Captain Obvious

Hahaha!!!

Welcome aboard! Let me help you out by making your car one year newer. Poof!! It's now a 77, not a 76. My work here is done.

I would definitely add a ball valve like you pictured in the engine compartment. You could probably keep it completely closed for most of the year and only need to crack it open at the very beginning and end of the season. Speaking of which... I could probably close mine down now. I don't think I'll be needing heat until maybe October. As for the capacity of the heater core, I haven't measured it, but I don't think it's even as much as a half gallon. Maybe between a quart and a half gallon?

Very nice! Wish I could have been there to see it run for the first time!!

I've been out of town off-line and am coming late to the party, but glad to hear that the project is complete. Working under that dash is a royal PITA. In fact, I've done it both ways and have actually found it to be worth the time to just pull the entire dash out to work on the heater system. As for which side of the heater core the valve is on, I don't think it really matters, especially if you use one of the newer style ball valves that Sweaty and I used. The original style valve is more affected by flow direction than a ball valve since it could theoretically be forced open by pressure of the water pump, but I wouldn't worry about any of the direction stuff at all with a ball valve.

No kidding! Looks great!

Where did you get the steering wheel? And, I hate to ask, but... How much? @charliekwin

Hahaha!! Kim Cardassian! That's awesome!!

Haha!! Exactly. "And then a completely unprofitable huge amount of time later, you have this...."

Well any more evaluation will have to wait until the rains stop, which at current forecast may be.... Never?

Keep me posted as to any of these plans as well!!

One of my off season projects for this year was to replace my sketchy looking intake duct tube between the AFM and the throttle body. I couldn't see any cracks all the way through, but it's just a matter of time. I know there are aftermarket repros available, but I've always kept my eyes open for other cars that had air intake tract hoses that looked similar to the 280Z. With that in mind, and my never ending quest to find cheap ubiquitous replacements for OEM parts, I nabbed this on off a 2002 Ford Taurus: Here it is compared to the stock connector. The angle is almost perfect, but there are some issues. First, it's a little too long and second, the big end (AFM end) is too big: Taking care of the length is simple. Quick work with the razor knife to remove about a half inch from the small end where the hose clamp was and then put the hose clamp back on a little further up: Second problem... The big end is a little too big. The AFM is 2.75 diameter, but the Taurus hose is 3" diameter: So I made a spacer ring out of aluminum: Put a little sealer on the joint and press the spacer into place. Now I've got an AFM with a 3 inch outlet instead of the original 2 3/4 inches: Put everything back on the car and it looks like this. Cheap, ubiquitous, and although it isn't stock, it doesn't stand out like blue silicone tubes. One more step in having every molecule of air going through the AFM instead of around it: And now that I've got the projects mostly done and have a couple miles on the car, I was able to take about a half more turn out of my idle mixture screw. The car used to like it at about 4 1/2 turns out, and now it likes it about 5 turns out. So between my tight sealing Delrin bushings on the throttle body (this thread here >>http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/57126-sticky-throttle-body-fix-delrin-bushings/), and the new intake tract duct, it seems I've got a little more air going through the AFM:

Thanks guys! That pinch bolt is pretty tight, and I really doubt that it'll slip, but you're right that it could happen. I'll keep my eyes on it. I can just reach the strap with a couple fingers with the car on the ground. That way I can check tightness without jacking anything up and crawling underneath. Makes it easy to tell without much difficulty if anything has loosened up. I'll keep you posted!

Love the AC/DC shirt. Ride On.

Nice work. Have the orders started coming in yet?

Haha!! That was the emergency meeting. That's the one we had to call Cliff to let him know. Funny... Only had to call him once!!

One of my off season projects for this year was to replace my temporary light duty nylon web diff strap with a more substantial version made using a stronger webbing which I purchased from McMaster. I also figured out a simple way to adjust the webbing tension to account for stretch that may occur over time. Here's what I started with. The blue webbing is whatever the local hardware store had on shelf. Worked great for the six months it was on the car, but I had already planned on replacing it after proof of concept. The black webbing is McMaster P/N 3510T83 - Shock-Absorbing Nylon Webbing, 1-1/2" Web Width, 5100 lb Breaking Strength: To adjust the strap tension, I designed a new adjustable anchor bracket for the driver's side mount. I had originally planned to put these new brackets on both sides, but the diff doesn't sit in the middle of the tunnel, and it was an uncomfortably tight fit on the passenger side. With the help of our resident sheet metal magician @disepyon doing the bending for me, here's what I came up with: Here's the adjustable anchor assembled. The strap loop goes around the center shaft and the bolt slides in the slots to adjust: Here's my new strap in place. Original anchor on the left in the pic my new anchor on the right in the pic (driver's side): And here's my adjustable anchor bracket in use. Loosen the bolt, pull down until desired tension is achieved, and then tighten the lock bolt through the middle: Works great!! Thanks again disepyon for the help!!

Looks great so far. I'm assuming the stitch design will make more sense to me when it's done.

I'm so there!! I'm getting to Austin on Wednesday mid-day or so. Hoping to grab the rental car and head straight to the Oasis from the airport. I've got a local place to stay, so I won't have a room at the host hotel, but I'll be there for the CZCC meetings.

He turned me into a newt.

RIP Greg and Chris. I was out at a bar last night and the entire time they were playing Chris Cornell in all different configurations. I was very pleased with the music choice.

I agree completely. I'm positive he weighs the same as a duck.

"Or I could buy a stitching awl and do it all by hand." I unfortunately believe this would yield the best results.

Arrrrrgggh!!!

I would use a cheap generic relay with maybe a 20A rating, and put it in an accessible spot so that when the contacts burn up, you can just pull it out and replace it with a new one. I don't think I would go as far as to use a 40A continuous rated relay.