Mike B

Actually the switch is for rear parking lights used on some Japanese home market cars. The two switches were for left and right, not front and rear. See this thread (post #11) http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4523 -Mike

No, the chrome was in pretty bad shape. I striped it off and then had them rechromed. See this thread http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=30823&highlight=taillight+chrome&page=2. I had two sets done and was hoping to do some more, but the guy that chromed them is getting out of the chrome business and has been difficult to deal with. I believe Les at classicdatsun.com sells good reproductions of the seat covers, including the blue ones. My interior is black. I take it yours is blue then? -Mike

I finished restoring my taillights and put them back in today. I'm very happy with how the rechromed trim strips came out after I painted the black center sections. They retained all of the detail, and the heavy duty chrome on these should last my lifetime. -Mike

Did they have the dark tint band at the top? I think Arne looked into getting a OEM Nissan windshield when he had his car painted last year and that was the only type available. -Mike

"OEM Quality" does not mean an OEM windshield though... -Mike

Yep, that was my plan Arne. I don't need the five speed, but if anyone does they could have it very cheap. -Mike

How about these two trannies? The top one is an automatic and the bottom one looks to be a 5 speed from a truck, but can it also be used in a Z car? -Mike

Thanks for posting that Geezer. Very interesting. -Mike

I usually use a large flat blade screw driver between the rod and the fitting and to get leverage on it and pry it off. -Mike

They come up on ebay pretty regularly, although usually in sets and they can be very expensive, depending on condition. There are also two types. An early style with large clips on the back and a later style with more smaller clips. With your car being a 71 you most likely need the later style D hubcap. Here is a single one on ebay that will need repainting the correct color. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/69-70-71-72-73-Datsun-Z-240-432-510-Hub-Cap-14-RARE_W0QQitemZ250374411443QQihZ015QQcategoryZ140745QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem. Les Canady at classicdatsun.com sells a grey paint that seems to be a very close match for the original grey. -Mike

That is a big boy! Congrats! -Mike

I circled the area in red Carl. I'm not sure why it is offset like this either, but every 240Z I have seen is this way. -Mike

Gary, LeMans Motors in San Bernadino is on page 7 of the 1972 dealer list in the other link. It is also in the 1971 list, but I didn't post that page. I attached 1972 page again below. Maybe Long Beach? Actually, Carl's Zhome site says the first boat load of cars went to the Port of Los Angeles, so maybe that is where all SoCal cars were shipped through. -Mike

Here is the ad: http://www.zcar.com/forums/read/14/2015293 Hi everyone. I own Mission Viejo Transmission in Mission Viejo California. We have a contract to retrofit some little trucks from China from manuals to automatics. The only transmission that will fit is the 3N71b rear wheel drive transmissions that came mainly in the Z cars from 1971 to 1982. We don't even care if they work, we will buy them from you for $100 a piece, we will pick them up anywhere. We need 300+ transmissions. We have already delivered 338 of them rebuilt and ready to go. Look for those junk units for me. I also need extension housings 13 1/4 to 13 1/2 inches long and torque converters. At this time we are looking for non-lock 3N71b transmissions as many as you can find. Kevin 949-583-1828 dojnbulets@aol.com -Mike

I wonder what's next? Flat top carbs? -Mike

Interesting story about the two window stickers Carl. It's strange that Wick was charged the $30 for tinted windows, but not the $40 for rear defroster, when his car also came with that. I think the switch over to tinted glass happened earlier than the addition of rear defrosters. I had #882 and it came with all tinted glass except for the passenger door glass, which was clear. This TSB says the rear defroster came standard in US cars starting with HLS30-01456. I guess it was up to each dealer as to how they applied these charges. -Mike

Carl, HLS30-03547 was Wick Humble's car. His window sticker is shown in his book "How to Restore Your Datsun Z-Car". I believe Bill Regan's car that he restored was HLS30-02545. It's also interesting to see that they charged Wick Humble an extra $30 for tinted glass, even though I think all US cars came with it standard by that point. -Mike

Early ones were metal. I'm not sure when they transitioned to plastic. If you were mounting a metal hood emblem I would make certain it fit tightly and the double sided tape alone may not be enough to hold it. I think the tape should work fine for a plastic one and a plastic one would do less damage if it ever does come off. -Mike

If the silicone RTV adhesive is not sticking to the paint well, you might try some wax and grease remover in the area around the holes. You mentioned considering using JB Weld, but then edited that out. I would definitely NOT recommend that, as it would be permanent. Some people also use some 3M double sided emblem tape if they break off mounting posts, so you could give that a try. Is your emblem metal or plastic? -Mike

Funny you mention that Carl. I was going to recommend Terry and just looked around eBay to see if he had any listed, since he often does. He hasn't sold anything in awhile and has 4 negatives/complaints since Sept. http://members.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewUserPage&userid=torqthrust.terry I picked up my wheels from him in mid-Sept and he was very hard to get in touch with. His voicemail box was full, and he never answered the phone. I was getting pretty worried when I finally got in contact with him by email and arranged to pick up the wheels. He said he doesn't use carry his cell phone with him or even turn it on unless he has arranged to talk to someone before hand. He mainly just responds to emails. I emailed him about some other wheels in Oct/Nov and it took a couple of weeks to get a response. He said he had been working out of town and he had some health issues. I hope he is doing ok. -Mike

Also, this is a bit off topic, but on HLS30-00210 I was having a really tough time removing the emblems from the rear hatch. I took off the inner hatch panel and the emblems were held in with the same rectangular clips that hold the center emblems on hubcaps. You could tell they were original to the car and had never been touched. I had never seen that before. All the others I have seen were mounted with the tubular clips pictured above. Have you seen that before Carl? -Mike

Yes, the first picture is the clips I was referring to. I have not seen the clips in the second picture used to mount any emblems. If your emblems don't fit tightly with the post clips attached I would guess the holes may be been enlarged at some point. Carl, if you use the emblem clips with silicon or RTV maybe that would help with the rusting issue, or maybe even paint the clips before using them? -Mike

I would bet that you are missing the clips that mount on the emblem posts. The Nissan part # is 63845-18000 clip-tubular. Nissanparts.cc has them for $1.38 each. Check with your local dealer. He can get them for you with this part #. -Mike

When I bought #32 last year, the paint was pretty good, but it had a couple of dings that needed to be fixed. It had been painted silver in the 70's by the original owner, and then repainted the original 903 blue in the mid 80's. About 10 years ago, the owner's toddler decided to take batting practice on the front of the drivers fender, just behind the sugar scoop, with a big plastic bat. There was a small dent above the gas lid when something fell against the car in the owner's garage. Also, the seam between the quarter panel and roof on the passenger's side had flexed and cracked the paint. Originally I was going to see if I could just get these three areas repaired and touched up for now and then do a full repaint in a year or two. However, there were also quite a few small rock chips in the hood and sides and the windshield was not the correct one. I decided to just pull all the glass and do a full exterior repaint while I was at it. I have a NOS early untinted windshield that will go in it. The guy that did the paint and body work took some pictures, but hadn't burned them to a disc yet. I'll post some of those when I get them and take some more pics after I get it all back together. -Mike

Don't tell me you haven't seen the 1984 cult classic "Repo Man"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repo_Man_(1984_film) Car deodorisers shaped like evergreen trees are placed in most cars. These items were one of the few sponsored items (along with Ralph's generic goods above) in this movie and hundreds of these deodorisers were donated to the filmmakers for this movie. It is mentioned in the DVD commentary track that these air fresheners were actually unscented, and it is suggested that they were only given to the film because they were defective (and thus, unsellable). Miller, the mechanic-philosopher, also noted the pervasive presence of the scented pine tree deodorisers in repossessed cars, telling Otto, "You'll find one in every car. You'll see." Later in the film, one even appears on a policeman's motorcycle. They can also be seen hanging from the ceiling in the scene at Miller's house. -Mike