Zedyone_kenobi

After months of prep, I think I have reached a point of readiness. Everything I can think of has been gone over. Somethings are not perfect but are in good working order. I finally pulled her out to wash her after so many weeks covered in dust and greasy finger prints. Everything seems to be where it needs to be. Everything feels right when she revs, starts, brakes, shifts, etc. No weird noises come from anywhere other than the usual creaks a 42 year old cars has. With such humble beginnings she came to me in 2008. Members here helped me graciously as ever to pick the right car. Not the perfect car, but the right car. My car, like most older car has issues. Yes, it was wrecked in the front end, but it was competently repaired. Just like individuals, all cars have character flaws. They are not new. They have baggage when you buy them. You have to accept what you cannot change and move on. I love my Z. It feels like an old friend now. You guys have been with me for every single one of my mods, fixes, complaints, dumb questions, etc. I could not have done this kind of work without the help of ALL of you here! So this is my official THANK you to all of you. You are all a bunch of fantastic guys and gals. On to the pictures! Hello there world! I am ready for my close up. This my REEEEEEALLY BAD attempt a dramatic video shot... http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdamico/8003468680/in/set-72157605246065883/lightbox/ Post Wash video (please do not mind my hand squeaking on the vinyl seat headrest... It makes me crack up at the noise of vinyl on bare skin!)LOLLOL http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdamico/8003463028/in/set-72157605246065883/?likes_hd=1 Words cannot explain how pleased I am with the results. These cars take on a life of their own, and through this site I have been able to share the whole adventure with you guys Next up soon will be the loading and towing pictures to the rally! I contacted the organizers at the TEXAS 1000, and they still have some slots left for the 50 car field. It would be great if we could get another Japanese car in there. The organizer said she looks forward to seeing us in our 240Z. It will be the first one to make the rally. It would be epic of I could complete it with no mechanical breakdowns. I am going to do my best to show her how a Japanese inline 6 sounds!!!

That is awesome blue! I would think you would need a drill press to do a good job, but you are 100% right. That is awesome

Well bud, it's like this. In order to get the first spook on I had to drill holes in the OEM body work. It was not an easy thing to make myself do. But I was not satisfied with the 4 or so nutplates on the OEM body work to hold it on. I wanted more fasteners to even out the load and to hold it more snug against the body. with the ducted spook, two of the nut plates graciously given to you Datsun on the OEM bodywork happen to line up directly on the brake duct, so you do not even get to use those. So, yes, I would think drilling would be mandatory to install one of these.

By the way, car is coming down off the jack stands tonight and pics will be taken! I cannot hardly wait. The car is finished with its rally preparations. I will post the conclusion to the build up later this week and start the rally packing. 52 days until the rally!!

Ben If I were to do the firewall, and both fenders and radiator support, I would order 3 cans of primer, 3 cans of color and 3 cans of clear. You will probably have extra, but that can come in Very handy if you need to do a touch up later for that inadvertent scrape.

This is truly an epic even, and we are all rooting for classic Z friends to do well. Good luck everybody, and have fun. I wish all of you a safe and entertaining trip!

I have long morned not getting a Ducted spook. I loved having the spook on the car, but something was missing. Where there should have been brake ducts, there was nothing. There was but solid fiberglass. At last I was fed up with it and broke down and ordered a new ducted spook from MSA. It is a relatively good quality product. I took it to the same paint shop that prepped and sprayed my first spook. I gave them one of the inspection lids to give them something to match. considering that they were painted 3 years apart from one another, by different people (same shop), I am amazed at how close they came. The finish is good, even, and has good coverage. Here it is on the car. It actually fit up against the body work better than the last spook. I chalk that up to pure unmitigated luck. Glad that is done though. ON to the next project. Anybody need an extra silver 901 solid spook for their car?

I found them at Courtesy parts. they had both the big push rivets an the small push rivets.

Well, just what the title says. I was refinishing my rear tail light trim panels, and a few of those small black push tabs broke. They are much smaller than the interior tabs that hold on the interior panels in the back of the car. Does anybody sell these smaller style push tabs?

That's a good idea Never even thought about modifying it myself. That definitely easy to do

Yeah, I figured out that tuning for steady state cruise in 4th gear is not really the best way to get the idle circuit to work. Shooting for 12.5:1 at 55 mph in 4th gear meant I was pig rich the second I wanted to accelerate in 4th gear while still in the idle circuit. The thing is I was reading around on some tuning forums in the Subaru community I am part of. During steady state cruise the engine is under next to no load. Running at 14.5 to 15:1 is fine in the mid range rpm bands if the engine is under next to no load. I would not want to be there at top end. But running right at stoich. while not accelerating is probably a GOOD thing. I put 50F9 jets back in mine. But now that I have gone to 32mm chokes, I will probably need to go to 55F9's if the choke has any effect on the progression circuit.

negative. If run more than 13 I get some pinging at heavy load in 3rd and 4th gear. With 10.5:1 compression that was going to be a risk I was taking. AT 10 degrees advance, I get none. Car seems to run fine. I will try to bump up the octane and run about 14-17 to see how she likes it. I know webers like lots of initial advance. If I can ever get my mallory unilte to work without blowing the ignition module I will order the curve kit for it so I can run more advance initially.

Agreed, I was wrong. Sorry about that. I forgot to account for road resistance and air resistance at that speed.

I tend to agree with Lazum. I think you should try 115 or 120. I have some 120's if you would like to try.

Today I changed out my 30mm chokes for 32mm chokes. As you would expect not much has changed as far as idle quality, but having said that. For the first time, I was able to get the carbs perfectly balanced at 1000 rpm dead on. All 6 cylinders were pulling identical amounts of air, and also, my AFR was as close to steady as it has ever been. I could get a decent idle before, but it would fluctuate from 12.3 to 13.4, and would cycle seemingly randomly around there, but average about 12.7. Now I do not vary more than .4 on my AFR. I stay about 12.9 to 13.4. My part throttle seems smoother, and it picks up revs very quickly. I cannot wait to drive it to see how she feels. But for now, I have the car on jack stands with the front spook off, I am waiting for my ducted spook..

I have been taking your advice to heart. Every time I take her out I push her harder and harder. Great advice...may seem like common sense, but those are wise words!

Bravo man. That car is a testament to how to enjoy a car. Do what you want and simply smile and drive it. It also goes to prove that a Z is a car that grow and be the car you need it to be. It is such a beautiful shape to keep you captivated for all these years. I salute you sir!

mally, I am truly at a loss for words. I have never seen such a collection of perfection in one place. You have my dream garage. An early air cooled Porsche and a 240z. Wow, you must be so proud. Such a wonderful problem you must have to decide what you want to drive!

55 days and counting to the Texas 1000. I am finishing off the fine tuning, adjusting, cleaning and prepping the car. I am making a mental list of everything I need to check out. I have the car on four jack stands once again, and I am starting to get ready for the last round of fixes. Yesterday I replaced the passenger outer tie rod which split its boot 2 months ago when I put it on. I found out why. I filled it with grease prior to installation and it was very full already. If anything I overfilled it. So when you put the 40-55 ft lbs on it you compress the rubber boot even more. Combined with age, this is what made the boot fail. So, note to self, never overpack a rubber seal with grease. As you know, the engine and transmission are new. The gear oil in the diff has less than 2000 miles on it. (royal purple) So fluids should be okay. I installed new brakes on all four corners within the past 700 miles. Wheel bearings have all been replaced within the past 2 years. New brake fluid. I have redone the fuel system. I have redone the cooling system. I have brand new tires. So I am okay on that end. This is my first 1000 mile rally. And I want to be sure that the car makes it the distance. I DO NOT want to be the only japanese car there among german, italian and british cars and have a mechanical breakdown. That would be unthinkable!! I feel like I am representing the classic japanese car folks here. Can I get you guys to throw some things out there I should double check now that the car is up in the air on jackstands? No suggestion is too small. I have this sinking feeling that while I have the major components in great shape, I am forgetting something small that can sideline me.

Good advice. I am going to go up to 32 mm form 30, but not really sure that will make a bit of difference. I will keep an eye out on my AFR if I am ever in a situation to be at red line in 4th gear!

wow, dude, just wow. Its Christmas folks!!!

Not sure, as this would seem to be better suited to a diaphragm type of pump where the pumping pressure oscillates between high and low pressures. The RX7 pump is more of a rotary pump with constant pressure like the CARTER was. I could really see that being useful with the OEM mechanical pump.

When Installing my triple webers, I ordered a lot of parts. I mean a lot. Not all of them were as researched as others. At times this means I had a few 'extra' parts laying around that I may find a use for some day. Maybe not. Anyway, one of the parts I received was of course an electric fuel pump. This is the beast I ordered as it was used by others and seemed to fit the bill for pressure: Well as much fuel as this pump put out, it put out exponentially more SOUND.. think fire alarm loud, think chainsaw, think electric engraver loud! I installed the rubber isolators like it suggested and even put a thin piece of rubber gasket material in between the bracket and the mounting point on the car. No luck. I added an extra deck carpet in my car. NO luck, it was crazy loud. I put up with it, as I had to have pump and I needed this to work while I dialed in my triples, but it all came to a head when I attempted to make a video the car running. When I downloaded the video from the camera, all you could hear in the movie was the darned fuel pump! It was just terrible sounding. So, with that being said, I decided to ditch the pump and take the advice of many members on this board and go with a 1981 RX-7 electric fuel pump. To say this is quiet is probably the biggest understatement on earth. It is just dead silent. I left my Holley fuel pressure regulator in place and wide open it allowed the pump to put out 2.7 psia to the fuel rail with the engine running. I may need to remove the regulator as, it is not really needed with this pump with everything I have read. I was running the chainsaw pump at 3 psia. I have not done any long 4th gear pulls to see if 2.7 is enough, but I think it will be fine. Anyway, this is the pump I ordered from Rock Auto.. It was only 42 bucks and arrived in 2 days. I recommend it completely.

SUs are a fine setup but nothing on earth would ever make me go back to SUs I have to be honest though I do miss my refurbished OEM air box a little But then I look at those gorgeous air horns and smile Bottom line, I love my webers!!!!

That thing V70R is shining LIKE A BOSS!! wholly wax job batman!