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Brothers from a different mother, I tell ya. I've gone through thirty pounds of the stuff in the past two months. It's really hard to get a good picture of the results, but I tried. Here's a handful of misc hardware. Before: I put the stuff in a wide mouth plastic container for a couple hours. When I first put the stuff in, it bubbles and becomes a little milky looking from all the tiny bubbles. I think that's the remaining yellow chromate and zinc plating being eaten off: And then after a couple hours. They aren't sparkling perfect, but are a whole lot better than when I started: Here's about the only good shot I have of before and after: I've got parts out for professional plating right now. Should be done soon.....

It's sooooooo pretty....

Back in the summer there was a thread about a German product, a paste made of Citric acid and sawdust. I can't find it at the moment but I have been playing around with Citric acid for a couple months now and it has become my go to rust remover. I have found all the other acid rust removers have some drawbacks to them but Citric has the fewest so far. It is very inexpensive especially the industrial grade, I didn't want to purchase 50lbs until I knew it was worth it so bought 10lbs of food grade. 2 cups of dried powder in about a gallon of water makes a strong solution. Your results may vary depending on the hardness of your water but it should be easy to repeat these results. The test piece is from the KA24DE engine I'm using in the 510, 2 cups of Citric acid in a gallon of water, all I did was scrape the worst of the flaky rust off. The shop is cold, just above freezing, when the water is room temp in the summer rust removal happens a lot faster. If you splash some on your skin you just rinse it off, there is no drama, no burns. These next 2 pics are after 20hrs soaking, took it out of the bucket and scrubbed it with an old wire brush and rinsed. The last 2 pics are after an additional 24hrs. Now that might seem like a long time but I have lots of that so I'm good. Muriatic acid is 10x faster for sure but I have never found a way to completely neutralize it, the rust always comes back under the paint, so far that has hasn't happened with the Citric acid pieces.

By political affiliation 😉

Well, everything I spent money on to get this fixed ended up being a waste. The roadster handle is totally different (if anyone needs one I have one to sell). The ABS cement didn’t really adhere well and came off during cleanup because it was much softer than the actual handle. The plastic restorer didn’t do the job because it wasn’t faded so much as much as it was cracked. What I thought was texture was the top layer of the plastic splitting (imagine a shattered windshield). In the end, sandpaper ended up doing the trick. I started with 800 dry and stopped with 5000 wet.

Hey all, I found this today on the Internet and thought it would be good to link it here. ------- Read the rest here: https://www.instructables.com/Inexpensive-Garage-Lights-From-LED-Strips/

An analogue geek in a digital world!

Wait... You're saying I'm not already a geek?

Contact Steve at 240rubberparts.com. He is currently out of stock on one style set but might be able to give you a date for availability. All of his products are absolutely top grade quality! https://www.240zrubberparts.com/apps/webstore/products/show/4423037

Chris, I'd be careful using Acid of Citrus:

Orange 72. Looks pretty nice. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1972-datsun-240z-141/

I use Ospho which uses phosphoric acid as the active ingredient. It removes rust quite well and leaves a film of iron phosphate. When I'm ready to paint I wipe the area down with a little baking soda, and water on a sponge. Then a water rinse and a wipe down with lacquer thinner.

I've had good luck with S.EM's rust inhibator. It turns the rust black but stops it dead in it's tracks.

Considering it's age and the attempts you made to bring it back to original appearance, I think you've done a great job. Looks very nice, and the small imperfections will be hardly noticed, unless you point them out. Good job! 👍

That's a trick used with acetic acid to speed up the reaction. Apparently acetic acid works better than citric (but it stinks) and the addition of salt makes it work even faster. So fast, in fact, that they warn you not to put anything aluminum in the solution because it will be damaged. I don't know for positive sure if it has the same effect with citric, but like Granny, I did the same and added a little bit to my mix. I figured it wouldn't hurt, and may help. From what I understand, the citric does not convert the rust to anything, but it is "chelated" instead. And my (quite limited) understanding of the whole thing goes like this... Rust is not normally soluble in water, but additions of certain additives (like these mild acids) make it so that rust IS slightly soluble in the solution. I think that makes the acid additions to the water "chelating agents". So once you add citric acid to the water, rust becomes slightly soluble and "washes" off the parts. Doesn't happen quickly, but it happens. So back to my very limited understanding... There are several different combinations of iron and oxygen that can be called "rust", and the addition of salt changes the ionic characteristics of the solution and makes a broader range of them soluble. So in other words, "a wider range of rust types are soluble".

We took a break from working on the body to finish up the rear strut assembly rebuild last night. Once the underside and interior is painted we'll be close to getting the shell off the rotisserie. One thing I do need to track down are new hardline rubber isolators. Does anyone know where I can buy a complete rubber kit for these? Z Car Depot only sells 3D printed versions from what I can tell TIA.

This is great! Just to offer an alternative: I was frankly amazed how good this experiment went. I bought 6 bottles of the cheapest / nastiest bottled lemon juice off the supermarket shelf. Poured into an old ice creme tub and added lots of salt - no scientific measurement, just what felt right. If I had to quantity I would say 2 table spoons. Degreased parts with thinners, then left them in the lemon juice and salt tub for 12 hours overnight. See for yourself:

I think the plan will be as follows drain oil, keep a sample of the 2500 mile VR1 run the rotella for 1000 miles, drain keep a sample compare how dirty it looks to the 2500 mile VR1 Refill with VR1.

This might help. From my 1972 JDM Fairlady Z L. Floors were stripped back and rust patched. Excuse the thin layers of seam sealer. This has since been covered with underbody paint.

Top tip... Saw the first 1-2 inch off the brush.. you have a good brush again! That piece of wood gets in the way with brushing.. now no longer! Use a steel saw..

Before you rip them out and replace with different carbs... you can do a small rebuild yourself. If that isn't in the cards, just send them over to Ztherapy for a rebuild.

I've quit worrying. My state is red one day and green the next. The testing yo-yos too much for me. I wonder how stringent the testing is in Alaska. Alabama, none.

It has a similar shape to the distribution of votes in your recent election.

The specs look pretty good. I seem to remember that there used to be a warning on the container about the ZDDP content and catalytic converters. But I don't see it anymore. The Rotella is a low soot, low sludge formulation. Both sound good. Maybe they got rid of the ZDDP finally. I used regular motor oil, no ZDDP, in my two L28's and did not destroy any cams. I think that the ZDDP is more for break-in than long-term usage. Not even sure it's a huge issue with catalytic converters either, I think it's a long-term degradation of the converter if you keep using it, and if your engine burns oil. How did they used to break in a 280ZX engine or California 280Z engine and what did they run afterward? Always a fun discussion topic. https://rotella.shell.com/en_us/products/conventional-motor-oil/rotella-triple-protection.html https://rotella.shell.com/en_us/products/conventional-motor-oil/rotella-triple-protection/_jcr_content/par/productDetails.stream/1520976123954/02cdc4507e718cd0fc768d05faab7059e52f0938/t4-15w-40.pdf https://cen.acs.org/articles/84/i31/ZDDP-motor-oil.html#:~:text=ZDDP operates by forming a,tailpipe of an operating engine.

just get some help removing the dash for the install. being old it will likely crack unless you are very careful not to torque it. Texas you HAVE to have good A/C same here if cen FL would not be able to drive it 8 months out of the year without it.

Well, lets see. Trying to look on the bright side of things. With the prospects of this 260Z not being salvageable, my zed just increased a little bit more in value😁

you can buy brand new evap with a standard TVX, not cheap (300ish iirc) that is a drop in replacement. I would go with a parallel flow condenser (pick a genereric size that approximates the oe size and rig up some mount hardware) a SD709 and a generic drier, then use the new evap in an OE housing. Using the PF condenser should allow for good use of R134a vs R12. I got my new evap just in case my old one leaks or the tvx ever looses its charge. At that time I would just swap out the evap and stay with R12 since I have a good condenser (was a NOS unit). I prefer the old hitachi SWP types with the sump, they are heavy as a tank but cant argue with longevity (looks OE on mine and runs fine). But the SD709 is prob a better choice if you have the mounting bracket. It prob works better (quiet, light weight), but I always wonder about the quality of stuff like this. I think there maybe some other tweeks if you car did not come with AC as far as making it work, its all covered in the FSM on how to add. Often see the entire AC system for sale on eBay, a good way to get all the pieces then if the evap is bad just replace it with the new one I mentioned above.

Mine did that after I rebuilt the motor and put everything back together. I got the linkage flats beside the carbs in the wrong order. Shot up to 3K at start up. Here's a picture you can double check yours to. Good luck.

You know, I strongly suspect that many a girl has at some point explained that diagram to some guy! ;) On a serious note though, that’s a GREAT tip - i assume its to it keep the water droplets from staying inside and messing with things. But I don’t get the not totally vertical orientation. Any thoughts?

No wipers! 8 owners and no wipers.

It annoys me when people in my life say I should sale my Zs while the market's up like it is. They look at BAT and ebay then advise me about cars I know better than they know their kids.