Everything posted by Arne
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taillight bulb illumination combination
Stephen's on the right track. I attached a picture of the left taillight harness from a 4/71 240Z (same one used from 1/71 until the lights changed for the 260Z).Note that all bulbs have a black ground wire. The upper outer bulb is the only one with two hot leads - plain green for brake/turn sig, and green/white for tail. The lower outer has a single green for brake/turn, and the upper inner has a single green/white for tail only. But here's the interesting part. While the upper inner has only one hot lead, the socket is still the same as the other upper one, and the bulb IS a dual filament bulb, even though only the dim filament is used. So Stephen's post from the fiche is correct, though the fiche could be misleading if you don't look at the rest of the wiring. My Series 1 car (10/70) has the same bulbs, but the upper inner has an additional plain green lead for brake/turn and so uses both filaments. The early taillight harness has a 4 pin connector with full-size blades. The later cars use a 4 pin connector with mini-blades instead.
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libre wheels
Victor, I'm also pretty certain that American Racing didn't make true Libres wider than 5.5", but I seem to recall seeing the same style from other manufacturers in the 7" wide. Not common, but I suspect there may still be a few out there.
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libre wheels
I believe that the only 14" size was 5.5" wide. They work on Zs quite fine, assuming you are OK with moderately narrow rubber.
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Question on replacing shocks
First, remember that those specs are assuming stock height tires. If your tires are shorter than stock, your measurements will be shorter as well.Tokico springs are reputed to lower the car about an inch, even when used with gas shocks. With new US-spec springs from Courtesy and KYB GR2 strut inserts I would expect the ride height to be 1/2" to 3/4" higher than stock due to the increased spring-rate effect of the gas shocks.
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Question on replacing shocks
Wouldn't be a bad idea at all to replace the springs, and yes, now is the time to do it.Courtesy Nissan sells both repro stock US-spec springs, and also repro Nissan Euro Stage 1 springs. Thing is, both will raise your ride height if used with gas shocks, and the Euro will raise it even if you use non-gas (hydraulic) shocks. The thread below will tell you more than you want to know about ride height: http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21115 FWIW, I plan to use NOS Mulholland non-gas shocks with slightly cut Euro springs in my red car.
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Question on replacing shocks
I just changed the rear springs in my yellow 240Z yesterday. I did not remove the housings from the car. I have done the rears on Zs this way many times in my prior career. Loosen - but do not remove - the three nuts at the top of the strut tower, and also the center shaft nut.Jack up the car and support on jackstands. Remove wheel.Disconnect and plug the brake hose at the chassis end. Unbolt the halfshaft, disconnect the parking brake cable. If you have one, disconnect the rear sway bar.Now remove the three upper strut tower nuts. Pry the strut down and out of the strut tower, then down a bit farther and pivot it outside the wheel opening. Be careful not to scratch the fender lip when you bring it out.Now the strut is out in the open. Compress the spring, remove the center shaft nut, disassemble the spring and upper spring seat. You can now un-do the gland nut and replace the strut insert.Reassembly is the reverse. Be sure to orient the three upper studs correctly before getting the strut back into the tower, and again, be careful about the fender lip. Fronts are easier, because removing the housing from the car is a simple bolt-in job. Loosen - but do not remove - the three nuts at the top of the strut tower, and also the center shaft nut.Jack up the car and support on jackstands. Remove wheel.Disconnect and plug the brake hose at the strut end.Unbolt and remove the brake caliper. (Not required, but makes the strut housing lighter and easier to handle.)Remove the two bolts going up from the bottom that attach the strut housing to the steering knuckle.Using a pry bar, dislodge the steering knuckle from the housing by prying the knuckle and control arm downwards. Once free, remove the three upper nuts and pull the housing from the car.As with the rear, reassembly is the reverse. Granted, I have done this process more times than I can count. But doing it this way, with hand tools only (no air tools), I can do all four in a day, easily. I swapped the rear springs in the yellow car yesterday in 2 to 2 1/2 hours. The biggest part of that time in a spring swap is compressing, then un-compressing the old springs, and then compressing and uncompressing the replacement springs as well. Takes a while with hand tools, but otherwise no sweat.
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Question on replacing shocks
About $10 at Harbor Freight.
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taillight bulb illumination combination
Car #1 is correct for US and Canadian Series 1 (1970 production) cars, car #2 is correct for all other 240Zs in the US and Canada. I have one of each car and can confirm this. I strongly suspect car #3 has a pair of bad bulbs in position 1. (Cars for the rest of the world were different, obviously.) Here are links to a couple of pictures that show this. Series 1 (Note vents in hatch) - http://classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14692&d=1161633558 Later Z (in this case a '73, but I can confirm my late '71 is the same as this one) - http://classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=14712&d=1161635105 I know I've seen a copy of the factory document to dealers that pointed out all the differences starting in 1/71 in which this was listed, but can't find that right now.
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Original Keys pictures
Ah, Series 1 keys. I have a pair of those for my yellow car. I suspect the ignition lock, tumblers and keys for the Series 1 are far more durable than the later two-sided keys, as my ignition key is also original and not worn. The ignition lock in my yellow car doesn't let the key come out unless it is off, either.
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73 240Z Choke Problem
A good shot of the carbs from the air cleaner side, with the air cleaner removed. Showing as much of the bottom of the carbs as possible.
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73 240Z Choke Problem
On round-tops, there really isn't any adjustment to speak of on the choke system. Either the nozzles move with the cables or they don't. I sure wish I could see them. Any chance you could post pictures?
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T/C Rod..?
Not the whole bumper, just the over-riders are upside down.
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73 240Z Choke Problem
If they are round-tops (with separate float bowls mounted on the sides of the carbs), the choke system is very simple. When you pull the lever, the fuel nozzle in the bottom of the carb should move downwards, which richens the mixture. So the first thing to test is to have someone move the choke lever while you watch the nozzles in the bottom of the carbs. Make sure that they move down when the choke lever is pulled, and also that they go back up when the lever is released. For reference, the nozzle is just to the right of the vice-grips in the picture from ZTherapy linked below. http://ztherapy.com/images/JapCarbPage_Pix/GasTubeDissassHelp.JPG
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Hello and I got a question
Welcome, Don. A RHD Z is a cool thing to have, but not so great to use in the US as a general driver. Not being able to see around traffic gets old after a while. But if you don't buy it, you might want to share it's location in case others here on this board want to consider it.
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Which tires to get?
Rubbing or not rubbing is just as dependent on the wheel width and offset as it is on the tire height and width.
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280zx Transmission Question
Very concise, Jon. I think you covered the entire project in two short paragraphs.
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73 240Z Choke Problem
Before we can give any advice, we still need to know whether your carbs are the stock '73 versions, or the earlier '70-72 versions that lots of '73s have on them by now. Because the systems are very different. Take a look at the pictures at ZTherapy to help you identify which type you have. The terms to look for are 'round-top' and 'flat-top'.
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Who is running Suspension Techniques/arizona Z car Springs?
Courtesy Nissan sells repro Euro springs, which are what I have. The Mulhollands can be found now and then. I believe there are a set on eBay now.
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Who is running Suspension Techniques/arizona Z car Springs?
The yellow car will be sold soon, so it will keep its stock suspension.On the red car, I don't want to lower it, but still prefer something a bit tighter than stock. So it will soon get a set of repro Nissan Euro Stage 1 springs matched up with a full set of NOS Mulholland (Interpart) strut inserts. I figure this should give a good street compromise.
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Which tires to get?
Remember that 215s of the same 60 series profile will be shorter. It's a percentage...
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Big, nasty bumpers
What Victor said! Plus his profile says he has a RHD Fairlady. While it's a bit uncertain from the description whether its an S30 or an S130, being RHD it's got to be cool either way.
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clutch adjustment/Question
There are two adjustments for the early clutches. One at the slave, and the other at the master pushrod. The slave should be adjusted so that it just touches, and then backed off about 1 1/2 turns. The master cylinders pushrod should be adjusted so that the face of the clutch pedal is 8 inches from the front floorboard. Before adjusting the pushrod/pedal height, make sure to back off the pedal return stop so that you know the adjustment is accurate and not with the pedal sitting on the rubber stop.
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Who is running Suspension Techniques/arizona Z car Springs?
Personally, I'd be much more concerned if the rears were progressive, especially if the fronts were linear. For street driving, I doubt that progressive fronts would be a horrible deal.
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Which tires to get?
I've got 205/60-14s on my yellow car, and in my opinion they look too short. Like red_dog I much prefer the taller sizes tires appearance-wise. I have 195/70-14 (factory stock height) on my red 240Z and like that look. Lots mor choices too, although they aren't as wide.
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Which tires to get?
Check the specs. 205/70-14s are roughly the same height as the 195/75-14s you are now running, just wider. The 205/75-14 are actually taller than the 195/75-14. I'm guessing that you don't understand how tire sizing works. The first number (195) is the approximate width in millimeters. The second number (75) is a ratio or percentage, not the height of the tire, as many people think. In the case of your current 195/75s, each sidewall of the tire is 75% of the width. So the sidewalls (measured from the bead of the tire, not just the part you can see) are 195 x .75 or about 146 mm tall. In the case of the 205/70, 205 x .7 is 143.5. So those two sizes are about the same.