Jumping in with 2

[ajmcforester]

Didn't you clean this tank out, maybe you have twist in the hose?? Shine a flashlight down the fill tube you can see inside the tank at the right angle.

[ArnieTX]

Yeah - I cleaned it out. The mouth on the tank is huge so I don't understand how the gas won't go down it without backing up.... unless it's full. I put a little bit here and a little bit there , maybe it just gets good gas mileage. Once I get my fuel gauge working this weekend I'll dive in further.

[ajmcforester]

My first Z got 35-38mpg on road trips. Used to tell the guys at car shows that gave me a hard time about driving Japanese car that I get about the performance with better gas mileage and ask what they get for gas mileage, shuts them up 95% of the time.

[ArnieTX]

I installed a new pressure plate, clutch disk, and throwout bearing. I adjust the slave cylinder push rod to where it's just firmed up to the clutch fork. Excited and ready to roll, I fire it up and push the clutch in but cannot get it into gear. Back to the adjustment I move it out some more until I can finally put into gear. Good deal!

I pull out and my clutch is slipping. Dangit, same symptons as the old setup. And btw-the old set up wan't old, it looked brand new. So now I'm scratching my head and I'm a little PO'd. I climb under the dash to see what's up there and I see a rod from the pedal that goes to the master cylinder. I figure maybe it's out of adjustment. I check the other 2 Z's and their rods are in the same place so it looks factory. As I'm sitting there thinking about my problem, which is becoming obvious now that the clutch slave cylinder is not traveling far enough for the clutch assembly to work correctly, I notice that the clucth pedal itself looks kind of bent and canted one direction. I push it down with my hand and notice that it is running into a peice of metal under the dash restricing it's downward travel. I pull the pedal to the left about 1/2" and now it has room to get to the floor. Bingo! Then it comes back to me .............. I remember the first time I jumped into this Z when hauling it home on the trailer I really pressed down hard on the clutch pedal trying to unfreeze it and I think I bent it. No, I did bend it!

The good news is I have an extra clutch disk and pressure plate that is ready for another motor one day. LMAO - It was a good experience to go through and I learned how to use a transmission jack I borrowed from my buddy. I forgot to put the rubber shift boot back in so while I had the screws out of the console, I fixed my choke lever issue. One of the cable assemblies wasn't locked into the lever so when pushed forward it would move the hole cable and not the wire itself. Ducktaping the two cables along a 6" section solved this for now.

I also lost all of my gauges and tach which turned into a two hour search. Turned out to be a fuse that was broken at the end where you couldn't see it. That was a very good lesson learned. I'll be checking all my fuses with a meter when I get a chance. It may look good but it wasn't. I have no lights up front.

Going to yank the motor and tranny out of #3 today and pressure wash the engine bay. I hope to have it all stripped down and on a rotisserie in the next month.

Happy Easter.

[ArnieTX]

Got a lot accomplished on #3 today. Yanked the motor and tranny, pressure washed the engine bay to see what it looks like, and removed the front fenders and cowl. The battery area will need some new metal. The frame rails look clean with a little surface rust. #3 is definitely in better shape than #1 and #2. Keep trucking.

[ajmcforester]

That don't look to bad it will be nice to hit the rust and see how far the rabbit goes(figure of speech). Especially on the drivers side. It looks obvious for the passenger side. If the rest of the car looks this good you will be in good shape, but I'd bet on hole in the floor, and some rocker and dog leg rust repair. I'm surprised how good some of the parts look.

[ArnieTX]

Floors are a definite replace, they are rusted out. I found a nice hole back by the spare tire area passenger side, that will probably be my first attempt at welding sheet metal into the car since it's a flat spot. I'll probably cut a piece out of car #1 to see if I can make it match. The cowling area was solid. I figured it would be rusty but it wasn't. Maybe I'll have everything out and off by the weekend.

My lights are now working on #2. It's running good.

[Bruce Palmer]

Reading through this post after post, it looks like you're mastering these little things one at a time. Good experience all, even the things that turn out to be dummy driven. Extra clutch parts? My how did that happen? Too funny....

[ArnieTX]

I'm learning.

[ArnieTX]

Got to work on it some more this evening. Pulled the interior except for the dash. Not too bad so far. Usual rusty floor areas. Found a fatty in the little recessed area under the center console. LMAO

[ArnieTX]

Datsun 8 track

Worth keeping? Can anyone use it?

[ajmcforester]

Datsun 8 track

Worth keeping? Can anyone use it?

I'd keep in the hopes of finding the player one day, a little Deep Purple and Black Sabbath would be nice.