26th-Z

Make sure you eat enough vegetables or all that rice will make you funny in the head. If you think that wing makes the car fast look at how the doors got blown off! ROFL

Spray paint white and wash the car with Comet or Soft Scrub and soon the paint will be smooth and even and lovely. Touch up bare spots with more white. Rattle cans work best for the 50/50 rule.

Welcome to mid life! Now you can do just about anything, but you know more about it!!! At the bottom of the "POST REPLY" window is a highlighted "attach file:" box with a browse button. Hit browse and find your picture or address and insert it there. File size is limited so beware of how large the image size is and adjust it accordingly. Good luck finding a new Zed to play with. I'm taking mine all apart.

I found this cable in my car and wonder what it is. The cable goes over the top of the passenger wheel arch and down into the dog leg. That end is just the cut end of the cable, but finished so that it won't fray. The eye loop is woven ito the cable. Was this used to pull the wiring harness over the wheel arch? Anyone seen one of these?

Alan, Do you find that color "anthracite" to be consistant with all the accessory trim on the car? Hubcaps, tail light valance, grill?

The U-joint casting will have a grease nipple if it is meant to be serviced. Check each joint in the drive and half shafts and you should see a small grease nipple from the + piece between the shaft yokes. Clean it off and use a common grease gun to apply grease, rotating the shaft to get the best clearance on the nipple. I'm sure we could get into a rauchous converstation about what kind of grease to use, but any common suspension grease will do. Once filled, the grease will start coming out of the four ends of the u-joint. Wipe it all down nice and clean or the grease will spin off and on to your car. If you don't find a grease fitting, it could be missing; look for a hole, the u-joint was not meant to be serviced. I have used both types and can't report any longevity difference. I seem to go through half shafts so often, I bought a spare set of shafts. You will notice the joints going bad by clicking from the axle shafts when you start out in first gear. Very, very slowly let out the clutch with no throttle until the car just begins to roll. You will hear perhaps a series of clicks as each u-joint reacts to the torque. Loud, noticable clicks are bad and mean the joint needs to be replaced.

Just read a thread on IZCC and thought I would pass it along. Recommends http://wheeltechniques.com/ and warns against Wheels America He had a Momo wheel done.

Very good conversation, guys. Everyone loves to look at those photographs. I did not know that the bulkhead pressings came solid. The workmanship on the conversion looks pretty good IMHO. Liners for those boxes are on sale at this very moment http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&category=42612&item=2432492871 If I were you, I'ld do both arrangements.

I plan to send my wheels to a repair shop, but have not begun to find one. I typically see them advertised in automotive magazines. A friend of mine took a big chunk out of his treasured rim and it came back perfect. Wheel repair shops typically strip the wheel, repair it, align it, and refinish it. I would expect to pay $100 - $200 a wheel - about the price of a new set of rims. But they WILL be new. Center caps vary from rim specie to rim specie. Carefully measure the diameter and look for a cap by size. Most simply press fit in.

I went to the German Grand Prix a couple years ago and I have been to the French Grand Prix many years ago. Take every opportunity to see this spectacle of motor racing. I know all the comments - it's boring, Bernie is a jerk, no American drivers, etc., but you just have to see a race to appreciate how crazy the Europeans are about the sport. We get kind of spoiled in America with so many different forms of motor racing. F1 is a serious big deal everywhere else. It is serious big bucks and the technology involved is beyond comprehension. I will get to an F1 race at Indy - some one of these days. I'm jealous of all of you who go. Take pictures! PS - Budweiser is sponsoring BMW Williams now, and should put on the ritz for this year's race.

Better shot of my rear deck and bulkhead

Harry, Are you looking for new "D" hubcaps? The last new ones I saw went for $150 each on eBay. And I assume they were new - just two of them. I think it is time to consider re-chrome as good condition hubcaps seem to be extremely rare. Wheels like my aluminum slotted mags go for around $150 a set and are common. Nicely polished, they are stunning. Consider sending a set to a wheel recondition / repair shop.

Thanks - that works. I think I can get these locally.

Kmack, The Ziex site shows them discontinued.

I'm curious. How heavy is that shell? How many guys to lift it?

I was visiting some of my Z buddies a couple of weekends ago and the discussion came around to finding and buying parts. They contend, as do I, that the 240 Z is a collectable classic by all understanding at this time and that there is an urgency to obtain what is available as soon as possible. There are too many people out there looking for parts. The supply is limited. Many, many new parts don't exist any more. The time frame searching for a particular piece can be long. Although I contend that anything for the Z can still be found, the probablility is declining. Look at what people are paying on eBay. This is a money talks, first come, first served market. No doubt. As I tell my father, "If you don't want to buy it at the stated price, move over and let the five people behind you argue over it". Asking someone to hold something is ludicrous. My best deals involve money transfers within hours of the original posting. You gotta drop everything else you are doing and go get the stuff or it is going to be gone. Ya snooze, ya loose. That's just the way it is.

I forgot about the picture a couple of threads up. Your car and a couple of others has me convinced that early cars came equipped with strange combinations of pieces not commonly found as an "American Import" version. Our fuel recovery discussion is a good case in point. I had a hand throttle in an Alfa Romeo years ago and it was quite handy. I would love to equip my car with the hand throttle and fill in that extra space on the console. My trip to re-chrome land has been the education let me tell you. Start talking to some of these businesses and you will get the picture. There is a copper plate layer, a nickle plate layer and a chrome layer involved and all with nit-picking buffing and polishing and filling. They can take dents out too. Seems money is the key factor and you get what you pay for. I haven't decided what to do. I'm still "interviewing"! The new vents will work, of course. It all depends on how "original" you want to present your car. Serious Z "purists" will recognize the difference and you will get points for having the original as opposed to everyone else who will think you are way cool just for having a clean Z. I'm in the middle of another road of research. Plastics molding and casting. EVERYONE has broken or missing plastic pieces. My radio face plate is damaged and I have been given the big good luck from several people. From what I am learning, molds can be made from original pieces - repaired with modeling clay - and cast in plastic resins. "Rubber" can be cast also. I may consider casting at least the flanges for the vent pieces. I just ordered some chemicals for new radio face plates. Stay tuned.

You may have a broken switch. It should stay down until the steering wheel rotates back.

Can't bear the thought of drilling a hole in your car? You can patch a hole. Buy an extra set of headlight buckets. I don't know who MSA is kidding...tape. Who wants to make me a great deal and sell me a set of Nissan chrome ringed headlight covers?

Hey y y Nice. Congratulations

I have been collecting parts - and searching - and looking, as you know. I have accumulated a bunch of stuff. The whole process of collecting parts before I started on the car has yielded several different directions of my restoration plan and many, many considerations I didn't think of. What do I want my car to look like when I'm finished? What parts should I buy? Should I buy new or restore? What will I need? And the big one, are the parts still available? You are dealing with a couple of issues, Mark. The hand throttle was really not a standard issue piece for your car, but it can be easily argued that it came equipped with the extra throttle. American laws restrict the throttle device as a safety issue, and indeed that throttle could get you into a lot of trouble real fast. It does make for a uniqueness and contributes to what you want your car to look like. Because the device is not native to America, you will have best luck looking overseas for the knob. Our AU and UK members will be able to help best probably, but Chloe has good contacts. I think bumper parts are all over the place. You just have to look around. And here comes the real discriminating part. Those two big pieces of shiny chrome hanging off the ends of your car make a big difference in appearance. You really have to decide what you want your car to look like when it comes to bumpers. For me, after I spend all this time and effort (and $$$$), I want the chrome to look brand new. There are plenty of places around to rechrome for you. Do a web search "chrome restoration". You send them the piece. They look it over and discuss what needs to be done - price, and you either have it done or send it back. Chrome shops are EXPENSIVE and it is still cheaper to buy new pieces rather than rechrome, however, we are not talking about equal chrome. The original piece is very inexpensive chrome. It rusts through. It fades and thins through. And it scratches easily. In terms of time, the Nissan piece has probably 20 minutes in a chrome tank where a rechrome piece is going to have and hour or more. The rechrome will be thicker, have a higher luster, it won't rust through or thin, and scratches can be polished. You get what you pay for. Rechrome shops actually restore the piece including filling and dent removal. You can expect a used left rear guard to have chrome damage from the exhaust. Probably all used bumper pieces have rust inside. OSPHO will take the inside rust off, but the bumpers just turn to crap over time. I think rechroming is a good idea. Listening to the chrome and restoration people, all chrome shops are not the same. Take some time to educate yourself on the plating process. Like painting, the prep work is critical so ask a lot of questions about how the most particular detail is going to be repaired / filled, what plating process is done, what mil thickness of plating each layer is applied, so forth. I was recommended "Paul's Chrome Plating" in PN www.paulschrome.com and they want $75 - $125 for each guard and around $550 for the bumper bar. That's probably the highest price for the highest quality. I found a place as close as Bradenton, them some places in Miami. You will find a couple of places in Ohio and I'll bet there is a place within 200 miles of you. I even found a do-it-yourself kit for $675 - five gallons. I'll have to send you a picture of my one surviving air duct. I'll bet mine is worse than yours! Do you still have the mounting rings? As long as I have looked, I have not found the early series. Now as soon as I say this they will pop up on eBay for $80,000..... I was just planning to creatively adapt the later style and this gives me another idea for my research with plastics molding. GE Silicon seal (black) is great for glueing the duct in place. It will seal it too.

I have been doing a little research on this subject and buy a bunch of stuff from http://www.carcareonline.com/ EScanlon makes a good point about the rubber flexing. Rubber needs to flex or it will "dry rot". The chaulk you are talking about, Mark, is dry rot. Turns out, silicon oil and formaldyhide are the two worst things you can put on rubber, or vinyl for that matter. Petrolium products will turn rubber to thick jelly. Most nationally advertised / marketed products contain at least silicon oil. Vinyl materials develop white spots because of silicon oil and rubber dries unevenly because of the stuff. Go to this website - Car Care Specialties, Inc. - and read what this guy has to say. Do some web searches for "rubber restoration" and "vinyl restoration" and you will find similar discussions. A product called "Black Again" is very controversial and may be worth a try. Evidently, it is not the same formula as everyone loved years ago, but try 3M products, One Grand products, and Mequiar's products. Take the rubber off. Clean it up real well with soap and water and soak it with something like "One Grand Exterior Rubber and Vinyl". While it is still dripping wet, put it in a ziplock bag and spray some more in the bag for good measure. Seal the bag up and let it sit for a week. Let me know what you think.

I have two indents on the dash - typical early series - and one indent has the hazard flasher switch. The upper indent is just closed off, but has the frame for another switch behind it. I also have provision for a hand throttle next to the choke. My console has two switch locations with cover plates - one for the rear glass demister, and the other for fog lamps - as the icon images indicate. The plastic tool lids are not the same size BTW. I would love to see a chassis with both tool doors and lids. What say you 240znz?

This is the best shot I have of my deck. The rear deck wall with the tool lid tabs is just below and out of the picture. But, you can see my rear deck has simple cutouts and no tool doors. I sent some photos of the tabs to mdbrandy some time ago, but must have erased them. What does yours look like?

I would love to see a photograph of the tool doors in the rear deck AND tabs for the tool lids. Fascinating. Better yet, install the tool lids AND THEN take a picture. Now THAT'S rare! Congrats.