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The gas in my tank is probably ~6 months old at this point and the car had been sitting for around 2 months (without fuel stabilizer in the tank) while I am redoing its interior. I was traveling a lot for work and when I returned and tried to start the car, the battery was dead. After charging it, I found that the car wasn't starting and traced it to the fuel pump. After a lot of poking and prodding with the test light I found that the wires to and from the pump were getting pretty hot so I gave the pump a few smacks with a hammer, as some orange gas was starting to sneak its way out around the hose (not a great color for gas), and it started right up and I let it idle for ~20 minutes while I added fuel stabilizer. Question - the car ran great, do I need to dump the tank? Should I replace the fuel pump if it's working now (its only about a year old)? did the pump somehow rust shut internally (the tank is around 3/4 full with 93 octane fuel which probably has ethanol in it).

The color more than anything but it does give you another leg to stand on.

Does that help your back or make it worse?

I just this morning realized my '72 has all Nissan glass except the front, PPG. That means it's not 100% but a busted windshield on a 53 year old car isn't a deal breaker. It does have the blue-ish tint sun visor.

Glad to hear you made it home and the radiator didn't become a bigger problem. Glad we got to connect last week! Planning to get the cooling sorted so you can drive it to Pheonix next year? It's only like 2,500 miles haha.

Glad you came to ZCON and gave me some inspiration on my future engine! I got a pic of our cars together and one of yours at the show Saturday. Hope to see you again at a future event!

@Captain Obvious Curious, once your back gets rested what are your plans for the car now that it has pretty much proven itself as road worthy?

Hi Bruce! I am glad you made it home ok. Relax, maybe get some back massage?

I present to you, road weary from about 2000 miles of adventure... The OG:

So I'm home. The bottom line is that the car fared better than I did. Remember in the beginning, I was worried about two things... My radiator and my back? Well the radiator didn't get any worse, but my back did. By halfway through the day at the people's choice show, I was hurting. I'll survive, but it's unpleasant. The radiator... I had talked to a couple people about the troubles I was having and they put it out on the Z network that I was looking for a radiator to get me home. Well as a result of that networking, there was a guy coming to the people's choice show that was going to bring me a radiator. We found eachother at the show, and I snagged a rad. He wasn't sure of the condition, but was optimistic about it. Said it looked good, and as far as he knew, it was in good shape. That night, @madkaw and I swapped radiators after the banquet. Out in the parking lot, draining the fluid, pulling mine out and tossing in the replacement. Now remember that my back is pretty much shot at this point, so when I say "we changed the radiator", I really mean "he changed the radiator". So when he wasn't looking, I snapped a pic of madkaw working on my car: Bottom line? We had to do the job twice, cause the replacement rad I got from the guy at the show leaked horribly and wouldn't hold coolant. Sigh. So, we drained again and put my original back in. It holds coolant fine, but has a couple clogged tubes. I'll just have to watch the temps on the way home and adjust my speeds and load accordingly. My original radiator works fine until I'm going up a long hill on the interstate at 70 on a hot day. Thankfully as I drove north, the ambient temps dropped some and I was much better off. By the time I got to Maryland, the temps had dropped enough that I was able to maintain 70-75 on the interstates without worry. Thanks to everyone along the way that helped with the trip and glad for the chance to meet some of the forum guys!! @madkaw @Ninjaneer11 @zed2 @Parman @inline6

Did you get home ok?

Great meeting in person too. And agreed.. Wish we had figured it out sooner and spent more time together. See what happens when you stop hanging out here? ☺️ I've got a pic of you working on my car. I'll put it in my adventure thread. Haha!!

Phoenix I think it will be in September...not like I have to work that week... :)

I don’t know . Bruce and I left the banquet to work on his car before they announced it .

That's great! Wish I could have made it. Where is zcon 2026?

I went to a local glass place and they had clear windshields for 105$ each . I bought 3 !

😎

Hi folks, I am looking for a new or very clean CLEAR windshield glass (with no dark band at the top). Also looking for drivers and passenger door replacement glass for a 1978 Datsun 280Z. Has anyone found a vendor for replacement glass, or does anyone have some for sale?

Glad to be alive . I’m a lucky guy for sure . It’s fancy but it’s all business too:)

@madkaw That’s pretty damned fancy madkaw……good to see you’re still alive! 🥳

Today I didn’t do anything but drive it !!

Finally figured out what was up with my log ins . Anywho- went to ZCON . Me and a buddy drove down the 4.5 hours from Indiana . The Z drove great with the freshly tuned ITBS. Had most fun in the parking lots talking nuts and bolts . Finally got to meet Captain Obvious . Wish I knew he was there earlier and could have spent more time hanging out .

VR1 10W30 $26.97 5 qt. jug, new filter $8 at Walmart. Cleaned and gapped ngk plugs $0. Adjusted valve lash $0. Idles smooth as glass. Took maybe 2 hours. Satisfaction for myself, PRICELESS! Beer:30 now.

Here is the SU tuning kit mentioned in post above. I just checked on eBay and they are available for $40. The small aluminum fitting laying on top of the gray package is the one I was referring to.