Arne

Next question then - are there any un-used wires near the ignition coil?

My red '71 (7/71) is also effectively a stock, one owner car, and both of its hooks are like Enigma's right side. From the pictures I linked to earlier, looks like the left hook grew larger in '72.

I'm still leaning towards the possibility that either the car was originally an automatic, or that the engine wiring harness is from an automatic car. The wires look just like the pair of back wires with bullet connectors that my automatic car has, and I note in the picture that the metal clutch fluid line looks hand-bent, not like a factory line. Does your car have the rectangular clutch stop on the firewall as pictured?

Well, deciding how many to have could be difficult. Especially as the 'correct' answer may differ depending on when a particular 240Z was built. And I suspect lots of them are MIA by now. I looked through the gallery and found pictures that show no hooks, hooks on the one side or the other, and a few with hooks on both sides. Judging from my car - which is original all the way down to the 35 year-old spark plug wires, and unlikely to have had an second hook added - as well as a few pictures in the galley, I feel safe in saying that two rear hooks appears to be correct for late '71s, if not others as well. Early '71, Series 1 Late '71, Series 2 1972

Is or was your car by chance an automatic? I just remembered that there are a pair of wires that run down into the tunnel on automatics that connect to the kickdown switch (or whatever that switch is) on the transmission. When I converted my yellow car to a four speed, I tucked those two wires up along the harness and they ended right behind the washer tank.

I knew there was a reason I recalled seeing one on the left side - my car has two, one on each side!

Any updates, Mike? How's the project progressing?

True, but they come from the other direction. The ignition wires come from the harness after it crosses under the radiator. The wires for the washer pump and brake warning light come across the firewall.

Too much. But in my experience, that's normal for Midas, or any of the national chains. Unfortunately, if you've accepted their estimate and told them to do the work, there's probably nothing you can do at this time.

Motorsport has replacement masts in their catalog, I don't know if they are really available or not. I believe the tow hook on my '71 is on the left side. Don't have the car here at work to verify, though.

I wish I could say that this is a rare problem. But it's not. Lots of these poor cars have had their wiring "improved" by previous owners over the years. Unfortunately, many of these "improvements" appear to have been conceived by Cro-Magnon Man. Any way, BTDT. I'm sorry to say that new harnesses are not available. And every year of 240Z is different, so if you decide to attempt to find good used ones, you'll need to stay with harnesses from a '73 - the earlier harnesses are quite different in several ways. Here is a link to a thread that I posted some time back when I was working on this same issue in one of my cars. http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19793

Probably, Randy. My guess from stuff I've heard from others and previous experience on other cars leads me to expect probably a 1/2" ride height increase.Problem is, the only way to avoid that is to find non-gas struts, which is darn near impossible these days. KYBs are lower pressure than Tokicos, so the increase in height should be less.

Greetings and welcome, Manny. You have found a place that abounds with knowledge and enthusiasm for these cars. Play around a bit with the website's search functions, there is more data available there than you can imagine. And let us know when we can help.

I think Carl hit the nail on the head on the re-paint issue. I think lots of the Safari gold cars got painted other colors over the years. A shame, actually, as the gold color is really distinctive these days. I had the pleasure of seeing two gold 240Zs last weekend on our local cruise - see pictures at October PDX gathering.

Maybe I should send my yellow Series 1 to Florida when I sell it. Because I'll bet its only worth $2500 or so here in Oregon.

Well, the parts car is now gone (as of yesterday - RIP, #27602) and I'm back down to two 240Zs. I can certainly sympathize with your question, Walter. I first went through this in the early '90s restoring an early MGB. Took me 4 years. Seemed like forever at the time. I bought my first Z (the yellow one) just over a year ago. Instead of immediately disassembling it for rust, body and paint, I started by trying to get it drivable first, then go for the body. At the one year mark, the car was almost drivable. A bit of exhaust work, and that will be about it. Of course, right at that point I took a big shortcut in buying the red car instead. Not that it needs no work - there's plenty of things that it needs. They're just a whole lot different in magnitude. Whereas with the yellow car I was concentrating on the basics like a running engine, good brakes, reliable electrics and such, on the red car it's all about the details. And you know what? It's all fun. I'm going back to work on the yellow car now. Probably I'll offer it up for sale once it's mechanically sound, but on the other hand....

Looking really good so far, Steve. Can't wait to see some color on it!! Please continue to post pictures of the progress.

I wish the pictures were bigger, but from what I can see it looks great! The increased rim thickness from the leather is probably nice as well. Very nice work!

Don't rule out the possibility of doing at least some of it yourself, Greg. Your situation is similar to when I restored my old '67 MGB. One car garage, and my son (in college now) was about 4 when I started the project. I farmed out the actual body and paint, but did the rest at home in that small garage. It can be done.And there are lots of us here to offer advice based on real-world experiences. Play with the search feature of this site, there is an incredible amount of info stored here, mostly accurate. And feel free to ask questions, we all seem to love to share what we know. Speaking of... I'm actually a bit humbled to be included in the same sentence as Carl Beck and Chris (26thZ). I'm happy to share what I know, but I don't feel I'm in the same category as those two in particular, and several others on this site as well. And since I know Gary (beandip) personally (had lunch with him last Sunday - October PDX cruise) I feel safe in saying that he will say the same thing (although his knowledge is broader than he will admit). Thanks for the huge compliment, David.

Not necessary, Randy. My red car still has it also. Not the yellow, though - not even close...

OK, I saw how to check my own score, but where did you find how to check the 50 best and worst?

Oh, I forget about sales tax, we ain't got that here in Oregon.

I have done that check, and it works well -- but you must have the fuel pump running while you do it to get good results. Which makes it difficult (to say the least) if you don't have an electric fuel pump.

Slightly off-topic here. I've been wondering why so many people in other parts of the country buy their tires off the Internet? Are there no good tire dealers in the rest of the country? Here in Oregon, I can buy the same tires locally for prices so close to Internet/mail-order prices that I'd never bother with the hassle.

Looks like these folks may have them. At least it shows them on the web site. http://store.classicgarage.com/nid2426piset.html