Mikes Z car

I left a couple of things out from my previous post. I have had a couple of enthusiastic thumbs up from a neighbor and a visitor of anther neighbor. Ten minues after I bought my car a few years ago driving it home I stopped at a gas station and the driver in the next car said he'd wished he had put cartoon characters on a car he had had. Last year I had it parked to go in a hardware store and came out to see a group of folks looking at it as they walked back from a fast food place for lunch.

Thanks Mike hope someone else can benefit from it. Mike

You can view the page at http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/content.php?178-Hatch-anti-corrosion-interior-passageways

You can view the page at http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/content.php?177-Map-light-stuck-fix

Any interest in my car would be easier to analyze if the PO hadn't painted Pebbles and Bam Bam on it complete with the painter's signature. Still, with the cartoon characters I love owning it. In my signature picture you can just make out Pebbles on the left rear quarter panel just aft of the antenna mount.

I hope this is related enough that it isn't threadjacking but I have wondered about the possibility of cutting an access holein the metal under the finisher to access the area behind the door striker plate to clean that rust prone area towards the wheel well out and maybe periodically spray it with anti corrosion material. I take it that area must be partly structural? Is there a way to cut a hole and weld in a removable door there? Mike

Blue, When you saw the breaking loose, what broke? Did the hook or towing eye straighten out or did it pull out of the threads they were screwed into? I always thought I wanted a tow eye in case I needed to get pulled out of a ditch. I did put my previous 240 in a ditch once on an icy road. Didn't hurt it though.

Is it that it isn't watertight? I have that latch in a bag here due to some work I have been doing on the hatch, sorta like cheating but I can't figure it out anyway.

Hi all, I went to spray the interior metal passageways of my 240Z hatch with a Transtar Amber anti corrosion spray can and noticed there is a reinforcement plate on both sides and top of the hatch. To spray the two passageways created by this plate on the sides was easy as I just had to guide with my hand the 3 foot long spray wand above and then below the reinforcement plate as you can feel the end of the plate with your hand. See drawings. After I did this on both sides I drilled a couple of holes at the top middle of the hatch to give access to the top and bottom of the reinforcement plate in that area. Access to that area can also be had without removing the hatch as I did by drilling in the corner, see last drawing. Be sure the two corner holes line up with the two passageways at the top of the hatch especially if you use the Transtar spray wand as it isn't flexible enough to go around tight turns. I plugged the holes later with plugs I got at an auto parts store and sealed them with silicone. The animated .GIF drawing shows the location of the reinforcement plate. The end of it can be seen by looking up in the bottom inside area of the hatch with the interior finisher removed. Mike Where I ran the spray wand on sides of hatch: Black U shaped area is reinforcement plate (click for animation): Drill two holes for spraying top of hatch: Transtar Amber Spray can (spray can on left): Wand used was 3 ft long, sprays 360 degree pattern: (I found mine in a local automotive paint shop, can also perhaps find with google) #4471 Transtar Rustproofing Wand (includes three 3 ft wands and shorter red wands):

Hi all, The map light in my 240Z got stuck so that when the switch was pushed in to make it turn on or off it would push in and wouldn't pop back out. This was largely due to the top and bottom of the assembly pushing in on the clear plastic switch cover causing the clear plastic to drag. To cure this I glued in a sawed off ordinary lead pencil to bow out the top and bottom of the assembly reducing the friction on the clear plastic switch. The pencil length that worked well for me was approximately 26/32 of an inch and was epoxied in place when it was working right. I painted the yellow pencil gray to hide it behind the clear plastic better. A small bolt with a series of nuts would likely also work and would be adjustable but use lockwashers if you do this. Final result: Light off Light on I also put a small amount of light machine oil on the switch itself on the white plastic post that sticks out of it and used a pocket knife to scrape smooth the plastic adjacent to the moving end of the clear plastic switch to make it more slippery. The plastic seemed to have dirt on it that was causing friction. Note that the clear plastic switch cover on my car would come out of the white housing on either end once the heater fascia cover was unscrewed for access to the map light. Mike Modification notes: Bottom View of post location: After modification before installing in car:

Would you pay 5$ for that car for parts? Sure you would!

Is there a possibility if it is a digital meter that it might be reacting to the voltage pulses from the coil and an analog meter might give a different (lower) reading? If so would the digital meter give a different measurement at the battery due to the battery absorbing the pulses?

This will describe the lock latch modification only and will not address the door warping issue further. I noticed the glove box door on my 240Z would not always stay latched. The first thing I tried was to slide the lock mechanism fore and aft after loosening the two screws that hold it on as they are in long slots. I had previously modified the latch on the door to stay in position better using a cotter pin (see part 1 of 2 blog post on this) but the half with the locking mechanism needed work so that the latch would hit at the right angle. I did this in two steps. To do the first bending operation I pushed in the lock with the key so the vise grips wouldn't hit where the key goes in and used an aluminum rod 3/16" in diameter as a fulcrum. Step 1: (click for animation) Step 2: (click for animation) The second bending operation used vise grips on both sides of the very end of the tang to slightly turn the tang so the latch would hit at a better angle: The door closes every time now with a firm click and stays closed. Be sure to click on the last two pictures below to see the short movies showing the latch before/after action. Jan 2012 Latch tang result from step 1 and step 2: Closing action before: ________Closing action after modification (click either for animation):

zKars, Thank you for the information and reminding me about the lube. I imagine the threads are basically good otherwise I would not have been able to get the bolts screwed in as far as I did. While previous owners have caused me some work I am grateful for their efforts at preserving the car as it must have spent most of its life in a garage based on its current rust free condition.

Hi all, I am trying to find out the diameter and pitch of the small machine bolts that hold on the glove box lock mechanism and the center console. Both appear to be 4MM but I have tried 4MM at .7 pitch available at Home depot and Ace hardware (thrifty now) (both in the U.S.) but they seem awfully hard to turn after I get them screwed in very far. Both of these places only sell 4MM in .7 pitch but I notice my die set has both .7 and .75 pitches. A P.O. had wood screws in place of some of the screws so the threads are chewed up a bit. I tried to put a metric 4MM die in the holes, both a .7 and a .75 pitch but neither turn by hand easily. Anyone know if there is a typical pitch used in the interior of an early Z or what they actually are? Thanks! Mike

My first 71 Z had an issue where I believe one of the butterflies in one of the carbs would stick on the side of the carb if floored (or something in the linkage). I had to be careful never to floor it. I wouldn't have known how to fix that then, not sure I know now either but the car I have now doesn't do that.

SteveJ, you are welcome for the write up. The attached drawing shows the minimum kit grid line length next to the modified layout I did to achieve that with the runs straightened out to make them easier to see. The bars at the end of each run represent the bus bars. Since the 240Z window vertical grid lines are approximately 26.5" each run you need 6 of them. If you use 4 runs the total grid line length is too short and you will have more current flow than the kit was designed for as shorter total length lowers resistance with resulting increase in current. The easiest way to reduce current if that is desired is to use 6 runs of 3 grid lines each run instead of the 4 grid lines that I used. Using three lines instead of 4 calculates to give 11.8 A. Note that the 15.7A with my setup is what you would get using the kit as designed on a 40" width hatch window so it should not be a problem. The total grid length has to be in the range of 160" to 246" whether you use 4 or 3 grid lines in parallel for all of the runs. Shorter than 160" and the grid will be hotter than the manufacturer designed, longer than 246" and the grid will be cooler than the manufacturer intended. Hope this helps. Mike

I finished replacing the back hatch vertical defrost lines on my 240Z using the Frostfighter 2616 kit. I am not affiliated with Frostfighter in any way. http://www.frostfighter.com/prt2600.htm The 240Z hatch glass is too narrow for the 2616 kit as sold because the kit requires a minimum glass width of 40 inches. This is easily overcome by increasing the number of runs used in the kit from 4 to 6. For a 240Z with vertical lines the kit can be installed with lines running up and down instead of sideways like the kit was designed for. I installed the new lines on top of the old ones since I could not remove the old ones. I used 4 lines for 6 runs giving 24 defroster grid lines, 4 more than stock for the vertical grid back hatch. If you use 3 lines per run for 6 runs this gives 18 total lines, two less than the original number of lines on a vertical grid 240Z. If you go the 18 line route the kit will provide enough bus bars and other material as is however I wanted to increase the total number of lines to 24 which required two additional bus bars which I made from the flat metal bar that came from the paper part of a hanging file folder. Be certain when cutting bus bars from the kit that you cut them so that the two connectors on the short bus bars are at the top outside for the car wiring to access. The hanging file bars solder well, cut easily with tin snips and are the same thickness as the bus bars that come with the kit though a bit narrower. I attached those with double sided carpet tape (must be better tape somewhere) though I used a tiny drop of epoxy at both ends of all bus bars for further mechanical security. I drew 4 lines on the outside of the hatch glass where the 4 new grid lines were going to go as a guide; two were on each side of the existing grid. I put the other new grid lines on top of the old ones. The high resistance of the failed existing grid lines guaranteed they would not interfere with the new lines and they don't interfere as indicated by consistent voltage measurements between adjacent bus bars at the top of the hatch while the grid is in operation. The installation process described here will also work on horizontal line 240Zs and 280Zs by installing the defrost lines horizontally, see drawings. I scraped off the existing grid lines and bus bars with a razor blade so that they looked shiny to make the adhesive stick better as I put new grid lines on top of the old lines and used double sided tape on top of the existing bus bars. I unrolled the four paper rolls with the conductors and re-rolled them the opposite way to take the curl out. I hung them by one end from the side of the fridge for further flattening. I taped popsicle sticks flat against the rubber where the bus bars were going to go to space the bars out from the rubber. This differs with the instructions which call for 1/4" spacing but I though the bus bars would look closer to stock if they were closer to the rubber. I taped colored post it paper to the hatch metal next to where the bus bars were going to go including gaps in the paper to correspond with gaps between the new bus bars to keep the location and length of the bus bars straight. I used four bars at the top and 3 at the bottom of the hatch. The 3 at the bottom and the 2 inside bars at the top were all the same size; just longer than the spacing of 8 existing grid lines. The 2 outside bus bars at the top were just longer than spanning 4 grid lines. I used the kit bus bars and finisher cover at the bottom of the hatch as the driver would see those in case the hanging file bus bars used at the top would not look as nice. The kit calls for installing the grid lines so they go under the bus bars but I did not do that to prevent the possibility of a short between the new grid lines and the existing bus bars. I could have put the grid lines under the new bus conductor bars as the instructions call for if I had moved the bars further from the edge of the glass to avoid possible contact with the old bus bars though this might not have looked as nice. I soldered all connections between the grid lines and the bus bars for a solid connection though the instructions do not call for this. I feel soldering these connections is a significant improvement in the installation process. I tested the installation by connecting the grid to a 12 volt power supply rated for 19 amps. The glass got hot enough all over the grid after 20 minutes that I did not want to leave my hands on it. I also verified proper current flow by measuring the voltage between adjacent bus bars at the top of the window to ensure consistent voltage reading; all 3 readings were about 4.1 volts. I have enough defroster grid line material left over to replace more than 5 entire grid lines should that be needed. Any repairs can be soldered as the grid lines are largely copper. 07 Tech info.txt

I never heard of the idea being used on a car but with two way radio equipment sometimes they use a small ferrite doughnut looking thing that the power wire is routed through a few times.

Removed back hatch to redo defroster grid. Scraped defroster grid lines with razor blade and discovered that those grids are really on there. While I can't get them off that way I noticed they are now very smooth and shiny so I plan to put the new grid lines on top of the old ones. With my finger I can barely detect that the original lines are still there they are so thin even though they are easy to see. The old ones have high resistance everywhere I measure so they should not cause shorting with the new lines.

Do you meant the flat pieces that are about 5X5 inches square and about 1/16 inch thick?

This is really a memory test for me but I remember reading someone tested the improvement in mileage/or coefficient of drag when headlight covers were installed on a 240Z and the improvement was .3, whether that was mileage improvement or coefficient of drag improvement I can't remember.

Thanks for sharing. You gotta admire that kind of yankee ingenuity.