240znz

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

Be very aware that many (if not all) Japanese cars that are exported out of Japan to New Zealand have had the speedo's wound back to get a higher price. This seems to be the norm and our pathetic government doesn't seem willing to stir up the industry to get it above board. Fraud in every used car sales yard over here, guarranteed. I suspect that any used import into the USA will be the same. So, as the other guys say, buy a Z32 and obtain some FairladyZ badges from Japan and ther you have it, a differnent labelled Z32.

Go on, someone please buy a set and report back with the findings. As a side note, the lens in my guages are green. Are LHD 240z's lens' the same?

sorry guys - clicked submit twice - DOH

I stuck thinking if he his a complete nutter or a man who has missed his calling. What an amazing project that gives me a headache thinking about in terms of complexity. Wicked!

Another place to check is upper portion of the firewall. Water enters the cowl and collects before finally exiting the leaf infested area via rubber tubes to the inner fender cavity (behind the inner fender splash panel). There is only primer in there and a bit of overspray if you are lucky. Very hard to detect but will cost you a bomb to remove as you need to remove the steel panel directly under the cowl (if you want to it properly). Under there you will find the fresh air inlet chimney which whose dum dum will have dried and become brittle. Those rubber tubes that provide a path from the inner drainage area to the inner fender cavity pass through the cabin. Crazy yes but that's the way they made it. These rubber tubes are prone to cracking and subsequently leak water onto the firewall sound deadening jute covered card board....slowly eating away to the firewall and eventually the floors. Best have a look at an exploded view of the area to understand what I am describing here. There is a good exploded view in the Nissan Chassis and Body Manual. If I had a scanner, I'd post the pic here. Can anyone assist? It details every seam and where seam sealer is applied. But as a general rule with purchasing any car from this era, get it up in the air and/or get a professional appraisal before purchase from someone who really "knows" where to look.

Great links Will, thanks matie.

Gidday Will, Interesting that you write that Nissan never made a RH version of the mirror. A car dealer in Dunedin recenty rebuild a 71 240z and with his excellent contacts in Japan, found a NOS set. That is what he told me anyway. The only way to be sure is to look at them on the car from the front and see if I notice any stalk angle differences. That will have to confirmed next Feb when we all meet up again. I concur with Will with regard to those mirrors listed on ebay.com.au as not original units that came out on the 240z in the US. Just for your info, my HS30-00352 was imported into Aussie and then shipped over here to NZ in 74. Someone put ugly ZX door mirrors (or similar) on it and painted them with a paint brush.... ! The car had fender mirrors originally as there are crude front guard repairs where they would have been. So JDM verisons had front guard mirrors and US ones got the ones shown above in Will's post. I wonder what UK, Aussie and NZ Nissan show room cars got as standard? Anyone know???? Any pics? James

I know that this thread is old but in searching for some information on the different mounting of LHS vs RHS standard door mirrors, I stumbled across this thread. OK, to put to bed the availability of RHS door mirrors as of the 13th of November 2006, in my exhaustive searching in NZ and "people in the know", they are no longer available, from Nissan New Zealand or in Japan. Maybe in Aussie but I very much doubt it. I will have to buy a LHS mirror and flip it over to use on RHD 240z. No big issue as I won't run a LHS one anyway. I'll just have to nail it for longer to be able to see the car in my rear view mirror, tiz all. Never exceeding the speed limit officer of course (cough cough). So, save yourself time, don't even bother looking as you will not find them easily, if at all. Happy hunting.

I second all that has been said by he with the "60 year old butt". My car cost about 6K of your US notes. I have spent about 2K on parts and in the process of parting with another 6K for to the car to be taken back to bare metal, new panels fitted, rust removed and of course new paint. You pay for what you get in this world and I have no illusions that I will not see a profit on this car unless some nutter in Japan wants a low VIN RHD 240z in his collection that has almost every part either rebuilt or new. Oh, and I'm not selling it either. Best advice anyone can give is DONT RUSH INTO BUYING ANYTHINGn (I did and now I'm hurting). Take your time and get a bloody good feel for what they are worth and know where to look for the hidden problems. The hardest thing to do is to set your emotions aside when actually viewing with the intent to purchase. Heh Mike, it should back from the shop in about 8 weeks, give me about another year to put it all back together and she's all yours for your next God Zone trip.

The oil sender on you block is probably shot. It is a common problem. You could try putting a new one on and see if the guage reads any better. If it doesn't, then I'd be directing questions to the person who rebuilt the engine for you.

Yeah do a search first and read the volumes that jump out at you on this subject. Some people have used silicon spray on the rubbers then closed the doors. Do this for about a week or so and they'll eventually soften and mould to your door, forming a good seal. I am yet to install mine.

I placed a huge order with MSA that included both the left and right hand sills. They sent me two right hand sills in error. I gave them a call and emailed them a picture. MSA had a left hand sill delivered to my door in 5 days. I live in New Zealand, so the freight would have been expensive for the extra sill, well at least what the sill was worth. No quible, no nonsense, excellent service and great products.

Some web sites state that the series 1 was 200lbs lighter than later models of the 240z. The series 1 had slightly thinner sheet metal and the lack of steel about the top of the B pillar meant that the lead filled seam where the roof meets the hatch cracked. Mine has classic signs of this and I will be adding just a wee bit more steel to stop it happening again. So which is best? I'd point to the early VINs first then a rust free any year model a very close second.

Or a huge heater fan upgrade with massive passenger footwell outlet to blow the dress off.

Take the easy route and get them pressed out. Best money you'll ever spend.

1. A OS Giken twin cam head (complete with 44PHH's and warmish cams) 2. Toyota front caliper upgrade. 3. 25mm lower. 4. Nice set of Watanabes with sticky feet attached. 5. Half poly, half new rubber. 6. Better seats. 7. A grunty ignition system. 8. Front airdam. The rest is just fine thanks and I just love it!!!!!:knockedou