Arne

Jeeze, Will! Get over the Matchbox thing, already!

I'm pretty certain the shocks will need to come off to use a 240Z bumper. Take a look at these. Brian appears to be out of stock now, but these are probably what you want. http://www.zccjdm.com/catalog.php/azcarbum/dt81970/pd1790406/280Z_TO_240Z_BUMPER_CONVERSION_BRACKETS_

IMO, yes.As I noted, for typical street use with perhaps an occasional auto-x or two, Konigs should do just fine. But for dedicated track use, I'd look for a more track-oriented wheel.

What Mike said. Off-hand, I can't recall any active members actually in Olympia.

I looked into this issue early in the life of my former yellow Z. IIRC, the square spacers for 4 screw carbs do not cover the coolant passages in the manifolds. So the 4 screw spacers will only work if the coolant plumbing has been bypassed.

That might work for the four-screw carbs and matching manifold that did not pass coolant through the insulators. But I seriously doubt that any of the British cars had insulators with water passages in them, or if they did, the passages probably wouldn't match.

I've heard third-hand reports that Rewinds occasionally crack under the stress of track use. Can't confirm that first hand, though. And probably not an issue at all for street or auto-x use.

Rob, if the caps you have are metal, and look like this picture, I'd be interested, assuming they aren't rusty.

Absolutely. They just use a standard short valve core. No problems there. Ahhh. Yes, I do have some experience with this, although my comments here might not apply to all of them.First, none of these wheels (regardless of when or where they were cast) have any kind of coating. The lips and the center hub area were originally lightly machine polished, and the face of the spokes were machined, not polished. The cast-finish area between the spokes were not painted, just natural finish. I've had some problems polishing the early versions (with 'JAPAN' cast in the back side). Apparently the alloy used was not very consistent in quality. (This may or may not apply to the later versions cast in the US.) It's easy to open up pits when machine polishing that give a speckled and sometimes uneven surface. When I had my first set of four polished by a local polishing shop, three of the four had varying amounts of these pits and surface unevenness. Two were quite noticeable. I've not been able to determine the exact cause. Could have been excessive buffer speed and heat for the alloy used, perhaps inconsistency with the alloy itself, or even possibly caused by the acid-based pre-cleaner I used eating into miniscule surface pits and opening them to the buffer. I don't know for sure, I just know that while most people thought my wheels looked good on the car, if you got close to the bad ones you could see that they weren't all that great looking. I have since done a LOT of hand sanding and polishing on the two worst ones and have made significant improvements, but they still aren't quite up to the standard I desire. Because I don't know which of the possibilities (or combination thereof) caused my poor results, I would not recommend the use of any acid-based mag cleaners on these wheels, nor would I let anyone use a high-speed buffer on them. The set I am working on now as replacements to the first set have been hand sanded to smooth and clean the surface, and polished using a Mother's Mini Powerball and the Power Metal liquid polish. I am much happier with the results this time. While not perfect (they ARE 35 years old, after all), they are turning out much better than the previous set did. In the attached picture, the one with the tire is one of the two "worst" wheels from the first set, and the other is one of the replacements I am now preparing. I have painted the center area on the second set to match the grill and tail trim panels.

OK, I can see where these are all desirable things. However:stronger, new and improved design - perhaps, but I doubt that any stock or mildly enhanced 240/280Z truly needs a stronger tranny for street use.gearing 1st through 4th closer to original - a generally good thing, but again, I doubt the differences are all that significant for a street-driven Z.easier to find low mileage examples today - probably true in much of the country. Not so much here in the West, where there's still plenty of Z/ZX transmissions available.usually not too expensive - neither are the ZX trannies.rebuild parts still easily available - I had no trouble getting rebuild parts for my Type A last year, and Type B 5 speeds should be even easier to get parts for. Not trying to say this is a bad idea, I don't see much downside to it, other than all the extra work and cost to pull it off.

As a native Oregonian, I'm not an expert on California vehicular emissions regulations. I THINK that '75 and older cars are exempt, but it might need to be older than '75 to be exempt. Hopefully a Californian will post soon to clarify. And if '75s are exempt, you should also verify the build date to be certain that the car truly IS a '75, and not a '76 built in the waning months of '75. As for which of these models to buy, in the absence of a firm desire on your part to have a particular model (as in "I simply MUST have a 240Z, not a 260 or 280"), my advice is simple. Buy the very best condition car you can afford. The more stock it is, generally the better.

Hey, Darb, welcome back. I don't know much about the details of going to the 240SX transmission, but I do have a question. Considering how simple and straightforward swapping a 280ZX 5 speed into your car is, what prompted your decision to do the much more difficult job?

Yes, same part reversed.

They are technically rebuildable (assuming they have never been replaced previously), but I doubt that any replacement parts needed are still available. These days, the closest to stock valving seems to be the KYB GR-2 replacement inserts. I have them in mine, and they work well with stock or near stock springs.

For those of you who may not be familiar with the oddball valve stems we're talking about, here is a picture. I'm currently using small rubber stems in mine, which work but make it difficult to check and adjust the air pressure. So any leads on these stems -- even singles -- would be appreciated.

Assuming that the throttle shaft bushings are not worn out (a big assumption after all these years), here is a quick primer on how to adjust them. http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9477

No, all of the currently available angled stems are too long. I keep hoping to find someone who has a set of these wheels that are beat up and going to be scrapped that still has the stems, because they're the only ones that work correctly. As for the stems you have in yours, any good tire shop should have replacement sealing grommets for them. When you have your next set of tires mounted have them remove the stems and replace the grommets and you'll be fine. Similarly, changing tires on those old Appliances is no more difficult than on any similar vintage mag. Any good shop should be able to do it without damage. I know from experience - I sold and serviced tires and similar mags for over 20 years. Sold lots of those Appliances back in the day, albeit most that I sold were the RotoLug style.

As far as I can see, Massey may be the only place left who has the 4-ear screw-on caps.

No, those are Appliances, for certain. I've got two sets (8 wheels) just like them. (Still looking for 3 more of those funny little angled valve stems. PM me if you have any to spare!) Your wheels may or may not have the Appliance logo cast in the back side, depending on production date. Mine don't have the logo, but do say 'JAPAN' cast in the back. (Many of the early Wire Mags were cast under contract in Japan. Later wheels were cast in California.) Appliance went to Roto-Lugs in the mid-to-late '70s. Prior to that they used relatively normal mag shank lug nuts, the only oddity was that the shanks were a bit shorter than typical - 0.55". So yours are the earlier style, that's all. There are still a couple of suppliers for these medium shank lug nuts, or some people just use normal mag shank nuts with double washers.

I split this part off into a separate thread. It's deserving. While I was at it, I looked at the cap on my car. It is also the same as Chris' or EvilC's cap. 7/71 build date.

For my F4W71A I bought bearings from a local bearing supplier. Everything else - seals, gaskets, synchro rings, shims, woodruff keys and sized snap rings - I got from my Nissan Dealer.

Yup, that sounds like a Type B, as used from '72-78. My parts list won't help on that one, about the only thing that's the same are the synchro rings. Another way to tell is whether the bell housing is separate, or cast as part of the main case. The F4W71A has a separate, bolt-on bell housing, the F4W71B's bell housing is part of the main case. So is your tunnel opening enlarged, or has your shift lever been customized to allow it to work in the earlier tunnel opening?

To be even more clear - if your 4 speed's chrome shift lever is straight, and bolts through a pair of rubber bushings in the linkage on the transmission, it is an F4W71A. If the lever is bent and has plastic bushings that mount in a hole for the lever to pivot upon, it is the later Type B 4 speed.

Hugh, the Type A is correct for your car, and is the one with the goofy shift linkage, AKA "monkey-motion" shifter. Mine is pictured below. I rebuilt mine about 18 months ago. I'll dig up my parts notes and post what I used and where I got them later tonight.

Really, it's not that difficult. I remove mine every time I wax the car.