davewormald

Do you mean you replaced the Pertronix with the MSD Blast and no resistor? When we replaced the original coil and resistor in my car with a Pertronix and no resistor the tach wouldn't work. I added a TachMatch device. It didn't fix the problem initially, but the entire setup mysteriously began to work almost a year later. It's possible that the tach would have started working again without the TachMatch, but the scenario you've described is one of the use cases for it and mine's continued to work perfectly all summer.

I wasn't taking sides on the cadmium versus zinc issue. I have no knowledge or expertise to bring to bear on that topic. 26th-Z said "but how does this all matter", which is what HS-30H was referring to with the Brute quote. I think one of the hallmarks of this group is believing that details matter. My comment was meant to commend that behaviour. And Zed, you're definitely one of the people who cares about detail in my view. I don't always enjoy the exchanges themselves, but I think we all benefit from the willingness to engage, and the level of knowledge that results. Sorry that I wasn't clear.

I'm not about to wade into this discussion except to say that I think there's a lot to be said for the quoted comments. First, I like, and get in this context, the Shakespeare reference. Ouch! I'm betting it was a weak moment for 26th and he'll be back onside soon. But more importantly, if there's a community on the internet more dedicated to knowing everything there is to know about Datsun Z Cars, I haven't found it. This is it. Sometimes it takes a long, rancorous discussion to get to the answer, but down the road it's only the answer that will matter. Good for you guys for caring enough about this stuff to challenge each other to get to the right answers. Not everyone will care about whether it was cadmium chromate or zinc chromate, but a few will, and we stand a better chance of determining the answer today than we ever will in the future. Cheers to you guys for your dedication to the cause!

That makes sense, but the problem is really just cosmetic (once I've confirmed that the exhaust problem has been corrected), so I don't think I want to go as far as adding a second strut to correct it. I don't think all cars with the single strut have raised driver side hatches, though, so I'm thinking that there are other ways to address this. If the hinges are worn, that might be a place to start, or maybe the two hinges just need to be adjusted relative to each other to lower the driver's side? At this point I haven't glued the seals back in or attempted to adjust the hinges or latch, so I think I'll move ahead with those steps and see how close I can get things to flush. The upper portion of the new inner seal is almost vertical when installed. When the hatch is closed the vertical portion slides outward against the underside of the hatch to create the seal, so I expect it to compress a little over time as well. As an aside, I was happy to see that, with a couple of careful initial closings where I manipulated the seal at the hinges, the seal is sliding over them properly. Both my original seal and the replacement were mangled by the hinges. I've been procrastinating on the next steps because I know I'm not going to enjoy removing the adhesive from the car before gluing the new seal in, but I'll report back when I've made progress.

I ordered and received one of these seals from Scott's as well. I can confirm that it's much better than the Precision version. With the Precision version there was a big gap all the way along the bottom of the hatch, which welcomed copious quantities of exhaust into the cabin. The hatch sat visibly higher than the edges of the quarter panels. The hatch was higher on the driver's side, and stuck out slightly at the back on that side. I removed all the weatherstripping (both inner and outer) and checked the fit. I was surprised to find that the hatch still sat slightly high and stuck out slightly at the back on the driver's side. I removed the support strut and that allowed everything to align. The strut is a replacement. I'll have to check the source. With the new hatch seal in place, but not glued, the hatch sits pretty nicely. It's very slightly high, but I suspect it will settle, and I haven't tried adjusting the hinges or latch yet. Once I connect the strut, though, it's noticeably higher again. It's lower than it was with the Precision seal and there's no gap along the bottom edge, so I don't think exhaust will be a problem, but it's higher than I'd like it. Has anyone noticed a strut causing the hatch to misalign? Any ideas about how to correct it? I'm a little surprised that the strut can move the hatch backwards. I would have thought the hinges would prevent that.

I've received several waves this year from motorcycle riders when I've been driving my Z. I'm not a motorcycle rider, so I haven't tried to respond "in kind" (and it might look a bit odd coming from the driver's door of a car), but I've given a friendly regular wave back. I definitely saw it as an honor (to the car), and was happy to see it in each case. I'm sure we all get lots of waves from other classic car drivers, which I'm also happy to receive! Yesterday, being Canada Day, was a big day for that!

The 2000GT is certainly a nice looking car. I've always liked that version of the Celica as well. On the other hand, I've never liked the fender-mounted mirrors. They somehow spoil the lines of the car for me. I know a lot of people love them. Pretty cool visit!

We appreciate it! This whole album was good. You might also remember Hard to Laugh and She's So Young. Both had pretty solid airplay back in the day in Canada.

... and appropriate.

I'm sad just reading this. What a beautiful car! I'm certainly no expert, but it looks like a car that would do well on BAT to me.

I hope you strapped them down to the headlight scoop for the drive, although I think you'll need to wait a while before opening them.

Yep, that guy's got some writing and acting talent. A really good communicator. Very enlightening and entertaining! I think he probably could/should have included an explanation as to how/why the two sides of an unaligned U-joint can turn at different and varying speeds. Maybe it would have been too much, but I think it could involve a little trigonometry, and who wouldn't like that?!

It's more indecision than anything. I'm not usually prone to indecision, but I'd really like to stick with a fiberglass scoop, and couldn't convince myself to go metal. I also think you're better off selling the four pieces together, than having two fenders and one scoop, so it probably works out OK. I do appreciate you checking on them for me. Good luck! As a friend of mine likes to say, "My wife loves that sh*t!". @CanTechZ I'll send you a PM and hopefully we can move this forward!

I've never done this sort of repair, but I'm confident that I could do it if I had to. These days there's so much good material out there on the internet (interspersed with the other stuff) that you can learn to do almost anything if you're at all handy, and are willing to put in the time. I'm not worried about the mounting studs. One of my original ones was broken and a fix looked pretty straightforward. Of course, I might have the luxury of sourcing one that doesn't require any work, and I might take the lazy path if it's available! I moved to a condo a couple of years ago, so I no longer have my three car garage or my enormous basement to work in. ☹️

No problem. I really appreciate you guys doing what you do to help out. This, among other things, is what makes this particular forum so great!