[2023] What Did You Do To/with Your Z Today?

[inline6]

huh?

[siteunseen]

Drove that little baby...2 hours, 3 gallons and no sense. 

Ran great after I got out of the driveway.  Brakes were stuck.

63 degrees this morning. Things are looking up! (or down I guess, temp wise)

I needed that drive too. It's been a miserable summer for me but a "change is gonna come".

 

[MyDatsun240Z]

New member and not today but last week I meet up with other owners and more at a rally called Tokyo Calling.  Lots of Z owners and a great drive through the wind country in Sonoma, CA.  Here is a shot of a few of us at the end of the drive. 

 

 

[MyDatsun240Z]

I have been needing to change my 53 year old door and hatch weather stripping but I have been spending a good amount of money getting the Z back to good standing after sitting for so long (18-20 years).  I ended up going to the pick n pull and pulling some of the weather stripping from a 1999 Land Rover Discovery and they are an amazing fit.  

I had to trim it to fit but the rear hatch worked out great and the front door gaskets were pretty spot on.  

[Randall.K12]

31 minutes ago, MyDatsun240Z said:

New member and not today but last week I meet up with other owners and more at a rally called Tokyo Calling.  Lots of Z owners and a great drive through the wind country in Sonoma, CA.  Here is a shot of a few of us at the end of the drive. 

 

 

Dude, that was fun! The brown one is mine!

Went out for another break-in cruise along the coast this weekend. Tuning session coming soon.

[MyDatsun240Z]

I remember you,  I was in the blue one that is in need of a paint job.  Where are you getting it tuned?  Are you going to ZONC on Sunday? 

 

Tokyo calling was a break-in trip.  We had recently gotten the car going after not running for all those years. We have driven it around town but a 300 mile trip was a good shakeout.  

 

[Jeff G 78]

The extreme summer heat in Phoenix is starting to ease, so I finally started working on my Z again.  It had been parked for 10 years before I moved from Michigan to Phoenix.  I got it running enough to get it on and off the car carrier when I moved 2-1/2 years ago.  After driving it less than 20 miles in AZ right after the move, I parked it again while I renovated my house.  After sitting so long, it has developed lots of leaks, so I will have to pull the trans and replace the rear main seal, the trans output shaft seal, and the speedometer cable seals.  I also have a MSA exhaust that has been in a box awaiting install for about six years.  My header is an Arizona Z Car 6 into 1, so the MSA exhaust won't simply bolt up.  

I got the car up on jack stands, pulled the old exhaust, and started fitting the MSA exhaust.  This is the second MSA exhaust I've purchased and they both fit like crap.  The first was on my race car, so I wasn't too worried about it looking good or grounding out to the body from time to time.  The muffler always hung down very low on the race car and I don't want my street car to look like that.  On my 280Z street car, I just can't get it to fit right.  I tried turning the muffler end for end and it just made it worse on the 280Z.  I did turn the muffler around on the race car with the offset at the inlet and the center as the outlet.  On both cars, the muffler was outboard too far.  I trimmed the corner off the R200 diff like I did on the race car, so it doesn't look like it will touch anything, but the muffler is too far outboard no matter what I do with all the joints.  When it fits best under the car, the exhaust tip is nowhere close to centered in the opening.  It's close to 1-1/2" outboard from where it should sit.  I think I will have to cut the rear pipe, shorten it between the two 90° bends, and re-weld it.    I might just use this system for now and make a system from scratch that fits better and includes a resonator and a flex pipe.

Has anybody gotten this sytem to fit on a 280Z without modification?

I didn't get a photo with the muffler on the pipe, but you can see how far outboard the pipe outlet is compared to the space between the tire and the fuel tank heat shield.  The exhaust tip is pretty much where it is on the 260Z race car, though the muffler is much higher with the muffler turned the proper direction on the 280Z.

[Patcon]

Has it really been 2 1/2 years already!! Wow, I have no sense of time

[Yarb]

Had many issues with my kit. I bought the performance pipe instead of a header. None of it fit right. They told me they have never had a complaint. Had to take it to a muffler shop where they cut it every where.

[Jeff G 78]

53 minutes ago, Yarb said:

Had many issues with my kit. I bought the performance pipe instead of a header. None of it fit right. They told me they have never had a complaint. Had to take it to a muffler shop where they cut it every where.

I can't believe they have been selling this kit for the last decade with it fitting this bad.  At least now, their website admits that it doesn't fit as well on a 280Z.  

[Yarb]

Wrong post

Edited September 17, 2023 by Yarb

[Jeff G 78]

1 hour ago, Patcon said:

Has it really been 2 1/2 years already!! Wow, I have no sense of time

I know, right?  I've survived three AZ summers already.  This summer was brutal.  We had 55 days over 110F and 31 consecutive days over 110F.  Last summer, I think we had less than 10 days over 110F.

I plan to get my Z ready to daily drive once the weather is cooler.