halz

I am a purist - I think original is best. There I've got that out of the way.... If your car has the original engine, gearbox, interior and badgework then keeping the original colour will help you retain your car's value far better than changing it. Remember that a 'new' brown paint job will look a lot better than the the 'old 'brown paint you currently have. If you do plan on changing the colour - you can minimise the loss in value by changing it to an original 240z period colour (ie, a colour you could have bought when the car was new). Note: changing the colour will also be more expensive if you do it properly. You will need to remove the glass, doors, interior and engine to change the colour completely...otherwise you will end up with glimpses of the former colour peeping through each time you open the bonnet, lift the carpets or open the doors. Nothing reduces a car to trash-value faster than a dodgy multi-colour look. So...retaining the original colour should be less expensive and lose you less $...(but its your car - you are entitled to enjoy it in any way you wish!))

More specifically, it sounds like your carbs are too lean and the choke is richening the mixture enough to make them behave normally. Carb adjustment should be covered fairly well elsewhere in these forums...

Congratulations! Its worth the extra effort and time to get a car as original as you describe...enjoy!

Could someone kindly give Alfa a life...please!

The main problem experienced with the OEM rivets is the little centre pins. They must be pushed right through in order to remove the rivet itself...and then how do you get the pins back once they've rattled down into the bodywork 'bilges'? (There is a good post by escanlon on that topic). My own solution was to get hold of a couple of wooden skewers or kebab sticks - it is possible to find them in a very snug diameter that will push firmly into the rivet centre hole. So...replace the rivet, insert the wooden kebab stick and then snip it off flush with some side-cutters. Final step: put a dot of modellers paint on the stick in the appropriate colour to match the rivet. This has saved me the cost/time of buying OEM replacement rivets and there is no need to put up with non-standard ones which, lets face it, just don't look quite right. My 2c

CAUTION! WAR ZONE! Owners park cars at own risk! ....I wonder what happened to the rest of his collection?

Good find: please make sure to register it and your other Z cars on our HS30 register at :http://www.wazcars.com/index.php?action=anziregister

I've tried to keep up with the dialogue in this thread. It seems to me that the "Factory Restored Zs" should more accurately be termed "Nissan Motor Corporation USA - supported restoration program". I'm not sure if Nissan actually does manufacture vehicles in a factory in the USA - they certainly didn't make the Z-series there - so we can safely say that none of the 40-odd cars so restored ever saw the inside of a Nissan factory after they left Japan in the late '60s/early '70s. Despite the documented visits to Japan by US Z-car club members, I see no evidence that Nissan in Japan supported the restoration program in any way. Their contribution may have perhaps been a benevolent smile at the efforts of their US distribution partners...

Craig, This is an excellent piece of work - well done! I hope that sjcurtis gets in touch soon and tht you can include the information he has collated. Hayden.

Now that's something I didn't know - I would love to be pulled over by a Cop in a Z 432!

Me seems to remember you HAD a silver car once upon a time Alfa...

26th, this is great idea - even for us over here in Australia. Given that the Z-restoration program can be classified as relatively 'recent history' in the overall scheme of Z-cars, there must be a good number of Nissan people connected with the project still alive(!) I suggest that your research includes a little 'human' investigation too: Who at Nissan N.America came up with the idea? Who oversaw the project? Who decided to pull the financial plug and why? What were the project's objectives? If you can find the right people to speak to, the information you get will be arguably more valuable than the dribs and drabs that you will be starting to recieve right now - and it will be literally from the horse's mouth! I know this PM doesn't help you much but I want to wish you good luck and I'll watch developments with interest, Cheers, Hayden.

Got sick of looking at my faded 'tan' vinyl on the strut towers (looked really bad after I had the seats retrimmed) so I did something about it. I took a sample of the best (read:unfaded) vinyl to a Vinyl and auto interior repair shop and asked them to match the colour and make me up a litre of whatever they would use to recolour faded vinyl. It wasn't cheap (A$88 for 1 litre). They also suggested preparing the surface by washing it down with Toluene( :eek: )...but I try to avoid keeping industrial strength carcenogens around the house... so Turpentine was the acceptable alternative. Anyway, I removed most of the read interior trim, washed down the vinyl with turps and got to work with a brush and the new vinyl paint/dye. The result is amazing! While the colour match is not perfect, it is a huge improvement over before. See photos...

Could everone please read the first post again. Mr.C, time to edit the thread and remove the irrelevant posts (this one included.)

I'm interested...it will depend on which particular day in the new year however...

Call me a 'heathen westerner' but all of the stickers look the same to me . I'll take a closer look but I'm certain the characters are identical on all pieces. All of my panels are Tan on the exposed side and most are Tan on the hidden side too. Two, however are Red, and also contain the 'Q/A' sticker. I do not doubt that the stickers are original. My question is: would the factory have fitted Tan as well as Red-painted-Tan panels to a Tan interior car? Or were these two panels most likely replaced in the ensuing thirty years...?

Can anyone read Japanese out there? (Alan). The attached pic shows a sticker on the reverse side of an interior plastic trim panel from my '73 240Z. I have removed all of the interior panels and every one has a similar sticker - I can only assume they are a form of factory Quality Assurance approval? Can anyone confirm this? Another interesting point... The reverse side of this panel is Red in colour but the exposed side (visible in the cabin) is Tan. I'm guessing a previous owner has replaced the panel with a non-original coloured one (from another car?) and painted it to match...Or maybe that was done on the production line too..?

...thought I was typing a pm - sorry to hijack the thread! Lee can you reply via email or PM? Hayden.

Hi there Lee - why the name change? How did you go at the Z-day in September? I'm interested in what you said about getting your head rebuilt... who did it? Was it expensive? I'm thinking that I'll need to pull the head off mine sometime down the track and get it cleaned up...might also consider getting bigger valves. Just wondering if this will cost $100s or $1000s... Hayden.

Tommo, Just so I have this straight... Did you have SST pull out your motor, strip it, balance the bottom end, reassemble and refit? I would be interested to know what you think of SST and (if possible) how much that sort of work costs..? (send me a PM if you like) Thanks, Hayden.

...sounds like someone doesn't have an E31! (just kidding!)

Actually BRG is very easy to beat - its a colour that really only suits wire-wheels, pushrods and what-ho handlebar moustaches! (not z-cars) What's wrong with the original green? Why be like everyone else with another red car? If not green, then I suggest silver or metallic blue.

In fact, check out my gallery. My car is Green with a Tan interior...currently undergoing a refurbishment. http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showgallery.php?cat=500&page=1&sort=1&perpage=12&ppuser=1743&=