Countdown to ZCON

[madkaw]

Well ever since I found out that Z con was going to be so close to home this year, I have been telling myself that I've got to be there with my Z. The reality is that I have a ton of work to do. You might have seen my thread where I had posted that the car was finally painted, but now it's time to put everything-and I mean everything back together. This is a daunting task with a deadline that is getting closer everyday. I've tried to have a lot of things ready to just bolt back on after painting, but all those details are what's going to catch up with me. When I make out a list it seems never ending:

Things to do;

1.Buff out paint job and fix any imperfections

2.Install all glass including door glass and hardware

3. Install interior, the car is gutted(95% is restored-just need installed)

4.Install all weatherstripping

5.Start, breakin and tune new motor after I finish accessory installations

6. run engine compartment wiring so I can do step 5

7. Install all exterior trim, lights

What I do have done;

1. Drivetrain installed, engine,trans, diff, axles

2.Brakes installed,just need to bled and tested

3. Interior refurbished-including dash

4. Gas tank installed(non factory type so it needs testing)

5. Exhaust fabricated and partially installed, another couple of hours of work

Oh, the other things I need to do;

1. pay lots of attention to wife-keep everyone happy;)

2. work lots of hours to pay for daughters college

3. hang out with son and go to his swim meets

4. maintain the other 3 cars in the household

5. finish all the sheetmetal repair on the customers Z in my garage

6. maintain the house

Hope to see lots of folks at Z con. If I'm not driving my 240, I will have the daughters 280zxt-come to think about it, it has A/C:cool:

[madkaw]

Well I had to search to find this thread I started because it was so long ago and that scares me. Zcon seemed pretty far away in January, but as usual time is flying by. I can't say that I am on schedule , but I am getting some things done. The exhaust is finally done, or as done as i am going to get. I bit off a pretty bite trying to make duals for this car. There isn't a lot of rom to work with and this was the first exhaust i ever fabricated. The hard part was making it look symetrical. The lack of room underneath only allows for short mufflers(glasspacks in my case) and it was hard to have them not at some kind of angle. Multiply that by the fact that I put an LSD in and had to fab a support bracket for the rear control arms which got in the way of the original exhaust-sssooooo more fabrication and moving of the exhaust. I ended up with exhaust tips that came out of the rear at a slight angle(down and outward). I'm willing to live with it after seeing a 370z exhaust tips that come out at a downward angle also. Sometimes you just have to say "good enough". I also started putting some of the interior back together. As you know with these cars that everything kind of starts at the headliner when you put a stripped out car back together. Well my headliner i put in was not up to snuff so I am redoing it. The padding I used was too thin and left gaps around the top edges of the headliner-so I pressed on with other items that i could do until more headliner material came in.

I installed some firewall insulation from some aircraft stuff a buddy gave me and then I was able to install the heater box which i had already restored. I then moved on to installing my gear shifter and boots. This might seem to be an easy job, but once again I was dealing with a change i made from stock. I installed the BWT-5 and that moved the shifter way foward and I updated the actual shifter which affected how the original rubber boots fit. So basically I took an one hour job and made it a 5 hour job because of my modification. I had to notch the console that wasn't the original console. My hats off to folks that work in the R&D department:)

Lastly I worked on getting the accessories on my engine. All this while I was putting floors in another Z.

I had a motorhead friend come over the other day and laughed when i said that i would be driving this car in July-now I'm really motivated. he bet me 100$ that i would have it done and i thanked him for gas money to Nashville;)

Edited March 5, 2010 by madkaw

[oldhemi]

I see that you have finished welding in the floor pans. Looks great to me! :)Your posts here and at Hybridz have inspired me to order a set of pans from Charley Osbourne and I am getting ready to order a set of Baddog rails.

Take care of yourself - you have a lot on your plate! Been there back in '95 trying to make a meet with '57 Chrysler 300C and have the heart attack(1st one) to prove it.:stupid:

[madkaw]

Be advised that those floors are like most aftermarket panels-they need lots of work to fit. I posted on HybridZ about the floor pans , but recieved no responses. I feel that the pans are made too deep(compared to my untouched car), which causes a problem lining up with the floor support. No easy way to fix that unless you want to reform the floors on the outboard side. Then again, I repaired a Porsche 911 floors and those panels weren't that great either.

As far as my health, I consider this my youth serum:) I try to stay in good condition just so I can continue to play like this. i admit that at 47 this is getting a little tougher, but I'm smarter and work smarter which makes things easier. I go to work dressed for warfare too-gloves, work boots, safety glasses, knee pads and coveralls. This is geniune stress relief for me to beat on some metal in the garage. I wouldn't want to do this for a living though!

[gnosez]

Steve - I was 53 when I wrecked my 240 and restored another 240 from the ground up (down to bare metal) in under 6 months. I won the Mr. K award for best car at the ZCON that year.

Seven yrs later and I take my complete suspension down each winter to refresh and check it, plus I am always updating and upgrading my Z. This year I am rebuilding the triple 44mm Mikunis. I'm waiting for my wife to go away on a trip so I can start washing parts in the kitchen sink. She leaves tomorrow for a week! By Spring I will have put in over 200 hrs on my 240 and another 100 on the race car.

Keep at it. I later figured I worked an average of 6 hrs every day for 6 mths and of course I had a job with travel that kept me away for weeks at a time.

Every day do something, even if that is just organizing or planning your next step. polish or clean something. It'll get done.

Look forward to seeing you at ZCON. The New England club has 7 members signed up already.

[Arne]

We're all pulling for you, Steve. Everything you're doing looks great. Can't wait to see the finished product.

P.S. - If I ever do another Z that needs floors, I think I'll want to bring it to you. Outstanding looking work!

[madkaw]

Floors aren't too bad since no one really see them if you do a terrible looking job:D I tried to make these look stock appearing from the outside. I also strived to do as much of the welding as I could outside the car or from on top of the panel. Anyone considering this job should order about 20 clecos from Summit or somewhere. They are a great tool for doing this kind of repair and they are cheap. I probably have 50 hours in the floors which include the floor supports and tying into the tension rod boxes to repair the bottom side of those.

I still have rockers, doglegs, and hatch sill plate and a couple of other small items to finish on this customers car while i'm trying to finish mine in time for Zcon. When I get tired of doing the noisy, dirty work on this car i go and do some clean work on mine to keep my sanity. Actaully I think I like the dirty work as much!

[oldhemi]

Hmmm, wife's away and there is an empty dishwasher sitting there?????

When I replaced ours 15 years ago and hooked up the old one outside - picture the Clampets - and wow did it work great on those greasy junkyard finds. Wife was frowning on my intention of doing same last year when I replaced the dishwasher again. Old electric ovens have their uses also. Old crock pots w/wintergreen soften old rubber pretty good. I digress...

Did not mean to sound like Debbie Downer, I pulling for you also!

[esmit208]

STEVE

Yes it will be a beauty. You really inspire me to keep pushing forward on my 2nd resto. My first one was worked on for about 3 years trying to get it ready to go to Indianapolis back in 2000 for the Formula 1 GP. The car made the trip with one seat and no finishing carpet but I had a great time. I did find out one thing though, they are difficult to restore whlie you drive them. If you don't make ZCON this year don't worry. There are plenty other enthusiast events around the country. My 72 that is in resto will not turn a wheel until it is complete ( both seats and carpet). I'm planning to take my oldest son to first day in 1st grade. That's still 5 years down the road. Keep plodding along. BTW the floors do look good and your suggestion about the clecos is a good one. I work for an aircraft manufacturer and I can get them at their cost. I should have a welder in about a month or so. A word of advice to anyone that reads this, leave the gearbox in while the floors are being installed. It allows the tunnel to stay in the same place after you cut out the rotted floors and the new ones are a tad easier to fit. If the gearbox is removed the tunnel will shift once you cut the rotted stuff away.

Remember....HAPPINESS isn't just around the corner....HAPPINESS is the corner!

[madkaw]

Glad I can motivate someone else .. I usually set my goals pretty high, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

As far as the floors, I did bolt in the crossmember before I tore things apart and I don't believe anything shifted with this car, but the car is pretty solid everywhere else. The frame rails and rockers are solid which makes a big difference with these cars. I'm glad on my car I didn't have to do this, my floors just had surface rust.

My headliner material came in today, so i know what my next major project is now! because after that job, everything should feel down hill.

[madkaw]

I try not to watch the calendar, but it is only 4 months away and I have lots to do. I have made some major progress in that I got my headliner in, which was holding back from completing many other jobs. The front windshield also went in with little trouble, though I nicked the seal slightly installing the trim. I had my trim powder coated matte black like everything else that is trim ,and I am happy with the look.

The rear hatch was a bi$%h and it took three of us to persuade it to settle in. Again I suffered a nick installing the trim, it was even tougher on the rear hatch. I also got some tears on the inner part of the seal, but no one will see them and it shouldn't affect the sealing of the window.

I also got some needed items from the plater, but once again there are issues. The acid or whatever they used ate up some off the nylon pieces. I was told by the plater that the "plastic "should be fine, but this stuff is nylon I guess. Anyone else have this issue? The ball end on one of the carb linkages looks really bad, but I can't remove that end since it is pressed on or something. So maybe I can replace that end or see if they can plate another one without dipping that nylon ball.

Questions: Is the door latch assembly supposed to be yellow zinc like everything else? Mine are very clean, but it doesn't look like it everhad any "yellow" to it.

How do you install a new choke grommet on a set of choke cables?

[madkaw]

Well this is a big step towards Zcon. After having this engine together for the past 3 years, I finally get to start it up. I finally got my battery cable ends in to make my custom battery cables so i could use the factory cover. I am glad I did it, because these cables are much better then anything I could find at the parts stores.

After i got my timing issue resolved, it fires up right away, but it is freakin LOUD. I might have to rethuink the glass packs on my duals. It's going to sound loud sitting in the garage, but I think it will be too loud for a daily cruiser. I was glad to see all my guages were working except the fuel guage, but I expected that. Even the tach works after doing the zx dizzy mod. I guess my alternator I bought off of ebay is a dud, never again will I buy an item like that from ebay. What's sad is that it was a Z forum member that sold it. I should have another alternator by this evening, which should help the car run even better--- instead of straight off the battery. I also noticed when the car was running that the temp probably only got to 160 at best, but I might have put a 160 thermostat in.

Now I need to finish up running the harness around the engine bay and work on my headlight relays. Then I can bleed the brakes and take this thing for a spin:D