MariaAZ

I know it's probably not a very intelligent question, but... is there a way to remove an after-market top coat of paint without removing the original bottom coat? The PO of my '74 260Z painted over the original Persimmon with a "home job" red. I've been able to peel off the red paint from around the windows, and the paint underneath looks pretty good & maybe not even sanded before painting. The "new" paint job has the dreaded orange-peel appearance & it's going to have to come off anyway. Is there any way to remove this upper coat? It's driving me nuts... aside from the fact I like Persimmon, I have red body panels on the outside, and Persimmon under the hood, inside the doors, etc.

I just saw an awesome modified '79 280ZX. A previous owner had it professionally converted into a top-down driver. The Z is for sale, and although I am a purist, this conversion was very well done & the result looks like a cross between a Z & a Datsun Roadster. The car has rust issues; rust in the doglegs & under the windshield. It's definitely a work in progress, and I'm seriously contemplating making an offer. My main concern is reinforcement. The current owner doesn't know what, if any, mods to the frame rails might have been done to compensate for the removal of the top. The rear deck is mainly metal (a very clever use of part of the roof & hatch). If I decide to purchase this ZX, what kind of structural reinforcement will I be looking at? It's my understanding that the vehicle has never been driven as a convertible, and the door alignment looks pretty good so I'm thinking there hasn't been any sagging (yet) of the body. I totally understand that this forum is geared towards classic Zs, but there is so much knowledge here that I'm hoping someone can give me some information.

I figured it out... it pops out with a little bit of force. At least that's how *I* got it out....

I'm installing weatherstripping on the hatch of my 260, and need to remove the trim panel that houses the cabin light. The light is the only thing I have left to remove so I can pull off the old weatherstripping flap underneath. How do I remove it?

Occasionally the clutch on the 4 speed in my 260Z acts as if it's going out. 1st & 2nd become very difficult to engage, requiring some pretty serious force to shift but with no grinding. 3rd requires equal force, AND will grind, but 4th is pretty smooth. This is only an occasional problem that seems more prevalent when the car is warm. It goes away just as suddenly as it starts; I can have a heck of a time shifting through the gears, then the next shift becomes smooth again & everything is fine. I bled the system because the fluid was filthy. It's starting to cloud up again with black particles (master cylinder innards perhaps?) Any ideas? I'm puzzled because of the transient nature of this problem!

I was thinking of gluing rubber on, but figured the rubber would get torn off in short order by the opening & closing of the doors, not to mention jiggling from movement of the Z. It looks like the rubber is held on somewhere within the latch itself (versus being adhered to the lobe,) because I was able to move the one in my '71 a bit with the tip of a small screwdriver. Datsrex wrote an excellent article on this door latch situation; it's in the Technical Articles forum on the last page. I tried removing just the latch from my '71 but it looks like a rather involved process that I'm not quite ready to tackle just yet

What is SEM? I'm dealing with one panel that looks original but faded, and the other had been painted gloss black, with only patches of the paint left on the panel. Would it be ok to scuff up the entire panel, and if so with what? Actually, a semi-gloss dark grey might work out if I can buy it without having to mix it.

I replaced the damaged tail light fascia panels on my 260Z with stuff I picked up at a junkyard. I want to paint them the gray that the original panels were, but am unsure of how to go about painting plastic, and where I could find the correct color paint. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Don't laugh... this is the sketch I sent to the friend who made the alteration. Yes, it looks like an ear, but you should get the idea Please pardon my most likely non-correct parts names. The rubber piece I'm referring to is the one that's on the cam of the latching mechanism on the door itself. The cam has two lobes. The one you can see easily... the one that contacts the striker plate first... in all my Zs is bare metal. When the door is closing, the first lobe contacts the front of the tab, causing the entire cam to rotate. The rubber-capped lobe rotates down & slips into the dip behind the tab. In effect, the rubber cap makes the second lobe thicker by adding additional material. The width of the tab on the striker plate is pretty much the same distance as is between the two lobes WHEN THE RUBBER CAP IS ON THE SECOND LOBE. When this cap is missing, the distance between the two lobes is greater, thus bringing the whole system out of alignment. The second lobe, which should slip into the channel behind the tab when the first lobe contacts the front of the tab, rotates a bit too late. This causes it to miss the channel, contacting the rear part of the striker plate instead and requiring brute force to get it to slip where it needs to go. By increasing the width of this tab as in the illustration, I am compensating for the increased distance between the two lobes. My main concern is the metal-to-metal contact I have. I'm thinking that maybe the rubber cap is there to reduce rattle when the door is completely shut. I'm sure the rubber is there for a good reason, which is why I'm considering this a temporary fix.

I recently installed new weatherstripping from Victoria British and, sure enough, had massive problems shutting the doors. They were a bit tricky to shut without the weatherstripping, but with it they became nearly impossible to close. I found a post awhile back on fixing hard-to-shut doors. It mentioned little rubber caps on one of the lobes of the lock assembly that's on the door. When this piece is missing, it brings the entire door latching system out of alignment. Both my doors are missing this piece. A previous owner came up with a solution. He/she welded a little extension on the tab of the striker plate, in effect making the tab a bit wider to accomodate the missing rubber cap. The added sliver of metal is on the outside edge of the tab where it first contacts the lobe of the locking part when the door closes. I had a friend replicate this fix on a couple old striker plates I had lying around, and now my doors close quite easily, and flush with the body; new weatherstripping and all. I'm using this as a temporary fix, until I can get around to replacing the part that is missing the rubber cap. I don't know how adviseable it is to do it this way, but for now I'm thrilled that I don't have to put dents in my door anymore!

I checked both my 240Zs to see if there was a flap that was folded under the welting... nope. I checked the weatherstripping (what's left of it anyway) on the 260, and there's no flap either, so I don't know if this is an aftermarket thing or not. But thanks for the instructions; I'm looking forward to driving without that infernal whistling from the gaps in the door!

I had the same problem with my ignition switch; I couldn't get the 260Z to turn off as the key wouldn't turn. In a panic, I started jiggling the key, then discovered I was able to withdraw it by pulling it out of the ignition switch just a bit & pushing the key's head down while turning it to the off position. I pushed firmly but not REAL hard. Hope this helps! And I know exactly how your wife felt... I had just swapped the flat top carbs out, and the new carbs were running waaaaaaay rich when it happened to me. The engine was revving so high I was afraid something would get damaged.

Where does that flap go? Once I snap the welting (I think that's what the harder plastic channel is called) this flap will be lying against the inside of the door. It has a channel on the long edge that looks like it should hook onto something. I can see it lying under the kickplate on the bottom of the door sill, but where on earth does it go against the side where the striker plate is?

I just got my weatherstripping kit from Victoria British and I can't figure out how to install the door pieces. I ordered the set for the 260Z. There is one sharp curve in the door weatherstripping, and a flap of rubber that runs about 18" along the weatherstripping that extends out beyond the strip itself by about 2 inches. This broad flap has a notched edge; looks like it hooks onto something. It appears that this sharp bend goes either in the lower or upper corner of the door on the side with the striker plate. I'm hoping someone who's installed this set before can help me figure out how this fits on the door! Thanks in advance

Recently, I'm hearing a creaking sound when I let off the gas pedal on my '74 260Z. Not being real savvy about the drivetrain in general, it sounds like it is either coming from the drivetrain or maybe from the rear struts; it's virtually impossible to tell where it's coming from. It starts as a very sharp metallic creak when the Z is cold, but as I drive it, the creaking gets less noticeable. Any ideas?

I know this is probably a really simple (perhaps even stupid!) question, but are there any "easy" local-type sources for head bolts for a '73 240Z? I'm thinking Autozone/Kragen/NAPA kinds of places. I don't want to pull the head until I have everything I need, and I have no idea where to get new head bolts!

We went salvage yard hopping this weekend, and there is indeed a metal bracket that bolts to the sides of the console itself to support the radio. By the looks of it, the 280Z bracket will fit the 260; unless the bolt holes are just SLIGHTLY different, the bracket should fit fine without any modifications. Of course, the RADIO may not fit the bracket though.

The Pioneer radio that came in my 260Z is basically held in place by the console. I'm sure there's supposed to be a bracket in there, as I saw mention of someone looking for one for THEIR 260Z. I'm hoping to talk hubby into going salvage yard hopping today. Any idea of what years of Zs would have a bracket that fits a 1/74 production date 260?

I'm going to be pulling the head on the '73 240Z this weekend to see where the water leak is. The big question; what am I going to be looking for? How will I know if it's a leaking gasket or a problem with the head or... heaven forbid... something with the block itself?

Tom, I'm sure the guy (going about 5 mph below the speed limit) we were trying to pass when the horn went off thought we were idiots! I was laughing so hard I almost cried.

Beandip, hubby LOVED your post! As an epilog of sorts... just in case anyone else experiences this problem. Upon further examination, hubby discovered that one of the little metal tabs on the steering wheel that hold the plastic spacer in place was pretty badly chipped. I remember when going through the PO's service records reading one about a problem he was having with the horn button. Apparantly the repair entailed slipping a thick rubber O-ring around the outside of the affected pair of tabs in order to compensate for the broken tab. We slipped the O-ring back over the tabs, and the horn works fine again. Apparantly, the screw holding the affected spacer jiggled loose during our trip. As long as the screw is tight, I think we'll be OK. Still, it's not a solution I'm happy with, so I'm on the lookout for a '74 steering wheel.

We were able to stop the honking by pushing the horn pad's bottom edge (bottom as it sits on the steering wheel; the edge that is at 6 oclock when you are sitting in the drivers seat looking at the wheel), and can honk the horn by either lifting the bottom edge or push the top edge. The horn was never allowed to go on uncontrollably, but the only way to stop it was to manually push down on that lower edge & hold it there until we could safely pull over & remove the fuse. The contact plate was sagging towards the lower edge, like something that holds it parallel to the steering wheel fell out. Right now it's all off the steering wheel.

A few little pieces fell out from under the horn pad yesterday, causing the horn to sound constantly. I had to pull the fuse to continue our trip. Today, I pulled off the horn button and matched up the little pieces that fell off. There are 3 screws with washers that go through a black plastic spacer. One of the screw assemblies had fallen out. I also found a black rubber O-ring on the floor, and when I removed the contact plate that these screws go through, an old, fragile thinner O-ring fell out. Any suggestions on how/where to mount the O-rings would be greatly appreciated.

Stephen, Thanks again! I just ordered the part.

I can't vouch for the originality of the airbox from my 260Z, but it is orange. My Z was built in early '74, so maybe the early 260s shared the orange airboxes of the '73s.