Rear hatch swap

[jimzdat]

Having owned a 74, 75 & 76 2+2 Z, I can assure your that yes, the quarter windows do open--the latching mechanism is the same on all three (kind of like the latch on side windows in a full size van, if you can visualize those) BUT--the "hinge" design was changed between 74 & 75--the entire "pillar" between the door and that quarter window was changed, and with it went the hinge design-might want to try and find both, and see what works best for you. Both the door glass and the quarter window are different on a 2+2, and I think the hatch glass might even be bigger, but not positive. The quarter glass is also a totally different shape. You may be able to take apart the frame of a 2+2 quarter window ad somehow adapt it to a 2-seater, but it's probably not gonna be fun.

 

Good luck,

Jim

[Guest RXO510]

Aprreciate your information Jim. We will make notes of the production years of the Z's we pull the hinges and latches off from. We will take good looks and probably draw some diagrams as to the location and placement of the hinges on the pillars. Great info! Thanks again, J&G

[Guest RXO510]

Great information and opinions on this post here. Thanks for the different views.

We have the round Z emblems on our car by the rear windows.

We're going to let the body shop take a look at the Z on wednesday and give us his opinion. I guess it will depend on the condition of our hatch. Thanks again. J & G

[Guest Anonymous]

Yeah Dan, Subtle is my middle name.. (or is it cheapskate, have to look at the birth certificate)

 

Regards,

 

Lone

[Guest Todd Bystrom]

I saw something in a sentra once that might be useful here. It was a 90-ish hatchback, se-r sports coupe or something like that. Anyways, in the left side of the "trunk" compartmant, behind the plastic interior panels, is a vent outlet. It's a black box, about 3"x4"x1", one side is a coarse grill with a rubber flap behind it. One edge has an outlet pipe that goes through the floor of the car. So the flap is meant to let interior air out, but not let exterior air back in. No idea how well it works, but I seen similar things on other cars. All the camaro's I've had used a similar thing in the rear edge of the door jamb. Seemed like the one from the sentra would be easy to put in the Z, behind one of the rear side interior panels, but I haven't tried it.

 

I think the vents are important for when you're driving with the windows up and the vent/heater on, in order to get some air flowing. Not sure how badly, but not having an air outlet must restrict the fan from being able to push out much air.

 

Mine has the hatch vents and side vents closed off, and the tail light housings are not sealed, and the exhaust tip is broken off so the exhaust exits under the car, and the engine smokes. I'm lucky there's an electrical problem right now keeping me from driving it, otherwise I'd be killing tons o' brain cells with every trip

[Guest RXO510]

Let's keep all the braincells we can now. haha. Thanks for the information you wrote in the post. We will be looking into that later on this week. Appreciate it very much. That hatch at the JY is very clean. Got a good look at it today. That maybe a great solution to our vent problem. J & G

[Guest Daddyrick]

Here is a real crazy rear hatch story. Welded mine shut!!! Well sort of. Since I am building a replica Ferrari 250GTO the rear hatch just did not

look right. I used 2 hatches to create a new rear. I shortened the glass area and had a custom Lexan rear glass made up. I now have about a 10 inch section below the rear glass area that has a quick fill gas cap toward the drives side and below that, a short trunk lid custom made for the lower section of the hatch. It is hinged from the bottom of the 10 inch section and closes like a regular trunk lid using the original latches. The upper section of the hatch that holds the glass and the new section added below that are welded to the body. No seams show and the new trunk still fits the old lower section of the hatch. Lots of work, but the car is much stiffer and when the interior is finished, it will be much quieter. The finished

look has the same lines as the original zcar, only a shorter rear glass and quick fill gas cap.

[Guest RXO510]

That sounds like alot of custom fabbing there. Do you have anykind of pics of that rear hatch? Would like a chance to see it. Sounds pretty wild. Thanks for the info. J & G

[Guest Daddyrick]

I have been shooting pics of the job with slide film. I will be scanning the slides in the future and compiling a complete file of my project. Have done some digital pics, but I wanted a lot more detail. Picky I guess. I will post some pics in the near future. Yeah, it was a lot of work, but worth it. I never modify a perfectly good body piece, that's why I used more than one hatch to do the work. Each hatch was either dented or had bad glass so I ended up using only the good part of each one.

[Guest Aaron]

FYI on the quarter windows. Some of the 2+2 280zx's (82-83?) had a cool opening mechanism. On the rear of the console was two sliders that you pushed up or down to open each of the windows. I guess it was cable operated. I only rode in one when I was about 10 and my parents didn't buy it, so I don't know anything else about it.

 

AN

[Guest Anonymous]

I guess I am re-opening a "dead" can-of-worms post here, but several parties here have voiced their dislike of sunroofs on the series 1 Z. However, I was considering something. I found an old, rare, oddball "Targa" sunroof. It is made of fiberglass, so it's solid and it gets painted like the car, and it has the right curves so it would look alot like a stock roof (save for the edges where it mounts). It really is the same as a larger glass sunroof otherwise, but the inside of the car has a plastic "headliner" with a Z emblem in a triange. As my car is already a "bastard" (Ford V8), and a "common" 73, I WAS REALLY CONSIDERING THIS, but have I gone daft? You guys sound pretty firm in your dislike of sunroofs...would the fact its a more custom Z fit solid pannel sway any of you? I haven't cut anything ....yet!!!

[280Zone]

The fiberglass panel is not going to provide you with the same structure as the original steel roof. But it is your car, build it like you want it.

 

And as for the vent discussion in previous posts, don't forget the vents are in cars to let the air out when closing the doors. Out cars probably have plently of other holes that will accomplish this by now so it may not be an issue.

[Sleek Z]

ROX510 and ALL:

 

Maybe I can add a few helpful comments to this thread based on experience.

 

1. I believe Nissan changed it's Z venting design from the hatch to rear of quarter glass area because low pressure at back of car was causing exhaust gases to be sucked back into hatch vents located in the low pressure area of lower hatch. Most likely the relocation was also a cost cutting measure considering the complexity of the hatch vent design compared to a simple vent on the side pillar stamped into the unibody.

 

2. I do not presently have an early unibody at my parts yard to double check for accuracy of my presumptions, but if you remove the interior panels from the quarter window area, most likely you will discover that the unibody structure will have a hollow area between the outside skin where later model quarter window vents were installed and the interior unibody panel. This is how the unibody on side vented models was manufactured. If this hollow area is on your early model, then you most likely could upgrade your early 240Z body to quarter window side vents with a little creative drilling and modest cutting. Be sure to rust proof your cut areas before installing any vent cover.

 

Note: My guess is that the side vent design made 2 important improvements to the Z interior air flow. 1. It reduced gases being sucked back inside the car and 2. it improved fresh air flow past both the door and quarter window areas thus helping to quickly clear off rainy day fog up of interior window glass while all windows were closed up.

 

3. All 240Z, 260Z and 280Z hatches from 70-78 coupes will physically interchange properly on all models with the exception of the venting system not functioning on 70-mid 71 models. Main difference between and 240Z hatches and later ones was that, even though R & L hatch strut mounting bosses were stamped into all hatches, only the 74-78 hatches had threaded holes installed in them to allow mounting of R gas strut brace whereas the 240Z was only set up for one on the left.

 

Note 1 : due to 240Z having only a left hatch support installed, it appears to me that otherwise straight 240Z hatches I remove from cars appear to be slightly warped diagonally due to years of owner pushing down on non-braced side when closing hatch. This subtle warping can result in a hatch that will never quite seal properly nor align properly before final paint. Although not original to the 240Z, I often recommend using 74-78 hatches as replacements.

 

Note 2: Apart from the above mention "warp", other major concerns with choosing a quality used hatch are the following:

 

1. Damage to upper hinge tangs welded to hatch is common. Check for stress cracks, rust rot, and shoddy repairs to these tangs. Also carefully eyeball and hand feel the horizontal flat metal portion above the hatch glass that closes close to rear of roof line. Improperly adjusted hatches, broken hinge tangs or loose hinges frequently result in a hatch being opened in such a way that upper edge catches and binds at roof edge often resulting in permenent damage to upper hatch lip from just one binding. Very easy to happen and very difficult to ever repair properly. Double check this area very carefully before you purchase a used hatch or you will be sad later.

 

2. Large sheet metal area at bottowm of hatch glass area where push down lock release mounts, is prone to permenent stretch and warping due to being poorly reinforced from behind. Although this warping is almost unavoidable on a 30 year old Z hatch, additional bondo repairs in this area can lead to cracking in paint after little use on a freshly painted Z hatch. Inspect this area carefully before you buy.

 

3. Rust cancer behind hatch glass weatherstrip is often hidden from view on a used hatch. Rust bubbles around rubber is best clue that glass and rubber will need to be removed for repairs before a quality paint job can be applied or you will pay the price soon for not heeding the visible warning. Upon glass removal of both the hatch glass and windshield weather stripping, I have sometimes found entire metal backing areas rust through making repairs difficult.

 

4. Modest rust cancer in the factory stamped seam underneath the lower hatch lip that hangs above the tail lights is inevitable to find on most hatches. Finding one with the least amount of rust along this seam and then treating it with rust prevention inhibitors is the best defense strategy an owner can usually attempt, to my knowledge. Maybe RacerX can offer better advice regarding this last concern.

 

ps 1, I have photo documented all the above common used hatch defects described above. Maybe during the winter I will be able to publish these photos along with a tech write-up at ZPARTS.COM to help you all search for quality hatches.

 

ps 2, btw, I think I have at least 2 above average quality hatches here for sale, one 240Z and one off a 77 280Z

 

Bad news is that it very time consuming and expensive for me to crate and ship these hatches. Hence, I only sell them to local buyers or buyers that will prepay and arrange for transport from their end.

 

Hope that helps a wee bit.

 

Eric Neyerlin - owner of ZPARTS.COM

 

aka:

[Sleek Z]

Oh, and I forgot to comment in my previous post on someone's remark in this thread about no 70-78 Z cars ever being produced with factory installed sunroofs. Anybody want to bet on that one?