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My 1974 260Z came with a nice set of Appliance fake wire wheels. They were apparently added as a dealer option before I found the car. Never had a problem with them....
I remember the ugly hubcaps - most of the Z-cars in my neck of the woods had them. Glad I never had to deal with them....
Right you are about the tendency of the Z car to decompose. I drove my 240Z through a rain puddle one day, and ended up blinded and soaked by a deluge of water. The pan was so rusted it just went to pieces when confronted with road spray. JC Whitney became the order of the day.
The wheel cover chat is interesting, my 280Z had covers that never flew off no matter how aggressive the turn. I found a pic below as I believe these was stock. Nonetheless, I lost all four of them when I parked it in a diverse Milwaukee WI neighborhood. The 280Z had similar styling cues to the Jaguar at a fraction of the cost.
“......The wheel cover chat is interesting, my 280Z had covers that never flew off no matter how aggressive the turn. I found a pic below as I believe these was stock......”.
It is indeed a delicate balance between too loose / just right / too tight (and every vehicle is different). I always wind up reaching back in there with my trusty old rubber jar lid opener and cranking the new oil filter down just one more eighth of a turn after I thought I was done....
Hand tight can mean different things to different people, depending on how strong you are.
I always check that the old gasket came off with the removed filter, check the mating surface on the engine to make sure it's clean by looking at it and running my finger around it. I lubricate the new oil filter gasket, I install the filter to just snug, then back it off and then tighten it hand tight. I've had a filter loosen a little on a lawn tractor so now I mark the top after installation with a Sharpie (they install sideways) so I can easily see if it has rotated.
Thanks for that. I put those later 280Z style wheel covers on my 240Z. I had the 240 260 and 280 at the same time so the parts bin grew. I replaced the Hitachi carbs with the early SU side draft dual carbs that was a big improvement, but the 280 was first with fuel injection that made carb balance moot. Like the Jaguar, there was plenty of good advice in clubs and newsletters as internet spots like this one did not exist.
I, too, have occasionally wondered why there’s no safety wire on the oil filter. My instructor made sure I understood to look at the filter/safety wire and even lay hands on the filter if possible to ensure it was properly afixed. It should be easy enough to cast or weld a fitting for a wire adjacent to the fitting location and make filters with a small, holed flange on them. Seems like it would be a cheap investment against the warranty cost of whatever number of engines might be ruined by a loose filter. Then again, filter makers don’t design or assemble cars and vice versa.
I have had a couple of 'aw crap' issues with oil filters, never on the XJ-8. 1989 Jeep Wrangler. Drained, removed old filter, replaced filter, refilled oil. Started her up and oil was quickly weeping around the filter. Jeep off, removed filter, ta-da, old filter gasket was still on the filter housing. Lesson learned for that one.
Wife's Dodge van (T-boned and totaled) but prior to that unnerving event, had removed filter, drained, replaced filter and oil. As she drove out of the driveway and up the street there was a fresh oil streak following her. Called her immediately, and told her to stop, turn around and come home. I guess she had only gone about 1/2 mile. Sure enough 'hand tight' by my reckoning was not enough torque on the filter. Got it tight + 1/4 turn and we were good, but lost two quarts of Mobil 1 quickly. An oil stain on our street and around one corner was visible for months. I really cherish these 'doh moments.
In December, my car developed a relatively large but somehow intermittent oil leak around the front of the engine, passenger side. The car has never leaked any oil, so this was super surprising to me. Couldn't find any wet spots on the engine. Couldn't find any wet spots on the bottom. Oil pan looked clean.
I got some UV oil dye, put it in, ran car, etc. No dice. Couldn't find the leak. I said "whatever" and just ordered a bunch of gaskets. Figured I'd need them sooner or later.
I got under the car again, and noticed some slight moisture around the oil filter. I grabbed the filter, and it turned out to be loose. Tightened the filter, and voila oil leak gone.
Not sure how it came loose to begin with. I've come across a lot of oil filters that are way too tight, but never one that was too loose. I've changed the filter on this car (and others) a bunch of times, always hand tight, but I'd never leave it loose, and I've never had this happen or even seen it happen. Bizarre stuff.
When I first moved to my new dream spot on a very bumpy cross-the-creek-3-times gravel road, I had an oil filter back out far enough to lose enough oil to trigger the oil pressure light. At least one full turn to re tighten. After that, I always checked my oil filters 1 or 2 days later, and usually had to re-tighten. I always over-tighten oil filters now, who cares if they're tough to remove? At least they don't back out.
I had a 72 lime green 240Z. Terrific machine, but somewhat susceptible to rust. Yeah, that is an understatement.
Originally Posted by jagophile
There are two mentions of owning a Datsun 240Z in this short thread. I had a 240Z and 280Z as well. Makes me wonder how many former (or current) owners of this legendary poor man's sports car now drive Jaguars.
