Poindexter

I tried the Red Line MT-90, which "cured" my second-upshift *crunchiness* problem instantly. I called all the big oil manufacturers and spoke to their tech people, and the Red Line people seemed to be the most knowledgeable- but that could have been the luck of the draw. I'm sure the big makers are all pretty close though. This is what their website says: "MT-90 Popular in Nissan, Toyota and Mazda manual transmissions and transaxles as well as other selected applications, this is a 75W90 GL-4 Gear Oil that’s slightly heavier than MTL. Provides excellent protection of gears and synchronizers and its balanced slipperiness provides a perfect coefficient of friction, allowing easier shifting." FWIW.

:sick: Again with this stoopit tawk? Can you try to type proper english? Why consistently waste our time with these questions just to get a rise out of people here? Ask about adding wings next time.

Really? That's all? Too bad that's not the question anyone was asking. It's about what *specifically* causes the differences of a few thousand between cars- with all else being equal. :cross-eye

I have my original numbered and colored-topped keys with the original key fob, safe and sound. I made several copies from HOME DEPOT for less than $2.00 per key! I would rather live with the "indignity" of that than pay someone an obscene profit. Anybody that pays multiples of what they are worth also buys inflated junk from that "person" in Texas on ebay who wants to charge $20 to ship a shift knob. I doubt anyone has bitten at those prices yet. This is "publicity" like Hitler had.

My heart skipped a tiny beat when I saw it listed again. But there's no negative feedback given to the previous "bidder" who didn't complete the sale? I thought it sold last go-round. Must have been dreaming. And I too am waiting to see some pictures from jtmader and AggieZ. I can't get enough looking at well-restored cars- or even valuable dis-assembled ones! It's part of my education, learning what makes for value in these cars.

Great idea. I have heard that a chunk of dry ice in a pail of water (carefully insulated from any surface inside of the car) works well also- although I have yet to try it.

Rest in Peace, to an old and bold racer. The first American-born Formula One World Champion! Smooth roads and full tanks! "Phil Hill died Aug. 28 in a Monterey, Calif., hospital as a result of respiratory problems complicated by Parkinson's disease. He was 81." link to several stories- autoweek- http://tinyurl.com/6ymlfd Jalopnik- http://jalopnik.com/5043145/phil-hill-racing-legend-dead-at-81

I love car shows. There are at least 3 different shows within 20 minutes of me, every week. I'm usually the only Z there, and as "rough" as mine is, I still enjoy showing her off, talking with all of the people there, and hearing and telling stories about Z's and other cars- I did own a *whole* bunch of classic cars over the years. I usually bring a chair, a bottle of cold water, put up my two "windshield plaques" and shoot the breeze with whoever comes over, and then alternately walk around and check out the other goodies. My first real dedicated Z Car Show was the NJ Show last weekend, and it was so great to be among "friends"- people who know the difference between a 240 and a 260, and don't think they were all made with "Corvette" engines! I'll look for any reason to spend a few hours along with 100 or so other car people, walking around and checking out the many, many different cars- some which I have never seen, or seen rarely at best. Awards or door prizes are bonuses- not a reason to attend.

FWIW- here are a few pictures of a brand new GT-R I took at the NJ Z Car Show on 8/23/08. I think the pictures do no justice, but as has been said, in person the car ROCKS! I want one. The heck with the GT-3 Porsche!

I can't find the exact picture, but this is close. Polished Walnut Shift Knob, Five Speed Pattern. This one is the 4-speed, but you get the idea. The second photo is of my previous knob, a Momo. While gorgeous, it was too far from stock.

Hi Jersey Joe. I was parked right up front, first Zed to the left of the Committee Judging Table with all of the goodies on it, with my nose into the curb, and my hatch open to the crowd. And of course, I was the only 920 Gold Z there. I was standing and talking with 7277 for a while too, and we were perhaps the tallest duo there, although he was taller than I- something that rarely occurs since I'm 6'3". I was also wearing the black "Nissan" baseball cap they gave out as a spiff. I did walk up and down the line gawking at and taking pix of the other cars, although I was usually by the GT-R, drooling and taking tons of pix of her!!! I think for the future we should have a dedicated thread for us "Classic Z car" people to plan to meet-up, and maybe even grab breakfast together. It's always great to meet and greet and like you said, to put a face to the name. Maybe even a special window placard or sticker- isn't there a "Classic Z Car Club sticker? I've also been dealing with a great company that makes fantastic quality embroidery polo shirts that I bet a lot of us would like to buy. Perhaps I will start a dedicated thread for just that, anybody interested? There are just so many people that I would like to meet. And for anybody that's interested in photography in general, please visit my Flickr photostream (link at bottom of my sig line) for pix of the NJ Z Car as well as the bi-monthly local Saturday Night Cruise-In for all classic cars. There are also some other more artistic photos mixed-in that are represented there too. Comments are always welcomed!

What a class act. He and my aunt were neighbors in CT- they had starred in several movies together in the 50's and 60's and were still great friends. When my aunt passed away he and Joanne both came to her funeral and took the time to speak to us- just as human beings, not as a Hollywood megastar. Then later, a few years ago when my Mom passed away (from cancer caused by 40 years of smoking too ) he wrote us a wonderful note with remembrances of the short conversation he and my Mom had at the funeral- 12 years earlier! It's bringing back memories of my Mom's passing, so I hope that he has an easy passing, surrounded by his family, and no pain. What a wonderful man. Please don't smoke people. The outcome is almost always the same. And it ain't pretty. TETS. (thus endeth the sermon)

OK- there are 22 photos from the 2008 New Jersey Z car club Show/Event. I've also included several pics of the new GT-R (and a gorgeous XK-150 Jag from my local Cruise-In). Both are awesome so I included them for your enjyment! And yes, I went to 2 car shows Saturday. Sorry for the over-exposure/sun glare in some of them, my good camera picked just that inauspicious moment to commit hara-kiri, so I was left only with my 2mp Voyager mobile cam which doesn't allow for any exposure control. I've attached a few of them here for now until I to add them all to the Gallery so they're hosted internally, but for now, please follow the link below to my Flickr photostream to see the rest. If you happen to like photography in general, as I really do, you might even appreciate some of the other shots too.

@rdefabri- I didn't get there until almost 1PM, sorry I missed you. I had an amazing time. What a nice bunch of people, and a great group of Z cars- 1970 through the present. It was really nice being amongst your own- as opposed to all of the generic classic cruise-ins, where I am the only Z car. I was up almost all last night working to get my shifter up for the trip, so I never got to sleep and went straight there! Ugh. My camera's batteries died too and I didn't bring the car charger, so I took a bunch of pix with my camera phone. Decent enough though. But then on the way home I stopped by the Middletown Classic Car Show and hung out there until 8:30PM, so I am totally wiped out. I'll post about a dozen pic or so tomorrow, hopefully I won't sleep the day away. The show-stopper was a brand new Tomato-red GT-R!!!! Nasty!!!! BTW I met up with 2 classiczcars people, 7277 and another guy- whose name I'm unfortunately blanking on now. It was nice meeting people from the board. I think I just missed "winning" oldest Z, by a guy with a VIN in the 16,000's. More mañana.

Better late than never. I'm on the way to the show! Yeah! Still never got my dang shifter bushings in, thank god for duct tape!

Yes, welcome Gravitysucks. I 'm basically in same boat as you are- I just got my Z back on the road after 15 years of storage. It's been nearly 4 months and I get so much driving enjoyment from her nearly every day. I second the comment about taking tons of pictures if your schedule permits. Following along with other projects is one of my favorite things, and I'm sure I'm not alone. Good luck!

Because that would leave a short piece as waste, which perhaps the workers were loathe to do. Hence waiting for another anomaly to pair it up with and simply give some owner a "long pair". Just speculating. I'll just go look for my rumpled overcoat and cigar now. Great detective work coming up with those numbers.

It's such a sin to have those cars just sitting there, forlorn and unfulfilled Imagine the joy they would bring were they restored, to almost any degree. Imagine the money that would be put back into the economy with all that has to be done on them, especially when considering the multiplier factor. It does seem a bit extreme to effectively force anybody to sell their legally owned property. It also seems that a few hundred dollars in the absolute sense shouldn't sink a large-scale project- where you might end up with some finished cars and some parts for sale too- in the long-term perspective. I wish somebody had the resources to buy up all of these cars and warehouse them for future consideration. I mean imagine what a $10 or $20 grand would buy out there- from multiple sources. It's certainly something I'm considering for my "retirement" days. A substantial garage with a seriously dedicated clientele, with lifts, rotisserie, dip tanks, blasting, paint booth the whole shebang.

How right. On a silver, black, or other similar colored Z, those cf panels really rock! BTW, @ Will, how do you like this pic taken from the driver's seat? The road was so twisty, as you can see in the GPS. I so agree with the sentiment expressed in your sig!

IMHO, I would absolutely stick with factory original specs- first. You can always change it darker later if you aren't happy. I hear Tower Paint is another source for Datsun colors, perhaps someone can comment on their quality if they've done business with them in the past? I have to buy 920 Gold touch-up paint once I get the existing paint color-scanned to deal with aging effects- as I imagine there might be some significant variance. Wah! I want to have nice, newly painted panels too, but I'm unable to make any major changes that would bring attention to them as not being utterly original. I just have this unavoidable drive to leave my car untouched as much as possible, except for any potential safety issues. The only solution? Buy another Z!

I have heard that this is a very common complaint that some have even misdiagnosed as exhaust fume infiltration. My PO even turned the exhaust 90 degrees to come out behind the left rear wheel in a mistaken effort to get the exhaust out into the slipstream more! The first thing to do, for safety's sake, IMHO, is to take a battery powered carbon monoxide detector into the car with the windows closed and then open, and see if the alert gets triggered. Or a line-powered version with an extension cord. Or wait to see if your lips turn bright red then blue from the CO. Once you determine that there is no danger from carbon monoxide you might want to consider my fix below as one way to deal with this. Or it could be a bad gas filler tube too, but I don't know enough to comment specifically on it, having never disassembled one yet. There are dozens upon dozens of vent lines coming and going between the tank and filler neck and the vapor tank, just about everywhere! Seriously, I have been told there are 7 in total. The same engineer must have designed the combo switch! The stock diagram has been posted here before and I've attached somebody else's well-though out mod/fix- with all due credit to them. I came up with a novel approach to make a temporary fix, as I understand the only "permanent" fix is replacing all of the lines among other things, like checking the sender plate, gas tank, etc., etc.- beyond the scope of this fix. I pulled the right rear inner panel off and the PO had wrapped dozens of grocery bags around the vent lines! I pulled all of them off, and painted that liquid electrical tape goop all over the hoses. This stopped virtually all of the gas smell. I've read that it's a good idea to replace the tail light gaskets and hatch weatherstripping too, but there are many threads I'm sure about sealing the back of the Z. Good luck.

Hi Kats. I would go on this voyage on any day, at any time! I've driven across the US 3 times and loved every second of it. Have you driven much in the US, and ever in a Z car? Thanks for those fantastic videos! There are some amazing pieces of hardware to connect video to a computer and create a file- if you have not done so already. I mention this so you can save these rare tapes digitally, as videotape starts to go bad after several years. @Carl- what about driving the "Tail of the Dragon"? Have you (or anyone)ever done it? It would be a great stop along the long way. It could be worth a thread by itself.

Although I have done it- there and back- I usually combine it with an overnight stay in Boston. I hit the Kennedy Museum, plus one or 2 of my old haunts from college days, and 3 restaurant meals- No Name for dinner, Ye Olde Union Oyster House and sit in John F. Kennedy's booth for lunch, T. Anthony's for cheese steaks, my old post hockey workout meal stop, and at least 2 fried clam dinners at Woodmans of Essex- well used to be the best, but I hear not anymore. I leave at 3-4AM and it's less than 4 hours- 265 miles each way. BTW, I would usually buy an extra cheesesteak and keep it warming on the air cleaner so I would have something to munch on for energy during the trip. Nice and toasty, and right at 180 degrees!

Google Maps has it at approximately 63 miles – about 1 hour 28 minutes en route. Do you go anywhere near Pat's Steaks??? I'm serious! I've been known to drive from NJ to Essex Mass just to get fried clams. I have a serious cheese steak addiction too.

I think I've called every junk and parts yard in New Jersey and almost to a person they told me that they had not seen a Z car in over 10 years. I guess they just turn to iron oxide in these parts. The Rust Belt.