Captain Obvious

If you're really really looking for stock, then the 72's were unique to that year. They included water passages into the carb bodies that did not exist on previous versions. And different intake manifolds to match. If your heart is not set on factory proper, then you have other year options with some simple mods.

Man... You don't have good luck, do ya. What did you get for $20 in that last pic? Whole thing or just the valve cover? And I don't think that corrosion spot is going to clean up with just a head cut. I think welding will be necessary to seal that up.

Haha!! Yeah, this was a funny one! Thanks for the reminder!

Thanks Jims!

So speaking of carpets... I'm thinking that I'm going to mess with this soon. Problem is, however, that I've made some changes in my interior that would make any pre-formed "kit" not fit right. Anyone know of a company that will sell appropriate automotive carpet in just flat square sheets that I could cut myself?

You guys are all wearing safety glasses, right? Right?

Nice! And some Looney Tunes... and: http://looneytunes.wikia.com/wiki/Lumber_Jerks

So have you thought about using multiple pieces to cover a part and overlapping the edges a little for a lap joint? That test piece you did on the corner of the taillight bulb access panel makes it look like the material you're working with is thin enough that you might be able to do a pretty good job of hiding seams like that. And on some of the parts (like that bulb access panel) you could even put the seams on the underside where they would be hidden in use. Unfortunately, I doubt that technique would work on the dash though as I don't know where you would hide seams. What we really need is a large vacuum table, one of those big radiant heaters and an adhesive backed thermoplastic sheet.

What year was the junked 5 speed from?

Yes, those dimmers are three wire devices with: 1) A 12V connection that controls the internals of the module 2) A pulse width modulated output connection that pulls the low side of the bulbs to ground, and 3) A ground connection for both the internal electronics and the bulb current. I made some internal changes to the electronics on mine such that I could run it in two wire mode if I wanted to. Still works in 3-wire as described above, but as long as I keep at least one incandescent in the system somewhere, I can run mine in 2-wire mode as well.

Yeah... I think maybe I'll wait till you nail down the process and then send my panels to you. Or, maybe that rear taillight panel is, in fact, the most difficult and the rest of them will be a breeze by comparison? Top of my priority list would be the dash, so I'm anxious to hear your results there.

Dave, When you said you couldn't find a 23T reverse idler for a ZX, did you mean that you looked for a 23T idler and could not find one for sale, or did you mean that you couldn't find a listing for a 23T reverse idler for a ZX and the listings you found say the ZX used a gear other than 23T? I thought all the 5 speeds (Z and ZX alike) used 23T reverse idlers. So if you meant that you couldn't find a listing, I think something is wrong.

Granny, I don't think he carved that whole thing out of one solid chunk. I think he meant that he cut out the rectangular sections on the CNC table and then after all the cutting was done, he welded the edges together and the intake tube in place. And had material leftover for the fancy CNC cut nameplate!

One of my engineering mentors beat into me... "If you don't completely understand the true root cause, it's likely to happen again." That, and "You shouldn't have told the company president that he has Recto-Cranial Inversion. He's smart enough to figure that one out."

About $26 at McMaster for an M20 x 1.5 right hand die. http://www.mcmaster.com/#2573a81/=11xeukh But I agree with Zed Head above... Unless you really, really mangled a number of threads, I'd just file the damaged portions roughly back into "shape" with a triangle file and call it a day. If the nut threads on smooth past the damaged spot(s), then you're good.

Many manufactures did that printing on a clear plastic scheme. Then they backlight the gauge and the light passes through the silk screened plastic. Trying to redesign the Z to use such a scheme, however, would be darn near impossible. As for where to get PWM controllers, you would need to ask enough questions or read enough documentation to determine if they are high side or low side controllers. Not easy to do.

Haha!! Not my fault! You guys saw ME, right? I think the distraction was at the pool, not at the bar!

Well thanks for stopping me before I started. I had been toying with the same idea of covering my interior plastic panels with vinyl, and the troubles you describe have given me second thoughts. It seems you've got way more experience with this sort of work than I have, and if it's giving you issues, then I can only imagine what would happen if I were to try. It likely wouldn't be pretty at all. If you come up with an alternative more stretchy forgiving material, or a foolproof "for dummies" method of working with what you purchased, that would be great. But if not... I think I might be shelving this project.

jonathanrussell, Where there any manufacturers part numbers printed on that tape you bought off Amazon? When I redid my harness, I used Elliott Tape EE 201, which is dry (no adhesive at all). It sticks to itself very well, but I think the original tape from Datsun did have a small amount of adhesive on it.

Yeah, that would be really bad for that thing to stick while driving. You might not even know about it until it's too late. What kind of fuel filter are you running? The ubiquitous G3, or something different? Seems weird that anything "visible" could make it through a filter like that, even if it was a couple years old. How about a liquid contamination issue maybe? Ethanol in the fuel reacting with the aluminum or the brass inside the pump? Water maybe? Something like that?

Kira, I got your PM and responded!

Calling it "heavy duty" doesn't tell you whether it's a high side or a low side driver. Without seeing it, I suspect that's more about the relative current handling capacity of the device. The small ones I've been messing with are designed for a total current from a couple dash bulbs. If you were to try to dim a three 10W incandescents, you could burn up the insides of the module because it might not be able to deal with that much current. Low side drivers have always been easier to produce because of the fixed reference point (ground) and inherent transistor technology. High side is of course possible, but usually more complicated and more expensive.

All of the automotive PWM dimmers that I've messed with control the lights the same way the original rheostat does... By varying the amount of bulb current to ground. Goes like this: When you turn the lights on. one side of the bulb is connected directly to +12. The other side of the bulb is pulled to ground through the rheostat. The PWM dimmer does the same thing except it pulls to ground with an intermittent connection through a switch (transistor). Of course, I haven't dissected a dimmer from every car ever, but the "low side switching" scheme is easier to accomplish in electronics, and I suspect most of them work that way. Also note that the early Z's operated differently and had the rheostat on the high side of the bulbs. The PWM dimmers I've messed with would not work on those early cars without additional changes to the cars wiring.

I'm no carb expert either, but my read is that the whole purpose of the float and the valve is to keep the level in the bowl constant under all conditions from idle to WOT and every point in between.

Well that's not cool. Did you lay eyes on said sludge gumming up in the pressure regulator? I'd be concerned that without knowing the origin, it could happen again?