Arne

Random thoughts here. The reason you haven't been able to identify a clear outcome is because there is no clear outcome. We all have different cars, equipment, wants and needs. What is right for me may not float your boat. So listen to our advice, yes. But do whatever tickles your fancy. Have you picked a local exhaust shop to do the work yet? If so, talk to them about your choices and get their opinions, too. Consider showing them the pictures of the available systems, and then discuss having them build a system to your specs. "I want it like this one, but in this size and with such-and-such brand muffler." The 6-into-1 will (I'm told) have better low end than a 3-into-2. [RANT]I hate that term, it's a 6-into-2, or two 3-into-1s, but not 3-into-2. Grrr.[/RANT] I don't think you need to go to 2.5" with what you have, you might want to consider 2.25" instead. If you do decide on 2.25", Dynomax makes a round muffler in that size that fits up in there beautifully. Part #17-741.

Definitely no circles on mine, the black gel-coat was beautifully smooth in the mounting area.The prestress bit is good to know, would have been even better to know when I first installed it, I'd have tried a bit harder to do it. The gap you describe sounds right to me, which is reassuring. At least I know mine is normal. I'll probably take a stab at using the core support holes again, with this new info. My fear is that I may have mounted mine a touch too far forward now.

Only in very early Series 1. Later Series 1 had the same mirror stalk as the red-dot, but without the red-dot itself.

Ho boy, lots to do here. Remember that the soi-disant "Series 1" designation here in the USA generally indicates a car built through early Jan. 71, the change coming at around VIN #20000. The late-71s (sometimes aka "Series 2") ran from the end of Series 1 production through 8/71. ash tray - Same basic style used through 8/71, several small variations during the run. E31 head - Many late-71s had the E31 head, through 5/71 at least, maybe longer. By 7/71 (my current car) had gone to the first of four E88 variations. "Nissan 2400 OHC" valve cover - Not all Series 1 had these. Apparently none of the automatic-equipped cars (from 9/70-12/70) had them, and even the manual transmission cars seemed to lose these sometime in 10/70. metal fan (behind radiator) - All '70 and '71 cars, through 8/71. tail light wire harness (has aprox. 1" white molex plug) - There were many wiring harness differences, even within the Series 1 cars. The tail light harness plug size difference is a minor thing, but is actually related to a complete change in the brake light function on USA cars. The Series 1 cars use all three red bulbs per side as brake lights, the Series 2 and later only use the upper and lower outside pair. coin holder - I could be wrong here if you are talking about some small variation I'm not aware of, but if not all '70-71 cars had this, again through 8/71. seats (non-reclyning) - Same again, they didn't change to the ratcheting recliner mechanism until the '72 model year. Standard on all '70-71. steering knuckles (shorter than later models and smaller ball joints) - Only early Series 1. The knuckles that take the smaller ball joints were phased out during the middle of Series 1 production. From personal experience, after 6/70 but before 10/70. tranny (has straight shift stick) - All '70-71 again, through 8/71. inner rubber shifter boot - All '70-71 again, through 8/71. center console - All '70-71 again, through 8/71. choke assembly in passenger compartment - All '70-71 again, through 8/71. choke plate on center console - All '70-71 again, through 8/71. dash (depression above hazzard switch is unused and thus not cut open) - All '70-71 again, through 8/71. gas door - All '70-71 again, through 8/71. gas cap - All '70-71 again, through 8/71. expansion tank (it's metal, they changed to plastic) - Other way around, and not strictly a Series 1 change. Early cars (like my former 10/70 and 4/71 cars) used a plastic tank, through 6/71 according to the parts list. After 6/71 they had metal tanks (like my 7/71 has). carbs (4-screw style) - 4 screw carbs were used for all '70-71 cars. The very early cars had some differences (lack of float drains, different shape float covers), but those were phased out long before the end of Series 1 production. front bumper mounts - I'm not aware of any differences here until the '73 model year. rear bumper mounts - Same as above. combo switch - Many electrical parts are slightly different, but again, they even vary within the Series 1 run. The obvious miss in your list is the defroster switch (added around VIN #1400 or so). The Series 1 defroster switch is black and unlighted. For late-71 it is orane and lights up when switched on.

I think so, but I think lots of things are easy that others sweat over.

Yes, mine is currently attached only to the valance itself, not the core support. I still fiddle with that when I remove the spook periodically (bug cleaning and waxing). Still can't say that I have finalized mine quite yet.

I'd do new joints in the pair of shafts you already have, assuming the boots and splines are both good. I had Spicer joints installed in my halfshafts. Pulled the shafts and delivered them to a local driveline shop, they installed them for $30 per u-joint. Of course, that was 2 years ago...

Good comments, and the 35+ year old instructions are great to see - now. But my recent experience is that the instructions may not be much help. Correct in theory, but not always so in practice. I tried hard to figure how to use those three core support holes, but could not get there from here. In my car's case, the front valance is too much lower than the core support. The spook has a step molded in it to accommodate the difference, but the difference in my car is much greater than the step in the spook allows. When I mounted my spook to the valance, the step area is at least 1/4" below the core support.My '71 has never been hit up front, and all the parts there are original. So all I can assume is that the molds have settled/warped/changed over the ensuing 35+ years, or that there are significant production variances between cars, and I caught the far extreme. Or perhaps a combination of the two. In any case, get a friend and carefully test fit the spook to your particular car before drilling any holes. Maybe. I bought my spook from CDM about 2 years ago, it came with no hardware and no instructions. It also did NOT have the hole guides scribed in. There was no indication at all of how many holes to use, or where said holes should be located. I can only assume (since CDM is supposed to have/use the original molds) that the mold has been re-worked and re-polished over the years and no longer has the scribe-marks. So you may have to wing it a bit on where to drill. Measure and fit several times....

Better to figure out how far off it reads, and then change the speedo gear to correct it. Taller tires will change too many other things in addition to the speedo calibration (handling, steering response, gearing, etc.) Again, trying to adjust the ride height with tires is the wrong way to go about it. If you want the car to sit taller, go back to stock springs. Tall tires with short springs is a sure-fire recipe for tire rubbing.

Add ^^ - The Parts CD also shows the same 6/72 change point for the clutch fork, so apparently the adjustable slave cylinder was used for '72 Type B trannies as well as for the Type A's. Still don't know which slave bore is correct...

Back on topic here, with some personal experience and questions. The '70-71 slave (the one with the adjustable pushrod and external return spring) is shown as 5/8" bore in the FSM. (Master is also shown as 5/8" bore.) My car had both clutch cylinders replaced by the PO shortly before I bought it. I've always thought that the clutch felt too light, and adjustment has always been difficult to get just right. Today I got to thinking, and got the mirror and flashlight out to check. My master cylinder is 5/8" as spec'd, but my slave is 11/16". Appears to be the proper design otherwise, has both the return spring mount and the adjustable pushrod. But wrong bore size, according to my FSM. Here's where the situation gets muddier. Both my FSM and a third-party SM claim that the bore sizes should be matched at 5/8". But my copy of the parts CD shows the slave as 11/16" through 6/72. The parts CD also shows two choices (Nabco or Tokico) for all 240Z through 6/72, but I thought the Type A trannies took the adjustable pushrod and the Type B ('72 on) did not. So no differentiation between '70-71 and '72 seems wrong to me. "Curiouser and curiouser..." The parts CD does not specify the bore size of the master cylinder. Anyone have any info on which slave bore is truly correct for the early cars? Or perhaps when Nissan changed their mind? My FSM is a true '71 manual, the Parts CD shays the last revision of the fiche was December '79.

I like stripes on many Zs. But I think that black one would look better without. Black car, chrome headlight trim, chrome mirrors and the flashy rims makes a good look. The added contrast of the white stripes is to much, IMHO. I did a bit cleaner stripe removal in Photoshop.

On that black car, equipped as pictured, I prefer stripe-less. The stripe (to me) tends to distract from the smooth overall look with the covered lights and all. But that's just my opinion...

I don't know if it's any cheaper, but there's at least one place here in Eugene that keeps it in stock, so no shipping hassles. Brooks' Auto Parts on Glenwood.

245/50-17's are too wide to work optimally on a 7" wide wheel and are considerably taller than the stock tires. So rubbing might be a problem, especially if the car is lowered. I'd recommend no wider than 225 for those narrow wheels, so a 225/45-17 would be a good choice.

Yes, absolutely. Not sure. I'm still using the stock airbox on mine. I assume that there must be an air filter that's tall enough to work, but don't know which ones.

Well, if we assume that Fort Worth Meacham International Airport is not a logical meaning, it must be this one...http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ftw

Honestly didn't pay much attention to the dimes at Canby last year. Looked at other Zs and chatted with friends.

I'm pretty certain your first picture is the same car, Mike. That has the same modern leather sport seats, and the red cam cover shown in some of the pictures of the car for sale.

Still getting used to the thought of the gear on the end of the countershaft being removable. I was rather surprised to see that when I rebuilt my Type A. Used to working on British gearboxes up until then. Most of those have a one-piece countershaft (or layshaft in Brit-speak).

Good catch, Phillip. I hadn't thought about the tooth count being different. Shoot, if the count is different the teeth probably wouldn't mesh properly anyway.

No, I have no real interest or need. Just curious.

The valve cover breather should vent into an air cleaner, as should the two vent hoses off the carb float bowls. Don't plug any of those. You have probably already removed the air pump, so the other big hose of the back of the factory airbox is probably already gone. Did you install ram tubes (air horns) inside your new aftermarket air filters? If not, you may have actually hurt the performance, not helped it. The SU carbs need an air horn to smooth the airflow. Without them, the metering is not as steady as it should be. Too much turbulence inside the carb throat. The air horns built into the factory airbox are actually very efficient, the carbs will work better with the factory box and horns than it will with aftermarket filters w/o horns.

Thread was dead for over 3 years when Guncarver posted to it. MikeZcar hasn't visited the site in more than 6 months.

No, I don't recall ever seeing anything like that based on a Z unibody. By the time you build and apply the gussets and reinforcements that such a cut-up unibody would require, you would probably be better off to start from scratch and build a tube frame instead.