djwarner

There is a Z car club in the Miami area. They should have the local poop on where to go. Unfortunately, there aren't that many shops specializing in 40 year old technology and most of us Z owners end up getting our fingers oily sooner or later.

No, no, no all bolts must seat on the pan with simple finger tightening. Sorry I don't remember where the longer bolts go. I suggest you remove all the bolts, sort out the longer bolts, and systematically insert them into each hole. If one doesn't seat with finger tightening, remove it and move on to the next hole. Once you have seated all the long bolts, install the remaining short bolts in the remaining holes. The holes are tapped to different levels. A shorter bolt will fit in a deeper hole but not vice versa. BTW I pulled out Tom Monroe's book to double check the torque specs. On Pg 132 oil pan bolts are set to 4-7 ftlbs (0.6-1.0kgm) or 48-84 inchlbs. (and that ain't much).

Google is your friend. Try "Nissan A14 Engine". This is a 1.4 liter engine used in a B310 among other models.

I used Tom Monroe's book reference as well. Yes, I used a circular pattern after running the bolts down finger tight. BTW I just checked the Harbor Freight website. Even without a coupon, using the usual 20% off, you can walk out of at store with a 1/4" torque wrench for under $20. If you watch for coupons, maybe only half that.

I've been following this thread and scratching my head. Just where are these pockets supposed to be? I don't recall any ahead of the seats in my Series I car. Anybody got a photo?

I did as Chuck did except I had a cork gasket. If you have the block inverted on an engine stand, the gasket sealant on the block will hold the gasket in place while you position the pan. With no studs protruding, you can easily apply sealant to the other side of the gasket before mounting the pan. I took care to flatten the dimples on the pan and checked for flatness with a feeler gauge and a straight edge. Considering you can usually buy a 1/4" torque wrench cheap at harbor freight, using one will go a long way towards preventing re-dimpling the pan. I went around tightening every other bolt, and then repeating until the torque wrench showed no additional tightening. This took at least 4 cycles, but I lost count about then. Now if you were attempting to replace the gasket while the engine was in the car, that would be a whole other can of worms.

I know most of the colored carbon fiber materials on ebay are actually vinyl, but what colors can you offer? I have a blue interior including new blue seats and your black material would be just too stark a contrast difference. I was wondering if you had white/silver material and could tint the resin?

I've known Scott for 8 years and is as quiet and intense as he appears in the video.

Thanks for caring Cliff. She still requires some additional surgeries but the type of surgeons she needs do not accept Medicare insurance. So we are having to wait for the suit to wend its way through the courts.

And so it begins.......... After a few false starts, I won the auction for the Camaro and it was delivered to my garage today. Copart does not collect sales tax and therefore insisted I go through a broker. Broker fees, Copart fees, tax, and title put the purchase price near the top end of what I wanted to pay. But fortunately I found there will be more parts to salvage than what I expected to help offset the costs. The hood has a small dent but is salvagable. The front fenders, passenger door, rocker panels and convertible top are all in perfect condition. The wheels are 20" diameter painted aluminum. Two of which have some curb rash, but repairable. On the down side, the passenger rear suspension was impacted moving the wheel 4" forward rubbing the fender well. We inspected the engine compartment before it went up for auction and found the engine was only 21" wide. Having the exhaust manifold integrally cast in the heads means no header clearance problems. Length measurement show we should have no figment issues. One reason for buying a whole car instead of just a pulled engine and transmission from a third party is that all of the wiring harnesses are complete. Also the car was an LT model with the RS package so there are a lot of other goodies like a green glass review mirror with an imbedded rear view camera screen, HUD, and cruise control. Also the instrument panel will fit nicely in a z dash and it has four analog engine gauges. Of course all this will require more info than what you can find scouring the Internet, so I've order a full set of factory service manuals. And I'm also beginning a search for a rolling chassis to put it in.

I'm in central Florida, at 1:30 PM it is 82 and will get down to 65 tonight.

As I understand it, the UP has three seasons, July, August and Winter.

Hi Gary, EP stands for extreme pressure denotes a quality build into the oil. It will specify EP on the label. Don't know about Amsoil in particular, but you can find an EP gear oil in any auto parts store. Drain a warm differential from the bottom plug and put one quart in through the top port. Use the whole quart and don't bother to measure the level as you would in a transmission.

The transmission should be in first or reverse if you want to check the differential action. This locks the drive shaft and the opposite wheel turns in the opposite direction at the same speed. Obviously both rear tires are off the ground when you do this. Duplicate the test with the other rear tire. Clunks are normally caused by bad U-joints, but this is not the problem you describe. Check for free play by seeing how far you can turn one rear tire before the other one begins to move. You can also get an idea of dragging brakes, or warped drums which can also cause rear end noise. All that said, I would question the differential gear oil level first. Second is the gear oil itself. I would use a synthetic oil with an EP rating. EP oils act like a liquid until a thin film is subject to high loading as between the gear tooth surfaces when torque is being transmitted. At that point the oil stops acting like a liquid and acts like a solid as long as pressure is applied. EP oils will run quieter because the metal parts never actually come into direct contact.

I agree with Zed. Watch the video, observing the fan. With a cold engine, our fans clutches should have enough drag to spin the fan. Your fans only moves one or two blades for 42 seconds, and then starts revving up to speed immediately before the clanking starts.

I been going through a rear brake problem resolution myself recently. I would check two things, both requiring you remove the drum. First, there are six touch spots on the back plate where the shoes rest. Over time grooves wear into these pads and can cause sticking. Second, the piston assembly has to move left/right on the back plate to accommodate adjustments for wear as well as to allow the shoes to centralize on the drum. The piston assembly should move left or right with a force of 2-7KG or 4.41-15.43 lbs. If the piston is stuck, it will cause a shoe to drag on the drum. If you have trouble removing the drum, you may have over expanded the wear adjuster. If so, move the adjuster lever down and back to release it and then back off the adjuster by turning the adjuster wheel downward. Once you get the drum off, remove, clean and lube the adjuster wheel and screw. Set the screw to show about a 1/4" of threads and re-install. Put the adjusting lever into position and re-install the drum. Adjust the brake by repeatedly applying the hand brake. You will hear the adjusting lever ratcheting on the wheel as you apply/release the handbrake. Once the correct adjustment has been reached, the ratcheting sound will stop.

Ok, after 3000 miles it was time for an oil change. Still no ZDDP in the stores, but I found Valvoline 20w50 synthetic racing oil with ZDDP. Being a bit cool for 20w50 here in Florida this December, oil pressure is up a bit. Now the question is do you need ZDDP in each oil change? If it impregnates the cam surfaces, just how long will it last with a modern oil?

I made gaskets since that is what Datsun did when new.

It was weird, I would feel a shimmy in the front that would even show up at the steering wheel. Thought it got worse after I had a flat in the passenger front tire and it was removed patched and re-mounted. Checking showed the wheel was balanced correctly. Also, it seemed to get better after making a turn but returned soon after. While driving with the shimmy, I pondered the condition when I remembered that the last time I had the rear end jacked up, turning the rear wheel showed an area where the brake was dragging. But after a few turns it seemed to free up. Thinking I might be feeling the brake dragging, I pulled the parking brake at 30 mph and released it. Sure enough the steering smoothed out until the next time I applied the brakes when the shimmy returned. Apparently I had a shoe dragging. But repeated application of the parking brake did not adjust the clearance. So I tore down the rear brakes and immediately found several problems. First, the drum refused to come off, bound to the hub. When I finally got it off, I found the previous owner replaced the shoes, but had never lubed the touch pads. Actuating the parking brake spread the brake shoes, but the adjusting mechanism was frozen. The parking brake shifted the piston forward, where it stuck. The next time the brake was actuated with the piston, the piston assembly shifted back re establishing the intermittent drag. Examining the touch pads, I found fairly deep grooves matching the profile on the shoes. A thorough rebuild ensued, grinding the touch pads flat, lubing behind the piston assembly and exercising it back and forth til it moved easily. Found the self adjusting mechanism frozen, cleaned and lubed them. Installed new shoes and springs. Took care to reset the adjusting levers. Re-assembled, I could now clearly here the adjusting lever as it ratcheted. Having never heard the ratcheting before, I didn't realize the adjusting mechanism was Inop. With a proper brake job completed, my shimmy is gone. I would never have suspected a hanging rear brake shoe would cause a shimmy felt in the steering wheel but it did.

Gee, does that mean the Datsun Swoosh predate the Nike Swoosh, call my Attorney.

Hi Cliff, Now you have me confused. How do you think changing valve timing will change the distributor timing setting? They both run off the crankshaft but have different take-offs and are independently set-able. What was your timing goal and how did you measure it. I know the FSM specifies 5 degrees BTDC, but this is done with a light directly attached to the points and has no centrifugal advance as the engine is not running using this technique. If I am reading the drawing in the Haynes manual correctly, rotating the distributor clockwise advances the timing. If you are looking to set the distributor less clockwise, you would be retarding the timing while you are advancing the valve timing. Is this your goal? Of course the one point we never asked, is this a new chain?

Why are you using number two with a new chain? Number 1 is the standard position for a new chain. Positions 2 and 3 are to accommodate chain stretching as it ages and wears. With the crank at zero degrees and the bright link on the marked lug of it sprocket, the second bright link should line up at about 2 o'clock on the cam sprocket. Align the number 1 cog at about 2 o'clock engaging the second bright link. Mount the cam sprocket on the cam and the number 1 hole should be at 12 o'clock. As the chain stretches, valve timing retards. Positions 2 and 3 advance the valve timing 4 and 8 degrees respectively to accommodate for the stretching. When the valve timing is late while at position 3, it is time to replace the chain.

Listen to the video again. The original owner said he bought it new in October, put some 2100 miles on it, and parked for the winter. It was Wayne that said the car hadn't been driven since '78. During the dialog, they also noted a hundred mile discrepancy between what the owner said and the odometer. So after 39 years...... The discrepancy may be inconsequential to the story and was overlooked it editing.

Since no one else has mentioned it, have you verified the struts are not frozen? Lean on each corner like you were checking a shock absorber. When I bought my Z 3 years ago, I drove it to Florida from Ohio only to discover all 4 struts were frozen solid. The only suspension I had for the 1000+ mile trip was the 28psi air in the tires. If your car had been stored on jack stands for any length of time, one of the struts could have frozen fully extended.

The on screen graphics said it was a '76. I think some confusion may come from the owner's statement that he bought it, drove it 'til the cold weather came and parked it. Then the license plate is shown with a '78 tag. For this to make sense, the owner must have renewed the tags a couple of times without driving it.