Oddmanout84

It does, but she's still a finicky b*tch. My ECU plug does not like to seat properly, I had to take the casing apart so I can push the plug directly to get a good fit, but it will still vibe loose as the car runs as the retaining stub is on the case that I removed. This thing is such a pain, but at least now when my Z sputters an dies on the highway (where it always breaks), all I have to do is lean forward and push firmly on the ECU plug and the engine springs back to life. Can't wait to get rid of this thing and install megasquirt, some new electronics would do this car a world of good. ^and wiring

I had to make cuts in the budget somewhere. Figured 1qt was enough.

Good to hear. I'd like to do the same thing, once I can cough up the funds (and probably after I swap the L28ET too).

LOL That's awesome!! Imagine if someone actually did that... EDIT: Good job with the shoop too, I had to do a double take to make sure it wasn't real!

... And once I'm done with my latest endeavor this will be going in.

Under the knife again, but not because she's broke. Thankfully its my choosing. I put enough miles on the seafoam treated oil so now its time to change it. While I'm at it, I'm removing the sump to de-rust and paint, replace the gasket, install a new valve cover gasket, and adjust the valve clearances (if needed). As you can see in the background of the second pic the VHT didn't hold up too well on my headers. I'm thinking I just didn't prep the surface correctly, I don't think I'm running hot and lean. The white pasty filth on the sump isn't because I had way too much fun removing it, that's just engine degreaser. Now here's your chance; I'm having a hard time deciding what color ceramic paint I'm going to use on the sump, so I'm holding a little social experiment so anyone with interest can "vote". Choices are either blue, orange, or I could put WAY too much effort into painting something no one will ever see and make it orange/black to match my valve cover. Straight black is just too boring. Unfortunately I also found some presents in the sump when I cleaned it out; Now, if this were a helicopter, you better believe that the engine would be written off as compromised, but I'm hoping the standards for a 30 year old car are somewhat less strict. Not shown are a couple sort, hair sized slivers of metal. The largest piece you see there is interesting. Its about the size of a dime and is stamped "3M". I don't think there's any sort of space age duct tape wedged in there, but I'm completely dumbfounded as to what 3M product could have possibly been in my engine. Everything seemed to be pretty non-magnetic, but metallic. I'll be checking for play while I'm down there, but hopefully I don't need new bearings. I'd like to put as little money as possible into this engine from now on, as I'm focusing on the turbo motor.

So I'm curious... how well have the gauges been working?

Transtar Omaha Orange single stage Urethane, Transtar rattlecan Trim Black for the flares/spoiler/mirrors. Rustoleum rattlecan semi-gloss black for the hood (but that will be repainted with a better matte black soon). My first effort in automotive painting, all done in my home garage. oh, and the paint still needs to be rubbed out/waxed... haven't gotten around to it yet.

Other things: I'm assuming its the motorsport headers, but the engine gives a noticeable "push" that I never noticed before at about 2500rpm. Below that the engine seems a bit anemic...

Thanks for the compliments! Everything, and I mean everything, has and will be done by myself on this car. All you see is accomplished from within the confines of my home garage. I used a 33 gal craftsman compressor hooked to an HVLP gun purchased from Home Cheepo. I used single stage polyurethane paints (Transtar) purchased from a local shop called Levine Automotive. The primer was high fill, the color was Omaha Orange. I block sanded the car with each coat of primer, which was about 2 coats with some touch up for spots I sanded through. Lots of finishing glaze too. I still didn't get the bumper as straight as I'd wanted, but it looks good unless you really take a magnifying glass to it. There are plenty of blemishes, but thankfully no one seems to notice them but me so far. All was very frustrating in such a confined working space, but it turned out pretty well, even though this was my first try. But, this is a DD, not a show car. The whole paint shebang I got (primer, color, mixing sticks, measuring cups, etc) was less than what I would have paid for a whole supply of Duplicolor lacquer that I originally planned on doing, ~$340. Much cheaper than a pro paintjob too. The interior is mostly painted, but not fully installed yet. I was too impatient to get the car on the road and test it, so the passenger seat isn't even fully bolted down. I don't have coilovers, just Tokico blue inserts and Eibach progressive lowering springs. Unfortunately the only things I can really reference them to is my first car (3000GT), a Lexus ES300, and my HD Sportster XLC1200. Its much harsher than the Lexus, similar (but better cornering) to the 3000GT, and much less back breaking than the motorcycle. I like it, a lot. Its a sportscar, its not meant to have an entirely plush ride.

The car still needs tweaks, the interior isn't finished, and the paint needs a bit of touchup and a rubout to be truly shiny. But having it back on the road after all this time and effort has made everything I've done for the past several months totally worth it.

Sorry about the lack of updates... not much excitement has been going on with the Z. Well, except this;

heh... I was wondering what that dead panel was for on my Z... However, my antenna control is in the location of another switch in that picture, to the right of the hazard switch and defogger... What the heck is that switch for in the photo?

Tony D to the rescue, as usual, lol. We need to get a machine that hooks up to your brain and downloads all the information to our own Datsun encyclopedia. As stated, I made a dumb mistake. So dumb, that its one of those facepalm moments. As said, I was handling them with kid gloves because so far they seem to be the most valuable and hard to find part for my Z. And they're mirrors so... yeah. Adjusting them was so carefully done, that I would loosen the screw and turn the mirrors about their axis when I first did my trial fitment. For some reason it didn't occur to me that the inside was like a ball joint and pivoted as well. Regardless, I thought I would need to use shims or something to fix them because no matter how much I turned the mirror it was aimed too high. Took them off shortly after and reboxed them so I could get the car ready for paint, which was about a month ago. Today I removed them from their boxes and loosened the screws just enough to find out that ,lo and behold, they pivot like a ball joint. Good thing I didn't "discover" this little wonder until after I made an ass of myself!

Disregard my posts. I was dumb, and was adjusting the mirrors wrong because I was so afraid I'd break them. The mirrors will adjust just fine to give a good view of either side, regardless if they're meant for an old skyline/bluebird. I would really like to see a side-by-side comparison of both mirrors though, to see if there's ANY difference besides the chrome or matte black finish.

The urethane airdams are nothing like the fiberglass ones. Its like rubber, it bends a bit, but its not too "floppy". Durable stuff, I've twisted mine a few times with no ill effects. A lot of people seem to leave them unpainted black, but they're not too hard to paint if you do it right (more prep work). These things are probably between 1/4 and 3/8 inch thickness, I bought mine from Black Dragon auto.

The "way too big" kind.

Yeah, I was aware that they were for the skyline/bluebird, I just hoped that the angle they sit at wasn't horribly different. Oh well, time to make it work! Its all I've got, the black mirrors were too hard to source at a comparable price.

I know I'm digging up an old thread to respond to here, but I patched mine from the inside with fiberglass. Once the door card/ panel is out its easy to reach the hole, just cleaned it to bare metal, then patched it with fiberglass. Filled the depressions on the outside with fiberglass reinforced waterproof filler. Past couple days I've been smoothing it out and used a little bit of glazing putty (on top of the high fill primer I've been using). As for an alternative, I think looking at 280ZForce's Z shows that he just left the old black mirror "bases" bolted in. I have a question though. Even after installing my mirrors to the exact specifications in the diagram, for a LHD car, my mirrors do not provide any sort of useful visibility. They seem to be aimed too high, adjusting the screw and swiveling the mirror does not solve the issue as the increments are not enough. The lowest I get is a view of the corner of my roof and upper window. I'm wondering if anyone else had the same issues when they installed theirs, and how they solved the issue. I'm thinking of using some shims inbetween the mirror and the black plastic base... Yes, they are the Nissan mirrors, the stainless ones.

I didn't lol, but it made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. I should go spam that image in honda forums...

The switch that controls your headlights (the combination switch) is likely kaput. All the juice running through them kills them rather quick unless you get a headlight relay harness.

Its ok... its my cool face... Problem? lol

Another forum.

It is now!

When you started with the Star Wars pics I remembered I had a Fett helmet buried in a box from Halloween over a decade ago. I just happened to find it at the right time, when the Z was looking its best.