Project Boondoggle (or, so I went and bought a Z!)

[gwri8]

If it's not too late, be sure to replace all the vac lines under the dash and inspect the heater core. It'll save you some backache later if your heat goes out.

[charliekwin]

Good advice, thanks.  I'll probably never use the heater (it was 92!! today), so I haven't given it much thought, but I'd like to have any problems taken care of nonetheless.

[russell_c.]

Just want to say absolutely love what your doing and it all look good

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[gwri8]

10 hours ago, charliekwin said:

Good advice, thanks.  I'll probably never use the heater (it was 92!! today), so I haven't given it much thought, but I'd like to have any problems taken care of nonetheless.

Those vac lines affect your ac and EFI as well.  I just experienced it.  Also, there is an excellent write-up on rebuilding the Vacuum Valve also. Pretty easy thing to do while everything is out.

 

[charliekwin]

Productive morning!  I periodically check the inventory of the local Pick a Part yard hoping a 280Z will show up (hasn't yet!), but they got an 82 280ZX the other day and had a 2000 Kia Sportage, so I made an early morning trip.  Scored a thermostat housing (a PO cracked mine and glued it together with epoxy putty), a vacuum tank (I'm gonna try swapping out the big, ugly, yellow one) and some weatherstripping for the hatch (not in as good of shape as the ones I found a few months ago, but better than what's on there now).  All for $27.63.  Not bad!

[charliekwin]

More treasure hunting! I picked up a new dash this afternoon from a guy who's doing a full build around an LS1 swap. It's heavily cracked, but the cluster above the console is in much better shape than mine, so it should be easier to rebuild. Plus, now I can work on this dash and keep the car on the road.

[charliekwin]

Some mild progress, and then a rabbit hole...

Aside from apparently being the wrong ones, at least one of my fusible links was also on its very last legs.  One day I'll probably switch to a fused distribution block, but until then I came up with this alternative.  The toughest part was sourcing the quick disconnects, since the fuses and the car wiring are both 5/16" instead of the common 1/4".

The fan always seemed to spin a lot (not siezed, but a lot of wind noise), so I pulled out and cleaned up the fan clutch as well.  There's a hobby store down the street that seels silicone oil for RC cars, so I got a bottle of the 6000 weight stuff and kind of guesstimated on the amount to use.  About half of the 60ml bottle seemed like a good starting point.  So far so good.

Having found that thermostat housing last weekend, and not having done a flush or other work on the cooling system since owneing the car, it seemed like as good a time as any to give it a bit of attention.  The coolant came out green, but I still flushed out a lot of brown gunk, and the overflow tank was pretty sad, but so far so good.

Then things went a bit sideways...I got all the sensors out of the new housing except for the temp gauge, which is quite-nicely stuck.  I hope I can drill it out.  The old housing is in rough shape, and other than the coolant temp sensor, there may not much much I can salvage out of it.  And then I pulled off the radiator hose and saw what the water pump inlet looks like, so I guess I have to source one of those, too.

[grannyknot]

Very clever, those fuses look better than factory to me.

[dmorales-bello]

Great job overall and very smart alternative to the fusible links. Totally agree with Grannyknot that they look better than OEM. But please: Where did you source the 5/16" disconnects and what rating fuses did you use? 

Edited February 28, 2016 by dmoralesbello

[charliekwin]

Glad you guys like them! I actually ended up using 3/8" disconnects, which are not easy to find either; I bought mine from www.repairconnector.com. Mouser or one of the other big parts suppliers was the only place I found with 3/16, but minimum orders were 1000 pieces or something ridiculous. I used 3 50 amp fuses and one 80 amp. That was the most common arrangement I found with other people that switched to fuses.

[dmorales-bello]

7 minutes ago, charliekwin said:

Glad you guys like them! I actually ended up using 3/8" disconnects, which are not easy to find either; I bought mine from www.repairconnector.com. Mouser or one of the other big parts suppliers was the only place I found with 3/16, but minimum orders were 1000 pieces or something ridiculous. I used 3 50 amp fuses and one 80 amp. That was the most common arrangement I found with other people that switched to fuses.

So those are female: female 3/8" disconnects, correct? Did you get the fuses from repairconnector.com as well?

[charliekwin]

That's correct. Fuses I got on either eBay or Amazon (can't remember), but they're widely available. Get the maxi size.