Matthew Abate

About an hour. Here are the instructions: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/5934-removing-dash-and-interior-for-paint/ The only hard part was finding where the heater controls connected on the right side near the firewall and getting a screwdriver in there. Just be careful with the dash. I didn't realize they are that fragile. :/ /M

I think I might like the shape of the Xenon one the most, but I want it in carbon fiber or aluminum, which does not exist, because it's stiffer and does its job better. The only CF one I've found lacks fog-light/air-duct holes. /M

Well, you could watch the Garage Squad Z episode, but I had to turn it off when they started talking about putting tons of carbon and drilling on the 89th car imported to the states: https://youtu.be/M2UIIj4B6xQ /M

Okay, I'm back. Sorry for the silence. I got laid off in the middle of August and the car had to go on the back burner for a minute while I figured out a plan for that little issue. I've done a small amount of work on it since my last post; mostly taking a wire wheel to the floor to see what the story is there, but also pulling the dash. The dash project was a piece of cake except for one thing. I got a little over zealous with the ratchet and smacked it with the handle while I was pulling the bolts under the windshield. Of course I put two little dents in the dash that are big enough to be a problem but small enough for me to not know what to do about it. I'll see what it looks like after I clean it up, but I have a feeling it's going to need repairing. Major bummer because it was perfect before that. Here's the damage:

Anyone find an online source for watching this? Haven't found one myself.

Well, I weigh 172 pounds and started hitting the gym pretty hard recently. Also, the car can lose more than 30 lbs just by switching to a lithium battery, plus I'll get whatever the difference between a stock radiator and an aluminum one saves me. The one I have is leaking so I'm going high performance on that front. However, I'm sure the sound deadener I intend to instal will suck up some of that. Any other quick and easy weight savers out there? CF hood? Plastic gas tank? Nitrogen in the tires? As far as power is concerned, I saw somewhere on this forum that triple Mikunis supposedly bring an L24 up to 190HP and an L28 up to 200HP. it looked like manufacturer's documentation, so who knows how realistic that is, but if a carb change can do that, then I'm sure the other plans I have can get me over 200 without trouble. But the above target is a P:W of ~10:1; better than a Porsche 993 or a BMW E45 M3, not that this ratio is everything, but it's fun to think about.

Nothing to report other that I finished pulling the rivets out of the floor and the floors are in pretty much the same condition on both sides. I was thinking about where I want to go with the car and have figured out what my baseline goal is to try to beat the specs on a factory 1973 Porsche 911RS. A stock 1973 240Z supposedly makes 171 hp and its curb weight is 2301.6 lbs. A 1973 Porsche 911 RS weighs 2150 and makes 210 hp from a 2687 cc engine. So I need to find 150 lbs to lose and 39 HP to gain. And I need to think about torque and gear ratios. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's not the same. Note the shape of the vents and that the license plate area is recessed. The one in the original post protrudes and the vents are wide and short. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Did some work on the right side floor board. Pulled the sheet metal (those rivers were a bitch and here were something like 20 of them), scraped up all the black goo (bed liner? tar? heroine?), and hit it with a wire wheel until my drill battery died. You can see the damage better now. Holes along the right side, which killed my fantasy of just welding up the holes, but not all the way up against the edge of the car, which is a relief. You can also see how banged up the floor is. I think they went off reading regularly. Time for a beer. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Try a Bose sound link mini with your phone. Then you can use the stock radio for FM AND have driving directions. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just knocked out a quick photoshop concept of what I might do with my Z in the end. Note the orange-on-orange BRE style stripes. The original photo is by Dan M.

Thanks Grannyknot, These will be super helpful later, but I'm looking for the Inner Fender Weatherstrip, the long piece that seals the fender against the body along the hood line, the pads that go on the little pedestals under the top of the fender, and Front Fender Rubber Mud Flap, the triangular piece that has two screws holding it to the dog leg under the rubber tube that evacuates water from under the wiper grill. So far I've found these: Front Fender Rubber Mud Flap - http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic03a14/50-1129 Inner Fender Weatherstrip - http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/34-1221

Cbuczesk, I just emailed you. ——— Here are some slightly better pictures of the floors: I'm not 100% sure that the entire floor needs to be replaced, but the right side behind the front seat brace is pretty much rust held together by paint. I took a wire wheel to it and never got to anything shiny. I was in the process of pulling out the galvanized sheet metal that has been pop-riveted to the floors, but I broke too many drill bits and needed to go buy the correct tools to finish that process. Once I get that done I'll have a much better understanding of what is happening there. ——— As for the rails, I can't take pictures at the moment because the car is sitting on them. The 4x4s that make the top of the cradle I made are lined up with them and obscure them entirely. I'm not sure how they got so smashed up, but they are flattened almost up to the floor panel in a few places. It might be possible to fix them, as Patcon mentioned above, but I have a feeling it will be easier and faster to just replace the rails… unless there is a really strong argument for keeping the originals that I am missing. I'm also looking at this: http://www.nicoclub.com/archives/car-frame-rail-replacement.html ——— Another surprise I forgot to mention is that the gas tank is caved in in a couple of places, which might explain why I had a fuel leak in the rear of the car. It looks like it was either used as a jack point, or the previous owner backed over something and smashed it. Judging from the placement of the dents I am going to say it was from jacking up the car. ——— In other news, I pulled the front body work off: I'm super happy to report that there was nothing surprising under the fenders, other than a black widow spider, but that's nothing a leaf blower, hose, and some raid won't solve. I just need to pull the grill from in front of the windshield and all of the removable bodywork except the 3 doors will be off. I haven't looked for replacement weather stripping or rubber parts yet. I'm holding on to everything until I know just how hard to find all that stuff is. Hopefully I can just buy everything new and chuck all this old brittle crap.