Arne

I replaced the wafers in my ignition lock, and had a pair of keys cut from the code from the inside of the glovebox door. (Yes, my handwritten paper sticker is still there.) Works like new. I then (once I knew for certain that it was all good) had a final key cut on a repro factory-style blank (as seen in my avatar and below). Also note that while I do have several keys on the same chain as the daily driver key, for my Z I have a special keychain that carries nothing other than the Datsun key. If the sticker in the glovebox is missing, I seem to recall hearing that the code can often be found on the door locks. They would have to be removed from the car to see them, I suspect. I did not remember to look for this on mine when I had them removed for painting.

I moved this question out of the "What I did today" thread into the proper forum.

Replaced the float needle valves and seats this evening. Last week I drove the car to work one day, and part way there I noticed the idle was rough and slow. On the way home it popped and burbled badly on deceleration. I pulled the airbox cover off when I got home and found raw fuel inside near the rear carb - obviously from the overflow. Got a hold of Bruce at ZTherapy the next morning and ordered a new pair of valve/seat assemblies, float cover gaskets, banjo filters and banjo bolt washers. It all arrived late today. I checked the height of the new assemblies with sealing washer using my micrometer to compare to the originals, and they were within 0.2mm. This told me that the float levels would be essentially unchanged, so I just put them in and fired it up. Runs just like it always had prior to the rear carb's problem. All is good in the Z world again.

Am I missing something here? I thought that all the '72-78 manual shift levers (both 4 & 5 speeds) were the same. Should be easy to find.

The spindle pins are a non-wearing item. They should not need replacement unless damaged by other part failures in the LCA, rust or improper removal.

I'm pretty certain I still have one spare set - both bolts (connector and wing) including the outer sealing washers. Send me a PM.

The hose definitely does need to be fuel/oil rated. I've seen heater hose practically dissolve in this application. The last one I bought was from Nissan, but I've since heard they are NLA. The factory hose had/has some sort of bottle-brush looking strainer inside it, but I really doubt that is necessary. I've been told that NAPA stores often have a decent selection of bulk oil-rated hose in various sizes.

Try Eurostile Bold Condensed.

One of my co-workers has this on the third light of her VW Beetle. It flashes 3 or 4 times on application and then stays on steady. I asked her about it, and she said she bought the car that way. I haven't yet convinced her to allow me to disassemble her car to see what's in there....

I bought mine locally from a small mom & pop auto parts house. I'll have to see if they still have any on the shelf.

Yeah, raining down here too. I'm sitting here hoping that Bruce sent my parts by mail, 'cuz that means they'd probably get here today and I'll have something inside the garage to do this weekend.

If you had 240Z carbs, you should hook up with Bruce and the crew in Salem. But for 280Z injection, listen to Stephen (sblake01). His real world understanding of the factory injection is invaluable.

The Versa-Chem product has held up great. In fact, it does a better job than the original. I find that the repaired spots actually heat up faster than the non-repaired. I'm not sure if a single kit would have enough product, but I've lately thought that putting a skim coat over the entire grid might have been a good way to go. As I mentioned, I really like the fact that the product I used was a two-part epoxy rather than a simple conductive paint. I don't know if the Versa-Chem product is still available. But my results have been good enough that I would certainly try to find an epoxy product if I could.

Lots of us Oregonians with early Zs. Oregon may have one of the higher concentrations per capita of anywhere in the country. I have nothing to back that up, but it certainly feels that way...

In the USA, all 240Z stock manifolds have smog fittings. Not sure about the square-port 260/280Z manifolds. The downpipe you have for a '73 may not fit other year manifolds, especially the '75 and up.

The site linked in the reply above will give a decent starting point, using an L28. You do do something similar with an L24, of course. While not everyone will agree with every detail there, if you duplicated what he did, the results would be reasonably good. The only thing I'd add is that if your car is still in good, original condition, make sure you save the numbers-matching original motor for later. That can be a nice selling point should you later decide to part with it.

I use my RT mount with the stock mount below and a poly bump stop above - not the GM mount. In this configuration, the stock mount is doing the locating same as designed - the RT w/bump stop is replacing the limiting strap, but doing it much better than the original strap ever did.

Over the past 35 years, I have personal experience with at least 10 different brands of H4 lights in the 7" round size. All of the cheap, clear lens lights (technically called MSR for Multi Surface Reflector) are - as Dave noted - crap when compared to good, name-brand H4s. (I will admit to the clear lens MSRs being a bit better than sealed beams, though.)The very best I've used are Hella E-code (not the DOT approved version). Good range, broad pattern with minimal shadows. Cibié, Bosch and IPF are all quite good as well. Auto-Pal, Wipac, Lucas, Stanley and Carello are decent, but not quite as good as those top four brands. The DOT-approved Hellas are in the decent group as well. I'm not aware of any true projector H4 lights in 7" round. Indeed, an H4 bulb won't work properly in a projector assembly."Projector-look" H4 lights are a sales gimmick, and rank with the cheap MSR garbage.

The alternator upgrade replaces only the alternator itself and the external regulator. So any battery cut-off that isn't connected to the regulator or alternator wiring will still work fine. The parking light upgrade harness may brighten the dash lights some, the amount of improvement varies depending on the condition of your wiring. Some people notice a significant improvement, my car (with its low miles and excellent wiring) the diff was very slight. If you can find them, you'l often also get improvement with replacement 3.4 watt bulbs.

I have them all. The headlight relay is recommended for all 240Zs, and especially so if you are going to use modern H4 headlights. Parking light upgrade (also a relay harness) is highly recommended for all 240Zs as it helps prevent the common "melted fusebox" issue, which frequently starts from an overheated parking light fuse. The Sidemarker conversion is a safety (visibility) enhancement, does not have any reliability benefits.

Is this for a '77 280Z as noted in your profile? Different years will be quite different in this area.

Seeing the donor roof sitting there in the first picture, I strongly suspect it was done as a roof skin replacement, same as mine documented in the thread linked below.I gave a lot of thought to how to best do this. I don't know of many people doing the hole-patch job - all of the recent sunroof eliminations I've heard of have been using the entire skin. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30409

I could probably overlook that for 919. But first I'd need to sell the red car, and it's probably worth more to me than others would be willing to pay.

I still love 919 yellow.... What do you think a nice '71 in 905 red would go for?

Mike, yes, those are RD150s on the slot mags. My guess is that the mags were bought with the Deltas many years ago, but after driving them for some time, the owner then decided that the original Bridgestones drove better and swapped them from rim to rim. The documentation of that later swap may be missing, which is why the seller has the tire provenance backwards.