Arne

Considering the problems I've heard of with the fit of the MSA twice pipes, I think professional installation would be a good idea. Although I suspect they could be built from scratch by a good muffler shop for about the same price.

Discussed the backup car earlier this year, when it was on eBay. http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=31077

1.) The later transmission is said to be a slightly stronger unit. But I doubt that the strength difference (if any) is significant for street use. The ratios are similar. 2.) Yes, all of the Zs from '72 on had the different shift linkage. 3.) Other than the linkage issue, the later transmissions are a straight bolt-in swap. But the linkage difference will require you to either enlarge the holes in the tunnel and console, or have the later style shift lever custom modified. All this being the case, I can't see that there's enough benefit to using a later 4 speed transmission in your early car. If you were going to make the mods for a 5 speed, maybe. But not for just a later - but very similar - 4 speed.

Oh. I didn't realize that you had the previous 'record', Ron. That would tend to make one more intrigued by this particular bit of trivia.

I picked up my copy of this issue last week as part of my reading material for a couple of days away from home with no Internet. (Quite refreshing, actually.) It appears to me that the article was not intended to be comprehensive, but just to be a relatively detailed primer for US vintage auto enthusiasts who know what a 240Z is, but may not know much about them. No attempt to cover the wider S30 market, no JDM, euro or Aussie coverage at all. If that was the intent, then I'd judge it as a success. A quick overview, but nothing new to knowledgeable Z owners. But we (Z owners) weren't the target audience. I found the pictures to be interesting. My comments below: Silver car on pages 40-41: Looks like a stock photo of the same silver Vintage Program car that is seen on the cover of Humble's book, in the R&T article on the Program, and other period publications. That particular car always looks like the hood has a problem, it always looks a bit droopy at the front to me. Safari gold car on page 42 - A very clean looking '70, described in the caption as a Vintage Program car. Yellow car on page 43 - Another clean Series 1. Appears to have original tires on it, and Amco rubber floor mats. The emissions equipment appears to be painted gold rather than cad-plated, but that's hard to say for certain from a small picture. Green Series 1 on page 44 - I love this one. An obvious driver as evidenced by the discolored and dirty front crossmember and horns, and it looks like yellow road stripe paint inside the RR fender well. Also has rear louvers and aftermarket wiper blades. A well-loved (and driven) car. Various period racing pictures (B&W) on page 45 - Morton, Sharp and Bondurant. Nothing new, but good to see. Safari gold late '71 ("Series 2") on page 46 - Another nice-looking car, but with some odd details. Pretty rusty looking tailpipe with no chrome tip, the hubcaps are wrong ('72-76), the rims are painted silver instead of black/charcoal, the rear shipping tie-downs are on the car, and most oddly the rear bumper guards are mounted upside down! Yellow G-nose on page 47 - The above mentioned car generally linked to Mr. K. Again, nothing new there. Red '73 on page 48 - Yet another nice-looking car, this one an automatic. Very clean, but oddly, this one also has upside down bumper guards, the fronts this time! Blue '73 on page 49 - Clean car with side stripes and Amco bumper bars front and rear.

I ran Ansa exhausts on several cars back in the early eighties. Loved the sound and the look, but the durability of their mufflers sucked. The dang things rusted internally in very short order. I've had them last 13-18 months here in Oregon (no road salt), with a 12 month warranty. Not something that makes me want to have them again these days, even though I expect the glass-packed tips like these may last far longer than true mufflers did.

You'll hear pros and cons to both options, with a little searching. There is no one totally correct answer. It all depends on your car, what you plan for it, etc. In my case, I retained the tank, and replaced all the vent hoses with original Nissan parts. I am still using the flow guide, and it is hooked up as factory. But my car is also very original, so that was part of my reason for retaining it all. For a modified car, I might have removed it.

So that future people can see it too:

Saw this today. Looks pretty decent in pictures. No connection to the seller, and I have NOT seen it in person. Just a heads up. http://eugene.craigslist.org/cto/892774327.html

Well, I normally would not have the block bored until I had the pistons in hand, so that the machinist could verify the exact size and bore/hone accordingly. That said, if BD's pistons are significantly cheaper than others, it's a safe bet that there's a reason. Since the machining is already done, I'd recommend finding a set of name brand pistons, in hopes that .020 over is truly .020 and not .018 or .023. As for the carbs, the rebuild kit does not address the biggest problem these days - the extreme probability that your throttle shaft bushings are worn and leak un-metered air. I'd recommend letting ZTherapy do the whole job.

In my experience - and confirmed by the wide variations in your pictures - it is VERY difficult for a digital camera to record accurate color rendition in a paint booth. The bland gray/white background contrasting with the vivid new paint plays hell with the white balance. So it is impossible for those of us who have not seen the color in person to judge whether or not it is too orange. To my eyes, your pictures range from very orange to very red (towards the blue end of the spectrum). When I had mine painted (earlier 905 red), I gave the PPG code, but I also had him tint to match the color on the underside of the toolbox lids to ensure that the color was as close as possible to the original. Like you, I wasn't sure how well that worked when I saw it in the booth. But in natural light outdoors it appears to be correct. FWIW, the picture of the door jam looks to me to be a decent match to 110. But again, that's just what the computer displays. I have no idea if that's an accurate representation.

IMO (as a former tire/wheel professional), 195/60-14 is too small for a 240Z.

Just to clarify, I never recommend that buying from that particular seller, I always recommend buying things he sells from your Nissan dealer instead.

I have no incentive to deal with him. Everything he sells is still available from your local Nissan dealer, if you know how to ask. (Hint - CZCC parts CD-ROM) My local dealer gives me a club discount, so their prices are always at least as good as his, and generally significantly better. There's no shipping charge at all from my dealer, and I don't even have any sales tax to consider here in Oregon. But even if you had to pay tax locally, I'd bet that your dealer can still beat Reddat's price with shipping.

I just wish I HAD a splash pan.

Many people have said that Chrysler Engine Blue is VERY close, and considerably cheaper than Les' paint. But I'll probably still use Les' paint on mine when I refresh the block someday.

Diode is only needed on 240Z, not on 280Zs.

Ahh. Good question! No, I don't think they have been. A mistake in my post above. All emblems other than the pillar vents were plastic on later cars.

While the improvement for a 280Z is less than for a 240Z, it is still worthwhile, especially if you need an alternator anyway. The adapters you mention won't fit a 280Z, and really aren't needed anyway. All you need there is a couple of small jumper wires to replace the external regulator.

The seals MSA sells are made by Precision. The door seals that come in the full kit are the later one-piece type. I am not totally happy with them on my '71. While they mostly look OK, the black scuff plate doesn't fit over them well, and it bothers me if I look at it. Eventually I'll try to get the correct style seal, I kept the original welting for mine.

Early emblems were all metal. I believe the hatch vents were always plastic. Somewhere down the road, Nissan replaced the metal emblems with plastic to save costs. My 7/71 car has all plastic, and all are original. The 10/70 car I parted out had metal hood, fender and pillar emblems. The deck emblems were long gone by the time I got the car, so I don't know for certain about them. I'd say that a 3/70 car probably should have come with all metal emblems, so the plastic ones now on your car are probably replacements.

Mark, I think the 1 3/4" he noted was the dual pipe size, not the header primary size.

In the rust belt, yes, stainless is worth it. Here out West, stainless is unnecessary. Aluminized out here can last for decades.

I think if I were going to do it, I'd repro the connecting tubes to mate up with the un-merged collectors from an MSA 6-into-2 header. Easily available, and should be easy to fab.

OK. That being the case, to get true performance rubber in a size suitable for a 240Z with 14x6 wheels, you're going to want to go to a different size. There are no good performance options in 195/70-14 anymore. The most common sizes that others with 14" use these days are 205/60-14, with a few using 215/60-14. Both of these sizes are both shorter and wider than the size you now have - the 205 being the smaller of the two. The selection of tires will be greatest in the 205/60-14, even the 215/60 is becoming a rare size any more.In the 205/60 you should be able to find tires by Kumho, Falken, Yokohama and more. Most any of those will do better than what you have now. If you do decide to shop for Z tires at Schwab, the ones they market under the Ohtsu Ziex label are the same as similar Falkens - Ohtsu is the parent company of Falken. Those are probably the only performance tires they will have available in a suitable size. I know that there are at least one or two others here who are interested in cloning that system. ToXic for one. Check out his thread:http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=32243