Jump to content

IGNORED

Project Boondoggle (or, so I went and bought a Z!)


charliekwin

Recommended Posts

10 hours ago, charliekwin said:

Good advice, thanks.  I'll probably never use the heater (it was 92!! today), so I haven't given it much thought, but I'd like to have any problems taken care of nonetheless.

Those vac lines affect your ac and EFI as well.  I just experienced it.  Also, there is an excellent write-up on rebuilding the Vacuum Valve also. Pretty easy thing to do while everything is out.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Productive morning!  I periodically check the inventory of the local Pick a Part yard hoping a 280Z will show up (hasn't yet!), but they got an 82 280ZX the other day and had a 2000 Kia Sportage, so I made an early morning trip.  Scored a thermostat housing (a PO cracked mine and glued it together with epoxy putty), a vacuum tank (I'm gonna try swapping out the big, ugly, yellow one) and some weatherstripping for the hatch (not in as good of shape as the ones I found a few months ago, but better than what's on there now).  All for $27.63.  Not bad!

IMG_20160221_093528.thumb.jpg.e0dd6c0deb

Link to comment
Share on other sites

More treasure hunting! I picked up a new dash this afternoon from a guy who's doing a full build around an LS1 swap. It's heavily cracked, but the cluster above the console is in much better shape than mine, so it should be easier to rebuild. Plus, now I can work on this dash and keep the car on the road.

ced8c88b5f880322d8acd87d69ea4e1f.jpg

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some mild progress, and then a rabbit hole...

Aside from apparently being the wrong ones, at least one of my fusible links was also on its very last legs.  One day I'll probably switch to a fused distribution block, but until then I came up with this alternative.  The toughest part was sourcing the quick disconnects, since the fuses and the car wiring are both 5/16" instead of the common 1/4".

IMG_4053.thumb.jpg.e9e2696dac378b8cd9170IMG_4054.thumb.jpg.bd850aa8c0a3a6bfc190bIMG_4055.thumb.jpg.fb5e464550692bd77dd27

The fan always seemed to spin a lot (not siezed, but a lot of wind noise), so I pulled out and cleaned up the fan clutch as well.  There's a hobby store down the street that seels silicone oil for RC cars, so I got a bottle of the 6000 weight stuff and kind of guesstimated on the amount to use.  About half of the 60ml bottle seemed like a good starting point.  So far so good.

IMG_4056.thumb.jpg.d1adb61e6938ce75ac432IMG_4057.thumb.jpg.46508623a9f86591a21c2IMG_4058.thumb.jpg.3dac3ce80bfcd77e4a51eIMG_4059.thumb.jpg.81d275a82957a5d4465ca

Having found that thermostat housing last weekend, and not having done a flush or other work on the cooling system since owneing the car, it seemed like as good a time as any to give it a bit of attention.  The coolant came out green, but I still flushed out a lot of brown gunk, and the overflow tank was pretty sad, but so far so good.

Then things went a bit sideways...I got all the sensors out of the new housing except for the temp gauge, which is quite-nicely stuck.  I hope I can drill it out.  The old housing is in rough shape, and other than the coolant temp sensor, there may not much much I can salvage out of it.  And then I pulled off the radiator hose and saw what the water pump inlet looks like, so I guess I have to source one of those, too.

IMG_4060.thumb.jpg.5979aca451b46caf09c8aIMG_4062.thumb.jpg.7ff695daa472e4c414d18IMG_4065.thumb.jpg.e00f1c3bd5b6bf9bd8ea4IMG_4061.thumb.jpg.dd1bda2d19e24775fb2d3

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Glad you guys like them! I actually ended up using 3/8" disconnects, which are not easy to find either; I bought mine from www.repairconnector.com. Mouser or one of the other big parts suppliers was the only place I found with 3/16, but minimum orders were 1000 pieces or something ridiculous. I used 3 50 amp fuses and one 80 amp. That was the most common arrangement I found with other people that switched to fuses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, charliekwin said:

Glad you guys like them! I actually ended up using 3/8" disconnects, which are not easy to find either; I bought mine from www.repairconnector.com. Mouser or one of the other big parts suppliers was the only place I found with 3/16, but minimum orders were 1000 pieces or something ridiculous. I used 3 50 amp fuses and one 80 amp. That was the most common arrangement I found with other people that switched to fuses.

So those are female: female 3/8" disconnects, correct? Did you get the fuses from repairconnector.com as well?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Mike featured this topic

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Guidelines. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.