Mikes Z car

Blue, grannyknot, John Coffey, tlorber, Thanks for the great ideas. I did go buy a belt sander this morning before I saw all of the replies. I sometimes get stuck with the idea I have to use what I have at hand. I will remember all of the ideas for other work later on. Mike

Hi all, I cut an 8X12 inch piece of sheet metal out of a parts car using an angle grinder with a cutoff wheel and a jigsaw for a couple of small spots where the angle grinder couldn't reach. The resulting edge where both machines cut is irregular, how can the edge be made straighter or cut straighter in the first place so it looks nice? I could use a long hand file for the finished edge but I am hoping there is a better way. Mike

Today I painted the 240z back floor "hunter green" a spray paint color from thrifty hardware similar to the original #907 green for my car. Last summer I scraped off the tar material that was back there so I painted it today so it would not be bare metal. I thought it was interesting that most of the metal was shiny and rust free underneath that tar stuff. I know it is like undercoat but I didn't think it was supposed to be much protection.

Wish I had been there I would have enjoyed seeing her start up. Thanks for sharing.

No problemo. Thrify hardware here has black countersunk screws that will work though the heads are socket type. The also have zinc plated countersunk screws. To go easy on the fiberglass I think I will use a thin rubber washer under zinc plated countersunkscrews.

Sean240Z, Blue, an_unusual_eye, Diseazd, Thanks for the information, I am off to the hardware store to see what they have. I will get this console back in after having it and other parts of the interior pulled out for 3 years. Diseazd, looking at your avatar I think that is a real troll. We have a couple in our yard but they are fakes.

Does anyone happen to know what the three screws look like that are at the back of a 240Z console? Are they slotted or phillps? The PO of my car had only two screws there and they are different lengths so I don't think they are original. Was there a felt, soft or other washer under the screws? A ta p and die set seems to indicate they are 5MM at .8 pitch and the ones I have are slotted. Any info appreciated.

My first Z had rusty holes in the rocker panels and rusted holes on the wheel well arches next to the lip. I sanded to bare metal and put a thin layer of bondo over both rocker panels and over the wheel wells. Had the car painted and 8 years later when I sold it the rust had not come back and the car still looked great.

I had a cop rear end my previous Z around 1983 though it wasn't entirely his fault in my opinion. There wasn't major damage but I felt sorry for the gentleman as I figured he had to have been embarrassed. I did a triple take when I got out of the car and saw the car that hit me was a cop. He noticed my reaction and said "it isn't every day that a cop runs into you is it?". I had jumped on the gas a bit too fast when the car in front of me had taken off, then the car in front of me stopped immediately making me have to stop even more quickly making it tough for the cop behind me to stop in time. What made it worse for the cop is that he said he was adjusting his radio at the time. That was the last time I was that unpredictable or jumpy in traffic. I saw that same scenario play out in opposing street traffic once (same city) and that scenario also caused an accident which drove home the lesson for me. I don't want to be unpredictable in traffic any more!

I read a scathing rejection of those on car sacrificial anodes once. Anodes on ships work because they can impose a current flow through the anode and the low resistance water. Getting electricity to flow through high resistance air is more difficult. I'd love to see additional opinions on sacrificial anodes on cars. I used to be the anti corrosion guy where I worked (among other nefarious duties) not that that makes me any kind of expert, it just makes me interested. I remember reading the rust bullet website where they tested phosphoric acid conversion compared to other protections. Their testing, if assumed to be unbiased, showed other protections worked a lot better (rust bullet was one of the protections that worked better than phosphoric acid). There are dissenting opinions no doubt. The local Z mechanic used phosphoric acid on his Z car resto, I went with rust bullet for painting on surfaces and transtar amber spray for interior areas like rocker panels. Mike in Boise

I haven't most of the time but I know someone who would agree with you 100% (my wife) To help her cope with driving frustrations she put a plastic medallion on the dash of a blue smurf dude with a movie camera. This is to remind her that others are playing out the movie of their life, which is different from the movie that she is playing. She was told about this idea by a naturopathic doctor who has an amazing sense of intuition. I don't know how effective it is. I don't have a smurf dude in my Z but I get frustrated once in a while. (Here would be a great place to step on the gas a tiny bit but that guy in front of me insists that I get good gas mileage on this stretch)

That is ingenious! Thanks for sharing.

I almost had a car fire once a long time ago for the same reason, an unfused wire. Can't blame anyone else though because I did it (never repeated that mistake).

The constant on 12V is supposed to be connected to the map light, clock, cigarette lighter and probably the light above and behind you for the door open light (also the hazard switch). If a wire jumper is connected between the existing radio constant on 12V and the map light or cigarette connector wire some things may start to work. On my car the door open light started working when I pulled out the door switches and used a pocket knife to scrape the car frame and switch body. Do the parking lights work? Sometimes a parking light socket shorts to ground internally taking out the parking lights and lights for the dash gauges though dash gauge lights can quit because of the dimmer switch (try rotating it back and forth a lot to possibly make it work).

Yes indeed, nice tags, not only that they are a lot neater looking than the tags I put on.

Jim, and 240dkw, Thanks very much for the information. I will look again with daylight, other stronger lighting and a mirror to see the back of the wiring harness but I don't see a wire in that area. I tried feeling the backside of the electrical harness but couldn't feel a stub where someone might have cut off a wire. I will put a wire tracker on the fuse that feeds that light to see if I can track it down that way. If I can't find the wire I will run a new one. Thanks for the info that helped a lot. Mike

Kingbird6, Can you tell where the condenser wire goes, does it go inside the voltage regulator along with the other wires that go inside the voltage regulator? My 1/70 car doesn't have a separate wire for a condenser to connect to, that is the voltage regulator doesn't have a wire flopping around with nothing connected to it. There is no condenser that I can see either. The PO put a fuel pump in that area, don't know if they might have changed anything.

What wire near the radiator does the engine bay light plug into? Does that wire come from the engine bay harness or is it a separate wire? I don't see a spare wire near the radiator to plug the inspection light into on my car. The 72 FSM (I actually have a 1970 car) shows the inspection light red/blue wire going to the fusebox and changing from red/blue to green/blue as it nears the fusebox. Thanks for any info.

The voltage regulator on my 1/1970 car appears to be NOS as the cad finish is very shiny almost like it just came out of the box. It has six wires though the connector on the car only has five wires. The car has been like this at least since 2008 when I got it and voltage wise appears to work fine. One of the positions for a wire on the car connector is empty, there is no wire there but there is a corresponding wire on the voltage regulator connector. Maybe the original regulator had 5 wires but the newer 6 wire regulators also plug in and work? Someone else may know better how to interpret that.

I'll be at the meeting. I qualify because I have stuff stacked in a closet (non metal parts mice might be interested in) and on the back patio. That list ignores the parts car parked nearby. I would stash parts in trees if I thought I could get away with it (hmmm, maybe I can). To help with my cost of spare parts I used to buy at the JY but the parts car I eventually stumbled on was a real help on a cost per parts basis. I remember seeing an original radio laying on the floor of a JY 240Z but I didn't get it because I knew I wouldn't use it. Only part I ever passed up on I should have grabbed. I still have more parts than I will ever use. I could realize a profit if I wanted to sell them. Hello, I am Mike I and I haven't looked on Craigslist for spare Z parts for at least 5 minutes.

That is a rare hood ornament.

My first 240Z in 1979, an 8/1971. Had it about 3 years at this point. Already had painted it back to the original orange with imron. Still remember where the rust was that I fixed with the first body work I attempted, used rad iator hose with sandpaper wrapped around it for the wheel arches. Good running car. Dyno'd at some point at 121 HP (all stock). I'd take this one back in a minute.

This previous answer given at the location below didn't work? I thought there was a recent thread on reproductions for the various ignition wire supports but I can't find it. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/electrical-s30/50912-coil-wire-holder.html

I like those Datsun roadsters. Fortunately for me my dad was a sportscar fan. We had various ones sitting around the house. I never got to drive the 280ZX anniversary edition that he had but got to drive the Porsche 928, the Pantera and a Fiat Spyder 128 (hope I got the name right). All of them were fun for one reason or another. Welcome Joe and have fun!