peterc

Stephan; Awesome wheels:love: How did you polish them? I have a set on my '83 ZX and I would sure love them to look like yours. Cheers, Peter

Bill, That is the choke lever with the black plastic part missing. They (the plastic part) are quite fragile, so no surprise that it's missing. Mark and Enrique; Thanks for solving a mystery for me. I always wondered what the other slot (for the hand throttle) was for on my '72 .

Enrique, Oops, now that you mention it I vaguely remember removing the back cover in order to service the clock. I'll just blame this little brain cramp on inhaling too much carbon monoxcide over the years . Nonetheless, it's still an easy fix. Most times the clocks just need a little oil, and disassembly/reassembly is a breeze. Cheers, Peter

Removing the clock is not impossible, just damn near. Once you get it out, and before you send it off anywhere or replace it, try a few drops of sewing machine oil, (there's an oil hole at the back). After 30+ years these electric motors tend to dry out or get gummed up from dust. Sometimes a little oiling is all they need. Cheers, Peter

Nate, Where did you get your reader for Chrysler products? I've tried at various auto parts stores in our area but no luck. Cheers, Peter

hehehe hilarious. It reminds me of a similar siruation I was once in. I was in the Zed sitting at a red light on the main drag of a small Ontario city. It was a 2 lane, one way street, straight as an arrow and sloping slightly downward. so you could easily see at least 4 intersections ahead. Up beside me pulls a '68 Charger in what's known around these parts as "original" condition. Suffice to say it had seen its better day. But it did have huge tires at the rear and it was incredibly noisy, although I don't think he was running Cherry Bombs, but rather the mufflers were just rotted away. Anyway the driver, who looked every bit the type one would imagine owning such a fine vehicle, looks over at me, grins, and starts revving the motor. Seeing as there was a plainly marked police car parked at the side of the road just 2 intersections in front of us, I politely declined his gracious offer. Blissfuly unaware of the cops presence (proving once again what 'ignorance' is) he looks at me like I'm a chicken*hit, and keeps revving the engine and nodding his head. At this point I must admit that I let my baser instincts get the better part of me, and I too began revving my engine. By the time the light turned yellow we had attracted the attention of quite a few pedestrians and the two stallions were chomping at the bit. The light turned green and he screamed off down the road leaving behind a heady mixture of burnt rubber, oil and just a hint of anti-freeze. I, in the meantime, had let the revs drop and rather sedately made my intended left turn. I couldn't resist going around the block and sure enough the cop had him pulled over. I don't know whose scowl was bigger. the cops, or his, as i quietly drove by and waved. Cheers. Peter

Simple solution to this one. Definitely the ballast resistor. Either a wire is detached or the ballast is shot. Cheap fix either way. BTW, if you're not familiar with it, it's the white rectangular ceramic thing with wires attached at both ends, close to the coil. Cheers. Peter

If it's the seatbelt warning buzzer, try wearing your seatbelt . If it still sounds when you ARE wearing the seatbelt, then just track down where the noise is coming from and unplug it. Cheers, Peter

Just a little something to add to ZmeFly's excellant response. Before you go to the bother of dismantling, cleaning and re-assemblying the fan clutch, make sure that the shaft connecting the blade assembly to the clutch assembly is still tight. If your fan 'wobbles' (check only with the engine OFF!!) and is unusually noisy, even at idle, then the internal non-replaceable bearing is worn and the unit will need to be replaced. All the cleaning and oil replacement in the world won't make it work any better. Been there, done that . Cheers, Peter

Devin, If you can't come up with an acceptable replacement part in red, go ahead and get one in black. Take one of your existing pieces to any reputable auto paint supplier and get them to match the colour. The trick to using vinyl paint is to be sure and spray the part first with an appropriate adhesion promoter. This will seal the vinyl and allow the paint to adhere properly so the color will go on evenly and won't peel. All auto manufacturers, including Datsun, have painted vinyl pieces from time to time. I've repainted faded dashes with excellant results. No fading or peeling, even with exposure to direct sunlight. Cheers, Peter

Rick, What year??

Bambi, If I'm not mistaken, that's Buster Keaton, not Charlie Chaplin. Either way, it's definitely not Alan - . Cheers, Peter p.s. I'll post my pic once I figure out how to compress daguerreotypes .

T, Could you check out the shipping costs (U.S. Postal Service ONLY) to Ottawa, Canada for the mirror, light and switch. I'd prefer not to use FedEx or UPS as the Customs and Duties are a killer. With USPS the package will come through duty free. Thanks, Peter

Hey Toletero! I'd be interested in the rear view mirror and the interior overhead light (at back of headliner between T-bars) and the passenger side lower door switch if they are still available. Cheers, Peter

Rusty, If nothing else, try to make only mods that are reversible. I.e. its o.k. to change wheels, tires, radios, etc., just be sure to keep the originals. That way you can enjoy the car customized to your likes and still have an "original" if/when you decide to sell. Cheers, Peter

Blitz, All good advise, particularly making sure your temp readings are valid. I had a similar problem in a different car (actually a Dodge Caravan). No leaks, good water pump, flushed system, etc., but gradually, over a period of time running hotter and hotter. Turns out the rad was clogging up, even though coolant easily ran through it from rad cap down out the lower rad hose. So the coolant was flowing freely, just not getting cooled on its trip through the rad. Changing the rad solved the problem (re-flushing it didn't help). Cheers, Peter

Fred, From this Canucks point of view, "Logistics" is the better of the two. Cheers, Peter

I think that HKSZ is on the right path. First thing is to see if the engine will turn over. Use a socket wrench on the crank shaft nut and turn it by hand (clockwise) with the spark plugs out and car in nuetral. BE SURE TO DETACH THE BATTERY FIRST!! If the engine DOESN'T turn over very easily, then the piston rings are sticking, in which case you're looking at tearing down the engine for a rebuild . :dead: If the engine DOES turn over easily then its definitely an electrical problem. The starter is o.k ( you've already tested it), so it's probably a bad connection, corrosion, etc. A quick way to test is to turn the key to the "on" position ( just before "start") and...(with the car in neutral of course)... use a screwdriver to short the positive/negative leads on the starter motor. This will bypass the whole key/coil/starter wiring sub-harness (i.e. you're hot-wiring your own car ). If the car starts then you're looking for a short in somewhere between the key (in start mode) and the starter. Good luck, Cheers, Peter

SHO, Just to let you know, MIG welders can be had for under USD $200. you don't need a big unit. I just finished restoring an '83 280ZX which required extensive structural parts replacement (i.e. TONS of welding. I used over 200 POUNDS of MIG welding wire alone). The smaller welders are sometimes better for jobs like this as they are less likely to warp the panels. I'd never welded before and it turned out to be fairly easy. Just start on areas that will not be visible, so looks won't matter. As to bonding fiberglass to metal (if thats that way you prefer to go), the best/most permanent way is to overlap the fibreglass to the metal and rivet them together. Cheers, Peter

Bryan, I replaced the stock bumpers on a '77 280 with ones from a '72 240. The 240 front bumper mates perfectly with the 280's bumper 'shocks'. However I don't know if your front air dam would interfere or not. The rear bumper requires a little finessing as the 240 bumper bolts don't line up with the 280 bumper shocks. Easiest fix is to connect the bumper shocks with a flat piece of steel (about 1/4" thick) and then center the 240 bumper and mark where the bumper's bolts meet the steel bar. Then drill appropriate size holes in the steel bar and attach the bumper. Cheers, Peter

One of the best systems I've read about is a do it yourself-er. It was posted by someone on this site a little while ago. You can find the plans here http://www.autospeed.com/cms/article.html?&A=0059&P=1. Cheers, Peter

Briman, Yes, you can install 240 bumpers onto a 280. The front bumper bolts right up although you will want/have to change the front lower valances for it to look right. The rear bumper, however, requires a little fiddling as the bumper bolts don't line up with the bumper shocks. Easiest fix is to attach a flat, thin (1/4"), steel bar to the bumper shocks. Once this bar is attached to the shocks, just center you're bumper and mark where the bumper bolts meet the steel bar. Then drill appropiate sized holes in the steel bar and presto!, new bumpers. Cheers, Peter

Can anyone say MGB-GT?

The regulators are fairly easy to R&R, although you have to remove the window to get at it. Stripping one from a junker is a great way to learn how to do it. If you can't find one at a junk yard and a replacements are too expensive you might want to try and fix yours. Usually its just a few of the splines that have worn down from years of over tightening. If you have access to a MIG welder you just have to rebuild the tips. Spot weld the tips and then grind the welds down to the desired shape and size. I did my drivers side regulator (they seem to always be the ones that go) 2 years ago and it works fine. Cheers, Peter

I did just such a tranny swap on my '72. On one hand it is a straight forward swap. The required holes in the firewall for the clutch master cylinder are already there, the rubber brake line supports on the firewall have room for the clutch line, the drive shaft bolts right up, etc. On the other hand, time-wise there's way more than just swapping out the tranny. You have to replace the brake pedal support bracket with a brake/clutch bracket. I found this to be about the most difficult and time consuming part, especially if you don't want to pull the dash first. You may also have to do some minor trim work on the tranny tunnel to be able to access all the gears. There are also some electrical considerations. for example, the automatics have a interrupt switch so you can only start the car in park and neutral. You have to be sure that you short this switch or you 'll be wondering why you can't get the car started. All in all definitely a worthy project, just be sure to get a firm price from your mechanic up front, then make your decision. Cheers, Peter