Zedyone_kenobi

Let me clear up something. First let me apologize for not being more concise with my picture description. I do have 4 cables as you describe EScanlon. The one that runs to the passenger side somewhere way behind the AC evaporator I did not manage to track down, so I unhooked it right at the slider control and I will have to reinstall it before put everything back together. I think it goes to the outside air vent if I am not mistaken. I will keep my eyes open for a thin wall foam tape. I need a trip to the Home Depot pretty soon.

UPDATE: My retrosound model one came in today. Just before I left for work I decided to take a peak inside. So far, I am very impressed. I was leery about how nice the install would be with a cut to fit type of application, but Retrosound say they have kits for hundreds of cars, I think they meant it. This is a VERY good first sign that this is a well sorted piece of kit. Notice the Datsun Z in the left corner. IT made me giddy with delight. It was also well packaged and all the wires appear to be very well marked More to come on the install soon. I will take the kit apart and take pictures the best I can. Hopefully it will help others out as well. I mean thats what we are all here for. I will also try to snap some pics of my heater cable installation if people are interested in that, so the mystery behind the heater controls is gone.

Wow, that would be a long way to push a Z. But if you can make it, it would be great!

That is awesome info!! That is what I was looking for! Looks like I need to go to Lowes then. Radio needs to get here QUICK!

Folks, my origins are from a Subaru sight, and this HELLAFLUSH nonsense comes form the younger more immature import crowd. They value appearance over function. Style over performance. They care nothing of heritage, history, and prestige. All they want is to be the latest guy with a 19 year old girl straddling their hood. I have fought the good fight to end it on my old stomping grounds of the subaru forums, but I am called one of the 'old' members who does not understand the new generation of modders. When I read the posts here, I knew I found my home. There is no room for encouraging kids to ruin good cars with style over substance. This mantra of thinking is why all the new music sucks, the new movies suck, the TV shows suck. Its all about appearance over quality. Its better to look good than to be good. I am not a young man, but I am not an old one either. I am young enough to know what these kids these day are thinking. To the original poster. If you want to stand out, make your car pristine, make it run right, and operate perfectly. THAT would be different. 4 years down the road, when all your friends cars are mechanically broken to bits and worthless, you can laugh as your classic Z will be running better and better and have actually GAINED value. To all my Classic Z brethren. I am proud to be among you.

Okay, you got me Frank....but after contorting myself to get a view under that dash, I certainly am not 18 anymore! haha

My project started today with a refurb of the cables in the heater unit. While I was waiting for the Retrosound to arrive. I started by removing the cables attach points from inside the dash. One to the water valve, one to the heater flapper on the floor, which is the DEF cable, and one to the large flapper right over the heater core, which is the AIR cable I believe. This allowed to me to easily remove the 4 screws holding the center dash plate on. You have to feed the push light back through the center dash plate to remove the plate. Also, you have to disconnect the white connector that goes to the fan speed rotary switch. Nothing was hard, but my old body did not want to bend to get all the cables loose. I went further than I thought I would because so much was dirty, I decided to clean it up. I removed the front off the plenum behind the center vent and cleaned it up. I am sure that the fixture on the right which feeds the center and side dash vents has some kind of seal on the back side, but mine was all but disintegrated. I will try to find some kind of rubber seal or weather stripping to use to seal that back up when I put it back on. Here is the center dash plate removed and dusted off. and here is the cable control mechanism a bit closer... you can see on that last image that there was some kind of foamseal between the plastic and the vent tube, but it was long gone. I will try to find something to hold that in place. A trip to the hardware store may be needed. I installed my new cables I ordered and generously lubed up the sliders with some bicycle teflon spray. It leaves a film of teflon on after the spray evaporates so it does not tend to attract as much dirt. Needsless to say with new cables and the levels well lubed the thing moves like butter on a warm day. I am still waiting on my radio, so that is all for now. I will put my ducting back together some time this week. I will have to fight the urge to not pull out my fuel gage and clean it up a bit. It is so EASY to get to. ONE QUESTION though: I noticed what appeared to be a hard uncoated bare metal wire about as thick and hard as an old metal coat hanger, just bouncing around in my dash. I followed it and it goes to the little add on rotary temperature control for my dealer installed AC. I have a suspicion that it is a thermocouple of some sorts, to regulate when the compressor turns on. Does this sound right. I have no idea where the end of it goes. One end comes out of my rotary switch for the AC the other end of the metal wire was just dangling back behind the blower near the evap or condenser. More to come as time gets closer. On a happy note, I found my old antenna up/down switch stashed away in some wires. I plan to make use of that!

I already have the MSA rear panel installed with two speakers form the PO, who did a hack job. I yanked everything but the speaker wires as they were already run for me. Thanks Micheal for the hints, I may be contacting you. Dave, I am an original stereo fit and finish kind of guy. I save my real stereo aspirations for my home stereo.

I was thinking about trying to replace my bearings in my rear end, but after reviewing the FSM, I do not think its a DIY type of job. Many special tools needed both off the shelf and Datsun factory special tools. Not sure as I am pretty sure I have a rear bearing on my passenger side of the diff that needs some removing and replacing. I think I may just try to replace the whole thing. I just have to find one that is in better shape than mine.

I just ordered a Retro Sound Model One from MSA and I will be installing it after I redo my DEF cable that is not functioning. Are there any pitfalls to installing a radio. Any advice. I know it is only a few wires, but is there something I could do to help myself out. Any advice on antenna's, how to prevent engine noise, etc. I do have a spare power antenna I want to install in the car, as mine does not seem to work. I have not done any troubleshooting yet. I know my up down switch has power going to it, I need to remove the panel covering the antenna and see what is getting power and what is not. Again, any advice in advance would be splendid.

All right, I will add you to the list! Look forward to meeting you!

Check out post number 19 Frank. No more tequila for you!

I will eat a skoan for you two!

http://user.streetfire.net/video/1971-240Z-with-vintage_205421.htm As mentioned, this is my ANSA setup.. hope this link works

Okay, judging by what I have so far, lets shoot for January 23rd at the uptown location starbucks, at around 11am. I have no issues drinking coffee around noon -

have you tried hybridz.org they are more into the uber wide tire / crazy offset thing.

Okay, upon review, I really like the UPTOWN PARK area recommended by wbsupernatural. I like this for several reasons: 1) It is located centrally and is not to far for those of us to the north, south and west. 2) It is right off the 610, which is easy to find and get in and out 3) Coffee and Cars is held there the first Saturday of every month, so it is a known car friendly place with food and drink near by. Our meet can coincide with Coffee and Cars or it can be another day. http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1151+Uptown+Park+Houston,+TX+77056&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=1151+Uptown+Park+Blvd,+Houston,+TX+77056&gl=us&ei=z1VDS72sIoemnQf5l9DyCA&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CAkQ8gEwAA I hope this link works. We just need to agree on a time to meet.

Okay, its the end of holidays, and I think its time we all planned for a casual meet and greet. I am going to try to settle on a place in the next couple of days that is car friendly, good food at a reasonable price, where we can sit and talk and blab on and on about our Z obsession. Again, if you have an idea, keep them coming. Some good ones have already been listed.

Just to update guys, I looked under my dash at the DEF cable attach point. I think I found the culprit. When I reran my new choke cables, I got them in right in the way of the retract for the DEF cable. When I pulled back I must have dislodged something in the instrument panel. The cable slides smoothly and the door opens very easily. So I think the center console coming out will show me that I have a broken or dislodged cable. Great detective work. Thanks for the pics and the help folks. It staggering what you can learn here!

Will do, thanks ! This is going to be back breaking project me thinks.

Those pics are Great, I downloaded the 72 FSM but do not have the chassis supplemental you mentioned. Looks like the AIR and DEF are on the left (drivers side), and the TEMP is on the right (pass side) close to the TEMP VALVE where the heater line comes in from the engine. Seems the AIR cable is on the top in that second picture, and the DEF cable is on the bottom. Both look like I should be able to get to them. I think the DEF cable is the one I need to focus on. Those are a great help and that blow up of the ducting is INCREDIBLY helpful. EDIT, just upon closer inspection, it would appear that the AIR lever in the dash actuates two different cables. One selects Heat or Vent locations for the central flapper, the other selects fresh or recirc air. Did I get this right. I am trying to make sense of the drawings. I am thinking the VENT selection gives you outside air, and the off selection gives you recirc.

It actually does. I think you may be right. My dash venting has not been messed with since the car was new, so I think what you said must be true...I will start to investigate when I get my new parts in.

sounds like my cars brother separated at birth! They were made pretty close to one another

Thats the thing.. I cannot move my slider to ROOM on the Def. The slider moves smooth like butter and binds on one end. So the cable is no longer functional, it is stuck on DEF and cannot go to ROOM. So in order to get heat though the vents, I need to have all the sliders to the right, just like the FSM says. Which means my suspect broken cable on the DEF is the answer to my problem

After finishing up my carb work I took her out for a drive and low and behold my next project surfaced. My car has previously been spot on with heater controls and A/C function. But now, I seem to have this strange problem on my 71 240Z with dealer installed AC (AC is irrelevant I think, but just to be sure I included it) AIR Off--------Vent--------Heat ------------------------ TEMP Off---------------------Heat ------------------------ DEF Def---------------------Room As denoted by the location of the smilies, in this config, with the car fully warmed up, I get very warm air blowing through the defrost vents near the windshield. All is well. However, when I slide the smiley over to VENT as so: AIR Off--------Vent--------Heat ------------ TEMP Off---------------------Heat ------------------------ DEF Def---------------------Room I get very cool air through the dash vents. You will note the DEF location is unchanged as I think sometime between now and last year, my DEF cable when south, so I have to assume since the defroster works like gangbusters that its stuck in the Def mode. To see if the temp cable was working, I put it in this config: AIR Off--------Vent--------Heat ------------------------ TEMP Off---------------------Heat DEF Def---------------------Room And the air coming out of the defroster gradually cooled down, which I think is normal. My question is why cant I get heat out of the vents? I ordered a new set of cables and a new TEMP valve from MSA already so I have everything I need, although I am sure I will not need all of it. I am anxious for any answers. ZED