New owner of a 78 coupe

[Bojanglez280]

Update: Pulled the slave cylinder this afternoon (While carpet was being installed upstairs in my house), and found that the hose was toast.....as was the clutch fork boot. Both have been purchased and I am waiting on ALL of my parts to come in. Should be a busy weekend as I should have a lot to put on.

Jamie

[Bojanglez280]

What I did this weekend:

First off, my cousin (who used to be a mechanic) called and asked if I could store his $1000 worth of MAC Tools and air tools in my garage as he was having trouble finding somewhere to store them....what a blessing. Of course I said yes!

1) Gas tank has been dropped. I need to take pictures and post them, but overall I would say it was not terrible. I have seen much much worse. I think I can save it for not too much $$.

2) Wheels/Tires have now been taken off and set to the side. We checked the brakes and there is still life on them. Obviously, I will be flushing and refilling/bleeding the system before I go out driving, but there is still padding. Also, I plan to replace hoses before running the car. Just for peace of mind of the missed dry rot crack etc....

3) Clutch master cylinder has been removed and replaced. I still l haven't gotten around to getting the clutch hose above the slave cylinder off and replaced, so that is still on the to do list. Once that is done I can mount the slave, fill the fluids, and bleed the hydraulic system.

4) We cranked the block (by hand) for the first time. That was exciting.....

5) I have my new NGK Plugs and Wires in but don't see the need of putting them on until I am ready to turn her over.

6) Drained the transmission fluid (It was obvious this had never been done on the 33 yr old car before. I read some last night on how much the capacity for refill is and got multiple results. The one I am leaning towards as correct was just under 2 quarts. I have a '78-4spd manual. I planned on using Redline as I read some positive comments.

Lastly, I got my first bottle of PB Blaster from my grandfather for free! That stuff is AMAZING!

Update you soon....my goal of a running Z by Christmas remains possible.

Jamie

[Bojanglez280]

Alright...some bad news, but not terrible news. The hard clutch line fitting that connects to the rubber hose above the slave cylinder has been stripped to the point it will not come off. I even went and bought my first set of flare nut wrenches, sprayed PB Blaster all over it, let it sit for 5-10 minutes, sprayed some more, and then tried to get it off and it stripped on me. Stupid 33 year old fitting... Here is my question, what in the world should I do? I am figuring I will either be replacing the entire hard line, or cutting off the fitting and installing a new one? I have no clue how hard this is, and do not know if I am capable. I hate the thought of towing the car somewhere just to have this done, as that would likely be a pain and also could be expensive. Look forward to comments and I appreciate them. I was feeling great about getting it on the road within a month or so until tonight.

Jamie

[Ben's Z]

Can you get vice grips on it? I did the same on my rear lines, I don't even bother with line wrenches anymore.

[Bojanglez280]

Can you get vice grips on it? I did the same on my rear lines' date=' I don't even bother with line wrenches anymore.[/quote']

Can give it a shot. I had been using some good pliers, but the locking capability of vice grips sounds good. I will try later in the week. Regardless, I am still going to need to replace that fitting for re-use.

[Bojanglez280]

Some of you have asked that I post pictures to keep you up on my project, if you can call it that yet...Well here are some cell phone shots of its current condition. By the way, I am asking for a digital camera for Christmas.

Wheels and Tires are off now

Gas Tankless

Finally got my air compressor from my parents house to my garage.....Tight Working Quarters!!!

My prior post spoke of my cousin's tool chest, here it is. I like it

New Master Cylinder is in

Ways away, but I have chosen my wheels. Graphite 16" Rewinds with polished lip. Aw....dreaming of the final product.

Jamie

[5thhorsemann]

Just go buy the camera, Santa isn't real............Looks good.

[Bojanglez280]

Crushed my dreams....how sad. Well, I will get around to it at some point. I've enjoyed the comments.

Jamie

[Bojanglez280]

I managed to get the hard clutch line out of the car tonight. Took a lot of fishing it this way and that way to wiggle it out. Which leads me to my next "Uh-Oh" moment. Figuring into how hard it was to finagle that line out of there, what are the odds that I can wiggle one back in, without kinking the lines, with the engine in the car. I am not opposed to the thought of pulling the motor, as that opens up much room to work and makes it much easier to clean things up, but I have no room to do that in my current situation.

Jamie

[Bojanglez280]

I feel as I may be boring some of you on here, but if nothing else this serves as documentation for myself of how the project is going from start to whenever finsihed gets here.

Update: I purchased the POR-15 fuel tank treatment kit yesterday and am waiting on it to arrive. Going to tackle that whenever it comes in.

Plans: I need to solve my gas tank situation, replace the fuel hoses, blow out the hard gas lines with compressed air before installation, install a fuel filter between tank and pump, change the engine bay fuel filter, refill my transmission fluid, drain and refill oil, install the new hard clutch line, install the new clutch rubber hose and slave cylinder, bleed the hydraulic system, install spark plugs..............and see if she will start.

Thanks to all who have advised along the way. Seems like a LONG list, but it shouldn't take too long.

Jamie

[Bojanglez280]

Well, it has been some time since I last posted, but the spring season of a HS baseball coach is a busy time. I have started to get back into some Z work this summer. Nothing major has been done yet, but I continue to knock items off the "to-do" list. I have gotten and installed two new heater hoses than run from the block, to the firewall, and back to the clock. I have bought new Air Filter to AFM and AFM to Throttle Body boots and need to run to the parts store to buy clamps to put those on. I have refilled the transmission fluid with Redline MT-90. I was scared to death of tackling this as I read nothing but bad things about getting the fill plug out. Maybe I am one of the few lucky ones, but I got my fill plug off with a 10" crescent wrench and a bare minimum of elbow grease. It was easier than breaking the oil drain plug on my 4Runner. Anyways, that was a great surprise. I also got a new valve cover breather hose and am awaiting new clamps to put it on as well. New distributor rotor and cap have been installed, and spark plug wires attached to it. I got a Fram G3 fuel filter to install in the rear of the car and need to go to parts store to get a new engine bay fuel filter.

Progress is still being made, but I am very anxious to turn it over for the first time. Hopefully I can make that happen before school starts back up. Football season will also leave me very little free time.

Thanks for keeping up,

Jamie

[EhlersRS]

Jamie,

Glad you are continuing to make progress on the Z. I bought a 240Z a month ago to restore and haven't had time to work on it yet. It's easy to see how much needs to be done and feel overwhelmed! Where do you live in TN? I graduated from UTC in Chattanooga and still enjoy visiting when we drive south to visit family. Thanks for the update and I'm glad you saved another Z!

Robert S.