TomoHawk

There are areas that are protected from fading, like under the bonnet, or inside the car. from my experience, they can't match the colour anyway. Even paint from the PO that's only a couple years old. thxZ

I don't use a sunshade per se, but I do have two lexan panels that snap into the windscreen. They are painted gray on the back, and on the front I stuck on dash plaques from all the car show I went to. The panels store behind the seat, and the car is noticeably cooler. Is there a sun shade for the hatch glass?

If you just want to add a strip of tinting along the top, you can get a roll of tinted stuff that you just cut to length and press in place. I put one on my other car, and it's been there for 10 years so far. I put ut in line with the rear-view mirror, leaving a gap at the top so you can see the traffic light if you too close. I've never needed to use the sunvisor that way. I think that if you wanted something with a logo on it, a sign shop might be able to put some graphics on tinted vinyl for you. Either that or a ricer shop. thxZ

If you wanted to get some paint, say #240- green metallic, what would you tell the guy at the paint store or body shop? Every time I talk to one of those guys they just tell you, "We can colour-match any colour." I don't want to get the colour matched; just order up a quart or so of #240 ( for example.) thxZ

Great. We'll look forward to meeting you there. There are a number of people from MI (and Chicago- windy-city Z club) going to the convention. I think one MI guy goes by the name ZMAX. thxZ

I'm boycotting the Olypics until they stop outsourcing that to other countries!

I like to make or keep things simple, so if I modded my 280Z it might be to simplify on the inside. The cheap plastic center console could go.

The whole downtown area has had a big renewal thing going. there are bunch of renovated "old" houses (mansions) on Euclid Ave that are said to be close to the million $ mark. On top of that, on the old flats (not the one on the river by the lake) where the steel mills were is getting some new interest to turn it back to park land and some kind of amusement area possibly with a race track. Don't forget we have the Mid-Ohio sportscar course reserved, plus a great place for autocross. Then there's the Rock 'N' Roll hall of fame, a dinner cruise on the lake in a reallly cool boat and there will be daily busses going downtown for sightseeing. there are over a dozen restaurants ranging from gourmet burgers to authentic Mexican to Asian and even a few microbreweries. We're signing on some live bands so there will be music just about every night. The more people that attend, the better this event will be. You don't even need to bring a Z car! You can just attend and hang out with other Z owners. I've even talked to some regular people whp want to fly in and rent 350Zs or Acuras just to go to Mid-Ohio! Don't forget the weather uring the convention will still be fairly warm. You Canucks might think it's still summer, and the southern chaps would probably enjoy the break from the summer heat. I haven't used my a/c in weeks and I can still spend the day ( and evening!) in shorts & a T-shirt. I just leave the windows open all day. thxZ

There are many people signed up to go to the 2008 ZCCA Convention, but out of the thousands of Z car owners in the U.S.A, there are some that aren't going? What's keeping you from going??? thxZ

Carfax is useless on an S30. They only go back to around 1982 or so, and when I tried it (online) on my car, it asked for the 17- character VIN. The same with those online car insurance places. thxZ

The pool question is fairly vague. Is it about what you did to your car, what you like, or want to do or what? It's not possible to answer things unless you know the question. thxZ

The distributor cap was marked before I swapped the wires. Changing one wire at a time was not the thing to do because none of the new wires were numbered, nor were any of them the same length as the old ones, which weren't the right lengths to begin with. I took all the wires off because I had to see which of the new ones was the right length.

Well, I think I'll get my dizzy gear & rotor checked when I get the chance, and correct it, if need be. In the meantime, I still have an engine that runs. I thxZ

I think you gotta be right on the ocean with the wind blowing your way a lot for the salt air to have any effect on the car.

On a 1978 280Z. I just had a professional mechanic service my car because I tried to put on a new set of ignition wires ( spark plug wires) and I couldn't get the bloody thing to start! I got out my Haynes book, and looked up the firing order and the picture of the dizzy cap, and hooked it all up according to that information. It didn't start. Then I took it all off and did it again with the same results. I even put a dab of paint on the #1 tower. After a few attempts I got out my FSM, and looked up the dizzy stuff. It had the exeact same picture of the dizzy cap, and the firing order. It still didn't start. Finally I decided to get the pro guy to look at it. It turned out that the picture of the dizzy in both manuals had the #1 spark plug tower on the opposite side of the cap! In the pictures, the #1 tower is at about the 3- o'clock position, and the tech guy said it was supposed to be at the 9- o'clock position. I'm getting a new cap & rotor, and a coil, so I'll transfer the corrected positions of things to the new parts. I'm also going to draw pictures into my Haynes book and the FSM. You'd think that the FSM would at least have things right. thxZ

I heard something similar about the Florida cars, that they are supposed to rust out faster because they are close to the ocean; the salt air will get into the metal.

Does anybody know what the replacement procedure is? Can somebody synopsize? Mine could either use a replacement or patching ( depending what's under those two blobs of rubber 'patch' I see there.) :paranoid: thxZ

There's still plenty of room on the list for all you Z owners to come to Beautiful Cleveland, Ohio for the upcoming convention. First of all, you save hundreds on your housing bill... Remember that there'll be a full week of action, motoring events, parties & tech talks. You'll be seeing people from all over the U.S., Canada and some guys from Japan even! There is a judged car show, but you don't have to have your car judged; you can just go there and check out all the other rides. There's an arrangement with Mr K. to do a talk, and some other Nissan and Datsun- related people. Don't wait until the last minute to get signed up! Are you planning on registering in-person when you get to Cleveland? It's better for you and the host club if you sign register online in advance- you'll be able to breeze through the check-in procedure when you first arrive. PLUS, you'll save yourself a LOT of time not having to register for the individual events during the week!

Usually the code for the key is on the glovebox door. But if you can't even get in, you have a bigger problem, and why don't you have a spare set of keys??? Did you call a Nissan dealer to see if they can make you a key?

I used a citrus product like Simple green to do the general de-griming of my engine & engine area, then I used tire foam and brushes to do detailing. Since then I've been removing sections ( intakesystem, heater hoses, brake hoses & lines, radiator hoses, fuel lines, etc.)and cleaning/polishing/restoring those sections. I basically just use a wire wheel to clean off all the rust, then fine steel wool & mototool for fine polishing & detailing, and a light coat of clear high-temp paint. Don't forget to clean with wax & grease remover before painting. thxZ

I used a citrus product like Simple Green to do the general de-griming of my engine & engine area, then I used tire foam and brushes to do detailing. Since then I've been removing sections ( intake system, heater hoses, brake hoses & lines, radiator hoses, fuel lines, etc.) and cleaning/polishing/restoring those sections. For steel parts that can be removed I basically just use a wire wheel to clean off all the rust, then fine steel wool & mototool for fine polishing & detailing, and a light coat of clear high-temp paint. thxZ

Ok, thanks. I'm replacing the ball joints, rotors and pads, so I'll get the ceramic if available, or otherwise semi-metallic.

Are the engine numbers in the same places on a 280Z? If not, where? thxZ

Are these pictures and sketches available to the rest of us? I would really like to make a kind of a sunsheild for my windscreen by laminating a bunch of pictures together. So far I have a couple magazine ads. Maybe put some of these sketches on the S30 DVD collection? thxZ

If you want to clean the whole fuse box system at once, I'd recommend using Evaporust. It will remove rust & oxidation and not harm the wiring, plating, insulation, rubber, or plastic parts. then a lttle DeOxit on the contacts to improve the last of the surface and add some protection.