Arne

Yup. You win. I've NEVER seen one of those.

It's not so much that parts are hard to find (for the most part they're not), but that the money to buy them with is in short supply!

Now if only my Z God status could enable me to materialize new parts....

If there is an extra black wire near the coil that isn't connected to anything, it should connect to the negative terminal of the coil. The picture below is on Bryan Little's site:

It is my understanding that if the tach on a 240Z was unplugged that the engine won't run. So it's probably not something as simple as the tach being unplugged. What ignition do you have in the car?

Umm... No. It's all yours.

Appliance Industries again. They were called "Dia-mags" and were only available in 14x6 in four lug, as I recall. They used a really odd proprietary lug nut that would probably be a b**ch to find today.

Did you check the float levels? Because if they aren't the same, screwing the mixture screws out the same number of turns means nothing. I'm betting on radically different mixtures in the two carbs.

If the snowflakes are only 6" wide, that's not wide enough for much tire. Maybe 205/60-15 at most. That doesn't sound like it meets number 3 to me.

My Series I (10/70) has a sticker similar to that pictured above. Just how similar I can't say right now, I'm at work and the car isn't. Series I cars did not have the recess in the dash pad for the sticker, however.

Before you buy springs, more research is needed. First, it is not unusual for an early Z to sit a bit high in the front. And so the fender gap may not be the same in those conditions. Also, the pictures make it look as if the front tires are lower profile than the rear. I'm not sure if that's true, it might be an optical illusion. But if it is true, that will make the appearance even worse. Factory springs don't use letters as identifiers - they used colored daubs of paint. Typically, there were different springs for each side in front, and a third part that was used on both sides in the rear. Since your springs have an "R" on them, they apparently aren't factory. But without knowing who made them, there's no telling what the "R" means. Might not mean rear. If it were me, I'd probably look into getting a whole matched set of springs so that I knew for certain what I had, and that all four were compatible.

N42 head in your car has the same square ports as the P90a, so the header you just got should fit your existing head.

Isn't that the pair that have been on eBay several times recently? Too bad he doesn't have a full set, they'd have been sold by now.

Since I've never seen a set of Wats in person, I can't speak from personal experience, but from what I've heard they are first rate wheels. Work rims are nice, but in my opinion (based on two decades in the wheel and tire business) multi-piece wheels are over-kill for street use. The can be more fragile, and frequently harder to clean. I've only seen a few ROHs in person, they look nice and seem well built, but the styles I have worked on seemed rather heavy for their size. Of course, that was 10 years ago.

Depends on how worried you are about originality. You could use a set of 1/4" spacers on the front as one option. Or you could switch over to 280Z hubs and rotors, which is a cleaner way to go.

Synthetic does run cooler, and has less friction as well. I don't yet run it in the Z, as I've only put 50 miles on it and really don't know the true condition of my engine yet. I do run synthetic in all my other vehicles though.

His threads are already gone.

I would have bought an orange one in a heartbeat, if I could have found a good candidate in my price range when I was shopping. But yellow is good, too.

Sand through some of the orange you can see to check for other colors under it? I strongly suggest that what you have already seen is pretty conclusive. It was most probably 918 Orange originally.

I can't say for certain without seeing the rear of the alternator either, but from the side it does NOT look like the ZX alternator in my car. Typically, the ZX alternators seem to have a rounded edge, as seen in the linked gallery picture (not mine). They also have an extra plug that is not used when installed on an early car, in the linked picture you can see it barely at the left edge. http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=6900&si=alternator&what=allfields

As an additional bit, I've seen several places and people who say that 10W-30 is fine for most climates in an L series engine. 20W-50 might be part of your problem. While I haven't got any experience with the Z yet (not ready for the road), I did have a similar issue with my family car, a '96 328i. Shortly after I bought it, I changed the oil and used 15W-50 Mobil 1. Lost 3 MPG on the highway. Changed to Mobil 1 0W-40 and the mileage returned to the former numbers. FWIW...

L24 = 2.4 liter, used in Z cars through 1973. L26 = 2.6 liter, used in 260Z (1974 in US, 1974 through 1978? in the rest of the world). L28 = 2.8 liter, used in 280Z and ZX through 1983. L26 has the same bore as an L24, but the stroke of the L28.

For me personally, I don't care for the ZXT wheels at all. Not on a 240Z. The Panasports are quite nice. But I actually like the slot mags you have now, I wish the ones on my car now were a matching set. But it's your car, go with whatever YOU like.

Here's another one, in Salem, OR. Not as butchered, still has the 1300. http://portland.craigslist.org/car/127377021.html

Why not just yank the original 2.4 and store it? Drop in what ever 2.8 looks good to you, and you can still go back to matching numbers any time?