zuum

"I shall cut open this watermelon with my laser vision for all to consume!"

240Zx = vomit in my lap... dangit, now I need another shower.

"ow, my face!"

I'm sorry, but... if my son turns into that kid, no matter how successful he may be someday, I'll slap him, and shoot myself.

pretty funny!

Wowzers!

YIPPEE! Just got done rebuilding and tuning up the carbs... I gotta say, the oil in the carbs is at LEAST 50% of the tuning! After reading several websites on tuning these things, I found one that seemed pretty legit, it said 20wt was good for WORN carbs, which I though mine were (they are not). After putting in the 20wt, the car ran worse than ever (although, I was finally able to adjust the mixture, I couldn't do that before the rebuild), so I went to the good ole FSM, and it said DO NOT USE 20wt or higher... so I tried some 10w30, and that seems to be the magic number for my setup. Runs great, throws me back in the seat, no issues with the carbs now. Next I will have to take care of an oil leak at the front... I think its the front main seal, cause oil is being slung all around in a circle, any suggestions? Also, found that the output shaft seal is leaking on the trans too.

HA! Thats funny! I followed it from the 'Similar Threads' at the bottom of the forum... guess I'll pay more attention.

I've been playing with the turn/brake wiring... and like with most 240z owners, its been a trying experience. I narrowed the problem down to the turn signal switch. Apparently nissan saw fit to run the brake lights through it... Well it creates a bit of a dilemma, if the switch goes bad (as mine has), you lose everything, well in my case it was intermittent, and I was tired of Fing with it. SO heres my solution. I wired the brakes up as a single circuit, with a NEW fuse all its own. I ran a new wire all the way from the brake switch to the taillights... heres how. It may seem that I made things more complicated in the way that I did it but it was necessary, and in the end my car is now more visible to drivers behind me. After pulling out the taillight harnesses, I notice that one of the bulbs is a dual filament, but the socket only had 2 wires on it (power and ground), so I opened it to see why. Inside only one side of the bulb receives power. WHY?! What a waste. [/b] Well I went to the wrecking yard and grabbed a pair of 3 wire sockets off a 280z. Heres the OLD 3 wire socket. I wired them like this... The old 2 wire socket shown above had a green and black, the green is not needed any more cause thats the old brake/turn light wire. The old 3 wire socket has a green, green/white stripe, and black, and the new 3 wire socket has a green/white stripe, green/yellow stripe, and black. Take the green with white stripe wires and connect them together, they are your parking lights. Take the green wire from the old 3 wire socket and snip it, then connect it to the green with yellow stripe wire, and both of those connect to the NEW brake wire I mentioned earlier. The OTHER 2 wire socket is a single filament bulb and also has a green wire on it, leave it alone is now the turn signal light. After all this I arranged them in the taillight housing like so.

More weekend progress. The battery tray was done... just done. SO I boxed it in and it worked out great, this will also keep debris, water, battery acid from accumulating in a corner under a tray where it can't be seen or easily cleaned. With the floor, I made multuple sections because it was easier to make the bends that it needed, and in the end it is stronger. Not bad...

Started fixing the rear bumper last night, it was twisted on one side, lots of dings in it, and damage on both sides from the over riders. Since its a 3 piece type bumper, I am welding it solid so its one piece, filling all the holes where the rubber stips were and the over riders were. I will post some pics when its done tomorrow. Then I will start the front which is in better condition, and less welding and shaping will be required. Heres some pics... I just couldn't sit here doing nothing so I went back to the garage. I also started work on the hatch panel... it didn't look that bad, but once I took the wire wheel to it, I got some holes, which showed how much rust was underneath.

Got the 5spd in, the manual pedal box all in... gotta put the dash back in, and get some hydraulic parts for the clutch, and we'll be driving again. Found a little bit of rust in the passenger floor pan while under there... more than a little really, the sound deadening was holding most of the passenger floor pan together to be honest. Still need to time the motor, and tune the carbs, but all in all I am quite happy with the progress so far. So far I've pulled out about 10lbs of 'wookie hair' insulation... the interior didn't look bad or anything but I didn't want to chance what 'might' be under there, so ALL the diamond patterned vinyl is coming out, along with all the plastics. When I'm done, it will be bare cept for the dash, seats and door panels... Heres some pics... The 'wookie fur' I referred too... A little pile of sound deadening I managed to get off without dry ice. Took the dash out to swap pedal assemblies, and found a little something hiding under my steering column...

Been around datsuns my whole life, owned dozens of them, but this is my first Z, always wanted one but never thought I'd be able to afford one... but here I am! It ran when I bought it, had some unknown lowering springs, and auto tranny... but when I took her for a drive I immediately fell in love. If this crappy little Z can drive this good, I can only imagine how one thats been 'fixed up' would drive! Here she is... Some one at the nissan factory in japan left me a little surprise on the bottom of my dash above the steering column.

On the other hand... maybe they learned a lesson on stealing. Not the kind that sends them to jail or prison and they learn how not to get caught, but the kind that has REAL reprecussions. Doesn't sound like they beat them within an inch of their lives, only made them remember for next time. Also, 2 guys in a civic isn't organized crime, 4 guys in a SUV with a tow dolly probably is.

Hey P-diddy I figured out your brake light problem, I have the same one. Its the turn signal switch! (BS you say?) No seriously, I have been playing with my turn brake wiring ALL day, using the FSM wiring schematic for reference. The brakes and signals are all powered through the switch... I disassembled mine and cleaned it inside, and found that there is a small 'ball bearing' that rolls back and forth making the signals operate and at the same time making the brake light on that side stop lighting (makes sense since they are the same lights), the ball in mine had fallen out and was rolling around inside. SO I reassembled it, and PRESTO, brakes... but wait, no signals? Damnit! Disassemble again, ball falls out nearly getting lost, bend the little tabs (you'll see what I mean), and reassemble. PRESTO, signals, no brakes... %JH%#((*!!! Disassemble, this time losing the ball completely, dangit... bend the tabs the other way. PRESTO?! brakes no signals again... Now I've had it, I take a pick and poke it inside and bend those stupid motherfartin tabs without opening it, and now I some times have one brake light, some times the other, sometimes both. Signals work, but don't like to turn off... and I'm gonna fart with it no more. Gonna go find another thats in better shape. Hope that helps

brake light switch maybe?

Thats a great write up chartoo. I don't think I will go that route though, I have a feeling that if I removed the whole skin and then tried to patch it, it would never fit again. BUT, the inside pics of the doors there are GREAT and will help a LOT! THANKS!!

In most cases I would agree, swap-em, call it a day. For me, I actually really enjoy welding/grinding/shaping metal. I wish I had more metal working tools... its just really relaxing. If the results turn out poorly, I'll get some more doors... I will still benefit from it by learning what my limitations are, and gain more metal fab experience. I was just hoping to see what others have done, anything is better than going in blind... but it won't stop me.

before you tell me to search... I did. I looked through 30+ pages worth of non related threads. I am about to under take the repair of my doors before moving on to the other areas. SO, heres my question, anyone have any pics of this being done? Anyone done this with flat sheet instead of the pre-made lower door sections? Any pics of that? I've got some scrap 620 doors with similar shape to them, and I was planning to just reshape them if I can... Thanks.