zuum Posted September 2, 2009 Share Posted September 2, 2009 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuum Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuum Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuum Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 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... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuum Posted September 2, 2009 Author Share Posted September 2, 2009 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuum Posted September 6, 2009 Author Share Posted September 6, 2009 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. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuum Posted September 12, 2009 Author Share Posted September 12, 2009 Convinced the wife to give her a test drive... she was reluctant to drive the "old beater". Well off she went, with one simple instruction, "floor it!". Well here she comes around the corner, about 5mins later, shes got a big smile on her face, "it stinks and its dirty, it rattles and clunks, but its fast". I was happy with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuum Posted November 18, 2009 Author Share Posted November 18, 2009 New direction. L24 out. Will be up for sale... KA IN!! That an L-series transmission, using L-series bell. No tricks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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