The Ingenuity of idiots never ceases to amaze me...

[zKars]

Just had to share this.

I'm working on a friend's 72 at the moment. Several issues have cropped up after a recent "restoration" (I use the term lightly...) and I was asked to resolve them. The list is long, but many of the problems I have found are just down right shocking. This is the story of the latest discovery that is my favorite so far....

Yesterday I took the SU's and intake off to do a repair on a busted exhaust manifold down-pipe stud causing a leak. No biggy. I'm leaning over the fender at one point laboriously removing a nut a little at time, and my eyes start to wander over the exposed engine block. I spot what looks like a black battery cable. "Now what is that doing over here on this side", I ask myself?

I put down my wrench and grab the wire. Sure enough, its a #4 battery cable. The ring lug on the end is bolted down to the upper right air pump mounting boss on the block (no air pump, its long gone). "Oh, its just a ground strap", I say to myself. But now I have to know where the other end goes. My curiosity must be satisfied. I start following it. It goes forward, and through the lower hole in the rad support, where the coil harness passes. Ok.......

From there I follow it forward where it disappears down under the rad support, kinda where the headlight wiring goes and seems to go backwards again. I have the driver side tire off, so I peak into the dark wheel well with a trouble light. Yup, there it is, running BACK toward the strut... And guess where it ends???

They've used one the two K-member mounting bolts as the termination point. Well, yes, it is the only large bolt in the area other than what is on the strut, so I guess its a logical choice .

I remove the cable. Its five feet long. There is, after all, no shorter path between the block and the k member bolt, now is there?

Not only that, the K member bolt they used for the lug is barely tight.....

That is just a taste of the several dozen "issues" that I've found with this car.

I'll be sure to share more. This car is the source of an entire season worth of episodes of "things you must never do to a car" sit-com. Maybe Adam Corolla could use it to make his show more interesting.

There is a great story about the broken down-pipe stud I was fixing when I found the mystery ground strap, and another about the broken off engine mounting bolt (the lower one on the block) that will make for good reading later. Oh and the drivers seat held down with a couple of #10 machine screws (they were loose too), oh and the .....

Now, back to work....

Edited August 23, 2011 by zKars

[ajmcforester]

So how much duct-tape did they use in the car? I'm still wondering why they need a grounding wire to the smog pump area

[gogriz91]

I saw a '71 for sale locally that an individual had paid close to $10K on EBay for, the drivers seat was bolted to the floorboard and the rear sway bar was literally bolted on backwards which I didn't think was possible.

[FastWoman]

I'm still wondering why they need a grounding wire to the smog pump area

AJM, that's easy. Smog is always worse close to the ground, hence the need to ground the smog pump. Duh!

Edited August 23, 2011 by FastWoman

[ajmcforester]

AJM, that's easy. Smog is always worse close to the ground, hence the need to ground the smog pump. Duh!

So that's how you improve emissions on these cars. Man what will they think of next like pinching the oil-pan gasket to keep the underside from rusting

[darom]

I think it was the same PO idiot who sold me his 76:

- exhaust manifold bolted down using big a$$ machine screws (it leaked badly)

- house door bell knob mounted on the side of the steering column acting as a horn button

- hot ignition wire running through Bosch relay to energize the CSV (it worked without this)

- 2x4 piece of wood supporting the moon roof from falling inside (I welded that ugly hole shut)

- AFM ripped boot fixed with the duct tape

- melted wiring on the side of the wiper motor which caused all gauges inside to fry including all relays on the RH side

- brake booster had all the brake fluid inside and brakes didn't work, rear break calipers were seized

- the engine sounded like a diesel - the timing chain ate away the guides and the chain tensioner fell into the oil pan

- and to top it off, cheap Maaco paint job covering all the usual rust spots without any prep!

Edited August 24, 2011 by darom

[ZCurves]

Can you save the cable? I need to ground my block to the k member bolt. I think that I will feed it through the rad support.....:stupid:

Ha!, good one. Can't wait for more.

[olzed]

Well!!! When you have a five foot cable you need to put it somewhere.:D

[ajmcforester]

My car I noticed the frontend was off from some damage while inspecting it to cover the gap they used masking tape and a paper towle and painted to match the car

[zKars]

See, I knew there would be MANY similiar stories, thanks for sharing. I may just have the highest concentration of crazy issues one one car that I've ever seen. I'll share them as I have time.

Oh heck, here is the one about the down pipe studs. Ok, its leaking, on inspection the rear stud is gone, I can't feel the nut. I take off the other two nuts, remove the down pipe, and take the exhaust manifold off.

I drill and tap the broken bolt, and put a new stud in. I reassemble the exhaust manifold onto the head an try to put the down pipe back on. Its the MSA replacement, the one with the complete flanged exhaust system.

Anyway, the dowpipe won't go back on, my new stud won't go through the flange. What the heck now?!?!

Well as most things go on this car, this one has an answer you could not imagine. "They" had MIG welded the flange stud hole closed at the broken stud location! Did they think the flange would leak through that hole because the stud was missing or what? ARGHHHHH!!!!

Edited August 25, 2011 by zKars

[Partschick]

Ok..I'm a new member and probably am going about this the wrong way. We have a '71 240z. My husband owned and operated a body shop for over 30 years before going on disability and had done a restoration on this car. After 3 years rust began to appear around the gas lid and the car was completely disassembled in order to remove the rust and apply a better and more thorough undercoating. To make my short story long this disassembling occured over 15 years ago and the car is still in pieces in our garage. During storage the pieces were stored in several places and the front bumper is now MIA. As our 13 year old son approaches driving age we want to get this car road ready again, but we simply cannot afford the o.e. '71 bumper...and are wondering if the bumper for the 260z would fit since it's much more affordable.

[zKars]

Partschick:

You're right, this is the wrong way. Well partly, your story about restoration issues fits ok, but you should start a new thread related to your issue about whether a 260 bumper is a reasonable replacement for your 71.

Please research the forums to understand which sub-forum would be appropriate for a thread about bumpers.

Oh and welcome to classiczcars! Folks here will be real helpful about issues related to your project.

Jim