Leaderboard

Did some detailing today. Also, added a pic of the diode on the antenna. It works great. Got some decals put on, buffed out the paint a bit and worked on the stereo install. Will get the original rims and hubcaps put on tomorrow. Here are some pics

OK, got the steel wheels and hubcaps on. Time for a small photo shoot

Hey gang, I have some great news to share. A new "Spray Chrome" business opened up in (near) Calgary this year, and is only one of two in Canada at the moment. There are likely others in the US. A little googling might reveal one near you. The cost of setting up this business is a bit steep, and the expertise and process puts it a bit out of the realm of the do-it-yourselfer. But the thing to remember here is that you can Chrome ANYTHING. Don't want a section chromed? Just mask it off. This is our local business. http://www.cosmic-chrome.com/ They are family owned, the father and his two sons do everything. Bruce (dad) and Jeff (oldest son) are very motivated to grow their business and have already done some amazing work. As you will see on their site, its much more than shiny chrome as well. This process is not new, I think we've discussed it briefly before, but it has matured to the point of now being commercial grade. The vendor indicates that several OEM's are using it on plastic exterior chrome items such as truck grills. They have even just changed to the latest products that give even better results. We had them do a few items to see what the quality, cost and durability are like. Here are the results.

A very nice example from what I see. Ending soon. http://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-datsun-240z-9/

That would be my dad's 5.0. He's going nuts with that thing. Last we talked he just finished fabricating a K-member and front fenders to move his engine back multiple inches, rebuilt his carb to sit sideways to eliminate fuel starvation in corners, and fabricated a baffled oil pan with wings to bring his capacity way up. He's in Arizona, so his oil situation has to be just so. In other news, I bought an Exedy clutch kit that can with an FX flywheel off eBay. Hoping this is as good as I have read and won't regret getting a separate flywheel that's a little nicer. I decided not to get a lightened one in order to keep rotating mass near stock to keep inertia up at idle and reduce the tendency to lug down the engine from stop, even though I expect higher-than-stock torque numbers. I also just bought a set of brand new OEM rocker arms. Let me tell you about my little rocker-arm-research saga… first I was about to go insane and buy a set of Kameari rocker arms off RHD for over $600. Then I looked into it and found a couple of places where people recommend that the rocker arm be softer than the cam in order to reduce cam wear. This sounds logical at first, but then I realized there is a reason Nissan brazed on different metal. The three pieces in question (lifter, cam, and arm) are all different hardnesses and there is some intention in having different metallurgy for each contact point. So the ZCC CNCed ones are a no go from the start and the Kameari don't provide enough information to verify that they are or are not going to match with this design intention. I had been reading that the OEM arms are super hard to find, so I looked into sending the 36 arms I have from my three heads in to have them done at Rocker Arms Unlimited, which Madkaw had recommended as superior on another forum. This would cost me $350 or so including USPS Priority Mail in two directions. Just having 12 done would be $217. After a little research I found new OEM arms at Z Car Depot for 36.99. This came to $460 after shipping and seemed like a pretty good price until I realized that if they can get them brand new on a regular basis, they are probably available from Nissan. I really like the guys over there, but every time I go to buy something from them I either find it for less somewhere else, or the shipping expense pushes me toward something else. I dug around a little more and finally found a few part numbers (13257-W0300,13258-21002, and 13257-21000) on the Nissan parts site. A quick google search and, lo and behold!, Courtesy Nissan has them for $29.13. The little secret is that they came on 1984 Maximas and have not been discontinued yet. All told $363.53 shipped. I chose to go the route of 12 brand new OEM rocker arms from Courtesy Nissan for about 50% more than the junk on eBay or having the ones I have reground, and $100 less than Z Car Depot. I still have my pile of 36 arms that I can send to Rocker Arms Unlimited if I want to have spares or sell them, and I don't have to worry about whether or not I got a good grind for my initial application.

Well it's about time someone brought the issue of preparation quality. I was frankly expecting more detractors by now. Of course there are flaws in the finish, the prep on these is not perfect. But if you get dust in your paint job at the body shop do you blame the product or the application and prep. The parts of the items that are smooth and glass-like have excellent quality chrome reflectivity. Places where there are imperfections, divots, casting marks, and yes dust, will produce a less than perfect chrome reflective surface with a paint type finish method. I did not ask the tech for a "perfect" job and related prep. The knobs especially had less than perfect chrome to start (minor pitting) with and very minor defects show through. They were vastly improved in appearance, comparing before to after. I think the picture are showing dust that is on top of the chrome as well, so that may be misleading. I'll see if I get better pics that reflect (pun) more of what I see (or don't see) in my hand. Judging chrome work implies the highest standard comparison to your typical perfect mirror like bumpers, very easy to pick out flaws in other techniques. There are always comprimises in alternative methods. I still stand by the quality of the process in terms of what is possible, given correct prep. The appearance, durability and cost saving far outweigh other methods, in my opinion.

Hopefully I got the intermittent worked out. I decided to bite the bullet and get at the tuner board. Pretty scary stuff digging into it that deep having to figure out the dial indicator/5 tuning slugs hardware to free up the board, but finally got there, touched up some iffy looking solder and put back together. Same deal. Take a break and try again, this time the learning curve let me get it apart a lot faster. found some more that I missed, touched those up (5x mag glass and solder station with a small chisel point). Time it worked right away with no prodding of the PCB, In fact prodding did not make it go away which is good since it took prodding to make it work before. So I will let it sit over night and bask in the glory for at least 12 hrs (JIC its not fixed at least I can get a good night sleep thinking it is). Funny thing is I have another after market brand push button AM/FM stereo that fits better (uses the old face plate with knobs that match the fuction) since I don't have an OE faceplate. The one on the AM/FM 8 track fits perfect. So I will prob just install that one and someday put the Datsun branded radio in if I ever get a decent face plate.

Thanks I have a ton of official documents and the main reason is because of a lot is missing online and i had to source a hardcopy. compared to other cars the Z is very well discussed but very badly documented online. I try to change that. i already made a few knowledge posts on my blog (so far only transmission and differentials), and i'm working hard on a a general fairlady post and another one about factory suspension and a basic knowledge source post which will include a ton of important and less-important documents. mainly officiall nissan stuff. so far i managed to source a lot of documents which are not available online and if i find some time i will scan the Service bulletins too. will probably take another few months but yes, i try to put it all together somewhen

FS/FT: Front Air Dam Strut Bar (Bling) Valve Cover & Cap (Bling) Rear Bumper Over-rider (no photo) Located in Nova Scotia Canada. I can usually transport and ship from the USA a few times each year. Looking for: 1970 240z steel wheels 1970 240z choke and hand throttle knobs 1969 Rubber floor mats & rubber deck mat 1970 240z radio

Yes, that was the next post. Got distracted, sorry. They charged us $145 (CDN, about $1.50 USD, well $115 ish) for the 5 pieces. The two tail light strips were $90 out of that. There was quite a bit of prep on those. Clearly if you did a lot of prep and masking yourself, the costs could be reduced further. I don't impress easily, this process appears to have potential for the restorationists in all of us.

Hmmm.....sounds like siteunseen is auditioning for the new Austin Powers sequel....."ChromeMember":)