Mikes Z car

I don't actually have the two parts cars I just found out about them. I plan on getting parts off of them this weekend. I don't know what year they are. How are those covers removed, do they just pull off or have snaps?

I found out about a 280Z parts car being parted out. Will grab starter, alternator and other parts for my 240Z if they are still on the car. What is the easiest way to grab the windshield, just cut the rubber with a knife? Any hope of cutting off the windshield rubber so it is reusable? Will the distributor work on my 240Z? It might be good to pull the head if it is for unleaded gas if the car used unleaded gas? Thanks for any heads up. Mike

I bought my 1970 240Z that I saw listed on craigslist back in 2008. It was maybe 15 miles from me. There was another 240Z I looked at for half the price but it was a total rust bucket.

Anyone know if seal all would work for this repair?

For $300K I would want a picture too. Ad: rare 1970 240z - $300000 (annapolis) original owner since 1971 car is mint call for pics and questions wont last long Location: annapolis

I use only ethanol free gas from a station nearby. One day I asked another patron with a newer car if they bought gas there for the same reason I do to avoid ethanol. He said I will never use ethanol in my car. I understand there are at least two more ethanol free stations in the area but they aren't as convenient. I avoid ethanol due to concern about corrosion from ethanol on aluminum carburetor parts and steel fuel lines which I have read about. I read somewhere that premium gas doesn't have ethanol, that ethanol lowers mileage due to it having less energy. I don't know if flex fuel cars have different alloys in the fuel system. Have read about bad effects of ethanol on boat engines. Be your own guide and information resource. Google knows all, tells all.

Dave, Thanks for the great writeup and pictures, nicely done! One advantage to using the Honda Civic motor you selected I think (as opposed to the '97 Honda Accord motor I used) is that due to the Civic's slotted drive shaft it is easier to have the park position work. To make the park work on the Accord motor the shaft has to be ground off at the right angle. Mike

I THINK pictures get turned sideways in the upload process from my own experience because they are taller than they are wide.

I never knew if this idea had any merit but when I had my previous 240z 30 years ago I pulled back the boots and applied a coating of grease all over the metal under the boot including that serrated gear thing. I turned the wheel all the way one way, put grease on anything exposed under the boot and then turned the wheel all the way the other way and put grease on any freshly exposed metal under the other boot. I didn't have an FSM back then though it doesn't mention that idea I don't think.

That looks good! Here is another one. Well now I see it has a copyright notice. Don't know how that applies here. S30 paper model instructions | Import Bible - Automotive Apparel/Car Shirts

The fiche I have doesn't show a separate P/N for the relay, looks like they want you to buy a new wiper motor as an assembly that includes the relay that is attached to the motor. How do you know the relay went bad? What year Z did you get your motor out of? Your profile shows you own a 1969 so that is the year Z you have?

EuroDat, Thank you for the information and the thread link. Now that I know the return to center is supposed to be stronger pulling out of 5th I can make the spring stronger. 5th/reverse doesn't have much return to center force now so making it stronger shouldn't hurt anything theoretically. Mike

Replacing the spring and plunger didn't make any real difference on the weak return to center which might not be surprising I imagine given that the measurements of the old and new springs and plungers are very similar. Measurements (note length of old spring fully compressed): Closeup of both old and new springs and plungers: Plunger view from spring: Old spring being measured just to validate my caliper reading (38.84MM): There seems to be a "detent bias" on my car so that the return to center force is much greater pulling out of the 5th/reverse slot and letting go of the shifter as opposed to pulling out of the 1st/2nd slot and letting go. My 5 SPD DD doesn't have that bias, both return to center forces are the same. I don't know if the bias on my Z is indicative of wear on the shift rod. That doesn't seem likely to me, maybe the transmission return to center was like this from the factory due to the shift rod detent being ground differently on one side of center compared to the other? Captain Obvious does your car have that same return to center bias? It might be possible to cut the spring in half and then to place a metal cylinder or cut off bolt where the missing half of the spring was to increase the spring rate and thereby the force the spring is putting on the shift rod detent if the length of the cylinder is selected properly. Cutting the spring in half would still allow putting the spring/plunger back in with the fingers as long as the cylinder isn't too long. The stock spring is already fairly compressed so care would be needed to make sure the spring didn't get completely squished so it would run out of "compression travel". Minimum compression travel would be the thickness of the "ridge" on the plunger that contacts the shift rod. Maybe an even stouter spring is needed. Anyone have insights on this? I only got 1 spring and 1 plunger as opposed to the fiche showing QTY of 10 and 5 respectively though looking at the baggies they came in the plunger baggy was originally marked for a QTY of 5 which someone marked out and replaced with a "1". The white sticker in the plunger baggy picture was on top of the more yellow colored sticker. The spring baggy looks like it is 30 years old but shows a QTY of 1. Plunger baggy, white sticker was on top of yellow sticker as I received it: Spring and Plunger baggies: Plunger baggy large white sticker with QTY 5 marked out with marks a lot: (Picture taken by backlighting with the sun)

I like these guys. Mr. Horsepower: Thrush Mufflers:

Terrific writeup. Great pictures too. Is the 280ZX alternator the best to use to switch to an internal regulator or is there another more widely used alternator (possibly a cheaper GM or whatever) that will work? I have read going with a GM alternator requires a bracket modification. Mike

Saw a blue 260Z pulling into the same gas station I was in. Went over and spoke with the lady driving it. She looked at her car and said I should have sold this car 8 years ago but it is so much fun driving it. She uses the same Z mechanic I do; that is when I don't do my own work. She said she is going to get it repainted and that the current paint job lasted 8 years. She doesn't have a garage.

The low tech approach. Will last forever too.

I don't know if this idea is worth pursuing but I would like to have a blinking LED to remind me to pull the choke off when the car is warmed up. For those who have worked with electronic circuits (I gather some here have) what is the easiest way to do this? I was thinking about connecting an op amp up as a comparator with one input going to the thermostat and the other input wire going to an adjustable resistor so that when a certain resistance is reached the LED that is one of those blinking types is turned on. Where can the LED be hidden so it can't normally be seen? I would assume a switch connected to the choke control would be needed to turn off power to the op amp to stop the LED from blinking when the choke is pulled off. Is there an easier way? Now if I could just edit the word remonder to read reminder.

Thank you harlest! In the unlikely event someone else would run across this thread here is a drawing I shamelessly copied from a post by Arne showing the switch plate my car was missing and the slit I cut at the bottom of the junkyard car switch plate so I could slide it over the ebrake "axle" to remove it. It feels quite solid in spite of the slit as it is held on by two bolts.

Hopefully the driver behind will just think his windshield washer malfunctioned.

I remember a story about a relief hose that went through the floorboards but you wouldn't want to do that in a z as it would encourage corrosion and detract from the stock appearance.

We can get ensure at our local grocery store. Buy it all the time. Maybe also at a drugstore?

Terrific! Glad you got er fixed.

That wire at one o'clock has 12 volts on it because it is connected to the coil of the horn relay and the other end of the coil of the horn relay is connected to 12 volts unless it is wired wrong somehow. Grounding that wire on the steering wheel throws the horn relay. The horn relay on my car (1/1970 240z) is right next to the driver's left knee, you can see it in the picture here. There are three wires on my relay I hope yours is like that. My theory based on what you have said is that there is a partial short to ground on the wire that feeds 12 V from the relay to the horns. That would explain why they barely work briefly when you hit the horn button I think. An idea here to follow up on that would be to unplug one wire at a time on the horn relay always having at least two wires connected. You are looking for a wire that can be unplugged and the relay will still click. Checking for relay clicking should not cause a blown fuse as you only need to hit the horn button briefly to see if the relay clicks. Two of the three wires when disconnected will stop the relay from clicking when you hit the horn button. The third wire from the relay that goes to the horns can be unplugged from the horn relay and the horn relay will still click. Leave that one unplugged for now. Remembering a recent incident on my car I just realized the bottom wire is not the one you want to leave unplugged for the test if your car is like mine. On my car unplugging that wire stops the clicking so it isn't the wire you are interested in. Once a wire is disconnected and the relay still clicks hold down the horn button until it would normally blow a fuse. If it doesn't blow a fuse that would indicate there is a short to ground on the wire that was disconnected, the one that runs from the horn relay switched 12 volt output to the horns. If no obvious place comes to mind where some work has been done lately that might have damaged a wire you could run a new wire I imagine, going from the contact on the horn relay where you unplugged the wire over to the horns, re-using the existing connectors on both ends. Someone else may have a better troubleshooting technique or might think of something else seeing these words, or just plain refute my whole idea. Is it possible the wires on the relay were switched around? Egads, what a long post.

Now that you mention it I didn't see any other guy in the store besides me. Not even another old duffer like me (65).