EScanlon

All you need is some of that super duper speed metal tape and a couple or three gallons of fiberglass reinforced Bondo and at least ONE Type R and ONE V-Tech decal and you're good to go............... Seriously, 2mZ you're obviously wrenching too darn hard! You brute! Don't you know you should always shoot some penetrating oil on old nuts and bolts before you go applying 200+ lbs/in of torque on them? GeeeeeeZ! ES

From a quick look at your pictures, it looks as though someone took the time to go to a custom upholstery shop and had the car re-done. Although non-stock, it doesn't look bad. Granted the "ribbed" headliner is kind of odd. But is that Vinyl or is it Leather? Hard to tell from the pictures, but I recall some shops in the mid-70's and early 80's advertising Leather upholstery at some incredible prices. If it IS leather, you might be able to pull it all off and sell it on e-Bay as it would be a hard to come by item. Just a thought. Enrique

And that specific area of the Front Fenders is a known problem area. Look in my gallery to see how I addressed the cause of that rust so that it wouldn't recur on my car. I took my fenders off, sandblasted the back then since all I had were pin-holes I used POR and the fiberglass matting they have. For the amount of rust shown on your vehicle, you may have to find a body shop that can do metal replacement, or do it yourself. You CAN find fenders both used and new. If as you've stated, that is the ONLY major piece of rust, and you are comfortable with the mechanical fixes needed, then go for it. Or post the guys address and phone and let one of us jump on it. Don't let the guys who "hate" 2+2's give you too much static. I'll bet dollars to donuts that if they found themselves Z-less and the choice was a 2+2 or a Pacer, they'd JUMP through hoops for the 2+2. Besides, in a few years the 260's and the 2+2's are going to be EXTREMELY rare due to people shunning them now. FWIW Enrique

You guys are too soft!:tapemouth If I didn't personally like my car, I would easily install a James Bond Theft Deterrent system similar to the one in his Lotus. Aside from that, I would advocate a Penectomy and Castration. That way EVERY DAY when he has to squat to pee, he'll remember what and why........

Scott: So the members of this board can be of better help to you, give us all the particulars. Color of car, any specific features that would readily identify it, type of wheels if non-stock, PLATE numbers on the possibility that they are driving it, basically all the info you would give the police and then with many of the members of this board being in the Pacific North West, let's keep our eyes peeled. Also post a phone number for you AND the police officer to whom we should refer sightings. 2¢

Just a couple of items: If you need to lubricate the filler hose, use engine oil instead of Vaseline. Vaseline can and will attack rubber. The worst thing you will get with the engine oil is a bit of smoke out of the exhaust. The picture of the gas tank you took to show the access plate to the filler neck is already showing that the access plate has been removed. That extra hole forward of the filler neck is for one of the vent hoses coming up to the evaporator tank from the gas tank. If you don't have the tank and don't plan on putting it in, then fill this hole as it is a good entry point for fumes etc. Also check for a second hole that is either to the front or back of that filler tube. That's for the second vent hose, again cap it if you aren't putting the vent hose in. FWIW Enrique

Here are the ones that I see as plainly obvious. Not listed in order of "importance" nor any kind of sequence. The car is being sold in Indiana. That tells me RUST BELT! I'd inspect this car with a very large and powerful magnifying glass. 38000 miles? Then why did it need new tires? Same with the brakes and master cylinder. S30 being rarer than the "other" 240's of that year? Hmmm, we must ask Alan about this one, I thought ALL 240's were S30's. If that paint job is recent, then why the rust stains in the hatch area? Or that major crack in the hood paint that NO, won't be an easy fix. (Ever tried to do a paint repair in the MIDDLE of a panel?) The bumper guards on the front end seem too close together. Then again, the side valance pieces don't seem to match the bumper contour (the indent). Somebody else look at this, but they don't seem right. The front center valance also looks like it took a punch to the chin. The rear bumper has the biggest problem I can see. Those bumper guards are set too far apart! Gosh, anyone should be able to spot that one. The rear license plate got lost between the first picture and the later pictures. Either that is some humongous fish eye on the side view of the front fender, or there's some serious rust holes being filled in with paint. Is there any weatherstrip left on the door openings? The clock doesn't work. Look closely and you'll note that it's stopped. (Think I'm joking? Check the clock on the CD player.) Ziebart plug visible above the manufacture date plate. There's rust behind that plate. Steering is all out of whack. You can tell because the logo on the Steering Wheel Horn is turned 90° to the main "arms" of the steering wheel. This is because you have to turn the wheel 1/4 turn to the left for the car to drive straight, so the horn button has been adjusted appropriately. Obviously, this used car dealership is hoping to make money on the 10% NON-REFUNDABLE deposit, as well as the $145 on-line transaction fee. Heck, they could sell this car 2-3 times in this manner and make a couple grand. The sellers rating of (0) would of course dispell any doubts I might have. The interior is listed as black, so the butterscotch is just a trick of the lighting. Listing it as a 3 door vehicle is no doubt part of the S30 "exclusivity". Now, for Indiana, this vehicle is probably "FULLY RESTORED", the rust stains are thrown in so that you get the feeling your car is in it's first winter. Choke Knob is broken. And last but not least, the tire balancing weights are on the outside of the rims. There, did I find enough of them for you? Enrique (By the way, if you were thinking I missed the trailer hitch, I didn't. I just realize that this car comes from Hoosier country and that's enough about that.)

That's so we don't end up with a bunch of pictures of (shudder) AMC Gremlins or Pacers or the Pontiac Aztec. 2¢

Nigel: At the risk of sounding trite: The value of an item is that value that that item will bring. Sounds like an idiot statement but it isn't. Trying to define the value of an item is an exercise of discussion, as that value cannot be determined until such a time as the item is offered for sale and the value can then be established. A part for a Z might be offered up for a low $....until you discover that you have to pay big $ to get it transported. Additionally, and I've found this to be true, if there is a "meet" or show coming up, then expect items to go for higher $ than immediately AFTER the show. (Case in Point: There was a big Roadster meet in California just recently. Just about every part offered up on e-Bay went for high $ with lots of bidding against it. Shortly after the meet, items would go the full 7 days with nary a bid.) So, FWIW, I hope this helps. Enrique

If you've already worked the strap loose enough that it is twisting, you might have it loose enough to unhook at the back part of the car. Look in the rear most portion of the tank. You should see a diamond shaped hole that the end of the tank strap fits into. The strap has a "T" shaped end that fits into the hole at the wide point and then slides down into the narrow end of the hole. If you have the strap loose enough that it is starting to twist, you might be able to push up on the strap until the end slips out of the hole. Or try to lift the hook bolt at the front out of the receiving hole. Other than that, you'll have to soak the nuts in PENETRATING OIL, not WD-40. WD although a good water displacer and light lubricant does not really creep in between the pieces like a good penetrating oil will. When I did my tank, I found that if I first shot it full of penetrating oil, then TIGHTENED the nut and let it sit, it would penetrate the threads much better. Then it was simple to loosen the strap. FWIW Enrique Scanlon

The biggest problems with masking anything before painting is that: 1) It is an incredible PITA to do properly, and an even bigger PITA as well as the rest of the body, if done improperly. 2) It is incredibly time consuming to do well, and even more time consuming to repair the problems with it having been done poorly. 3) It is incredibly hard to prep the area around the masked area for paint, without damaging the mask, which then must be re-masked. 4) No matter how good you mask, there will almost inevitably be some form of paint spray creep onto the item masked. 5) If you ever remove the item that was masked in lieu of removing it, you will show the old finish. 6) If you remove the item masked, there is an incredibly high incidence of chipping / lifting / cracking the paint around the masked area. 7) Removing the mask becomes a time critical element after painting. You must do it soon enough after painting that the paint is still pliable, but not so soon that you risk leaving fingerprints or other marks on the paint. With all of these problems, and believe me they are problems, when I paint a car I remove just about ANYTHING I can without incurring additional costs or hazzles. On the Z, that means I will leave Windshields, Hatch Glass but remove EVERYTHING else. Door Handles, emblems, antenna, bumpers to name the most obvious. Yes, it is a major pain to do so, but it is, in my opinion, even more of a pain to have to mask some of these items, as well as having to accept the consequences of not having removed them. As a final note, have you considered how you're going to mask something such as the Side "DATSUN" or the Hatch Emblems? Those would drive you crazy trying to mask them. FWIW Enrique

If I recall, that's not just a plain wire, that's a fusible link. That's supposed to blow if something is wrong. You have another problem to hunt down. Hope this helps. Enrique

And for those emblems that you can't get to the back of (the C-Pillars, Hood) you can use a real thin scraper. We used to use the spring steel bondo spreaders. Slide it in carefully and work your way around the emblem's pins, lifting ever so gently. If the pin is broken or the barrel clip is rusted tight, it might be a toss-up as to whether you can remove the emblem without breaking the pin. 2¢

Mike: The Fog Lamp Wiring that you are looking for is in the harness. In the Front Wiring Harness, between the two Headlight Connectors, you should find a pair of bullet connectors, one on each side between the Horn Wires and the Headlight Wires. They will be a Red and Black Wire Pair. These are the ones that go to your Fog Lamps, the Black being Ground. If you have the single wire Fog Lamps that can be found now, then connect the black wire to ground, as that is what it is. Inside the Dash Wiring, you will find a Red and Red / Green pair of wires going to a 2 wire "T" connector (i.e. the spade lugs inside form a "T"). That is where you hook up your switch. The switch only CLOSES that circuit, i.e. you could connect the two wires and the lights would turn on. Power is fed to the Fog Lamps from the Tail Lamp / Side Marker Light circuit that runs through the Combination Light Switch. i.e. you must have the light switch turned on for the Fog Lamps to light. I wired my fog lamps through this circuit and they seem to work fine. Enrique

There are a couple other factors you should look into. Lacquers are typically paints that are thinned with LACQUER THINNER and need to be polished afterwards. They cannot be sprayed over Enamel or Urethane paints as they will lift it. Enamels use REDUCER for thinning. These can use different additives to change Gloss / Humidity Reaction / Temperature Reaction. Typically these CAN be sprayed over other Enamels and over Lacquers. Both of these types are considered Single Stage as they don't REQUIRE a Clear Coat for gloss or for the final component in a color. Additionally, these can usually be sprayed with a HALF MASK BREATHER. This is very important as it is CRITICAL. Some of the newer style 2-Stage paints REQUIRE a FULL MASK OUTSIDE AIR RESPIRATOR. Please do not confuse this with a BREATHER. That's because the newer style paints use CYANIDE in their formulation to achieve some of those beautiful colors and finishes. Unfortunately, that also means you can't let the mist or vapors come in contact with moist tissue, or what medicine refers to as Mucous Membranes, i.e. Nose; Mouth, Eyes, and others. Contact with that skin allows for ingestion of the Cyanide into your bloodstream. I can't emphasize this enough. It doesn't take a large amount of Cyanide to kill you. If you insist on the 2 stage paint, then I would strenously insist that you contact a professional who has access to the proper SAFETY equipment. Believe me, there isn't ANY car in the world worth your life. Hope this helps.

From what I recall and what I've researchec on the Fiche, ALL the 240 Z cars had Vapor Recover Tanks. That yours does NOT have one shows that it has been removed and that arrangement you have is someone's idea of how to bypass the tank and not replace / cap hoses. The EARLY VPRT were plastic, of a type similar to the Windshield Washer Fluid bottle. They got brittle with age and the fumes and would crack and literally crumble into dust, releasing fumes into the passenger compartment. Later ones were metal and depending on whether you are a Series I or II differed in shape. FWIW Enrique

Now you will be an expert on this. However, and it's still not too late, have you considered removing the Heater Control Panel? It really isn't as hard as everyone makes it out to be, it's the best way to get to those instruments, and with it out you can do a ton of maintenance on bunches of items that you've read about here and everyone says they'd like to do. Briefly and succinctly: Disconnect the 4 cables going to the Heater Flaps, Fresh Air Flap, and Heater Valve. There are two on the left side of the Heater just above the Accelerator pedal. On the right side is the one connected to the Heater Water Valve, then a bit further to the right, behind the blower motor is the Fresh Air Vent. Unless you weigh over 250#, wear larger than a 42 suit, or are ham handed and sausage fingered you CAN get in there to loosen the connection and remove the cable. Yes, it might involve getting on your knees outside the vehicle and / or lying on your back to look at this area, but it is MUCH MUCH EASIER than trying to do what you're doing through the glove compartment opening. (Also, have you thought of what condition your glove box is going to be in after?) Remove the knobs for the radio, and then remove the nuts holding the Radio Face Plate to the HCP. This should disconnect the radio from the HCP. With the 4 cables released, remove the screws holding the HCP to the Dash. Slide out the Map Light and disconnect it from the wiring harness. Keep track of the wires. Put the light and the light shield off to the side. Slowly pull on the Heater Control Levers and once it's far enough away from the dash, reach in and disconnect the Heater Fan Switch connection. As you slide it further out, you'll note the Center Vent Bellows connection will also slide out. This is what connects your Center Vent to the Heater Box. Be careful of the foam (if original) that's attached to the back of the housing for the center vent. If it's already rotted to dust, now's a good time to rebuild with some new foam. While you have the bellows out you can wash them in some warm soapy water. That's it. The HCP is now out of the way and you can access all of the center dash instruments without having to contort yourself into impossible shapes. Reassembly is, tritely, the reverse of removal, but it is incredibly easy once you've done the removal. Good Luck. Enrique

Sold for $7100. And, IMO a fair price. Even if the individual had just recently pressure washed the bottom, had the underside detailed etc all to fool would be buyers, the balance of the car seems solid, all the components appear to be there and even if it were a recent restoration it seems complete. Check your initial investment, plus all the additionals you've bought since, and tell me that you're under $7k. Hope the new owner is a member here, would love to hear what he/she says.

OH! One very important note: If you do upgrade the wattage on the lights, be careful how high you go. I stepped up from 45/50 Sealed Beam to 50/55 Xenon Blue. (Wow, big step up!) :classic: Why? Simple, it's the WIRING you need to be careful of. Not on the replacement harness you'll get, but in the wiring harness of the car you will be hooking up to. Remember, these cars were designed with a very VERY basic wiring system. Unfortunately, the gauge of the wires is BARELY adequate to handle the loads they were designed for and the slightest increase in the current flow can and has been a problem for years. How many times have you heard of other users complain of melted wires, fried fuse boxes, crispy charcoal colored connectors etc? If you seriously want to upgrade the wattage of the bulbs, then I would recommend that you do it with Relays and heavier dutty wiring. Otherwise you're asking for it. If you stick close to the original values, AND you've taken the time to clean the connections all the way through your wiring harness AND have ensured no extraneous circuitry has been added to your car, you should be fine. 2¢

The lights on sale on e-Bay are the same style I bought for the Z. I'm sure if you write the seller, he'll confirm that the 7" will work on your Z. $55 is about what I paid if I recall right. As far as what do they do? They look cool. That's it. That and the advantage of being able to use a higher intensity bulb than the standard sealed beam lamps. I wired mine in to the parking lamps, so that when the parking lamps are on they're on. That also runs them when the headlights are on. I've heard of others thinking of wiring them to their turn signals, but I think that would kind of make them look like a bobble head dog with eyes that light up with your turn signal. Since many times I'm driving just before dusk, I will run with just the parking lamps on. They really get noticed then. As far as the picture, I'll try again. But if I recall it took me several tries before the digital camera would even allow the photo due to the light conditions. Then again, since I was getting close to wrapping up the car at that point, it might have been either giddiness from happiness, or I'd imbibed before I was done for the night. FWIW Enrique

Victor: I checked with Troy at Too Intense Restoration. He usually has in stock some of the more esoteric stickers, unfortunately this is not one of them. However, he did mention I check with Les at Classic Datsun. Hope this helps. Enrique

There are actually several screws holding your glove box to the dash. Look at both sides and the bottom front edge. All those have to be removed before you can start pushing the box out of the way. Once it's out of the way, you should be able to access the back of the gauges. The Center gauge (Fuel / Alt) is held to the dash by an L Bracket which attaches to the Y-Bracket which in turn attaches to the body of the instrument. Confusing? Only at first. When you get the gauge out far enough to see you'll see it is a very simple and basic system. The main problem with the Alt / Fuel gauge isn't how to remove it, it is the fact that it is WIRED into the wire harness. The two connections for the Alternator Gauge are not the plug in kind. In order to remove the gauge from the dash completely, you not only need to release it from it's access hole, you also need to disconnect the two wires from the instrument wiring harness. BEFORE you get in there and start removing wires, disconnect the safety fuse link between the starter motor and the negative side of the battery. This completely disconnects the electrical system of the car from the battery. Next, remove your glove box. Then reaching inside you'll find the backs of the gauges in the center console. The screw / bolt that holds the gauge's L Bracket to the Dash is the one you want to remove first. (Don't worry about the Y just yet) If I recall right, you can use either a Phillips Head Shorty Screwdriver, OR an 8mm socket or wrench. (if it isn't an 8mm it's a 10mm) Next carefully wiggle the protective rubber insulating boots on the wires which connect to the Alt gauge. Once you've retracted them far enough you can get an 8mm wrench in there and remove the nuts holding the wires. Since they're ring connectors and not spade, you'll have to remove the nut completely. This is the reason some people find it easier to remove the Heater Control Panel when working on this particular gauge than working on it through the glove compartment box. To touch on that, briefly. There are only 4 push / pull wire connections you need to disconnect and a couple electrical before you can remove the heater control panel. I'll do a bit of a search as I've posted that procedure before. 2 wires go to the left of the heater unit, the other two, one goes to the right of the heater and the other goes behind the heater fan to the fresh air vent. The two electricals are to the heater fan switch and to the map light. Once you've disconnected these, the HCP will slide right out giving you full access to the center gauges. The problem with your gauge is very simple. The gauge actually has a lens, a diaphram or mask behind the lens all attached to the "face" of the gauge. It sounds like your lens and mask have become detached from the bezel of the gauge. Once you have the gauge out of the car, you can fix it quite easily. First, remove the two Phillips screws on either side of the case that hold the Bezel to the metal Instrument Case. This will remove the face of the gauge. Look inside and you will note that the Mask or cutout or diaphram is held to the face, and in turn holds the clear plastic lens, via a few melted plastic rivets. It is not unusual to find these break off and allow the lens and mask to push into the case and then impair the needles. To fix, you can either glue them in place or you can use a soldering pencil to re-melt the plastic. Before you put your gauge back together, take a moment and clean out the inside and possibly repaint the white interior so that your illumination will work better. Hope this helps. Enrique Scanlon

Some dealers were known to remove the hooks used to latch the cars down in transport. When you get towed, request that they either send a Flat Bed Tow Truck, OR get the Tire Lift Arm. The Flat Bed is self explanatory. The Tire lift arm is basically a pair of rods that go in front and in back of each tire on either the front or rear of the car. They then lift that axle and roll the car on the other axle. (This is usually how they tow away illegally parked vehicles that may have the rear axle locked.) Either one of these methods should make it so that the lack of the hooks is not a problem. Personally, if you still get stuck with a Tow Truck that only has the old Chain Lift, I'd pass. That's why I belong to AAA Plus, they ask me what kind of tow I need, and not send whatever they have available. 2¢