davewormald

Is the Exedy clutch kit this one? The page doesn't give much detail. I'm confident that this one on eBay is the correct one because the part numbers match yours. I need to order the same thing for my 04/71 car. I'm willing to pay the extra $20 to make sure I get the correct one, but won't if I don't have to!

Looks like there are owls in my cylinder head. What did you use to clean off the fender supports (or whatever they're called)? I spent hours cleaning the dealer undercoating off the insides of the wheel wells. The metal underneath most of it was beautiful, but it was quite a job. I used everything I could think of, including kerosene, wire wheels, a heat gun and scraper, sandpaper, a grinder, etc. Sent from my SM-S908W using Tapatalk

This is what I love about this forum. Experts helping experts. None of the usual online nonsense. The car and I are feeling well looked after. Thanks guys! Sent from my SM-S908W using Tapatalk

Good reminder. That's actually the only key to the car. I should get more made! Sent from my SM-S908W using Tapatalk

Did I neglect to mention the neglect? I was actually pretty good with routine maintenance of the old Datsuns, although this one didn't get a tune-up for a long time toward the end. For those who weren't there, I commented to Chis the other day that I had a 2003 Mini Cooper S (great car) prior to my current 2013 model. Mini's recommended oil change interval was 25,000 km. The on-board computer adjusted that distance based on driving patterns. I was driving 150km per day on highways at the time. The longest interval the computer got to was 42,000 km. Mini dialed back their recommendation to 15,000 km (or two years) on the new models, but rumour has it that they only did it because of blowback from their service departments and garages that were appalled by the original recommendations. I'm sure synthetic oil, better filters, tighter tolerances, etc, have a lot to do with these variations. I drive a lot less these days, and do a lot more oil changes. I suspect I'll never see my car again if I don't agree to stay on top of this one. No need to worry. I don't plan to ever let this one go, so I'll behave!

It got plenty of those when I first picked it up in 1994! I remember a time just before I put it in the garage (1999?) for its long sleep when I was heading up Hwy 427 from the Gardiner Expressway. There was a guy right on my tail, so I dropped down a gear and floored it. It didn't impress him with its get up and go, but it caused him to wave his hand in front of his face to clear the smoke. It was soon "replaced" by an Infiniti J30. I had two young kids at the time, and the sedan made a lot more sense, but the engine was still fun. I'm looking forward to the first spirited drive of the car's new life next year. That will be you in the driver's seat, of course - I can do the boring break-in, if you want.

I occasionally ground coffee in cylinder 4. Is that bad?

I was the last one to adjust valve lash, so all bets are off!

Oh well. It's good to find these things early. I guess we'll soon know how bad a problem it is. I can't remember the exact details around the shifter, but Ken (who I bought the car from) had a Z with a very short shifter, that I really liked. I asked him about it and he said he'd change mine if I wanted. If I remember correctly, I didn't like the one he made for me, and by the time I went back to him to get the original back, it was gone (Ken's shop was an interesting place). I ended up with the one you've discovered (which I don't think I was all that fond of either).

You really don't mess around! Awesome to see the engine coming out. Were you able to do a compression test before pulling it? I did a couple two years ago, but didn't trust the results, which weren't consistent with each other. Can you tell whether that's the original clutch? It definitely looks to be at the end! I found quite a bit of the original marker paint when I started cleaning it up a few years ago. The car had clearly not had much done to it before I got it, and I didn't touch it. Before it started to deteriorate from lack of maintenance, the engine was really strong. Hopefully it soon will be again!

I had assumed that the seats were re-covered at some point before I bought the car, but I've never seen another Z with the same ones. If the cushions weren't shot, they'd be ok. They're more comfortable than vinyl! I asked in another thread at one point whether anyone knows why people cut the long nose off the air filter cover? I've seen some pictures on BaT that looked the same, but I'm not sure why people do it. Sent from my SM-S908W using Tapatalk

It would be interesting to see how much better it would run with just those vacuum leaks eliminated. It would be a lot of work just to find out, though. Sent from my SM-S908W using Tapatalk

I tried (carefully and briefly) to get the needles out of those a couple of years ago when I was first proving to myself that the engine would run after sitting for 20 years. I wasn't able to get them out, but I wasn't willing to damage them, because I wasn't sure whether either of the two sets in the replacement kit were the correct profile. I did spend some time looking for the filter for the banjo fitting, without any luck. I've tried again this morning, again with no luck. I'm assuming these are from my car, of course!

Yep, that was kind of mesmerizing.

So first I'd like to say how excited I am to have @grannyknot working on the car! I first joined this forum in 2020, and saw that he was one of the few local Ontario members, and one who had done some really cool projects. I hoped we'd be able to meet up at some point. This is even better! The "short" history of this car, as known by me, is that I bought it in 1994, from the late Ken Stahl, of Ken's Mostly British/The Z Doctor, who had purchased it in Georgia and trailered it to Ontario. I don't know anything about its history prior to that, though I'd like to. I'd had 1973, and 1972 240Zs back in the mid-80's and a 280ZX after that. I guess this one was an early mid-life crisis car. I drove it for about five years, winter(!) and summer while commuting 70km to my office in downtown Toronto. My lack of time and maintenance over those years resulted in the car becoming unreliable, and it was starting to rust, so I parked it in my garage for 20 years! During that time, I somehow managed not to think about it at all, until someone told me about the green Z that sold for $300k on BAT. Not that I'll ever sell the car, but it made me go and poke at it, which rekindled my old obsession. I'm no mechanic, but I was able to kick off the slow process of reviving it starting in 2020. I posted a couple of times about what I was doing in this forum: and The time I had available to work on the car evaporated last year when we decided to sell the house in the country (on 2.5 acres with a three car garage) that we'd lived in for more than 25 years. I've just moved to a condo we're renting for a year in Collingwood, Ontario. I finally had to admit to myself that I wouldn't be able to continue to work on the car in the condo's underground garage. As mentioned above, I was pretty excited when I messaged grannyknot on this forum and he said he was looking for a new project. Let the fun begin!

Seems Obvious. There. It had to be said.

Should this be in Knowledge Base/Electrical?

I thought I'd update this thread with my recent experience of removing the transmission and filler drain plugs from my 1971 240Z. I first used a 2' breaker bar with a 1/2" drive to make sure I could open the drain plug. That was easy. I left the drain plug in place while attempting to remove the filler plug (as recommended in this thread). I initially tried a 17mm wrench on the square filler plug. It was a reasonable fit, although very slightly loose. I heated the transmission case with a heat gun after a couple of failed tries. I tried pounding on the handle of the wrench with a rubber mallet to no avail. When I looked more closely, it became obvious that the transmission case metal around the plug was preventing the wrench from rotating, and this wasn't ever going to work. I also can't see how a pipe wrench or adjustable wrench would fit in the space available. I used a 12 point 13/16" socket, which gripped the square end of the plug quite nicely and had it out in a few seconds. It wasn't badly seized in place, but it felt like the fit was tight enough that you'd be able to pull pretty hard on it even if it was. The plug does seem to be pretty soft metal, though, so I'd be careful. I did try the closest sized 12 point metric sockets before using the 13/16", but none of them fit as well. Hopefully this will be helpful for the next person!

I can't find any reference to this anywhere in this forum. My car is an April 1971 240Z, so I believe the wheel cylinder is the early version. I'm cleaning up the rear brakes and reassembling the wheel cylinders. Inside the wheel cylinder is a spring (part 8 in the FSM diagram below). The diagram and associated text in the Haynes manual (which includes the same diagram) both indicate that the spring goes into the cylinder small end first. The exact text in the Haynes manual is "Insert the spring (narrow coil first) into the cylinder and then dip the piston in clean brake fluid and enter it into the cylinder. Fit the dust excluder and spring clip.". If this is the case, the spring would be loose inside the cylinder and, it seems to me, could end up turning sideways and getting trapped, rendering the brake useless. Should it not be installed the other way around, with the small end attached to the piston as shown in this photo (this is the one I haven't cleaned up yet) so it doesn't float around? Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures when I disassembled the cylinder, so I don't know how it was originally assembled. I'm also missing the dust excluder (part #2 in the diagram) for one side of the car. Any idea whether these can be obtained anywhere without buying the entire assembly? The inside of the drum assembly on that side was a real mess because it was missing.

I have HLS30-29817, which was also 04/71. It's in a state of disrepair/disassembly (that may be both chronic and permanent). As far as I know the interior is all original. Here are some pictures that I think cover your questions. Aside from the front floor mats and the carpet/jute for the hatch, I have the pieces shown, which I believe go behind/under the seats. If there were other pieces, I don't have them. Armrests are on both doors, but the pull is only on the passenger side.

Interesting thread. Like others, I've seen intermittent slow-loading on this site, and wondered whether it was just me. In my case, it's happens when I click on a thread (from a Forum or from Activity for example). Using Chrome, the circle will spin counter-clockwise (which I believe means the host name/IP address hasn't yet been resolved by the DNS server). If the circle stops spinning counter-clockwise, and starts spinning clockwise (address resolved), the page loads quickly enough. Often, but not always, if I click the link again while the circle is spinning backwards, the page loads instantly. I don't see general slowness on pages. For instance images load reasonably quickly as I scroll, and I don't get too far ahead of threads if I scroll quickly. All of this says to me that the problem is related to the host site's "front-end" and the way it interacts with DNS servers. A bit too vague to be helpful, but what I'm seeing doesn't seem to point to poor host site connection speed. It isn't lightning fast, but it isn't generally bad.

My April 1971 car has a rear sway bar as well. I'm assuming it was installed by a previous owner. The installation of mine looks like a bit of a hack job to me. I check the undercarriage photos of the BaT cars and several have had similar versions installed. Anyone have an opinion about whether these make a noticeable difference? I've cleaned it up since this picture was taken, but I haven't re-installed the suspension yet.

Back in 1984 a friend and I went out on the town in my 1972 Z. I dropped him at his place in the wee hours of the morning. Later that morning his wife called me to ask me if I could look in the car for his lost wallet. In my hungover state I had a cursory poke around, but reported that it certainly wasn't there. A few months later I was installing some carpet on the passenger side, and there between the seat and the transmission tunnel was the wallet. It took me a while to get up the nerve to return it, knowing that everything in it (except the small amount of cash that it contained following our bibulous adventure) had already been replaced ...

Are you saying that part won't be obvious, Captain?

Yet another Safari Gold 240Z recently sold on BAT and I noticed a couple of pictures in the listing that caught my eye. The serial number is HLS30-38780 and mine's 29817, so they're relatively close in terms of manufacture date. The first picture shows the rear stabilizer bar attachment (from a weird angle), but it looks like the same setup as mine. I'm getting the impression that the cars built around this time didn't all come with rear stabilizers, so this is probably just one way they attached aftermarket versions? As an aside, I'd been feeling a little depressed about how long it's taken me to clean the rear suspension up, but looking at the original state of it all I'm feeling a little better! The second picture shows the engine compartment of the same car. I noticed the short air intake, which is exactly the same as the one on my car. No elongated intake, and no winter/summer switch. I'd decided a previous owner had cut the intake off mine for some reason, but this one looks the same. Was there some reason people would cut these or did some come with shorter intakes?