Namerow

Nicely done. We should all have milling machines and lathes in our workshops!

Counter-thought: You say that you have a mill. Cut off the end of the housing at a point just past the deepest part of the gouge. Now mill out the ID of the remaining housing wall to half the original thickness. Make the milled-out area as deep as you can. Find some aluminum pipe with about the right ID and OD. Machine outside and inside surfaces to get the correct final ID and OD. Now cut a stepped-down length of OD to match the ID of the undercut that you created in the housing. Aim for an interference fit, where your new piece would be chilled and the housing heated before assembly. Maybe add a few drop of the appropriate type of Loctite for extra security. It's hard to see from your photos whether the stub of good housing that sits below the gouged out section would be deep enough to make this sleeve approach work reliably. I would think that a drop-in length of 1/2" would be adequate.

Just placed my order!

The rollers on my guides were fairly wobbly, so I decided that the flexible washers were providing not just a preload but also a self-steering effect for the rollers... The tarp grommets definitely take up the clearance slop, but they're not flexible... I decided to take a different approach. A search through my 'this may come in handy some day' box of materials produced a small sheet of nice, shiny, thin-and-flexible vinyl. I already had a sheet of closed-cell neoprene foam, ~ 3/32" thick, that I'd used earlier as a gasket material when restring my Z's heater. Using weatherstrip adhesive, I glued up a composite sheet with the vinyl on both faces and the neoprene as the core, ending up with something that was both stretchy and slippery... From there, I used a hole punch and scissors to create a set of washers... The new washers were stretchy enough that they could be pulled over the nylon roller... Once in place, they gave me what I was looking for...

My sense is that the cone shape is less important (perhaps unimportant) than the ID of the delivery tube. I suspect that the cone shape is provided to help prevent material from building up at the orifice exit. A thin-wall brass tube sleeve (see GK's message, above) will certainly give more strength to a solder repair, but it may prove to be a matter of winning the battle while losing the war. My 2 cents: Buy a new gun ($50). Annoying, but pragmatic.

Can't you just solder the two pieces together?

IIRC, it requires reaching up from underneath the car with exactly the right long-reach/thin/inflexible tool capable of snagging the release lever and budging it enough to pop the hood. Others, I'm sure, will be able to offer more details.

I like that description. One of the audible trademarks of a Z is the noise the doors make (clang!) when they're slammed shut. Some others that come to mind: Engine cooling fan that imitates a hovercraft Wheezy 'seatbelt not fastened' buzzer Sound made by hood release cable when it finally snaps

The Z uses 150 Hp to propel a 2500-lb vehicle. If you were to put that same engine in a contemporary mid-size SUV, you'd now be asking the same powerplant to propel a 5000-lb vehicle. The acceleration times would be cut in half. Also, you'd be dealing with a less flexible engine b/c of the absence of things like computer-controlled electronic fuel injection and cam timing. There's also the not-inconsiderable difference between having only 4 transmission ratios vs more contemporary units with 8 or more ratios and computer-controlled shifting. Doubling the vehicle weight certainly wouldn't be kind to the Z's clutch and gearbox (or engine). However, I have no doubt that they'd function ok... for a while. The Z's powertrain was a conservative design built with excellent materials. I think you'd be accelerating the physical wear on critical components by maybe 25% - 50% -- but not by 100%. Give it a try and let us know how things work out 😄

Maybe I've forgotten something about this procedure, but wouldn't it be easier to just remove the chrome retaining ring and pull the headlamp unit out from the front? Or perhaps you're referring to the procedure for a car whose headlights use replaceable bulbs rather than sealed-beams?

I wonder if this was intended as an alternate routing for the front wiring harness in cases where the car was equipped with an A/C condenser?

I didn't even know that those holes were wiring passthroughs, let alone the fact that they're supposed to be fitted with grommets 😶. My 240-Z learning experience continues.

Car looks great. Nice work, Chris.

Agree.

Condolences to his family.