deposit box and see if any of the photographs show that detailed an interior finish. Personally, I'm going to finish the car with carpeting as kats has done, keeping the rubber side rocker mats. They are glued in place. Thanks for the pictures of the 432-R. After looking at them, I have a million questions / observations for future discussions.

Ask Chloe.

Kats, Alan, I have "rubber" side sill trim and rear deck mat remaining from original. Leather texture. The rubber floor mats, if original, were replaced with carpeting long ago. I have never seen rubber floor mats, but I understand the driver mat had the Datsun logo pressed into the surface texture. Nice tunnel insulation, kats. I plan to cut new material from that pattern. My old material is indeed "soaked" in a tacky, sticky substance.

I had to go looking for it. Here is the link discussing the differences between Series One and Two cars. http://zhome.com/History/New71Late.htm

And further more.... a build date of 7/70 would indicate a Series 1 car. Datsun did not implement design or production changes based on Model year, but rather Calendar year during this period. Your car should exhibit all the characteristics of what we refer to as a "Series One" car.

Nissan specifically does NOT recommend removal of the cam towers for reasons of the cam bore alignment. If you surface the head or repair a warped head by surfacing, the cam tower alignment will need to be adjusted. Shims are available to raise the towers to the proper height after surfacing. Goodson Tools and Supplies #DHS-60 Head Saver Shims. You may have bronze intake valve seats and want to replace them to run unleaded gasoline. A 45 1/2 degree cut is specified for the valve face. Be sure to check for the correct margin on the valve - 0.4mm+ and 0.8mm for intake and exhaust respectively. The valve seat is cut at 30 degrees, 45 degrees, and 60 degrees top to bottom. The 45 degree cut corresponds to the valve face angle. The manuals I have discuss all of this over several pages. Aside from the Datsun engine manual, a really good source of info is "How to Rebuild Your Nissan and Datsun OHC Engine"; Tom Monroe, 1998, 2001

I only have the original jute on the tunnel. It was glued to the tunnel and then sprayed with contact adheasive for the vinyl covering. Thus the sticky nature? However, my jute is very dark brown and the solution mentioned could very well be the explanation of color. Too bad we can't all get together and compare! Many, many thanks kats. I saved all your photographs for reference. I believe you have researched the "correct" jute and carpet. I will make a point of looking at the early cars I have access to and reply to this post with my findings.

Kats, Did you make tracings of the patterns? I removed the jute padding from my tunnel and traced a pattern. This is very interesting. Does the jute cover the rear bulkhead? Is the jute exposed under the tool lids. or does this have carpet also? Your car is looking great!

I bought a used one browsing on Amazon.