Mikes Z car

Hi all, I noticed today that the Jo Ann fabric store here is selling "pot liners" that appear to be made of jute as they look identical to the jute that is under the transmission hump vinyl in my car in thickness and in appearance. It is sold in a large floppy hat shape but also in a long skinny shape suitable for lining a window planter box in case someone has some missing pieces they would like to fill in. It was $10 for the floppy hat shape. Mike

Only guess I could make is that the connector on the aftermarket horns is causing a short to ground right at the horns (maybe the connector plug on the aftermarket horns is a little different from the plug on the stock horns?). If that makes sense is there a way to jury rig a different connection between the horns and the wire that plugs into them? Or try unplugging the horns to see if the fuse still blows when the horn relay is held on for more than four seconds?

Please post back here what you did if it works, maybe with a picture. One of the bolts on my lower fender broke off as I was unbolting all the bolts one at a time to apply anti-seize.

I tried Intelius once, paid them and never got any results.

To update I was told that the spring and plunger have been backordered from Japan and the parts should be here by the end of June. I was told that usually if the part is no longer available it gets canceled immediately.

Burl, Your gauge looks like my gauge did a few weeks ago running down the freeway doing 80 mph with just over 90 degrees outside. My gauge might have been a tad higher. Thanks to everyone for the great information! Mike

You might consider providing some guidance with your request. From my very limited experience from making much less complicated drawings I would want pictures straight on to those edges such as straight down, looking from the side, across from one side of the car to the other or from the front of the car. For the area next to the windshield I would think you might also want a picture taken at the same angle as the windshield. Or maybe several angles is the best help? Flash might work better to define lines better? You may already have all of the pictures you need as another possibility. Mike

EuroDat, My old water pump seems to have recessed bolts. The pictures are of the water pump that was on my car that I pulled off a few weeks ago as it had started to leak slightly. It says GMB on it which doesn't seem to relate to Nissan as far as I know, from that it must be aftermarket? I can't tell if the impeller is iron or steel. The engine I have has no serial number, I read that means it was a replacement engine from Nissan, don't know what that might mean in terms of water pump. impeller:

Section 8, however, is truly MIA. (Maybe because it's "Section 8?") Ha Ha that is pretty good. Being ever curious about computer graphics I noticed the fiche classiczcars.com sells in the store is more readable than the one at the xenons website though I think it is great xenons offers their fiche as a free service. I only noticed because I was recently looking up a part and was trying to read part numbers: Fiche on left from classiczcars.com: On my old car I took the hatch lock apart and rearranged the order of those tumblers to make the ignition key fit though the keyway has to be the same for this idea to work. I did have to leave one tumbler out as it would not fit the key no matter what position I put it in.

I bought a china made hand fuel pump for transferring fuel when I took the gas tank out and it was made of plastic far too soft, almost like it was made with that cheap throw away plastic they make mardi gras trinkets out of for anyone who has been there. It fell apart during the first use, poorest quality thing I ever bought. I also made the mistake of getting a harbor freight dent puller and the hook on the end broke off almost immediately. Other things from harbor freight have worked for me though.

I had a 260Z 21 years ago that I kept outside with a vinyl cover that came with the car. The car had been kept in a garage by the PO and I didn't know about the importance of breathability. Moisture must have condensed under the cover causing a small area on the hood to become permanently fogged.

It isn't just you I can't get them to load either. Section 6 loads, I didn't check the others.

Captain Obvious, That is a good idea on splitting the shipment 50/50 if I get baggies of parts. I will post here what I receive, the gentleman at the parts counter said the order will take 4 days to get here. I think I remember their parts counter is open until noon on Saturday. That fiche I got from the store on classiczcars.com helped with this. Sorta makes we wish I could see on Nissan's parts storage shelves to see what Datsun parts are laying around. I'll take one of those, two of those... Maybe an entire Z could be built from them? Mike

To add info I ordered the return to center spring and the plunger it pushes on for a 5 spd using the part numbers in the dealer fiche, they are both still available (where does Nissan keep this material?). Per the fiche the spring comes in a package of 10 and the plunger in a package of 5 if that is the case I will give away the spare ones for shipping though the price they quoted was so cheap, something like $1.99 for the spring and the plunger is something like $11 that if you want the spring it might actually be cheaper to order it from the dealer! Return spring P/N 32852-24901 Plunger the spring pushes on P/N 32851-N9000

Persimmon240 Thanks for the info. I hadn't thought of the straps being too thick I will have to watch that when I am looking for a suitable replacement. I made a rash assumption all cars used the same width parcel strap since both cars I have had used (one in the past, one now) the less than 3/4 inch width kind. Mike

zKars, Tongue-in-cheek??!!? I am off to find correct native cotton plants from Japan... I have seen webbing for sale in auto parts stores but it is too wide to fit through the hardware hold points. Persimmon240, How did you get the 1 1/2" strap to work with the less than 3/4" slot in the mounting hardware for the straps? Mike

EuroDat, Thanks for the great detailed information. I see the spring assembly now in your picture. I will order new springs. Hmm, a longer bolt might compress the spring further giving more force on the pin negating the need for more finger force to start pushing a new spring in; don't think I will try that though. If my fingers can't push the new spring in, I might have to lower the transmission tail end so I can push harder on the new spring to get the spring in as you describe, or could make a temporary pry bar of some kind or, (shudder) drill a temporary hole. Will report back what happens. Bolt,spring and pin: (EuroDat's picture)

Zed Head, Captain Obvious, EuroDat, Thanks to all of you for your great observations. It had never occurred to me to look for a popet detent as having a role in returning the shift lever to neutral. My DD has a 5 spd but is not a z car, it has a strong return to center (but I don't know if it has a reverse avoidance kind of sleeve) so if I pull straight out of 5th with a flat hand giving it freedom of movement it pops over to neutral by itself readily, I want that action on my Z. I am studying LeonV's thread on transmission ID, didn't realize there are different ratios for the same transmission model number. May try a new spring or preload the one I have, hopefully find a solution useful for anyone else, may need help identifying what that solution might be when I get further with this. Thanks for the help! Mike LeonV transmission ID thread: (Found with advanced search using LeonV username, his posts are listed then, easier search with a desktop) http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/engine-drivetrain-s30/49070-transmission-id-quiz.html Gear chart LeonV references: gearing2

Does anyone remember reassembling a 4 or 5 spd transmission from a Z from the 4 spd era to the 5 spd 280ZX transmission era and remember the ease of putting in the return to center bolt? I am wondering if I can pull that bolt out and put it back in without taking the transmission out of the car. My return to center is weak so I tap reverse sometimes when pulling out of 5th. This also makes it hard to find 3rd sometimes. I understand from the two rear ears on my 5 spd that it is the older 5 spd transmission if that helps. I have read of someone else cleaning and greasing the spring and whatever it pushes on (I don't remember it being a ball bearing) and that fixed their weak return to center. I THINK I remember on my 4 spd from 30 years ago that the return to center bolt can be pushed in with hand force, so that no mechanical help from a vise etc was necessary. I am assuming that I have correctly identified the purpose for the bolt in the attached picture. Thanks, Mike

skillinp, You did your post here last January, I also installed a 97 accord wiper motor. The park switch is a rotating switch inside the case on top of the plastic gear (a copper brush and a piece of metal mounted on the gear). The motor turns the gear and switch which makes sure the wipers park at the bottom of the windshield by connecting the park switch across the same place the low speed wires connect. The park switch is open when the wipers are at the bottom of the windshield and closed otherwise. When the intermittent turns on briefly and then off the park switch keeps the motor going until the wipers park. That is why your wiper keeps stopping in various places on the windshield, the intermittent turns the motor on briefly expecting the park switch to continue providing power to park the wipers but the park switch never takes over. The original wiper motor in my car (1970) used a relay for the park function. The relay makes sure the park switch lasts a long time. The wipers on my car with the 97 accord motor do not park but once I connect the park switch it will make intermittent operation (with an intermittent gizmo from an auto parts store) and park possible, something I will add when everything else is done. This is all assuming that when the 97 accord motor was installed I ground the shaft flat sides at the correct angle as the park switch rotation position for park cannot be changed. Trying to compensate for the switch turning off at the wrong time with an electronic time delay is chancy as that approach assumes the speed of the motor is constant on each wipe but I personally feel the approach might have merit from the standpoint that the wipers would park in approximately the same position each swipe which might be less annoying than the wipers stopping at random points. Anticipating further work on this I connected a 14.7K resistor in series with the wire on the wiper motor that I think is the park switch (blue/white wire-gives an open circuit to ground on park) as I wasn't sure what the other end of this wire connected to and didn't want to blow a fuse. From inside the car a time delay circuit could be rigged to this wire (or a relay with the other end of the coil at 12V) which would connect to the slow wiper wire making a pseudo park workable, I hope. I hope this lengthy diatribe helps a teeny bit. Mike

Steve, that is a terrific article on the turn switch. Nicely done, great pictures. kenmataya, not sure but if flattening is done maybe the ball bearing has more freedom to come out of its hidey hole and could fall out when a turn is selected? Instead of flattening maybe consider bending down the flexible tabs the contacts on the see saw are mounted on? I wonder though, maybe if the contacts are cleaned the contacts are good then without any bending? Just thinking out loud here.

I can identify the Left rear brake hub or whatever they call it and a possible horn.

bacarl, That is the oil pump, long may it continue to work well. I had a leak in the water pump recently but it didn't drip where you are experiencing it, it was dribbling down the front cover. Mike

Don't know if this will help with visualization much. This is the turn switch in action as it is put through left turn, right turn and no turn for a January 1970 Z. It is an animation I made for a blog I haven't posted yet. It doesn't show the ball bearing on the end of a spring that rolls across the see saw part of the switch to make it move back and forth. Click to see the action. Mike

My car doesn't have the roll bar spacers (#907) though I know it has a reinforcement plate inside the frame rails but I think all of them have that reinforcement. I know the engine was replaced.