Arne

I think at this point, as long as you have full documentation of the whole process, the value of the car is probably not diminished too badly. Especially for someone who wants a driver of some sort, and not a concours original show queen.

I will concede that PayPal may not have been the cause, but the way they handled the deal was horrible. My friend was trying to "stop the bleeding" and clean up the mess, and all PayPal could do was threaten him with bad credit reports and continued efforts to "complete" a totally bogus transaction.I will also concede that this happened before PayPal became a division of eBay, but I'm personally still a bit gun shy. I will not attempt to disuade any one else from using the service if they are comfortable with it, my reasons for not using it myself apply only to me.

Well, my car is remarkably stock, and the harnesses are pretty much intact, un-modified and un-damaged, with the obvious exception of the two dash harnesses. If the fusebox hadn't suffered its oh-so-typical meltdown, I think the wiring in my car would be fine. So rather than the complete transplant, I'm going to lean towards replacing just the two dash harnesses. More research seems to indicate that most (if not all) Series I cars came with the following two harnesses in the dash - 24013-E4650 & 24013-E4651. So I think that is the direction I will proceed from here.It does seem odd to me though, considering the following of these cars and the number of restorations in progress, that no suppliers have stepped up to reproduce wiring harnesses. The best thing I did on my old MGB restoration was to replace all the wiring with brand new replacement harnesses. Expensive, but worth it in that case. While the reliability (or lack of) of English electricals is legendary, I drove that car as my daily driver for several years after that with not a single electrical failure of any kind. So I do know the value of having a good electrical system, but I'm reluctant to change from the current harness (with known problems) for a completely different one of unknown provenance. If brand new harnesses were available, I'd probably spring for one. But if the best I can do is used, I'll probably only get replacements for parts that I know are bad.

I wanted to buy the CD from the club, but the only payment method there is PayPal - and due to knowing a person who experienced a rather ugly identity theft problem stemming from PayPal, I no longer have a PayPal account. I guess I need to contact Mike directly on this, after all, he only lives 50 miles away from me.

So are the pigtails to the fusebox part of the two dash harnesses? Or something different? And is the info on the part number location on the following link correct? If so, I know where to look for the part numbers. In fact the numbers listed on that page may be the right ones. http://www.zparts.com/selectzp/dash_fs.htm

Yes, please Rick. Pictures will help loads. And if you can see any of the white part number labels on the wiring bundles, those numbers would be invaluable!

I spent some time this afternoon trying to debug the wiring mess in my early '71 240Z, and the findings aren't good. When the original fusebox melted for one of the previous owners, it took out one or more wires in one of the harnesses as well. Said wire(s) got hot enough to destroy the insulation on several other wires in the bundle as well. This is where my problem with a constant battery draw comes from, I'm sure. The farther I unwrap, the worse it gets. So I'm looking for info on the various harness pieces, as I fully expect I'll have to replace some. Specifically the one(s) that connect to the fusebox leads with six-terminal connectors. I've got several questions: There are two separate medium sized wire bundles leading to the fusebox. As far back under the dash as I can see, they remain separate. Are these really separate harnesses? Or do they merge into one somewhere back in there? I was looking for the part number tag(s), but haven't spotted any yet. Approximately where on the harness can I expect to find the number tag(s)? I assume that I'll need to remove the dash pad to extract and replace these harnesses, true or false? Anyone have any data on what part numbers might be proper for the early cars? How specific are the 240Z harnesses? My car is a Series I (build date 10/70), if I'm not worried about absolute originality, will harnesses from a late '71 or a '72 be close enough that they can be made to work reasonably? For example, could I use a '72 harness if I use the later short pigtail fusebox? Fusebox must be replaced as well, anyone have any experience with the updated replacement that MSA sells? Lastly, anyone have any experiences with this outfit, or any other recommendations for good harnesses? eBay user azariar, restored 240Z harness

Here in the US, there was no factory option of a five speed for any 240 or 260Z. The five speeds weren't offered by Nissan here until the '77 model year. That said, you may be able to identify which type five speed you have using the info on these pages: http://www.geocities.com/inlinestroker/ratio.html http://www.gracieland.org/cars/techtalk/gearing2.html

I take it your car is paintless right now, Bryan?Anyway, yes mine has a decorative coating on all the body surfaces. But not all the parts are the same color, and in general I think that calling it "paint" in its current condition is probably being generous. It will need to be stripped and painted before I'll call it done. (My avatar picture is not a fair representation - not only is it small enough to hide flaws, I Photoshopped it as well. )

Don't know how they compare to the '78, it's been a while since I've seen the later ones. But Bryan is right - the early ones have metal buckles that almost look galvanized. Really poor looking. If the later cars have chrome buckles, that's one more part on my car that won't be original.

I wish mine looked that good. It will someday, but it's gonna take time and money. Nice car!

Nope, neither yours nor mine are better than one another, just different. While there are some people that feel that one vintage is better, I'm not one of them. There are some things I like about the really early cars like mine, and some things I don't. If I had found a decent buy in a later 240 when I was hunting for mine, I'd have taken it. There are no bad Z's.

I'm not a veteran, but I too have seen the changes in the site's atmosphere just recently. But I've found it very easy to ignore the garbage and only read the good stuff. Family comes first, Jared, but if you get the time, drop back by now and then.

Not here at work. It's in the printed catalog at home, probably not listed online.

MSA = Motorsport Auto = http://www.zcarparts.com

Yours must be a late '71 then, without the hatch vents. My car also has the original one, which is the same as the one pictured above.

Mine are both empty as well - I don't even have the jack. So I'm interested in this as well. I suspect that the early cars (with the plastic storage compartments) had much the same stuff in them as the later cars, but can't say for sure. I'd bet that the '70 or early '71 owner's manual would list the various tools and such - if I had one.

As for the switch, if it were mine I'd disassemble it myself and clean it that way. But lots of people aren't comfortable doing that. (The switch for the 70 and early 71 cars was not lighted, later ones were.) The plug next to it is listed as available in MSA's catalog. About $3.50 or so, IIRC.

I used to make my living selling custom wheels, I am familiar with all three brands. I will echo what zguitar71 said above. The Konig are good wheels for the price. Not outstanding, but good-looking, decent quality wheels for a daily driver - where they are eventually going to get a few chips or other road blemishes. But if I wanted really nice wheels, I'd go with the Panasports or Minilites.

It's not a replacement for having a good manual, but in a pinch Autozone's online manuals can be useful. http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?UseCase=RG001&UserAction=beginRepairGuide

If you measure from the float cover to the top of the float, it should be 14-15 mm (which is close to .55"). If you measure the actual fuel level in the bowl, it should be 23 mm from the top of the bowl. The fuel level can only be measured with a sight tube and the fuel pump running.

Close only counts in the three H's - Horseshoes, Hand grenades and Hydrogen bombs.

Sounds like u-joints in the left half shaft to me. The fact that it only does it when torque is applied means that's about the only choice.

Some decals are also available from http://www.zeddsaver.com/ I've not bought anything from them, so I can't speak about their quality or service. But unlike others, their paint code decal is available with the paint number pre-printed.

I'm not all that familiar with the ZX injection (even though my 240Z had it in it when I got it) so I don't know whether there are any other inputs that might override the ECU. Failed thermo-time switch? Bad cold start assist system? Since changing the ECU doesn't help, I'd be looking for anything else that can send an 'open' signal to the injectors.