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This thread was created so that people could express their thoughts freely, after their positions came out in other threads, without damaging the other threads. Don't click on anything that says "Guns" if you don't like to talk about guns. Sorry Scotta but that's a simple one. Just don't click. The thread title says "Pros and Cons", it doesn't take a side. You shouldn't have clicked and shouldn't have read. Guns are a part of American life, ignoring them doesn't make them go away. Sorry. With this thread you can read the other threads without seeing anything about guns. If this thread is removed then people will use the other threads to talk about them. I hope that it just fades away but if "guns" come up in any other thread we all have this one to point them too. Save the link.

Progress today. Cup washers are back from the plater. Look good to me! Now I have to go buy more plumbing rubber washers to complete them. By “go out” I of course mean, order on line. I found some at Ukrainian Tire. Coming next week. Never ordered anything from CDN Tire. usually it’s a reason to go out for a look-see, like Princess Auto or Harbour Freight....

Datass...

Having already commented about the weirdness of thought process going on, I don't need to comment further here. I grew up with guns but although I am reasonably proficient with them, they never have assumed the importance for me that they seem to have for some others. As noted, no one's opinion changes based on Internet chatter. The current administration has really screwed the pooch because they dismantled part of our protection against pandemics, using the argument that it was part of budget cuts. We got started late and just a couple of weeks ago Trump was still claiming that it would be over quickly. He's put the whole country two months behind where it should be in preparedness. Any administration would clearly have had trouble dealing with this situation; that's shown by what's going on in other countries. Trump's insistence on putting political expediency ahead of science has really bitten the whole country in the butt this time. About all we can do is minimize our exposure at this point. Folks like @Av8ferg who have to be out and working deserve our respect. I live in a college town, in a well-educated neighborhood, and the people here are doing an excellent job of staying home and being careful when they walk out the door.

I can not live on a steady diet of doom and gloom so ... It's spring, warming up and I have noticed the air is much cleaner everywhere, even in downtown Toronto. I don't think I have seen a contrail in the sky this whole week, it's nice, quite. I have been deemed an essential service so the drive to and from T.O. has been so relaxing, it takes half the time to get where I'm going. Most of the other drivers on the road are well behaved, only a few A--holes and there is lots of room for them to zig zag . Anyone else noticing positive aspects of shelter in place?

Well I received the fuel sender today and got it installed. I'm impressed with the build quality of it and there are only couple of minor differences from an OEM one. They are the same size and length, has the correct bends, the alignment notch is correct, sweeps up quicker than before and it fits just fine. It even comes with a new gasket. The only problem I have is that where the low fuel light never worked before, now it's on all the time, even with a full tank. I don't think the sender is the cause just yet so I've got some exploring to do.

Well I had to futz around a bit but the PS came out fine .... Inside ... Gaps ... and straight - Woohoo!!!

More Contour SCT testing - passenger door .... Again this door was repaired and heavily mudded by the PO. I have better doors but let's see if this one is salvageable .... 5 minutes in ... 10 minutes.. tops ...another passing grade for the Contour SCT ... It turns out to be a very solid door. I would guess most of the damage is from the PO's prior Bondo repair ... Not sure if I will end up using this door, but it would be a shame to throw it out. I might have a paintless dent repair guy look at it ... For now I am going to bolt it up to check my work on the passenger side ....

Now some beauty shots! The clear is glass in a lot of places and there is a little orange peel on vertical places like the fenders.

Self portrait in the clearcoat of the hood... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would like to see this thread removed.

I wondered when the topic of guns would come up and I guess I'm not surprised. Growing up and was always around guns and taught that is was a great responsibility and not to be abused. I live in the great Anitgun state and it's like living behind enemy lines. This is an article I picked up several years ago that was written by a Maj in the USMC. on why "Carrying A Gun is a civilized act" The Gun Is Civilization" by Maj. L. Caudill, USMC (Ret). Human beings only have two ways to deal with one another: reason and force. If you want me to do something for you, you have a choice of either convincing me via argument, or force me to do your bidding under threat of force. Every human interaction falls into one of those two categories, without exception. Reason or force, that's it. In a truly moral and civilized society, people exclusively interact through persuasion. Force has no place as a valid method of social interaction and the only thing that removes force from the menu is the personal firearm, as paradoxical as it may sound to some. When I carry a gun, you cannot deal with me by force. You have to use reason and try to persuade me, because I have a way to negate your threat or employment of force. The gun is the only personal weapon that puts a 100-pound woman on equal footing with a 220-pound mugger, a 75-year old retiree on equal footing with a 19-year old gang banger, and a single guy on equal footing with a carload of drunken guys with baseball bats. The gun removes the disparity in physical strength, size, or numbers between a potential attacker and a defender. There are plenty of people who consider the gun as the source of bad force equations. These are the people who think that we'd be more civilized if all guns were removed from society, because a firearm makes it easier for a [armed] mugger to do his job. That, of course, is only true if the mugger's potential victims are mostly disarmed either by choice or by legislative fiat--it has no validity when most of a mugger's potential marks are armed. People who argue for the banning of arms ask for automatic rule by the young, the strong, and the many, and that's the exact opposite of a civilized society. A mugger, even an armed one, can only make a successful living in a society where the state has granted him a force monopoly. Then there's the argument that the gun makes confrontations lethal that otherwise would only result in injury. This argument is fallacious in several ways. Without guns involved, confrontations are won by the physically superior party inflicting overwhelming injury on the loser. People who think that fists, bats, sticks, or stones don't constitute lethal force, watch too much TV, where people take beatings and come out of it with a bloody lip at worst. The fact that the gun makes lethal force easier works solely in favor of the weaker defender, not the stronger attacker. If both are armed, the field is level. The gun is the only weapon that's as lethal in the hands of an octogenarian as it is in the hands of a weight lifter. It simply wouldn't work as well as a force equalizer if it wasn't both lethal and easily employable. When I carry a gun, I don't do so because I am looking for a fight, but because I'm looking to be left alone. The gun at my side means that I cannot be forced, only persuaded. I don't carry it because I'm afraid, but because it enables me to be unafraid. It doesn't limit the actions of those who would interact with me through reason, only the actions of those who would do so by force. It removes force from the equation... and that's why carrying a gun is a civilized act. By Maj. L. Caudill USMC (Ret.)

Take a look at this one, appears to be for sale in Japan and bids currently around $230k USD / 25,000,000 JPY. Posting pictures for reference. https://www.classicdriver.com/en/car/nissan/fairlady-z432/1970/727296

Sorry posted that prior to you starting the new thread. Back to covid here I guess. Let me put my guns away first. ✌️

Three coats of European 5 Star Clearcoat later, I am out of the shop, letting it cure. I saw a couple sags from a heavy hand, but nothing too major. I can clean those up in the cut and buff. Overall very little trash and everything looks good. Hard to tell in the shop lighting but I am happy. Done!!!

Hello, I'm new to this club. I am looking to buy a 240/280 Z but not sure really where to start. A friend of mine had a 240Z when I was younger and I really liked it. I'm looking for a car that might need a little work, but solid. Any suggestions on publications or resources would be great. Also from you experienced owners, any input as to the pros and cons of the 240 vs the 280 would be appreciated. Thanks, Ernesto

Some progress. Got some test plates back from the plater. Big one in yellow zinc and little one in powder coat 'cast aluminium'

This is a WTF briefing. Must-watch. Trump is changing the topic entirely. Very strange. Counter-narcotics. Really looks like purposeful distraction. Not good. Trump even has the military thanking him for his leadership before they speak. Sad. Barr is up, thanks and grovels before starting... So, apparently, we are going to war with the Mexican cartels. Why now? Ambassador ??? sucks up and thanks before speaking. Embarrassing. Trump realizes that there won't be visible progress against COVID-19 for months so he is starting a new visible "effort" against another enemy. The first question from a reporter is "what has changed" since this has been going on for decades. Rambling answers. Even Barr is having problems keeping a straight face as Trump talks. Laugh/cry? Who knows. My apologies, I didn't intend to write anything. Just have to describe what I'm seeing, it's astounding. Trump made an order of PPE from Walmart and directed how to ship it. Really. Lots of talk about "The Wall". People can't get past it, they have to go around the edges. Trump reveals that he is #1 on Facebook. Yeah, the Navy guy answered a question about the Roosevelt without thanking or groveling at all. Just walked up and gave a straight answer then stepped back. The first part is over, the military, Barr and Esper leave. Trump speaks some more. The COVID-19 group comes in. Same old, name-dropping Walmart and Haynes. "Nobody's ever seen before" is on repeat. Back to classic Trump, rambling odd statements. Copying Cuomo and reading what Pence wrote, interspersed with his own bizarre phrases. No experts, just directly to questions. Trump answers a question about staying at home, nation-wide, and shows that he doesn't understand how the virus spreads. Incredible. Pence obviously does not understand "copays" in insurance. He thinks that the copay is a significant part of the overall cost of treatment. "The government will covering all copays for treatment". BFD, that's nothing. An earlier question to Trump about undocumented immigrants got the basic answer of "too bad, they're illegal". So they will get sick and spread the disease to everyone, legal or not. Another question to Pence about people without insurance got a bunch of BS from Pence about how the insurance companies are stepping up... for people that have insurance. He either doesn't get it or he's just BS'ing. Big failure in addressing how to stop the virus spread through people who don't get treatment. It's a lot of people. Now Pence is talking about transferring all test responsibility to the States. The end game seems to be to transfer all pandemic responsibility to the individual States. Typical for normal times, but these times aren't normal. Trump pretends to care about religion, and the fact that church groups can't meet. Although some do anyway. The new normal is going to be slow progress from the administration, daily death reports, and a focus on the new "counter-narcotics" war.

Let me look. I likely have one. At least I’ll tell you the size of the hole. Making one should be pretty straight forward. Do you have the clips that hold the clutch line at this hole? I can send a set of these too.

They just locked down Florida. Just our luck with prices of gas so low, except you can't go anywhere!

Congrats Mark !!! Looks fantastic!

Speechless! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Here’s some of the warts. The base coat was beautiful and flat. The clear was hard to judge as I was spraying blind due to the heavy fog created by the spray. Working blind almost at times and never enough light. These will all be sanded out as I layed on tons of clear.

The outer rockers don't line up very well with the fender or the lower front edge of the door. I am told this is a common problem with "later" TABCO pressings.

Some factory fresh bling for later.. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got my 1983 280ZX Turbo running RIGHT for the first time in 2+ years yesterday!! It was missing above 3500 RPM, and after trying a laundry list of possibilities, the fix turned out to be simply disconnecting the ECU for a half-hour to reset it. Once it was re-connected, the ZX is running perfectly and I spent a while touring the area and pulling shifts at 5500+ RPM. Go figure...but I'm delighted! Since it was running right, I filled up and bought premium at $2.74 a gallon, which is a good price for this area. I haven't seen it at that price for a while. I own the ZX and two older BMW 3-series, all of which run premium. One thing you can do during a pandemic is catch up on car maintenance. Today it's rotors, pads, and packing the front wheel bearings. I think I'll throw in a brake fluid flush while I have it up on jackstands.

I look at things in their essence. When the legislative documents were penned in the early USA.... a gun was a powder loaded musket. There were no modern day cartridges, or automation, nor scopes, nor barrel rifling. The spirit of the documents over 200 years ago and the warped interpretation today is simply amazing. Now stop bugging me as I need to continue work on my personal nuclear warhead collection to defend me in the 0.000000000000000000000001% chance that USA tries to invade Canada.

And brightened my whole day ??

i ended up using my fingers, it was not too bad, but one of the nuts got my hands all cut up.... i tightened them till the flange started spinning due to the torque from the wrench, i did not see a spec in the 260z FSM....so 1million ft/lbs it was. Rubber on the door lobe also dried, passenger door seems to need a little more adjustment. Thanks for the help @Zed Head @siteunseen

I use them for fishing hooks. I USED to use them for fishing but I quit. Now they're a very useful pair of locking pliers. Available at Walmart in the tackle department. Also a doctor's office when you're waiting on them to see you. Tounge depressers are a good get too. I lost popsicle sticks when I left my mom's.

Yeah, sometimes it gets ruff...! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

It's easy for us southerners. Just do what you do when it snows every 10 years.

Does anyone really know what "stay-at-home" means? The message seems unclear even when an official tries to explain it. They say that you can go out to exercise but they don't really define what that means. Now they're threatening fines here in my state but I see people walking around the neighborhood all day. I feel lucky that Washington apparently is ahead of the virus, relatively speaking. But the governor needs to make more sense. https://komonews.com/news/coronavirus/inslee-announces-crackdown-on-violators-of-stay-home-order Seems like they could help distancing just by doing an even-odd thing like they did for gas rationing. If your name starts with a certain letter then certain days are when you go out. Or use your birthday. Simple stuff. People are looking for direction.

If you put the long end in the pump flange it will pass through by quite a bit because the flange is thin. Wasted threads. Therefore, the short end makes sense.

Maybe this will help someone in the future. I took the boot and was able to stretch it over the round handle of a chisel. Then i used a heat gun to loosen it up. It took about 4 attempts like this but I was eventually able to get the boot on. Its the easy things that that are the hardest...

As to answer one of the questions in the Covid thread. Yes, I have had more than one time when I wished I had been armed. I have also had more than once when I thought I was going to have to present my weapon. Normally that is all it takes to deter a further confrontation. Obviously we have walked different paths... As for being surprised from behind, my wife carries and both my older kids carry as well as my coworker. So, someone's got my back Deep respect for you, John and the path you have walked!!

Well, I just realized that I bought the car 6 years ago last week... Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks great. I love Racing Green! Congrats on what must have seemed like forever to get this far.

I agree, @Av8ferg has always had my respect but much more so now. He's on the frontline of transportation as medical personal are needing things.

In some of my previous posts I’ve mentioned the large group of parts I purchased a while back. I recently mentioned to @siteunseen that I would make a post about the origins of the “hoard” and here is the story. The Hoard In the fall of 2018 the president of our area Z club received an email about some 240Z parts for sale. Knowing that I had a hobby business refurbishing parts, the contact was passed to me. I contacted the person and gained a little insight to the situation and made arrangements for an inspection trip. A buddy - @zed2 and I drove up to Denison TX on the TX/OK border and met a man who owns his own railroad station. Not just any old wood frame RR station but a magnificent two story brick edifice. After a quick tour of the historic building, we set off in caravan, headed a bit south for Bells TX. Our guide explained that a very close friend was in the VA hospital in Dallas, dying of cancer. His friend had been a lifelong Datsun mechanic and during the years had parted out a number of Z cars. Some years previously, the mechanic had relocated from Colorado and moved his collection of parts with him. Our guide explained that by selling some of the parts he hoped to help his friend with expenses. When we arrived in Bells, we entered a property of about 5 acres. There was a dilapidated mobile home, a scattering of about 10-12 240Z’s and a couple of 280ZX’s , but our attention was drawn to a 40 foot overseas shipping container. We looked over some of the Z’s, checked out a deteriorating pole shed with various parts inside, then made it to the doors of the container. Our guide unlocked it and swung the doors open to what can only be described as an “elephant’s graveyard” of parts. Along both walls of the container, boxes were stacked about head-high with a narrow aisle down the middle. Our guide provided us with a couple of flashlights and we moved into the container. Most boxes were marked with a felt tip pen as to their contents. About half-way in, we found layers of heads carefully stacked and marked – mostly 6-cylinder, some 4-cylinder. Next to the heads were three complete engines, bagged parts of valve trains and a stack of shock absorber boxes filled with cams. Opposite the heads were several 4- and 6-cylinder blocks. We continued into the container, briefly inspecting boxes as we moved to the rear – a complete set of 4-screw SU’s, a set of triple Weber 40DCOE’s, and much more. We found that most parts were felt-tip marked with the model year and his private condition code of “I, II, or III”. Earlier conversations with our guide about “some” parts availability had been vastly understated! We were in sensory overload trying to comprehend the extent of the container and property contents. Time was short that day and I had only brought a small amount of cash for what might be the availability of a few restorable parts. I picked out a few things and paid for them while making arrangements for a return visit. We returned a week later only to learn the mechanic had died. His brother and heir (in Nebraska) had talked with our guide and another friend and gave permission for additional sales. In the course of several hours, Zed2 and I moved and inspected the contents of every box, hauling selected boxes and items outside for a final decision. When we could haul and inspect no more, it was time to wrap up. I made a final review, putting a few things back even as Zed2 was adding to my pile. I listed everything and wrote offer prices beside each item. The other friend of the mechanic was familiar with the Z parts and reviewed my list and offers, tweaking a few numbers. When it was finalized, I wrote a check to the estate and prepared to load up. I dropped the rear seats in my Xterra and began pushing in boxes, the cargo area filling from front to back and to the roof. Later at home I had time to better inspect and inventory the boxes, and learned that many had additional items not listed on the outside - small treasures and nice surprises. I kept in touch with the mechanic’s brother and listened to his intense frustrations in dealing with the delays of a rural county probate court from his home in Nebraska. He knew that I had an interest in additional parts purchases and promised a call when he was next in town. As it turns out, the neighbor next door was very interested in buying the property. When I did not hear back from the brother, I know that a sale had taken place to include the cars and parts. This was a great example of an opportunity briefly appearing and then gone. I’ve worked through some of the boxes, with refurbed items listed on this site such as fuel rails and heat shields, a ’70 AM radio restored and a ’76 AM/FM not yet touched. The “nest” of inspection lights is currently in play as is the box of turn signals, with so much more still in the garage attic. I hope you’ve enjoyed this tale of how the “hoard” came to be.

I have no plans to, but if there is enough interest....

Thought this day would never arrive! Can I get a virtual high five from the forum please? High build (Valspar DTM prime and seal mixed 4:1:1) ready to sand in a couple hours and fill any last minute pinholes with putty. Then on to a mix of 4:1:2 for a seal coat before paint!

Very nice work. I do very little sheet metal work, and the stuff you do highlights how amateur my efforts are. Looks great.