Leaderboard

Apologies will never be necessary when one is caring for family and self. I am so very glad to see you back with us, your humor and knowledge have been sorely missed. For those of you who know them, here is a pic from ZCON 2015 when my wife and I were fortunate to make the in-person acquaintance of Philip and Janet. What a grand time we had hanging out with this couple and others from the classiczcars group.

So I've been working in the shadows on the reanimation of an early 240Z. This is not so much a restoration, but more of a reanimation project. Reanimation of an lifeless vehicle with a focus on originality. The OG 240Z: This car hasn't been on the road for decades. Many decades. And in the end, he won't be pretty, but he'll be back on the road. So let's start with the immediate... My intention is to drive this Z to the upcoming ZCON in Nashville and there are a couple things I need advice on before the trip: First, I need to carry a fire extinguisher and I know nothing about them (other than they are supposed to put out fires). Anyone know the system and have a recommendation for which type would be best for automotive related incidents? Second, I've got the original seat belts in the car, but they are the early non-adjustable style. I'd like to install something newer, safer, better, easier to use before the trip. I might swap the originals back in once I get there, but for almost 1000 miles on the road, I think I want newer technology. Is there an easy to drop in system for the 240Z cars? ZCON or BUST!!!

Oh sorry, I finished it up, drove it a few miles, had a very small oil leak I fixed, timing cover bolt(s). The front brakes or hubs were getting hot, resolved that issue quickly. I've probably put 600 miles on the car since. It rides unbelievably smooth and quiet. There's nothing left to work on. I'm at a loss now, it's kind of a strange feeling. What a battle it was though, I really enjoyed the challenge for the most part, and I miss it.

I’ve never had much respect for the Chilton or Climer (sp?) service manuals, once I realized they were nothing more than stolen excerpts from the real service manuals and how they claim to handle all Datsun Z models from 1899-2050 in one book. Talk about cherry picking and massive omissions I thought Now that the real manuals are available online, I rarely look at them. However, the other day, I got a Climer manual with a parts horde and happen to flip through it just to see if I was missing anything. I might have to eat my critical words, when I found a compilation listing of what seems to be ALL the possible timing options 70-78. “Maybe” they did a bit more than just decide which pages of the FSM’s to include. This was sparked (see what I did there?) by a Z friend with limited Datsun knowledge who was asking me about timing specs for his 71, telling me he looked on line and found really wildly varying numbers and couldn’t decide which one was right. Well, there you go. the list shows a large variation depending. PS. It also has a pretty high quality set of schematics for the various years and transmissions all in one place. I read most of the text! .

Hi Gang, It has been a rough ride for the past few years. I stepped back from a lot of fun things to get through. Dropping Z hobby and online activities were just part of the change. I am starting to get my strength back and tuned some carbs a few weeks ago. This was my first car activity in a few years. I am slowly coming back. I have been a hermit and reclusive. I did not keep in touch with so many good friends. I apologise. I did start to come out of the funk a few months ago and updated Jim Arnett. We had a nice chat. I also promised to update the group. Don't feel special as I also withdrew from many of my good friends here in my area. Strange how things change.... but they are changing back. In a nutshell, during the depressing covid time, Janet, my better half, got cancer and went through hell...surgery, chemo then radiation. She got better then it came back. More surgery finally took care of that #$$%%. She is good now. Once she got better, I got cancer. We were like a sorry tag team looking after each other. I did radiation with concurrent chemo from last Nov though Dec. I am finally getting strength back and starting to feel normal. All is good and last PET scan (just 2 weeks ago) finally shows no evidence of disease. Many more other horrible things seem to happen during this time but hopefully it is all behind us. I'll check back to this thread in a week. Please PM me if you wish to catch up. We can exchange phone numbers. It will be nice. kind regards and apologies to all. Philip

Great to have you back on board, Phil. Your how-to articles, posted both here and on the Atlantic Z site, have remained an important resource for all of us Z owners.

Philip, It's so good to hear from you. I think of you and Janet often. Please reach and get in contact when you're feeling up to it.

I haven't seen the gasket separately. but if the whole connector shell is only a couple bucks, why not buy one and strip out the gasket? Couple pics to go with your text above. The red oval seal is what you're looking for, right? And these are the plastic retainer strips you mentioned maybe?

One more vote for the Wesco Roadster Retractable belts. You definitely want the 11" extention. I used only the OE bolts all araound, did not requre the hardware kit.

Things I wish I knew before I started! Next step will be to put everything back in place but leave the cover off the harness plug and do some wire-wiggling/tapping that way. Starting this way would have been the Pro-Move™ Live and learn...

I think all the regulars have missed you, Philip. I'm hoping you and Janet stay well.

Philip So glad to hear from you. Sorry for all your trouble's. So glad that your both doing well. And that your slowly getting back to the hobby. Keep up the good work. Steve

I drive a 56 Beetle, it didn't come with seat belts. You just have to drive it like you're riding a motorcycle.