240znz

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.

I'm with Mike on this but I don't consider this to have any heat. It just is two well versed knowledgeable chaps exchanging information for our benefit. Nothing in it at all. However, isn't LSD illegal?

Yes, you should identify the head before you do any work on it. Look between and below the 1st and 2nd spark plug holes and you'll see the cast head ID. Why do you want to put it on your 280z? What's wrong with the head that's on there at the moment? Sounds like you need to STOP and think about what you want to do with the car as a whole. Maybe a compression test would be a good idea or even a leak down test so you get an idea of the state of the engine before you spend money on head recon. Time spent now in planning will save you $$$ later.

It's worse finding parts here in New Zealand for any 70-78 zed. None at the wreckers. Local Nissan dealers and an absolute waste of space i.e "a 240 what?" they say with a blank expression. Freight would kill it also. I'd be scanning the US website and breaker yard if I were you.

I would sell the LHD car in Phoenix and buy a RHD in Sydney. I doubt the cost of freight and all the bits you'll need to convert to RHD would make it viable. But if you have to....you may want to buy a wrecked 240z in aussie (if you can find one and use the bits to convert. Remember its not just steering column, you got the dashboard, pedals and wiring looms to source and fit. Other alternative is drive it like it is and play chicken everyday....oh joy!

Yes please, any info on 44phh will be very well received.

That hose you are talking about is the path for nasty fumes from the block to be returned to the inlet for burning. You can get a little K&N filter to fit right over the outlet if you'd prefer, but I'd hook the hose back up to the air filter. Don't worry about looks, worry about the gases that are escaping. Nasty gases in engine bay can = nasty gases in interior of car cause I bet you have some leaks in the fire wall. Better still, obtain a set of early SU's for it and the original air filter housing. Then everything will be back to normal. Your zed will you!

Enrique, As a fellow lucky series 1 owner, I have item in question in my car but it is disconnected. I have no intention of connecting it as I consider it to have the potential to kill me. It's that straight forward to me. However, as a matter of interest only, although it wasn't intended to be used as a CC device, is it capable to sustain highway speeds if used to do so?

Aussie Rob...you're a sad man. New Zealand, meaning new land of ZEAL, or Aotearoa (local native language translated to "land of the long white cloud", named after the massive bank of shitty weather that sits on us that was expelled from the east coast of Aussie) It should be called "land of the every lasting zed resto project" or "land of the self depleting wallet" I'd love it to be full of Zeds or Zees really, but alas it isn't so. What about Opzeeland?

Carl, I'm thinking that his margins must be so low that he's happy to sell them to the US market and not mess about with international shipping hassle. A shame really, but I find this happening a little when buying from the US. It is a little bit of a wizz off but that's how it is!