Zedyone_kenobi

not much room, the grommet and hose are so darned tight. I did wrap the braided hose with electrical tape and smeared some oil on it and it went in like a charm. I only wrapped the first 3 inches, so maybe I need to wrape more of it, or ALL of it to get it to work. Still almost done. Hopefully when my 3/4" fuel line gets here I can make it fit the vent tube from the filler neck to the evap tank. I did get the gas tank back in the car though! Looks really good in there! Rubber bumpers worked like a charm!

UPDATE: Well I spent an hour or two fighting with installing my fuel vapor lines to the evap tank. The one that is just killing me is the half inch cloth braided one that needs to fit through a grommet near where the crankcase vent line comes in near the fuel filler neck. It is just crazy hard to get that grommet in!! And worse is when you try to put the braided line through it it forces the grommet out. I have lacerated and bruised hands from fighting with that dumb grommet! But it must go in. Some buy in Japan in 1971 installed that grommet, so by God I can too! All other MSA fittings worked like a charm. Everything on this car is amazingly well thought out. I love how all the hoses just happen to have clamps right where you need them! I should be able to wrap this up this weekend if all goes well!

Oh man, that is disappointing...I had high hopes this would be a better quality.

Okay, just an update... thought I would put some friendly reminders about what to bring to this... I am stealing these ideas from this months issue of Classic Motorsports.. During a classic rally bring parts that make sense. Naturally you cannot bring every spare part you have, but certain things may come in handy. Oil and filter. A set of metric sockets and wrenches. Several rolls of paper towels. Duct Tape, yes I said it. Extra fuses, and some vacuum line. A can of fix a flat is useful in an emergency. Also, car prep is key to these. Make sure all the parts of the car in good working order. Mostly the brakes and tires. Make sure the system is up to the task of some spirited driving and keep in mind that this is not a race, just a bunch of like minded folks who love cruising in their Z. WE can have a Z autocross or track day later if things work out. I will try to bring a bunch of stuff in my support truck (either Uhaul or full sized pickup if I can borrow one). Jumper cables and the like will be very useful. WE still have plenty of rooms available from what I can tell. I have not heard a peep from either the first Gen RX7 club NOR the Houston British car club. I may have to be more persistant. Anyway, this is still happening and wanted to keep it up on the board to let others know that I have not forgotten about this. It is still moving forward!

Arne, you are a man of the modern age with that avatar! HAHA I feel so outdated, and I am 38!

That is a great idea rob. Thanks for the pics Bonzi.... I have wanted to see better pics of your car for a LONG time. I think this will work quite well guys. I am going to order some headlight covers soon and try this out. If Only there were some nice factory replicas with the stainless trim to be found for under 500 dollars.

Okay, what the hell was Datsun thinking making me try to track down EVERY single size fuel line in existence!!! GEEEZE! Trying to find a 3/4" fuel line is darn near impossible. I finally found some at an ACE hardware supply store, it was fuel transfer hose and I had to buy 10 FEET of the stuff, so if anybody wants some let me know! Also, fitting the grommets in firewall trunk wall is a pain in arse! HA HA, but it is finally sealed up tight. The things we do for orignality!

Well they stuck to it...go figure. I will check both to see what I find. Maybe my car has a more sordid history than I thought!

There they are, MSA headlight covers. About a hundred bucks and you have some fairly good fitting headlight covers. But then there is the big issue. Not many of us really want to drill holes in our headlight scoops to mount that. Well, I sure do not. So many things have been tried. Velcro, double sided 3M tape. But all were either too weak to hold the cover on, or too strong to let it go so you could clean behind it. So how do we fix this. I have not seen this suggestion before, so I will throw it out there. I present to you these!! round Neodymium rare earth magnets. They are crazy strong. I mean crazy. They come in all sizes and shapes, including small thin disk sized shapes smaller than a dime. Now what if you were to put a soft felt on one side so that it would be soft against your headlight scoop on the car, and then epoxy the other side to the headlight cover L bracket. This would hold onto the headlight bucket with ease and yet would be removeable without any sticky residue or scratching your headlight bucket. I have purchased the magnets already and will be trying to mock this up for my Z. Of course I will paint my covers silver so I can protect the headlights when I track or autocross the car. But the concept I think is sound. Any thoughts, or has somebody tried this already?

I think it would be a very simple exercise to get some made. Any sign/vinyl shop could do it.

good to know Dave! I am just hoping like heck that the centercaps fit over the front axle grease caps.

Okay, folks, a set of 15x7 VTO Lemans are on the way to be fit onto my silver Z!!!! well by a set I only bought 2 wheels. But I am thinking I will love them and will order two more very quickly. Dave, would it be possible to offer Z stickers like MSA does for the centercaps. That would be a nice little touch.

what size lug nuts do Z' have I will be ordering my VTO's this week... but I have no idea what lugs to specify on the order form.

That is FANTASTIC advice! Thanks so much! I have two that are pretty darn cruddy!

Congrats on a great job!

Well this is where we are at. What you do not see are the straps that have been sanded smooth and repainted black. Also missing is some 1/4" fuel line which I totally forfot to pick up. That is on the agenda for tomorrow. Also had to source some bolts for the evap tank. M5-.8 I think is what I got. They fit wonderfully. Since it was a welded in place nutplate in the wheel well, no need for any nuts. Hoping this will all go together okay. I will spend some cleaning up the OEM hose clamps as best I can. They tend to be much happier after a spray with some WD-40. More to come as I get this thing assembled. I am thinking I may put in my RT diff mount while I am here though. I just PORed that and bought a bump stop for the install.

Those look great! Thanks foe posting

GASP!!!! Your right' it has been taken care of. We shall not speak of it again.

I finished up on the tank yesterday. I decided to go with some chassis black spray paint over the POR. THe original tank only had spray paint on it and it lasted 41 years with little to no rust. I used VHT high temp Chassis black. I have good luck with VHT on things that I want more durable than just plain spray paint. I found out that latex glove fingers make for great fuel line plugs. Next step is to find some rubber for my straps. AND some rubber for my tank pads. AND some 3/4" fuel line.

kwigbo, Nice simpsons reference by the way! I will PM you a funny story about that... I noticed you have a missing inspection light, or rather an incomplete one. IF you would like a new one, I have two extra. Part of the pay it forward vibe we have on this web site. PM me your address and I will ship you mine.

here is a pic from my phone of the gas tank. The inside is completely YELLOW with the coating. I have to check to make sure it is not obstructed or blocked, but I am relatively sure it will be fine. now I have to decide how to protect the outside of the tank. I will Either POR it, or just prime and paint it. But as you can see, there is old factory paint on the tank. Do I have to remove that before I POR it?

I replied to you Dave. Yes folks, I am going to have pics of some VTO LeMans on my Z in the not to distant future. MANY pics to come. By the way, everybody here should support Dave @ futofab if they can... his customer service is amazing.... now if only they would make a 14x7 LeMans as well. snicker!

Dons Radiator shop in LaPort. Great price, I have yet to see the tank to comment on quality .

Well I ordered some chrome bolts form zcarsource to try to cover the holes in my bumper. Not sure how it looks without bumperettes. I mean I like the clean look, but I need to get the bumpers totally redone to make it look right. You can tell where the bumperettes should be. The chrome is brighter and the rubber side molding looks like it was pressed up against the chrome. I think I may have to leave them on until it is time to redo both bumpers.

You sir have a lot of time on your hands! HAHA, but your work is beautiful.