motorman7

Just thought I would say 'Hi' to all of the regulars and give a bit of an update. I took a break from the classiczcars site as life has been pretty busy. My wife and I moved last year from San Diego,CA to Boise, ID, so the move in and getting set-up has kept us pretty busy. I also picked up a job that kept me way too busy but that is now in the past. I now consider myself semi-retired and will probably do odd jobs on the side, or perhaps do another resto now that I am mostly settled. Wife says it's hard for me to sit still, so I am sure I will always be doing something. We bought our dream home in the foothills of Boise and we should be here for quite some time. The house is huge, has incredible views of the Boise foothills all around us, and also has a 1500 Sq-ft garage that currently contains a 20 ft Geo-Pro trailer and 7 cars. I am cheating a bit as I have one of the Z's up on a lift, but the other vehicles are all on the Epoxy coated floor. Also had a large heater installed so I can keep the garage at 55 degrees F all winter long. I can crank it up with the thermostat if I want to work out there for a while. Z-wise, it's been a pretty good year for the restorations. The last Z I restored, took first in the Japanese class at the La Jolla Concours in April. The owner was thrilled and it was a tremendous event. It was a nice way to start the year. In July, @jayhawk Blue '73 took first in the Japanese class at the 66th Hillsborough Concours de Elegance. That blue is still one of my favorite Z colors. And last but not least, a side job that I did and posted mostly on IG took third in the 240Z category at the JCCS in September. Pretty impressive given the large number of 240Z entrants at that show. Unlike my other restos, it was not a complete resto, but still looked good enough to place. So, it was a pretty good year for the Z's. I did enter my white Z in one of the local car shows here in Boise. The venue was nice, but the car culture appears to be a bit different than So-Cal. First off, not many foreign cars. Also, flashy colors and aftermarket mags seem to go over much better than an all original vehicle. Sadly, I think if I brought my beater yellow Z (with black side stripes and panasports) and my dad's original '70, the yellow Z would get a lot more looks and draw the larger interest. A bit disappointing, but maybe it was just the couple of shows that I attended. Will have to see how this developes in the future. Also, I stopped at the Z Doctor's shop here in Boise. Nice to have someone to talk Z's with. Anyway, I should be a bit more active on here now that I am caught up with most things. Will most likely be at ZCON 2023 and may even bring a car. Thanks for the support. Best regards, Rich

I would definitely feel more comfortable with it bolted down. I am always a little hesitant to pass underneath it and always check all 4 locking latches after setting it in place. From a mechanical standpoint; without being secured, based on the post and crossbar design, I doubt it could fail in the fore and aft direction. I do think with some coercion it could fail in the side to side direction with a heavy load. It would be an interesting, albeit expensive, experiment to see what it would take to fail.

Floor is not heated, but yes I should definitely bolt the lift down once I settle on a final location for it. I put the cardboard down to avoid scratching the epoxy floor. The lift actually has rollers so you can move it around which I like. With rollers attached. Putting the lift all the way down lifts the 4 posts.

Got my Triumph NSS-8 4-post lift installed. It operates nicely and was fairly easy to assemble, with the help of two local kids for the heavy parts. Once the framework is assembled, it's easy to manage by yourself. Got my 4 Datsuns and wife's trailer on the RV side of the garage. Other side has the Jeep, the Elantra and plenty of storage along with boxes that still need to be unpacked. Once the NewAge cabinets come in, I will be about done.

Very delinquent on posting these, but life has been pretty busy. We moved into our dream home in the foothills just north of Boise in early October. I had the garage floor epoxy coated before we moved in. Garage is almost 1500 sq-ft. Garage was epoxy coated by my friend who does this for a living so the price was quite reasonable. I pick up the four post lift next Tuesday. NewAge pro series cabinets arrive in January. Garage is coming along, but still filled with packing boxes. Here are a few pics.

Decided I would add my thoughts on this auction since it's free to post here (more comments from the peanut gallery). I was wondering if the guy who mentioned the '95+ Concours restoration' ever entered a Z in a car show. ZCCA judges on a 300 point scale, and most Concours judges have no clue what they are looking at when it comes to original Z's. An old Z sage once told me you could tell the judges that Z's came stock with V8 engines and blacked out engine bays and they would believe you. I have been in enough shows, ZCON's and Concours, to know that this is not far from the truth. Personally I thought the silver Z that sold a bit earlier for 36k was a better and more valuable car than this red Z. There were too many unfinished items on this car. The silver car was all there, very complete and original. I would have put the the value of this Z in the $50-60k range. As to restoration costs, someone who says it's near $100k has never restored a Z or is getting taken. My Z restorations for customers have been in the $50-60k range and are well documented on this site. If you do it all yourself it's even less, free labor. Most importantly, as mentioned earlier, it's good entertainment. Some people get a bargain (silver Z), some people get taken. Just my thoughts

The door gaps scare me more than the floor pan. Not sure how to deal with those.

Will try not to steal your thread here, but yes, this is our dream home in the foothills complete with 1500 sq-ft garage. Meeting with the epoxy floor coater tomorrow. Will start posting on the Garage Majal thread here soon. So you will have to post some pictures of your current Z(s) and roadster here. Gotta have the pics!

Great to have you back! Always enjoyed your comments and feedback. Will be getting involved a bit more myself here once we finish up our transition from San Diego to Boise.

Congrats! Glad you could make the jump. It's nice to be able to leave work at work and enjoy family and friends when the work day is done. 🍺🍺🍺

Just a few random observations and comments here from the peanut gallery. I have two good friends, both PHDs in biochemistry and California State University professors. One thinks the vaccine and mRNA technology is amazing and is very pro-vaccine, the other is on the other side of the coin and won't touch the mRNA vaccine. Both far more knowledgeable than me on the subject, both have their arguments for their stance. I find that pretty interesting that both highly educated professors have such diverse opinions. Also, I have mentioned this before, but I have a hard time with the altruistic argument of getting a vaccine for the safety others being discussed on a car site. https://www.nsc.org/newsroom/motor-vehicle-deaths-2020-estimated-to-be-highest Also, looks like Dr Fauci says our vaccinations may not protect our friends https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.firstpost.com/health/vaccinated-people-can-get-delta-variant-remain-asymptomatic-and-become-carriers-but-shots-prevent-severe-disease-9800741.html/amp&ved=2ahUKEwirperotOrxAhXHK80KHfn4BskQFjAMegQIHRAC&usg=AOvVaw3iUtYVK54bUEf8WO2YJ2Sp&ampcf=1 Just some observations. Feel free to fire away.

I share your common thought on the media, “The true enemy to all of us”. I loathe the media and its’ agenda which I believe is to cause division, strife and fear in their effort to promote their business and control the masses and the direction of the country. Unfortunately, we allow it, and bite into the agenda hook line and sinker. Sadly, I only discovered this about 4 years ago when the whole controversy about the border wall came up. As a resident of San Diego, I am quite familiar with the wall and all of its pro’s and cons. While the local news station here would interview border patrol officials who would air their support and praise of the wall, CNN would interview residents in Texas who had the wall on their property and absolutely hated the wall. Obviously there are both sides to this issue. The issue I began to see is that only one side of this story was being told by CNN and most liberal media. Chances are you have never seen the significant number of border patrol officials and officers praising the wall, while you most definitely have been bombarded with how terrible the wall is. I learned through all this that the goal of the media is not to tell you a full story, it is to tell their side so that you follow their agenda and share their same ideals. And this can be said about most issues both liberal and conservative. By bombarding you with one side of the story, you only fully understand one side of the story. And by only knowing one side of the story, the opposite opinion seems foreign. So foreign in fact that it is now termed a ‘Lie’. If someone were to say that “the wall is a good thing”, someone with an opposing might even go so far as to say that is a ‘Lie’, even though there are many that actually like the wall. I use this as an example to show our current state of affairs and how the media operates. Another issue that would fall under this heading is the police brutality issue. While tens of millions of interactions between police and individual occur each year, only an incredibly small number of these interactions result in police brutality and an individuals death. However, the media will show this over and over again, ad nauseum, to make you feel that it is a horrible problem and police are bad. The reality is that given the number of interactions, it is incredibly rare. The presentation by the media comes across as all police are bad and we need to get rid of them or defund them. You should hopefully realize at this point that this is the media agenda, and unfortunately most media indulge in it. It promotes their business. Why just stick with the police? What about bad doctors, bad contractors, bad salesmen, bad internet trolls, bad engineers (wait a minute, I’m and engineer)? The reality is, that if you look hard enough, you will find a few bad apples in just about any profession, and a number of those I just listed could cost you your life if they do something wrong. Beware the agenda. The medias’ goal is to present an agenda and control your thinking. And yes, this is particularly appropriate on the Covid thread. Media is presenting an agenda, and most of us are just lemmings, following along. If we hear a different idea or opinion from our main news source, then it must be a ‘Lie’. Honestly however, it is just a different opinion, right or wrong. My whole point here really is that we just need to be civil. I may not agree with you and you may not agree with me. We should however, listen and respect each others comments. And most of all…don’t let the media run your life. (Haven't posted in a while...this should surely get me in trouble)

Someone sent me this chart. I think it's perfect.

My only thought with the post was that it seemed like the east and west coast were hit harder earlier on and now it is really hitting the middle of the country. That was why I mentioned the time thing. Either way, it is pretty much bad news all around right now. San Diego is getting hit , although most of it seems to be in the southern end of the county. Again, just a matter of time before it moves more to the northern end of the county. Interesting enough, I recently read that some of the vaccine testing has begun in the south county of San Diego. Also, while it looks like the daily cases peaked about a week ago, we will probably get another blip up two weeks from now with all of the Thanksgiving gatherings. I am hoping that ends up being the final cases peak. Hopefully a vaccine can begin to make an impact. Also, from a chart standpoint, I am trying to think about what happened near the end of September, beginning of October. That is when things really started to take off. Rock concerts? family gatherings? Car shows?😐 I thought maybe it was Sturgis, but that was early August, unless there was some turbo lag going on.

Then again, perhaps it is ones reference in time and not political.

Thanks! Will check with Bonzi first as his seems to be about perfect for the car.

Thanks! PM sent

And here is the inaugural drive into the cul-de-sac. Still a number of details to finish, but she's getting pretty close. 20201124_124417.mp4 20201124_124452.mp4

View Advert Back Panel Diamond Vinyl Need the piece shown in the picture. It goes behind the seats. Black diamond vinyl preferred, but I can spray it if needed. Condition needs just to be OK, not prefect. Advertiser motorman7 Date 11/23/2020 Price $30.00 Category Parts Wanted Year 1973 Model 240z

I think San Diego has done fairly well based on it's population size, but looks like we are starting to get a significant rise in cases as well. Personally, the situation at work, though minor, has been my closest experience with Covid. Also, I can't say that anyone I know has been infected other than the one guy at work who I met just once. Cancer on the other hand has affected both friends and relatives in 2020. Either way, there is bad stuff going on out there, just trying to stay healthy here. Working on the cars is safe.

Got the hood and valence installed. Also installed the radio and heater panel along with all of their respective connections. Now just a few interior items to finish up and she's just about done. The lead time on interior parts has been pretty bad due to Covid.

The 2.4% for Wuhan/Covid is way off. Currently with 600K daily infections and 10K deaths, it is roughly 1 in 60, which would be 1/60 or 1.6%. However, the daily infections number is only those that are tested and confirmed. Those with virus that are either asymptomatic or not sick enough to go get tested would make that 1.6% much lower. I would bet that with 600k detections, there are another 400K or more that are probably not detected but walking the streets. A guy I worked on the line with 11 days ago recently tested positive. He did not feel any symptoms really at all, but had to get tested because his daughter tested positive on a test before she could go to school. So I am 'in quarantine' working from home here for the next 3 days. If the guys daughter had not tested positive, and she had no symptoms, my co-worker would never have gone to get tested. Wonder how much that is going on across the US and world.

So true, cancer survivors can certainly attest to that. Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

Got both fenders in along with the lights. Will get hood and front valence next Saturday. Also got a stock radio from the owner and repaired the harness. Fortunately I had another radio to check for length verification and amazingly had a spare radio connector end in my box of Z stuff.

ZCSD was invited to see the new Z prototype at the Nissan Design Center in San Diego so I took a few pics