Meet Looey - 73 Fairlady Z

[scotta]

Meet Looey, my new 1973 Fairlady Z. She moved from Japan to USA with a returning service man, then believed to have spent most of her time in Louisville Kentucky. Now owned by an Australian living in Boston. 

Previous owner had her for 21 years (almost to the day). Has been restoring it since he acquired her. Put just over 1000 km on the clock over the years. Speedo reads 89k - not sure if rolled over. 

Looey has not been started for 4 years. She will need some coaxing to come back to life...  

Plans
Stage 1 - Running & Registered
Stage 2 - Fix high priority items - interior fixes, seals, etc. 
Stage 3 - Remove flares and body fixes. 
Stage 4 - 6 ......

 

[Reptoid Overlords]

That exhaust looks like it'll wake the neighbors when you get it fired up.

Beautiful car. Congrats.

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[Patcon]

Before you start stripping flares be sure you are prepared for what you might find. The rear quarters may have been cut up. If they have, it can be put back original, it's just a lot more work.

I love the "Tokyo Nissan" sticker on the back!

[scotta]

2 hours ago, Patcon said:

Before you start stripping flares be sure you are prepared for what you might find. The rear quarters may have been cut up. If they have, it can be put back original, it's just a lot more work.

....

The rear quarters have been cut. Will need to get rear panel repair steel. Hopefully there is is no need to replace the inner panels.

I’m more worried about the front. They also are likely to have been cut. Harder to find steel for that. Hoping to find some front panels or a 3” cut out of the wheel arch. 

[rturbo 930]

Front is easy, just get new fenders. Rear is what you should worry about, and given that the quarter and wheel housing join in the fender lip, that means that you are repairing both.

[scotta]

Spent to many years as a project manager & lean. Just had to do a Kamban board. 

 

[JSM]

Spent to many years as a project manager & lean. Just had to do a Kamban board. 
 

Just say NO to Agile! I’m trying so hard but getting sucked in more and more!


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[scotta]

1 minute ago, JSM said:

Just say NO to Agile! I’m trying so hard but getting sucked in more and more!

As a team of one working on the car, I am very Agile. ;-)
I just do what I want, when I want. 
 

 

[esmit208]

Nice find. If worse comes to worse you can always get 2 fenders from somewhere or someome. Strange though it is not a RHD from Japan! WAIT A MINUTE,......I STAND CORRECTED. I see the way the guages are pointing

Edited April 18, 2018 by esmit208
Additional

[scotta]

Month 1 - She runs. Got Looey to start!

 

Had some concerns about oil pressure. Wanted to make sure everything was in order before starting. Cranking the engine was not showing oil pressure on the gauge. Rebuilt the oil pressure gauge,  tested and reinstalled it. However still no  pressure when cranking. A cheap mechanical gauge helped to confirm pressure. Pulled off the cam cover to check the oil spreader was flowing on all outlets. All good. The car has clearly not run much since the rebuild by the previous owner, very clean and still had anti-seize on the bolts still. 

 

Drained carbs. Jerry can with new fuel and ensured the system was pumping. Fired her up. Runs remarkably well.  Went to drain the main tank only to discover the P.O. had already done that. Put some fuel in, reconnected system and in now runs from the main tank.

 

Discovered the alternator bearings died, terrible loud noise from them. Figured would do an upgrade to the alternator at same time and remove old voltage regulator.  Whilst Looey is a 73, it does not have the have an electric fuel pump so the z cars upgrade and plug worked straight up. 

 

This weekend inspected the brakes and bled them. A clevis pin was missing from the handbrake...another parts order required! Replacing the brake fluid and bleeding went ok. However now there is a squeak from the master cylinder / booster? Will have to investigate further. Any ideas?

 

Handbrake (or E-brake) button was seized, so that had to come out, clean and reassemble. Note the button screws out. Seat out as well, inspected the floors. Only a couple of spots of rust. Handbrake all working now. 

 

Other fun stuff done: cleaned and re-varnished gear stick knob.

 

Next to get the temperature gauge working.

New seat belts on order, once they are installed will be close to a test drive!

[esmit208]

RHD........Pretty slick. Will watch with great interest. Good Luck!

[scotta]

Month 2 - Running and Registered - completed Phase 1 plans.
Today marks a major milestone for Looey. She is now running and registered (and passed DMV inspection in MA).

Temperature gauge sorted; replacement sensor sorted the issues. 

Found out some interesting news. Looey is a 72 not a 73 as the PO thought - and what was on the papers. Information from Kats shows the chassis numbers clearly indicate a 72, likely build in Sept / Oct. 

The biggest challenge was diagnosing an electrical fault. When I turned on the indicators the headlights would light up. Turns out PO had installed a US 73 indicator arm, not realising the JDM Fairlady arm has a flash to pass circuit that means it is all wired differently. Took me some time to learn that and diagnose the issue. Ended up getting a Fairlady Z-L electrical diagram. A great help. There are a few differences in the circuits, including colours. As for the indicator, I had the old parts; so a clean and rebuild of the switches and all sorted.

I replaced the speedo cable; it was missing. Bit of a pain to connect up at the gauge. Not much room there on the JDM Fairlady. Also took the opportunity to replace the gearbox speedo o-ring and seal at the same time. 

Printed myself a new battery hold down clamp

Discovered a few other things;

- discovered that the retaining clips for the hard lines to soft lines were missing. I put them in, however experienced minor leaks from the front lines. On inspection the mating faces are damaged. They will need to be cleaned and fixed. Good enough for now however. 

- discovered there were no bearing in the gearshift lever. One of the most satisfying job was installing them as it made the box feel much, much better and only an hours work. 

- discovered no rubber boot on the gearbox/ gearshift lever - easy fix. 

- discovered some dodgy wiring on the side running lights. Easy fix and luckly the only electrical mods i have found. 

- Discovered the hard way that the heater core had a leak. Lots of anti-freeze in the passenger footwell. Blocked off the heater for now. Another item added to the Phase 2 list. 

- Discovered reversing switch was broken - luckily not needed to pass inspection. replacement on order, will be a quick fix. 

- discovered the windshield washer pump and jets were missing. A local 240z club member came to the rescue. 

- discovered how much fun it has been to go through and progressively fix stuff. 

- discovered she runs remarkably well. 

Next is phase 2 - fixing high priority items + some fun distractions.