need info on early 260z dash / interior

[EVIL_denver]

Hi Guys,

 

im fairly new here and just bought my first Z. Its a very early 260z 1973. I have a few questions regarding the interior...

 

1# would any 260z bolt in? i believe early 260z had identical body to the 240z so dash mounts may be different.

2# was there any difference interior wise between the early 260z to the later 260z?

 

 

[Zedman240®]

Are you sure it's a 73? Only thing I can think of is the early 260's heater and vent controls; early ones had mechanical linkages and others had vacuum operated ones. Looms may have some differences but nothing major.

[lightmaster240z]

My 73 is a 240 not a 260 but I may be wrong again 

[gav240z]

Hi Guys,

 

im fairly new here and just bought my first Z. Its a very early 260z 1973. I have a few questions regarding the interior...

 

1# would any 260z bolt in? i believe early 260z had identical body to the 240z so dash mounts may be different.

2# was there any difference interior wise between the early 260z to the later 260z?

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure dash mounts are different in all 260z body types, because the dashboard style was different to the 240z.

 

Interior wise I'm not 100% certain other than the trim looked a bit different over the years, the gauges changed later on and as Dimitri said the wiring was different, so a later 260z tach doesn't plug right into an earlier 260z loom for example. But all the dimensions of parts should be the same.

[EVIL_denver]

hi all,

 

thanks for the replies. Yeah im sure its a 73. I've tried to google the interior for early 260z but they all look the same 73-onwards. Im sure its what you cant see in pics that makes all the difference.

 

im about to start the resto soon and gathering parts, the problem is that most items listed on the net are for a 240z 71-73' or 260z 74'-onwards. So do i buy parts for 240z seeing as early 260z use a 240z body??

 

thanks.

 

 

[gav240z]

Hi mate, your 260z is a 74 model. There was no 73 model 260z's sold in Australia.

 

So you buy parts to suit a 74 260z, 240z parts will not work for you.

[Six_Shooter]

Hi mate, your 260z is a 74 model. There was no 73 model 260z's sold in Australia.

 

Or anywhere else in the world.

 

1974 was the first year of the 260Z, in some places the only year.

 

1973 was the last year of the 240Z, and the dash is quite different than the 260Z dash. I'm 98% sure all of the chassis mount points are the same between the years though. I know for sure there is a difference in the 240Z to 260Z steering column support. The 240Z used a 4 bolt support that the dash also was retained by, whereas the 260Z used a 2 bolt retaining layout and the dash also reflected this.

[lightmaster240z]

Do you have an photo of the car in question so some of the eagle eye guy can give a better  clue as to which mode it is

[Scoota G]

Chassis number might be good idea too.

[EVIL_denver]

hi guys,

 

thanks for the replies. chassis number is rs30-001014. ill get pics up soon.

[Zedman240®]

You have a very early 260 2 seater. You should have an amp meter instead of a voltmeter in the dash. Buy parts for a 260Z; no 240 parts will fit on the inside anyway...

[gilltech]

Ditto above. 240Z & 260 dashes are very different & don't have much commonality.

Your car may well have been built in '73 but it's technically a '74 model. As you appear to have an 'early-74' 260 (as I do, yours being about 900 units after mine) it unfortunately does have a number of differences to the late-'74 & on 260s. Fact is, the early-74 cars were a bit of an interim model, sharing the basic body shell with the '73 240s.

My advice is to be careful when you order new parts such as for suspension, you may find - as I have at times - that 240 parts are required from a vendor's parts list to match yours & not what he has listed for a 260.

 

 

[NZeder]

I have a 73 manufactured 260z 2 seater also - some 900ish less also. There were a lot of these here in NZ it seems, Gilltech (Hi John how is it going these days in QLD - how is the stang) has an NZ New 260z 2 seater that was manufactured in 73. I know of RS30-000013 and RS30-000014 (both owned by the same guy here in NZ), my car is RS30-000119 all 1974 models but manufactured in 73 and all of these must have been on the water in late 73 heading to NZ as they were all sold NZ new and my car was first registered for the road in early Jan 1974.

 

This is much like my first Honda VFR800 which was a 1998 model but I purchased/road registered it in December 1997 - before it was meant to exist given it is known as a 98 model release This happens all the time.

 

There are number of things that are unique to the early 260z 2 seaters, laters stuff does not fit, some 240z stuff does not fit and given the short production run of these models 18months finding some of the parts you are after can be very tricky - so good luck with hunt for interior parts if that is what you need.

 

To answer your question about differences there are many and they vary a lot - but the short list is

 

AMP guage not Voltmeter

Different Doors

Different Door linings

Different Windows Regulators to 240z and later 260z

Different loom - 1/2 way between 240z and later 260z fun

Suspension (sometime I have seen 240z stub axles on the left and 260z on the right on the same car with original suspension all using the 240z sizing tubes)

 

There is a lot more but those are main ones. 

[Six_Shooter]

I'm sure that around the world it's much the same as here, the next model year comes out in September. So the 2015 vehicles will be released in September of this year. I wasn't around for the release of the '74 260Z, but I would imagine it was released sometime around September of 1973. I think this is why people wrongly assign the year "1969" to their 1970 S30s, because they don't seem to understand the model release dates.

 

Now the weird part is when you work on a 2008 model year car and it's only 2006! I did that, I don't recall the actual model now, but I remember it seemed odd to have released the next model year car almost along side the current model year offering...

[gilltech]

Hi NZeder, yes my 260 is #000115 so just 4 away from yours, sold new Dunedin Feb '74 if I recall; I bought it in '84.

In the late '80s I found an identical car to mine sitting totaled in a wrecker's yard, it was #000130. Unfortunately there wasn't much to be salvaged. I was already aware by then that my car was different in many respects to other Zeds when I refurbished the suspension & steering.

It's always seemed to me that in NZ we got a good proportion of 260 2-seaters compared to 2+2 cars, whereas here in Australia so very few car people here seem to realize that 260 2-seaters existed as almost everything 260 is in 2+2 form. Or maybe the 2-seaters got just trashed to death sooner.....

 

I digress; suspension parts & wiring loom are the main differences between early-'74 & late-'74-on from my experience. And the earlier the 260 the fewer the factory accessories & the more basic the wiring loom.

 

So just compare parts carefully before you jump in to buying new stuff, don't throw anything away as you may have to duplicate match or renovate what you've got. Be very careful if buying parts from the US, their 260s were different to our 260s in having a short sales run & quickly being replaced by their 280.

 

PS Hi Mike, the 'Stang is fine thanks. But it seldom sees light of day, am too busy with other past-times at present. I'm enjoying living in Brisbane.

 

[EVIL_denver]

heaps of good info here guys. thanks again!!

 

yes its basically more or less a 240z body and share some parts from a 240z. So ordering parts is already a pain in the back side. As for the dash, from what ive gathered its basically a normal 260z dash. I need indicator stalks also, one know if they are different??

[Zedman240®]

Main difference with the controls on the column are the plugs and sometimes the wiring too. Compare your plugs with the replacements.