Arne

In theory, most tire manufacturers recommend 6.5" as the maximum width for a 195/70-14. And as beandip notes, the wider offset wheels with a tall tire can cause rubbing.

There's a small barbed vacuum port on the front manifold, right near the carb flange. Connect the vacuum hose from the distributor there. The amount of vacuum that the engine pulls will not change enough to make any difference.

I'm still running the original 2-row in my '71, but our climate is fairly mild. (Rarely over 95º F.) No issues. I had an aftermarket 3-row on the yellow car. It's my understanding that aftermarket radiators are available in 2, 3 and 4 row versions, depending on the maker. Most (if not all) aftermarket radiators will have the transmission cooler and fittings for the automatics, that way they are universal fit. You just ignore the cooler fittings if you don't need them. All of the aftermarket radiators I've seen either lack the curved fan guard, or have a guard that is not curved but simply bent.

Wrong. The first year of the ZX was 1979, the last year of the 280Z was 1978. At least here in the USA.

One of my '71 parts cars came to me with the later recliner hardware installed on the '71 seats. I saved the hardware, someday I'll probably clean and paint it and put it on my red car. Not only does the seat back tilt forward with the later recliners, but the recliner function is much more positive as well. One more of those 240Z improvements that Nissan rolled out as the cars got more mature.

I agree that there is a lot more info on swaps at hybridz.org, but don't just register and start asking questions wildly. They will expect you to search and read their (very extensive) archives before asking questions. That said, I've never heard of a transmission adapter for the Datsun transmissions to a V8, and don't think the Datsun transmission be strong enough even if there were such a thing. I think you'll need to swap to a Ford transmission as well.

Gary, I find this terribly interesting, as it points out the multitudes of production variations that we have seen. The set of hubcaps (and matching rims) I sold to Mike B a while back are similar vintage - the rims on that set were all four dated 4-71. In that case, all four hubcaps were matched, what we are now calling the "later" style.

Never mind. After re-reading your initial post, I now see that cam timing isn't your problem.

Is the cam timing perhaps a tooth off?

Dan, sometime in the next few weeks I'm planning to look at a one-owner 240Z that was first titled in Aug. 1970, so I'm going to guess a build date of 6 or 7/70. The car has slots on it now, but the owner told me he still has the hubcaps. So I'll try to get a peek at the caps while I'm there to begin to gather data to attempt to pin down the transition date.

If part of the reason is for the performance benefits of the air horns, I agree that the best option would be to get a '70-72 airbox rather than use adapters in your '73 unit. Any '70-72 airbox should work fine. Don't know if there's any benefit to a cold air snorkle on this set up.

Me personally? No way. But I don't know what your end goal is. If you are wanting a hopped up Z(X), maybe it's a good starting point. But in the long run, a clean, well maintained mostly stock 280Z will hold its value better than a modified rat rod ZX.

For best results at most Nissan dealers, you should get the club parts CD and look up the part number yourself to take to them. That way you aren't asking the parts guy who doesn't even know what a Datsun is to try to find your part. You'll find that a lot of parts are still available when you do it that way. Sometimes I have to wait a few days for a part to be shipped from Tennessee, but for you that should be quick.

Have you checked with your local Nissan dealer yet? That's always my first stop.

Did you do the rear brakes at the same time? I'm wondering if the rears are way out of adjustment.

Depends on the state. Here in Oregon, 25 years qualifies as "Special Interest", and "Antique" requires more, I think 50 years. But it varies wildly from state to state.Same with smog testing - I think the cutoff in California for that is 1975 model year. Other states may be considerably different. Not saying any of this may have been the motivation for the deception, but it is possible. It's also possible that the seller MIGHT not have known that it was a 260Z either. The VIN-swapper may be farther removed than that.

I can think of several possible reasons. Smog exemptions for the older car, or qualifying for the Antique registration which is generally very low-cost in most states. So it might not be as "sinister" as it first looks. The 260Z donor may not be stolen, maybe the real 240Z was rusted, and got scrapped as a "260Z".Doesn't make it right, though. I too feel for the buyer, it's bound to come up at some point.

Same guy. BRE = Brock Racing Enterprises, now found at bre2.net

On an item like this that has crevices and such (like where the blades are riveted to the hub), I prefer NOT to use stripper, as it can seep into the crevice, and then slowly eat at your new paint from behind. This could be a bigger problem than normal on a part that spins fast as does the fan, as the centrifugal force would tend to sling the stripper out. So using dry abrasives seems the safer course.

Mine is not in the car right now. (I use a lighter plastic fan for my normal driving.) It is a very creamy color. I wouldn't call it white, more of a very light cream color. The color in the picture looks fairly accurate on my laptop.

I'm not the right guy to ask. I prefer a vintage looking wheel on these cars.

Well, they're on it. But they didn't come from the factory, no. Possibly dealer-installed.

Ads from late '70s R&T magazines showing various widths and fitments.

Ahh! I haven't seen any of those in decades! Those are either BWA (made in Italy in the '70s and early '80s), or one one of a couple brands of replicas made in the '80s. Since they do say Datsun on them, I'd bet on them being real BWAs. Probably 14x6. If they are true BWAs, they will use normal cone-seat lug nuts, will have tapered steel lug seat inserts, will be machine finished with clear coat, and will probably have 'BWA' lettering cast on them somewhere. BWA were imported to the USA by Conti Enterprises, the same people who imported Ansa exhausts to the USA back then. BWAs were quite common on Fiats here in the States, but they were available for almost any car.

Looks like a 260Z with the door tag from a '71 240Z to me. I'd want to see the other VIN locations prior to bidding. Could be a nightmare to title or register outside of Georgia. In Oregon, for example, to title a car from out of state, the car must be inspected by the DMV in person and all known VIN locations must match. I suspect other states may be similar.