Leaderboard

Update: I made it 1 month at Lowes. I hired in on a part time job, 30 hours max. A guy quit in the lumber department so I got promoted/demoted to opening lumber guy. The last week I worked 45 hours. People can't understand somebody that just wants part time work. I made some good (some bad) decisions in my life that allowed me the choice of working. "Work is for suckers" was what I learned. Anyhow after I worked out my schedule and left I was freaking out on keeping bills paid and my good credit score. The paint store I started working at in 1989 is were I work now. 3 blocks from my house and we sell Benjamin Moore paint. There's a paint shortage now so we're the only ones that have any. The store is busy, busy and we have ridiculous prices but that's what is sales for now. $12.99 in 1989, flat wall paint is now $29.99 for pastel base colors. We have some oil that's $80 per gallon. Prices are a whole lot higher but I'm back doing what I did in 1989. Life is good! (but strange). My life is getting back on track so I'll be able to dive back into my Zs addiction. Thank you all for putting up with me through a rough patch. Cliff

Nah, even though I've done all that stuff to wizz my parents off I was trying to say how my life has done a 360 to 1989 and I couldn't be happier. I'm getting paid every Friday and way more than I expected. I did that "keep my mouth shut and it's better" thing I'd learned. I'm slowing, 52 and just figuring out I must bend a little if I want to be comfortable. I'm not trying to be a suck up but what I've learned, personality wise and Z car info from this forum has made me a better person. I like the help and try my best to pass it on.

Cliff, you have the right perspective. I’m the same age as you are and I wish I had the wisdom I have now when I was a teen or in my 20’s. It doesn’t matter how you figure it out as long as you do. So many spend their lives chasing things that add no lasting value to their lives. They don’t know the difference between the priceless and the expensive. Your time and happiness is priceless. Give it away with extreme caution. Last night I flew into Liege, Belgium (Nightly milk runs from the UK), met 3 other company pilots there in the lounge. We had 2 hrs to burn and there were 5 of us total shooting the bull at 2am in the morning drinking coffee and cracking jokes. We flew back in there tonight (same guys except one was missing). His name was Peter Souza. Come to find out he died last night after he landed. No idea what happened. Makes you take account for your own life, what’s important. He didn’t think he was going to die within 24 hrs after we met. Married, 2 kids and only 47 yrs old. You have to live a little for today, and more so the older you get. Be kind to others, be a generous and be that someone you want to be remembered for. All we really leave behind are what we do for others, everything else fades away. You’ve figured it out…..that’s winning in the game of life not how many zeros on the check on pay day. Glad to have gotten to know you on the forum. You’ve added value to more people’s lives than you think.

Wow Cliff, two job changes in one month. Whew! The key is happiness though. I’ve been fortunate that most of the work I have done has always been work I enjoy, and mostly long term. I worked 30 years at an electric utility, maintaining and repairing the fleet. I served a 4 year state indentured apprenticeship to become a journeyman mechanic. It was like auto shop everyday. But after 30 years I grew weary of the management, wasn’t sleeping, and pissed off most of the time. I still enjoyed the work, but disliked the people I worked for. So I “retired”. After bouncing around in the private sector and not liking it much, I put my CDL to work and got a job pulling flatbed trailers loaded with airplane parts all over the US and Canada. Five years and over 800,000 miles later I moved on, to a job as an aerospace machinist. Now after seven and a half years at The Big Shed building 777 300ER/777 freighters, then 767 freighters /KC46 tankers, I am planning my exit to permanent retirement. Then I can spend everyday in my shop, working on my Z collection.

Cliff, you underestimate yourself. Your personality (humor) and the Z knowledge you've shared over the years are a couple of the things that keep me logging into this forum. Sounds like you've found your comfort zone.

I understand dutchz just fine.

It's been confusing over the whole lifetime of Borg Warner "T5"'s. Put "atf t5" in the Google box and a ton will come up. You could read for days and still never be sure. But the ATF issue still exists. I bought a 2003 Ford with an M5OD 5 speed in it and Ford recommends Mercon V ATF. But it got stuck in neutral often (a not uncommon problem with the M5OD. Too slippery for the synchros? Don't know), so I used Pennzoil Synchromesh and it fixed all of the problems. That was 30,000 miles ago and some of the Ford guys say it's going to burn the needle bearings up because it's to thick. But it's been fine.

If you are anything like me that means stealing your dad's car to take you and your skateboarding punk friends to a Bad Religion concert, wrecking it on the way back doing doughnuts trying to impress girls?

The current (and growing) value of S30s is rather a unique formula of factors that you don't see in many other markets. Being that they were relatively affordable when new, they are very relatable cars. If you have never owned one, chances are you knew someone who did. We see this frequently in the BaT chat when "non" Z enthusiasts happen to find one up for sale and can relate a story about one that was the same color, year, model etc. You don't see that kind of personal connection in the Porsche 356 world for instance. Until recently, they were "cheap" cars, and that's reflected in the grade of restorations you see in Zs that were done 15-20 years ago. I think Maaco could have used a S30 as their marketing platform. Seems like every Z I've came across as a project for sale had a horribly shot paint job, the whole "lipstick on a pig" appearance. Even though it was mass produced, a genuinely unrestored S30 these days is quite rare and why the lower mileage examples fetch a pretty penny. The part availability market probably has a contributing factor to the value of S30s as well. You can't simply swing by a Nissan dealer and grab a new dash, or pick up a catalog and order all new glass for a S30. I use to envy Mopar folks because they could basically build up an entire car with new parts, starting with nothing more than a VIN plate and title. Now, we see S30 values knocking the staple muscle cars out of the water. I feel the fact you have to work hard or pay $$$ to find those hot items for S30s (think D-hubcaps, pointy antenna, bumper overriders, correct hose clamps, correct exhaust system) that when you do have all the pieces to the puzzle, restore a car properly, and get it in front of an audience that can relate to the car, people start to do funny things with their checking accounts.

So happy for you Cliff. I made this realization 4 years ago when I retired from the USMC. I was moving up the leadership ladder and was the likely candidate to be the Commander of8 squadrons. The price to my family and time was unacceptable to me and I realized time was the most precious and valuable asset I had. I no longer was willing to trade this precious time for money and my ego. I’m happy you took this step. When we were 25 we had time and no money but things change as we get older and wis, at some point you realize your time is limited so you can’t waste it doing something that doesn’t make you happy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I've got a few more years before I can retire so I figure I'll make them the best I can. I didn't really want to post about something so personal but now I'm glad I did. All the positive replies from you guys have really made me feel good about my decision. Thank you all so very much! I don't like change but y'alls support has made a huge impact on me and my decision. What a great group of friends I have here! I only hope my contributions are helpful to someone. 1 person at least and I sleep good tonight.

Nothing like Dilbert. I still need to wash my hands BEFORE I take a leak. I've gone from buying building materials to selling them. I'm a people person, love to help people, so this is a good fit for me as get older. It's a huge company, Lowes building material. I'm most excited about getting my feet wet in the "new" business model everything is going to, computers! Half my day is working on a keyboard, the other is helping customers get what they need. My years of working for a general contractor were a great help in getting the position and pay. I see me retiring from this company. All the other, co-workers, benefits and the chain of command are fantastic. I can do anything (legal) and not get fired. Being personable has cemented my position with these folks and pretty much every other aspect of my life. The Golden Rule I was taught. Not the stupid one that narcissist believe, "the man with the gold makes the rules". Don't live that lie.

I believe all the newer BMW manual boxes use a "lifetime" atf for lubrication. It's red and feels just like ATF. I believe it was done to help increase mileage and reduce parasitic drag

Easy way to check the gauge itself is to ground that YELLOW wire with the ignition on. It should peg the gauge to F. You don't need to let it go that far, if the needle moves the gauge is good. The wiring and fuel level sender are easiest to check with a multimeter reading the Ohms value between the two contacts on the sender. You can do that at the sender itself, at the connector under the hatch, and at the yellow wire going to the gauge in the dash. The fuel level sender is a "variable resistor" (and built like a rheostat) - it's resistance value changes with the level of the float. As long as you can read a resistance value (ohms) between the yellow wire and ground (black wire) the fuel level sender is probably okay. (the gauge is expecting a certain range of resistance between empty and full so that could be an issue) IF the gauge is good then you need to check the sender and the wire path between the sender and the gauge.

The name DEXRON does not mean it's automaticaly ATF were they talk about i think? I sure never heard of putting atf in a manual gearbox! I always use 80w90 oil.

Nothing else. Ill check on the fuel mixture knob to verify the amount of turns.

Well I don't think I've gotten any wider since the last time you saw me! Haha! So the only thing hotter than the tarmac at that show was inside the big Quonset hut. It was shady, but like baking in an oven. Brutal. Your choice was either bake outside in the sun with a tiny bit of breeze, or bake in the three-sides-closed Quonset hut with no moving air at all. So Birmingham is likely to be like that, but with more humidity, right?

He's in Europe and is not a native English speaker

Yeah I understand. Good on you, man. The late '80's were my early teens, wish I had learned some decent work ethic instead of how to be a troublemaker. That came later. Congrats on the new job, now is indeed a good time to be in the paint industry.

I am not sure about a fiberglass one though these are out there... Aluminum ($109-129): https://skillard.com/product/datsun-240z-aluminum-glove-box/ ($95-115): https://bhjautomotive.com/shop/interior/240z-aluminum-glove-box/ Paper/cardboard (like stock) ($30): https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/40-3351 ($50): https://zcarsource.com/glove-box-compartment-240z-70-73-new/ ($40): https://zcardepot.com/products/glove-box-liner-240z-1970-73 ($30): https://www.datsun-garage.com//collections/datsun-240z-260z-280z-s30-interior/products/glove-box-1970-73-240z ($45): https://jdm-car-parts.com/products/glove-box-inner-for-datsun-240z?variant=774861081 There may be some others out there. I'm not sure what you are shooting for though for $40-$50 for the stock type that may be a good enough solution for you.

Wally, I did this resto myself and it wasn’t hard just time consuming. I did like the others mentioned (and filled the forum advice). I stripped the spikes to the metal, primed and the put several coats of satin. On the resin/wood portion just sand smooth, wipe off any dust and residue and then go with clear Poly. Clear poly isn’t a actually clear is has a light tint by it very nature. Puts a nice color on the wheel. I put about 4-5 coats of poly (spray). Darkens a bit with more coats. You don’t need any stain (this is a point of disagreement on the forum). I’d make it to your liking. Here’s techniques I used. Poly takes a long time to dry. I waited 12 hrs between coats, lightly sanded with like 600 grit sand paper between coats, wipe down between coats. Poly is fickle, it can sometimes lay uneven (it runs so lay it on thin) , it can get bubbles easily and dust can land on it during the long drying phase. The sanding in between should mitigate most of that. Be sure the area you are spaying is dust and wind free or else it will be a problem. Strip and paint the spokes first, then do the wheel. Good luck and post pics. He was mine, got from a junk yard. It was bad and the yard still charged me $40 or $50. Before: Middle: After: Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

There's 3 kinds of jobs in my experience. 1. Wash your after the restroom. 2. Wash your hands before the restroom. 3. Wash before AND after. I've always washed mine beforehand. That's because I hated school and wound up working in the service businesses. I'm a hands on type guy that gets a good feeling helping those that can't help themselves. The pay sucks but money has never been a priority in my life. My parents always gave me a good life and i loved them for that. I'm so thankful for you guys positive comments on my ife decision to go to less stress/less money. I do not care about money. I want to sleep good.

Big congrats on the move! Now about retirement... Been there since 2009 and still love it. Still have a boss, but she treats me pretty good most of the time.

Which planet do you live on? https://www.autozone.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIwaOx6NzX8wIVCrrICh3Hhgp6EBwYASAAEgLy6_D_BwE