Walter Moore

I wasn't planning on having the flywheel resurfaced. It was a little rusty, but had no gouges or groves. I sanded the rust and it seems ok. What indicators would there be if it needed resurfaced? As for balancing, I can see that it would need to be balanced if it was resurfaced, as it appears to be a casting, and is thus likely full of small non-uniform air bubbles. But at the same time, I am sure that Nissan balanced it way back when it was made, and the amount of material that the clutch disks would have removed over the years wouldn't be likely to change the imbalance very much. The pressure plate fits on the studs one, and only one way. I work in the balancing industry, and have heard that racing teams tend to balance things as assemblies, but I doubt that Nissan balanced the flywheel with a pressure plate mounted. Car companies tend to balance the parts, not the assembly. Wouldn't the pressure plate have been balanced when it was made? If you drill holes in the flywheel to correct the imbalance of the assembly with the pressure plate in place doesn't that just guarantee that the next time you replace the pressure plate you will HAVE TO re-balance the assembly? I guess that I will just attach the pressure plate to the original flywheel, buy a new throwout bearing and sleeve, and see what happens...

I would look at the wires that run near the fan housing. My bet is that you got a wire under one of the metal dash parts and when you bolted it back in place it sliced the insulation creating a short.

:cheeky: I could stand to lose a few pounds myself... But serioiusly, I mentioned to my 300 pound 18 year old son one day that the two of us couldn't ride in the 240Z at the same time because the weight capacity of the car is listed as 420 lbs. His 300+ and my 200+ add to WAY more than 420 lbs... In go-cart racing this is a major factor, because the minimum weight includes the driver... The less the driver weights, the more cool stuff you can add to the cart! Some of us would make the car faster if we just went on a diet. (I am talking about me primarily...)

Yes, I noticed that the pressure plate looks like the picture of the dual friction unit, but the friction disk is clearly not the same. Thanks for the suggestion about contacting Centerforce, I hadn't thought about that.

Well, how much money do you intend to spend? If you don't want to replace the bumper with an air dam, you will have to replace the bumper. I bought one on Ebay a while back... Don't remember what I spent on it... Seems like it was around $200 but I could be wrong. Or if you want to go high dollar: http://www.blackdragonauto.com/icatalog/z/0024.html Alternately MSA makes a fiberglass bumper: http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=50-1750 Or else get your existing bumper repaired? I am sure others have ideas...

Just for future reference, where did you get that done. (In spite of my claiming to be from Indy, I live just down the road.) I spent closer to $200 on my tank. Of course when they pulled mine out of the cleaning tank it looked more like a tea strainer than a gas tank, if you get my meaning... :stupid:

On My L24, the front "pully" is actually two separate pieces. the front piece has only one belt grove, and is trapped under the main bolt. It has two holes in it that line up with socket head cap screws that serve as alignment studs. The front piece should just pull off with a screw driver, or even by hand. I mention this, because if you try to use a wheel puller with that part still attached the result is just frustration...

I bought this clutch setup a couple of years ago on Ebay. The seller called it a Centerforce, but did not say if it was a I or II series. The label, which I could not get to photograph, just says Centerforce. It was used, but as you can see not very used because there is still lettering on the friction disk. Anyway, I was planning on installing my engine and transmission back into the car yesterday when I noticed that the transmission isolator is torn, so as long as I am opening my wallet again I decided to search the forums to make sure that the rest of the parts here were ok... I discovered this thread: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17781&highlight=centerforce which indicates that with a Centerforce II you need the throwout bearing sleeve from a 280Z... So I checked my throwout bearing sleeve and based on the measurements, and the information at this link: http://www.zparts.com/zptech/articles/trans_swap%20parts/4tobear_specs1.html it appears that I have the sleeve from a "type A 4 speed" transmission. Which is all well and good, except that the transmission is clearly a "type B 4 speed"!!! :sick: (I know this because of the shifter linkage, and the fact that the PO had to cut the transmission tunnel to clear the shift lever...) So, I mocked up a simulated installation using a straight-edge and my calipers. It looks to me that at the maximum movement of the pressure plate release levers my existing sleeve might slide beyond the end of the transmission's bearing surface, and get stuck... Not a good thing in my opinon. Of the five different T/O bearing sleeves that the parts CD shows, Courtesy Parts lists only the 30501-N1600, which is for the 75 and later cars. Is this the correct sleeve for the Centerforce II? The Centerforce clutch arrived from the Ebay seller with a re-surfaced flywheel. I wasn't planning on using the "new" flywheel, because I noticed that it doesn't have dowel pins to locate the pressure plate, whereas the original one does. (The Centerforce pressure plate mates with the dowels on the old flywheel just fine.) So my questions are: 1. Is this a Centerforce I, or a Centerforce II? How can I tell? 2. Given that I apparently have the wrong T/O bearing sleeve, Which one do I need? 3. Am I correct in assuming that the dowel pins are important? (Or were they omitted from the later cars for some reason?)

The sad thing is that it looks better than mine did when I started.

Oops, Sory JZM! I hadn't read your post before I replied. REALLY, I meant no disrespect! But as you say, the starter will take the bolt out. Not elegant but effective.

Then there is the Redneck way... With a rachet that you don't care about on the bolt head, brace the wrench against a board that is securely braced on the frame, and hit the starter a couple of times... Hey! I didn't say it was a GOOD idea, but know people who have removed front pulleys on other cars that way. I just use my electric impact wrench. I bought it at a Sears many years ago specifically to remove the front pulley on an old Ford I was trying to repair. Now that I have it, I wonder how I ever got along without one!

You know... I had been wondering where to put my speakers.....

I agree, why isn't Basement an option in the survey? That is where my transmission and most of the other large parts are stored. Or is having a basement one of those midwest U.S. sort of things?

And don't forget the whole "lug bolt" issue with most German cars... I never cursed so much in my whole life as the time that I broke a lug bolt off in the hub on a early 90's VW... that will ruin your whole week trying to drill one of those out. For those who don't know, most German cars don't have wheel studs, they have threaded holes in the hub into which you thread lug bolts. I know that VW, Audi, and BMW have this oddity, but no one has been able to explain WHY. It seems like a really minor issue, but after trying to change a wheel a couple of times it really began to bother me. That and the fact that the lug bolts tend to rust into the hub... well never mind.

I assume that the State Police inspection was to get the antique plate. I assume that because my Z has been plated for 3 1/2 years now, and as never been operational. Indiana is one of those states where as long as you pay the road use taxes they just don't care... I am in the final lap of making my car street worthy. With any luck I will actually be driving before I get to 4 years...

Oh, so the old filler tube us INTENDED to be hard as a rock... strange. I thought that it had hardened with age. The new filler hose that I just got from Courtesy parts is soft and pliable. Once I saw how much easier it was to bend the new one, I cut the old one out with a chisel.

You know... underneath all the other layers of paint on my Z there is (or rather was) a layer of paint that is almost the same color as that car... Looking at that picture makes me glad I sanded it off...

Sorry, but I used up my vacation time for April working on my house... and priming then sanding then re-priming the Z...

Good luck, It took me three years of Ebay watching to find mine. (not shown in the picture to the upper left btw...)

dogma, Nice writeup. I really appreciate the detail. But then being an engineer I tend to want to know ALL the details before I do something. By the way, I suspect that the "snorkel" is for cooling, but I could be wrong.

The fuel vapor tank on my 71 is plastic. I hear that the steel ones hold up better, but mine is original (so far as I know) and not cracked, so I replaced all of the vent and overflow hoses this winter. It doesn't weigh much, and I need the vent anyway.

I tend to agree that the speed rating is only one of many factors in the overall quality of a tire. All that the speed rating tells you is how fast you can drive for an extended period of time before the tire fails due to the internal heat generated by the rolling resistance. I have had V rated tires on various cars that were hard as a rock, while other brands of H rated tires stuck like glue. I have even had some non-speed rated tires that I really believe stuck to the road as well or better than some speed rated tires. Generally, the higher the speed rating, the thinner the tread, which results in shorter tire life. That isn't always true, but certainly thin tread generates less heat, and traps less of the heat generated. I know that none of the V rated tires I ever owned lasted as many miles as the H, or lower rated tires. Besides, where are you going to be able to run above 118MPH around here? Unless that is you are running from the law? ;-) There is just WAY too much traffic in central Indiana anymore to worry about needing high speed tires...

I sanded my steering wheel down with steel wool. Started with coarse then worked down to 0000 polishing grade. Hit it with Mahogany stain. Then put about 5 or 6 coats of Tung oil, polishing each coat with steel wool before applying the next. The down side of this approach is that Tung oil has to dry for 24 hours between coats. But since the car is still in pieces, that isn't a huge problem. I painted the spokes with a gloss black paint before I started on the wood. It looks great, but I have no idea how long it will hold up. The car is in the garage, and I don't have access to a digital camera at the moment, or I would show you the result.

Not funny... True, but not funny...

Heh, If I could have taken all the money that I have poured into my son's 325ES in the past year and spent it on my poor Datsun I would have it running by now...