zKars

Snowy crisp morning, -23 C. Merry Christmas everyone!

Look closely at the outline shape.... Brilliant Mike! Kudo's!!!

Just when you thought you'de seen everything, this comes along... Craziest thing I've ever seen. It must be compensation for uneven spring rates, load, or a very specific racing application. Or the PO was crazy.... I'de remove the extra spring perch and return to normal geometry.

If you are talking about the window channel that is part of the door, ie the three sided SS frame that the glass fits into when up, its held on with several bolts. You can see several on the door at the latch edge and a couple in front, but there are at least three more you need to access with the interior door trim panel removed. Why do you want to remove it? There is no way the glass can seal against the body without it.

Zed head, thanks a bunch. Okay, "rarely" have I seen that measurement. I have since tested two clutch sets. One my just replaced 240mm setup with a performance aftermarket clutch that used a tall collar, and a series 1 "A" trans with a nice tall clutch plate that had a short collar. The short and sweet is that both added up to 91-92 mm total height as you measured it, with release bearing on the collar. Btw the release bearing added about 3mm to the collar height. Notice I didn't mention the collar length in both cases. No more spreading that stuff. From now on the manta is "Total is 92 mm. Measure your clutch and then pick the collar you need to get to 92mm."

Someday we'll take all the mystery out of this never ending topic of "which collar to use with my clutch". The way to tell what collar to use with any clutch would be really very simple, IF one knew the expected total height of the clutch + collar, which is NEVER mentioned in any thread. It is a constant for any tranny that bolts on to an L24/6/8 I'de believe. As long as your flywheel is the "Standard" thickness then you measure your installed height from flywheel face to the clutch fingers where the throwout bearing touches them, subtract that from the "total required height" (the big mystery) and get the exact length of collar you need to have (+/- a little bit). We need someone, anyone, everyone, who is at the point of assembling the clutch and trans, and is totally confident that he has a matched set of collar/clutch, to measure both for us and report the total. For the collar, measure from the front face of the throwout bearing to the back of the two tabs the fork touches. Like in this picture, ie the shorter measurement. Or put your clutch cover on the floor and put the collar w/throwout mounted on the fingers and measure it from the floor to the top of the fork pads on the collar. Someone did it here, and reported 91 or 92 mm total height. ~3.60 inches. No clue if this is right or not. http://zclub.net/forum/s30-240z-260z-280z-drivetrain/19228-clutch-question-collar-length-again-2.html Lets all do it and report your measurements. We'll take the average and call it the "L_Total_Clutch_Height" universal constant and we can relax about this finally!! I'm taking pictures of what I mean tonight with some clutch parts I have laying around that I know work to get this started.

Well, the futofab BF sale finally made pick a 16 wheel. Classic 8's or Panasports? No brainer, Classic 8's it is. Thanks Dave for the sale! Santa comes early this year.

The chances of the key code tag still being on the glove box door is slim. The code is also stamped into the passenger door lock cylinder if its still the original. Bit tougher to get to. Only very few Nissan dealers around here has the machine to use that code to make keys though.

So after digging through the shifters trying to find a suitable candidate, and comparing a bit more closely, it seems there are no less than three variations on the ones with a pronounced "S" curve. I'm pretty sure the group of three match the front one in the center picture above. I have NO idea what those extra longs are for or from.... Anyone need then for joke? I have a Hurst shifter handle that would look right on home on one of them!!

Nice Z to start your project with. You seem to have your priorities pretty straight, but your 6 month time frame is optimistic. The single most common problem with resto's is them taking longer than the time it takes to loose interest in them. Its far better to do it in stages with periods of driving time to keep your interest going. One final thing. There is no such thing as a rust free datsun. You just haven't found it yet. Get the floors and engine bay/wheel wheels stripped inside and out and have a good look. I see there are plugs all over the place in the door frames that indicate it had a "Zeibart" or similiar rust proofing treatment at one time or another, so that MAY have helped some, but don't be surprised about what you find. Its just part of the datsun resto game. You are not alone. Your passenger door is from a 77-78 280, which is why it has the "adapted" latch system. Getting rid of it and go back to a 240 door is definitely a good idea. Keep it real, don't rush, and drive as much as you can. Good luck!

I sent you a PM. I be happy to help with a heater core.

They are 10x 1.5 mm bolts ~30 mm long. 2 of them. I guessed at the length, measure the thickness of the slave body and add 15-20 mm.

yup. Fan is 16" instead of 15", but the bolt pattern is the same. Should be straight bolt on.

Well then to heck with my 401k or as we call em RRSP. I'm keeping my spare heater cores in a safety deposit box from now on!

You're going to love this. This was discussed earlier this year either here or on hybridz http://www.marketworks.com/storefrontprofiles/deluxeSFshop.aspx?sfid=75198&c=421911 They have all kinds of related items too. Go from their home page and you'll see what I mean. I also have a couple of pretty good 240 heater cores if all else fails...

Rather than a way to turn it on, maybe its a way for the ECU to know the CSV is on...

This has been recently discussed. Do a bit of searching. Solutions involved everything from massive amounts of penetrating oil, time, torque and tension to drilling through the strut bottom and pounding it out with a punch from below. About the only bad (but very tempting...) idea is lots of heat, which creates an explosion hazard with the shock contents. The amount of heat needed to make any significant difference to the rust bond is likely more than is safe to conduct to the shock body. Just don't do it. Stay away from any method that would distort the strut tube or threads, which would render it useless even if the shock did eventually come out. Good luck

I know the ones you mean. The north american later 280's (77 and up? I think?) that I've seen have the side marker lights (turn repeaters to you!) and headlight wiring entering the engine bay through holes on the inner fenders, just on the engine side of the rad support, above the frame rails. None of this silly earlier way of running wires from the wheel wells down and under the car and up into the front of the rad area, all exposed to the road! We're talking true refinement here that actually had a hint of water proofing at the connectors as well! Luxury! I've never seen a supplier of these grommets. They are trapped on the harness and are originally applied as the harness was being constructed. No fun to replace even if you had replacements. Hey! They are almost the size and look of throttle rod rubber boots at the firewall, maybe they could be pressed into service? These are available as repo's. Same basic funnel shape.

Aha! Bad u-joint(s)! Good find. Don't give up hope. The reports of non-fixable u-joints are not all inclusive. Take your drive shaft to a good drive line shop and see what they say.

Norm has been in business a long time. His strengths are his excellent quality parts restorations especially hardware plating, and he has an decent inventory. I would say his prices are in the high to premium range but you generally get what you pay for. I wouldn't use him for generic parts purchasing. I often wonder why he doesn't advertise more.

My guess either a ujoint went or just something stuck in a wheel or tire. Take anything apart back there lately? Get the wheels off and start wiggling and looking.

Welcome to easy engine pulling 101. As long as the fan and rad are out, it comes right off the trans and right out. Easiest engine in the world to pull. Being a bit long, an engine leveler helps some, but not necessary. Good luck

Well that explains why "Blue" went missing in the discussions for so long. I had no question that it would fire right up. And I see NS is as ugly as usual this time of year... How about that same pic with the Z by the garage instead?

Here are the pictures of my selection. The group of three on the left are the most common. I believe the first or second are Z, the right one of the three is a zx variant with a spring loaded center. The ones on the right side are all "A" type shifters. Others feel free to chime in with further identifying remarks. Let me know. Yours for the price of postage. Jim

I think I have one (or more...) of every type of shift lever ever put in a Z from 69 to 83. Shall I take of picture of the different ones I have and let you pick? Or do you have a particular one in mind? A picture of the one you have would indeed be useful to help with the selection. Mainly the differences, other than the shape of the shifter rod, is the length from the pin to the cup on the end. If yours is just a bit short, or the plastic cup is broken internally, you might not get the total movement you need to push the rod into reverse. Does it work fine when parked with engine off, but not when driving, or it just won't go no matter what?