Arne

Chris, is that the plug that has the pebble texture and the pair of mounting tabs that attach with screws to the underside of the console finisher?

Or if you are referring to the flares, those are also available from several places. MSA lists them in either fiberglass or carbon fiber. Here's a link to the fiberglass: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/7BSA02/50-1562

I'm not totally sure that this applies to the '73, but in the case of my early '71 no one wanted to know the production date of the car, as that was not a reliable way to identify the proper harness. Go by the two part numbers you mentioned instead. When I was searching, I found that the availability of good used wiring harnesses was much better in the rust belt. I did not have any real luck finding one for my car here on the West coast. Apparently back East some cars rusted out and were stripped for parts before the wiring harnesses got butchered. Out here in the West where it has taken longer for the cars to rust, the harnesses have all been abused. So I'd try places back East like Bad Dog Parts, Z Barn or others in that part of the country.

Popular misconception, I think partly due to comments on Bryan Little's page. If you ask around, you'll find there are a fair number of people here running the ZX ignition with the stock 240Z tach. I'm one of them.

I expect to have a serviceable but not pristine heater box available within a week or so.

I was waiting for you to pop into this, Chris. "Drain plugs? We don't need no stinking drain plugs!"

If you're after originality, yes, the early ones should be restored and used.

I'm not certain what month car my carbs came from, but they are the same as yours, Jim, no drains, squared covers and plastic damper caps. Mine originally had the notched heat shield and flapper air box, though. The parts car that I pick up this weekend is 4/71, and does have drains.

The earliest float covers were round, with definite screw hole tabs. As shown here: Later float covers were "squared-off" as shown on the bottom row here:

If you are at all mechanically inclined, it's not hard to do, I did mine in a day.

Perhaps... no idea whether they work or not, but they might help? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Fade-Stop-Brake-Cooler-240Z-260Z-280Z-Datsun-Brakes_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42605QQihZ007QQitemZ170006667103QQrdZ1

So I'm betting that these carbs with the metal damper caps have squared-off float covers, and no drain plugs in the float bowls. Am I right?

I was under the impression that some of the very earliest 240Z carbs had metal damper caps. Not very many, but a first few. The low VIN of your car supports that. I suspect they are original.

I'm not sure where that 300 number came from (I've seen it too, mostly on eBay I think), but I know that I personally have encountered 4 of them in the past 9 months. So I suspect there were far more than 300 Series 1 automatics. I can guarantee that whatever the number was, it is one fewer now, as my car has a Type A 4 speed in it now (which is the proper type 4 speed for an early car).

Yes, but...Some cars that were built as automatics did have one noticeable difference - some of the automatic cars did not have the spot-welded bracket on the right frame rail for the clutch line. This would be a fairly easy thing to look for to see if a car had been converted from automatic to manual (as my car has been). I've found no rhyme or reason to which automatic cars had the bracket and which didn't. Mine (12745, 10/70) did not. At the Canby show I noticed that a very similar car belonging to funz1z did have the tab. Her car is only a few numbers earlier than mine (12403, also 10/70). The automatic cars have a bracket spot-welded to the firewall for the kickdown switch as well. I don't know for certain (as I don't have a true Series 1 manual car to compare to), but I suspect that there differences to the tunnel as well. The automatic selector mechanism bolts to the top of the tunnel - I doubt those holes and captive nuts exist on the true manual cars. And having done this conversion myself, another thing that is different that seldom gets changed is the wiring harnesses. Both the dash and engine harnesses for automatic cars are different than for manual cars. So if you are really concerned about originality, be aware that converting to a manual in such a way that no one could possibly know is harder than it sounds. On the other hand, if you are not planning to restore it to concours original quality, converting an early car to a manual transmission is not hard. I wrote a tech article on the process after I did mine - Series 1 240Z auto to 4 speed swap

The "official" build date should be stamped on the door jamb data plate. That said, if you look at the rergistry at zhome.com it looks to me as though that car would most likely have a date of 9/70. As to whether you call it early or not, depends on your definition of early. It is definitely a Series 1 car, about mid-way through the Series 1 production run, number-wise. Whether or not you consider it a '70 or '71 model year is also open to debate. In many states, the dealers had a bit of leeway back then as to what year they titled a car as. For the early 240Z, the more important part seems to be whether it is Series 1 or not.

Bob, when I read your story in the e-mail, I wondered about the Heli-coil route. Personally, I'd feel better with it drilled for a separate bolt and nut. That's assuming that both surfaces that the nut and bolt-head seat against are machined and parallel. I can't recall off-hand if the other surface of the threaded part is machined or not. Just out of curiousity - were/are you running bump-steer spacers?

Oh! Regarding the freeze plugs - I've always put them in dry.

I too have used Form-a-gasket. Seals well, holds gaskets in place while you get things in place, and cleans up nicely down the road. I HATE silicone/RTV sealant!

Sounds stock to me. Intake ports on these cars were always round, and square exhaust ports were used through '76 or so.

Well, we probably need more info. Is it a 240Z, 260Z or 280Z? If it's a 240Z, you could try looking through the registry at ZHome.com. In fact, since you didn't fill out the Location field in your profile, we don't even know if you are in the US, or wherever. Or whether your car is a US-market car or not. Or you could simply post the VIN here and maybe we could help some.

I had my flywheel resurfaced a couple of months back, it was $38. Highly recommended if you're installing a new disc.

Agreed. Un-burnt fuel is almost always the cause of explosions like this. Don't fiddle with the timing until you know the carbs are right.

Looks like an aftermarket switch someone has added. You'll need to trace the wires to see where it goes, but my guess is that someone has tried to add a manual switch for the cold-start injector. Exactly how they've wired it is anyone's guess.

I can't believe that you type slower than I do, Will! I didn't think that was possible!