Leaderboard

Well... I have reached a milestone in the restoration, delivering the car to the painter on Friday. It was a mad rush at the end. For the last two weeks, I spent every spare minute I had trying to get through my punch list. I fell behind on the tasks I had outlined for each day, and even taking Thursday off from work to power through, I was still at it until 3 am on Friday morning. I got a couple of hours of sleep and was back up at 6 and back working on the car at 7 am. Another 3 hours later and then I called it "done" when the truck and trailer to take the car to the painter arrived. Finding a painter was difficult, and it will be expensive. I understand now why many take on even that part of the project themselves. In the late 80's and in the 90's, in my hometown I grew up in, it was easy for me to find someone who was willing to spray a car for a few hundred dollars. I was not as fortunate this time around. There is a saying or variants of a saying that "It pays to know people". Myself, having moved to GA somewhat recently in 2011, and generally not being the type of person that makes a lot of contacts, I simply don't know a lot of people or businesses here. But, I have a few, and my friend John put me in touch with the place that will paint the car. While it will be expensive, I know at least that the remaining body work and paint will be done right. And, I am relieved that I do not have to spend any more time on bodywork on this car. It has taken an incredible amount of my time over the last 2 years. Pictures taken at the painter: I was in a rush, so I didn't take many pictures of assembly, but I took a few: Now the painter has my punch list and anything they find in addition. They will be sending me some paint cards so I can have a look firsthand at what 901 silver is before I commit to it. If it is too grey for me, I might go with orange. Or green... or blue. 🙂

Don't know which '49 Chevy you had but my wife's '50 chev 3100 had a "push button" start before we hot rodded it. It was a foot "push button" that activated the solenoid for the starter. We have modified the truck a little since we inherited. It was her dads and she drove it in high school over 50 years ago.

Our daughter just got a new Nissan. She showed me all the bells and whistles it had which included "push button start". The look on her face, when I told her my 49 Chevy had push button start was priceless.

Engine build coming along nicely, painting the block this week in Nissan blue. Managed to pick up a couple of early 240z radiators to be recored. Also found a original steering wheel. Should have the engine in by Spring ready for a shakedown.

I forgot to add. The average new car has 1,100 micro chips while a high end luxury car can have as much as 3,000 . This is ridiculous! https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyshih/2022/11/20/why-are-automotive-chips-still-in-short-supply/?sh=655a140a782a

Totally agree, cars today are far too complicated and some can be blamed on government regulations (some good and some bad) . I mostly blame the manufacturers as they constantly try and out do each other. They think they’re making things better when actually they’re making it worse. Example: I hate electric parking brakes and push button starts. Push button starts has only introduced more problems. My key fob battery died and the car wouldn’t start.

I helped a buddy of mine replace the starter on his Toyota Tundra pickup last weekend. My main job was to keep him from unloading his pistol unnecessarily. It's located under the intake.

Never say never. I should remember that myself... I think it is hard to discount it, knowing the provenance of your Works car. It may be the exception that proves the rule. I'm trying to think of any scenario(s) where a wheel using the classic tapered seat fixings might have been 'converted' to sleeve nuts, and have so far drawn a blank. I can't help thinking that it is more likely - citing Occam's Razor - to be original and correct for the car, and/or perhaps the whole '71 Monte Carlo Rallye batch (except RHD ex-'70 RAC car '694'...). The logistics of a Works team participating in a certain event dictate the it makes sense for all of the team cars to have the same method of wheel fixing. An event like the Monte Carlo Rallye - with tarmac stages, ice stages, snow stages and changing conditions between all three - requires multiple wheel and tyre changes. There would have been dozens of wheels - shared between the cars - with the Dunlop tyre trucks stationed at strategic points changing tyres on wheels, and team service cars out at designated service points carrying wheels and tyres to be changed according to the upcoming stages. Big churn. Obviously it would make sense for all team wheels to have the same fixing method/nuts. Even the ice note/recce/fast service team cars would follow suit. So without knowing for sure what the rest of the team cars used on the '71 Monte, I'd be reluctant to dismiss your sleeve-nutted wheels as 'incorrect'. There's even a slim possibility in my mind that they were something to do with the conditions on the Monte Carlo Rallye. Nissan's Works team had already contested the Monte Carlo Rallye several times before '71, so they knew what they were up against. There may have been some reasoning behind this...

Thanks Patcon. My mistake. I saw the word "order" and my brain went to firing order.. #6 doesn't look very good either.

He's listing the plug relative to cylinder number for the plugs laying on the fender. Not firing order

I know the firing order. The picture is taken 6 5 4 3 2 1. Number 4 the problem child.

It's just a bad engine. Bad rings or cylinders or valve seals/guides. You've got many miles out of it. Consider finding a replacement. Or run hotter plugs in the bad cylinders and hope the plugs stay cleaner.

Have the block soaking in Evaporust for a few days, dissolving any rust left inside the water jacket after pressure washing. Stripped the block of any old paint so back to bare cast iron. Have all the pieces ready for the rebuild including Nissan/Made in Japan bearings, NOS Japanese made gasket set. All the nuts and bolts off the engine have been cleaned/derusted/wire brushed and replated ready for refitting. Just need to soda blast the alloy front cover, cylinder head and cam cover. The 4 screw carbs have been stripped and put through the ultrasonic cleaner ready for reassembly with replated fittings. Can't wait to see what it looks like reassembled. Meanwhile the gearbox is getting new seals and a good cleaning.

So while driving, if the fan was directly connected to the engine instead of through a clutch for example, cooling performance wouldn't really change all that much?

Time flies, today is Mr.K passed away at age 105 in 2015. I still remember the party was so wonderful. Mr. and Mrs. K we’re doing very good. Thank you so much Katayama san! Kats

?? His pistol is/was under the intake ?? OH you mean the starter was under the intake! Nice place to hide it.. now you have to disassemble half the engine to get to it! pff.. I can understand if your friend wants to empty his gun on such a car-enginedesign..

In short - the guys at Autozone sold you the wrong alternator. Either it was in the wrong box or they chose the wrong box. https://www.autozone.com/batteries-starting-and-charging/alternator/p/duralast-alternator-14118/334268_0_0

Prompted by @Zed Head's reply, I looked at the Autozone site again. The sample pictures match the reman Hitachi, too. It also has the N and F terminals that I would expect. It's good to know that my mind isn't completely gone. I'm glad Zed also remembered the P terminal. By the way, here's a link to a list of alternator terminal designations: https://shop.pkys.com/Alternator-Terminals-explained.html

It might be bad. Don't forget that fan only matters at low vehicle speeds.

Don't know if you were duped but that's not a 14118. It's an internally regulated unit, the P terminal is a clue besides the T connection for L and S. Here's a Rockauto picture of the 14118. https://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php?pk=37404&jsn=270

BTW, if you have a fuel injection system (correct for a 77 to be FI not carb) I would HIGHLY recommend you get the correct fuel filter, not that plastic thing in there.

Just to clarify here - based on Alan's data and my inability to find a corroborating period photo of a sleeved-nut wheel on a Works car, I'm now thinking that Works cars likely couldn't have used sleeved nuts and wheels, and that this wheel I pictured may be from some other application. I'll add: the period use of tapered nuts instead of sleeved nuts is corroborated by the images Alan and I have of early Works cars using open wheel nuts. To explain: @HS30-H 's info has resolved a problem in my mind that I could not figure out until now - namely: "is there such a thing as a wheel nut that is both sleeved AND open-ended?" For my prior assertion to be correct, such a part would have to exist. Alan's data suggests the opposite is true - the part that didn't exist in the open marketplace is actually the specialty Works wheels with tapered steel inserts. That doesn't mean that open-ended sleeved wheel nuts don't exist. I've just personally never come across one (although I could make one using a sleeved acorn nut and a grinder.)

Just gave it a shot and when its cold I can spin it about a quarter turn which seems pretty good. That said, when it's warm I'm able to spin it considerably more than that, shouldn't the opposite be true because it's supposed to grip harder to move more air when warm?

I have dealt with resurrected classics and have been very pleased with their products.

I've got some 12 year old bourbon that was barreled when that thread started.

Hi Blue , the silver test car is a unique ! Do you remember I introduced Mr. Miyazaki who was a member of Euro S30 test team ? He said the man who was behind the wheel was him . I don’t know about the roll bar , it appeared different from the production model . I have this video’s DVD , it came as a bonus who bought the 1/8 Fairlady 240Z model . And the 100 books are also the most valuable part of this model . I actually don’t need the model , I wanted the DVD and the books . Kats

That's opposite of what I ran into, needed the smaller one but nobody had it. End up coming from amazon.com Here's one from rockauto.com for $85 plus $25 core charge http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/nissan,1973,240z,2.4l+l6,1209170,brake/wheel+hub,power+brake+booster,1884 And amazon.com, https://www.amazon.com/Cardone-Industries-53-5104-Brake-Booster/dp/B000RPLG60/ref=sr_1_3?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1469924662&vehicle=1973-67-2284-20-----14492------4-0&sr=1-3&ymm=1973%3Anissan%3A240z&keywords=brake+booster The one at amazon is free shipping and no core charge. I didn't do the math but I'd bet amazon is cheaper in the long run. They're sandblasted too or mine was, you'll have to paint it. $84.89 $25.00 $109.89