waynekarnes

http://www.autoaircolors.com/ read about this in current issue of street rodder. they painted, then flamed a hood using this product. made it look easy ( too easy ). anyone know any more about this product ? is it, by chance, just another brand of an existing product ? makes it look as if i could possibly do a decent paint job, in my portable garage over the RV pad.

you might want to go to the summitracing.com web site ... i am considering using the chambered exhaust pipes. that's what GM used on the 68, 69 z-28 and trans ams. also used em on the vette with side pipes. i love the sound of the 69 Z/28. wayne

if i get those flares from you, with that exception, you and i might have duplicate z's. i want that pearl blue, the MSA aero II kit, have the konig rewind wheels. should look pretty good. my only fear is, running 225-60-14 tires, the z might sit too high over the wheels. that blue is sharp. thing is ... if it were 1972 and, i had the cash ... the stock orange or the yellow green would be my choice. probably the orange ... drifting off in a day dream of buying a new orange 240z. i always wondered why, the datsun new car smell has a tinge of sour milk to it ??? wayne

Mike, there is a polyester bondo out there. from what i have read, it is the preferred skim to use. cruise local book store, check out current issue of street rodder mag. the one that talks about water color paint. they show skimming a hood with it. on one of the tv shows, the one with Boyd Coddington, they skim the whole side of a 56 chevy. used the polyester stuff, says it's more like a thick primer than a filler. wayne

you need to check out the corvette and kit car sites on the web, as well as magazines. you may also want to pick up ekler's catalog and book on fiberglas repairs and modifications. had divorce lawyer not wanted to be paid, i would have glassed the front end on to my 70 vette convertible, instead of selling it. the ekler book is quite informative. years ago, i helped my buddy do glass work on his 65 vette, and then we did a few repairs on my 58 vette. one can not tell where we did any repair work, it looks as the factory intended. i picked up the ekler book, hoping for a few hints, and pointers. turns out, i was saying to myself, that's sure easier than the way i've been used to doing it. wayne

what lug nuts do you use with those wheels ? i need the same lug nuts for the konig rewinds. thanks, wayne

bought a set of Konigs from Gabe. set of 4 tires from Sam. had em mounted and balanced. can't put on the 72 z, as i need the correct lug nuts. know i need 1.25 mm lug nuts. but ... need to know a style or name ... tire shop says i need conical lug nuts. i have a set of lugs for the 82 zx 6 spokes. they don't work. have a set of chrome for the 78 280 stock wheels and hub caps ( you can see the lug nuts as part of the design of the hubcap ), they don't work. any one know what lug nuts i need to get ? thanks, wayne

years ago, my buddy was having trouble finding a body shop that was willing to work on his 60 impala convertible ... too old, we don't do custom work, you can't afford us, ect, was about all he heard from the body shops. he found a rust free floor and trunk. got the wrecking yard to cut the floor and trunk out. called around to several welders in our area, took the impala to Drakes welding. he removed all the interior, before taking it there. they cut the old floor out, welded in all the replacement parts. cost him about a 3rd of what the body shops wanted . you may want to call around to welding shops in your area. what about Zedd's auto parts in canada ? they have almost all the replacement parts you need for the floor and under the battery. good luck, wayne

greetings !!! i've bought several items from other hybrid members, i'm thinking, sure would be nice, if there were a place to leave a thumbs up or down, regarding the deal. maybe just a thumbs up, to avoid fools that just want to flame some one. again, maybe leave your comment and only the seller can leave a reply. only one comment from the buyer, only one reply from the seller. any other comments from the seller or buyer must then be approved for posting by the moderator. just a thought ... i bought the tires, 235/60/14, from Sam. he drove an hour and a half, to meet me at the half way point, between where we live. he's a great guy, transaction was smooth as silk. earlier this month i bought a MSA Aero II kit from Scott in Texas. he bent over backwards and jumped through flaming hoops to make sure that the deal went smoothly. he underestimated shipping costs and refused to let me even split the difference of 40 bucks with him. anyway, just thinking, oughta be a way to publicly let others know, the seller is a stand up kinda guy.

in california, for sure, if you knowingly let ANYONE useyour vehicle ( that includes a trailer, boat, stucco pump,ect. ), you the owner, insurer, of that vehicle are resposible for any and all damages, if any done by the individual you let use that vehicle. if you have no insurance on a vehicle, a project car, and let some one test drive it, before they buy it ... YOU the seller are responsible for ANY and all damages, if any, the driver of that vehicle causes. meaning, injured party can sue you, as well as the driver. owner of the vehicle will, most often be named as the primary person, company, being sued. yes, business, say you own a company, have a large company truck, loan it to your sister in law, she runs it through the local safeway, taking out the beer chiller. you and your company are responsible for the damages. in the case of a test drive, my buddy let a prospective buyer ( 50 yr old man ), take his mazda for a test drive. residential street, a ball bounced out of a driveway, a child followed. driver hit the brakes, swerved left, side swiped 3 parked cars. did 2 grand damage to each parked car, and 1800 to the mazda ( he pancaked into the cars, slapping em with the side of the mazda ). my buddy's insurance picked up the tab on the damage to the parked cars. the driver contacted his insurance, they refused to do anything, said the owner of the car was responsible, not the driver. my buddy's insurance agent told him, that if it was a larger amount of loss, that they might sue the driver, but not in this case. the day after the accident, he contacted ( phone ) a few lawyers, was told, sorry, you can sue, but we don't suggest it. driver wasn't purposely and knowingly damaging your property. it's your responsiblity to determine driver's ability to properly operate your vehicle. you handed him the keys. later that evening, driver called my buddy, bought the mazda. my buddy's insurance paid to repair the 3 cars. as suggested, 99% chance, it will be your car insurance that picks up the tab on the damage to the house. but, as it sounds as if your home and vehicle are under the same company, the home owners may kick in, depending upon your policy and your agent. sorry to read of your situation, i symphatize with you, good luck with it ! wayne

i take it, that the pieces are overlapped, just not flat. working inside the car ... you'll need to hammer em down flat. have some one under the car ( safety 1st, make sure jack stands and such, are all secure ), with ear plugs and a body spoon, a solid piece of metal, to hold opposite the hammering from above, so that you have something to hammer against, keeps the floor from bouncing. flatten the the panels as best you can, the better you get them to mesh the better your seal will be. clean up the floor with a grease/oil free cleaner. might even go so far as to clean with alcohol. go to eastwood or, if you have a body supply shop in your town, go there and pick up some paintable body sealer. if the floor was replaced correctly or close to correctly, there should only be joints, not gaps. use the body sealer to seal the joints. you can get brush on or use a caulking gun. once the joints are sealed, paint the inside with a rust resistant paint. once you have the inside the way you want it. there is spray on under coating ... once again, under the car. safety googles, dust filter, gloves, ect. do a basic cleaning, soap and water, large scrub brush. rinse as much as you can. let it dry throughly. the undercoating comes in a spray can. you can spray it on from underneath, much easier than brushing it on. makes a hell of a mess, mask and tape off anything you don't want covered with tar. usually, just spraying undercoating will not keep exhaust fumes, and other road dirt from entering the passenger compartment. it's best to seal the joints from the inside as well as you can. i wouldn't trust undercoating to do that. best of luck, wayne

Steve, about the metric flare > are you sure that you don't need the metric flare ? the reason i ask is, when i was replacing my rear brake tubes, the shops that i was hunting down parts at, 4 different ones, older guys, that used to race and, build datsuns, all told me ... be sure that you use the metric double flare, and the odd datsun/nissan metric nuts. if memory serves, they are 10x1.25. i know that the nuts that attach to the wheel cylinders are not the standard, commonly found pitch, on the readily available 10 mm nuts found on the, bend em yourself, brake tubes. i ended up at the wreckers and pulled some used ones. gave those to my friend Carl, who sent them off and had duplicate custom made, so that he had a set for his restroration, as they are no longer available new. not questioning your validity, just wondering if the old timers were repeating old wive's talls are speaking the truth. thanks, wayne

there are many replacement panels available from commercial retailers. a good body shop ( a true body shop with craftsmen working there, as opposed to bondo slappers ), anyway, a good body shop can hand build new panels. there are new rails available, from under the seats to the headlights. floor panels are available. lower body replacement panels are available to repair doors, 1/4 panels, fenders, doors. ect. you must determine if you have the money to pay $50/hour and upward for a shop to custom bend for you, especially for the parts that aren't available. you need to seriously look at what you can do at home, what you will need to farm out, whether you have the space, tools, and friends to help you. but, 1st you need to find out if the Z is worth saving. if you aren't a car guy, rubbing elbows with people in the hobby and industry, ask around, go to a few swap meets, VW meets, hot rod meets, ect. find a body shop with a good reputation. take your Z there for them to check it out. most shops will give a free estimate, i don't expect to pay for an estimate, unless the shop repairs rolls royces and such. a good shop will be truthful with you, let you know if the Z is safe to drive or repair. imagine that the Z car body is an egg shell. not that it's fragile, rather ... it gets it's strength from the way the body is made, called a unibody. like an egg, vibrations, bangs, ect. are distributed around the shell, gives it exceptional strength. interweave your fingers, left hand to right hand, have a friend put one point of a chicken egg against one palm, the other end of the egg against the other palm, slowly squeeze down on that egg, again keeping the points of the egg in the center of your palms. man you can really squeeze on that egg, can't you. as long as it stays straight, in the center of your palms, it's damn difficult to break. what the hell does your question have to do with eggs ??? well, hold on ... while your squeezing on that egg, have a friend tap it with a knife blade, just a little tap, enough to weaken the shell, not even a crack. keep squeezing, in a few minutes, that egg is going to give way at the weak spot, and collapse. unfortunately, the same thing that gives the egg it's strength, is also it's down fall, as long as the structure is sound, the design of the package works. weaken it and, it falls apart. now, you see the relationship ?? the Z car's unibody is like that egg. a good solid rust free Z car, can flex and twist, able to take the normal daily abuse of being driven. a badly rusted Z car is a weakened egg, it could collapse on you while you are driving down the road. if your Z is a rusty as you suggest it is, i strongly suggest that you get it in to a qualified body shop and have it checked out. also, any rusty car allows exhaust gases into the passenger compartment and could possibly poison you and your passengers. i hope that the rust is just on the surface, and your Z is an easy save for you. run a search, on this site in the body section of the forum, there should be a fair amount of info there for you. on google, search rust repair, also look up POR-15. sorry if i sound negative, don't mean to be ! just can't stress enough, how badly rust affects the safety of the Z cars. best of luck with your project, wayne

Jon, that's an old trick that works fantastically !!! i have used it. for some reason, i had forgotten all about it. thanks for the reminder. this summer i may put discs on the rear, hope i can remember that trick then ;-0 wayne

most instructions say to remove the backing plates, cut em, put em back on. no reason to do that. grab a dremil with a cutting wheel. you'll need to remove the tire ( though i did both with the tires in place, would have been easier with the tires removed ). car securely resting on jack stands. parking brake on, rear wheels chocked. hold the toyota calipers in place, get a look at things. the hard tube S brake lines will be removed from the original calipers and reconnected to the toyota calipers. those s tubes will have to be be bent a bit, to connect to the toyota. note, are the bleeders on the existing calipers up or down, you want em up, make sure you get the rights on the right, lefts on the left. i've been told ( it didn't work for me ), that, if you remove the cap to the master cylinder, put saran wrap over it, put the cap back on, make an air tight lid , the fluid won't leak, saves time bleeding later. unbolt the nuts/bolts holding original caliper. wiggle the caliper around, work it loose but don't remove it. get a metal coat hanger, figure a way to hold the caliper out of the way, once you remove it. remove the caliper, with the brake line attached, hang it out of the way ( secure it ). hold the toyota caliper where you believe it will bolt in place. mark off the area you need to trim away, to clearance the caliper. use a scratch awl or a marker you can easily see. wear a good pair of goggles, and safety glasses, long sleeves, ear plugs and, gloves. grab your dremil, and about 10 fiberglass cut off wheels. if you hold the wheel perpendicular to the backing plate and don't twist the wheel, you can make the cut with one wheel. if you twist the cutting wheel, it will jam between the scrap you are removing and the backing plate. should this happen, the cutting wheel will shatter and become shrapnel. wasn't that big of a deal to me, just beware and use protection. put the wheel to the backing plate. be gentle, move slowly, don't force it, follow your lines. the noise is outrageously loud, use those ear plugs. follow the lines as best you can. you may end up having to make pie shaped cuts, removing a piece at a time. watch the wheel doesn't pull you along as it cuts, yanking the dremil away from you. once you have made your cuts, be very careful, the metal edges are knife blade sharp. test fit the toyota calipers, happy ? if not trim some more. if so, and you have a file or burnishing tool, use it. if not, then use the sanding wheel on the dremil. you will want to get rid of that sharp edge. once you've smoothed those edges, put the original calipers back in place. you may need to put one or both bolts/nuts in place ( a half a turn or so ) to hold the caliper in place, while you remove the S tube from the caliper ... use a flare wrench, don't have one ... buy one ! don't use an open end wrench. make liberal use of penetrating oil. again, patients and gentleness count. have the toyota caliper at hand ( you have the correct one, yes ). get the S tube, to where it's turning by hand. remove the nuts/bolts holding the caliper in place. remove the S tube. slide the caliper off, layin it down, put the toyota caliper and new brake pads in place, stick the bolts/nuts in place, hand tighten. bring the S tube over to the toyota caliper, gently hand bend the S tube to line up with the toyota caliper. be careful not to misalign or strip the S tube or the caliper. finger tighten the S tube to the toyota caliper. once you are sure it is not stripping, use the flare wrench, snug the S tube to the toyota caliper. use a torque wrench, tighten the bolts/nuts to specs. do the same on both sides. remove the saran wrap, bleed the brakes. you really do not need to change to the larger bore master cylinder. you can if you want, but there is no need to. i guesstimated my cuts, did em with the original calipers and wheels in place. worked out fine for me. one thing though, Alex warned me about ... unbolt your wheel. remove the original caliper, as if you were going to do a brake job, bend the backing plate back enough to allow you to temp bolt the toyota caliper in place. put your wheel back in place ... does your wheel clear the toyota caliper ? my stock 14 inch steel rims fit perfectly. apparently some 15 inch wheels may rub on the toyota calipers. i understand, using a grinding wheel, or stone on a power drill, you can clearance the calipers enough to fit your wheels. go slow, a little at a time, watch for heat, so you don't cook the seals. this should give you a basic idea of what to do. good luck, and it really is just about the easiest brake upgrade you can do.

you mean, you're not gonna hack and hew ? cobble it together, just to get it to rio vista ? you have almost 90 days. LOL you're good with the minute details, i betcha, when you are done with it, it's gonna look better than a factory job. i'm impressed that you stuck with it and got those mounts figured out ! our last comunique, you sounded so frustrated, thought maybe you had backed off, and were taking a 6 months breather. kudos to you and your fellow fabricaters ! wayne

looks like you're gonna be ready for rio vista ! i appreciate those wooden motor mounts ! wayne

there's an article on it in either the current issue of popular hot rodding or car craft ( subscribe to so many magazines, i hope it was one of them) . they built one, made a bunch of mistakes, fixed em and ran it. interesting item ...

Ross, was thinking, that maybe for free, or a little cash, one of those companies, might turn loose, what they think is the average value for a zx, of the caliber, stolen from you. they keep track of everything. we know that they have that info. you might want to grab a copy of hemming's motor news and check the insurance ads, for phone numbers. with any luck, there may also be a few z cars for sale in there, might be good ammo, to take to the insurance company. plus, any classified ads in the on line z clubs, or craigs list. i was suitably P.O.ed. when i heard that some a hole had made off with your car. hope that the bad guys are rotting some where. just thinking out loud, wayne ps if the money is there, this summer, just might be knocking on your door for a rear disc brake kit.

wouldn't hannegan's, taylor, or one of the other specialized insurance companies have a list of values ? these insurance companies have to have a chart/table of values some where. wayne

if you replaced all the lines, i would think that you still have air in the lines. if you replaced lines at the master, you will need to bleed the master. take clear hoses put them around the bleeder screws on the master, the other ends back into the master, into the fluid. pump up the master, hold the pedal down ( not too much pressure as the fluid will spray , or blow the hose off ). have some one crack the bleeder screw on the master, pedal goes down. tighten bleeder. pump again, hold pedal down, crack the bleeder, repeat bleeding one side of the master, until no more bubbles. do the same with the the other side ( the other bleeder ). are you bleeding by yourself or with help ? don't mean to insult .. no idea how much experience you have. at the bleeder, use a clear hose, into a bottle, pump brake pedal several times, hold pedal down to the floor, have friend slowly crack the bleeder, pedal should go all the way to the floor. hold the pedal down, friend tightens bleeder, repeat until no air. move to driver's rear, do the same, then the pass front, last the driver's side. i had to use a little over a quart to get all the air out of mine. also, check to be sure, none of the wheel cylinders are leaking. now, if you have a newer z with ABS, you may have to remove the fuse for the ABS, to disable it, before you can bleed the brakes ... check a manual or on line for that info. if you have checked all the wheels, no leaky cylinders or pistons at the calipers, the pistons move smoothly, seals,pistons and such, weren't damaged when pressing em back into place to clear the new pads, then ... take a look at that master. i seriously doubt that the master is bad, if it was fine before. good luck, wayne

if your neighbors have tossed out a working kitchen oven, visit eastwood.com buy a kit from them, and bake em yourself. i have been warned, not to do it in any oven you ever plan in cooking food in. appears the poisons never dissipate. wayne

powder coating is the most resilient way to go. looks great, last just about for ever. but, more money that a rattle can. probably not much more than a shop would charge to prep and spray it. issue with the powder coat is ... make sure all the holes stay open, manifold to heads, carb bolt holes. sensor holes, ect. make sure none gets on the back side or inside anywhere gasoline and air travel. damn hard to remove overspray, you may end up tossing a manifold.

i'll see if i can contact him. thanks

back in 74, i had a stock cast iron high rise intake, painted with that black krinkle paint. it held up well, even to several gas spills, when pulling the holley spreadbore double pumper off to replace the power valves once every 3 months. manifold stilllooked fine, when i traded my 65 chevelle for a 31 chevy pick up 2 years later. as suggested, prep is the key. wayne