kmack

Get in touch with Carl Beck. You can get his email off of www.zhome.com He's in Florida and know just about everything about Z's.

This site has some pretty good tips on painting in a general sense. It's the only one I can think of right now. http://www.scottgrundfor.com/pages/collector.html As I just got finished painting my car, I can tell you a few things I did. I used a combination sealer/build-up primer on the bare metal on my car. It's made by Transtar and called "2K Quik Prime". I then used a urethane sealer on top of that. My choice of paint was an acrylic urethane single stage paint (solid color) by Nason, a division of Dupont. All-n-all, the paint flowed nicely and things turned out pretty good for my first ever paint job.

This how I understand it: 240Z (70-72), L28 w/ SU carbs, 5-speed, 3.90 or 4.11 rear-end. Best power-to-weight ratio. The 70-72 yrs are the lightest of the 240's. The L28 has the most stock power (short of a turbo), the SU's keep you from having to mess w/ FI, and the tranny and rear-end give you the best off-the-line acceleration.

Only 4-1/2 weeks left before the National Convention in June. Start making plans now to attend. I'm just throwing this out as a reminder.

I believe their website is: http://www.classicdatsun.com/

JC Whitney used to have dash covers and carpet sets for the early Z's up until about 3 years ago. Now all they have is needless crap for the little rice burners. Who needs a 5" exhaust tip for a 1.6L 4cyl engine anyway?:sick:

MSA seat apholstery kit - $179 This is the kit I'm using. So far I've done one seat and am very happy with the results. The grain pattern in the vinyl is close but not exact to the original pattern. But I doubt that anybody other than Carl Beck would be able to immediately tell the difference!

Sounds like you have a leak in the vacuum assist part of the system. Doesn't really sound like it's the master cylinder. Check the the hose running from the intake manifold to the brake booster for leaks. If you don't find any there, then it's more than likely inside the booster (the big round black thing on the firewall). I've heard those can be rebuilt but it'd be easier to just get another one and swap it.

I don't think it's the ATF in the piston dash pots either. Too many people use and recommend that fluid to often. Did you check your timing and valve clearences before you checked out the carbs? Also check to make sure your vacuum advance is working correctly.

The engine designation (L24,L26,L28) will be stamped on the block, just below the head right in front of the engine ID number. I can't rightly remember if it's on the driver's or passenger's side but I think it's on the driver's side toward the front. That's the only true way to tell what engine block is in your car.

It's www.hybridz.org

I don't think the fuel lines from the float bowls are the problem of your backfiring through the carbs. Honestly, I don't even have an answer for that one. But I do know that you need to be careful when buying fuel line for these particular areas. The original fuel line coming off the float bowls were very flexible and allowed the line to make the radius curve it needs to make going to the carb. Most typical fuel lines from autoparts stores are stiffer and will tend to kink, cutting off some or all of you fuel supply. Not a good thing under acceleration. Z-Therapy has the correct fuel line for the SU's and it's only a few bucks for both lines. When I received mine from them, there was a noticable difference in the flexibility of the lines. It was almost like using clear tubing, it was that flexible. And of course I have no kinks in my lines now.

I'm copying this from another thread I posted to and putting it here for posterity.... For those that have slow wipers and have determined it not the wiper motor, this is an easy way to help clean things up. Pull the motor and wiper arm assembly out of the cowling area and out of the car. Your wiper arm "pivots" are what is stuck. Put the pivot arm into a vise to hold it still. On the part of the shaft that the wiper blade arm attaches to, you'll see a small little snap-ring around the the shaft just above the pivot base. Take a small flat blade screwdriver and remove that snap-ring. Then slowly work the pivot base off of the pivot shaft. This part is what will take you the longest. Depending on how gunked up the whole thing is will determine how hard it is to get off. You may need to work the pivot base off with pliers or Vise-Grips. Take your time and try not to hurt the base - it is aluminum. Once you have the base removed, you'll see how badly rusted or otherwise caked-up the shaft is. Take some emory cloth (or 400-600 grit sandpaper) and clean up the shaft. A little WD-40, etc. will help work everything off. Trial fit the base back onto the shaft . If it doesn't spin on the shaft freely, then keep working. Once you have it all cleaned up, re-assembly is reverse order. Make sure you grease the wiper arm shaft before putting the base back on. I used Lithium grease. The snap-ring should then just slide back on into it's groove. Put the assembly back into the car and then get ready to go drive in the rain. Also make sure the little rubber boots that go over the shaft are in good condition and intact. Otherwise you need to do this all over again in a few years.

I just cleaned mine recently. It's rather easy to do also. Pull the motor and wiper arm assembly out of the cowling area and out of the car. Your wiper arm "pivots" are what is stuck. Put the pivot arm into a vise to hold it still. On the part of the shaft that the wiper blade arm attaches to, you'll see a small little snap-ring around the the shaft just above the pivot base. Take a small flat blade screwdriver and remove that snap-ring. Then slowly work the pivot base off of the pivot shaft. This part is what will take you the longest. Depending on how gunked up the whole thing is will determine how hard it is to get off. You may need to work the pivot base off with pliers or Vise-Grips. Take you time and try not to hurt the base - it is aluminum. Once you have the base removed, you'll see how badly rusted or otherwise caked-up the shaft is. Take some emory cloth (or 400-600 grit sandpaper) and clean up the shaft. A little WD-40, etc. will help work everything off. Trial fit the base back onto the shaft . If it doesn't spin on the shaft freely, then keep working. Once you have it all cleaned up, re-assembly is reverse order. Make sure you grease the wiper arm shaft before putting the base back on. I used Lithium grease. The snap-ring should then just slide back on into it's groove. Put the assembly back into the car and then get ready to go drive in the rain. Also make sure the little rubber boots that go over the shaft are in good condition and intact. Otherwise you need to do this all over again in a few years.

EScanlon has some good ideas and direction. The paint flaking on your roof can stopped rather quickly (about 15-20 minutes). Flake off all the raised, loose portions of paint, then sand the edges smooth, but don't sand too much. Don't sand into the underlaying paint. Once you have sanded the edges, then take some clear nail polish (ask your wife/girlfriend/or just some woman at work) and paint the edges. This will help keep water from seeping under the edge of the paint and making it flake up more. (Note: this is only a temporary fix to allow you to focus on other things.) The issues with your hatch are directly related to rust, nothing else. The only thing to do for now is like EScanlon said, put some sort of treatment on it, inside and out, and focus on ther things. A complete swap of a good hatch is best, and a repair of the hatch will take quite some time. For now, treat it and leave it. As for the bubbles in your tar inside, I had some just like that on my floor boards. When I peeled it up, there wasn't any rust just clean shiney metal. The bumps were just from irregularities in the tar mat. The only way you'll know for sure is to peel it up. Get your self a heat gun or a halogen work light and place it close (but not too close, about 3") to the tar for about 1-2 minutes. Then take a putty knife and slide it under the tar mat. It should be pliable enough to just peel up. Then you can see how it looks underneath. Good luck on the project and have fun with the car.

When I bought my '71, it had had the black-out treatment done to it. BUt they didn't paint the window trims. They used black tape. It looked like electrical tape but it was much harder and didn't stretch hardly at all. Now the door handles and key locks had been painted. In order to paint the chrome, you'd have to sand the chrome to a dull finish so the paint would have something to "grip" on to.

You probably won't easily find a body shop that will repair rust. At least not cheaply. Most places, other those that specialize in restorations, won't even bother with it because there's no money in it, or they'll price it so high as to not make it affordable. I'm in Texas so I can't give you any ideas of where to start other than to ask around and get some prices. As for fixing the rust, the absolute best way to fix it is to cut it all out and weld in new pieces. If it has holes through the metal, then it's too late. You have to cut... If there are no holes, then you may be able to treat it. But if it has pitted, you're probably out of luck again because Nissan was real bad about using thin sheet metal. With the pitting, you're already too thin. Of course, you could always use this as an excuse to learn how to do metal repair work and learn how to weld... Sorry about the negative tone with this, but in order to do it right that's what has to be done.

You know ... Yamaha has a snowmobile that can break 100mph now....

Hey, grantman, I'll post up a pic of mine after the final coat is shot on in next weekend. They'll probably look identical (except for the bumper overrider). Sweet ride! Congrats!

"Dropping" the mixture nut will richen up the mixture. To lean the mixture you need to screw your nut (, ) into the carb body. Looking at the carb from the top, turn the nut counter-clockwise. Looking at the carb from the bottom, turn the nut clockwise.

Well, i just put the doors back on my car (been off for about 2 yrs). And I aligned it by myself using paint sticks. The paint sticks I have are about 1/8" thick and I broke them into 3 pieces. I took a stack (3 pcs/each) and placed them on the door sill in the front and the back of the sill, so that the door actually rested on the paint sticks. I found that this will put the height of the door just perfect with the body. Now you just have to get the spacing from the fender and rear qtr right. With the bolts loose on the hinges, you can slide the door forward or rearward until it looks right. Then just tighten up the bolts. I found that I can tighten about 3 of the bolts through the window. Tighten as many as you can this way real tight, then open the door, reach up under the dash and tighten the rest. If you don't have them tight enough, when you open the door it'll fall and all the alignment will be off.

ZmeFly, Keep a journal (or good mental account) of your trip. When you get back, write it all down, so those of us that can't go with you can still share in your experience. It's too bad you're not coming any further south than OK. As ih-10 out of LA will take you within 3 miles of my house in San Antonio! The only thing I can offer though is a place to stay. Good luck on the trip, congrats on the new car, and by all means, enjoy the hell out of this ride!

I'm in the process of doing this right now. I'm going to be going with a local guy, but the information is the same. Go with Classic Car insurance. (I did a search on the net and came up with a few places nationwide, one being a local Texas based company) They take some pictures of the car, you both setup an agreed-upon value, and there will be some mileage restrictions. Mine will be a full coverage policy, $5000 agreed value, w/ a 5000 mile mileage limit per year. All for only $125 for the entire year!

A Haynes manual has a pretty good section on the torque ratings for most areas on the car. You can also check in the Factory Service Manual in the particular sections. It'll be listed there. Also, Haynes will usually have a section listing the general torque values for each bolt size. I'd check in either of these manuals for what you're looking for.