motorman7

http://www.editgrid.com/user/mlwilliams/Z_Car_Registry Wow, looks like the registry has been cleaned up or revised to a date when the info was correct. My three are all shown correctly on this one. Haven't seen that in a while.

http://classicdatsun.com/ Les at Classic Datsun has the correct paint. Good stuff. Used it on all 3 of my motors

Yes, couldn't wait to take it for a drive and get some pics. I love driving it around. Well, since I shouldn't have much more in the way of expenses, I popped for two new fender emblems from 'Parts for my Nissan' on e-bay ($95 for the pair after tax and shipping). I called the number of the seller and got Tustin Nissan so the emblems should be pretty nice. Cost for the project is now at $5545. The emblems arrive today, so hopefully I can put these babies on SECURELY and drive the car to work tomorrow. I estimate that I still have about two months worth of work to do (weekends mostly) on the car and then it should be pretty much done. I need to fix the center console and install the old AM radio. Then I will work on the underside and clean up the gas tank, rear suspension paint, front disc shields, etc,and undercoating touch -up.

Thanks for checking on this Dave. Looking forward to the updates. Rich

I’m not sure $15 would do the job. When you add up location rental, security, awards and porta-potties the costs really add up. I think they should closely mirror the costs of ZCON for entry fees. I would think at least $30-$40 per car entry; of course that includes a show t-shirt and a goody bag. Also, I would see about getting a number of sponsors for the event, adding their logo’s to said t-shirt. A good place to start would be all of the JCCS sponsors. I’d invite ‘Z friendly’ vendors to the show and have them pay a small fee ($100) for a spot at the show. Same for food vendors. Would also like to see the a section for the 64-70 Datsun roadsters (Pre-Z's) there. They have large group here in SoCal. Lots of ways to raise cash for this. Then again, maybe they are doing this already. As for volunteering, count me in. I’d love to help.

The one thing to remember with all this is that an event of this size is a major undertaking and probably not a big money maker for them. In fact, I am sure there are upfront costs that require them to foot the bill until proceeds from the show come in. That being said, I think the best we can do as a group is voice our interest and volunteer our support for such an event to help minimize their work and cost. Hopefully this is all that would be needed to make the event successful. Rich

I am really hoping they have the “big” show. This is the one event that really brings the So Cal Z community together. The 2009 event was the best Z show that I have ever been to. As president of the ZCCIV, I offered Joseph at MSA our clubs’ support for a West Coast Nationals event. (Typically a number of our members volunteer to help out with the annual JCCS event). Our club would be more than happy to help out with volunteers to help make MSA’s work a little easier. And, I am sure the other local clubs would help as well. So, hopefully all the cards fall into place. We will be watching this one closely.

I am really thrilled here. Got the motor running nicely with just a few tweeks. Tightened the alternator belt to get rid of the bad Screech on acceleration. Added oil to the flat tops and that took care of the back firing. Motor revs nice and smooth and runs great (I like my flat tops ). Got the Oil in the trans, fluid in clutch and brake cylinders and bled both. Took it for a spin around the neighborhood and promptly lost the fender emblem. Spent almost an hour retracing my tracks but couldn't find it. Will check e-bay to see what I can find. May buy 2 just to have a back up. Well, since I got it going, had to take a mini photo shoot. Unfortunately the sun was setting pretty fast so pictures aren't the best, but not bad. I like the colors together. Was able to clean up the license plate pretty well. used scoth brite and a coat of clear to make it look descent. The bottom and sides were pretty rusty so ended up rubbing through the paint in some areas. Hopefully the frame will hide some of that. Garage is looking nice with 3 Z's. Wife hasn't complained yet about me booting her car out. I think they are different. Under the hood, mine had two gold decals with a lot of writing. After doing inventory of my hoses, I found that I have most of the original braided hoses. I even have the original heater hoses. I am thinking I will save up for a bit and pop for Espirit's hoses at MSA. I have them on my '70 and they are beautiful. They would look nice on this one.

Found the problem; oil pump/distributor rod was 180 degrees off.:stupid: Pulled the distributor, dropped the oil pump and rotated the shaft 180 (lower, rotate, lift) using a pair of needle nose pliers. Re-assembled. The whole process took only 15 minutes, much less than I thought. Turned the key and got a short 2 second run of the motor. Went to the carbs and fully tightened the big screw on the left flat top. Turned the key again and the car started right up- very nice. Took out my Uni-syn and balanced the idle air flow, so idle is running nice. I increased the throttle to adjust high RPM air flow and got a screeching from the smog pump belt and some light backfires so I shut the motor down. Ran out of time, so figure I will do final tuning of the carbs on Saturday. Nice to have it idling well, that's a big step. Should be able to take this out on the streets Saturday. I can't wait. Just need to put gear oil in the trans and fill and bleed the brakes and clutch. There are still some interior items to take care of, but nothing that will keep me from driving the car. The amazing thing is that there are no water leaks. Was kind of surprised as I was expecting at least one or two with all the hoses and fittings on this motor. Got some great wire hose clamps from grnsky for my hoses. Now they will all match. Will clean those up, re-zinc them and install in the next week or two. Total project cost is now $5450. $15 for 10 wire clamps (such a deal) and $6 for the hose tape. Definitely looking great for the money I have into it. Yes, I have 3 to enter. That's a good start. I am really hoping that MSA pulls through with a show similar to the 2009 show. That one was awesome and huge – twice the size of ZCON. I contacted Joseph at MSA and offered our club’s (ZCCIV) support if he runs a similar event in 2011. We could provide a number of volunteers to help out. I will try and get all the SoCal Z clubs to support if moves in this direction. Otherwise, I will just keep going to the local Rod shows with my ‘Furin cars’. Rich

I don't think anyone in the family has the same passion as me, but then again, I have probably gone off the deep end. My wife and daughter do like going to the shows. Actually got my wife to drive the '71 Z to the Vista show while I drove the '70. They usually crochet or read while I chat with people at the show. While I was touring the show, they actually filled in for me and answered questions that people would ask about the cars. My daughter likes the shows more than my son and she has a little bit better taste. Once I get the silver one done I can bring three to the shows. Will make it a big family event. Now, if we only had more events. May have to move to the east coast for that.

Well, we are getting close here. Spent the last couple days cleaning up hoses, repainting the air box and zincing some final parts. Got the smog pump in and all the attachments. The hoses on this thing are a small nightmare. It is hard to find hoses for a '73 anywhere. I was able to get the smog pump 'Air In' hose from Classic Datsun, but that is it. The PCV hose and 'Air Out' smog hose were in bad shape. So, I got some cloth tape from Home Depot and tried to wrap them similar to the hose I got from Classic Datsun. Not a perfect match, but much better than the old look. I did get the air box on and all the 'millions' of hoses hooked up. Need to get Decals for a '73 if available. Need two for the radiator and one smaller rectangular for the air box. Also need to get the gold decals that go on underside of the hood if possible I put oil in the motor and gas in the tank and cranked it over. Unfortunately no quick start. Didn't have much time to check why (movie night) so will work on that another day. Hopefully I can be driving this around next week. Really love how this has turned out. Once the motor is up and running, I will work on cleaning up the underside.

Only because my wife drove the yellow one and did her crochet while I toured the show. We had the only two Japanese cars there. No awards for foreign cars, but that's OK. I like the conversation best. The guy who won best Camaro (and believe me, there were a lot of Camaro's there) loved the '70 Z. We ended up talking over an hour. His car was a near flawless restoration. He gave me a lot of cool tips on prepping the Z for shows. Best story was a guy who made it from New Jersey to LA in 38 hours in his Z (Going back to school at USC). Said him and his friend made one stop for food in New Mexico. Only other person at the restaurant was the police chief who was with two women at the bar. Police chief loved the car and told the two college kids where his two officers were posted. He said they could go as fast as they wanted but slow down at the area where the two cops were. Sure enough, the cops were right where he said they were. They slowed at the right time, just as the chief told them. Very funny.

So, one of my Z goals this year was to enter my Z or Z's in car shows that are not specifically Z, or Datsun shows. So I entered my '70 and '71 (pre-'72 cars only allowed) in the 24th annual Vista Burger Run. There were over 500 cars there. I had the only 2 Z's in the show. There were also about 10 other English and German cars at the show, otherwise it was all US cars. Got a nice response from a number of the visitors and collectors. The comment I kept hearing over and over from people was that "the Z was the best car they ever had and they never should have sold it.":ermm: Love the AMX's and Pantera's. Doing my best to try and increase the exposure of the Z.

I put a vote in for the E12-80. I had a Petronix installed by the PO on my 71 daily driver and got a lot of misfires over 4K RPM. A friend recommended the E12-80, so I picked one up from the junk yard for $35. I can now rev the motor till she blows I guess, no misfires up to 7K. I am guessing that there is a lot of variability in the Petronix due to the spacing of the magnets with Hall effects sensor.

Thanks David, not sure if I want to do another '73. The plumbing for the flat tops is a bear. I think my next venture will be to the dark side. I want to put an LS1 in the yellow Z. Finally got the drivers side door panel on. It is really in great condition-very happy about that. That was one of the best things about this car was the interior, except for the carpet. I held off putting on the panel because I broke the rod that goes from the door handle to the 'unlock' mechanism. Not sure how I did that. So, I went to visit Les at Classic Datsun, and of course he had one. He also had some other hard to find parts like a new smog hose that I really needed. It's great to have his shop so close. Spent $85 there on parts, but $20 was for the yellow Z, so the grand total has now climbed up to $5429. Now, this is something that always happens when you are putting a car back together. I was trying to find where I had placed the screw that secures the coil in the bracket. I checked all my labeled baggies, extra parts drawers, shelves, boxes, under rags and such. Over the course of 3 weeks, I am sure I spent over 30 minutes looking for that screw. Anyway, finally gave up and bought a replacement screw from home depot. I put a yellow chromate finish on it and installed the coil. Now to hook up the coil wires. So I go to my picture file of all my 'before' pics to confirm the wiring. As I am looking at the picture, I notice there is a hole where the screw should be.:stupid: There was no screw there in the first place. The other thing that happens all the time; could not find the little cable that goes from the solenoid to the wiring harness. Again, spent at least 20 mins looking for that thing. So, I get a used one from Les when I was at his shop (he actually gave it to me for free since it was in bad shape). I get home and start to fix it up to put it on the car, and what do you know, I find my cable under the zincing crock pot. Of course, I never would have found it had I not picked up one from Les. Not sure why stuff like that happens. Anyway, got all the fuel hoses on and most of the plumbing attached. Put the balance tube parts on. Only thing I need to do now is get on the Air box and heater hoses and I am ready to fire it up. Air box needs a bit of work though so may take another week. Eventually I would like to get all wire clamps in the engine bay. Right now it is a mix of wire and standard clamps. Also would like to get all braided hose, but some of that is near impossible to find. Anyway, here is the progress. One more thing I am going through big time here is not sure if I can actually sell this now. I love it and it looks really nice in my garage.

That's a beauty! Love the color, nicely done. Congrats! Rich

That's a good point, didn't think of that. I am thinking that I will spray some of my high temp clear enamel over the stuff as well to minimize any debris or flaking. May have to put warning labels under the hood. You know how things are here in the state of California.

Wow, Per that document, that insulation is asbestos inside and out. Guess I'll need to keep the hood closed when not working on the motor. That should help

The insulation and zip ties are all the original parts. I just used a little Windex to clean the insulation. ( I wonder if there is asbestos in that stuff. I will make sure not to eat it or chew on it ) The zip ties are just real old. They are kind of vanilla colored in person. I was thinking of replacing them with new ones, but really haven't searched to see if they are available. I think I will just leave them as they are for now. Although, if I could find some NOS ties in good/white condition I would probably replace them.

Glad you asked. There are actually several reasons for going with the flat tops. 1. I want to keep the car as original as financially feasible. 2. I like the fact that they are somewhat rare as most people have ditched them in place of the round tops. 3. I used this car for about 6 months with the flat tops as my daily driver and did not have any problems once I got the needles set right, so I am happy with their operation ( I figured the needles out in the first couple weeks of driving). 4. I think that insulation stuff is a unique and odd engineering solution to the vapor lock issue. (I would have done something different like adding vents to the service doors to improve air flow in the engine compartment). So that's why the flat tops.

Carbs are just about ready to install which is great news. I picked up a pair of sweet looking flattops from 'grnsky' for just $20, such a deal:classic:. (My old ones would have required quite a bit of work to prep - but I will keep them as spares). The zinc looked good on the new ones, so no reason to re-zinc. I just cleaned them up with a little lacquer thinner and Nevr Dull. I polished the domes and then mounted the carbs temporarily in place. I want to re-zinc the bar in the center before I do the final install. Its nice to see the progress. Attached is a picture of the old carbs and the original engine bay. Also picked up some small parts from MSA. I got 10 black interior rivets, some plug wire clips and the door lock knobs. Total with shipping was $42. Total cost is now at $5364

Spent most of the day zincing parts for the intake manifold. Boy, there is a lot of tubing on this baby. Guess that's why most people dont care for the flat tops. Will clean up the carbs in the next day or two and hopefully have them on by this weekend. Also got the radiator painted and in. It's progressing. Got the '70 back from the Museum. Sadly, the DHM will be closing it's doors by the the end of January 2011:disappoin. Very happy to have the 70 back, I missed it.

Thanks for all the kind words and support everyone. I can't wait to get this up and running, and it is oh so close. I should have some extra days off over the holidays so I can make a lot of progress then. I'll keep posting progress. Thanks Again, Rich

Wow, It's starting to get pretty close to being finished. If I absolutely had to, I could have it running in less than a day. Just need to finish up the carbs, smog stuff and exhaust and a little bit of interior stuff. I'm guessing in two weeks or less that I have it up and running. I need to re-zinc a number of the carb and intake parts. I got most of the interior parts in. They were really in great condition, so that was a big help. Only had one panel crack to remedy on the passengers quarter panel plastic. The rest was very clean. I will need to get some new rivets from MSA. Some rivets did not do well in the disassembly process. Also lost someof those elusive rivet center pins. I put the electric antenna in. I was able to cycle it up and down a couple times with my power supply to make sure it worked. The PO gave me two elec antennas in a box. One worked the other didn't. So cleaned and lubed the good one and installed it in the back. Made sure I had a good ground connection to the body. The big event was putting in the exhaust and intake manifold. I wanted to put in a new air galley, but could not locate one. MSA said they would not have any for a couple months, and I did not want to wait that long. So, I got some high temp paint ($8) that looked close to the zinc and will go with that for now. It's a little bright, but hopefully it will tone down in time. I should be able to zinc the other carb parts and assemble in the next week or so. I love the fuel line insulation. I plan on installing it all back on the car along with the flat tops. It's so retro and not something you see every day. Got a much needed radiator from Cam, another classiczcar member who actually has more Z's than me. We had a great time talking Z's. I could of stayed there for a couple hours checking out cars and parts but had the wife with me and needed to finish Christmas shopping. Got the Radiator for $65. Also picked up a longer drive shaft to put on the yellow Z. Total cost for the silver resto is now $5302. (This does not include gas money for hunting down part)