240znz

Well done! Its looks a squillion dollars Ed. It is a great resto and something for all the other resto guys to aim for. Once again the bar has been raised. There's hope for us yet! I like many others, have been waiting for more pics to turn up in your gallery. Now it is finished, please keep them coming. I hope you don't mind the ocassional PM's with questions/advice.

Thanks Enrique, The paint "looks" like that red oxide paint that you apply to RSJ's. It isn't the same paint that you can see on the consol mounting bracket. Very strange it being there. I wonder if any other members noticed the same thing when they stripped their pans out????????

Bump. Anyone have any ideas on this?

Try MSA, VB and Tabco, ZBarn.

Finally got my arse into gear and working on the project again. I chipped some of the passenger side of the trans tunnel and have found some curious things. There is red oxide paint on the bare metal but only part way up. From memory, Datsun didn't apply any primers to the floors or tunnel. They just applied the tar sound absorbing mats. The link below clearly shows that the area has been sprayed before. My thoughts are that a PO has made a huge modification and stripped the body before and applied red oxide paint then replaced the tar stuff, then re-sprayed the entire car. Anybody care to shed some light? Good news is that the metal is lickable. Yippe, I was thinking the worst. http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/1122/transtunnelbaremetal0if.jpg

Nice one mate. Just the ticket for you and your car. I can still see your grin!

Each to their own, but I'd sooner spend the money on new fender emblems than spent valuable time in restoring them. As explained above, it is more likely to cost you more than a new one and to get it "right" and "period" anyway. I've purchased all new emblems for my project. I'll put them on and keep the old ones as they are rare and very hard to source. Besides, if I'm spending all this money on my new paint, any emblem resto will jump out at you like a beacon against a flawless paint job. I just couldn't bring myself to do that. Each to their own though eh! What ever tickles your fancy guys and gals.

All, My series 1 240z has had it's dash dials out at some stage. The pointers are that bright fluro orange/red paint. Is this standard on early examples? I suspect not.

Why restore a Zed? I'm in the throws of bringing my series 1 back to restored with a few add ons. Everyone who I have spoken to in the automotive industry in my part of the world knows of the 240z. They all say things like "my mate had one of those and it was the weapon of its day", "they are special cars", "you got a 240z!?, you've a lucky man".

That blue one is nice but is it worth 19K? Orange one's respray looks a little rushed. Door front to frame seal missing....you can pick holes in everything but a good example but some work needed. Also looks like he's scrapped off the white paint in the "Z" of the B pillar emblems as well......hmmmm

This really brings it all home. We tried late last night to contact all family and friends...all OK thank goodness. What can we do? Bloody nothing! These people will not stop, no matter who much detection we can use. We need to keep at them with every means at our disposal, with complete purpose and determination. Our best wishes are with all.

Having a fire extinguisher is a very very good idea. But in reality, the organ sheer involved during a 200kph impact would have done the damage. The heart moves forward against the rib cage and the aorta partially sheers off. Your life ends via internal bleeding within 10 minutes usually. How fragile we are! I also doubt that that a human could remain concious after a 200kph impact either. So the fire extinguisher wouldn't be of any use. Just terrible bad luck I'd say and I hope they didn't suffer. Terrible things auto accidents. I was first at the scene of a head on in the UK between a new Merc and a new MG. MG was a mess but Merc was hardly damaged. Speed limit on that stretch was 50mph, so a combined inpact of 100mph. Both drivers were released from hosiptal the next day with minor injuries....lucky they were in modern cars with airbags etc.

That's just plain horrid. Yep there are too many head-on collisions on NZ roads of late. Too many bloody idiots out there. Too many cheap fast cars in the hands of boys. It is likely that someone in the Auckland Zed Club would know this car. Just plain horrid. Enough said.

Pull the spark plugs, turn the engine over until you get oil pressure. Put the plugs back in and fire it up. Doing this fills the filter as well as puts oil in all the galleries. Good luck and make sure you have water in it too! Many people have forgotten that little omission.

Food for thought. I'm not jumping to Michelin's defence here but.... Didn't the track get re laid after the 500? I heard the new surface was too slick so they cut 1 to 2mm grooves in it combat the problem. Doesn't Bridgestone supply the tyres for the entire Indy Car field. So they new what was required to change the side wall so it could handle the extra heat. It was too late for Michelin when they found the problem on the Friday. Internal bickering between the upper levels of F1 prevented the inclusion of a chicane that would have allowed the show to go on (slow down the entry speed to the banking and therefore side wall loading). The last qualifying was done and Michelin had no choice to do what they did. Shame on F1 is correct. Complete blame on Michelin no.

L24 vs L26 = L26 bigger bore L24 vs L28 = L28 bigger bore and stroke. Which engine? Not too sure from your question what you are asking really. However, what do you want to do with your car. Are you thinking of bringing it back to standard? If so keep the original engine. If you want more poke, the bigger the better, so a L28 for you it is. Try to think of the car as an overall package. No point going fast if you can't stop or handle properly. Those old shocks and springs are stuffed. If you have room, always keep the original engine. A car with the correct engine no. will fetch more than non stock in most books.

Yawn, yawn, yawn

Yep, get all the petrol out as it will gum up if you don't. Clean them well & pop them in an air tight bag with a heap of silica gel to absorb any moisture that tries to get in. I'd remove all the brass jets, lube the threads and put them back but only finger tight. Maybe there is a product that you can also spray coat them with to stop the aluminium corroding. I'd look that up to see.

I'm after a set of Miata (MX5 in NZ) black leather seats for my project. The rest of the car is original but I just can't stand the original seats. Mike is spot on about the speakers in the headrests...were the standard in all models? I'll be keeping the old seats for resale purposes, nothing else. Series 1 seats had very limited back tilt adjustment anyway and I prefer a very upright driving position.

Electrolytic condensors (capacitors) are prone to dry out and fail. They are filled with a dilectric grease or gell. Engine bays are a nice hot environment and although the caps are designed for automotive use, they will fail after time. They are cheap to replace so maybe have a couple in the car as spares just in case.