Mikes Z car

Thanks for posting Mike. I always admired Steve. I notice his license plate said Apple II. I had an Apple II+ back in the 70s.

That looks really nice. Wish my engine bay looked that clean. Maybe someday... I don't think I would want to race that gentleman assuming I accurately am recognizing the performance goody (ies?) in the engine compartment unless I were given the option of unhooking a few things on his car first. To improve my chances slightly maybe if I just swiped his ignition coil, heh heh.

I have wondered how the Pertronix makes the dwell correct, maybe the electronics in the Pertronix figures that out or the magents are chosen to make that work with no adjustment? Here are pictures of the Pertronix I took out of my car in 2009 which I assume is their first model since it does not say ignitor II on it.

SteveJ, that LED light looks like it does a good job. Eurodat, in a Homer Simpson DOH! moment I was looking for my old Pertronix to see what version it was because of the thread on that and I noticed a pack of A72 12V G3 1/2 light bulbs that I used to replace the instrument panel lights. I didn't make a connection to them because I thought the engine bay light had a lot more wattage (the original one did) and didn't realize the socket was the same. They are 3.4W and have a miniature bayonet base, fit fine in the engine bay light. Some eBay listings show the A72 bulb as 4W, some 3W and one lists it as 3.4W. They draw .25A at 12V and are 23.4MM long, I got them from Planet bulb 1100 McAlpine Ave Kansas City KS 66105 877-542-8527 I probably got them off of eBay. I notice eBay now has a listing for an A72 bulb. Being humbled by my own lack of observation is probably a good thing once in a while.

Don't know if this is worth sharing but when I got my car 4 years ago it had the Pertronix and a Bo sch coil. It didn't want to rev well past 4,000 RPM per the mechanic and I wound up going back to a stock coil and points though eventually I want to revisit the Pertronix. I can't remember if we tried the stock coil with the pertronix. The numbers on the bottom of the Bo sch coil factory painted blue are: 9220 081083 K12V 0221 119 027

SteveJ of no more leaky brakes fame, let us know what LED light you have if you look at it. One of the LED lights I saw on e Bay rated the light output in lumens which is fine except it makes it hard to compare to a 4 watt bulb adding to the directionality issue. Eurodat, the title of that e Bay listing says 1156 but I think they must have that there as a snag for searches (or it is a typo) as I think the 1156 is the standard bayonet and the trouble light uses the miniature bayonet socket I gather. They do say it is compatible with BA9 in their description indicating the light will work in the trouble light if it will physically fit inside the lens. If you test one let us know how well it works.

Chas, Thanks for the info! That website lists an old designation for the BA9 as T4/8 which seems to suggest they used to make it in an 8 watt rating, now it looks like the BA9 is available only as a 4 watt. That LED version only draws .23 mA but is listed as a replacement for the 4 watt BA9 if I am reading that right. I wonder if the original bulb rated for 8 watts got a little too hot for the miniature bayonet socket with that much wattage in such a small package. No problem for LEDs though. Thanks for providing clarification. I found some light bulbs with a BA9 base (miniature bayonet) on eBay, #1895 Lamp, 3.78 watt. Should work okay. Mike.

Now THAt is a classic.

I will look at the R10W - BA15s, another number for them is 1156, thought that was a larger bulb. Will need to go back to the au to parts store and get unconfused. LEDs are good, not sure which one might fit inside the lens for the trouble light.

How do I identify a replacement lig ht bulb for the engine bay trouble light? The bulb in the one I have says Toshiba A12V8W on it meaning 8 watts but when I got a spare at the auto pa rts store the new one wasn't as bright. I compared current draw and the original 8W bulb is showing just over .5A while the new one is at .12A. Both pictures are of the original light bulb: The "posts" that stick out the sides are in line with each other. I have seen bulbs where the posts are offset but not on this bulb.

Hi TomoHawk, Today I drove the Z. It was in the 20s, no rain or snow going on and mostly dry roads other than some patchy yet to be melted snow. They don't use salt here. Earlier this evening I put in the rubber boot that goes around the gearshift (missing when I got the car) but now after reading your post realize the 1Hz sound of the potholes will be harder to hear. Maybe I need a floor cutout heh heh. Well I do love good bass in a car. I used to play a standard elec tric guitar (still do) but was never talented enough to play in a band. Pretty neat that you have played instruments, I wish I had more talent for that. As far as goal I have six speakers I took out of a large scre en TV after I dismantled the rest of it with a sledgehammer (pair of 6X9s, pair of 5 inch with massive magnets and a couple of soft dome tweeters). I realize none of those speakers would necessarily be considered subwoofers. I want to put them in the z with home made enclosures and was wondering how small I can make them and still get bass that is fun to listen to. What songs define good bass? Some songs I like mostly for the bass line such as these really old ones: Walkin' the dog by Rufus Thomas (1966) Mr Big stuff by Jean Knight (1971) There was a fairly recent thread on phasing and other aspects of speakers. I got a copy of the free version of RTA that 30 Ounce described above, what a great speaker testing program. I got to looking at a couple of old favorites for editing audio, Audacity and Cool Edit and notice they do phase reversing on one track and will generate bass frequencies. It would be fun I think to make an MP3 with normal and then reversed phasing across the stereo channels for different bass frequencies. Maybe make the MP3 run from 60 Hz on down to 20 Hz with 1/2 second tones a couple of Hz apart? Maybe have a voice describe what tones are about to be heard every ten Hz apart as the run continues? Cool Edit will do a smooth slide from one frequency to another, that potentially could be more useful as a means for looking for holes in the speaker response. The pink noise 30 Ounce describes might be technically better for that, not sure I know how to use it though. If I get anywhere interesting with this I will put it on a blog for download in case anyone wants to play with that. I am open to suggestions on what might be useful if any of this is. There needs to be a pothole simulation too. I saw a website that talked about punchy bass. The difference between punchy and rumbling they said was a parameter they called QT which is determined by enclosure and speaker size.

Thanks! I didn't know those resources existed. The RTA looks very interesting. My ears wouldn't be good enough to pick out holes in noise. I have heard white noise but I wouldn't be able to hear the difference between pink and white noise. You reminded me that I used to experiment with a windows app called spectrogram which was freeware ten years ago and apparently still is. Runs on windows 95/98/NT/XP and vista. If I experiment with the preferences it will give a 324 Hz display for analysis, I don't know if that is enough resolution to be useful for sub woofer sounds. The web page for it is at: Downloads - Spectrogram version 5.0 It can be downloaded at: http://www.electronics-lab.com/downloads/cnt/fclick.php?fid=33

I have noticed there is subwoofer test music available that can be used to evaluate speakers. But how would I know if a speaker I have passed the test? I tried playing some of the test music through the large over the ear headphones I have that are supposed to be stu dio monitor grade which I think means that they have a flat response. They are supposed to be good down to 5 Hz. The sound bass notes (it sounded like an electric bass) went lower and lower down the scale and then all I could feel was an air current but no sound when it got too low for me to hear it. I realize this question might be similar in difficulty to "what is the meaning of life" with no real answer but is there some way to analyze c ar speaker performance at all?

New clutch cylinder kits, master and slave to fix slow leak.

Would it make any sense to wax plastic parts on a car? Don't know if that would help with soot. I have always avoided waxing plastic on a car because it is hard to wipe that white powder out of the nooks and crannies. Doesn't wax stop UV damage and for that reason might preserve plastic parts?

I appreciate that you are willing to share when things go wrong as it helps remind me to be careful when I am around my engine when it is running. Back in the old days my family had a '57 chevy with a two speed automatic and as we drove down a main street in New Orleans my dad for some reason turned off the ignition and then turned it back on. What a nice loud backfire it made.

Chris, That looks terrific! Nice work.

This describes how I made a two part glove box liner for a 240Z using 3/16" thick foam board. The two parts make it easy to install: Replacement glove box liners are available from classiczcars.com vendors however I like making things so I thought I would fabricate a new liner. I considered making this out of metal but my metal working skills are not that good so I thought I would use an easier to work with cardboard like material. After I made the liner I cut it in half 3 1/2" from the left side as it would be seen installed in the car to make it easy to install (or remove later). I took the old liner out to work on the heater fan and to run speaker wiring but broke it getting it out. I like originality but wanted something easier to work with. I still have the original liner that has been repaired if needed for some reason later. Two part liner separated: Two part liner pushed together: Installing two-part liner- Step 1: Step 2: Step 3: Step 4: Installed: The 3/16" foam board I used for the liner was available at a craft store and a dollar store. It has an open cell foam core sandwiched between poster board. It is strong and resilient, much stronger and more flexible than the 40 year old original posterboard liner. I copied the liner from a 1/1972 liner I had on hand after I took it apart, flattened it out and drew lines around it on the foam board. I also took pictures of the original liner under a sheet of glass to flatten it out laid on fabric board with one inch lines going both ways to allow duplication by someone else. The color is reversed in the pictures to make the patterns easier to see. Lines can be drawn 1 inch apart going both ways on the foam board with a white pencil and a long straight edge. By referring to the patterns in the pictures the patterns can be duplicated on the foam board. Both pictures below are looking at the outside of the liner. Side and angled top patterns:...........................Main pattern (both patterns from a 1/1972 car): To make the folds I pushed a wide putty knife blade into the cardboard on a hard surface where the folds are needed as indicated in the pictures. Pattern identification: I used a spring loaded power hand stapler to staple the parts together at the folded over tabs in the same places as the original liner. I bent each staple over on the inside with needle nose pliers afterwards though glue could have been used instead to fit the parts together using magnets to temporarily hold parts together. It may be necessary to trim the two halves where they meet to get them to fit into the car, I had to trim about 1/2" off of this middle edge with scissors after I made the liner because the original liner material was thinner than what I used. The four speed nuts needed for the sides at the top I found at an auto parts store though they might also be found at a hardware store if they are not on an original liner you already have. ***************************************************** I actually made three of these liners, the third one that is in the car now is described above. The 1st one was made out of ordinary cardboard and while sufficiently sturdy for normal use I had tried to copy the original without taking it apart which introduced errors in the shape. Note that the car has steel support under the bottom of the glove box for the first three inches from the glove box door all the way across making the area near the door very strong no matter what material I might have used. The second liner was constructed from thin white cardboard and was made from the pattern in the pictures above. It fit together and in the car well but I went with foam board as it is even sturdier. For reference, here is a difference between glove box liners for a 1/1970 car and a 1/1972 car (and repair notes). I copied the 72 liner because I figured it would work in both the 1970 car I have and in later models (the drawing layouts above are for the 1/1972 car):

If he gets big dollars for that I am going to put my pa rts car on eBay.

For car cover protection I thought of sewing on patches to make it look like it was repaired. I like the wrap idea with the phony rust. Ha!

I didn't think of this until after I saw grannyknot's eBay picture of the clamp showing what appears to me that the rubber block on the clamp is supposed to be in contact the crossmember but I am aware that the parts car in the pictures I posted got hit on the right front wheel good enough to require new front wheels. It also was enough to bend the front frame rails. I guess it is possible that the impact turned the clamp and changed the rubber clearance. The clamp shows no sign of damage and the steering rack looks okay.

Crhis, You are welcome. It would be interesting if someone would look at the clamp on their car to see how close the rubber is to the crossmember. Good observation, maybe to be effective it should be closer to the crossmember because it would kick in sooner that way.

I had removing the rotator cap work once. They ran the battery all the way down trying to start it but I got to keep the car. I have crazy ideas like a recording that makes the car sound like it is turning over when it isn't. Specifics might not want to be shared. There are immobilizers that come with alarms. New cars use immobilizers but the complicated electronics running the engine makes them hard to defeat.