Namerow

Good to hear... but I'd still like to know how a proportioning valve turned into a no-flow valve. The more I study the FSM (see below), the more it seems to me that the 'upper' seal is critical to the way the valve works. It appears to have a unique cross-sectional shape. Maybe you installed it upside down?

The elusive HVAC mini-harness is lurking in the bottom right corner of Fig. 1.2 in the FSM Supplement that CO has posted. It also appears in the bottom right corner of Figure VI-1 at the end of the FSM Supplement, complete with some labeling and a legend with some wire color coding to (sort of) tell you where some of its connections connect to. The blue wire is, according to the legend, there to provide a power signal to the A/C system... which was, of course, available only as a dealer-installed option, meaning that for many Z's the blue wire never ended up being connected to anything over the life of the car. When it came from the factory, the blue wire ended in a female 'bullet' connector. I've scanned the notes I made for the HVAC mini-harness and they appear below... (note: everything you see in my notes is specific to a 1970 Z with manual trans):

Thanks, Mark. Based on your comments, I tried the vice-and-socket routine again and this time I was able to get one of the cups free -- from the shaft-side yoke. But that was it, so out came the cut-off wheel (fortunately, the spider had shifted far enough to one aside to let me get the cut-off disc into the gap without damaging the inner face of the yoke). After using the cut-off wheel, I was able to separate the shaft from the splined yoke, which made subsequent work a bit easier. I had to cut both legs off the spider to get it out of the splined yoke. Even after I'd extracted the remains, there still was one cup that refused to budge more than about 1/32" in either direction. Sixty seconds with a MAP torch got the yoke hot enough so I could tap out the cup with a punch. Additional comments for anyone else trying this: For each of the two yokes, I found that one of the two cups would not move inward (and, yes, all the retaining clips had been removed). That meant that my press-out efforts with the vise and sockets would only work in one direction. Even in the successful direction, there was a loud 'crack' before the cups started to move. Instead of using an oversize socket on the exit side of each yoke, I ended up grabbing some 1x2 hardwood scrap and drilling a hole in it (11/16" drill, if you do this). Thew wood piece could then be propped up inside the vise jaws to the right height and then sit there without needing a hand to hold it in position. It was then much easier to juggle the combination of the other socket, the steering shaft and the vise handle while trying to get everything aligned and the vise jaws tightened down enough to hold everything in place. I think I'm going deep-freeze the new spiders and cups and then use a torch to get some heat into the yokes before I try re-assembly with my new Kawasaki U-joint kit. The cups look like they'll be really easy to get cocked a bit sideways at the start and I don't want to risk chewing up the bores.

I'm digging up an old post, but the topic is a current one for me and I know that Z-Cars probably isn't too far away... Jim: You said that the spider for the steering shaft U-joint can't be removed by a straight press-out, but you made this comment in reference to the later, staked-type U-joint. In an earlier post in this same topic, though, you'd said that you'd replaced one of the earlier-design, circlip-type U-joints and commented on what an easy job it was. Well, my 70 Z's steering shaft has the circlip-type U-joint and I'm having the interference problem that you mentioned in reference to the staked-type U-joint. My question: Were you really able to press out the spider on the circlip-type U-joint, or did you have to cut that one out too?

I may be difficult to replicate one of these tags to OE standards... The plate itself is made from stamped-out piece of aluminum sheet The black top coat has a satin-ish semi-gloss appearance, with a barely noticable top-to-bottom 'grain' The 'HLS30' characters were produced by leaving the shiny top surface of the aluminum plate stock exposed. The characters have no 'lip' around their edges (i.e. the entire top surface feels smooth), so the black overcoat must be just mil's thick. Masking and painting won't replicate this. I think the overall process used originally would have consisted of some kind of silkscreening. Maybe somebody else with experience in a print or photography shop knows better. The five (or six) digit VIN numerals were produced by the die punch cutting through the black top surface of the plate and penetrating into the underlying aluminum. There doesn't appear to have been any paint used to highlight the 'trench'. Once again, what you see is the exposed aluminum of the underlying plate stock. You'll need to find a metric number punch set with the correct font style (?) and the correct size (seems to be 7mm x 4mm). It sounds to me like Mike at Banzai has priced this out quite fairly at $450 (to do it right). If that's too steep for your budget, maybe you could just use the VIN tag that Grannyknot has sent you. Given the car's salvage-title history, it would seem to be mainly just for show (although your local constabulary may not share this view). The VIN that's stamped into the firewall is the definitive identifier of the vehicle and it should be backed up by the number stamped into the plate in the engine bay.

Silly question, but it needs to be asked: Is there any chance that you plumbed the valve back into the system backwards?

Suggestion: Buy some plastic rod (black, if you can find it) of the appropriate outside diameter. Cut an appropriate length, with an inch or so extra that can be chucked in a drill press (preferred) or an electric hand drill. File a rounded contour onto one end. Then drill out the core to suit the diameter of the lever rod on the seat. Cut of the end that was chucked in the drill/drill press. Spray paint with satin black, with particular attention to the two end surface. When the paint had dried adequately, epoxy it in place on the seat lever rod. Cut a length of heat shrink tube and apply over the flat length of the nylon piece. Heat to shape. Done. The original piece isn't exactly soft to the touch, so you won't be giving up much in feel by using the hard nylon and shrink-tube covering. The original piece has a bit of a taper to it, but no one will notice that your 'faux' cover is straight.

Nice looking car, DJ. Seems bargain-priced at $20K . I know it's subjective, but -- for me -- this is one of the few exterior/interior color combos I've seen where the blue interior trim seems to work well. GLWTS.

It's a form of 'acoustic duct lining' and it's there as an airflow silencer. Not sure how effective the end result is. You'd need to try a the system 'with' and 'without' to decide. BTW, I did this same job myself a couple of years ago. It's very time-consuming. There are a lot of foam gaskets in the Z's heater/blower/vent/duct system and some have very tricky shapes (esp. the piece in your photo). Many need have holes punched out for joint fasteners. Rather than use contact cement to try to glue new foam in place (messy), try making your own adhesive-backed foam by bonding the foam to two-side-adhesive-backed clear vinyl sheet (8-1/2" x 11" -- available at craft stores). Leave the peel-off paper in place on one side of the vinyl sheet. Now draw your gasket templates onto a piece of 8-1/2" x 11" printer paper and use a glue stick (stationery supply store) to glue the paper to the vinyl backing sheet. Now you can use a razor knife, scissors, hole punches, etc. to cut out your gaskets. When done, peel off the backing sheet from the vinyl-backed foam and stick in place. Most of the gaskets should be about 1/16" thick, installed. I used 1/8" open-cell foam (compresses down to 1/16"), but I think some craft stores sell adhesive-backed, closed-cell neoprene sheet in 1/16" thickness that might be an equally good . Don't use the 1/4"-thick adhesive-backed foam 'tape' that hardware stores sell for home weatherstripping. It's too thick and the end results I've seen in photos look pretty marginal. The foam covers for the two big 'flapper' doors need to be top-faced with thin, upholstery-type vinyl. If you don't do this, the foam will wear off quickly around the perimeter, where it seats on the ridge in the housing. The gasket that's the most difficult to get right is the one around the perimeter of the heater plenum, where the removable end plate installs (for access to the heater matrix).

OK, I'll bite. How does the same car get listed from two different locations at the same time? (not to mention, at wildly different prices)

Lots of speculation over why these shades were used. No definitive explanation that I'm aware of.

From bench testing, I found that the impellers from my 70 Z (impeller made of metal) and my old 72 Z (impeller made of plastic) weren't terribly sensitive to which direction they were rotating in. When I inspected the impeller from the Honda Civic blower that I had bought mostly for its more modern motor, I discovered that its blades were oriented in the opposite direction to the Z impellers. I also discovered that the Honda impeller was very direction-sensitive and -- when turning in its preferred direction -- was both more powerful and quieter than the Z impeller. My conclusion: The Z impellers aren't a particularly good design. Recommend you try both your TYC and original impellers in the Z blower casing, just like I did. That will let you choose which one you like best (for output and noise) and will also tell you the direction in which it needs to rotate to produce best results.

From my experiences with resurfacing the dash for my '70 Z: The black vinyl skin will tear, not 'peel', off the underlying foam. There'll be a lot of craters and voids generated in the foam and that will add to the challenge of getting the final shape of the new-foam substrate the right size and shape. Arguably better to grind the vinyl off than to try to pull it off. Wear a dust mask! The contour sanding of the top and front finished surfaces is very difficult to get right. Same goes for the gauge pod recesses. For what you're suggesting, the challenge will be not just to restore the contours but also the overall dimensions (i.e. You'll be trying to build back the correct shape in 3D space relative to the sheet metal armature). I hope I never have to do this particular job again. From what I've seen, 'Just Dashes' do great work. They, too, have to shape and contour the Z dash's very complicated 3D shape in (new) foam before they vacuum-form the vinyl top layer in place. Lots of hand labor, so US$1500 seems reasonable. Unfortunately, that's just the base cost. There's also crating and 2-way shipping, shipping insurance, and sales tax. Probably Cdn $2500 - $3000 for us poor Canucks when all is said and done. Not saying your idea won't work, Blue, and I like it in concept. However, there will be lots of challenges along the way. If you've got a cap and a spare dash to use as a sacrificial victim, I'm sure we'd all like to see how you make out.

Interesting. I have on from my 70 Z with exactly the same granulated surface deterioration of the slotted black plastic 'grommet'. I was going to try to replace it, but now I can see that it's actually 'patina'. So that means my selling price just went up by 100%. Bids?

Re your leather gloss issue for the door panel material, why not just try a coat of paste wax (or, if it makes you feel better, clear shoe polish)? Alternatively, check to see whether SEM (or a competitor) offers a satin finish clear for use with vinyl and leather. Suggest you have a look at 'Parasol' (Toronto). They will custom-mix and ship to your door. I had very good results with their products.

Listed by ZCar Depot @ $119.00... https://zcardepot.com/engine/cooling-heating/coolant-line-bypass-pipe-crossover.html?limit=128

Are the contact points in the Z's switchgear actually made from silver?

Where have the mice been living while you've been remodeling their home?

I haven't tried to do this myself (yet), but your picture gave me an idea... Try using two loops of fine-diameter fishing leader line (plastic) to tie and knot the spring into compression. Position your loops at the 12 and 6 o'clock position of the spring circumference. Drop the seal, the valve and the spring into place. The two loose ends from each loop of line will stick out of the bore. Insert the circlip, with the loose ends of lines going through the centre. Once the circlip is clicked in place, use an X-acto blade to cut the loops of line and then use tweezers to pull the remains out of the bore. It might work.

While browsing vendor sites this morning, I discovered that MSA are now offering new replacement aluminum door sill plates (aka 'threshold plates') with the 'Datsun' logo. Another 'unicorn' Z part now available for purchase, after years (decades?) of being NLA. $179 for a pair. With Distinctive Industries now making replacement door cards with OE-look vinyl trim (apparently in all colours -- not just black), that looks after two of the most-visible, but traditionally hardest-to-find, parts for a Z interior restoration.

I can't comment from direct experience. I'm sure that someone else here has installed the aftermarket vinyl pieces and has pictures they can show...

Unless you get really lucky, your going to find that the original vinyl isn't worth re-using. Reasons: The old vinyl will likely have age-hardened in the locations where the factory adhesive was applied. So much so that it may have chipped or split along the edges. The hardening makes it difficult to make a tidy job of re-gluing the pieces into another car. BTW, If have found nothing (including 'vinyl softener' products) that will permanently re-soften this vinyl. Conversely, one of the bigger vinyl pieces -- the one that covers the transmission tunnel -- actually sags with age and ends up showing big, nasty-looking wrinkles that are very obvious. It's really difficult to make those sags disappear when you re-install the piece in another car. The old factory-applied adhesive is going to need to be removed before you can effectively glue the old pieces into your car. This is a long and tedious job. I recommend you just buy the kit. You'll end up with a better result and no one will ever know the difference.

My '70 has had the same 'B'-for-'A' swap performed by a PO. It will be hard to tell (with certainty) what may have been done on your car unless you post a few pictures. You don't need to put the car up on a hoist (although that would be good). Just lie down on the garage floor and take a picture of the back of the differential (esp. the bracket that runs side-to-side and sits at the bottom of the diff's rear cover). It will also help if you can put one side the car up on a jack, remove the wheel, and then take a photo of the moustache bar where it mounts to the underside of the car. Eventually, it will also be interesting to see what's been done to your car to accommodate the altered fore-aft location of the gearshift lever where it comes up out of the console opening. The 'B' places the shift lever further forward and may have required notching of the opening in the transmission tunnel to allow 1st and 3rd gear to be selected. It may also have forced some mods to the opening in the plastic console and to the lever itself (so that the lever doesn't bang into the console opening and the shift knob doesn't come too close to the instrument panel when 1st or 3rd gear is selected).

Trying to hand-test a shock absorber tells you very little about its on-car performance. All you're really detecting is the resistance of the gas charge inside the chamber. While the effort required to compress the gas charge may seem like a big deal to you, it's fairly insignificant in comparison with the hydraulic resistance that the shock generates when it's compressed by the wheel running over a ridge in the road at 20 or 30 or 40 mph (or when it's extended by the force of the suspension spring when the wheel tries to slam down into a pothole). Although I haven't experienced driving a Z equipped with KYB's for many years, my recollection is that they're valved pretty soft. Not as soft as the OE set-up, mind you, but way softer than a performance shock like a Tokico. Unfortunately, it's difficult to compare shock absorbers numerically... something you can do with a spring (or, at least with a non-progressive spring), where the pounds-per-inch rating pretty much tells the whole story. You need a shock dyno to generate performance data for a shock absorber. The shock manufacturers use these for both development and QA/QC purposes, but they rarely supply any performance specs with their products. It's just possible that someone out there (probably a racer) has dyno-tested some of the shocks available for the Z and can post their measurements. Anybody?

The Z's front-end aero lift problems were/are well documented and date right back to the experiences of the car's original owners in the mid-1970's. The cure was lifted directly from the race track in the form of front and rear spoilers. Stiffening up the steering rack-to-frame bushings was also common practice. I'm not sure that beefing up the roll bar would help, though (unless you've lowered the car and have a bump steer issue). 'Car & Driver' magazine's editors carried out a nice cut-and-try, D-I-Y project somewhere in the late 1970's in which they fabbed, installed, and then track-tested bent-aluminum-sheet spoilers of progressively greater height (rear) and depth (front) to see how they worked and find the optimum front/rear combination. IIRC, the car was fitted with force transducers to measure the lift. Now that I've brought this up, I guess I'm obligated to dig into my back issues and find the article. If I'm successful, I'll post it here later in the weekend. From my perspective, it's not really a question of whether spoiler work but rather one of how small a front spoiler I can get away with (or front/rear spoiler combination, if one at the back is absolutely necessary) to achieve adequate results for modern highway driving speeds. I'm not really a fan of the way big front air dams and rear spoilers affect the Z's look. I've always found the car's styling very 'fragile' and not well suited to customizing. Your needs and preferences may, of course, be different from mine.