Mikes Z car

Thank you for taking the time to take pictures and post this. On the transverse link were the old bushings difficult to get out?

If a new lens is needed apparently one can be made by sawing off the bottom rounded end of an empty energy drink tube someone gave me. Unfortunately I don't know the kind of drink it was but I will get that this week from the guy who gave me the empties. The old lens per my measurement is 32.53 MM in DIA and the energy drink tube is 33.78 MM in DIA if I am reading the caliper right. The new lens material can be ground with a bench grinder where the retaining tabs are on the metal body for a tight fit so it won't fall off though there are variations on this idea. One of you may have a better idea on how to captivate the lens that is more like how the original mounted than what I came up with. I plan on sharing anything further on this VIA my blog when I get done with it in case anyone else wants to try this. The old lens shown here and the two engine bay light assemblies came from JY 280ZX's; my car is missing this item. The pictures vary in brightness but were adjusted for maximum readability of the caliper. Mike New lens material and old lens: New lens material measures 33.78 DIA: Old lens measures 32.53 MM DIA:

I enjoyed getting to see that!

INST3D, How long is the video as far as time? Looks it is about 601 MB in size from the error message. If you can edit it to a shorter time and then try uploading that it might work. Or break it up into smaller pieces, maybe the total size isn't an issue but the size of any one file is. If you didn't want to experiment with editing it someone else might be able to do it if you were to break it up into pieces that could be emailed and rejoined by the person you email the file to. Maybe 60 files (assuming email max file size just over 10 MB) each 10 MB in size would work. A good program that I have used for that is HJSPLIT. I have used it for years on a Mac and a PC and it has always worked. It doesn't have to be installed and is freeware. Google will find a download page for it. Mike

Thanks Steve, the PDF is clear!

On my computer I have to click on that picture about three times in succession before it zooms in to full size filling the screen, I think it is because it is a thumbnail picture. I have never figured out how some post pictures and they are real big and easy to see but other pictures in posts seem small like thumbnails requiring further clicking (my posts always have small pictures requiring further clicks for some reason).

Steve, The drawing looks promising but the resolution is too low and when I zoom in I can't read it, I may be doing something wrong though. Mike

I got pulled over in Tennessee back around 1976 driving the 240Z I used to have for doing 77 however I had been going 107 a few moments earlier. I felt justified in failing to mention that. Officer, I know for a fact your speed gun isn't working properly, might want to get that checked... He asked me how fast will that car go? I said the book says it will do over 120 but I have only had it up to 107 (neglected to mention how recent that was).

Thanks for trying! Could you be convinced to record how to make one small part of the drawing, either of you?

I would enjoy seeing a video of how you two, motorman7 and INST3D make those drawings but I might be the only one interested in the creation process. heh heh. Nice work! I can see an engine number plate and frame rails. I can respect this work since I did a drawing of parts of the 240Z a while back that doesn't look as nice.

Drool; slobber

The wire powering your parking lights now is probably the one that is supposed to go to the dash lights as they can be dimmed. The dimmer may not be able to handle the current of the parking lights for long and might burn out if left connected that way, I don't know for sure, just an idea.

Someone has an older RX7 sitting in their driveway in town maybe 10 miles from me. I don't think it has ever moved.

Can anyone tell from looking at the picture of the Thai marker light below sold on eBay now if it can be modified to connect to the turn signal so it flashes with the turn signal? I don't know if it is possible to tell from the picture. I don't have an original light as my car didn't come with any. Thanks, Mike

I haven't tried gorilla glue for anything so don't know how well it sticks to plastics. I would think a tube cut in half would work as long as there is a good caulking or weathertight seal between the hose and the car. If you look straight down at that tube after installation I would think it would need to be as least as wide as the existing gutter drain at the side of the hatch, wide enough to drain off any water going straight down into that crack between the hatch and the car. Wouldn't hurt if it went under the lowest lip of the existing drain gutter. I had been putting this off but today I put a wad of clay in a tube shape in that area and closed the hatch to see what clearance there is and it looks like there is plenty of clearance for your idea as the clay was not touched by the hatch. On the 71 240Z I used to have I used to keep that ledge heavily waxed but the car was kept garaged so I never found out if that had an effect. Before: After:

Don't remember who but someone did some bodywork on their car to slant that area under the back hatch so the water would run out of the car. The edge closer to the front of the car was raised to accomplish this if memory serves. I plan on extending the drip edge on my car with something removable in case I want to try something else later.

Is there a possibility of heating suspected components with a heat gun one sub freezing morning one at a time to see if it will then start? Easy for me to say I don't even have a car with an ignition module!

I have noticed side marker lights for sale on eBay from Thailand I believe. I need marker lights and have wondered about the quality of them. The pictures look okay but they aren't real close up.

geezer, EScanlon, hr369, tlorber, Thanks! Thanks for the idea of mig welding, not sure I could make a completely sealed repair that way. Someone more skilled than me might be able to though. Some holes are in areas where there is vinyl covering, so epoxy would work in those locations as I will have to stay away from heat there to avoid melting the vinyl. I didn't know about tinning liquid, I guess that is the same as flux. Some holes are accessible from both sides but not all. I tried using rosin core solder, will have to get some acid core and try that. Most of the holes are from a PO who had a 400 watt amp connected to a pair of 6X9 speakers plus a pair of 5 inch speakers and a 600 watt bass amp connected to a pair of 8 inch speakers. The larger speakers were mounted in their own large enclosures. Both amps and the speaker enclosures were screwed down in the back hatch area. Looking at the physical size of the speakers and the amps connected I had an idae not to turn the volume up too high for fear of blowing out the speakers. That was confirmed when I pulled out the 8 inch speakers and saw that each is rated for 15 watts! I likely would have blown out all the speakers if I had turned the volume up much. I plan on making all of that removable and not screwed down. Thanks for the ideas, I will start with soldering with a 225 watt soldering gun and if that fails will use JB weld.

I don't know if this idea works on old hard rubber or not or if the result is as good but when I had my 71 240Z painted back around 1980 someone told me to put thick fishing line under the edge of the rubber between the metal and the rubber to force the edge of the rubber up so paint could get under the rubber. The result was it looked like the the rubber had been removed for painting. I don't know if that would work on the car I have now since the rubber appears to be older but I may find out if I paint it. FWIW

Hi all, I have some screw holes in my car, most I can blame on the PO but I did a few myself unintentionally. I tried soldering one of them closed but not sure I got a good seal. Is there an easy way to seal these holes off so I don't have to worry about water coming through? One of them is under the driver's feet, one is over the gas tank. Thanks for ideas. Mike

It is encouraging to me to see your car come back to life.

Very nice, just like being there. I was in Perth once, didn't get to sere that track though.

I remember reading that NASA had a refrigeration technique that used compressed air or fluid with no other moving parts other than the air or fluid.

Don't know if this helps much but I use a tap and die kit that came with a feeler gauge for pitch to determine what diameter/pitch is needed for a particular bolt hole.