Oddmanout84
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Posts posted by Oddmanout84
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I was going to budget paint (DIY) my Z with that Duplicolor ready-to-spray lacquer from Autozone (hugger orange), but this thread got me thinking. Maybe I should reconsider using a better brand? Really though, I don't think the brand will matter terribly. I have a feeling that my painting outcome will depend much more on the weather at time of painting, and my ability to paint a car without any prior experience doing so. Sure, I've painted some snazzy model airplanes and cars, but this is entirely different! I'm hoping with a little luck (and care over the years to come) will help my car stay shiny for years to come, even if it is the duplicolor.
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One more question though... Ezzzzzzz, did you get the cobalt blue glow or the standard blue?
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Perhaps I'm a little too anal in this respect, but I like all of my lights/gauges right in line of sight (or in the corner of my vision). When I eye-gauged it, it looked like if I did a similar light pod option like ezzzzzzz or the map light idea by NZeder would be a little farther away for my liking. I don't like the thought of hacking up a dash for it, but another idea would be to put each turn signal at the edge of each (speedo/tacho) gauge on the outer rims, then plopping a light pod for the highbeam/brakes inbetween. I know I'm just spouting ideas right now without trying them, but down the road when I get to the gauge replacement, I might be crazy enough to try it. My dash is already ruined, so if anything I'd be just risking a dash cap. Sure its more complicated, but its just my two cents.
I'm not saying that I look down on the installs that you guys are going through, far from it. They're much better than what I currently have! just throwing ideas out there.
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Daeron:
Here is a picture of the exact location of my ign relay. Yours, being an older model, may be different if I remember. Mine is nestled in near the horn relay and intermittent wiper relays, just above my fuse panel on the passenger side and below the dash. Keep in mind this is a '78 California model as well, but I don't think that affected the relays' positions, just the amount.
I'm trying to point to the relay bracket with the beef stick, its a little off though. The garage was too dark, so I took this picture with a flashlight in my mouth aimed at the area in question, all while trying to point the beef stick at the location while trying to aim my SLR through the eyepiece at the area so it would autofocus. I was a bit overwhelmed.
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Interesting.. I hate finding differences between model years like this.
Yeah, its not too bad in the aviation field because you usually get updated paperwork that replaces the old info in the manuals when a change occurs. From what I've seen here, not so much. But then again, I'm pretty sure its because our manuals don't update like Nissan's do over in their shops. I bet they have all sorts of documentation (somewhere) that details the little dynamic component upgrades that have occured on their cars. Its just a little bit harder for us to get our hands on them.
Man, I need to find an inside man, lol. Maybe I should go over to the Nissan dealership and try to make friends with some mechs.
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So THAT'S how you get one of those silly subtitles... I was wondering about that for the longest time! lol
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So do I
Dude, why did you have to go and show me that... now I want one! Seriously, that's just about one of the most awesome things I've seen in a long time.
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Usually such methods invites rodents into you garage. I know from experience .
I have my methods....
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For the past few days I've been removing this crap. Weapons of choice? A small rubber mallet and a 4-5" wide metal putty knife. Since its been below 32 degrees F for a while, I just open the garage and let the temperature DROP. Once its cold enough, the stuff chips away like a charm. Usually in huge chunks. WAY easier than when I first tried at the end of summer. I tried a chisel first, but it was too small and sharp.
Not to say that this doesn't require quite a bit of work, and its still a pain to do it. But it is much easier. Who says the cold never does any good?
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Wow! That's a nice solution to the "idiot light" problem as well!
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lol Nice. And Im sure you can fit a bed in a z. I have an extra engine and an engine hoist in mine atm
holy crap! lol
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Rope it to the roof, bwahahahahahahaa! Sweet ride though, and the photography really does justice to it.
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I hate to be a search Nazi, but all that info is pretty basic, frequently covered stuff. Its all over the forums here, and a lot of it is stickied so you have an easier time finding it. Just take the time to browse the forum to find the info you need, its worth it and more than likely you will find answers to many other questions that you might not have thought of before.
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I'm not worried about the door panels, its more the rear panels in the hatch area. I'm not missing a screw, its just a matter of angling/bending the panel so I can pull it out.
I gave my car its face back, just not the eyes.
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I'm not absolutely sure. If the pre-'78 280Z's have the same stock 6 bladed relay that I showed in the first post (with matching art number), then I would say so. However, I have never worked on any 280Z besides a 78, so I'm not positive. If I remember correctly, the small, blurry diagrams in my Haynes manual showed a different relay layout for pre-'78 models under the passenger side dash (above the fusebox) where this ign relay was located.
Sorry I can't provide a more lucid answer, but my knowledge of working on these cars is limited to my '78, and small blurry illustrations from manuals.
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I have a frank confession to make.
I've got so much less experience in actually, first-hand (ie, not "helping dad" when i was still a kid" restoring these cars.. I've worked ALOT with my dad, uncle, and brothers, but being the extra hand isn't much. I had four plus years of service from my stock EFI 75 280 with some problems, but nothing serious along the way.. I grew up in these cars.. and I have read. And read. And read.
But really, 95% of the "build threads" show SO much more work than was ever actually done by me, to my Z, its ridiculous.
On top of that, I get thanks from all these people whose threads I've been subscribed to.. I just read, and have ideas. It seems (to ME) that most of my ideas pan out to be blind alleys.. but I throw my ideas out without hesitating. That's it; I had a teacher once (in the SECOND GRADE if you believe it) who taught me about brainstorming, and she said it's all about quantity, not quality.. Bad ideas are still IDEAS, and they can always shed a little light on better ideas. Bad or "dumb" ideas are still excellent and useful things.
I just feel guilty being thanked so especially, just for gabbing!! Glad I can be of assistance. As for my little speech about ideas.. Teach yer kids, I guess!!
Booksmarts are undoubtedly a great asset, and go a long way. However, if there's anything I learned while flying on military helicopters, you need to combine it with hands on experience to truly make it useful. The manuals always outline how a system should work, and how it says troubleshooting should be done. Sometimes though they leave out a lot of important details and things that you can discover with hands on. And even more so, doing the unexpected, most contrary things to logic yields results.
An example would be the old voltage regulator for our APUs. You could try reading a manual that told you all the troubleshooting steps (to find out WHY it was not "crossing over" and supplying electrical power to the aircraft), or you could get the 1" wrench out of your box and beat on it. 9 times out of ten whacking the piss out of it would solve your problem in a faster, more violent way than the manual would ever have you do. As such, most voltage regulators you saw were heavily dented.
I wouldn't discount the knowledge that you've poured into this forum though, because as you said, even the quantity of answers you may throw out there (correct or not) will usually at least get someone to think and find a way to solve the problem.
All that being said, now that my work on the bottom of the car (and EFI troubles) is nearly finished, I'm going to start with the interior. I can't fix my exterior without a welder (although the thought has crossed my mind that maybe I could cut out the rust, seal and glass the holes as they are small). Even if I did glass the holes, it would just be a temp fix to get the car on the road so I could drive it to somewhere that I can weld new steel onto it. I also have not put my steering rack back in, or my master brake cylinder.
Not to bash on Ross or anything, but I ordered a brake proportioning valve from Modern Motorsports almost 2 weeks ago, and I have yet to even get an email response from them saying that they're at least processing my order. I had great success ordering my rear disc conversion from them in the past, but I'd be lying if I said this latest order doesn't have me a bit annoyed. My hands are pretty tied until I get that thing.
So I'll start messing with the interior again. I have a lot of cleaning to do, and since its bitter cold outside the nasty tar-like liner inside is chipping off a little easier. I'm hoping to remove it all before I lay down anti-rust paint, but its really trying my patience. No access to a sand blaster, this is all manually done with a spatula. Once its done though, I can get that dash back out of my passenger side to where it rightfully belongs.
I'm also having a bit of trouble removing the right side rear interior trim. The driver side came out fine, but this one is being a real pain. The mounting point for the hatch hydraulics is in the way, and guess what, its welded to the frame so I can't remove it. The only way to get this plastic piece out is to bend it, and I'm pretty sure its going to snap in the process, something I want to avoid. Definately needs to go though, as all the interior trim is being painted black.
Doors are also on my agenda. I need to get all the cracked brown vinyl off so i can treat the surface rust hiding underneath. I also have to patch up my driver side mirror hole with fiberglass. Thank you, fender mirrors...
So much time and so little to do!
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LMAO
Either he's ignorant or a crook.
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If I could FIND a donor roof in this part of the country, you can bet I'd do this to get rid of my "sunroof".
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Ok, here goes. I recieved my *new* '78 280Z ignition relay yesterday. No wonder I couldn't find these before! The part number has changed! Luckily, since I ordered it from Nissan, their system took the old part number (PN: 25230-89958) and redirected to the new part No.! Looks like Nissan did a sort of dynamic component upgrade for that old relay.
This is the box with the new part number on it;
And here is the new relay ASSEMBLY;
As you can see, the one six blade relay has been spit into two. I'm by no means an expert when it comes to electrical systems, in fact I'd say its my weakest point. But from what I can tell from my limited knowledge it seems that this relay (and the old original one) did NOT share a common power, only a common ground. On the old unit, the ground was self contained within the relay and connected to the outer metal case. This new one, as you can see, has a black jumper wire connecting the two relays which then leads out to an actual ground wire with an eye. The cases of the relays are made out of hard plastic, which is obviously why they went this way. I think I prefer this design better, as my previous relay lost its ground due to internal corrosion on the case.
I'll be plugging this in later to make absolutely sure that it works just like the original, which I'm pretty sure it will do. Hopefully anyone else having problems with their old ign relay will benefit from this. I know this isn't as exciting as me finding some way to Macgyver a new solution, but this option is much more plug and play, and probably reliable in the long run.
The relay assy is priced at almost $60 from Nissan, which is by no means cheap, but still pretty average for a relay switch. Not a terrible deal, IMO.
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For the most part, the engine is running quite well now. Chalk it up to some stupid mistakes yesterday that made it run poorly. I decided this morning to swap the old, "attempted to fix" distributor and plopped in the new one. While Doing so I realized that I had forgotten to plug in the AFM!
DURRRR!!! I was just trying the startup yesterday on a whim, so I guess I can allow myself such a stupid mistake. The computer doesn't know how to adjust the air/fuel ratio without the AFM? No, really??The car started up without a hiccup, and ran nicely at a steady RPM. Boy, was it smoky! It was at least 5 min until all the white smoke and exhaust fumes cleared out, and the exhaust ran clean. Also during these 5 min and intermittently afterwards, a high pitched buzzing sound was coming from the engine on the intake side. Sounded like it was coming from the EGR or BPT valve. Those things really need to go away... Sound died down after the car warmed up, but was still there. My gauges were all screwy, probably thanks to the hack-job ign relay I have hooked up. I have to pinch the solder point of the ground against its case to get the engine to start. Once I let go, the engine will continue to run, but I'm taking an educated guess its why (most of) my gauges die afterwards. Good thing I have a replacement on the way.
Datsun723, you were right. The twice-pipes sound like sex. No, not like loud thumping sounds followed by crying, you know what I mean... It sounds like the gutteral roar of an unrestricted machine. Awesome.
Another nice suprise; Since my headers were FINALLY subjected to the heat they needed, the ceramic paint cured and darkened the orange color to match my valve cover. I'm tickled pink.
My work is far from over, but I'd also like to thank everyone who helped with troubleshooting ideas, especially Wizardblack and Daeron who have been prettymuch regulars to my thread. Its also good to see that my antics have even gained positive attention! This build is by no means over, and I'll continue to post my progress.
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So whats the crash story? Snow + launch control = fail?
*Sigh*
Another wrecked GTR. Looks like another case of someone relying too much on technology and not enough on actual driving skill.
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I laughed at this post when I read it... Laughed, I tell you. But that was two weeks ago, and last night, Big Phil invaded my dreams...
I was just having dream dinner with the entire family at some sort of reunion. It was at some big restaurant with an outdoor patio and it was summer, or at least a hell of a lot warmer than it is on the Northeast coast right now. Then BAM, Big Phil shows up out of nowhere and challenges me and my cousin to a round of shots. I downed the first quickly, my cousin with his pink liver pukes over the side railing of the patio.
The next few go well, but then the final shot comes. The alcohol was concentrated into a black syrupy substance (I HATE sweet alcohol!!). My mother passed it to me, and on the count of three we drank our shots.
After this was over and everyone was laughing and having a good time, I got up from my seat and walked to the other side of the table and shook Big Phil's hand and introduced myself.
"Hey, I'm oddmanout84 on Hybrid Z. Awesome work you've done on your car! Big fan of the youtube videos!"
Phil gets a distressed look on his face and turns pale, then buries his head in his hands.
"Oh no... Not another one!!"
"oh no!"
"Oh No!"
"OH NO!"
I woke up this morning yelling "oh no"... And I knew what I had to do. I had to post this. To anyone else who's having similar problems, you are not alone...
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The valves could use adjusting, since I remember a tapping sound coming from the upper engine last time it ran well. This time, the twice pipes were too loud for me to hear it, lol. That and my mind was on other things.
I don't think adjusting the valves would help in this case either, at least not for this type of rough idling. What I'm thinking right now is either the Air regulating valve, or the EGR system (which has a hole on the bottom of my intake manifold that is currently plugged with duct tape). I ripped out the piping from the old exhaust manifold when I installed the headers, so the duct tape is over the hole to control any vacuum leaks. All the EGR equipment is still in place until I can figure out a way to get rid of it and plug up the system. However, something tells me that movement inside the air regulation valve is restricted. Being out in the elements for a few years was enough to turn my distributor into cauliflower, so I have no doubts that the air regulator is far from immaculate. It might explain why my unstable idle is slow and "roller coaster" like, and how it sometimes seems to level out for a few seconds. The exhaust is also white and smells of gas.
I have a lot of things to check, and more to fix. But at least I've finally made visable progress in running the engine. Hopefully it'll make tuning a lot less "blind" from now on.
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Stay away from it!! Give me his phone number too.
lol
DURRRR!!! I was just trying the startup yesterday on a whim, so I guess I can allow myself such a stupid mistake. The computer doesn't know how to adjust the air/fuel ratio without the AFM? No, really??
What was your favorite Super Bowl Commercial?
in Non Tech Board
Posted
I think my favorite commercial was the crystal ball one.
FREE DORITIOS FOR THE OFFICE!! Lmao