Arne

The wheel at the start of the thread is a totally different style than the Appliances. I actually have 14" Appliance on my car.Differences: The Appliance Wire mag was different than all other basket-weaves in the lip design. There are no steps in the Appliance, they have a smooth ramp from the outer lip to the "spokes". Also note the valve stem hole inset between the spokes in the picture above. The Appliances came with a special 45º angled valve stem for this purpose. And when compared to the wheel that started this thread, the Appliance spokes were flat, no contour change. Here's a shot of one of the 14x6 Appliances I now have on my car. I've painted the area around the lugs on mine.

They are a vintage basket-weave style, but not Appliance, Western or Keystone. Not ET, either. I can't say that that particular variation is familiar to me. Judging from the style of machining and the center lug area, they might be Superior, Crager or perhaps U.S. Mag. Or some small company who hasn't existed in decades.

Another possibility is that the bolt in question is not tightening down properly. For example, if the bolt was slightly too long, it might bottom out before it really tightens against the head. In that case, without the stretch-effect of torquing it down correctly, it would back itself out with steady vibration. You might try an extra flat washer just to make certain this isn't happening.

The later cars have the diff mounted a bit more than an inch farther back, as I recall. So the '71 parts will mount it an inch farther forward than the strap is designed for. That may be enough to interfere with the diff casting as it gets larger. Something to consider—to use the imporved mounting position I think the only two things you'd need to find from a '72 or later would be the mustache bar and driveshaft. The diff crossmember is the same, and I think you can reverse the front diff mount on the crossmember.

So do you have the '73 wiring in the '73 body?

So I'm guessing that you have a bare '73 shell, and a complete—but probably rusty—'71 car. So yes, if you move everything over you should be OK other than the limit strap. You may have to remove it (if present) to get the diff mounted in the more forward position. As for the dash, I believe the early dash will bolt in, but the wiring, switches and gauges are different. You'll probably want to use the wiring and gauges from the '73. Or you could transfer all the electrical from the '71, including the wiper motor and all switches, but that's a rather large undertaking. The simpler route would be to reuse all of the '73 electrical in the '71 dash.

Two things come to mind off hand. A manual transmission '71 came with the early Type A transmission. Most people have to make allowances for the shift lever location when going the other way. I'm pretty certain that the larger opening in the '73 tunnel will accommodate the early tranny OK, but you might want to verify that. The other thing is a bit more complex. The '73 had the improved differential location. If you use the parts from the '71 you'll need to use the '71 mustache bar and driveshaft, and you may have clearance problems with the diff limit strap. Since the '71 location is clearly inferior, I'd try to stay with the '73 location if I could. You will still be able to use the '71 diff, but you'll want to use all the diff mounts from the '73, as well as the '73 driveshaft. That would be a much superior setup, IMO.

The aluminum version was 15" only. Which makes it a unique option for a Z — a true vintage, period-correct wheel that allows the use more modern tire sizes. I'd love to stumble across a set.

Darn you, Mike! Threads with these pictures of your 15" LeMans seem to reappear every few weeks like clockwork, just to torment me, I'm certain. Maybe I need to start haunting the Triumph forums, seems to me that'd be the most likely place to find a set of these.

Except that they are twice as wide as needed, and could cause clearance issues from sticking out too far.

Hmm...

When I sold tires and wheels in the late '70s, '80's and '90s, the wheel companies all said a good rule of thumb was that you should have the same engagement as the diameter of the stud. So in this case, a full 12mm of threads. A 12x1.25 bolt is 1.25mm per turn, so if you have 5.5 turns you only have 5.5x1.25=6.875 mm of engagement, not nearly enough. The Quest studs would give about 10mm of engagement—better, but still marginal at best. Working that backwards, to get 12mm engagement, you'd need almost 10 turns on a 1.25 pitch bolt.

I should have said that "there are some theoretical benefits to NOT having a cross-over on an inline six, and leaving the two as true dual pipes all the way to the end."

I've copied these posts into a separate thread, as they diverge from "what-was-in-the-past" into "what-we-hope-for-in-the-future".

Amazing the things you find out on the spur of the moment. Did you know that a 240Z rear hatch will JUST fit in the back seat of a BMW E36 sedan? It takes some finesse to get it in there, but once in place, it ain't movin'.

OK, I'm waiting...

Yes, that looks like a Clifford. The Clifford-style system shouldn't be hard to duplicate. As for the cross-over possibility, there are some theoretical benefits to NOT having a cross-over, and leaving the two as true dual pipes all the way to the end.

An interesting system. Probably not generally available here in the USA back in the '70s, but a great find today.

The Twice pipes rear mufflers and pipes are bent and pre-welded in the horizontal orientation. I think they do that to accommodate the 280Z, which needs the horizontal tips. No easy way to change it. Good call, Mike. Stebro had slipped my mind. I've added it in above too, so that it's all in one place.

Plug the one from the smog pump. I've heard that a rubber tip for a crutch fits nicely. The breather still needs to be vented in some manner, and leaving it plumbed to the air box prevents oily smells under the hood and inside the car.

In pre-built, ready to bolt on systems? As far as I know, just MSA's Twice Pipes (which have horizontal tips which—to me—look stupid hanging below the 240Z valance) and their various 2.5" systems w/Dynomax. So really nothing that I'd call period-style, nor anything that has the sound of the old Italian glass-packed systems. I'm still waffling on what I'm going to do on mine.

Yeah, I know. And retractable seat belts, too. But when you find a rust-free 240Z, you buy it. You don't care what year, color, or much of anything else. So I have a '71.

No newer ideas, but I did use a different adhesive than is commonly noted. Instead of the commonly recommended 3M 76 Hi-Tack, I used 3M 77, which specifically mentions foam-to-metal, is temperature resistant and is designed specifically to NOt soak into or saturate the foam. We did mine about 10 months ago, working just fine.

I'm sure that there are ways to do it, which will vary depending on whether you are using a Mac or Windows. But I'm not certain if the copyright agreement allows this. I'll need to read the fine print first.

I'd ask a couple of the guys who've dealt with this before. Guys like a7dz or stevef1972z come to mind. Based on pictures I've seen of those two cars, I'd judge this as being bad, but far from terminal.