Restoration of BringaTrailer 240z - HLS30-35883

[Patcon]

That looks great!

[dutchzcarguy]

Indeed, that looks perfect.. Does it stick really well? i mean is it very sticky and does it get off very difficult when you found it was not good enough? Does it have the exact width or did you have to cut it in size?

It will have to prove itself if it stands time.. but for now it's looking good.

[inline6]

It is very sticky.  For most of the failed attempts, the tape and adhesive came off together.  On one failed attempt, I didn't realize that some of the adhesive had stayed behind, and when I put a new piece on, it showed underneath the new piece.  Removal of the adhesive using 3m adhesive remover was difficult.  The 3/8" width I bought is perfect.  Where I did not apply it perfectly straight, you could see a tiny sliver of extra tape off of the edge of the part that is supposed to be silver.  I trimmed that by running an X-acto knife like this along the edge and then pulled the sliver of excess off.  I only needed to trim one of them for a span of a couple of inches.

I found some more information about the tape.  It appears it may be able to handle hot car interiors: 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079C5PYV9?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1

 

This product appears to be the same: https://store.tapesandtech.com/mylar-polyester-tapes/mmyp-1-metalized-polyester-film-tapes.html

 

Edited August 11 by inline6

[inline6]

Revisiting progress on my list:

• Machine shop to remove a small amount of material from the left side flange of the differential  Part has been shipped off for machining.  Hoping removal of .5 mm will go without issue.  
• Send driveshaft off for balancing, but... I have to put the differential in car and check drive shaft fit first.  I may need to remove some of the shielding on either the rear of the transmission or the driveshaft.  Waiting for the machined left retainer to come back so I can do final shim adjustments to get backlash into specification.
• Tell Snake Oyl to proceed with the restoration of the seat belts I sent them in June even if reproduction date tags cannot be sourced (they have delayed for weeks because they haven't been able to confirm that they can get the tags from "their vendor".  Payment and additional webbing for the luggage straps sent and received.  Work to restore the seatbelts should be in progress.
• Buy carpet in bulk (still have to decide which).  Cut to fit the car and have local company put correct finished edging.  Or, purchase Auto Custom Carpets, Inc. kit from RockAuto.  I may purchase this kit for day to day use... and have a custom set of carpets for show.  I received and installed the Essex pile version of the carpet set available from ACC (Auto Custom Carpets).  Removal of carpet jute that came on carpets is not possible without damaging the carpets.  I found that out when attempting to remove it from the under seat pieces. 
• Get gas door lock and ash tray grill chrome plated by local company - quote received for one gas lock (two pieces) and two sets of ash tray parts was $200-$300.  I shipped the parts off last week and they should arrive tomorrow.  I was quoted 4 week turnaround, so they will likely not be back in time for Zcon.
• Horns - these have to be re-plated before I can put them back together - horn back plates and misc. other parts shipped to be re-plated - they should arrive tomorrow.  Hoping for about a 3 week turnaround.
  
  I also have the following fairly large lift items:
• Assemble the seats - fit new support straps, foam and upholstery covers.
• Repair/restore center console - finished all the repairs and cosmetic work necessary for the center console.  Ordered a 240SX shift boot ring which is the last piece I need to install the center console.  
• Test gas tank for leaks - Put two gallons of gas in the tank a few days ago, and no leaks so far.  
• Find source of the electrical short circuit in the windshield wiper circuit Found it with @SteveJ help.  

I pulled out all of the seat parts and made room on my work areas to get started.  Interestingly, the old seat head rests are much harder than the new seat foam.  I feels and sounds like there is some kind of core which is inside the foam of the original headrests.  Also, originally they were separate parts from the seat back foam.  I will take pics and show the differences.  I've been searching for "rivets" that have large heads like the originals.  I have found a couple of options on McMaster-Carr.

Once I have suitable rivets in my possession, I can start on the seats.

  

 

[SteveJ]

When you get the horns back, look for my video I did on horns. It may aid in reassembly.

https://youtu.be/oOHLgH1o-oE?si=Cle_9Ey2BWmjFxZU

[inline6]

I didn't have much time this weekend to work on the car. Main accomplishment this weekend was getting a suitable shift boot installed.  I didn't take pictures, but basically I used a stock 240SX rubber shift boot and a metal ring to seal up the hole on the top of the transmission tunnel.  The 240sx transmission fits nicely in the car, and places the shifter in the stock location (unlike the 280ZX transmission).  To seal the tunnel opening, which I left stock (uncut), all I had to do was bend the metal sealing ring at the edges.  The diameter of the boot and the associated ring is wider than the top surface of the tunnel.  So, by bending the metal ring on the sides, it folds those downwards.  It took a while to get it shaped properly.  To install it, I drilled holes in the top of the tunnel sheet metal and installed rivnuts. This is one of the very few (and insignificant)sheet metal modifications on the whole car.  However, removing the 240sx transmission and installing the stock boot, etc. can easily be done.  

In addition to finishing the center console, I am in including some pictures from earlier work restoring the map light and cigarette lighter.  Interestingly, the little picture of the cigarette is not painted on.  If you remove the little disk from the lighter, you will see it is two pieces of plastic, one white and one black.  The cigarette with smoke rising off of it is actually part of the white backing piece.  So, you can sand and polish the disk without worry of "erasing" the cigarette.  I also polished the map light lens.  The map light as disassembled, electrical parts polished, and then reassembled. 

 

    

I took apart the center dash controller, cleaned and lubricated everything, then reassembled it.  For all of the cables, I removed the metal wire from the plastic sleeves and straightened any kinks, polished the wire, and reassembled them.  Center panel is an aftermarket reproduction part.  I found that I had to file the opening for the fan switch a bit (off of center) from its original location to get the fan switch to align with the off, low, med, and high settings.  

    

Stripped old foam and paint off of this piece, cut new foam and glued that in place.

    

      

There is a metal strip that gets glued to the center console on the front inside surfaces. The old glue was still present and helped me "locate" the strip in the correct location after I glass bead blasted and painted it. The glue I used was a 2 part epoxy (which incidentally has a similar appearance to the glued used originally). 

    

For the starter cables, I replicated what I did for the center panel cables.  I removed the hard wires from the cable housings, carefully straightening any kinks, and then used metal polish to clean the wires.  For the cable housings, I sprayed WD40 inside of them and then blew them clear with compressed air.  I then rubbed lithium grease on the hard wires and reinserted them in the cable housings.

    

    

 

The console fit nicely when I finally installed it today.  I didn't get any pictures showing the installation of the reproduction shift boot, but that fit well.  It looks stock, which is nice.  The center console was one of the big projects left to do and it feels good to have that done.

Edited August 19 by inline6

[inline6]

Here are a couple of pictures of the restored center console after installing it.  

Anyone recognize this piece of vinyl and where it goes?  I am thinking it is glued to the top of the transmission tunnel under the ash tray? 

 

I started working on stainless trim today.  I was able to polish the rain rail pieces without too much trouble.  To polish them, generally, I used 1000 grit, then 1500 grit, then 2000 grit, then 2500 grit, followed by a soft rag and some metal polish.  All of that was done by hand.  I did both sides and installed them. 

    

Then, I moved on to the front windshield stainless trim.  There were some rock hits, like this one in the trim pieces:

To address these, I used a small metal hand punch and a hammer to push the dents out from the backside of the trim.  Some experimentation with amount of force assists you with figuring out how aggressive to be.  Once I confirmed that I had pushed the metal slightly outwards instead of inwards, I used 320 grit on a paint stick to "mow down" the high spot I had created.  If you look closely, you can see when the 320 grit has leveled the high spot.  From there, I double checked my work by using 400 grit, then 600 grit.  At that point, I took another picture of the spot above:

You can see the tiny nick still present, but there is no longer a dent.  From here, I may try one more time to raise that nick and go with 320 again.  Or, I may just move on to 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 and then polish. 

I figure I have about 2-3 more hours of work to get the front windshield and rear hatch stainless trim pieces done.  Also, I put up a classified ad for the top center piece, as I just realized that was missing from the car when I bought it.  If you have a nice one you will part with, let me know please. 

 

[dutchzcarguy]

6 hours ago, inline6 said:

I may just move on to 800, 1000, 1500, 2000, 2500 and then polish. 

Do this.. as the stainless is very thin.. no one will notice that tiny pixel.. on the trim. GOOD job! 👍

[Patcon]

Yes, Well done!!

[inline6]

Started to check everything on the carburetors today.  They were rebuilt by Paltech - I think they are out of business now.  And one of the things on my list to do is to check the basics before attempting to fire the car up.  Unfortunately, I ran into and issue.  I screwed the mixture screws all the way in on both carbs:

Front carb - and back carb respectively:

  

 

The top of the nozzle on the front carb looks odd.  It has a slight angle/chamfer that you can see in the pic. But more importantly, with the mixture screw all the way screwed in, the top of the jet nozzle is not flush with the "surround" - whatever that piece is called.  That is not good.  

I removed the jet nozzles and measured their lengths - this length. 

 

The measurements are front: 1.405" and back 1.445".  These are 4 screw SU's.  Can some folks measure the lengths of any nozzles so I can compare with what I have?  I am going to take a closer look at my nozzles.  But, I fear someone ground the end of the front one down or something.

 

 

 

[Captain Obvious]

Woof. Yeah, it looks like someone screwed up your nozzle.

I've got a couple nozzles here and I'll take some measurements next chance I get unless someone beats me to it.

[inline6]

Working on the car today was not fun.  I put in about 8 hours.  First problem I ran into was the SU nozzle issue above.  When compared the nozzles side by side, interestingly, the shorter of the two had not actually been shortened. The nozzles have a little groove around the circumference.  You can see it in the picture below.  Aligning the grooves on the nozzles, the distance from the groove to the top of the nozzle was the same for each.  I decided that the nozzle was going to have to be replaced.  But, I couldn't set it aside.  I had to mess with it.  So, I ended up removing this crimp collar (using a hammer and flat punch, it came off pretty easily. 

 

After that came off, I was able to remove the brass nozzle portion from the plastic portion.  From there, I experimented with putting the brass nozzle piece back into the plastic, but not as far in.  And then I pressed the collar back in to place.  

It took me 3 tries (remove the collar, adjust the height of the brass portion, reinstall the collar) before I got the 'short' nozzle to be the same length as the other one.  It seems to be held in place very well when the collar is put into place.  However, I don't trust it.  My guess is that with heat and use, it may "drop" down further into the plastic portion of the nozzle.  

So, ultimately I wasted a bunch of time messing with it - time I really should have spent making progress on the car to try to get it ready for Z-Con.  

From there I worked on the rear hatch glass stainless steel trim.  I removed more small dents and stepped my way through 320/400/600/1000/1500/2000/2500 grit sand papers and then used metal polish on them.  Each one took a lot of work.  Then, I TRIED to install them.  I had no idea it was going to be so hard.  Literally impossible with all my expertise and tools on hand.  I ended up cutting/slicing/gouging the rubber hatch glass gasket in so many places that it is trash. 

I am so frustrated.  I really thought that it wouldn't be that difficult.  So, now what?  I have to remove the rear hatch glass and replace the seal.  While it is out, I can try to put the trim in place and then reinstall the rear glass.  But what about the front windshield.  I don't want to destroy that seal... and I don't want to take the winshield out.  What am I going to do?  How am I going to get the new stainless trim I bought from Japan installed on that one?

Combining the events of today along with the fact that the parts I sent to be plated are not going to be plated in time and my seat belts and small parts sent off for re-chroming aren't going to make it back in time, I'm not going to be able to make it to ZCon.

The business I sent a few remaining items to be plated has closed. My package was stuck for 7 days in limbo, but thankfully, I got someone at USPS eventually, and I am having them send my package back to me.  So, at least I didn't lose the parts.