Namerow

It will be interesting to see whether a European shop applies strategies or techniques that are different from those that we're familiar with here in North America for this type of bodywork surgery. Looking forward to your posts.

When I did my installation, I first tried with the grommet installed on the harness. I could not get the grommet to seat in the firewall. I then went to Plan B: I removed the grommet from the harness and then detached all of the engine bay connectors from their wires. With this done, it was easy to install the grommet in the firewall then thread the wiring out into the engine bay, working from the cabin side. Then I reinstalled the individual wire-end terminals into their connectors. You need a good-quality terminal-removing tool to make this strategy work (two different sizes required). I got mine from Vintage.

The clearance issue is obvious when you attempt reassembly. No problems fitting the spider into the yoke on the main shaft. However, when you go to fit stub shaft's yoke, the yoke ear won't quite clear the spider. Unfortunately, it's been a couple of years since I did this job and I can't remember the area of the spider that I had to relieve to get rid of the interference. I'm sure that Charles can explain. Maybe pictures, too.

I wonder whether they were able to install the wiring harness at the factory with the firewall grommet and end connectors already in place? If so, I'd like to know how they did it.

Bought the same part. Had the same issue. Annoying cut-and-try job, but not a big deal.

What's your power supply?

I truly hope that the results prove to be long-lasting. Imagine being able to treat the S30's unicorn side window 'squeegee' rubber strips (typically rock-hard and chipped) and have them come back to life! Think patents, Charles.🙂

Fastener torques. A great topic for deep reading. Here's a starting point: Lubrication Effects on Fastener Torque Specs - EngineeringToolbox.com Lots of interesting links at the end of the article. Another good source of information is the late Carroll Smith's book, 'Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook'. Smith was manager of the Shelby American race team back in the day and specialized in bridging the gap between engineering theory and real-world motorsports reality. It's an old book, but I don't think too much has changed.

I agree with BillGTP that it looks like a crude attempt at 'staking' the shaft ends to make them expand a bit (those look like chisel marks). Seems that the perpetrator either used too big a hammer or consumed one too many brews before commencing the work. Possibly both.

An interesting idea, crudely executed. It would have been more effective, I think, to drill a large-ish hole into each shaft end and then use a tapered punch to expand the hollowed-out section. I suppose it would work, although the wear pattern on the bushings would be pretty extreme. You might quickly end up back where you started. This invites further examination by the CZCC R&D Department @Captain Obvious!

Discussion? Pictures?

Very nice. Was there a specific regulation that led to the requirement for this double-lamp fixture?

This is the same as what I found when removing the insulator pads from my 5/70 -- light, patchy use of adhesive but most relying on the mechanical support from those square tabs. I think the adhesive is used to prevent bagging, while the tabs provide the main vertical support. If your insulator pad(s) are shot, I can provide you with some notes on how I made new ones from scratch. I was quite happy with the end result.

What is the purpose of pumping gas through the diff cooling system?

I would suggest you use glazier's mastic 'rope' as the sealant between the tail light lens and housing. It'll provide all the seal that you need and it's not so sticky as to make future disassembly a problem. The alternative is liquid window caulking. There is a 'strippable' version (clear) that would probably be a better bet than the more permanent types. Don't overlook the little drain holes at the bottom of each lens. Each drain hole should be fitted with a small rectangle of felt (cut to shape from a sheet of 1/8" thickness, purchasable from a crafts store like Michael's). The purpose of the felt is to keep small, uninvited visitors (spiders, etc.) from setting up house inside your tail light assembly. The lenses will come up nicely with buffing. Try not to buff away the raised manufacturer's info. You'll need to leave that area as-is.

Undercoatings of the 1970's were variously described as, 'oil', 'tar', 'asphalt', or 'wax' ('paraffin' if you're a Brit). If you investigate further, you'll find that each of these terms is somewhat generic and not really precise from any chemical engineering perspective. For automotive purposes, 'oil' meant sprayed-on and could be anything from heavyweight used crankcase oil to purpose-blended lightweight stuff. 'Tar' meant 'thicker but still sprayed-on', while 'asphalt' translated to 'thick and usually brushed-on'. 'Wax' was typically interpreted to be 'less oily', sprayed-applied, and suitable for internal body cavities like doors and rockers (Zeibart and Wax-oyl were two of the better-known wax-type aftermarket undercoating treatments). It's hard to say what kind of material Nissan used for the underside of the Z's. Obviously, it bonded well to the metal and skinned over nicely so that the paint spray adhered (for fifty years). I wonder, though, whether Nissan's objective may have been sound deadening as much as corrosion protection. Like many others, I remember using brush-on undercoating on the underside of my first Z after the first rust blooms appeared. I think that we all hoped it would 'seal off' the underside of the car from further exposure to winter road de-icing salt. It certainly looked the part. Alas, it didn't work.

Take a look at the headlines during Years 1963 - 1970. Those were heady times for Nissan and the Japanese auto industry. New models introduced. New assembly plants started around the world. New car transporter ships being launched and new harbour facilities built to service them. New headquarters building constructed. Motorsports entries and victories. New sales records set.

Both options (professional repair vs do-it-yourself) have their good and bad considerations. The do-it-yourself option requires much attention to detail in order to create a good and lasting result. There are two or three good threads available on CZCC that will provide you with a list of recommended tools, materials, and procedures. Based on my own experience, the main limitation is that the final exterior finish -- typically accomplished using texturized 'bed liner' paint -- has 'look' and 'feel' that is different from the original textured vinyl. Although a casual observer would not notice the difference, a knowledgeable person will see it very quickly. I found some upholstery vinyl (long sheet with 1m width) that had a texture very close to the original material used by Nissan. Unfortunately, it was only available with a bonded fabric backing. Despite the use of a heat gun, it would not stretch enough to follow the contours of the S30 dash surface (those contours become quite extreme around the openings for the instrument pods. If you can find a suitable vinyl that does not have a fabric backing, you might be able to achieve a successful result. I look forward to reading about your dash restoration. There may be materials available to you in Japan that we in North America have not discovered.

Perhaps a letter to the manager of the new (?) Nissan Heritage Zone -- listed as a part of the Global Headquarters Gallery in Yokohama -- might find them willing to support the cost of digitizing the two reels of historic film. The NHZ includes a small reference library and would seem a logical curator for films such as these.

I like it, but I think I'd like to see a rear-quarter view before I make up my mind.

I used a small, specialty paint supplier who mixed up a custom batch of vinyl paint using a small swatch of my car's seat vinyl as the basis for the colour blend. The resulting colour match was perfect and the application (standard HVLP gun) was trouble-free. I did this job five years ago and the vinyl paint still looks as good as when first applied. The paint specialist (Parasol) is based in Toronto, Canada. You should be able to find a similar supplier in the U.S. south-east. Try looking for boat upholstery specialists.

Good presentation. Thanks. A few questions: What was the cost of the dry ice? You would have paid in Australian $, of course. How was it packaged for transport? How did you handle it when working with it in the shop... gloves? garden trowel? Was 5 kg enough?

Not sure that I agree. Once the engine gets up to normal operating temps, the carb heating loop is closed (as in: inactive, does nothing, might as well not be there). Any emissions-related benefits would be restricted to start and warmup conditions, where the presence of the manual choke would overwhelm any contribution that carb heating might make toward reduced exhaust emissions. Remember, too, that the federal exhaust emissions standards (and related compliance testing) at the time were performed only at ~ room temperature ambient air conditions and with the engine up to operating temperature (i.e. choke off, main thermostat open). It was always my understanding that the carb heating circuit was introduced in an effort to inhibit drivability issues caused by carb icing. Not all carbureted engines suffer from this problem. As well, it apparently isn't specific to constant-vacuum carbs, nor to inline engines, nor to water-cooled engines. Nor to cold-weather operating conditions. It seems to occur only with certain combinations of engine, carburetor, and engine compartment layout and under certain air temperature/humidity/engine speed/throttle-opening conditions. Evidently, Nissan decided that it had heard enough reports of problems with early Z's to warrant spending the (not-inconsiderable) amount of money required to install the carb heating loop (complete with revised castings for the carb bodies and the thermostat housing). There's a useful discussion of the Z's carb heating system on Hybrid-Z, here. And if you use the search function here on the CZCC site, you'll discover that several discussions about the system have taken place over the years.

I 'misremembered' on that rail gauge. It was actually was 4 ft. 10-7/8 in. and it applies to the trackage used for the Toronto streetcar and subway systems. Otherwise, our Canadian mainline railways use the more common 4 ft. 8-1/2 in. (because to do otherwise would mean that our trains wouldn't be able to enter the USA and U.S. trains wouldn't be able to enter Canada). Here's how the so-called 'Toronto gauge' came to be: The Toronto Street Railway created the basis for the Toronto streetcar system when it opened a horsecar line in 1861. At the time, the city's streets were unpaved. A broader-than-standard 'Toronto gauge' was mandated by the city in order to allow not just horse-drawn passenger carriages ('streetcars'), but also both horse-drawn cargo wagons to use the tracks. The rail used for these horsecar tracks was a 'step' type. The horse-drawn streetcars were equipped with iron wheels with inboard flanges. They ran on the outer (upper) step of the rail, with the wheel flanges providing guidance. The horse-drawn cargo wagons, on the other hand, used wheels made of wood, with a flat iron tread and no flange. These cargo wagons used the inner (lower) step of the rail, with the upper step of the rail serving to guide the wagon along the track. In order to accommodate this arrangement, the track gauge had to be 4 feet, 11 inches*. When the TSR's franchise ended in 1891, a new company (the Toronto Railway Company) took over the system and replaced horse-drawn streetcars with electric trams. Rather than rip up all of the existing trackage, it continued the use of Toronto gauge and had its electric trams' equipped with axles whose wheel separations were set for the Toronto gauge. When the subway system was built in the 1950's, the transit commission decided to extent the use of the Toronto gauge to the new system (probably so that it could use common storage yards and service depots for the streetcars and the new subway vehicles). (* later reduced by 1/8" for some reason I haven't been able to determine) Toronto wasn't at all unique in having a horse-drawn streetcar system. However, I think the the 'Toronto gauge' was (and remains) unique to the city -- as did our streetcar system for many years (at least, in Canada and the US). Just about everywhere else, the municipal transit authorities replaced streetcars with buses in the 1950's and ripped up their streetcar tracks. Although some claim this was a conspiracy on the part of the U.S. auto industry (sell more cars and buses) and the oil companies (sell more fuel), there were lots of good reasons: 1) The streetcars impeded the flow of automobile traffic; 2) the tracks were tough on vehicles equipped with bias-ply tires (not to mention motorcycles and bicycles); 2) no overhead electrical wiring needed; 3) new routes could be created without the need to tear up pavement and install tracks and overhead wiring; 4) no track or electrical systems to maintain; 5) buses could change direction and cross each other's paths without the need for track/wire switches or crossovers. Streetcars really work best when they operate on a dedicated right-of-way (typically, a centre strip running down the middle of the road). However, that requires either a very wide street or the sacrificing of a pavement lane. And there's still that unsightly business of putting up an overhead power wire system. Some people love streetcars. Others hate them.