Mr Camouflage

That should be Dodgey. and Also. Can upload the photos if anyone wants to see them. I'm sure it will break some copyright laws though! Mr C.

So are you saying that US and Canadian 240z's only had a 4 speed manual? Australian and English 240z's had 5 speeds right from when they started exporting to these countries. I didn't realise that US had four speed's, but having looked in my datsun 240z book that has reviews from old car magazines, i notice that all the us mags list 4 gears. Well you learn something every day. It's alos got a great story on the development of the 240z with some interesting prototype and clay model photos in it, including some very sodgey looking front ends. Mr C.

So why would you want to put rear disc brakes on a 240z anyway? The stock rear drums have a larger braking surface area than 280zx disc brakes anyway, hence more braking force, so unless you were racing the car and were worried about cooling issues I dont see a reason to do it. Mr C

No I dont think you need to go that far! It been ages since I owned a 240z and I cant really remember how it fixed to the dash. It's underneath, pointing towards the ground isn't it? It's probably held on by a nut around the center of the knob, either on the knob side of the dash or the other side. But I'm just guessing. Have a good look at it in daylight, crawl under the dash with a torch if you have to. Better still, use a small mirror so you can see behind the dash. It shouldn't be too difficult to see how it's held in there. Mr C.

The Things you are refering to are capacitors, but they wouldn't help in this case as the voltage isn't getting to the globes in the first place because of the dimmer control. If I rememeber correctly they are big heavy chunky things with a contact and a coil resistor in insulative housing. The coil and the contact corrode (or get dirty) increasing the resistance, so your lights go dimmer. You can clean up the contacts with a bit of wet and dry, or if you never use it, short circuit it, taking it out of the circuit, so you get 12 volts going straight to your dash lights. Mr C

Wow great looking Z! love the black paint. Are the mags off a '81zx? I've never seen anything like them before. Only thing I'd change is the wing mirrors, the matt black just doesnt do it for me. Maybe a set of chrome ones to match the rest of the chrome (just my opinion, dont take it personally). Post some photos of the engine once it's done. That's a great photo (the first one where you can only see half the front of the car). Actually I was wondering if I could get a larger copy of it to use as my wallpaper on my computer (around 1280x1024 pixels) as the picture is just a bit too small and get all jagged when streched to fit my screen. If you can email it to me zed240@hotmail.com that would be great. Keep up the good work Mr C.

Yep they are definiatley original seats, thought they may have been retrimmed. They just dont look 100% original, compared to all the photos I've seen. With a car like this you'ld want to keep it as close to original condition as possible, especially if the engine numbers match the vin plates. It would be worth more in the future. Mr C

Well it seems as thought that last web page doesn't exist anymore. The only other floor parts I've seen are at : http://www.fourways-engineering.co.uk/ and click on the Z-cars link, then the remanufactured parts link on the right of the screen. They have floor pannels (the other ones were better, they looked more like the original pannels with the oval depression), radiator support pannels, chassis rails, and rear pannels. They're in Kent in the UK. Mr C

If I remember correctly (and It's been a long time since I owned a 240z, It was a 71, but I imagine the latches were the same.) the door latch works like this: The door frame has a striker plate (or catch plate) that has a cirlcular hole (like a C shape) with a notch cut out the bottom. The door has a circluar locking bit like a O shape with 2 lugs on it. When you shut the door the first lug strikes the edge of the striker plate, rotating the O shaped bit and it rotates so the second lug fits into the notch in the strikerplate and locks in this position, thus holding the door shut. Untill you pull the handle to open the door then a spring causes the O shaped bit to rotate back allowing the door to open. What happens is the Lugs wear down the corners of the Striker plate, so that when you shut the door the other bit doesn't rotate enough to shut the door properly. It rotates to the first position enough to stop the door opening, but not enough to hold it firmly shut, which is why the door moves, and why you have to really slam it hard to make it rotate to the second (fully closed) position. I've heard the best way to adjust the striker plate is to loosen the bolts, reposition the striker plate, do up the bolts so they hold it in position,but not too tight, you want the plate to be able to move slightly. Hold the door handle in the open position and shut the door hard without releasing the handle and open the door again and tighten up the bolts. I've never tried this. I just fiddled around with the stiker plate untill i got it right. If adjusting the striker plate doesn't work you may be able to build up the corners again by welding (I'm not welder so I don't know if this would work) some metal to it and file or grinding it back to its original shape. Or easyer (maybe, i don't know how available they are) get some new striker plates. If I knew how to upload picture I'd draw a diagram. A picture's worth a thousand words. Mr C

Check out this website: www.carsatcarlisle.com/Zsource.htm It's the only one I've seen for replacement floor pannels. Mr C