Topics Last Week

I'm unfortunately working out of town for the past few and next few weeks so I have only weekends to address this issue. Mallory wants me next to my car when the give tech support which makes it difficult. Looking at my notes from last weekend I think there is an issue with a ballast resistor once it warms up. If you look at my sketch in a previous post as reference, with the engine running after making sure the Uni-lite drops its voltage to 1.4V when the sensor is blocked, the voltage into the top resistor (R1) is 13V and out of the resistor to ground is 9.5V. The output from R1 goes to the bottom resistor (R2). R2 shows 9.5V in and 5.9V out. After running the car and letting R2 warm up to 120F, the resistance of R2 is 45 ohms. It previously was 1.7 ohms. So if I measured it correctly (the terminals are a bit hard to get a good electrical connection), the resistance of R2 increases as it gets warm which would drop the voltage to the coil. I should of confirmed this but I can do so on Saturday. Could an increase in R2's resistance cause the voltage to drop to the point where it will not permit the ignition, specifically the Uni-lite, to operate?

I was contacted by a former client that a guy wanted me to look at his 72 that he’s owned since 73! I was glad to go look at it - especially being owned that long by the same guy . I was told he was ready to restore it . When I pulled up to his house I was like - holy $^!# that’s bad . The guy had it sitting in storage and needed to proceed with fixing it up since he was moving . He said a shop quoted him over the phone that it would take 1 year and 60k . I proceeded to let him down . He seemed indignant at first . I told him that sentimental value would be the only reason to even start on this car - and I didn’t think there could be any plausible reason to spend 60k . I also told him the reality that the car would sit at a body shop for 5 years . At the age of 72- he said he might be dead by then . I told him I couldn’t - in good conscience- tell him to invest any money in that car . I said with 60k budget you could buy two Z cars that were nice drivers . In the end he thanked me . He really had no clue about restoration and the reality of that adventure . It did have a crack free dash as best I could tell .

I sold the car and apparently the buyer is sending it to England for restoration.

Well, for a watch in that price range it better be good.. ;)

There's no security problem and a chat bot has not taken over the site. lol Our SSL certificate expired the other day and was renewed within an hour. Basically, cert services can no longer offer automatic certificate renewals and must be manually renewed by yours truly. Our website runs all pages through secure (HTTPS) so none of your data can be viewed by a man in the middle. It takes manual intervention to keep a site like this online. :)

Says it sold for $38K.

Both XenonZcar and Nicoclub have downloadable factory service manuals.

I guess you could rotate the switch and see if the blue wire powers up. I cant think of any other reason for it to power up.

I was thinking more about the Spiderman meme of multiple Spiderman’s pointing at each other. But you’re right. Maybe I am a bot….. Maybe you are a bot…… Maybe we all are bots living in the matrix!

I am in the process of restoring a 280z where i will be adding the Rocket Bunny kit. This kit adds 4 inches to the width of the car so i will be adding larger tires. I've been doing research and found a few articles about current builds with this kit and they are running 17x9.5, -15 off set (FRONT), 17/10, -25 offset (BACK). or similar with 16 inch wheels all with the stanard bolt pattern 4:114.3/4:4.5 I am trying to find options and basically cant unelss they are completly custom which i probably dont want to afford. I technically found a way to do it with 5:120 bolt pattern and a more typical offset around +25 but i would be running 50mm spacers which isnt the best idea. I do like the deep lip offset look of the tires which i would lose by doing this. any suggestions?

I don't think that it takes much to lock up a 12 volt DC motor. There were probably a few rust spots sticking that got polished away once you got it spinning. If it was mine I would just use it until there are problems. If it's not making noise and it's pumping how would a new one be better? They're not really precision instruments, they just push as much fuel as they can according to how much voltage they see. The regulator controls the pressure. Should be fine, I'd guess.

We've been joking about Mike and chatbots but there really are some odd things going on. A few days ago the "not secure" page was coming up before signing in. Now the tag at the top just says not secure. Has a chatbot really taken over the site? This post must be approved by a moderator. Let's see. I'll post it on open chit chat too just for fun.

Looks like a nice clean car. GLWS

in 75 they are not greaseable and there are no clips. The joint caps are swedged in the yoke.

That's great! Yes they are difficult to get to. Especially with the driveshaft in place. Be sure and tighten the locknuts to keep things in place

I have a number of cars that sit for long periods of time. I use non ethanol fuel and Stabil. Typically keep the tanks full, to help with condensation. Rare for me to have a fuel issue and some may sit for 2 or more years, but I try to get fresh fuel in them yearly.

Probably bad bushings. Think I already said this before.

I actually have one of these original ones on my other tool wall (See top left), But I realized there are various different versions for different engines The two missing ones have each a different part number. There was one included in the set (not shown in the picture) but that again was not an original Kent-Moore tool, but a 3rd party product (Hazet or so). Not bad, but I'm trying to fill my wall with the original stuff :-)

I used #4 gauge cable. Bought a 60 inch length off ebay with 5/16 lug on one end and 3/8 on the other. Cut it in half* to make two cables. Was cheapest that way. I don't know if this is the exact vendor I used or not, but here's an example: https://www.ebay.com/itm/141679228250 Today's price for the cable(s) is about $16, and the military lugs were $10. So my out of pocket for my two original-ish looking cables was $26 for the pair. *After having been through this once, I would skew the cut point maybe two inches towards the positive side. In other words, I would steal two inches of cable from the negative and add that length to the positive making the positive four inches longer than the negative.

Yes on the White/Red. Through the hole in the back, attach to the screw lug in the middle right.

I checked JDM Car Parts and Bonzi for reproductions and did not see this one. Anyone have a reproduction of this tag? Maybe good pictures of both sides? The correct green string? I found this pic on a Mecum auction for a Black Pearl.

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I think that adhesive is the only way forward. However, you could always try it first without glue and see whether it can adopt to all of the door contours and then stay in position... especially in the areas of tightest bends. I'm pretty sure that it won't.