Leaderboard

After 3rd coat of clear...

Walking around the house this morning I spotted small bits of insulation on the roof and scattered around the yard, brought by the high winds from damaged buildings miles away. Here is a pic of how I squeeze three cars into a two car garage. The Z usually sleeps in this sideways position when not in use. It takes a 25' deep garage to pull this off.

I took the 260Z over to a friend's house today. I wanted to check how close my timing light was to his. At idle it was 1 degree off. That was close enough for me. He said I could still bump it up a couple of more degrees, and I said I would think about it. It just cruises so nicely now. We looked at a car he was working on for a customer. It was draining the battery after an alternator replacement. The previous alternator and replacement were both GM alternators. I told him before we got over there that the switched wire wasn't landed at the right spot. We checked the draw. It was 4 A. I told him to disconnect all but the ground and main wire. The draw disappeared. We validated that it wasn't the EFI relay (78 280Z). I didn't think it was, but since I don't have the wiring diagram memorized, I couldn't absolutely rule it out. I told him to swap the wires. He did, and there was no draw on the battery. Unfortunately, the battery had been drained and recharged too many times, and it needs to be replaced. We then moved to one of his cars. It's a 73 with an L28ET swap. It didn't have headlights. I checked the fuses. I made sure there was voltage at the fuses. The headlights still weren't on. I checked at the combo switch, and I found voltage on the dash harness side. I told him there was a grounding issue. We found the ground wire that wasn't connected, and the headlights came on. Then there was the matter of the high/low dimmer switch. It was non-functional. He had another turn signal switch, so I stripped off a good high/low switch from it and put that on the switch for the 73. Now it will change from high to low and back again. He called me after I got home. He didn't like how my transmission sounded as I left his house. I will raise the car on the lift and check the transmission oil level later this week. I like Z car days like this.

You bet! The wiring, vapor barrier and walls are all done. I fired up the LED lights at the back wall to see how bright they are. They should work out pretty nicely, especially with a white ceiling. The walls turned out really nice. I built a neat access door to cover the power panel out of the same boards. It blends in so well, you almost don't notice it. The piping, wiring and structure are installed for the 125K Modine unit to hang from the ceiling. The propane tank was delivered and installed on Friday. Unfortunately, the ceiling contractor is backlogged until February or March. He said he would try to work me in on bad weather days when his guys can't work outside. If it wasn't for that delay, I would have been right on time to get it heated before winter. I also snagged a nice deal on a large tool box from Home Depot. Well, I have done as much as I can do until the ceiling is installed. I really can't wait to get it done, so I can start organizing the place. All of my car parts and supplies are just piled in the center of the barn right now. That's it for now till I get the ceiling and heat in. Marty

Hey folks, We are all good! Had a very noisy and wet night. Got all the cars into the garage yesterday afternoon in anticipation of possible hail. Our home is in NE Richardson a couple of miles north of the tornado track. Thanks for thinking of us. JIm

Ha! The paper did paint quite well [emoji13]

Even the painted paper looks better than most cars.

I like to show my other interest too. Here's a boat I had that was really fun for about 10 years. This was taken the first weekend with the stock 150. I went way "overboard " with a 2.5 liter 200 horse Mercury motor that cost more than the boat. My Dad had one too but it was the family boat. I could flood him out with the "rooster tail" off mine. those were the days... $1.50 a gallon gas then we got "Katrina-ed", $3.00 to $4.00 a gallon. ☠️

Looks fantastic!

I got a couple shots while there was still daylight this afternoon. I’m very happy with how I got the clear to lay down. It looks and feels like glass. Much better than the rest of the car really. Gives me hope for a nice final finish on the car.

Good deal, when I took it off the firewall, it actually looked like the area had gotten some attention recently, but hit it with a wire brush anyway. And yes, it is a troubleshooting loop at times, but the forums have been very helpful to bounce ideas off of. With all the bad connections/grounds I've encountered already. It seems like I could be down this path for a while. The car has a dead-man switch installed in the cabin and wired to nothing in the engine bay right now. I'm tempted to wire this up to the CSV so I can manually trigger it instead of using starting fluid lol...

The part in question is the cold start valve but, that may not be leaking. From what I can tell in the pic the fuel hose is wet. So it can be the culprit. Try tightening the hose clamp and see if that takes care of it. If not replace it with the proper EFI rated fuel hose. And if that isn't it, it'll more than likely be the CSV Could also be the result of hard "cold" start ups depending on how much fuel is actually leaking out.

The drums have a maximum wear spec for the steel liner, it is stamped on the oem drums. Measure & compare. Inspect the wheel cylinders for evidence of leakage, also check the adjuster to ensure it moves easily for the self adjust feature. Clean assembly before reinstalling drums and final adjustment.

I have the size to go sideways but those darn verticle supports won't allow more than my mower. There's an apartment overhead so I probably should leave them.

I replaced my stock one years ago with the "locking" BMW cap (which doesn't actually lock...). It fits fine, and the lock engages, but it doesn't stop the cap from being removed. So I guess the flap is kind of useless for me, as it has no chain... hopefully I still have the stocker somewhere, I usually keep everything

I used the grey PVC shower liner (Oatey brand from Home Depot), it's flexible and doesn't hold any moisture, and is soft enough that it doesn't push the door open

Sounds like air leaks in the intake manifold somewhere and maybe floats or fuel needle valves sticking.

This the first group of tests some of you may recognize from the FSM. At the beginning of today, I flunked this thing BAD. Spent a lot of time tracing down grounds/wiring issues and made some improvements. Results of before and after are: 1-1 (throttle valve) Before: Fail, 2-3Mohm. After: Pass 1-2 (throttle valve open) Before: Fail, open circuit After: Pass 1-3 (AFM) Before: 180 ohm, 180 ohm, 100 ohm After: Same 1-4 (air temp sensor) Before: 1.7 Kohm (weird temp reading) After: Pass, 2.3 Kohm 1-5 (water temp sensor) Before: Fail, 8 Mohm After: Pass, 2.3 Kohm 1-6 (air regulator) Before: Fail, 27 Mohm After: 61 ohm (?) 1-7: Pass 1-8: Pass 1-9: Pass 2-1: Pass 2-2: Pass 2-3: Pass Where a "Pass" is a resistance of just a few ohms. Even after "fixing" these wiring issues, still won't start. Injectors still not pulsing while cranking. I didn't have time to focus strictly on EFI wiring, but cleaned as many grounds as I could get my hands on. Maybe drop resistors aren't supporting enough current, or issue at relay pins like Zed Head mentioned...

Continued disassembly. Got the Dash out and most of the interior out on Saturday. Got the motor, muffler and transmission out today and started the brake line removal. Took a lot of electrical pics. I removed the interior vent ducts and noticed that a small passenger had set up his home in the driver side vent. Nice spot, much better than under or in the seats. Looks like he was prepping for the cold Pennsylvania winters.

Nicely finished inside panel! I will prep and paint the inner areas that are not visible when the car is assembled. I really hope this bed liner will keep the inside nice and fresh for a long time!

Oct. 18. Press Preview in Ginza, Tokyo, Japan. thanks to @HS30-H

Did a restoration of the octane in both cars today! Pretty tough job but I'm happy with the results. Guy at the pump next to me said I should wash my car. It shines like a new nickel so I told him I was just getting a splash of gas to make it to the "buy 10 gallons and get a free car wash" place on the other side of town. He looked at me sideways for a second or 2 then started smiling. It was great.

Reminds me of when (forty years ago) I fell victim to bad shop practice (mine) and a pair of $9.99 spring compressors (borrowed) and had a fully-compressed front spring get loose and come whistling past my ear at probably 70 or 80 mph. One inch.

So I cut again finishes and all ground down I had some surface rust appear in the rear frame rail. I tried to use some Eastwood liquid rust remover but it seemed to make it worse. So I brought the panels outside and used the 90# pressure pot to quickly clean them off 150#s of Black diamond and here it is Brushed on some epoxy primer on the frame and the rear valance. I think I am ready to put it back together. It's still not quite the way I want it but I have gotten to the point where I don't really care. I figure I won't be able to see it from the drivers seat. So I am going to keep pushing forward. I really want to finish color before it gets too cold

I run a 10lb Fidanza flywheel on an OEM clutch. It has stock-like tractability but revs much quicker. The car dynoed at 195whp and 180ftlb, the clutch holds just fine. I run an 8lb flywheel with OEM clutch in my S2000 which made a more notable change in tractability as it doesn't have nearly the low-end torque of the Z. Still much better than the 23-pounder it came with. Both cars are driven in SF Bay Area traffic without issue.

I went with Fidanza flywheel and Exedy clutch and pressure plate for a 280zx Turbo 2+2. Great pedal feel, never slipped under hard use and best of all i have a very revvy motor without slow speed driving issues. It took me 4 hours to do a 1:45 journey to Silverstone in stop/start traffic on Friday. No issues at all. You just have to learn to dial in 500 more rpm when pulling out of junctions but you soon get used to it.