I was able to get a few more little things done recently.

The lights were not doing well. Turning on the headlamps would result is a warm glow that developed after about 3 seconds. I could probably read by them if I gave my eyes time to adjust. Reminiscent of teh glow of the Milky Way on a moonless night but without with magic.

Opening the headlamp, wiper and turn indicator switches revealed evidence or arcing and some pretty knackered contacts.

I was able to use a punch on the back side of the contact plate to remove the arc craters (not pictured above).

A rotary tool with a wire attachment made quick work of the remaining contacts.

This change saw an immediate improvement in headlamp function. The high beams even work now!

I have a Koito H4 headlamp conversion, complete with wiring harness and relays, sitting in a box that I picked up for $19.59 (thanks to this site) waiting to go in. When the Parking Light Upgrade Harness arrives from Motorsport Auto I will tackle both.

The parking light harness will likely be less useful after the switch to LED bulbs (which I also did since last post) but anything to avoid another melted fuse box is welcome. I also switched all the marker reflectors for new units that were completely rust free. It has always fascinated me to see how the Japanese in this era approached manufacturing. I had a Landcruiser FJ40 from the mid-seventies and it was basically the same approach. The moment it is revealed that there is a problem or flaw in design, it is corrected, even mid-production. The marker lights I had for replacement used different plug strategies. In my car, (Jan 1971) the side marker lights remove with two male bullet plugs attached. The donor Z has a male on the positive and a female bullet receptacle on the negative. This is the way I would assume it to be in order to avoid connection confusion. The early car is not like this however. Some quick soldering and the plugs on the marker lights were converted to the older style. Additionally, the front marker lights, have rubber gaskets that are molded into fully contained rubber hoods. I like this style better even though it is not year correct. We are well past that now.

It's funny to think that all this started from a broken horn contact switch. I just want to honk those beauties up front with my newly refurbished steering wheel and horn button that does not fall into my lap every time I press it.

In removing the center console to try and reason why the horn fuse was the only one missing, I noticed a few additional things that were suspected issues. The most glaring from a drivers perspective, was the shift mechanism. It was a little like stirring a pot of oatmeal. A veritable "choose your own adventure" of gear selection. It appears that there is no bushing left in the selector lever but there is a portion of another later model bushing that was used as a shim but that is just a guess.

I will try and use one of the brass shifter bushing kits from ZCarDepot. 🤞

In combing through the boxes of extra parts (again) it seems I missed two items. First item I missed was the original metal fuel door latch. There it was, wrapped in a plastic bag.

Ahhhhh!

I also found all the parts to the original "aviator" style seat belts (not pictured). They were wrapped up inside a set of retractable belts (pictured). So now I have the original early aviator style (which I love) and a set of push button belts

I suppose that is all for now.

Cheers

Edited May 19May 19 by DrFeelGood

The previous owner never installed the series 2 interior in the car. Everything was there, but just siting there. I decided to tackle a little bit of this job. It started by removing the heater controls. I could not adjust them and as the temperature is creeping up with the onset of the North American summer I wanted to address that. All the cables were in dire need of cleaning and lubricating as were the levers and mechanisms

/

After some time and elbow grease it as smooth as I can remember it ever being.

Since the heater controls were out, I thought it might be a good time to switch all the instrument bulbs to LED.

This first image is with one of the center gauges installed with a green LED.

The image below is with a white bulb and darker space (different exposure)

Both green bulbs and white bulbs are dimmable (with some incandescent installed)

While waiting for the last of the cluster LED to arrive (red and blue) I tackled the shifter inner boot and console mounting. I also decided to use one of the MSA choke mounts as my cables are very stiff (feels like a forever problem) and removing the plastic mount sounded like a good idea.

Since mine is a series one car it had the bucket style inner shift boot originally. this was removed when the hole was cut larger for the FS5W71B - Close ration 5-speed from 1980 280ZX. At that time, the owner used the 280ZX inner boot and shift bezel combined with the outer accordion shift boot from the same donor.

I found a series 2 (and later) shift boot (torn) and bezel in the boxes of goodies so I decided to size it up and install it.

I made some extra calculations for the choke mount and had to dry fit it several times to be sure. Since I don't have any of the mounting holes I had to put together the locations from internet pictures (a reason I am posting these now).

I was about to drill the mounting points and thought to check inside the tunnel for punctur-able bits. I am glad I did because the upper right part of the tunnel is chock-o-block full of fluid filled hard lines.

Thankfully where I needed to mount was just clear of danger.

Below is a picture of the MSA tunnel mounted choke assembly.

Get a load of the wire wrapped around the two cables. Wonder why that is there...? I suppose I could take it off and find out, (eventually).

It seems to all fit together well and function like it should. I did also upgrade my non-bushing shift setup to one with brass bushings. Wow, what a differnce. I also made some surgical grinds to teh shift lever to hopefully prevent it from popping out of reverse.

The transmission now makes a completely different sound when engaging reverse. Good sign I think.

As I think about carpet and padding, one of the bits I cannot seem to locate is the jack hold-down.

A surprisingly challenging little bit to track down.

Edited May 27May 27 by DrFeelGood

If you find two jack hold downs, let me know, because I can't find one either

Last weekend I found a jack hold-down at Powerland swap and meet in Oregon. Great chap gave it to me gratis. I still have my antenna up for @Patcon .

In preparing to redo my carburetors I discovered a few things. First I have E46 intake manifolds and 3-screw round top SU installed. As I understand it, the Jan 71 car came with 4-screw carburetors (thanks all who educated me here) attached to the E46 manifolds. I do have a pair of those in the parts box (likely the originals). I am pretty sure it does not matter for the rebuild, but in looking at the carbs I notice what seems to be a fair bit of lateral play in the throttle shafts. I think I will try and get on the wait list for one of ZTherapy's rebuilds and have them do a pair of the 4-screws units.

There is no real rush with this however as the wait is half a year and the transmission has revealed to be in some degree of escalating protest. When the clutch is released in neutral, the FS5W71B makes a sound that can only be identified as unhappy bearing(s). I have done what I can in ordering parts (before opening and verifying) from anywhere I could find them. I predominantly used the parts list accredited to @EuroDat but also seen widely around the internet. For all parts I ordered everything I could from NissanPartsDeal . com. The rebuild kit with Japanese Nachi bearings, front and rear seals and brass baulk rings from Transmission Parts Distributors. It appears to be the same kit as ones offered by Zstore and the like, but for a significant fraction of the price. I ordered the rear tailshaft bushing from OmegaMachine (#71411) and the selector seal from veryseal . com (TC 14X20X4.5 Metric Nitrile Oil Seal). I ordered some o-rings from Amazon and the rest of the needle bearings and detent/return springs I ordered from Japan through Amayama, (we'll see if they exist and if they arrive). In the meantime I am reading everything I can from this wonderful site, _FS5W71 Rebuild.pdf from Derek Garnier, and a whole host of youtube videos in addition to the factory service manual. I have rebuilt plenty of spinning things with bearings and gears but never a transmission. I do love an adventure but love it even more when a plan comes together.

EDIT (07/18):

The transmission kit arrived and full of Nachi bearings, but not one from Japan (sigh). They will likely work better than the ones installed now however.

Edited July 18Jul 18 by DrFeelGood

I would love to get that jack hold down!