10 hours ago, Patcon said:

Pricy but for a classic car it might be the last one you need...

That’s the idea! I was given one of theirs jump starters as a joke/gift a while ago. It is kind of amazing. I picked this up with their Genius 10 trickle charger, which will work through the cigar lighter in cars where it’s not switched.

Okay, it’s been a minute so this post will be all over the place…

I’m going to start with baby steps that feel like giant steps.

I was able to install the left side headlight bucket. It seems small, but I hadn’t been able to get to all of the weatherstripping that goes under the fender so I put it off. This was the first time I’d seen it together (on one side) since it came back from the painter.

I found there was a sizable gap between the bucket and the fiberglass air dam and I didn’t know how far the dam was going to flex. It ended up working out when I got the blinkers on, but it’s not a crisp clean fit. More on that later.

•••

I didn’t do a great job documenting this, but I did a complete refurb of my marker lights and turn signals, inside and out.

Left side is before, right side is stage 2 of the 3 step polish.

The left front TS and three of the marker lights were pretty beat up. The white plastic was nearly brown inside and the mirror of the fronts and metal housings of the marker lights were all rusted. I stripped these pieces and painted the metal parts with highly reflective silver spray paint. The plastic housing I sprayed white inside and left the outside raw, painting the mirror the same as the marker lights housings.

The lenses were sanded with 400 grit wet/dry paper, then up through 5,000 grit, and finally polished with Novus plastic polish.

Surprisingly, I was able to reuse all of the OEM rubber parts. They just needed scrubbing with a green scotch bright pad.

I decided to replace all of the hardware with stainless bolts instead of sheet metal screws because the right rear screws are uncomfortably close to the fuel vapor hoses. I wasn’t able to get JIS screws quickly enough so I just went with generic M5 cap head bolts, with fender washers and lock nuts on the inside. The ones in back got rubber caps on the bolts, too, just to be safe.

All of the wiring and connectors for these were replaced. The OEM sockets and rubber boots were refurbished. I ran out of bullet connectors so I used Yamaha sealed connectors for the front marker lights.

I’m a bit bummed that the rubber covers from Vintage Connectors for the turn signals are so short. I’m wondering if I need to do something like wrap them in tape to keep the water out.

The bulbs are color matched LEDs from Super Bright LEDs, which I think look nicer than using white ones under the colored lenses. The color is much richer while still being… uh, super bright.

The gaps around the air dam closed up a bit after I got all of the hardware on, but the curves of each piece (headlight bucket, air dam, and blinker housing) don’t match, which is irritating. I’m hoping it will disappear once the bumper is on.

•••

I FINALLY finished my throttle cable setup. I looked at a bunch of off the shelf options and a few specifically for Z cars, but the prices and not quite being what I wanted pushed me into making my own.

The two challenging pieces were the bulkhead and the bracket. I made the bulkhead out of a stainless steel drain plug that a friend drilled out and tapped for me on his lathe. We broke a tap and probably dulled a second to the point of not being usable any more. If I did it again I would use aluminum.

It’s held on with an M18 nut and has the cable adjuster for a triumph motorcycle brake lever screwed into it for the cable sleeve. That’s probably also unnecessary as I could have made the bulkhead so it acted as the cable sleeve seat on its own.

The bracket was another Send Cut Send job. I had to wait until everything else was figured out to design and order it, but I made four versions with the hole for the throttle cable adjuster at various heights. I opted for the second tallest, but I’ll change it if this ends up feeling wrong. I’m definitely going to have to ad a bend along the long edge to reduce flexing.

I went with a progressive cam from @duffymahoney and had to make sure there is no interference when all said and done. The shortest bracket looked the best but was uncomfortably close to the cam at full throttle.

All of the cable bits and pieces I got from Venhill Engineering for a song. The reason there are two adjusters in the photo is so the bracket can also hold the choke cable, which I am repurposing to operate the starter valves on the Mikunis. I doubt I’ll ever use them but I don’t like having inoperable parts in the car.

The cable is affixed to the ball socket by a m5 lamp bolt that was decapitated, crimped to the cable, rethreaded, and soldered.

So yeah, the throttle half of this project is done for now. I just need to change the screw holding the cable to the cam to be a set crew, cut the excess cable, and cap it off so it won’t fray. The bracket will definitely need to be stiffer, but that’s for later.

•••

Unfortunately I keep forgetting to take pictures, but I can show you how I ran the AC drain so it minimizes the size of the lump when I install the transmission hump upholstery.

The Vintage Air evaporator came with a black hose, but I swapped it out for some hose with a thicker side wall, which should keep it from compressing under the upholstery and inhibiting the flow of condensation. A nozzle connects to the hose with a 1/2” barbed splice fitting.

The black piece is from sun roof drains on GM and other vehicles and its X-shaped aperture should create a Venturi effect when mounted perpendicular to air flow to pull water out and prevent anything from traveling back up the hose. Pretty generic and available on Amazon for a few bucks.

I cut the insulation to make a channel for the hose to rest in.

A 5/8” hole and some RTV to make sure it doesn’t pop out and I’m good to go.

I also finished the passenger side door window and the rest of the interior firewall work the same day. Now to check the refrigerant plumbing for air leaks.

👍🏻

•••

After I was finally able to get all of the firewall work done, I put the dash in and plugged it all together. Nothing major to report since I’ve discussed the details in previous posts. This time I took more care to tuck the wiring away nicely.

The few loose ends are wire for a set of foot well lights that are switched at the doors, a feed for a USB plug I intend to put in the center console, and the power/ground and control wires for the evaporator.

The biggest challenge was getting it back in with the air ducts installed. This corrugated tubing from Vintage Air is nice but it’s not flattened/ovular like the OEM stuff so it requires some persuading. I still think it’s better, though. It’s tough to see in the center but it’s really well fit to the evaporator without any clamps, which keeps it clean and free of things to chafe of the hose or wiring looms.

I’m hoping a harness cover will clean up the mess around the relays, but I’m going to zip tie some of this up tight before any cowls or covers go on.

•••

And here it’s starting to feel like a car! Or, at least I am staring to get some storage space back. 🤣

I’m really pleased with how the Vintage Dashes dashboard looks. The glove box door needs adjusting, but after hitting the finisher with some Landau Black SEM Color Coat it all came together. It seems the internet was correct about that being the right color.

I’d heard these aftermarket windshield gaskets leave a bit to be desired compared to OEM, and it’s true, but I think you can finesse it into shape. The gaps in the corners were really bad until I put the steel trim in. That stretched them out a bit, but it’s not perfect. I’ll let it settle for a while and then might just pump the gaps full of weather strip adhesive until it’s filled in. Speaking of steel trim, that’s a fun chore. 🙄

•••

My spare tire cover was FILTHY. Luckily it cleaned up well and didn’t pucker or warp. The orange flecks in the fiber board are a nice touch.

•••

Lights!

No before pictures but here’s everything put together. I used the same process on the lenses as the blinkers. The housings were scrubbed and then wiped lightly with acetone to get the last of the adhesive off. Thankfully I didn’t need to recondition the mirrors.

The center lug on the replacement chrome trim is too short to function as the only fastener holding everything together.

I used a M5 threaded socket left over from installing the blinkers along with a rubber washer. It worked fabulously, but I think it would be really easy to screw up if over tightened.

No wiring yet. I just wanted to close up the cabin for the next step.

•••

Looking clean figuratively and literally.

I picked up the basic carpet set from Newark Auto in black 80/20 loop. It’s really nicely made, but I don’t think it’s meant to go with an insulation kit like the one I have. There are a few places where it would have fit better if there was no insulation, and there are a few places where it is just straight up wrong. Overall give it a 89 or 91 out of 100. Worth it but could be improved.

I’ll be using the vinyl kit from MSA on the sides. I’m going to cross my fingers and hope my original interior pieces clean up nicely. I just put them straight into storage without unpacking them when I bought the car, so who knows what shape their in. If they suck I’ll be new replacements.

But yeah, the car is starting to feel like a car.

Edited Tuesday at 02:47 AM2 days by Matthew Abate

So cool! Fun build and I love following along. Gosh I hate facebook compared to forums.

@Matthew Abate Do you know if Newark Auto makes a carpet kit for the early cars?

You're making good progress!

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

@Matthew Abate Do you know if Newark Auto makes a carpet kit for the early cars?

You're making good progress!

They have this kit and one with several more pieces, which I assumed was for 280zs.

@Matthew Abate Just went to the website and for my 78 model there are a ton of options. How were you able to narrow it down for your car on what to order?

3 hours ago, Yarb said:

@Matthew Abate Just went to the website and for my 78 model there are a ton of options. How were you able to narrow it down for your car on what to order?

They only showed two kit options when I looked for 240zs. There are several fabric and color options though.

https://newarkauto.com/pages/search?Make/Datsun/Model/240Z/Year/1973

•••

By the way, does anyone know how to pull the residual valves (the black cones) out of a 15/16 Nabco master cylinder?

The ones in the rebuild kit are not threaded. I’m assuming it’s some kind of press fit situation.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Matthew Abate

Under the “choose options”, Can you tell us which one you chose and why? I see they will send you up to 3 different samples.

The 7-piece kit, black 80/20 loop. When I spoke to them they said that was better feel than “OEM” and better wearing that cut pile.

It does have good feel.

Edited 12 hours ago12 hr by Matthew Abate

I would want an early car kit. No split in the rear carpet and different under the seats. Id didn't see that on their site...

2 hours ago, Matthew Abate said:

By the way, does anyone know how to pull the residual valves (the black cones) out of a 15/16 Nabco master cylinder?

The ones in the rebuild kit are not threaded. I’m assuming it’s some kind of press fit situation.

I was able to get these out with a small hook. I think the corrosion was holding them in.

Once I got it open I found out I have the wrong rebuild kit. I have 46020-C6126, which is for the Tokico . This is a Nabco, which uses totally different residual valves. I think the kit part number is 46011-P6525.

Edited 43 minutes ago43 min by Matthew Abate