Black Beaut

Thanks 2ManyZs. I've managed to fix it now. Turned out the hub adapter hadn't been assembled too well and it was that that was actually causing the wobble. Attacked it with a trusty allen key and added some washers and it's all solid as a rock now Shame the 5 socket screws used to fix the wheel to the boss have signs of rust already - you just can't get the quality these days eh?!! Cheers, Rob

Hi All, I recently fitted one of the FX wheels that MSA sell to my 240Z but the damn thing is wobbly. I've torqued the nut down that holds the boss to the shaft but the splines on the boss just don't seem to sit snugly with the shaft's splines. The wheel does turn the wheels fine as it grips enough on the shaft splines. Bit blooming annoying to say the least! I'm not sure if the shafts splines have been damaged by a previous owner fitting a different aftermarket wheel (Motalita). Has anyone suffered a similar problem? Due to my location I'd prefer to fix rather than send the wheel back. I've been pondering wrapping the shaft with wome aluminium foil just to increase it's diameter slightly but not loose too much definition of the splines, any thoughts on that? Cheers, Rob

Hi All, I'm having fun and games with nicely seized flare nuts on my brake lines at the moment. In particular the ones on the strut leg mount. Looks like I'm going to have to get new S bend hard lines unless!!! Can you get braided lines that will run directly to the caliper from the inner fender mount to the caliper? All the kits I can find just seem to be replacements for the rubber lines. I've checked the usual suspect websites but with no joy. Any ideas folks? Cheers, Rob

Hmmm, not too keen on the panasport/minilite style wheels. They're a bit too common over here, every man and his MG has them. Cheers, Rob

Hi All, I want to do a big disc conversion, probably from Arizona Z, and so I need to get bigger wheels first. I've got 14x7 Wolfrace slot mags on at the moment and really like the 70's look so I was wondering if they were available in 16x7. I've searched all over the place and haven't been able to find any though apart from some specially made split rim replicas which sure ain't cheap. Any ideas folks? Cheers, Rob

!! Translation issues eh! Gaiter is the bit of vinyl that covers the rubber gear lever boot and is fixed on to the centre console with clips. Something like these: A bit safer to have in the car than some large reptile commonly found in the Everglades What do you guys call them? Cheers, Rob

Hi All, Due to an unfortunate misunderstanding my gear gaiter is now in the possession of County Waste Disposal Dept. so I need to get hold of a new one. I'm going to get a local trimmer to knock up a leather one for me to match the steering wheel he's re-trimming at the moment but I need the dimensions. Any one know them or has their gaiter handy to measure from? See cunning image attached for dimensions I need. I'm assuming the 't' is the same for all 4 sides. Cheers, Rob

Thanks for the replies guys. It's still a bit of a mystery but I haven't had much time to investigate as I've been battling with rusted in headlamp bowls for a bit and now the car is blind I can't drive it - joy I'll keep you posted. Cheers, Rob

I've run both Bridgestone S-03s and Dunlop SP9000s (on current car). They're both great tyres. I would say that the S-03 would probably suit a Z better but there's probably not much in it. All comes down to price. FYI I had the S-03s on a TVR Cerbera (~1100kg/2420lbs) and the Dunlops are on my Lotus Elise (~750kg/1650lbs). Whatever you get you'll need to play with pressures. I had to run the S-03s higher than OEM but the Dunlops I run lower. Not applicable for your needs but they're both very good in wet conditions as well. Cheers, Rob

You guys should try getting shipping quotes to the UK, then you'll know what it's like to have to bend over and think of England!! Still works out cheaper than buying Z stuff in the UK though BTW if any of you guys that sell on Ebay have your own ebay stores and are happy to ship to the UK can you let me know your store URLs. Always useful to know more places to get rare parts from. Cheers, Rob

Chloe can be found at MidWest Z: http://www.midwestz.com/ Excellent service and great prices, even with shipping to the UK! Cheers, Rob

Hi, Has any one got any pics of the headlamp mounting unit? I'm going to swap my lamp units for some halogen jobs, had a quick look under the wheel arch today and things are a bit rusty and perished. I was just wondering if I'd be able to get some generic 7" mounts and be able to fit them in place if the worst comes to the worst. Cheers, Rob

Hi, We've just been having this discussion in the UK: http://www.zclub.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1501 Seems like the outcome is an '83 box should fit but you'll have to bend the gear shift lever whereas a '78-'81 box doesn't. Cheers, Rob

Hmmm, carbon fiber seems a bit excessive. Looking at those time frames I guess I might as well go with some Jenvey TBs on a triple Weber manifold - such a sacrifice Cheers, Rob

Hi All, I picked up my 240Z on Saturday and had to drive home with it about 150miles mainly motorway. The thing that I really noticed was that the car seemed to need to rev pretty high to get a shift on. I did some testing today and came up with these rough figures at 4000rpm: 2nd gear = ~30mph 3rd = ~45mph 4th = ~60mph 5th = ~70mph I had a look at the transmission calculator and these figures don't seem to tally with any on there. I'm assuming I have a 3.9dif which was the one used in the UK AFAIK and the closest gearset that seems to match the speeds I'm seeing is the 32010-N3201 Factory Competition (rally transmission) gearbox. The other alternative is that I have a standard box and a ~4.9 diff which strikes me as pretty unlikely. Of course I'm not discounting the fact that my rev counter and/or speedo could be whacked I guess I can check the speedo by timing over a known distance, rev counter is a bit trickier, all I can say is that the engine sounded like it was doing 4000. Any thoughts? I've got loads of bills dating back years but can't see any mention of any work done to the gearbox/diff. Cheers, Rob

D'oh! Thanks for the info though mate. I guess 5 months gives me plenty of time to save up a bit of cash though Cheers, Rob

Yup the wheels are Wolfrace ones. They're pretty common over here, I guess because they were available with the correct offset. I think they suit the look of hte car well, could do with a bit of a polish though. Unfortunately they're probably going to have to go if I swap to large disks all around. I particularly like the look of the Arizona Z disks. Cheers, Rob

Not from where I'm looking!! Word is it's Margaret Bukowski's old car. Last owner was in Oswestry though but he's now in Oz so the car was sold by a friend on his behalf. Apparently it used to have the plate 24OZ and appears on page 27 of 'the essential Z' book. Must get a copy of that! cheers, Rob

, that plate isn't right, Don't know why it's like that but I'll be replacing with a correct version shortly. As it's a 72 I can put on a rather classy black plate with silver lettering. The rear should fit in the panel depression and probably isn't much bigger that US plates, should look pretty nice! Cheers, Rob

Yup the front indicators are completely different over here. In fact on quite a few cars over here they sit above the front bumper, no idea why but possibly some silly legislation about light heights. I actually prefer the look of the US version as it's neater to my eye. All our rear indicators are amber by law so there's not much we can do about that apart from really soup the engine up and hope to out run the police As for the carbs, I dunno, but I wouldn't at all be surprised if there were differences there. One thing I don't recall seeing on other cars if the cam cover breather pipe being fed back into the airbox. Don't they normally just have a small filter to vent to the atmosphere? Cheers, Rob

Thanks all! I've got some more pics online here: http://www.robshelley.btinternet.co.uk/240z/ Unfortunately they're a bit bigger so they show more of the rough bits The car is a late 72 model with 31K miles on the clock. The engine was recently rebuilt by one of the UKs Z specialists as the previous owners brother had been running it around minus the useful oily stuff :stupid: My gain anyway! Everything is stock with the engine at the moment barring the electric Kenlowe fan. My plans are to develop the engine over time, swapping to FI through individual throttle bodies, then increasing capacity and in the end looking at some form of supercharger. Brakes and suspension will get a good looking at as well but first up I want to get all the body work in good order. There's no major rust on it but the paint's a bit tatty in places and the interior needs the usual TLC. Cheers, Rob

Hmmm, very intersting. I'm planning on going EFI through individual TBs too. Naturally my choice is a bit more limited here in the UK so I'll probably end up using Jenvey bodies on a Weber manifold. I have to say the TWM 2000 system is very tempting though having direct to head TBs. Currently priced at $3000 for the kit which seems pretty reasonable. Do you think that'll change when it's released? Or has it already been released and their website isn't upto date? Cheers, Rob

Thought I'd say hi to all you out there. I've just bought a '72 240Z here in the UK. Looking forward to picking her up and getting her sorted for some fun! Cheers, Rob