Captain Obvious

And it's all true. Right up to the end.

Did anyone else see the Top Gear episode where they were praising the virtues of the E-type? The one with the band, the planes, the big flag over the side of the cliff? I thought that was awesome! And hot air balloons... Forgot the hot air balloons. And the wing walkers. You gotta watch the last minute or so to the very end: "The Maypole around which the people of this funny little rock in the north Atlantic can gather, to remind ourselves that once upon a time, we really were as great as we think we are now."

For things like sway bars and T/C rods, it never matters. Tighten them hanging or on the ground. No difference. The only ones that matter are the rubber style control arm bushings. One each side in the front inner, and eight in the back (fore and aft, inner and outer, each side). So, since you loosened the rear control arms to lean the struts out, you should tighten the four big inner bolts (like 26mm or something like that?) while the suspension is loaded. And if you loosened the spindle pin nuts (outboard) you should tighten those under load as well. And in the front, I couldn't tell if you had to loosen the front lower control arm pivot bolt to get the strut beyond the fender, but if so, then that one needs to be tightened under load. You might consider just giving it a few days of driving and "settling" and then loosening all ten pivot points while under load, letting the bushings relax, and then retightening them while still under load? Then get an alignment. If some time in the future you switch to poly control arm bushings, it won't matter anymore. The poly bushings are designed to pivot the inner sleeve inside the bushing instead of torqueing the rubber as the original design bushings do. And because of that, you can tighten the poly stuff while hanging or loaded. No difference. That rotating sleeve pivoting action of the poly bushings are what causes them to squeak if not greased properly. It's the inner sleeve turning inside the bushing material.

Uh-Oh. Look out... Blue's gettin' his geek on!! Getting the itch to blow the dust off the scope?

Just checked in with Lenny. Everyone is OK. The new family addition is just demanding attention. I'm sure he'll be here with an update shortly. Sheesh. Kids.

That's an interesting idea Blue. I wonder!

I've got his number. I'll give him a ring tomorrow.

It's not a big deal or anything. I'm just curious. I've had both projected and non-projected styles in my 77 and didn't notice any difference. It could be anything from slightly better emissions test numbers during those years to a typo in the manual.

Did your research turn up any info as to why Nissan moved away from the projected tips from 75 to 79 only to go back to them in 80? Any ideas? I've continued to wonder.

Oh and your car is gorgeous by the way. I wouldn't want to have to clean those wheels, but it's beautiful!

Hahahaha!! I get it. "shockingly affordable" :laugh: I bet you didn't even plan that! So you pulled inserts out? You were thinking that you might have the original factory strut guts, but apparently not. What brand did you pull out? I can't read it on the pic. After the work, it should feel just a little more solid than mine? I know it's hard to do the comparison without a side-by-side jump from one to the other, but what do you think? I'd love to have mine an inch lower at some point, but first I had to get a good baseline. Nice VOC in the crotch story! I'm not sure I would have admitted that one!

I've heard that reading plugs isn't what it used to be. From what I gather, it's OK for plugs to look leaner than they used to in the past. Ten years ago, the white insulators on 1,2,5, and 6 would be called lean. Some people have cited gas formulation changes that have "shifted" the norm? My highlander for example, the plugs come out looking scary lean, but everyone tells me they look perfect. Scary lean... BTW - Did you know you're running the "wrong" plugs for your year? http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/electrical-s30/47495-spark-plugs-projected-tips-vs-standard.html

I guess what I'm saying is that if you're dumping so much fuel that the mixture won't light and you're misfiring on all the cylinders 100% of the time, then wouldn't that feel like a switch was flipped? You could wire a small 12V bulb across one of your injectors and hang it out of the engine bay taped to the cowl or something. Drive with it attached and see what the bulb brightness does as you drive. If fuel is being cut, the bulb will go dark. If fuel is being poured in there at great volume, the bulb will glow bright.

My wife thinks that all male humor stagnates at 13 years old.

Thanks Arne. Cool. Next question... Anyone got a 4.5 inch steel wheel from a 70 or 71 Z available? I need just one for my spare.

Wow. Really? Not what I would have expected. I've messed with butyl in some other applications and it's always been a sticky, gooey, very difficult to remove mess. I wonder if (for the sound mat application) they adjusted the composition to reduce the adhesion.

Haha! She's completely correct, of course!

What's the narrowest stock wheel Datsun ever used? 72 FSM says 5 inch, but I don't have manuals earlier than that. Did they ever use anything narrower than 5 inches, or is that the narrowest?

I like the idea of putting in some floor insulation, but I'm not sure I like the idea of butyl... If I ever have to take that stuff out for any reason, isn't it going to be an enormous PITA?

Are you sure you aren't drowning your engine when the ECU gets the WOT signal? You keep thinking that fuel is being cut because the engine misfires... Maybe you're dumping so much fuel at WOT that it just can't light it?

I hear ya. I recently did some serious engine work to our family truckster SUV and it took me quite a while to convince myself that I trusted it again.

"The parts go into a press that applies both heat and pressure to secure the rivet firmly" Then they grind it flush. How It's Made Pliers - YouTube I love that show...

Cool! Sounds like you finally got it licked? How long till you really trust it and blow the "all clear" whistle?

Excellent. Glad to hear that it was that simple. Surprised, but glad!! I've got an air cleaner housing laying around here somewhere... Next time it turns up, I'll snap a pic of the rear and label all the tubes and connections. Something I've been meaning to do for a while now. This isn't the first time something like this has come up. Now you need to cap all those unused fittings on the rear or the air cleaner or you need to reinstall the equipment that's supposed to connect to them. With them hanging open, you're sucking unfiltered air right into your carbs. You download the service manual yet?

It's clear with the earlier fuel rail and the other changes that someone has been messing around in there. Makes me wonder if someone had swapped round tops into there at some time in the past and then went back to the flat tops? "I believe the top one is the Anti back fire valve? What do the other 2 go to?" The large top nipple is supposed to go to the anti-backfire valve. The lower large one went to the air pump. On 74, the smaller one I think went to the thermostatic control on the air cleaner. I believe they moved that control valve around a little depending on year, so I'm wondering... Are you sure you've got the original air cleaner for your year, or maybe someone swapped a 74 air cleaner onto your car? "The hose that goes off camera have a screw in it capping it off. where is it supposed to go?" That small hose also went to the anti-backfire valve. It was the control signal that told the anti-backfire valve to open when the vacuum got very high.