I Just got ANOTHER 240Z, she's gonna kill me!!

[Zs-ondabrain]

Wow. Been a while since I reported back on this one. Been 5 weeks since I got the 72' for free. So far I've........

dropped about $1400 into her.

New AutoPal H4 conversion headlights with 90/100 bulbs $40

My Headlight upgrade harness

My Parking light upgrade harness

My ZXP with a Subaru 60 amp IR alternator

4 used tires with 85% tread (205/70R14's) Mounted and ballanced $180

Well maintained Motor, 4-speed, radiator, E12-80 dizzy w/ Blaster 2 $200

New Exhaust system (from header to chrome tip (2 months old) $100

New 5-peice carpet Kit from MSA (loop style) $200

2-rebuilt front Calipers from O'rileys with New pads $38 each $78

Front rotors turned, bearings and spindle cleaned and repacked $26

New Pioneer AM/FM/CD head unit and rear 5 1/4" 2-way speakers $100

Front 4X6" speakers in pods in front kick panels New Power Antenna $55

Oil, new filter, 2 fuel filters, blew out the lines, ETC. $35

Aluminum Wheel Acid to clean wheels and Tire Shine for a new look $15

Tabs, New Plates, title transfer and the Governments share $100

New seat Vinyl bottoms as the backs were pretty good Thanks Tyler $80

New Door seals and inner and outer hatch seals From MSA $180

Still needs new Struts all around and I've yet to check out the rear brake issue, almost scared to at this point. Bought new brake shoes but that's as far as I've gone thus far.

Pounded out a few dents, realigned some things, cleaned a few things and this car is AWESOME!! Drives great, she's almost straight, everything works, even the rear defrost. Just need to do the rear brakes and fix the heater panel cables so they work correctly.

Not bad for a few weeks work on a budget and a car that sat for almost 15 years with NO love.

Dave

And a picture of our new Puppy (chihuahua) His name is, of coarse, "Z" He's 3 weeks old, we can bring him home in another 2 or 3 weeks.

[S30Driver]

Car looks great Dave! Amazing turnaround in such a short amount of time.

How did the MSA seals fit? Surprised you did not go the kia sportage route on those.

[Zs-ondabrain]

I may still go that route. The Reproduction ones are kinda lacking in body, as in not really thick enough to seal everything. I noticed a slight gap about 8" above the dash area on the passenger door. I think I'll slide a peice of rubber in there to expand the seal lip a little.

So I might still consider it. Won't be a loss though as the new seals are still New and someone may want them for $40 or $50. We'll see. I'll take some better pics of the completed interior today. They say the sun will come out soon.

Thanks bu the way. I'm pretty damn happy with it. 15 years of sitting, almost completely revered in under 5 weeks. Still wanna upgrade the Blower motor and wiper motor, as the blower box needs to come out to repair the control panel cables and repaint the box. The wipers are not in top shape but that's fixable. You know me. it'll happen soon.

Dave

[Terrapin Z]

That looks great Dave, Awesome find!! and a fantastic job fixing it up.

I've run the 90/100's before and got a lot of high beam flashes even on the low beams, I went to 55/100's and have the best of both world Std low beam and killer high beams.

Your the electrical guy so it's up to you, just MHO.

Are you going to trim the front bumper like your other Z?

Dave

[Zs-ondabrain]

Nope, I did that to the red Z cause someone hit the bumper the first week I own it. It was badly damaged so I decided to "MOD" it to make it look decent and almost functional.

I always loved the 70 1/2' Camaro's Nerf Bumper so I went that route.

Got HID's on the Red Z now and readjusted the 90/100's on the Green Z so I won't get "Flashed". Though it never happened with the red Z, when I had the same ones in there.

Dave

[Zs-ondabrain]

I forgot to post the pictures of the interior that I promised the other day.

New carpet kit, New "SeatZ" lower upholstry vinyl, hand made shift boot, 76' 280Z seats with new lowers (stated above) Original door panels, wheel well cover and strut tower vinyl, right rear quarter panel plastic.

Still need the left rear inner quarter (mikeb says 2 weeks so I'm counting the days) and I need to repair the right quarter glass plastic.

Dave

[epsark]

Hey Dave,

Love the car and even more the fact that it was free! I had a similar experience where I was able to pick up a "67 VW bug for $200 because the PO thought the motor was shot and was tired of working on it. Turned out all I did was spend about a $100 in tune parts and it ran great. Sold it for $2000 within the month. That was because the ex said I had too many projects and I had to pick one to go. Pretty good turn around for me. I noticed in the article you have posted at Car Domain, that your thinking of selling this come end of summer. With as nice as it's coming along so far, I would hate to see that happen. All three look good together!

I also followed both links for the head light harness. Are you still selling them? I would rather send you the money directly than MSA. They've made enough off me these last few months and I'm sure I will still order more, but it would be nice to deal directly with a club member. My lights did the dimming thing at idle and I have been looking for alternator upgrades to try to address it. Haven't found anything I liked and if this will solve my problem as well as making the system safer, then this is the way I'll go. Let me know.

Eric

[Zs-ondabrain]

So it's been a while from the last post.

Installed the new Honda Blower Motor after painting it and the blower housing.

Fixed the heater controls and FLAP door, reglued the vinyl as it was hanging there.

Cleaned and painted (Aluminum) an extra Valve cover I had sitting around.

Adjusted the valves Properly, the were at 6 and 10 (should have been 8 and 10)

Installed the painted valve cover and new Gasket

Found a DATSUN Center cap and put it on the oil filler cap

Installed the Triple Weber 40DCOE's

Bought and installed 2 new Aux. Venturis (melted the other 2)

Installed 140 mains and 200 Air Correctors (it had 120's and 170's)

Found out I have 28mm chokes and should have 30 or 32mm chokes

YetterBen is sending me 4 and I have to buy the other 2 next week. at $24 each.

Messed with the timing a bit.

Made a triple choke using the 2 stock choke cables. I used a heater control cable to attach the 3rd choke

Installed the removed SU's onto the red 70" Z (runs much better)

Installed a New Electric Fuel Pump, found the 2-wire connector near the fusebox and connected a fused connector to it. Works great.

Installed a new Fuel Pressure Regulator. Set it at 4 pounds.

Completely rebuilt the Bad Vaccum Booster. It had a pinky finger size hole in the diaphram. Fixed it with a 3M clear 2 sided adhesive tape. It's very flexible and rubbery, so I put a peice on each side of the tear, repainted the inside after dumping about 3 ounces of brake fluid out of it. Repainted the outside and put it all back together, The brakes are friggin AWESOME now. $180 my arse. Fixed it for about $2 in paint and rubber adhesive. Yeah ME...

Lots to do but I also ordered a set of 4 TOKICO HP's And Eibach PR Lowering Springs. As well as a new set of Tokico's for the Red 70'Z. My KYB's are failing after 5 years of use.

Dave

Edited May 15, 2010 by Zs-ondabrain

[fiveleaf]

"Probably just fix her up", will you?

Well done. Very nice work with the vinyl.

So now that the webers are on, are you going to feel bad about some head work on an L28? I know it's crossed your mind...

[Zs-ondabrain]

No head work. Gonna leave the L24 and Webers in there and work on the suspension. Struts and springs next week, possibly rear brakes and a few minor things.

We really wanna drive it down to Canby (or have Z-Tyler-Z drive it down on Sunday Morning. I wanna have it ready enough to put a for sale sign on it and see who bites. Think I'll ask $4000. Awesome interior (minus the dash) Great electrical, new suspension, tires, air dam, weatherstripping, etc, etc. Easily a $4K car if not more. We'll see.

Dave

[Zs-ondabrain]

So the Tokico HP's and Eibach PR lowering springs are all on. The front left strut that was on there basically FELL back into the housing, No pressure left at all. The other 3 were decent but way too easy to compress by hand. The only thing holding the front end up was the stock springs.

From the ground to the outer lower lip were as follows (Before the Tokico's and Eibachs)

Fronts were 26-3/4"

Rears were 26-1/8"

After the Tokico's and Eibachs.....

Fronts are now 26-3/8" (probably only 3/8" because the previous struts were shot)

Rears are now 25-3/8" (about a 3/4" drop)

I didn't expect a big drop because the car was already sagging due to crappy existing strus and 38 year old springs. Though I'm sure she'll drop a little more when I get it out on the road and do a little driving. I rolled the car back and forth to get the wheels back out where they belong after lowering the car back down off the jack.

Even the half inch drop looks great, or at least better than the High Boy look it had.

Can't drive it yet due to lack of rear brake cylinders and closed off brake lines. I Cleaned the drums and had them resurfaced and also bought new brake shoes. So as soon as the cylinders get here and on, the test drive will commence.

Dave

[Zedyone_kenobi]

Looking forward to hearing the test drive results Dave.. Good luck!

by the way, that antenna shot is awesome. You should keep that handy as many antenna threads are posted by newbs like me when they go into the car for the first time. That picture is worth a hundred posts.