Arne

Cloaking device engaged...

I've been considering adding one to my Z, but haven't done so yet. The ones I'm looking at are Hella LEDs as shown at the very bottom of this page: http://www.danielsternlighting.com/products/products.html

A former regular here (EScanlon) had discussed this possibility a couple of years back with a friend who is/was some sort of electrical/electronic engineer. The initial thought was that the 240Z tach is a very simple device, and it should not be hard to repair one. There was talk of dissecting a bad one for testing, which I happily donated to the cause. No results were ever reported, so I don't know what became of this project.

I don't think it's overspray. I think that's a reflection of the orange from the leading edge of the open door. I've seen that effect when taking pictures of my red car. If you look close, you can even see a hint of it on the beveled edge of the glovebox door.

Looking at the E88 on my car, the rear stud has both the coolant tube and the engine slinger, as noted. But I'd guess it's not more than 5mm longer than the rest, by eye. The coolant tube mount isn't very thick, and the amount of stud protruding past the nut is actually less than the amount protruding on the other studs. So I'd guess the extra length is about the thickness of the engine slinger.

Lots of newer trucks (especially GM) have moved the DRL out of the headlights and down low on the bumper/valance. Very common these days.

Definitely Appliances, Carl. But......Appliance didn't make 13x8 in any style back then. Again, it's impossible to say for certain from the picture, but the only 4 lug Wire Mag sizes were 13x5.5, 13x7 (rare), 14x6 and 14x7. Judging from the depth of the lips, I would have guessed that set as 14x6 front, and probably 14x7 back. (Wheel diameter looks the same on both ends.) Could be 13x7 on the rear too.

Well, having a set of Appliances today tends to sharpen my memory. But after selling custom wheels here in Oregon for over 20 years (from the late '70s through 1998), I'm very familiar with the details of many of the old vintage wheels. Appliances just happen to be easier to identify than most. Hard to be certain for that picture, but if I had to guess I'd say those were Keystones.

Richard, the outer hatch weatherstripping on both my former yellow car and my current red car were original, and were the one-piece style, not the three-piece. That said, there is no clear consensus which 240Zs came with which style, or no consensus that I have seen.

The wheel at the start of the thread is a totally different style than the Appliances. I actually have 14" Appliance on my car.Differences: The Appliance Wire mag was different than all other basket-weaves in the lip design. There are no steps in the Appliance, they have a smooth ramp from the outer lip to the "spokes". Also note the valve stem hole inset between the spokes in the picture above. The Appliances came with a special 45º angled valve stem for this purpose. And when compared to the wheel that started this thread, the Appliance spokes were flat, no contour change. Here's a shot of one of the 14x6 Appliances I now have on my car. I've painted the area around the lugs on mine.

They are a vintage basket-weave style, but not Appliance, Western or Keystone. Not ET, either. I can't say that that particular variation is familiar to me. Judging from the style of machining and the center lug area, they might be Superior, Crager or perhaps U.S. Mag. Or some small company who hasn't existed in decades.

Another possibility is that the bolt in question is not tightening down properly. For example, if the bolt was slightly too long, it might bottom out before it really tightens against the head. In that case, without the stretch-effect of torquing it down correctly, it would back itself out with steady vibration. You might try an extra flat washer just to make certain this isn't happening.

The later cars have the diff mounted a bit more than an inch farther back, as I recall. So the '71 parts will mount it an inch farther forward than the strap is designed for. That may be enough to interfere with the diff casting as it gets larger. Something to consider—to use the imporved mounting position I think the only two things you'd need to find from a '72 or later would be the mustache bar and driveshaft. The diff crossmember is the same, and I think you can reverse the front diff mount on the crossmember.

So do you have the '73 wiring in the '73 body?

So I'm guessing that you have a bare '73 shell, and a complete—but probably rusty—'71 car. So yes, if you move everything over you should be OK other than the limit strap. You may have to remove it (if present) to get the diff mounted in the more forward position. As for the dash, I believe the early dash will bolt in, but the wiring, switches and gauges are different. You'll probably want to use the wiring and gauges from the '73. Or you could transfer all the electrical from the '71, including the wiper motor and all switches, but that's a rather large undertaking. The simpler route would be to reuse all of the '73 electrical in the '71 dash.

Two things come to mind off hand. A manual transmission '71 came with the early Type A transmission. Most people have to make allowances for the shift lever location when going the other way. I'm pretty certain that the larger opening in the '73 tunnel will accommodate the early tranny OK, but you might want to verify that. The other thing is a bit more complex. The '73 had the improved differential location. If you use the parts from the '71 you'll need to use the '71 mustache bar and driveshaft, and you may have clearance problems with the diff limit strap. Since the '71 location is clearly inferior, I'd try to stay with the '73 location if I could. You will still be able to use the '71 diff, but you'll want to use all the diff mounts from the '73, as well as the '73 driveshaft. That would be a much superior setup, IMO.

The aluminum version was 15" only. Which makes it a unique option for a Z — a true vintage, period-correct wheel that allows the use more modern tire sizes. I'd love to stumble across a set.

Darn you, Mike! Threads with these pictures of your 15" LeMans seem to reappear every few weeks like clockwork, just to torment me, I'm certain. Maybe I need to start haunting the Triumph forums, seems to me that'd be the most likely place to find a set of these.

Except that they are twice as wide as needed, and could cause clearance issues from sticking out too far.

Hmm...

When I sold tires and wheels in the late '70s, '80's and '90s, the wheel companies all said a good rule of thumb was that you should have the same engagement as the diameter of the stud. So in this case, a full 12mm of threads. A 12x1.25 bolt is 1.25mm per turn, so if you have 5.5 turns you only have 5.5x1.25=6.875 mm of engagement, not nearly enough. The Quest studs would give about 10mm of engagement—better, but still marginal at best. Working that backwards, to get 12mm engagement, you'd need almost 10 turns on a 1.25 pitch bolt.

I should have said that "there are some theoretical benefits to NOT having a cross-over on an inline six, and leaving the two as true dual pipes all the way to the end."

I've copied these posts into a separate thread, as they diverge from "what-was-in-the-past" into "what-we-hope-for-in-the-future".

Amazing the things you find out on the spur of the moment. Did you know that a 240Z rear hatch will JUST fit in the back seat of a BMW E36 sedan? It takes some finesse to get it in there, but once in place, it ain't movin'.

OK, I'm waiting...