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datsunlover

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Everything posted by datsunlover

  1. HA! I WISH!! I went through the computer last night and found a bunch of pics of my engine, head, manifolds, FSM, and even one with the engine stand in it. I made a list of evrything and printed out the pics.. I'm thinking of maybe just gping over there tomorrow and asking her if I can get my stuff. You don't have to know anything about engines/tools to look at a picture and see the real 'thing' and know they are the same.. (I'm thinking I could go to the cops with this too, as it is easy to back up my 'claim of ownership' to things in his garage..) I'll ask her first, and perhaps have a cop/whitness there when I remove my things.. that way evrything is legal, and I don't get involved on either side.. and besides, HE knows where to find me, and I already told him the $$$ was no issue; If I owe him for any work he DID do, I'll pay him no problem. I'll give him another day to contact me, but after that, I'm going and getting my stuff back one way or another.
  2. Well.. IIRC, the numbers on the valve cover (1 8 4 3 6 5 7 2) are the firing order for Chevy V8's... where is the distributor on that engine?
  3. Shiming the cam towers is similar to what you're tinking of, just not using washers. Basicaly it's putting thin pieces of metal (same shape and with the holes matching the bottoms) in between the towers and head, in efect raising the towers any amount desired. I've never heard of doing it to suit longer valves, but I know for sure you have to do it when you mill a lot off a head (to raise compresion) as the timing chain tensioner will not take up enough slack after a ceartian point. IE; shaved head sits lower on block, making cam sit lower/closer to the crank.
  4. Well I FINALLY got through to a person (as oposed to the machine) tonite. Talked for a few with his now ex girlfriend. She says I'm not the first to call recently about parts/engine/work (go figure.. I estimate the guy has at LEAST $50,000 in customers blocks and parts in there, never mind his own stuf and equipment) and she doesn't even know where he is right now.. Apparently she is trying to get a hold of him through another person, and want's to give him the names of all his customers that have called, and find out if/when they can come get their stuff. She has no idea what's what, and brought up the fact that this 'personal issue' between 'them' has had to become a legal thing; He doesn't want her selling off his equipment/parts, she has to protect herself and child. Obviously, she can't have a bunch of people go through there and say "Oh yah, thats mine, that too.. oh, and that.. " and then have HIM sue her for theft or something. She didn't say it directly, but I got the impresion he's 'fliped' a bit, and is having some trouble dealing with evrything... I don't know the whole story, and I'm not taking sides, and I told her as much BUT; I explained my situation as well; In that garage is a hard to find 280z factory service manual, AND an engine stand I BORROWED from a friend of mine to put my engine on to deliver there. Also my two heads, block, and boxes of parts (some new, if they came in..) I left her my number and asked her to call me if possible as soon as she knows what's going on.. I guess I'll hurry up and wait...
  5. This guy (doing the complaining) sounds a lot like my boss; He wants something done, and thats that. You start the job... Then, he'll change his mind, or see something being done 'not the way he'd do it' so he'll btch about it. Then, he'll complain about how long it's taking/took, and how much $$$ he's spending. After a few times around this circle, people tend to get a little... pissed. Some of the pics of the 'shops' work do look a little hack, but who's to say exactly how those issues came into being.. was the owner of the car poking his head in evry once in a while? Was he complaining about things in a.. negative way? Personally, I wouldn't have let it get this far.. I'm in the middle of a fiasco with my engine re-build righ now and it comes down to this; It's my fault. I gave the guy my parts/cash/FSM and even though I had a bad feeling the next week, I let it go another week. I've lost contact with the guy now (going on 3 weeks) and there's no telling when (IF) I'll get my stuff back at all, never mind complete.
  6. Good to see someone else from Ontario here! Man, that car is rusted.. but STILL in overall better shape then my 75' 280 was in when I got it. (outer shell for sure, floors maybe a bit worse.. weird..) I'm serious, my car was really bad; and I fixed it. Actually, I'd rather have started with something like yours; NOT previously repaired/tacked together. I had to deal with what looks to be 3 awefull body jobs, a 2 poorly welded in replacment floor pans, a trashed interior, bad efi, and lots of missing parts. (like bumpers , carpets, rad saddle...) Granted your front unibody is gona need serious work, but I wouldn't throw it away just yet.. You sound like you have some skill, or at least an understanding of what kind of repairs are needed and I think half the fun of 'project cars' is striping them down and rebuilding evrything.. In the end, you KNOW what you are driving, and can be proud that you built it, not bought it.
  7. I don't think it will fade too much.. The bulbs in the back are about 2" away, and I used the stock metal to lay the paper on, (for strength) so it should help with 'light fade' and as for sunlight, I think mayube over time.. but they're pretty sheltered in the dash. I havn't done much on the car in a while, as I've had issues with the engine re-build (see 'ducks in a row' post, non tech) and have become a little depressed.. not into doing anything Z related recently... I'l try to get pics of the other three guages.. I said I'd do that.. oops.
  8. heh heh.. I thought this was pretty funny... http://media.skoopy.com/vids/vid_00481.wmv
  9. so the blond walks away, and ends up walking down a country road. Off to her right in a corn field, she spots a blond in a rowboat trying to make her way across the field. She yells to the blond in the boat; "You idiot! It's blonds like you that give us all a bad rep.. and if I could swim, I'd come out there and kick your A$$!!!"
  10. Thats the thing.. I'd love to do it myself, but I just do not have the space to work on an engine (it was a chore just pulling it out) and lack proper tools/equipment. I've known this guy for a long time too, and he's done lots of good work for people in the past.. it's just hus 'crazy old lady' causing problems and I'm pretty much in the middle..
  11. Well the problem is, his (now ex) girlfriend does not have keys to the shop, and it's alarmed anyway. not to mention no one picks up the telephone there anymore. I could go talk to the cops, but I'm sure it will get me nowhere and only serve to agrivate me further.. I'm friends with the guy, but have no way to prove what's mine in that shop, so at this point (unless I can get a hold of him... ??!?!??!) I'm looking at a loss of my mint L28 short block, WITH my exhast and carb manifolds, and TWO N42 heads. Not to mention the $200 cash I gave him to start... almost two months ago. Oh yes, and he's got my 1975 280z FSM!!! Word is he's looking for space to rent (to use as his shop) and is going to go to the house WITH police present to remove all his equipment/customers stuff. Problem here is, it's anyone guess when that is gona happen, and meanwhile I'm out of some cash, and engine, and patience....
  12. Well it just figures... I finished school (2nd level general machiniest, 89% average. ) last friday, AND finally sold my 2 wheel drive truck. So I have cash to pay off my credit card, pay the back-rent I owe, have enough left to pay for my engine rebuild, and I'm back to work this week so I thought evrything was good... I was suposed to get my engine back LAST weekend, but it didn't hapen.. no prob, maybe the gaskets didn't come in.. whatever. I found out today, that my engine builder is having problems with his girlfriend (they live together, the garage is where his shop is..) and the crazy b!&$# has called the cops on him for 'uttering death threats' !!!! WTF?!?!?! So now, he's not alowed on the property unless he wants to get hauled off to jail, I have no way of getting in touch with him, and I can't do anything else till I get the engine back. (I have to set engine/trans in to figure where to cut driveshaft, and hook up electrical/guages) I'm so pised off now... and there's NOTHING I can do..
  13. I don't have any spesific info, but I would assume the s30 chasis to be fairly strong (well, the 280's more so I guess..) but at this point, rusting out is the issue. Any unibody that is given enough time to rust out, is going to get weaker and weaker. (even something from the late 90's that HAS all the aditional safety items) Persnaly I think you're friend is a bit nieve (sp?) to think hs 'safer' in a newer car.. My girlfriend has a 2 door 02' grand am with ABS, traction control, and air bags, yet I'd rather be driving my Z more often than not. The Z is more reponsive, handles better, and gives more/better feedback to the driver. I think driver skill is more important as a 'safety' feature than anything else. Personal expireance here, my 81 280zx was rearended by a dodge neon and barely bent the datsun bumper (I was just gettting going as a light turned green, and this lady wasn't paying attention coming up behind me.) but cracked/smashed the neon's bumper.. I'd say the old Z's are pretty tough.
  14. Sure.. out do my silly 'fakeometer' whiteface mod.. J/K Looks awesome man.. Keep up the good work!
  15. I wouldn't say it was 'hard' but the first one (tach) took a long time, as I didn't know what I was doing. I just kept removing screws and playing with it till I figured out how it worked. A friend came by the other night and was shocked with how they looked.. He didn't believe I "made them" myself. Heh... I'll try to get some pics of the other three tomorrow, and what they look like mounted back in the dash. I puled out a bulb/socket and checked just by touching the wires to battry + - (engin's out, wires are evrywhere, didn't want to hook up the whole electrical system and short something) and I'm happy with it. Just removing the green plastic covers from the back of the guages alows a LOT more light to get in there. Still not autometer, but I made them with my two hands and I'm proud of that. If there were a bunch of people interested in it, I could do a proper write up with pics and step by step distructions along the way.. or maybe print off a few to send to people 'ready to install' if they lack the computer software/skills... Anyway, thanks again guys.
  16. I wanted to post a message about a for sale add (15" swastica rims, newest add) but when I hit the 'submit message' button I just get a screen that says; " You did not fill in all the required fields. " Have I missed something, or is there something wrong with the software? Thanks.
  17. I'm not much help on webers, but a guy here I know had webers on his car for a while, and seamed to know quite a bit about them. His handle on Hybridz is "ZR8ED" .. Hope thats of some help..
  18. Very cool man. I had a friend over a few days ago wondering how old Z's did with V8's down the 1/4 mile. I I found a post you had made and just showd him your sig pic. He looked like this
  19. I was just looking at stock replacement clutches, and it seams they're around $200-250. (I know, you'd burn a stocker out pretty quick) I would think a decent aftermarket clutch, that would be stronger, will probly run you $500 or so.. Perhaps more.. I built a 4x4 Jeep J10 a few years back, and went with a centerforce II clutch. 360 V8, close to the same power levels your talking about, probly less horse but more torque. Ran 35" tires too.. (Built it for offroadin' and spent a lot of time in 4 low through mud and bush trails)
  20. I picked up my 75 280 for $800. Pretty rusty, FI was craping out, and interior pretty trashed. Mind you I live up in Canada and to even FIND a Z still mobile was hard.. If I'd had the resources at the time, I would have gone to the southern states and towed home a rust free shell/partial car for twice that price.. just to aliviate the stress and time it took me to put her back together.
  21. Yes, that's right, forgot to mantion his car is an s30, but was just thinking about the probable 'good info' he would have.
  22. My god.. funny poo-poo there.. and once aGAIN, I get in trouble from the girlfriend. "Matt! WTF are you looking at now?!?!"
  23. Aside from black (THE worst), I'd say red is one of the colors you DON'T want to paint on a car that's had lots of body work. True, if the work is done properly, color doesn't matter, but the work literally has to be PERFECT or you will see imperfections/sanding marks/ect right away. I got mine painted white because A; it was white to start with, and B; I'm not the greatest body man. The white did a great job of 'hiding' a lot of my mistakes/bad lines. Eventually I'm going to do another body job (take more time, and hopefully in a better work space) and probly do a 'BRE' style paint job. (white sides, red hood/roof, blue stripes) I guess it comes down to how good the body/prep work is. If you're getting someone to do it, look at some of their other work and see if it's 'up to par' before letting them do your Z. Spraying paint and actually doing body work are two diffrent things... sometimes guys arn't good at both.
  24. I'd go for the blue. As stupid as it sounds, a red sports car is just a ticket waiting to happen. Even if its old, decreipd and slow, a 2 door red car WILL get the attention of the police faster than any other color.
  25. I figured maybe thats were people were but it's quite lonely in there... and I don't see any new posts since.. 20 mins ago.. so if there's so many ppl online, what are yall doin?!?
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