motorman7

I know Mike pretty well. We see each other at a lot at the same shows. Usually we are competing against each other in the Japanese category. He does a lot to promote the Japanese car category at the higher end Auto shows which is a good thing. He typically manages the Japanese class for the San Marino motor show and is often down this way at the La Jolla car shows and at JCCS. He is pretty pleasant and honest and does a lot to support the Japanese cars. I think I met Wob briefly at the San Marino show where I also saw this car. The owner (Wob?) left his lot boy with the car and the lot boy knew very little about what original Z cars are supposed to look like, so there wasn't much to talk about. Sounded like Wob had a lot of nicer cars such as Ferrari's and Porsche's per the lot boy. Owner (Wob?) showed up at the end of the show, asked lot boy if they'd won an award and then told him to load up the car. Car did not place FWIW.

I'm a bit skeptical on original paint due to the texture of the orange peel. Seems to be too many lumps /divots per square foot. The paint texture appears to be much different that the $300K car or my original paint '70. Also wonder why the heater is bypassed...leaky core? This car is no where near the $300K car which in my opinion is the best looking Z I have ever seen, and I have been to a lot of Z shows. I actually saw this car several years ago at the San Marino motor show. My thoughts were that it would just take a few fixes to make it a really awesome car. Just wonder why it was never done, still not done.

Nice!

Forgot to add pic. This really works well for securing the vinyl.

Got the new vintage dash install. Heater panel is next.

I know most of them, but often use my library of pics or check my others Z's. Still probably get some of them wrong. Got the windshield in and trim installed. Started working on the interior-installing sound deadening material and the firewall pad, vents, hood latch, side drains. Got the 'steelies' powder coated and new Toyo's installed. Things are coming along. Will probably start doing heater and fan parts tomorrow. Also, found something that works better than clamps when doing pillar interior trim- old door weatherstipping

For plating, I think every place is different. I like Sav-On in Phoenix, but they do have their short comings. Seems like they tumble clean the parts, so the plastic and rubber can get a little beat up. That needs to be taken into consideration. Some platers require that you do all of the cleaning and they just plate. That is probably a bit easier on the rubber and plastic. Also, you have to watch out for parts with cavities. I usually bag those separately and send a note along to make sure the parts are well dried before shipping. For flexible brake hoses, I just buy new ones since they are pretty cheap. Always good to have brake lines in good condition. Got the door sound deadening in and windows with window frames. Also installed headliner and pillar vinyl. Will install windshield today.

Got the rear hatch glass installed. It was quite a challenge as it was a bit older gasket (customer provided) and somewhat stiff. Had to stretch it around the glass as the fit was tight. And, had to have my wife help me on the install, where usually I can install the rear glass in about 10 minutes (Precision brand) all by myself. On the flip side, the older gasket was a better fit and covers the corners better. Also, it had some waxy substance on it to preserve it (I think) which made it a bit messy on the install. I am thinking it was a factory gasket due to the nice fit for both the corners and the metal trim. Also installed the front and rear brake flex lines and front bumper supports. The gloss black powder coat on the bumper supports looks beautiful....very shiny.

For plating, I try to keep everything as factory stock original as possible in regard to yellow and silver. I am sure on some items I may be incorrect, but it is my best attempt to get things right. I know the earlier Z's had a little more silver items than the later Z's, so not really sure at what times the changes took place. I did notice at the 2019 ZCON, most judges had no idea what was correct so I wasn't marked off for any plating discrepancies. However, Jim Fredericks was there and was able to teach me a bit on some items that were not correct, so I try and learn from those instances. For the half shafts, since most of the original black paint is usually gone, I typically just strip and clear coat. Sometimes the metal is stained so I paint with flat aluminum and clear or plain aluminum and matte clear. I know they are supposed to be black, but it gets kind of boring under there with everything being black. So, I do take a bit of artistic license on the half shaft, as well as the back of the differential which should also be black. For the trans case, I hit it with the fiber wheel and clear coat. Wire wheels usually scratch too much. Again, if the housing is pretty stained I will paint with flat aluminum then clear coat. Also, for the valve cover, I now just clean with steel wool and phosphoric acid (wear gloves and goggles). After the cleaning, I use a little Maguires aluminum polish just as a preservative. I prefer the light bead blast look, but got dinged for that at ZCON. Ideally, I should probably look into vapor blasting for the cover. Rich

More progress. Got the drivetrain completely installed along with the E-brake and rear hatch. Also installed the manifolds and carbs along with radiator and fan.

Paint is modern base and clear coat from PPG, 918 Orange

Thanks! Yes, this one is for a customer so everything is documented; receipts filed, hours tracked, etc.

Got the Trans and motor installed last night. Things are moving along.

Got a few more parts attached. Looks like we will do the motor install tonight.

Yes, I am very picky about that, LOL.

Yes, it does fine. Same as the new paint. I just paint the rubber portion. Touch up if needed after bending over harness

Hand painted with a small brush and gloss black paint.

Got most of the suspension in along with the rear diff and CV joints. Also installed fuel and brake lines.

The weatherstripping is for 1994 -2003 kia sportage

Car arrived Friday from Miguel. The paint work is amazing as always. Since it has only been around 110 degrees F here in San Diego, I decided to do a little work on the car. Got the underside painted with POR-15 and then added a little undercoating. Painted the forward radiator supports, rear vent holes and the wire tabs. Started installing a few components that were ready to go. My son is going to lend a hand tomorrow so should be able to finish up the brake and fuel lines and install the suspension. She's looking pretty nice!

The death rate is more a factor of timing really. At the initial virus outbreak, the virus was quite deadly as it ravaged Europe and the North East US. The death rate for all those countries on the leading edge was quite high. That is what the charts I posted earlier show, high death rate per infection in April, and a death rate at nearly one-third of that by August. I would expect that trend to continue as the virus weakens over time. This can also be seen in the US data. Those states in orange below were part of the initial infection and have a much higher death rate than those in the yellow that are part of the current US peak. A virus weakens over time. The strong ones kill their hosts and die out themselves. The weak ones survive and their hosts live on to infect others. That is why in virtually all of the European daily death charts and New York and New Jersey you have the steep rise initially and then the slow drop as the virus weakens as it works its way through the population with the survival rate increasing. This article talks about that process a bit. While biology is really not my forte, the numbers from the charts above are really quite telling https://sciencewithdrdoug.wordpress.com/2020/07/27/enzymes-in-humans-are-mutating-the-novel-coronavirus-in-an-accelerated-fashion-to-make-it-less-harmful/ As a side note, I think you're being a little hard on the college kids as being 'agents of the grim reaper'. Technically, anytime we get behind the wheel of our cars, we could be considered 'agents of the grim reaper'. 37,000 Automobile deaths and millions injured or handicapped.

I spent a little time on the worldometer site ( https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries ) yesterday looking at the data. There is a ton of information there. From the the data, here are a few of my observations. This is the world data. Here are my thoughts on the world data. 1) It looks like we peaked around August 8, give or take a few days, for the daily new cases. The daily death rate has not risen in unison but is very roughly around 5k per day and somewhat flat by comparison. In that same April to August time frame, daily new case rate tripled. I think the reason for this is because of: increased testing availability (thus more tests), improvements in treating the disease (remidisiver?), and the most virulent forms of the virus dying out-They kill their hosts. 2) The big ramp starting in May is when Brazil, India and Mexico joined in on the party (Major population centers). Brazil, Mexico and US are beyond their peaks and ramping down. India looks like they have not peaked yet and they have a heck of a lot of people. 3) China is a non-reporter and has no bearing on these charts. However, in reality, they are a pretty scary unknown since they have the worlds largest population. Also, I think Mexico and India may be underreporting due to some of the more impoverished areas not reporting or providing accurate data (Just guessing on that one) 4) Europe is pretty much past this all with very few deaths coming from England, Spain. France and Italy. My guess would be the few that they have are the elderly. 5) Currently, the overall trend looks to be going down for both daily new cases and daily deaths which is somewhat encouraging. Both charts should continue to show a long slow downward ramp. There may be a few bumps in the downward trend, but I doubt that any of them exceeds the current peaks.

Would be interesting to know how many of those were: asymptomatic, hospitalized or ICU. The fact that they don't mention any hospitalization makes me think it is not very many. In San Diego County we get daily infections, hospitalizations, ICU status and deaths. San Diego had a 0 death day yesterday.

Got so tired of slamming the doors on my white Z to close them that I decided to try the Kia Sportage weatherstripping mentioned on another thread here. Wow, what a difference! Door closes nicely and the door is now aligned again with the rear dogleg panel. My guess is that the metal portion of the Precision brand weatherstripping is too wide. There is no need for it to be that wide. If it was the same as the Kia metal portion, I think it would work well. Unfortunately it does not.

Ah, sorry, was not very clear on that. I put in the old cracked dash with about 6 screws and connected most of the harness connectors. No heater panel or center stuff. Gauges work, ammeter, oil, water , gas and tach. Just enough to run it. Hopefully new dash is available soon.