Pilgrim

Regardless of the politics, it does not help anyone to deny reality, to say that a virus will never get here, and to spout repeated falsehoods about the situation. How many times do I have to hear Trump deny making any mistakes when first alerted to the virus, and then say that nothing like this has ever happened before, totally ignoring the Plague in Europe and the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic that caused roughly 675,000 deaths in the US? (And 50 million worldwide.) Anyone can make mistakes. When a major problem occurs, mistakes will be made. But not everyone refuses to acknowledge having made any mistakes, no matter how trivial. Not everyone goes on a national TV broadcast and flatly denies responsibility for actions that are documented as belonging to them. Not everyone blames media and everyone but themselves for anything that goes wrong. Without being more pointed, that's enough to lay out my total lack of respect for, and faith in, the current occupant. Thank heavens for the experts and scientists who the administration has been forced to put on stage to speak to the American public. They do indeed know what they're doing, even if their statements are directly contradicted by the administration. The only people I believe are the scientists and experts who are doing the actual work. I automatically dismiss anything said by members of the administration, who adhere to the formula of spending 80% of their comments trying to quote the party line, and 20% kissing Trump's butt. But here's the sense I make out of it: - It's a virus. it's not going away, contrary to repeated assertions by Trump. We will be living with it for the foreseeable future, so our goal is to mitigate and manage it, not eradicate it, which has no historical precedent. (Even smallpox has not been eradicated, there was a small outbreak last year in a third world country.) - If we develop a vaccine, that will not happen before early 2021. It can't happen earlier. However, we may find that other drugs already on the market have positive effects on this virus, and if so, we may get help from them this summer or fall. - Long term, our goal must be to manage this virus like we manage the flu virus. There will probably be some buildup of immunity, but if it mutates (unknown at this time) there will be repeated seasons where we deal with it. A vaccine will be a critical part of managing it as an ongoing part of life. That's the scientific part the way it lays out to me after 39 years of working with scientists doing genetic research. As far as the lockdown, I expect that not to exceed 60 days (but more likely the end of April), because otherwise the economy will crater and thousands of businesses will fail. There will be a point where we have to open the doors and let people move around in some fashion just to preserve our economy.

It appears to me that overall, people are really trying to make the separation and isolation approach work. I think the economic impact is going to force more businesses to open within a couple of weeks; this event has really made it evident how many businesses have few or no reserves and require constant operation to survive. IMO we're going to be figuring it out as we go. If those decisions are heavily influenced by scientists rather than political expediency, we'll be better off. As far as the virus, I expect us to be living with it for the foreseeable future. Viruses don't just disappear, but hopefully this one can be suppressed to the point where it affects fewer people and we keep the medical load within our capability to deal with. The big fear now is having a huge surge of infections which overwhelm the medical system's capacity. It will be great if some of the existing drugs they're looking at turn out to have secondary uses which can limit the spread of the virus. There is study going on right now of a existing malaria treatment which might help. I predict that the eventual outcome will be managing the virus to the point where it has equal or less impact than flu, but I don't see much potential for eradicating it. That's not something that history tells us will succeed. The fact is that we got caught short by denials and stalling on the part of the current administration. We're playing catch-up, but the good news is that once the US decides to do something, we can achieve tremendous things. I have a daughter who runs the dieticans at four eating disorder clinics; she had a sore throat last night but there's no hope of her getting a test, as Denver has a couple of hundred tests a day for millions of people and they are being used for high needs people. We all know the problems with supplies of masks, ventilators and cleaning materials. My youngest brother is a nurse at Western State Hospital in Washington, a psychiatric care facility. He is face to face with the potential for cases there, although fortunately they haven't had any inside the facility yet. @NorthernZ ...I wish you the very best luck. Be well and get through this!

BTW, agreed - slide the cable out at the speedo end. Most likely no need to disconnect it at the tranny. Glad that Zed Head brought that up.

Realistically, very good condition used tires with at least 50% tread might net you $75 a set, $100 if you're quite lucky. If they're almost new (like only a couple thousand miles) you might get $150...and that's a highly qualified "might". For a DIY project it has value. It also has value for parts. Putting it back into nice shape is a few hundred hours of labor, which is cool if you're interested in that.

I've had the dash out of my 280ZX at least 4 times and never had a problem getting the cable to slip back in. A number of people have advised you to disconnect it at the transmission end. Have you done that? I'd do that, then try rotating the cable slightly a few degrees at a time until the cable will slide into the speedo smoothly. I think your only problem is that the corners on the cable aren't lining up with the speedo.

opensecrets.org = conspiracytheoriesR'Us.com "Trust me," he said. EDIT: but this action does appear to be questionable.

I did the same thing a few months ago. I had an older unit that had a USB in but no bluetooth. Recently installed one with bluetooth and cell phone link in my 1983 ZXT. I ran the mic lead up the driver's side A-pillar under the molding, and clipped the mic onto the trim for the T-top . The phone works OK up to about 50 MPH, but above that there's enough noise from wind, tires and the car in general that there's no point in answering a phone call - can't hear it well enough to chat. The other thing is that it's hard to find a 1-DIN radio with a display having big enough characters for my 69-year-old eyes to read it. The way they build those displays, they must think everyone wanting those radios has 16-year-old eyes.

Looks like a parts car as far as I'm concerned.

A title for the vehicle is all that Italy should need. It proves ownership and the VIN number. It's a legal document.

Yes, seems like you need to find a senior employee there and ask them how to get the required certificate for a vehicle that is no longer in production. You need information about how this process has been carried out with other makes of vehicle; that process should work for you.

You can always have the AC compressor rebuilt with seals for R134A. I have converted three vehicles (2 Chevies and an Audi) to R134A and all cooled nicely. Just change the drier and orifice valve (little screen hiding somewhere in the system where the lines connect.) I used to use Blend-Air in Dallas for the rebuilds, but they've closed. I'd have to search for another option. When i got my 83 ZXT running I found a local shop that was licensed to use R12 and had it recharged there. Cost $200 and well worth it.

Looks nice, but I'm a sucker for blue cars. I hope it works out great!

That little plate with the three bolts is a cover for...nothing that I can figure out. When I had the head off I looked and never figured out what it gave access to. Maybe someone has a clue. I envy the openness of the engine compartment there. My 83 280 ZX turbo is well stuffed under the hood, and the manifold side is a pain to work under because of all the turbo and vacuum tubing.

I would encourage you to change the exhaust manifold studs to higher grade ones. I would also encourage you to use anti-sieze on the new studs when installing them. The studs do have a tendency to break, especially the outer ones at the end of the manifold. Higher grade studs will avoid this problem and changing them is worthwhile since they have a tendency to corrode and lock to the aluminum head. When I had head work done on my 280ZX, one of those studs had to be removed using a laser in a submersible bath. It's a cheap and easy update to make, and this is the perfect time to do it.

Bill, I was at the last ZCCC meeting (first time I have gone) and met a number of people, don't know if you were there. I live in Fort Collins. An FYI: I have a 1983 ZX Turbo and found that changing the original dino gear oil in the tranny to synthetic made a perceptible difference in reducing the amount of force needed to move the gearshift lever. Not a huge deal, but a positive change and a real reduction in effort needed to shift. One thing to watch is that there are GL-4 and GL-5 type gear oils, and manual transmissions require type GL-4, which is needed for the synchros. Make sure yo use GL-4, and you often have to dig into the lubricant specs to confirm which type it is. You evidently have the original shifting problem corrected with the tranny overhaul, but I thought it might be helpful to share this.

John, there are used Z parts sources, and they're well worth checking. ECUs also are available, and it's more practical to replace than to try and re-program.

Don't forget that you can buy a clear fuel filter and add it to the incoming fuel line under the hood. That will give you a visual to see if anything's getting into the line.

Nice work! Some clever decisions in that process.

Aluminum wheels DO NOT generally crack when bent. If they did, all the wheel straightening places would be out of business. Rims can often be repaired very well, you just have to be willing to pay for it.

Keep in mind that balancing a wheel does not guarantee that it is not bent. You can balance a square block, but you can't make it run smoothly in contact with the road. You should have any used wheels inspected or at least get the car up in the air and check the tire while rotating it. Possible causes: bent rim, bad tire, bad tie rod end, steering rack problem.

In the US it is not legal, unless when the vehicle is resold the owner checks the form stating that the mileage shown on the odometer is not accurate. There is no grey area on that issue under federal law. I would consider it ethical if a similar statement was made to the buyer as well. Of course, that would not be a surprise in this case, but it is appropriate and ethical to make it clear.

There were two general types of louver mounting. One used tabs which extended over the side of the window, and mounting them required drilling and screws in the hatch. The other type used metal tabs with a rubber-strip adhesive on the bottom. The tabs slid under the hatch trim. I have that kind, as I didn't want to drill the hatch for anything. I think that if you can photos of the mounts, it will be possible to make your own mounting tabs.

Given the work involved in dealing with the cam, I'd probably leave it in place, take care of the rest of the things you've identified and see how it runs.

Or a used distributor with a functional part....

Let's go back to the first post. It's normal for the pressure to be high while driving and drop to almost zero at idle. Have you checked a service manual for the gauge test procedure? What are the specific readings that you are observing? (To some people the normal oil pressure variation in a Datsun L6 would seem erratic.} NOTE: If your post #4 describes the behavior that has been going on all along, I doubt the problem is the sending unit, I think it's likely a bad wire or bad connection...perhaps a gauge problem.