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The clock is very susceptible to any resistance in any part of of the gear path. I think you will find that the main drive gear is the problem. If the bearing is worn, as pictured in the attached diag., the larger gear driven by the motor is allowed to not mesh correctly with the motor drive gear. This in turn binds the all the gears in the train and the clock stops. The only way to verify this is to totally dis-assemble the clock and inspect / clean all the parts.

We received notice from our power company to cut back today so the grid doesn't collapse. There is ice on the inside of the window in the bathroom from condensation running down to the bottom of the window. Fortunately we have a propane heater in case of emergency.

Nissan had used the little fuel/oil heat exchanger (its actually a 130-series Cedric/Gloria part) as a diff cooler on the 510-series Bluebird Works rally cars (winning the East African Safari Rally with them in 1970) and engineered a similar system for the first batch of 240Z Works rally cars (entered in the 1970 RAC Rally). However, there was some debate over whether diff cooling would be an issue given that the RAC Rally was traditionally held in the depths of the British winter, and before the rally the team mechanics removed the heat exchangers and pumps from the cars in a quest to save weight and simplify. Cue trouble. Without the coolers the diffs got very hot indeed and that extreme heat weakened the thread locking compound on the crownwheels, causing bolts to loosen, back out and catch on the housing. Spare diffs were carried on the team service cars, but they used them all up. The replacements - of course - failed in the same way. Aaltonen and Easter managed to nurse their car to a 7th place finish, but Fall/Phillips, Herrmann/Schuller and Bloxham/Salt all retired with differential failures. Seems the diff coolers would have been beneficial after all.

Did someone say V-3 kit? Part2 A little color to what may be for some a very boring tale. As I mentioned - the Datsun dealer that was employing me circa 1972-1976 was in the heart of Bethesda, MD on a very busy main road. Bethesda, home of the National Institute of Health, and my birth place, The Bethesda Naval Hospital, is just outside DC. The dealership had been a Dodge franchise in its past life. The showroom could accommodate 5 cars and the service department had 10 bays and room for a a modest parts department. The chassis dyno and a flat stall were in a dedicated building adjacent to the main shop. For an early 20s hot shot mechanic like me and my mates the area had a very positive vibe. There were lots of excellent places for lunch well within walking distance. There were 2 high end stereo stores - remember them - only a couple of blocks away. AND, the streets were populated with lots and lots of attractive well dressed women! Think the Shelby Venice shop in "Ford Vs Ferrari" but with suits and dresses instead of bikinis. Final chapter to follow.

I was told that the advantage of the oil/fuel heat exchanger diff cooler was that - on a rally car - it was not so vulnerable to damage and/or blockage in the way that a traditional air-cooled 'radiator' would be. It gets pretty messy underneath the car in rally conditions. Nissan's Works team used traditional type coolers on their diffs for circuit racing duties. The parts were available to buy from the Sports/Race Options list and the Nissan Sports 'Yellow Books' gave advice on fitting:

Yes, I do repair these clocks and also convert them to quartz units. Take a look at my web site. zclocks.com

The guy I work for is doomsday prepper and has a huge house about half a mile from me. Generac that uses natural gas to run a 4 cylinder Ford motor and a walk in liquor/wine cellar. Always welcome so I hope my power goes out.

By the way, compliments of the season to all Works rally Z fans!

I suspect our resident librarian is too cold... Huddled up in a chair in front of the space heater with a warm fireball? Let me cover for him on this one: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/35919-new-challenge-anyone-had-warped-tail-light-flanges-before/#comment-644526

RACEWR X, I really dont know.....they are pretty small. I went in heavy and soaked it down with brake parts cleaner. Blew it dry , put a tiny drop of very light oil on each staff bearing. iIt seems to be running well. I let it run all day, and it kept good time. Put it all back together. I got my dash back from just dashes. Pretty pleased with the job they did. I put it all together today. I replaced all the lights with LED's. Only three of the original bulbs were working. Cant say enough about the importance of taking a ton of pictures during disassembly. That really helps.

Or I could repair these and drop them in and buy newer ones later if it bothers me. But I could drive the car sooner using these...

My computer is 'frozen up'

The raw wood was first processed into wood fibre (so, the grain was preserved) which could then be impregnated with the bonding agent and laid into the two halves of the former in continuous rings. There's a surprising amount of push-back on all this. It's a known and understood process, but the whole "they are plastic!" thing is ingrained and deep rooted in a particular branch of the community...

Racer X, Forgot to mention that there are NO jeweled movements in these clocks. There are brass bushings on the ends of the shafts.

I think "tumbler" and "wafer" are pretty much synonymous when referring to this kind of lock. Yes, the "Right" or "Left" style of lock comes down to the cylinder casting, meaning that the key blank will only fit into the correct style cylinder. But they all share the same tumblers. As for the wear grooves in the outer shell, I don't have any good suggestions about how make those better. The lock cylinder and other body parts are (I think) cast zinc. Cheap, easy to work with, easy to get fine detail and accuracy. All of that makes it a popular choice for locks. Note that "durability" is not in that list of properties. And I don't think epoxy will last long. It's softer than the zinc. Ideas? Find a NOS replacement. Pay someone to make a whole new one. Live with it.

ZCLOCKS, thanks for insight. That would make sense. Do you repair these?

Charles, I would go crazy without the pictures. Text me your address and I will put them on a USB flash drive and mail them to you. Merry Christmas to you and the family!! ernest

So I remembered another box in the shop... Looks like these came out of Australia in 2017... But they have their own issues. Something got spilled on them and it dissolved the lens So I figured what the heck. Some 320 -> 400 -> 800 -> 1500 paper Then the buffer I also have this box of US tail lights. The lamp housings all have the same part number. So I have 3 or 4 of each side. So I can pick the best of the lot to make a complete set. Also, here are some pictures of the felts in the bottom of the housing that John mentioned I would still like to know who have the jig for flattening tail lights flanges. @siteunseen Come on dude, where's the Google Fu?

Not willing to re plant the seeds of rust on the Z, So I dug out the Honda Trail.

Somebody posted this stuff a day or so ago. It's close to what my dentist uses on my teeth. Amazing how it works at the dentist and now that I can jb weld my teeth myself no more white coat anxiety and a lot less money.

I can't find @240260280 photo of all his cars covered in his driveway, Nova Scotia I think. Did find ol' Blue pretty deep.

From Mr. Uemura’s Story: DEVELOPMENT PROCESS - - Vehicle Durability Tests - - - Heat Resistance and Cold Resistance Tests The heat resistant performance was evaluated at an external temperature of 95ºF (35°C) for the domestic models, and at 104ºF (40°C) for the North American models. The tests were mainly conducted on the heat-resistant chassis dynamometer. However, because the wind flow can be different from the vehicle tests, performance was also evaluated on the test course. Eventually, field tests for this model were done in the United States and Canada. The heat resistance test done on the chassis dynamometer includes many items, such as whether the temperature of the water or oil is normal during high speed operation, whether the engine speed becomes unstable while the engine is idling after high speed operation, and whether the engine can be restarted after the ignition is turned off. If it fails any of these items, heat resistance performance is considered insufficient. We aimed at keeping the engine oil temperature within a specified range even if the car ran continuously for 118 miles (190 km) without an oil cooler. In fact, we had no problems with the engine oil temperature. The differential was also designed to keep the oil temperature in a specified range even after 118 miles (190 km) of continuous driving. However, because it was at the far rear of the floor, the differential did not get sufficient wind even if a baffle plate was used. In the end, it was not able to clear the 118 miles (190 km) continuous driving at a 104ºF (40°C) external temperature. If consumers complained, we were prepared to offer an optional oil cooler for the differential oil, but this problem did not arise. Probably as no one drives a car continuously at such high speeds in the United States, and because temperatures do not go up that high in Europe. DATSUN 240Z Engineering Development https://www.lulu.com/search?adult_audience_rating=00&page=1&pageSize=10&q=Datsun+240Z

Correct- it is a heat exchanger, which cools the differential fluid with gas. I've yet to get it working, so I can't speak to how well it works, unfortunately. Worth noting, this diff cooler is not a new "discovery" by me, as it's been previously well documented many years ago, via a 1992 article in Race & Rally, which told the story of the early days of the 240Z Works rally program through the lens of the mechanics at Old Woking Station.

Fuel systems on the Works S30 rally cars were bespoke, and bore little resemblance to their standard production counterparts. Further, the Works fuel systems themselves underwent several evolutionary changes over the life of the program, and early system designs appeared to vary greatly from those in later cars. As such, items which appeared on one batch of cars may not have been used on others, or been upgraded as rules and needs evolved. Accurately cataloging the evolutionary details of Works S30 fuel systems is well outside my expertise and pay grade, so for now I'll stick to providing an overview of the specific system on my car, starting with the extended range gas tank (picture 1). Although it looks similar to the 100L tank found on the Z432-R, there are a few subtle differences. Firstly, the tank front corners are cut at several degrees. This was presumably done to provide extra clearance, at the probable expense of reducing the overall tank capacity to something a bit less than 100L. Second, there are three pipes exiting the front of the tank, in addition to the 2 large-diameter breathers in the back, one of which is used as a fuel return line. Third, the fuel level sender is mounted on the top of the tank, instead of adjacent to the filler neck. Of the three small pipes, one is used to draw fuel into a custom surge tank made from a stock expansion tank, and the other two are used to pump gas to and from a differential cooling system (picture 2). All of these fluids are moved around utilizing four electric pumps - two for the diff cooler, and two for the engine fuel feed. For a little clarity on how all the inter-connected systems work together, I've attached a drawing of the system and it's sub-components (picture 3). I've seen variants of this type of system documented in other Works S30s (notably via information courtesy @HS30-H, as well as references to some of the various sub-components in period articles), so I'd venture to say at least a good part of the system as I've documented and described on my car is true to as-built. There are plenty of areas and topics to expand on from this basic fuel system overview, as I've only scratched the surface in the most general of terms. I'm also learning as I go- I've been working on documenting the finer details this system for months, but only recently as we've been dismantling the car have some of the important characteristics of the system been observable in detail.

My KPGC10 Skyline 2000 GT-R track car also wears an (aftermarket) period IZUMI steering wheel, similar to the Datsun Compe style vinyl with moulded stitching detail. Note the 'Nardi' style 'Izumi' signature engraving on the RH spoke:

So when the guy on the latest Bring A Trailer 240Z auction refuted my explanation, then doubled down with "Steering wheels on Z's are plastic", you think it would be petty to correct him? That's what I keep seeing. Almost every time these wheels are discussed you see someone - or more - calling them "plastic". It is clear that they think there is no real wood in there at all. Put a few facts in front of them - including the wood composite explanation - and they wriggle with "...yeah, but it's still got plastic in it" or similar. I'm pushing back on that. Thanks. Next time somebody says "Steering wheels on Z's (sic) are plastic", you'll hopefully step up to the plate and introduce them to the pioneering 19th century WPC work of Michel Thonet, John Henry Belter and Isaac Cole as well as Mr Armin Elmendorf and his 1960s OSB patent. Or you could just sit back and let me shout "they are WOOD!" at them...

It is a special group of true believers (perhaps slightly mad) that decide to do their own parts prep and plating. If I had it to do over again, I think I would build a Shinto shrine next to the garage so that I could visit it and ask for the gods' blessing before committing my parts to the plating bath .