240znz

I read that somewhere but I could be wrong. I dropped the entire back end and in the process of rebuilding the lot. So I can't confirm if there is enough space to swing it down. You'd need to loosen the inner bush bolts I guess to get enough play before trying to swing it out in addition to removing the half shafts. Hell, I'd give it a try first. I agree, I'd rather tackle it the way you suggested than pull the spindles again.

That area looked great on my car until I pulled the hatch glass out. The entire bottom lip had gone, so the glass was secured by the sides and top only. Water had gotten under the paint and rusted out between the inner and outer hatch seam. Nasty but fixed now. So as above, buy a new hatch seal and rip that glass out and have a good look. Make sure that you run a craft knife between the rubber and stainless strip. This will ensure that the stainless comes out with out a bend in it. I'd take it out first.

Brian, There are two sets of bushes on the rear suspension that could be the issue. The outer bushes are pressed into place and the spindle pin runs through the centre. The small pin in the centre is there to stop the spindle pin from rotating when you tighten the nuts. Yes this is the dreaded pin. There are a few threads on spindle pin removal but do yourself a favour and pay a shop to do it for you. They are evil evil things. The inner (diff end) bushes are easy to change out. Loosen the bolts that secure the pins in place before removing the arm. The treads are more than likely rusted a bit and a little difficult to remove afterwards. I had to use a rattle gun on one end and a soak the other for 24hrs with CRC to get it to budge with the rattle gun. I'll be running a tap through them later and apply grahite grease to stop this from happening again (well there's always hope). If I were you, I would buy new rubber bushings, spindle pins, nylocks and cotter pins. You can choose to go with poly pushings now if you wish, all depends what you want to do. I would also look at axle stands and dropping the entire rear end and rebuilding it as a whole. Check the shocks while you are at it and fit new if they are suspect. Changing the shocks can not be done without removing the spindle pin. Why do it twice. Parts list for a full on rebuild is: 2 x spindle pins 2 x cotter pins for centre of spindle pins 4 x nylocks for spindle pins 2 x outer bushes 2 x inner bushes 2 x moustache bar bushes set of rear sway bar links and bushes 2 x half shaft boots 1 x rubber diff mount set of wheel bearings 2 x gas shocks (or strut inserts if you like to call them that) Check for play in the half shaft universals and replace if worn. Make sure you get new ones with grease nipples. If you do the lot then you have peace of mind that your arse is safe.

Book your holiday and come and see for yourself. You will be amazed. Why not email the US embassy and ask them if the is an expat community forum in NZ that you could ask some questions on. You guys will be able to chat and compare apples with apples. For my sins, I am a 4th generation New Zealander, or "KIWI" as some like to say. I have spent 10 years away from this place travelling to over 50 countries and I can say that this place is very laid back. We have issues as all countries do, some more some less. But most issues are found in the Auckland region where they have a higher mix of nationalities. It is almost impossible to buy a first home here now for someone starting out as the prices have soared in the past 4 years. We will soon be a nation of renters or 50+ year mortgagees. The cost of living is high too. Yes fuel is expensive at about $1.50 a litre. 70US cents to NZ$1. It was US45 cents to the NZ$1 about 4 years ago. So book your tickets and come on down. But remember that you will be viewing this untouched place with hoilday eyes. Look at http://www.zclub.org.nz/ for a Auckland based club. There are very few zeds in the south island when compared with the north. Climate is weird here now. As a kid we had hot hot summers but we have just had the wettest December on record and the coldest winter in ages. But today it was 32 degrees, then down to 7 then back up to 18 again. Small island in the southern ocean gets whatever is coming, no large land mass to help. The "western desert island" is a 3 hour flight away thank God. Aussies and Kiwis share a passion for beating each other in sport. We recently won 3 nil in a cricket match series against them. So the question is "What is the difference between the Australian Cricket Team and an arsonist?" "An Arsonist wouldn't give up his last 3 matches." Good luck and email me if you want anymore info as per the PM.

Check these guys out "if only for the wow factor". My guess is that the pricing will be enormous. They look like art but a shame you can't see them under the carbs and a heat sheild. http://www7.plala.or.jp/ysgarage/

Weather you get the dogleg fixed or not is a matter of opinion. You've been here long enough and I'm sure all those threads regarding the strength of the S30 is in the unibody design have come flashing back by now. If you are going to the trouble of getting a paint job, then I'd bite the bullet and do it right first time. Of course it depends on how long you want to keep the car but you know that the ugly rust monster never sleeps. That section behind the dogleg consists of three panels. The outer sill, inner sill and internal wall rising up behind the seat belt mount. If you have a dollar size patch of rust, then as Arne suggests, the other side is probably gone to. I'd purchase both dogleg panel steel patches and have someone whip those sections out so you know what you are looking at before you commit to paint. Not trying to scare you here you know, but we've all been there, buying these things knowing full well that there are some issues and hopelessly hoping/praying that the rust is going to easy and cheaply fixed. Whatever you think you can repair it for, add another 50% to be reliastic. 20% of the purchasing reasoning is emotional, especially if you used to have one.

Welcome back. Here is a pick of what I found the rocker on mine. Just a small area about the size of one of your quarters on the external dogleg panel. Look what was behind. Someone, sometime did a good job of rust proofing as many panels as they could get to. You can see a little legs of it running down onto that rusty panel (which is the sill panel). There are 3 panel sections all spot welded together in there by the way. Good luck with it.

Sounds like you do have a transison model. So keep it as it is. Some consider these to be amoungst the rarest models of all or at least unusual. FWIW, HS30's did not have the door plates either, or dash displayed VIN numbers for that matter. Wouldn't it be strange if USA import rules allowed a HLS30 in the country without a door plate? At the end of the day, change the car as you want to. You only have you to answer to. There is a HS30 in NZ that I know of with exactly the same cross over items as you have. Does your have a hand throttle?

Take a can of ether with you to squirt into the air cleaner. CRC make one called "engine start" and there is a Aussie crowd to label theirs "Start ya bastard". I doubt you have that in your neck of the woods but any product with ether in it will be fine. You might need another set of hands to give you a hand so you can squirt just before firing it up. Ether evaporates very quickly.

To be far, English is and probably will remain the international business language for a very long time to come. Yeah, it does seem "nuts" that Nissan would crush any cars as they are aware of the following that the z has worldwide.

Me too! We all do in one way or another.

Ed is onto the right track there. You also could look into the following. I'm the same a Ed in that I'm not up to speed on the 280Z as we never got them here. I had the same problem, wash the 240z and water would end up on the floor boards, but only if I fired the hose into cowl slots. Water collects under the cowl and is directed to the fender ends where a drain is located. The drain exits into the cabin where it is connected to a thin walled 25mm diameter rubber tube with a 90 degree bend in it. This tube passes through a rubber grommet on its way to the outside of the car where the water is dribbled down between the inner fender guard and the door pillar. I found that the rubber tube had perrished and water was just pouring out but hidden as it drained nicely into the jute sound deadening on the inner firewall. That stuff mops it up and holds it hard against the inner firewall so as to greatly help the rust monster. A very bad design and I am suprised that they keep it there for the S30 range. It is not easy to get to either, but I think you should be able to loosen the clamp and remove it. Good luck finding a replacement, just about as hard as finding a rear hatch hinge rubber boot.....ie forget it. There is a thread about replacing this tube with a longer version that ensures that the water exits lower down the fender/door pillar area. Here it is http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19467&highlight=cowl+drain

Digital camera. Clear plastic ziplock bags of various sizes. Permanent marker (fine tip). Take images from all angles before taking any part off you car no matter how easy to remember it is. Put all parts in plastic bags with the date they were removed. Store all digital images of your parts in a folder on your PC with title set to the same date as that of the part in the bag. That way you will be able to take that "what part is that" to you PC and check where it was on the car. You'll be amazed just how hard it is to recognise some parts after a year being in bags. All electrical connections label as well. Just put a letter on each pair of connectors.

Hell Enrique, What the hell is the girlfriend doing in the car with slacks on in the first place. Sheesh! Mini skirt, lycra, nothing?????

Not wishng to add any further fuel (pun not intended) to the discussion but.... don't internal combustion engines work like this. Please correct me if I'm wrong. You know, always learning and all that. O2/fuel mix enters the combustion chamber and is burnt. The more fuel and O2 you get in there, the bigger the burn, therefore the piston moves down the bore faster = more grunt. The O2/fuel ratio is set at a constant in the "ideal" world but in the "real" world it changes due to pressure and temperature changes in all cars. FI handles this alot better than carburation. Carbs are tuned to the "local" conditions to get the best out of them. So isn't it safe to assume that the more dense the air, the more fuel you can get into the chamber to achieve a bigger bang. Surely there must be an advantage in using cooler air than engine bay air. Maybe a very small one but measurable. How obvious is it to the average zed owner driving out (locally without driving up mountains where large pressure changes are expected) and about is probably neither here nor there, but in racing where every little bit counts then sure, I would think that cold air would be vital. If not then why use cold air induction or intercoolers on turbo engines. James

It's 10:42 PM and Christmas day is near over down here in New Zealand. Kids woke us up at 5:30 and we are shattered. Ate too much BBQ food, cold ham and salads, all washed down with a ale or two. So to all members here and afar, a very Merry Xmas and Happy New Year. Love your families. James

As another aside. Is it probable that Nissan released the HLS30 with the standard HS30 heater control panel? This panel has the off position to the right as this is where the driver is. Is it probable that Nissan moved the off position to the left on HLS30's after US market feedback got back to Nissan Japan. Bit of a shame really as HS30 versions of the panel are now very very expense to get as NOS where your HLS30 ones are about half the price.

Welcome to the site. You've found a very informative place. Drain the petrol tank. Flush fuel feed and return lines. New fuel filter. Add a bottle of engine flush to the oil, run engine and drain. New oil filter and oil. New points, rotor, cap, HT leads and plugs. New airfilter. Drain gearbox oil. New gearbox oil. Drain all brake lines and flush. New brake fluid. Blead brakes. Check the radiator hoses are OK and replace if looking suspect. Replace fan belt. Put a spare in the boot. Check rear hatch seals. Check brake light rubber gaskets. Check petrol tank vapour return lines. Check oil pressure sender. Remove and test thermostat. Drain and back flush the radiator. New antifreeze. Check wallet for massive holes. Go to the doctor for some pills to ease the fever. No known cure available as yet but there's always hope......isn't there????? Good luck with the work ahead.

The handle throttle knob is wrong. What he has there is two choke knobs from differing years. The hand throttle knob has three dashs to indicate fuel entering the throat of the carb. The butterfly is also shown. Kats started a thread a while ago that showed the correct pics. Here it is. http://www.geocities.jp/datsunz903/choke.html Yeah, not a fan of the mix and match but he has spent a aweful lot of time and money on this car. I want those wheels.

Gidday all, Due to the limited amount of 240z's in my town, I can't not comment with accuracy on that point. Remember that there are very few numbers of 69/70 HS30's when compared to your HLS30's. We are now some 36 years on and therefore even fewer cars available to work out what was and what wasn't. Add the geograhical diversity, plus the language barriers, it all adds up to a near impossible task to collate the information required to "put a finger on it". Point in case is my car with VIN of 352 and a build date of 12/70. That's about a year after the first HS30's rolled off the production line. How many sub 1500 VIN's did New Zealand get? No very many. I started a thread on a local Z club website in NZ and also in Australia some months ago but it has gone nowhere. Basically, I very much doubt that we could ever get a clear cut answer on this at all. It would be just assumptions.

Hi Carl and all, I'm not sure that I understand your question Carl. Series 1, 2 or 3 doesn't relate to the HS30 models at all. Is there documentation from Nissan to support the idea that they used the term "series" to denote any of the HS30 JDM or RHD models? Did Nissan USA coin the "series" phrase for HLS30's themselves and are there official Nissan documents (e.g. service manuals) that refer to "series"? I'm of the understanding there was a clear cut between the so called "series 1 and 2" HLS30's. It is not so clear cut with regard to HS30's in fact there seems to be a almost very frequent change/mod/edit/update whatever you want to call it, in items that were installed in HS30's. I know that VIN 8xx has a hand throttle but solid B pillars. After I saw that, I went over the car looking for differences and found a few minor changes. Nothing major that I could see but none the less, differences. I'm thinking that maybe Nissan had to jump through hoops to get the "series 1" into the US and that updating any components on it would have meant re-compliance issues (re-testing etc or just miles of paperwork). Maybe it was easier and less expensive to wait until they had many bugs ironed out and then release it for US compliance approval, hence the large differences between the S1 and S2. Thinking out loud now here guys. It would be far easier to test the changes in Japan than in the US after all. Just a thought. Still learning. Interesting topic.

Here are some differences that I have noted on my HS30-00352. This car is a low VIN and has a probable build date of 12/70. It is "likely" (but not certain) that is shares the same "bits" that the HLS30 "series 1" cars got. 1. Body shell lighter by 200lbs 2. Vented hatch 3. Solid B pillars 4. 240z badge on B pillar 5. Nissan 2400-OHC rocker cover 6. Back to front brake master 7. Cigarette lighter next to the ash tray 8. A hand throttle 9. Swiss cheese rear deck 10. Tool boxes behind each seat 11. Seats only recline 10 degrees or so 12. Chrome coat hooks 13. Split driveshaft 14. Solid steering wheel spokes 15. Flawed diff location 16. Speedo that starts at 20mph 17. "D" hubcaps not the "Z" ones 18. Weak B pillars that cracked 19. Mystery space beside the speedo for a switch or cigarette lighter 20. Vertical rear demister (if fitted, dealer option) 21. Rear speaker mounted behind the electric aerial. 22. Centre vent has straight vanes not angled like in other models 23. Map light bezel has no hood like in other models.

Series 1, 2 and 3 are US (LHD or HLS30) terms only. Never use them with JDM or RHD export versions. It's just plan wrong as I found out. Always learning.

No need to take it to a body shop to remove the broken handle. Take a rag and slide it between the broken handle and the door panel (as if you were slipping a piece of paper in there). Now pull the rag tight and bring your hands around to 45 and 310 degrees. Pull the rag towards you and the clip will pop out and the broken handle will come off the shaft.Your hands need to be hard against the door panel to do this. Basically, what you are doing is using the rags edge to spread open the clips "J" ends and then pushing it over the shaft. Then it just pops off. Simple and very easy. Not a very good explanation but it works everytime and will take 5 seconds max.

Aussie ... Aussie ... Aussie ... NO! ... NO! ... NO! Well, if you really must then you must. But do think long and hard about it. Might be better to shove it in storage for 6 months and re visit the decision after you've settled in. Like everyone else said