zKars

At the wheel end, the one with the missing C clip had a slipped collar too. So what to do? Well I did a permanent fix. I repositioned the collars in the right spot, and welded them down. No more of this horse **** The “right spot” by the way is exactly 0.1 inch back from the groove. Measured a real stock cable to get that value. Quick weld, water to cool, do another etc. There is a plastic sheath on the cable so have to keep my cool. I put some dual wall shrink tube over it as well for a bit of water proofing.

On to the issue. The cable is not a perfect reproduction of the original as far as the design of the ends and swag fittings, but appears well made. Got under the car this morning and found one of the retaining C clips gone of the right side of the body up above the diff nose where the sheath end is mounted to the body. No wonder pulling the handle didn’t result in any wheel e-brake tension. Ok, why did the clip come loose? Also found the C clip and clevis pin GONE on the left side at the wheel end too. Ok, what the **** is going on? Grabbed a new C clip and wiggled up to the top mount and tried to put it back in. No way, there is about 1/2” too much slop in the fitting, no way the clip is going to stay in place. Closer inspection, and AHA!! There is a collar on each swagged end, that sets the stop distance to the C clip groove. That collar is punched on two sides at a flattened thinned area to “lock” it to the inner core. Well not so much in this case. The right one is free as a bird and slid back as far as it can go and the left one has started as well. Lovely quality control. On a couple I can “just” see the mating dimple on the core, simply not enough punch strength or depth. Can’t see that punch lock lasting very long on any of these. Some slightly better ones that are working are likely a couple of pulls away from failure. And we all know how much “fun” it is to work on the cable under the car, there is hardly nothing around it to get in the way is there…. Grumble… Thank god this car is all fresh so I can spin threads and nuts by hand.

Anyone else use this cable and experience any problems? Or did it work just fine?

An early Z car I did a restoration over the winter came back in this week for “tweeks and tightens” after going back into service since May. Owner said the e-brake didn’t work anymore. I had installed the reproduction cable available from Motor Sport Auto. https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/24-5151-1 Discovered a major problem with at least this one, but I bet it’s more wide spread. I will tag Joseph@zstore or however you do that so they are made aware. @Joseph@TheZStore This is a picture from MSA’s website.

Wow! I had totally forgotten about that. What a cool idea, support/trap the ends of the tubes. I'm going to buy one of those aftermarket oil tubes as well and see what happens.

Deja vu all over again. Working on a buddies L26 engine, doing a Weber carb jet and tune, and decide to check valve lash and replace the valve cover gasket. Take off the cover, and starting doing a SOP check up on things and what should I see? Well first, what do I NOT see? The back end of the spray bar is what! Ok, where’s Waldo? Oh thank god, there it is, laying there happy as a clam. Cam lobes don’t look too bad, hopefully this happened not too long ago. Go to the stash for the later version that has better welds. Down to one more of those. Going to have get the TIG welder out and weld that back tube into place on the dozen or so spares that ALL have loose welds ALL Along the rail. The middle ones are trapped, so they can’t fall out. Everybody go check your spray bars. See who’s home or who is packing their bags and has a ticket purchased.

Excellent work all around. There is a particular joy in creating something from essentially nothing but raw materials. I use M5 rivet nuts for my tray removal function. Once you buy a decent rivet tool to set them, they are cheap and easy. I use them all the time for things like replacing all the silly plastic push pins that hold in the plastic interior panels. Just to help everyone down the line, don’t forget our friends at KFVintage now have a new battery tray at a very reasonable price.

Guess it’s official. https://gmauthority.com/blog/2021/06/2022-nissan-z-to-be-unveiled-in-august-as-chevy-camaro-and-corvette-rival/amp/ “The 2022 Nissan Z sports car will make its official debut at the New York International Auto Show in August, the Japanese automaker confirmed this week.“

Speaking of center finders, here is a new cool tool of that ilk that appeared on the ol’ FB feed today. https://www.centerquic.com/?fbclid=IwAR2qYZtaqWD0fYPMFBh5QQUuivk6HbW9_4nqL0SCk1PHutx-C6B4nT2LYQ8_aem_AZBxVPZMyQBRqlSeY_76rQlEL4s4Lbpu5c3QIw0Efp9DDIcEwJj3dOuf_5xhVlkR5e5Yxr72CvqgWUDoomgqObEK5WAORsFvh2zrzCo13nXQgt05YdcFxIWGmVjZMtXM92Y $168 USD. To click or not to click “Purchase now”…

Diff wise, it helps if (for the lower one) you have the "outie " style as far as getting a wrench on it to take it out, as it points at the transverse link bar. What really matters is to put the one with the magnet in the bottom hole. That and having it fit and not leak..... As to what is "correct" factory wise, I leave that to the historians. Transmission wise I usually see an outie on the fill hole and innie on drain hole.

Having the luck to look at many of these, I have seen some from the later 280’s that DO have clips in them. Now as to why anyone thought you might need them, I can’t imagine. Assuming they are not bent or deformed or twisted, they snap on VERY firmly. About the only problems I’ve had installing them stems from a fresh paint job where too much paint thickness on the gutter pinch weld. I am fairly confident that the factory would not spend extra money on these if they hadn’t had reported issues that these clips addressed. I can go look if any of the rails I have contain these clips to show what they look like. And here is my hot tip for drip trim removal https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/65066-new-way-to-remove-stainless-drip-rail-trim/ .

Entire thread is tongue in cheek I assure you. I cannot always be counted on to do the right thing, but in this case, I know what to do. And in this case it involves charging my customer a nice markup for new bolts.

I’m totally doing this! New bolts are a fortune! Thanks!

And today, the final stage of my birthday present, I was able to put a vise grip on the stub and easily break it free then unthread it by hand. Yahoo! It never goes this smooth.... What do you think? Buy new head bolts or just re-use the old ones?

So I wire brushed the stub clean and set up a rag pad around it to hold penetrating oil and let her sit for 24 hours with hourly application of more weasel squeezings....

It is common I have found to struggle with the removal of two particular head bolts. Left side, #4 and 5 from the front. Coolant seems to get there and rust them into place. So the recent engine (N42/N42) needed the head off, and sure enough, all were easy to break free, but #4 was a struggle, and #5 broke. Here we go again. Took the head off, and found stage one of the birthday present. The bolt broke a good 3/8” of and inch above the block! Yahoo! Look at the crud around that bolt. The head gasket was mostly eaten through here. Old engine, old coolant.

The pedal box is from a 75. No changes on this piece in the 280 year range that I’m aware of. Maybe check the parts fiche to be sure, but can’t think of anything 77-78 specific that would affect it.

Here are pics of them side by side. 280 box is obviously wider (larger booster), yes two holes under the dash at the front vs 4. 280 box is also deeper from fire wall to dash mount. The two tabs that stick out the side look about the same.

I’ll put the two side by side and post a picture and you can decide. My guess is there is enough dimensional difference that it would not be worth the effort. What exactly is your problem with the current setup? There is a booster rebuilder somewhere in the US that can make your present booster new again. Search for “Brake Booster rebuild datsun” MSA and probably Zcardepot sell alternative boosters. Even going with a more aggressive pad compound (hawk or porterfield has some options for stock brakes)

Did you find a wing bolt yet? Can you measure the one you have pls?. There are two different lengths, and if you have the later flat tops and its matching “larger” air cleaner, I think the bolts are shorter than the earlier ones. Send me a PM and we can take it from there.

Yes there is supposed to be a little rubber pad on there.

And because looking at orange Z pictures is never boring... https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1971-datsun-240z-165/

When you google them, they are associated and spec’ed to ridiculously expensive exotics Ferarri, Mazeratti etc. Hence their crazy value. Quite rare and quite valuable. $1800 would be a steal. Ebay has a new set at the going value, no intake etc.

This has been an area of annoying persistent leakage for me in the past. Now I always use a sealant on both sides of the gasket. The ones I get in most gaskets sets are thick and hard as a rock, no way they are going to seal without some help and perfect surface prep. I hate drilling and extracting bolts like that, but there may be enough meat there to go up to M8 if things go sideways.

Yes, without a reverse lock out port to poke a 1/4 socket extension and air hammer into, that thing is a witch to remove. I built a crazy complex U shaped thing to push them out, worked ”ok” but tough to get all the angles right. Dang wedge pins can be very tight. Drilling an access hole then NPT plugging it after would be my goto solution, but not everyone is comfortable doing that.