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Problem solved. The problem: some dumba$$ PO apparently disconnected the terminals inside the headlight bucket socket and got the RW and RB wires interchanged. It's been like that for more than 7 years at least. The crappy sealed beam lights I was running were running incorrectly, but I guess the difference in brightness/pattern between high and low beam was small enough it never bothered me. The new H4 beams look pretty sweet on the wall of my garage, can't wait to try them out tonight (assuming it doesn't rain!).

A <$500 Z is a <$500 Z.

I would say so, very imprecise anyway. When I first got my Z I had a lot of cooling problems (genuine overheating). It turned out I had some obstructed water passages from rust. An engine rebuild later, and the temperature still read fairly high, sometimes 3/4 across on hot summer days (same sensor it came with). So far as I could tell, everything was working properly - the thermostat seemed to be controlling the flow appropriately, and I wasn't having any more overheating problems. At the time, I had just moved to Austin and I didn't have a private garage to work on my car in, so I got into the rather costly habit of taking my Z to the local Z mechanic. I complained about the high temperatures, and he just replaced the sensor with another one he had laying around. I'm not sure if it was rigged to satisfy this fussy customer or not, but the temperature now tends to stay slightly below half-way, and only gets to half-way on really hot days. I should probably get my meat thermometer out and see for myself...

Hey all, I installed the Honda blower motor, and whenever I turned it up to the highest setting, there was a flapping noise coming from inside the air box in the dash. I could see fleeting glimpses of some piece of loose material through the center vent, whipping around in the airflow. Today I had the glove box out and managed to stick my fingers into the air box through the side duct (going to the passenger side vent) and gave it a little tug. Pictures of what came out are attached. I looked in the microfiche and couldn't find any information. I've never had that system apart, so I have no idea what purpose it served, or if I really need it at all. It's black and feels like a piece of vinyl, smooth on one side, with the remnants of that ubiquitous 240Z foam backing on the other side (mostly disintegrated now). Business card-sized Australian meat pie card shown for scale. Any input? Thanks!

I've got MSA's fiberglass shroud, and it worked fine for me. I don't recall seeing a big difference in temperature, though.

Hindsight is 20/20 alright, they even had the shorter grease nipples, much smaller than the ones the new Moog units came with. At any rate, the damage was done at that point. The clearance did not appear to be an issue when the car was at rest when I mounted the wheels. The new ball joints are mounted with the included grease nipples, with no clearance issues. I consider that an improvement. Also, could you elaborate on what makes the other ball joint better? Not trolling here, I'm genuinely curious.

Mine went in flawlessly, perfect fit. In retrospect, I don't see the "better Moog units" as being any better - they are MUCH taller, and appear to have the same dimensions as the units I pulled out. I discovered I was having some pretty serious clearance issues with the old ones, so I would definitely avoid the "better" units. With MSA bump steer spacers for 15" wheels, the grease nipple on the old units were very close to the edge of my 15" rewinds (1-2mm?). The wear in the ball joint led to the transverse link moving out relative to the strut enough for the grease nipple to dig into the rim while taking corners. There is a big gouge mark on the inner lip from it. Those grease nipples are hard (insert joke here)! There are no clearance issues with the units I just installed. Yes, they were both the same, and I would only install a matched pair anyway.

As trashy as this car looks, at least it doesn't have a retarded name like Primadonna...

Just in the 80's? I still want an A-Team van and Marty McFly's Toyota!

That's a real nice fuse block, should serve someone with Dave's headlight and parking light harnesses for years to come.

Looks pretty sketchy. Seller has zero feedback, for one. Also, in the interior rear view, the strut towers look asymmetrical.

We'll be able to talk to you about a lot of stuff that remains mostly original on your car, i.e. body, interior, suspension, maybe what's left of the original drivetrain, etc. If you haven't found it already, hybridz.org is dedicated to engine swaps, and they have a lot of people who would probably be able to talk to you about your engine/transmission more.

Hardly any around here in town, and the few that I've seen were total beaters. I know there are a few other Austin members with nice cars, and I know their cars aren't the ones I've seen. From what I've seen of the local Z club, it's almost exclusively later cars, which I admittedly have absolutely zero interest in whatsoever. It was kinda cool at first having people come talk to me about it randomly... all... the... time. Sometimes it can get a little annoying. Every other time I go to the mall with my Z, I return to find some guy's business card jammed into the door frame with a "will you sell?" message scrawled on the back. The more I think about it, the more that bothers me - if I'm in your neighborhood, and I like your house, do I come pounding on your door and asking you to sell? No! If I were selling, I would be pretty bad at it if I were just waiting for some random guy to lowball me in the mall parking lot. Something else that happens occasionally is a bunch of older gents will come around while I'm pumping gas, and we have a good talk. The story is usually the same: "I had one of these in college, and I loved it. My wife got pregnant, and she made me sell it." I've often heard them then express this as being their "biggest regret," no foolin'. The small crowd sometimes leads to some young ricer kid pulling up in his Prelude or Civic asking to race. No thanks!

I thought that too at first, but the only wiring I disconnected was the plug at the back of each bulb when I swapped them out. The plug also goes on only one way, would have been nice if I could have just flipped it over for an easy fix :/

Actually, a while back the lead designer of the S30 stated to a member (Kats) here that it was not just plastic. It is actually a composite material of real wood impregnated with a resin. See this post, 8th paragraph from the top: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7801#34 FWIW, I didn't stain mine at all. I did this 6 years ago, and used no funky stains or oils or anything. I started out with a Scotch Brite to take all the buildup of 31 years of driver's hands off, then sanded it a bit. Afterwards, I masked the spokes and sprayed some urethane clear coat over the rim, and it turned out great. It looks very red in this picture, but it's a much darker color in person. The flash really changes the appearance of colors sometimes.

Until today I was running some Sylvania sealed beam headlights that the PO had installed in the car - nothing special. A few years ago (maybe 3?) I installed Dave's headlight harness, intending to upgrade to H4s eventually. I finally got around to ordering a set (the Autopal set MSA is selling now), and when I installed them, my high beams no longer behave properly. The driver's side headlight correctly switches between low and high in sync with the little blue indicator light in the speedo, but the passenger side headlight does the opposite. I.e.: High-beam indicator ON -> Driver's side high, Passenger side low High-beam indicator OFF -> Driver's side low, Passenger side high I should note that the setup worked flawlessly before upgrading headlights. Any ideas? Hoping Dave will chime in here. P.S. I installed a 60A 280ZX alternator using Dave's adapter plug tonight also, seems to be working great so far. My blower motor seems to run at constant speed between idle and revving now.

Mark, I just replaced the ball joints in my Z with my Moog units from RockAuto. The units that were in there previously were the square-cornered units, just like the one you got in your original order. I would highly recommend NOT using those parts. They are quite a bit longer than the units I replaced them with, and they actually ended up damaging one of my Rewind rims. Essentially, the ball joint was worn enough that in turns, the transverse link was able to move slightly outward relative to the strut tube. What then happened is that the hardened steel grease fitting on the bottom scraped the inside corner of the rim leaving a gouge mark in the relatively soft aluminum. The new units have no clearance issues, and I don't see this happening again for me. This occurred using the MSA bump steer spacers for 15" wheels. It'll save you some grief anyway if you decide to get different wheels someday.

I highly recommend you check out RockAuto.com They have a pretty good assortment of ball joints, and they have pictures of each item so you know what you're getting. That's a big reason I referred you to the other thread you disregarded as being useless. Also see this thread for a discount, basically amounts to free shipping: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37752 The units you got from Amazon are sealed-for-life, i.e. you can't regrease them. The boots on ball joints often go bad after only a year or so. If you have a unit you can regrease, you can order some more durable urethane boots, grease the hell out of the ball joints to clear out any dirt that got in there, and slap the new boots on. Can't 'purge' the socket with the sealed-for-life unit If that doesn't make a difference for you, why not go ahead and just use the Amazon units?

Wow, JB weld being an integral part of the brake system? I wouldn't feel comfortable doing that personally. The brakes are one part of my car that MacGyver tactics have absolutely NO PLACE. Assuming it works for you to get it out of the shop, you should definitely make an effort to fix that the right way ASAP. What penetrating oil were you using, just out of curiosity?

Take a look at this thread. The search function is your friend. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=36784 The one on the right in your pictures looks very similar to the one in the very last post in that thread. It seems Moog changes suppliers from time to time, so they may both come through legitimate channels. However, your unit on the right looks a lot more beat up. It may have been getting shipped around and/or stored somewhere for a very long time before it ended up with you.

ZCurves, In your experiences does the leather burn more than the vinyl? I've only had experience with cloth vs. leather, and I never really leave my car in the sun to find out how bad the vinyl can be... At least it doesn't have those little metal vents to brand you as Datsun cattle

Had the same thing happen to me 4 years ago. Got in the car one day and the clutch was as light as the gas pedal. Didn't have facilities for working on it back then, so it was just another of my many experiences getting to know the local AAA contracted tow company. My AAA+ membership has probably saved me $600+ in towing fees in just the last 5 years, can't imagine going without it. Not to mention the small AAA discount at Napa. Really looking forward to getting a classic insurer, like Haggerty (it sucks living in perpetual fear of getting screwed over by a regular insurer). Can't get it now, because it's technically my "primary vehicle" even though I drive it all of once a week. We have a pretty decent mass transit system here, and it's free for me.

Nice look, gotta love those projects you can take inside, away from the heat and humidity.

Ahh damn, I was about to suggest Rockauto.com, they have a remanufactured unit at the best price I've seen... LHD unfortunately. Just FYI for someone in the LHD world also looking for a rack.

First, don't post duplicate threads! Second, go to hybridz.org. Maybe instead you should sell your car to someone else. If you want to get a car to "freeway race" like you posted in your other thread, please pick some modern car such that when you wrap it around a tree after taking out a bus full of children, at least a classic car was not lost in the process. It's been a while since I added someone to my ignore list, but you're definitely worth the effort for me to re-learn the process.