DeesZ

I'm in Pennsylvania and it can get pretty cold here. Longer starts on cold days are normal in my routine. My '72 is like that now and my new '72 back in the day was exactly the same right out of the showroom. Cold weather is not the friend of the L24, and a good battery is imperative if you want to drive.

Great thread on Libre wheels. I've learned more about them here in 5 minutes than I have been able to while looking for a set for the last 8 months! In my search I have been able to locate several sets of Libre knock-offs (Shelby Viper, no names, etc.) and a set of American Racing that I just couldn't afford. (If anyone has a set of 14" AR Libre for sale please PM me!) The Knock-offs do come in several wider configs, and from 20 feet away look like Libres but I'd like to stick with AR, and their 5.5" will suit any needs that I will have. The classic look of that design on a 240Z (for me) is tough to beat. Thanks to all for sharing your knowledge.

I removed mine from my '72 - pain in the arse in my book. If interested, the parts are still in the garage; make me an offer - I am tired of moving them around.

We vare very fortunate that we all do not have the same tastes in cars, or for that matter, in women, or anything else! If we did, nothing satisfying would be affordable to the majority of us. We were all created as unique individuals and thankfully our "tastes" are part of the differences among us.

I had just turned 22.... Got a '72 in '73..... Orange with white interior. Kept it for about a decade and was forever sorry about letting it go. Took care of that by getting another '72 several years ago.

well then, a redneck I am..... and proud of it.

Yeah, I've got the same disease. I've come close to bringing home several whole cars, too, but thought better of the idea. Soon all I will need is a shell and I'll build another. I had the same sickness with an old Jeep that I had, and when I sold it I got as much for the parts as I did for the vehicle. That investment (the parts) out did my 401K by leaps and bounds. All I gotta do is live long enough, and so should this one. It keeps me out of the bars and opium dens (being too poor to frequent them).

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=16389&stc=1&d=1170563765 This is what came on the car several years ago. They are from an old Max I'm pretty sure. I really didn't like them at first but they have grown on me. My wish is to get a nice set of American Racing Libre like I had way back when, but it seems lots of other people have the same idea.

I agree. Getting what I want when I want it is not always an option - for me anyway. I must focus on "needs" first, and there is always a list of those that takes priority over "wants. There are those who have the means to get whatever they want when they want it at any cost. Money removes the need to exercise patience. All ebay needs is two or more of them and we're off to the races! The bright spot in that I guess is that factor of enjoyment. Those of us that skrimp to get something seem to enjoy it more and take better care of it. By the same token, without that "dearness", whatever those folks buy at a high price often hits the market and gets resold at a lower more reasonable price. Heck, that's how I fell into the Z I have now..... a guy threw money at it, imported from the West Coast to East, drove it for a year, fixed many issues, and got tired of it shortly thereafter. He didn't even have enough interest to make up a good listing for eBay when he sold it. That cost him a bundle - bought high & sold low, but he just didn't care; had to move on to something else and had no patience when he needed room in the garage. Should we call this the "capitalistic free market system redistribution of wealth"? I find having to wait frustrating, but the eventual ownersgip very gratifying. (I'm heading out to buy a PowerBall ticket now.... the older I get, the less time I have to wait for things.)

The '72 that I bought new was orange with a white interior. The complete interior (except the standard black rugs and belts) was white as I recall. The '72 that I have now has a red interior with all matching as mentioned above.

I had a base unit in mine mounted behind the passenger seat. I used a removable attachment device that let me slide the unit in & out with ease - all connections were made by contacts on the two piece mounting brackets (one permanently attached to each the car and radio unit). The challenge was a good antenna that didn't look funky. I found one that was electric up/down and looked almost exactly like the OEM unit. It worked rather well for me for years and several trips cross-country when I was in the service. If good functioning hand-held units were available back then I would have given them serious consideration for the portability and anti-theft features. I think I still have the unit somewhere out in the shed but the antenna is long gone.

I feel badly for those of us that have been burned, too. eBay is simply a marketplace for exchanging goods, providing a cyber-venue for buyers and sellers to meet and make exchanges. Patience and caution are your best friends when it comes to spending money on eBay; for that matter, anywhere. I bought my '72 through eBay. It was far from the first one that I considered for a purchase. In every case I made contact with the sellers. Their "responses" can tell you a lot about them and their goods. No response = no bids. Actually "speaking" with them can tell you a lot as well. A seller playing dumb, or too polished and practiced, should throw up caution signs. You can tell a lot about how "genuine" someone is by having a conversation with them. If I'm spending several K, I will speak with them at length first. During those conversations some ground rules can be laid, too. Bottom line is if I can't see it, touch it, poke & probe it with magnets, etc., I am buying a pig-in-a-poke (southern expression for something assumed to be as represented by the seller but you haven't actually seen it..... you are going on trust / faith / hope). There is where we can all get into quicksand. I'm pretty trusting, making an assumption that most other people are as honest as I wish to be. This is not the case. There is the old saying "caveat emptor", Latin for "let the buyer beware". There is no substitute for a hands-on inspection by someone who knows what they are looking at and what to look for. The network we have here is strong and wide; there is great potential for us to serve each other when it comes to buying a car that is too far away to put your own hands on personally. I'm in south-central Pennsylvania.... very few for sale around here in the last decade, but if you find one, I'll be pleased to try to arrange a look-see on your behalf. For my purchase I resolved to wait until there was one available that suited me that was within a 4-hour drive so that I could go see it. A few hours on the road was well worth the time spent. If I can be of assistance, let me know. Is it worth starting a "register" of names and locations of people willing to take a few steps to help out a club member who is a potential buyer? Does anyone have a list of inspection points available that we could agree upon as a "standard" of sorts? I think there is some potential here for us to serve each other. Thanks - Sorry for the long winded post.

This seller sure knows something about photography and subject presentation. It's a job well done. Y'all are correct that the information from the earlier auction is a good supplement to this newer listing. It would seem that the first auction went a bit 'pricey', at least more than I would have considered bidding. Interesting that it still has the same California plates on it too.

A picture of an 05/1972 should be attached for your reference.

I brought my baby back a truckload of spare parts from a junkyard! Really favorable weather in the north-east gave me an opportunity to troll a yard last Saturday where several Z's are ending their days in pergatory. The spare parts inventory is growing and she's happy for now looking forward to having a new head and a hundred pounds of small spares waiting in the wings. Also am prepping a cam cover (almost done) polished up, detailed, and soon installed to dress up the top end. (got about 5 of them now - can't quit buying them; they can be beautiful).

I had the exact same experience buying a radio on eBay. Your story was like reading my own! I knew that faceplates are hard to come by, so I exercised my right to return the unit for a refund. I bought another complete unit on eBay two weeks later (and insisted on extra packaging material). Complete units turn up on eBay all of the time (half of them with broken faceplates), and a nice faceplate alone is much less common of a find...... (that's what I've seen, anyway). Good luck.

Hi, Louise.... Welcome! The following link may help you. It's not in Florida, but some folks here in the north-east USA have had good luck with this supplier. I'm sure other members can supplement this hint with personal experiences. The supplier is Tabco. http://www.tabcobodyparts.com/html/table_of_contents.htm

I would welcome this type of information. My only suggestion would be to "stick to the facts" and avoid opinions (as stated before) and keep everything in tune with good spirit and intent. Pricing is a very opinion-oriented topic; the seller has an opinion and the buyers each have their own opinions as well. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, right? I would offer up a pricing opinion if asked to do so and it was subject to comment by other club/board members. Personally, I think the ethical dilemma arises if you are aware of something critical and do not pass it on to others who may be impacted.

Lesson learned: I should have checked here first. My head is hung low and my tail is between my legs. I picked up a really nice E88 head the other day. I was checking the torque for the cam towers. I couldn't find specs in the FSM, so I checked Tom Monroe book "How to Rebuild..." and found the torque listed at 33 ft-lb. Need I say more? Well the first one snapped the bolt; I guess I am fortunate that it didn't strip the head. Of course, now a search here tells me that 15 ft-lbs would have been much more proper. The other bolts were much tighter than 15 ft-lb, too, so I backed them off and retorqued to 15 ft-lb. Like I said - should have checked here first - I know. I feel bad. Anyway, bottom line here, is the head salvageable? What do you think, will a good machine shop pull me out of this mess or is this head sunk? Thanks for your help and advice. John p.s. I guess I gotta also ask; to what degree is the Monroe book in error? Is this the only bad info in there and I was lucky enough to find it and dumb enough to believe it.... or should I discount it as a reference?

Is this the reason for high fuel prices over the last several years?

Interesting information on carbs and dates of manufacture! my original suggestion of conversion date was based on some information in an old parts manual that I have and the cars I'm most familiar with. This leads me to wonder if "destination" had some bearing on it....(e.g. California cars may have required more smog stuff earlier...?) or maybe they just used up existing supplies of carbs they had on hand. I guess I should search the archive for the definitive answer, but that must come later as I have too much to do before I must leave for work at 6:00 a.m. Thanks for the information, folks. This is a great community.

I think flat-tops were introduced on July 1972 mfg. date (usually called a '73 here in the USA). Mine is a 05/72 mfg with round-tops. Another one I am parting out is a 11/72 (HLS30-132???) with flat-tops.

I don't know too much about this issue, but have run into it from another perspective. I bought an alternator for the conversion to an internal regulator (for my '72 240Z). I received one, a Hitachi, that looked just right except for this strange "extra" wire on the back. A friend of mine had at that time some way to connect with Hitachi, so he inquired about it with one of their service representatives, sending them pictures, etc... Seems that it was a "deep cycle" unit used for RV and marine purposes. I was told that it is a very expensive unit, but not to use it for my needs because bad bad things were likely to happen not having the deep cycle circuit and additional battery to handle the output. My friend told me that when the Hitachi rep saw the pictures the first statement was "Where the heck did you get that? They are a very limited distribution unit!" So, I assume to do this properly with two batteries, a special deep cycle alternator would be needed. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong..... like I said, I know very little about this, except what was passed to me from a Hitachi representative, but If anyone needs one of these alternators, I still have it on the shelf. I'm told that it is a several-hundred dollar unit... yours for what I got in it - $70.00 + shipping. I'll provide pictures if anyone wishes. Let me know if interested.

Yes, but read on..... "The headliner is nearly perfect." On the serious side, with this one at least the buyer has a fairly good indication of the actual condition. We've all seen some likely worse than this that have been disguised to look like new...... but six months later you've got one that looks like this.

I honestly see so much "difference" that I see no competition at all. I enjoy both sites for what each offers. I spend more time here, but am not a stranger over there, either. Loss of either one would not please me. Is there a way each could better promote the other? The Z-community needs both IMHO.