Pomorza's Z threat.

[kenz240z]

It figures, the water pump would go out after you replaced the radiator...:tapemouth That's how a lot of my car projects go, too .

How did the skid plate turn out? Put that sucker in a blast cabinet and you can blast all the rust right off of it and have it down to good metal in a few minutes. I used to strip a lot of parts the hard way with sandpaper, wire brush & steel wool. I bought a Trinco blast cabinet earlier this year and man, has it saved me a lot of time preparing parts for refinishing!

Keep up the good work, that's a nice Z car you have there!

[Pomorza]

Skid Plate? I almost forgot that's what I started with on this project. Went from skid plate r&r to fixing the cooling system in one step. I'm thinking of getting a small sand plaster to do the project. At the moment I have about quarter of it down to metal. Not a bad start but really slow going.

Thanks

Jan

[Pomorza]

Water Pump Adventure

So this Saturday morning I decided hell I'm going to put the new pump in. Seems easy as pie should "take like an hour or two." Drain the fluid out into a bucket, (as its a week old so I reused it) pulled the shroud off took the fan off and started with the pump. To my amazement there were only FOUR bolts holding it on. "Hmm where did the fifth bolt go?" Well the PO of this car obviously missed that "replace the bolts when replacing pump" part of the instructions as the fifth bolt (below the dizzy) was broken at the head. GREAT! So called my friend's dad over (6'8" 300lb gentleman) who convinced the bolt to come out of the hole (using a vise grips). Got the old bolt out and put pump in. Works great, no more noise no more fluid coming out of everywhere.

Did notice one thing though. The weep hole on the new pump is on the top. Not sure if this is some new design but its odd. (I'm positive the pump is on right...there really is only one way to put it on really). Anyone ever seen these?

Secondly the fan clutch is...well a bit hard to turn. I took it off and clean with brake cleaner but I could not for the life of me find the bolts that hold it together. (as I've read you can replace the fluid in there and it work better).

Sorry I didn't take any pictures as the whole "broken bolt" kind of took up most of my time. There was a lot of sludge on the engine which I clean a bit off with some brake cleaner.

So the moral of this whole "adventure" is who ever Murphy was needs to get some award for his laws...as they seem to always get obeyed. (Murphy's Laws that is)

Will have pictures of the skid plate up when I get to it.

Jan

[Pomorza]

Issues I would like to discuss

Ok so last weekend I replaced the waterpump on the Z. (read story above) Today I drove the car up to the store. On the way there I happen to be stuck behind an older gentleman in an Z06 (corvette) going 30 in a 45. Rather annoyed I downshifted to 3rd and pasted him. Upon releasing the throttle (~3k 45mph) I get a wiff of unburned gasoline. I've had this problem in the past but never really noticed it till today.

Got to the store and went in. Was in there about ten minutes to grab some oil for my brothers ZJ. Came out, put stuff in car got in and started. The Z is having a hard time keeping steady idle. Give her gas and she somewhat recovers but when I let it go back down to idle it seems to struggle. I've had this before but worse as it would backfire or miss (not sure exactly) and took it to the mech. They replaced the temp sensor (the one that tell the ECU what the engine temp is) as it was bad.

So what exactly is the problem here? Do I need to do a full tune up (rotor, cap wires and plugs) or is there something other than that? Has anyone had similar issues before. I run 91 Chevron gasoline if that give any help.

Thanks

Jan

[Pomorza]

Update

So a week or two ago I noticed my car having a real hard time idling when it was cold. The suspect, bad air regulator I presumed as it was stuck closed. Ordered a new one from MSA that arrived tonight. Hope to have it in tomorrow afternoon.

Skidplate is nearly completely stripped of paint. Still have some spots here and there that need some attention but its getting there. I'll post some pictures up this weekend of the progress.

Jan

[Pomorza]

Skid plate Work

Hello all

This past weekend I finished up the skid plate on my car. Ended up painting it a nice flat black color. Sprayed it with two coats of flat black. May put down one more coat before I reinstall it.

Next project on the list is the interior. Plan on getting the clock working and replacing the volt/fuel gauge. I picked up the two gauges at the local u pull yard in Tucson. Was amazed that they were still there.

Jan

[Pomorza]

work

This past weekend I went to the local junkyard and found, to my amazement, a 76 280z 2+2. Wasn't at all in very good shape but it did have a rear "Datsun" badge that I desperately needed. I pulled that off along with a number of other odds and ends. Brought the badge home and mounted it on my rear "wing". I think it looks pretty awesome.

Jan

[kenz240z]

That emblem looks to be in real nice shape. Good score!

[Pomorza]

Update

This past week I replaced the driveshaft and the transmission mount. Both were in pretty pitiful shape really. I plan on taking the car out for a nice drive this weekend in the south of Tucson. Will post some pictures.

Jan

[Pomorza]

Driving ;-)

So I took my Z out tonight for a bit of a drive. You know to stretch here wheels a bit as she hasn't been taken out in a while. Drove for about an hour in the hills of west Tucson. Hit 70 a couple of times in 3rd (4k on the tach) Had a blast driving on dark roads with nothing but the sound of the engine. Man do I love my Z! ::classic:

Did notice two things that I would like some feed back on.

1. After about 45 minutes that annoying ticking noise returned. It isn't as loud as it was a month or two ago (when I was annoying you all about it) but its there. Oil pressure is nice, just past the midway point nearly all the time. Any ideas. For what I can tell you all its coming from the fuel injectors or that side of the engine.

2. Fifth gear is loud. Literally I put it in fifth once and the second I push the accelerator down I heard a fairly loud low pitch roaring sound. Can't tell you where it was located but I dropped down to fourth pretty soon afterwords and the noise goes away. The Z was originally a 4 speed if that helps. Any ideas?

Jan

Edited December 13, 2009 by Pomorza