gilltech

Some 260s both 2+2 & 2-seat I've seen have had the (front) seatbelt retractors bolted on top of the rear strut towers using a bracket over the three bolts, & the roof rail bolt used for the hanger, & I always presumed them to be factory like that. Reason I noticed is because my early '74 260 2-seat still has the original clip-together fixed belts, whereas these were later 260s - don't recall which years - with retractable belts, safer IMO. Whatever is retrofitted needs to be certified & signed off in any case.

Yes, pity, because I really like the factory 260Z / 280ZX style mags. I have a set but really should buy a couple of spares to hoard away. I've never inquired but I suppose the 5.5" size could be widened, & stick some BF Goodrich on? In the USA the reproduction-OEM wheel manufacturers also make them in larger sizes like 15" & 16" for owners of Mustangs & the like that want to retain the original look but the benefits of modern tyres, wish they would for Zeds.

IIRC the small gauges & the tach share the same fuse so check that, the clock has it's own. Ditto what d3c0y says, I'd go over the harness checking for power at each wiring connector, pins can get corroded, our cars are getting on in years. Test at each gauge for power, there is a common feed. Also, check the earth connections, bad earths can throw up all sorts of illogical gremlins. [bTW, you're lucky if your clock works, that's one of the most common fails & grizzles on our Zeds].

Not great choice, the world has moved on from 14". There seem to be rather few options in 14" 'grippy performance' tyres, most 14" advertised seem to be budget, or mid-range at best, narrower sizes like say up to 175 for passenger cars, vans & trailers. There are a few in 195/70 & 205/60 or whatever listed on sites, but last time I inquired at my local chain tyre shop virtually nothing of those sizes range was actually held in stock with importers in Australia. I did look at BF Goodrich as they are imported for Mustangs etc but the sizes available were too wide for my factory 260Z 5.5" rims. Maybe others on here have had more luck?

Totally depends on condition, & do they have their centres in good nick (most don't), correct factory wheel nuts, etc as well or just the rims (& tyres). Gutter rash can be repaired OK but isn't cheap for a quality job on all wheels for matching finish. There are plenty around, were used on the 280ZXs as well, & they far outlast the cars! Very few choices in 14" tyres now, so of limited appeal really. However, IMO a nice looking wheel, not knocking them.

Globe Products made the 'Bathurst' originals, I believe the style is correctly called 'Daytona', & it's said was probably inspired by the wheel design Ferrari used on their Daytona model. Ford dealers offered alloy wheels made by both Globe & ROH as options on various 60s/70's Falcons in lieu of the factory steel rims, 12-slots, 5-slots, styled steel wheels, or whatever. Everyone calls the Globe wheels 'Bathursts' because they were produced for & deliberately sold or provided by Ford in sufficient numbers to homologate them for competition, & they became closely associated with the GTHO Phase 3s, GTs, Cobras, ESPs etc etc. But Ford wasn't the only manufacturer to use them for racing. The 15"x7" alloy would have been an improvement on the then typically 14"x6" steels. I think the Globe Daytonas came in 14x6, 14x7 & 15x7. But Globe made other styles too. Other wheel manufacturers like ROH, Simmons, Cheviot, CSA etc imitated the Daytona style, in a range of sizes, offsets & stud patterns to suit different cars. So there are various 'Bathurst' wheels around, some OEM fitment to Fords & others not. You can find 'Bathurst' style mags on Holdens, Chryslers, Toyotas, Dattos, Zeds etc. IMO they are a very nice looking wheel, on anything. Also they look the right era, unlike many of the wheels people have put on Zeds which look mismatched or just plain wrong. I haven't decided yet what I'll use but I'm likely to put a set of 15" Daytonas or equivalent on my car once it's back on the road, as the factory 14" mags don't allow many tyre choices these days.

I think you're right in that the light switch is the likely culprit, as the lights work in other respects. But before you go chasing a replacement, which are getting hard to find, take the switch apart & clean the contacts. Look closely also at the soldered-on wires, the solder can detach by just a hairline & break the circuit. Seen it before, reason being that our S30 switch gear is getting old & tired & quite simply wearing out.

IIRC, for the stock 260's - the manual cars had the bigger R200 diff which is 3.7; the auto cars had an R180 which is 3.545.

Hard to tell from the angle of the photo but it looks more like an aftermarket rubber strip of some kind.

I'd wrap them well & don't go anywhere near them with the sand blasting, hand strip around them, they're only original once. (If you're having the shell 'sand blasted', do you know what medium they intend to use? Not sand as such I hope...the metal shells are thin & one can wreck the panels very easily. As in warp them, upset the tension, etc. A gentle stripping medium with gentle pressure & take the time over it).

Is it auto or manual? Different sized diffs for each.

Are the 260 front struts the tall or the short version? Cheers

Not sure if the brush-on one can be painted over or not? Brush-on would be quicker, but the tube applied stuff could be injected deep into a seam so unless all the seams were pretty tight I'd probably opt for the latter. There are other brands, best have a look online for product reviews by car resto people.

Ah, that brings back memories for me too - several decades ago I bought a CB 500/4 mainly just for a summer tour around NZ. Mine had a set of Dunstall 4 into 1 into 2 pipes on it, sounded magnificent, very Norton Commando-looking style of pipes. Otherwise it was completely stock. Nice bike, not fast like the 2-strokes of the day were as it's pretty heavy. And a little top heavy when throwing it into a corner or up on the stand. But great fun to ride & rev out. The only issue I had with it was a rather weak clutch pack, a commonly known issue at the time, otherwise despite a high mileage it was very reliable.

Adjustment? to compensate for long-term wear. Broken return spring? Missing cancellation pin?

That black 'primer' coat is very thin & breathes while the panel is in storage so the panel will eventually rust just sitting. Best to remove that black s**t primer & prime on bare metal with the good stuff, don't just paint over it as you don't know what it is therefore no-one will be able to guarantee that the coat applied is compatible.

Ditto GongZ - my original motor, some sort of blue (with a touch of green in it - nothing like 'Ford Blue' for example) - both block & sump with overspray along the lower edge of the natural metal head.

" when exporting a car outside of Australia..." Do you mean exporting from Aus to some other country? Look up the export & import regulations for each end, they vary from country to country. Undoubtedly the big issue will be proof of your ownership to do that with it. So, bill of sale that doesn't look dodgy, & any paperwork that the current owner can muster to prove he/she has clear title on the car in the first place in order to sell to you. Basically proof that the car isn't stolen, doesn't belong in whole or in part to a 3rd party, no money owing, or a lien on it, etc.

"Rear spoiler was factory-fit stock equipment on UK market RS30" Well there you go, I'm so wrong, you lucky Brits!!, I'd thought they were generally made in country. Are there part numbers on the u/s of genuine original ones? So what about that front lip one sees on UK Z cars, were they only on UK cars too, and on all?

Ditto what Retro Z said. Good score with the round-top carbs & airbox, everyone with a '73-on Zed biffs the flat-tops & gets a set of those round-tops if they can. For some reason the radio location on the console has been blanked off, hopefully the console behind is intact & not hacked around. You queried a round button on the console, if that's the one in the vertical face of the console it looks like a simple rubber plug filling a hole in the blanking plate, someone probably had a switch there for spotlights at one time. When you asked about the fresh air vent sorry I thought you meant the one under the dash; yes there should be a plastic flexi duct on each side behind the radiator support. You can position the badges on the bobtail spoiler how you want, it's aftermarket; without the bobtail both 'Datsun' and '260Z' are together on the RH side of the hatch. Personally I think the 'Datsun' italic script looks a bit odd when attached to a bobtail, so I just have '260Z' by itself on the slightly raised bit of the bobtail on the RH side. The seats have been recovered & a good choice of material, the original vinyl earned a reputation for splitting. The car looks fine from what I can discern, hasn't been too f****d around with like so many by this era have.

110 does look quite orange in some lights - look at my avatar, the car looks red there, yet in some photos taken at the same time as that one the car looks very orange indeed. If you look at the one in the link that GongZ posted above, look at the radiator support - near the end of the prop rod is the metallic sticker that the colour # was printed on.

Looks like it might be 110 red as you say, that's what mine is; more of an orange-red actually, quite different to any of the reds that the 240Zs used. It's faded away by now but the paint colour # was printed on a silver metallic sticker on the top of the radiator panel near the bonnet prop rod.

The bracket in front of the shifter for the console to fix to is a one-piece. All hidden so if you can't find one then at least you can fabricate one. But there must be a few spare ones around from parted-out cars surely, it's not something that would be rusted away.

Yes there is a bracket that fixes to the floor in front of the shifter that extends downwards each side for the console sides to fix to. On mine, the console is installed with just 5 screws - the 3 at back, & one either side into the bracket I just mentioned. No fixings up under dash. From your posts & with all due respect I'm beginning to think you're assembling a jig-saw puzzle. You're just up the road in Stafford, I'm in Grange, you're welcome to take a look at my car if it would be of any help working out what should go where. It's an early '74 & NZ-new so not representative of later 260s but I've owned it since '84 & it was pretty much original when I got it & hasn't changed much since.

As an aside, on mine that saddle bracket doesn't attach to the floor - it pretty much just rests on the padded diamond vinyl; there is a hole through the centre of the bracket, but no hole through the vinyl so if there is a captive nut in the tunnel underneath I've never found it as the vinyl has never been removed. Hmmm.