Dershum

After trying a few sizes I dont think it's an NPT fitting. 3/8 fits, but the threads bund almost immediately. Im going to try contacting hobart and see if I can find out what I can use outside of buying their 30cfh regulator/hose combo.

Which insulators are you using?

Thanks for the direction all I was kind of hoping it wasn't anything special, but the last thing I wanted to do was get it wrong.

After somewhat endless searching of the interweb, I'm at a loss. I picked up a Hobart Handler 125 from Northern Tool (http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200447703_200447703) and I've also gotten a tank/cart/etc., along with a regulator (http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200345432_200345432). However, I can't find a proper hose to connect between the regulator and the tank. I tried a 3/4 NPT fitting (carefully) to see if that's the correct size for the inlet on the welder, but it's not the correct size. I'm guessing it's 5/8, but I don't have a 5/8 fitting handy to test it with. Even with that said,I'm not sure what kind hose I would use for the connection, since the regulator side of things has a barbed fitting. I can just unscrew the barbed fitting, and find another adapter, but I'm still not sure what kind of hose I should be using for this. Hobart has a 3 1/2 foot hose with built-in regulator that I could pick up instead, but I kind of feel like an idiot not being able to figure this out. Is it safe to make your own hose for something like this, as long as the fitting are properly sized? It seems like such a simple thing yet I'm having a hell of a time figuring it out. Oh, and before anyone asks, the manual doesn't specify the inlet size on the back of the welder.

How about Lemans Blue from the '07 Z06? (from the tremek.com website)

Gorgeous and CLEAN. It looks like she's been really cared for...keep her beautiful!

Out of curiosity, what did you use to prep the surface other than scrape and clean it off?

Ok, this is probably a really dumb question, with an obvious answer. I've seen many folks reference "the archives", but every time I try to find a section of the site or forums called "archives" or something to that effect, I come up with nothing. Is "the archives" a term for another part of the forms (i.e., FAQ's section of the forums), or am I just blind?

Has anyone replaced the studs on the headlight buckets before? When I was pulling mine off, they sheared pretty badly. I was considering drilling them out, filling it in with some epoxy, then drilling and re-threading it. But the fiberglass is probably pretty brittle after 40 odd years, and I'm a little nervous about trying to remove the old ones.

You're going to use a girls cheer leading squad to replace the motor in your z? How ever are you going to fit them all under the hood? </kidding>

Interesting...but now that you say that, I seem to recall reading something similar at one point or another. I'm probably going to go with the Moog ones at Rock Auto, the prices were pretty good, and they have a few other parts that I was going to pick up while restoring the front suspension/steering.

I'm looking for opinions on stock-replacement manufacturers...particularly lower ball joints in this case, but overall as well. My understanding is that Beck/Arnley is the gold standard in aftermarket manufactured stock replacements, but I wanted to see what folks thought of some of the other options. For example: http://www.thepartsbin.com/catalog/?N=1684+11378+4294962601+11921+6931 So there's also Moog, CTR, and several others at varying price points. Without knowing better, I'd probably lean towards Beck/Arnley, but I thought I'd throw this out there and see what people thought.

What color code is the blue? It's gorgeous, but looks darker than the original blue that mine was painted. Is it Daytona Blue from the 350z or some other color?

Ah, I get you now. I still might give it a try though. I'm thinking it might be possible to make the cover in a few pieces and stitch them together nicely along the surface edges...must consider this further.

Would maybe using fiberglass mats underneath the vinyl help with something like this? Or is it more of a function of heat/movement of the material itself, and not what's underneath it? Also, what about putting a thin layer of padding between...you'd end up almost with something like a modern dash where it has a little "give" under the material on top. Almost like a nice leather dash.

What about wrapping it in vinyl material (like used for seats, not stickers)? I think you'd have to use something other than bondo as your surface material, since I don't think that most 3M-style adhesives stick very well to it. Maybe something like RTV, that's been smoothed over top of spray-in foam? I've been kind of thinking of doing something similar, instead of some of the very extensive repair jobs that others have done. Most of them are gorgeous, but I'm looking for something a little simpler and possibly more durable. I've done some searching here but I haven't seen anything quite similar to what I'm thinking, but I did find a couple links online to others that had done something like this: http://www.vtr.org/m...ecovering.shtml

(drool)

Love the color and the wheel choice.

I'll echo what pretty much everyone else is saying with my own stories. I spent most of my childhood helping my grandfather/uncle fix up family cars when they needed work, but beyond handing tools, and helping with an extra set of hands, most of my exposure was watching and learning. I always wanted to restore a car, a Z in particular (I fell in love with on my father had when I was a kid), so I decided this past summer to take the dive. The first thing I did was say to myself, "get it running, and enjoy it for the summer". I broke down the issues into their component bits, and went from there. First, the car had electrical gremlins, so I ignored everything else, and starting working on those. I got out a multimeter, the electrical diagrams for the car, and started tracing wires. By the time I was done, I knew the electrical inside and out, had pulled out about 100 feet of extra wire that had been spliced in by PO's, and had everything except the reverse lights working. Next, I knew the motor was running rough, so I took a look at the ignition/fuel system. I got a timing light, watched some videos online of how to tune SU carbs, and read about half of "The SU Carb High-Performance Manual" so I would get a better understanding of how they work. I set the timing, got the carbs running "better", and the car was driving great. However, I learned through that, that the cooling system was in bad shape. The car overheated while I was messing with the carbs, and popped the "seal" (and I use the word seal very loosely) around the water pump. I tore the water pump off, pulled out all of the cooling bits (hoses, radiator, etc), and decided to replace everything with a new radiator, electric fans, etc. I also learned that the PO had bypassed the heater core in a really bizarre way, so I just capped off that outlet on the back of the block to remove "the cooling loop of hell" (or at least I think that's what TonyD referred to it as). Once all the new parts were in, the car was running great again. I was able to drive it for a while, but I decided I was done sitting in seats that smelled like they were 100 years old and full of caveman farts, so I tore the seats out, and reupholstered them from the frame up. I sanded down everything, repainted, and completely rebuilt them. Now they're brandy-new, and far more comfortable than sitting directly on the frames. Once late autumn hit, I knew I wanted to pull the motor for a rebuild, so I got a buddy, got a cherry picker from craigs list for 150 bucks, and we pulled it out. I tore down the motor, and after looking at it, I decided "ok, this is over my head", and that's when I went to a machine shop/engine builder for a rebuild. The motor is still there, and I'm finally getting all the bits ready to go over, but this is the first time I've had someone else do something on the car. So I think the moral of my story (so far) is this...keep things compartmentalized. Pick a project and work on it until you're successful, or you decide you're over your head. This will keep you from getting overwhelmed by the magnitude of it (because it can be daunting if you've never done it before like me), and it will help you control costs by keeping them to one project at a time. Hope this helps!

Those are gorgeous! Any thoughts of doing a version without the speaker holes and a door pull more like the early series passenger-side door pulls? I'm planning to remove everything from the door panels except a simple pull and the handle, and putting electric windows/locks with the switch in the center console where the fuse box usually is (going to re-wire with a painless kit and put the fusebox in the glove box area). Also I really like that material. I'm all for "correct" vinyl, but honestly, I'd like to use a better carpet material on the floors/tunnel instead...I just can't stand that vinyl stuff. Is that each or for the pair? Cause when I ran the numbers for complete "correct" replacements (assuming your existing panels are trashed like mine) and I was looking at ~750, depending on what kind of door pulls you want, etc, for the pair. I'd think that ~400 would be MORE than fair. Oh, and your fiance has some serious nails going on there...

Absolutely amazing! Did you use real carbon fiber sheets, or that "carbon fiber look" fiberglass stuff? Also, has anyone ever tried this with their dash? I was thinking it might be nice to do them both like this, especially if you're repairing a cracked dashboard.

I use Hagerty, and I believe the limit is something like 3,000 miles a year, but I could be mis-remembering. It's like $150/year for coverage...and this is NJ. Land of the worlds highest auto insurance rates.

That's not a half-bad idea. Mine came out of Arizona (via a guy in Hawthorne) and I as I continue my tear down I'm absolutely blown away by the lack of rust on the body. That alone was worth the cost of entry.

I have QQ's for my 71, and while I didn't get a chance to drive it daily this summer before starting my big tear down, I never got anything other than smiles and thumbs-up from the police. I'd imagine it falls very much into that "if you're not a ****, they're not going to bother you" category. And yes, I live in Jersey. Mt. Olive/Roxbury area, but I drive a lot between here and Hackettstown/Great Meadows (if you know where Island Raceway is, that's near Hackettstown).

How much heavier/lighter is the motor/trans than the L that came out of it? Also, It's amazing how far back that motor sits..I'd also love to see what it does to the overall handling of the car with the engine that far back.