zark

The diesel oils that are rated oil for "fleet service" will have an SM or SL rating as well as the C ratings. It is a HDEO designed for both diesel and gasoline engines. The Napa 15W-40 fleet service oil is SL rated which means it has zinc and phosphorus additives. A gallon cost me $10.99.

I likewise just recently read a lot of threads on oils until I got tired of it. I settled on Napa premium performance universal fleet plus 15w-40, it is also what my machinist recommended. This is Napa's best conventional oil and it cost $2.99, made by Valvoline for Napa. I started the engine on Joe Gibbs BR oil for the first 20 minutes. Then replaced this breakin oil with the Napa 15w-40 provided by the machinist. I have a Comp Cam street cam and I am using their additive to protect the cam.

Just a followup. I pulled the oil pan and the side seals looked quite tight compared the early ones that just slid right out. So I went to the local big animal vet and got a long 19 guage injection needle and syringe and put a little RTV silicone in it. The needle slid right up the round identation one oneside of the seals and then I injected the silicone as I slowly withdrew the needle. It took very little silicone on each seal. Put the pan with new gasket back on and let it sit for 12 hours before putting the oil in. Leak is gone.

At the risk of stating the obvious, check your point gap to make sure is 0.020 plus or minus 0.002". Maybe the points are not opening. If the points are not opening the coil can get hot if the ignition is left on for awhile. The wiring looks correct in the pictures. Be sure the coil is not the type that has an internal resistor. If you have a volt/ohm meter check the resistance of the primary and secondary windings of the coil.

My oldest son is in college and has a 72 and he did what you are planning. Clean the rust off as best you can then follow with the Por15. We found it works best to use the Metal Ready. I have some Por15 that I put on my 1970 FJ55 Landcruiser 15 years ago and it has held back rust very well. I would not put anything over the Por15. Be sure the surface is dry, if there is any moisture the Por15 will dry with a matte finish instead of a gloss. I found this out. It can take quite awhile for a rough pitted surface to dry.

No there is no oil coming from the weep hole. The crank was in great shape. As I said the leak is at the side seals. The engine back plate makes the oil come down the front side of the plate, between the plate and block. I asked the machinist if he put any sealant in the corners of the block opening before installing the cap and he did not. The Haynes shows sealant there and in the side seal channels. The FSM says nothing about sealant. I am looking for any advice on how to stop the leak. Since I almost got it stopped with last try I guess I will just try it agian.

I have an oil leak that I have pinned down to the side seals on rear bearing cap (L24). The engine was recently professional rebuilt. I pulled the pan off a couple of weeks ago and pulled the side seals out. They slid right out they where slightly smaller than the new nissan parts I had. I used CRC brake cleaner and pipe cleaners to clean the oil out of the slots. Then inserted the new seals with RTV silicone sealant, then put the pan back with a new Felpro gasket and spot of slicone at each of the bearing cap/block joints Let it sit for day. Then put the oil in and took it for a drive and I discovered the leak was reduced I would guess by 70%. Just few drops on the floor. So I am going to do it agian. Anyone have any advice or tricks installing the seals so they will not leak.

Maybe nothing is wrong with the diff and the noise was the drive shaft about to fall off due to missing bolts. There must have been at least two bolts in place for it to drive at all. Do not go to a hardware store for the bolts get the correct ones from a parts house. Describe what you mean by dislocated, sounds like you are talking about the transmission not the diff.

Crazy, I noticed that you did not mention the coil when you described the ignition parts you replaced. You may have a coil that is going bad and therefore a weak spark. The fact that it starts right up (without a choke!) and then runs poorly makes me suspect the coil is going on you. With the key in start position the ballast resistor is bypassed and the coil gets 12V, in run position it gets 6V. So you can get a decent spark on start and a very weak spark on run if the coil is going bad. Temporarily rig a jumper wire across the ballast resitor to take it out of the circuit and see if it runs better. Do not leave it like this as it will enventually burn the points if the coil is good. Also check all the push on connectors in the ignition system for tightness, at the coil, distributor, and ballast resistor. My oldest boy has a 72 240z and a couple of weeks ago he called me from a parking lot at his college saying it would start fine but would not run well enough to drive it out of the lot. I suggested taking the ballast resistor out and sure enough it ran much better and he drove it home. I agree with an early post, don't blame the carbs yet. The vaccum leak you describe does not sound to me big enough to be the problem. My bet is poor ignition.

I second Leftover Z. I have two 72s and your description fits what I see on mine. What did you do just prior to noticing the change?

20-50w or 10-30w has nothing to do with the sound. 20-50w is right for an engine this old and down south. There has got to be an oil spray bar. I would not run it until you get it back on.

Pretty certain it would be the cable breaking. There is no direct connection between the cable and needle, the needle is magnetically moved. Be sure to inspect the cable housing for any dents, pinches, crimps, if the houseing is damaged then your new cable may not last very long.

I have had similar experiences and what I usually find was that just moving or tugging little on a wire bundle can cause a failure at a connector. Check all the and connectors in the area particularly those just forward of the fuse box. Pull them apart and put them back together. You might need to remove the center console to get at them. My bet it is a connector or connectors that got distrubed while you were working on your original problem. By the way you can take the headlight switch completely apart and clean the gunk out and polish the contacts. I have taken most the switches apart on my two Zz and cleaned them. If the switch feels dull and mushy take it apart and clean it.

I found that my hard door closing problem was due mostly to worn out upper hinge pins. Most of the energy put into closing the doors was going into lifting the doors as the catch engaged the striker plate. My drivers door hing pins were in terrible shape.

Fiveleaf, that looks like a cap to me. Are the last two pictures, that show the whole dash, after you removed the cap? If so it looks like it is in really good shape. One of the real advantages of the small cap is that it does not interfer with the instruments. You can get Kydex up to 0.25 inches thick. Check the links I gave above. Yes it makes great kick panels. I am considering using some 1/8 inch thick material to mold a door panel.

Fiveleaf, that looks like a cap to me. Are the last two pictures, that show the whole dash, after you removed the cap? If so it looks like it is in really good shape. One of the real advantages of the small cap is that it does not interfer with the instruments. You can get Kydex up to 0.25 inches thick. Check the links I gave above. Yes it makes great kick panels. I am considering using some 1/8 inch thick material to mold a door panel.

I missed the SEM question. You can get SEM products at any autobody shop supply store.

Sorry about taking so long to get back to you. Here is the link to the company I bought it from. http://www.knifekits.com/vcom/product_info.php?cPath=41_54_136&products_id=271 http://www.interstateplastics.com/Calcutta-Black-Kydex-T-Sheet-KYDB0T1.php The surface texture is called haircell. The first site above has a very close up image of the texture. I used 0.060 inch thick material. If I where going to mold it into the instrument wells I would get the 0.028 thickness. The second site above will cut the size piece you need. Kydex is made in 4x8 and 4x12 foot sheets. Don't use spray on contact cement it is simply not as strong as the type that you would brush or roll on. It is low in solids.

It has been six months, but it has not been subjected to summer heat yet. I am not concerned about the KYDEX. I suspect that eventually I will have to do the same over the odometer/tach area. I got onto the Kydex because by youngest son is a blacksmith and he has used it for knive sheafs. He has made two knives for soldiers serving in Iraq and Afganistan. The sheaf is worn on the chest upside down, the Kydex is formed over a part of the hilt to hold the knive in the sheaf. Kydex is the plastic that is often used in public places with high wear, like the inside of subway cars. I used a small piece of kydex to cover up cracks and holes in the console were the choke was attached. Now bolt down to a steel fabrication that is welded to the tunnel. It was very useful to have that space ahead of the of the ash tray to work with.

I should add that after the small cap was glued down I sprayed the entire dash with SEM Color Coat #15243 satin black. It is great stuff very easy to use it sticks to plastic and vinyl.

This is my first post and this is my third attempt, I keep losing it somehow before I am done. I have an alternative to the commercially available ABS dash caps. I made my own partial cap using KYDEX a thermoplastic sheeting readily available. It is far better than ABS and the texture is a very good match to the original vinyl. I covered three big gapping cracks in the dash above the center instrument cluster. First I removed the curled up material along the cracks then filled with plastic body filler and sanded back to the original shape. Rough cut a piece of Kydex leaving material to be trimmed off after froming is done. It is best to have two people one handling the heat gun and one with a damped cloth pad to push and form the heated sheet. The damp cloth helps speed the cooling. Work small areas at a time and as soon as you have one area done tape it down to the edge of dash in that area so it cannot move as you work on other areas. You can go back and reform as often as you like. When we were done forming we trimmed it to shape and then glued it down with a good quality contact cement using masking tape. We did it with the dash out but I am sure it can be done with the dash in. If you want you could use a contrasting color like red. One advantage of black is that it available in a thinner sheet. The color selection in the thinner sheets is limited.