Dave W 1971/240Z rebuild

[Namerow]

On 4/29/2024 at 10:49 AM, Patcon said:

When you glue the weatherstrip do you just put glue up in the slot of the weatherstrip? Or both surfaces? Do you try to get the flaps in the gutter and interior glued down too?

Here are three photos from my installation.  A length of 1 x 2 clamped along the side channel helps to distribute the clamping force.  The plastic pinch clamps are cheap and worked nicely.  

[Yarb]

Please remind me of this once I get there!!! Brilliant idea with the wood as well

[grannyknot]

I got the chin spoiler primed yesterday and colour and clear on today, I'll give it a couple of days to cure before installation.

 

[jfa.series1]

3 hours ago, grannyknot said:

I got the chin spoiler primed yesterday and colour and clear on today, I'll give it a couple of days to cure before installation.

 

Cousins???

[davewormald]

On 3/14/2024 at 4:47 PM, davewormald said:

"We have a problem. You don't own this car. In fact this car was destroyed by a wrecker".

It was March 14th when I posted that message. Today I got a call from the Ministry of Transport Ontario saying I own the car again! The paperwork to have it transferred back to me disappeared twice in the depths of MTO, but good eventually triumphed over bureaucracy. I wasted no time getting insurance on the car, and picking up the new ownership papers and license plates. We're now one exhaust system and a signature on a Vehicle Condition Report away from being on the road! MTO doesn't require the Vehicle Condition Report - they returned the car to "fit" condition, because that's the state it was in when transferred to the wrecker. My insurance company needs the form completed before they can put collision coverage on it.

[grannyknot]

On 5/9/2024 at 5:48 PM, davewormald said:

It was March 14th when I posted that message. Today I got a call from the Ministry of Transport Ontario saying I own the car again! The paperwork to have it transferred back to me disappeared twice in the depths of MTO, but good eventually triumphed over bureaucracy. I wasted no time getting insurance on the car, and picking up the new ownership papers and license plates. We're now one exhaust system and a signature on a Vehicle Condition Report away from being on the road! MTO doesn't require the Vehicle Condition Report - they returned the car to "fit" condition, because that's the state it was in when transferred to the wrecker. My insurance company needs the form completed before they can put collision coverage on it.

Update, update, update.  I know the car is on the road, fill us in 😉

[davewormald]

5 hours ago, grannyknot said:

Update, update, update.  I know the car is on the road, fill us in 😉

Sorry man, I'm sure you can understand that I've been a little distracted!

I got the muffler on the car last Friday, and spent a couple more hours driving around on the way home. For the benefit of everyone else, there were a few outstanding items when I picked the car up (none of them were Chris's problems - they were almost all parts that I hadn't ordered or that we were waiting for). The missing muffler was the most notable item, so it was good to get that completed. I had to remove all the spacers from under the driver's seat. That tells you how much the original seat cushions had collapsed, because I never had any trouble fitting in the car back in the day. Even with all the spacers removed I'm brushing against the headliner with the seat back and reclined. The rear sway bar links that I'd ordered months ago were the wrong ones, so the sway bar was in place, but not connected to the suspension, which was the suspected cause of a clunk happening when hitting bumps. I got the correct links (unfortunately I mistakenly ordered only one first and had to order a second) and installed the second one this morning. Unfortunately, the clunk is still happening, and I'm starting to think it might be coming from inside the passenger door. The other suspect is the gland nut on the passenger side strut. I might not have tightened it down properly when I re-assembled them a couple of years ago. The tach isn't working consistently, so I need to order and install a TechMatch device to sort it out (I believe it's the TachMatch TM-03 I-Drive that I need? Current-driven tach?). I'm not confident that my ear is good enough to recognize redline, so I probably haven't gone past 5000 RPM yet. The engine sounds and feels absolutely great up there, though, so I'm looking forward to really trying it out. The throttle's a little sticky, which made driving without a muffler quite interesting. It's either getting better or I'm getting used to it. The linkage all looks fine and all the pivot points are properly lubricated, so I'm going to keep driving to see what happens. The gas gauge isn't working, which is mysterious, because Chris and I both had the sending unit working properly, and I think I tested it once when connected to the gauge in the dash. It's probably something simple, but I haven't got to that yet.

Mostly I've been driving the car, which has been fantastic! It's starting to come back to me. As I mentioned somewhere a while back, the engine somehow feels much larger than it really is when you first start driving it. That long hood has something to do with it. The car's already starting to feel smaller and more nimble to me after only a few hours of driving. I'll keep driving and knocking these items off, and I'll keep this thread updated!

[davewormald]

This is more a "What I Did With My Z Today" post, but there really haven't been any pictures of the car in this thread since it got back on the road. I went out for a four hour drive on the local back roads this morning, including some fairly fast runs on a couple of gravel roads (I cringed a lot, but it was always intended to be a driver). And it's fun to drive! Lots of waves and comments from other drivers and pedestrians when in town. People in the lane beside you find it funny when you have to lean over to the passenger side to roll the window down! It's going to be a fun summer!

[davewormald]

The clunk in the passenger side rear suspension turned out to be a result of me not having tightened down the nylock nut on the top of the strut. I remember now that I didn't do it because I thought I might have to take it off again before getting the car back on the road and I didn't want to have to replace it. Neither side was tight enough, but only the passenger side was clunking. I tightened them up and the clunk is gone! In fact I've never driven a Z as quiet and (relatively) well-behaved on rough roads! If anyone happens to know the torque spec for those nuts on KYB rear shocks, let me know. I dug around a little, but didn't find anything.

The TachMatch was shipped four days ago and has so far made it from Seattle to Los Angeles. I guess I should consider that to be progress, but it's not exactly the most obvious route to Toronto. I checked the resistance of the fuel sending unit and it's showing 0 ohms, so I think I'm just going to order a new one and move on. There are some gaps between the hatch seal and the bottom of the hatch, which explains the "richness" of the interior environment. Tomorrow I think I'll try filling the gaps with a towel or something to see how much I can seal it up. The sides of the hatch seem to be well sealed, so I'm not sure why the gaps exist at the bottom. Both hinges are interfering with the top of the hatch seal, but I'm hoping the exhaust isn't getting in up there. Slowly, but surely ...

[grannyknot]

18 hours ago, davewormald said:

 I went out for a four hour drive on the local back roads this morning, including some fairly fast runs on a couple of gravel roads

 

[grannyknot]

12 hours ago, davewormald said:

The clunk in the passenger side rear suspension turned out to be a result of me not having tightened down the nylock nut on the top of the strut. I remember now that I didn't do it because I thought I might have to take it off again before getting the car back on the road and I didn't want to have to replace it. Neither side was tight enough, but only the passenger side was clunking. I tightened them up and the clunk is gone! In fact I've never driven a Z as quiet and (relatively) well-behaved on rough roads! If anyone happens to know the torque spec for those nuts on KYB rear shocks, let me know. I dug around a little, but didn't find anything.

The TachMatch was shipped four days ago and has so far made it from Seattle to Los Angeles. I guess I should consider that to be progress, but it's not exactly the most obvious route to Toronto. I checked the resistance of the fuel sending unit and it's showing 0 ohms, so I think I'm just going to order a new one and move on. There are some gaps between the hatch seal and the bottom of the hatch, which explains the "richness" of the interior environment. Tomorrow I think I'll try filling the gaps with a towel or something to see how much I can seal it up. The sides of the hatch seem to be well sealed, so I'm not sure why the gaps exist at the bottom. Both hinges are interfering with the top of the hatch seal, but I'm hoping the exhaust isn't getting in up there. Slowly, but surely ...

I didn't even think to check those nuts, glad you found it.  I guess the fuel sending unit was dipped in CLR too many times, removed some coating and is corroding up quickly.      I think the bottom of the hatch isn't sealing up well because the slam panel and all the supporting metal underneath had to be cut out and replaced, I remember not having much to reference to and the KFV panels were too big and had to be cut up into sections.

If there is a gap it is probably right in the centre where it locks.

[davewormald]

Does it make it worse that I'm having to use the wipers this morning?!