Langford Chuck

Yes, I am currently doing the same project, in part because i want to bypass the dodgy old fusebox. So when i work on component of the electrical system, such as replacing the stereo or doing the upgrade for the headlights i can take the opportunity to run a fresh power and ground wire (I am also installing a ground bus). I looked quite a bit in the JY but the problem i found was that many of the fuse panels were quite large with a number of relays, which would look kinda junky under the hood. there might be a small neat one but i haven't found it yet. So my solution was to kick out the 50$ and get this: Yes, its a marine box (Blue Sea Systems, available on line but easy enough to get at most marine stores) which is good as its weatherproof and can be put in the engine bay. The pictured one has no cover but the one i bought does. I like the look and its clean, and price seemed reasonable. I intend to run power to it direct from the battery, and locate the ground bus near it. Not sure of exact location yet, but near the battery, and likely on the firewall to facilitate running wires to interior components. Will post pics when done (not real soon, school keeps gettingin way :disappoin

the ones from Z Car Source are cheaper, only 5.50 for 10. http://www.zcarsource.com/content/p/9/pid/59805/catid/7840_8438/Interior_Rivet_74_5_78_Dark_Brown_new i may look for an alternate as i don't want to wait for shipping from florida to canada, spo may explore the ones for the ford..... a part number would rock !

well, it depends on how much sound you want to deaden, i guess. If the sound deadening material is not stuck to the floor, or only stuck in some spots, you will lose or lessen the capacity to deaden the resonances that happen across the sheet metal. I will block the transmission of external noise either way, but not the resonances. On the other hand, i share your worry about not being able to get in there and check for rust later on. I may compromise and glue it down except in the front footwell, where I am most worried about the rust returning.

looking forward to seeing it! Still on the hunt for twin stacks, let us know if you are thinking of making more...

Wingpro, i like the look of the pipes when they angle up: looks a little more euro-exotic if you know what I mean. Nice looking product. I am pretty committed to getting my hands on an Ansa exhaust, although I must admit i really really want the vertical twin tips, which are hard to find now. Oh, belated response to earlier question, I wrapped the 510 when someone turned across my lane and i chose the pole not the side of his car. Its true, I might have been going a bit too fast making me all nostalic now for celica's.... will have to be satisfied with my 86 MR2.

per another recent thread bruce is no longer in the gasket business for aircleaners... http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37583 btw, that orange looks great. now on my 'to do ' list. s

There may be a more elegant or comprehensive solution, but all I did was to find the weak spots/breaks in my panels and use a good stiff mixture of a two part expoxy with a light glass cloth across the back. This is not a perfect solution, as some breaks are too close to the edge, or are a tight fit against the door, meaning you can't build it up too much. But it work to stiffen up some dicey spots and give it more rigidity. I note that this solution also worked for the el cheapo plastic panels in the mid and rear of our zeds: that plastic is pretty thin and even gentle handling when you are renewing the interior can produce fractures. hope this helps.

big fan of the celicas. Back when i ran a 510 with double 45 webers celicas were the real competition for us 4 cylinder datsuns. used to race them all the time. Was about to swap my 510 for a real nice 76 celica but i ran the 510 into a telephone pole and that ended that.

my tabco parts were ok: but as others have noted some body work is required. i had to trim my dog legs from them, and also form the sides to close the bend properly. But they are solid metal, and it sure beats having to form by hand.

yes, it is interesting to know the history of your car. In my case i was lucky enough to buy it from essentially the first owner. His son in law sold it to me but it has never been registered in his name so on title I am the second owner of my 74 2+2. met the original owner and talked to him about the car as well.

I am in the local market for triple webers: if i see any from a seller I don't know I will forward the info, though I suspect it unlikely they would cross the border to bc. but i will keep an eye open.

there is a bit of a debate about changing the oil after a sea foam experience. my own view is that it can't hurt to have clean oil so i would recommend it. The carbon and other residues freed up by the sea foam have to go somewhere: in the oil is where it goes.

hmm, well i could take a pic of my 260 one installed but it is a 2/2 and so different design. not sure it would help. my original was a single piece, but the replacement is not.

Hi dave! thanks for your commitment to the zed community! I will take one of your diff mounts for my 74 260 2/2. I am in canada (at V9C 2N9, victoria BC), so will pay the shipping extras. have never used walmart money orders but can always learn if not will send cold cash. will pm with my shipping info but with the postal code you should be able to get the ups price. let me know final price point and i will send the moolah. thanks man!

for those interested in seeing different combinations of wheels/rims there is a good thread at hybridz under the thread 'Wheel Show!" (yes, i know, they are not all stock rims )

NICE JAG! My garage is less full than some of yours, but it does have a 1960 Mercedes 190 D, some parts from my 1949 Studebaker, and, as of this week, my 74 260 2+2 (getting too cold to work on it in the driveway. Oh, and a fair amount of hand tools, engine stands, tablesaws, etc.

i was thinking of something like this: (maybe a bit pricey though, and not everyone likes billet)

yes, i am in the same boat: the rubber is not good and all the metal clips have rusted out or are in poor shape. wouldn't mind seeing pics of how other people have fixed the problem. I think sourcing the rubber should be not too hard, but I am interested in different solutions to clip it to the sheet metal. Copying the original seems feasible, but perhaps there is a more elegant looking solution?

Sorry, I haven't checked this site for a bit. Doradox is correct in pointing out my incorrect use of the terms. My bad, but it did encourage me to further research, above and beyond the by now substantial body of painful experience in dealing with rusty fasteners. Let me try again, and I welcome comments or corrections. Heat has two potential effects on mild steel, especially mild steel with a decent carbon content, ie, better grade fasteners. First, if it is allowed to be heat 'soaked' for a period of time, and then slowly cooled, it can effect the grain structure of the steel, making it more 'ductile', which means more flexible but less strong, which in the case of stuck fasteners means more prone to breakage. We thus don't want to anneal our fasteners, although I have in the past annealed sheet metal I was panel beating into a particular shape, when my hammering work-hardened it and it started becoming brittle. The strategy for fasteners thus seems to be to avoid prolonged heat soak, and avoid slower cooling off periods. But heat can also produce hardness in steel. Heating and rapid quenching are in fact key processes in creating the hardness of the tools we use to break off fasteners. As steve points out, this is heat treating. While tool steel involves a carbon and alloy mix not found in fasteners, this none the less may explain why sometimes heating and then rapidly cooling (ie, with a spray application of lubricant) sometimes seems to work. I would welcome any input from engineers on this point... "You work harden by exceeding the yield strength of the material". As noted, we can harden by 'stretching' the material. While this gives some theoretical hope to working with mild steel fasteners, it seems to me in practice to be of no use, as if we could 'work' the material we would just take the darn fastener out and be done with it. now, off to tackle some more rusty fasteners......

All right then, in summary, for those new to the joys of working on rusty old cars. I. Bolts (and to a lesser extent, studs) break because they are frozen into their holes, or to the nut, and the breaking point is lower than the torque required to free them from the fastener. Alternatively, they break because the torque applied to them is applied at an angle, and the mis-aligned force (often combined with rust) breaks them via this shear force. We will set this type of break apart for now, except to note that careful extraction with the right tools will reduce the chances of this. 2. This 'freezing' is either rust, or galling. Rust requires ferrous metals, which is the material for most of our fasteners, and is a chemical response to oxygen, water, and ferrous metals. Galling is an electro-chemical response, and applies to non-ferrous metals, like aluminum, or stainless fasteners in non-stainless nuts or holes. in either case the issue is twofold: the friction created by the deposition of new material (rust) or the chemical bonding of dissimilar materials. 3. There are multiple ways to respond to this problem. I focus here on rust, because, hey, we own zed cars, right, and so rust is our official mascot, and there are not many (stock) aluminum or stainles fasteners on a Z car. So, rusted fasteners. There are five main effective responses: * lubricant * heat * cooling * shock * extend the fastener * cut your losses and drill it out. It goes without saying that all of this is easier if you can clean up the head or nut area: i often just hit with a small wire wheel, or a small wire brush. Everything goes easier: you can see better, the nut/bolt head is cleaner and takes the socket better, lubricating fluid flows better, lesss friction once you loosen it, etc. I also assume the use of 6 point sockets. Finally, I assume the use of Never seeze when you finally replace the fastener it took hours to get out, so it will come out the next time with no fuss. Lubricant: First, we can apply a lubricant that will ease the friction between the two parts. Now, opinions differ widely on this one, but the following is a short list: a) WD 40. Not real effective, but better than nothing, relatively cheap, and usually at hand. But if it was designed to displace rust, it would be called RD 40.... PB Blaster: many have rated this material quite highly (discussed at Hybrid z, and perhaps some threads here). c) Kerosene. Even cheaper than WD 40a d) Candle. i have never used this method, which involves heating the fastener and drawing melted wax into the threads. Perhaps I will try it out an see how i works. Seems cheap enough. e) Kroil. number of good reviews. not so easy to locate. e) many other commercial products (a good list can be found here: http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/wiki/Removing_rusted_and_broken_fasteners). Look for phosphoric acid content. Silicon is good, but not on its own. f) amateur products: 1 part methyl hydrate (gas line antifreeze) and 3 parts ATF. Coca Cola does NOT work. it just makes a mess. Same with pepto bismol. For the keeners out there, grab a bit of modelling clay from your kid's toy basket, and use to build a small 'dam' around the head, then leave the stuff to soak in its own little bath. The other option is to change the situation, not by lubricating the material, but by heating or cooling to release the 'bond'. Heating is the old familiar technique: use propane, or if it is a large stubborn bolt, MAP gas which gets hotter than propane. I have been using a propane torch with a swivel head and a self-ignitor and it is WAY easier than the standard fixed head. Well worth the extra cost. I have a small refillable tank from a barbeque with a a specific hose for the fitting on a propane torch. More economical, but it seems to be lower pressure and so less gas flow, meaning less heat. But I can use the hose to get the torch head in places the canister won't fit. Now, there are two supposed effects here: one, in expanding different parts (the bolt or nut ) at different rates you create a 'break'. Tjhis means that the tecnique is to heat ONE part, as much as you and direct the flame, NO both the bolt and fastener. But also, note that if done properly you are annealing the fastener: that is, 'work hardening' it by the application of heat so it can withstand higher twisting forces. If possible, heat the nut, as it will expand away from the bolt. If you heat the bolt, DO NOT try to twist when the it is red hot: this is when it is weakest and will surely fail. Wait the ten seconds for the red to dissipate, then try. Cooling on the other hand works on the principle of different rates of contraction. CO2 or liquid nitrogen are used here (ie, CRC Freeze Off). the nice thing about cooling is that is is safer in areas near rubber, or other flammable things, or paint. Shock: Usually, this entails giving the fastener devil a whack on the head, typically in line of the fastener (i.e., straight down). A sharp few raps is the key. Some suggest a series of small taps, to simulate the effect of an impact wrench. This works well with dissimilar metals. I usually do this with a socket on the fastener, but whatever works.... Extend the fastener: This works for those times when you break of the head of the fastener, but does presume a welder and the space to work it. If there is some room left on it you can thread a new nut on the end, and weld it on. Alternatively, lay a washer down to prevent welding the nut to the part the fastener is on. Place a nut at least one size bigger than the shank of the bolt. Weld it inside the nut until it is close to full. The heat will help, and gives you another chance to work it out. Cut your losses: Lets face it, sometimes it is just as easy to crank it out, break it if you must, then drill it out. Obviously, this is best for sheet metal screws (like the ones that go into captive nuts and hold the turn signal sheet metal piece to the front end), or smaller bolts where they are accessible.

there is a post here, or over at Hybridz, where they put a spacer between the oil filter and the mounting block. The spacer came with a fitting on it just so you can attach a temp senser to it. Looked clean, and no mods to the car that can't be undone.

Delayed response, but yes, the carpet was factory brown. It is a one owner car so i know that the carpet is original. Will try to find a pic of it and post so you can see the old and new colours....

Yes, poly will squeak. The black graphite impregnated ones are better than the red ones for this. I am given to believe that the zerk fittings improve things, but I wonder by how much. Reason I say this is that, 1) the grease won't get all the way around the bushing, leaving large areas on most bushings where the presence of a zerk fitting and the grease it introduces won't help. I think this is true even if you take the additional step of cutting a groove in the bushing to help the grease flow. And, 2) The grease will eventually harden, and, in the absence of a clear 'exit strategy' will simply act as an impediment to the effects of new grease, which again, will limit the ability of the zerk fitting to get grease between the busing and the metal. But this is hypothetical on my part (although I have been told this is an issue by my parts guy), so am happy if someone can correct me with the weight of experience. And, since zerk fittings are cheap, perhaps there is not much to lose in putting one on in any event.

Well,I like the Catera fuse box: if I can find one local to me so I can check it out in more detail i might go that direction. Otherwise, I might take up Fastwomen on her suggestion to use the Maxi-fuse and just 'de-bling' it a bit. I like the technical davantages of gold, so this route appeals to me. Otherwise, I might just buy the plain jane $49 6 fuse block from Lordco and 'bling' it up so it is not so, well, ugly. Look forward to seeing what you do Fastwomen: electrical is not just a weak spot for our Z's, it is also a weak spot for me so always like to see what others have done...

Yes, I have been looking to upgrade my fuseblock/fusible links, in part to get rid of the fusible links, for the same reason you are: they are getting old and look unreliable to me. As well, though, I want to run some of my circuits (stereo, headlights, etc) through a new fuse block, on the basis that the 35 year old fuse box is surely approaching its limits. The only thing about the maxi fuse is that it looks a little bling-like, and i was hoping for a clean but subdued look under my hood. As well, regular fuses are easier to find than maxi fuses, although i suppose you could just have a ready supply of them in the car for breakdowns. But I am not finding many fuse boxes I like: I only want 6 or 4 circuits, i want it covered as it will be in the engine bay, and size should be on the compact side of things, which rules out most newer fuse boxes at the wrecker, which tend to have lots of breakers and relays and so are quite large. And, some of the aftermarket ones are pretty plain/crude looking. Once I locate a final one i will post the results, but would be happy to hear from others what they have used.