Namerow

Thanks. I probably never would have gone down this path if you hadn't created this thread in the first place! I was thinking that the vent grills in my car would have the clips intact, but I'd never taken a close look until I read your write-up and became intrigued. When I finally got around to it, I discovered that the clips were missing altogether (the PO had done a lash-up job, which included two-sided tape to hold the chrome grills in place). And by the time all of this became known to me, you'd sold all of your clip sets and I had to look for other options. The main uncertainty was whether the clips really needed to be made from tempered steel to work properly. Based on my what I've learned, the answer seems to be, 'not really'. My torch-and-quench tempering scheme seems to have been adequate, helped by the fact that the forming process creates a bit of localized work-hardening around the bent areas. And then, the legs of the clips don't have to spread that much when the clip is being pushed into place. In answer to your question, it probably would take me 15 minutes to make a new clip. Side business? I'm guessing there's not more than another 50 customers left out there in Z-Land, so not enough in it to be worthwhile. Maybe someone else will be interested in taking it on, though.

Buyer: 'Is that the real mileage on the car?' Seller: 'What would you like it to be?'

Now that Hardway has sold off his inventory and doesn't look like he's planning to commission a second run, I feel I can share my D-I-Y strategy with those of you who still need these pieces. The clips aren't terribly difficult to fabricate from sheet stock and they don't have to be made from spring steel (that comes afterwards). Here's how I made mine: 1. Using tin snips, cut 4 metal strips from 0.022" sheet (or close to that). After cutting, flatten the strips on a hard surface with an autobody hammer. Then de-burr all the cut edges with a file. x After cutting, flatten the strips on a hard surface with an autobody hammer. Then de-burr all the cut edges with a file. This had yet to be done for the pieces in the photo. 2. Fabricate a forming buck from a small piece of hardwood (softwood won't do). You'll need the buck to form the 'bump' in the closed end. The 'bump' shape is mandatory -- it provides clearance for the stamped flange that runs around the periphery of the vent opening in the hatch outer sheet metal). I used a power sander and a Dremel sanding drum to make my buck. When you're happy with the shape, mark the side edge for the location of the centreline of the hole that you'll need to drill in the clip after you've bent it to shape. x 3. Mount your buck in a bench vise, along with one of the metal strips. The vise jaws should clamp on one end of the metal strip and the buck simultaneously (keeps the metal strip in position during the bending process). x 4. Now shape each strip using, as appropriate, either hand pressure or your autobody hammer (use the flat part of the hammer for the outside bends and the 'pick' end for the inside bend). x x 5. Mark and centre-punch the hole center before you remove the finished clip from from the buck. Then, using another strip of wood of appropriate thickness as a backing/spacer piece, slide the shaped clip over the wood and then clamp in some fashion to prepare for drilling the hole. Because the hole has to pass through both the upper and lower leg of the clip, you'll need both the spacer piece and a backing board. It's preferable, but not mandatory, to use a drill press here. De-burr both drilled holes afterwards... 6 6. To finish up, give the clips a bit of 'spring tempering' by heating them up with a torch (get them just to start of glowing red) and then dunking them in cold water (sorry, no photo for this step) 7. Here's my end result... The total project probably took me 3 or 4 hours to complete (making the buck is finicky). Materials costs were ~ zero. Best part: The clips worked perfectly during the installation of my vent pieces.

As noted by others, you have a bit of a 'task' ahead of you in order to fix the stuck lever. The centre (tunnel) console has to come out first. Be careful not to break the plastic. You'll need to detach the choke lever assembly from the console. Remove the radio control knobs and fastener nuts, then remove the radio faceplate. Remove the knobs from the heat/vent control levers. Remove the Blower fan speed control knob and the retaining nut behind it. Remove the Map light faceplate and then lever the map light housing out of the heater fascia plate. If possible, pop the wiring connectors free and remove the map light altogether. At this point, you should have an assemblage of parts that looks like this (these are from a Series 1 car, so your parts may look a bit different)... x Now disconnect the four heat/vent control cables where they connect to the Heater assembly. You'll find three of the cable connections on the pssgr side of the Heater assy and the fourth on the left side. The securing clip for the cable that connects to the heater control valve (lower right side of the Heater assy) is often corroded. It will probably help to apply some penetrating oil first and let it soak in for a day before you try to loosen the screw. Remove the four screws that secure the Heater fascia plate to the Dash frame. At this point, the Heater fascia plate is ready to come out. As you pull it away from the Dash, it will come away complete with the Heat/Vent control lever assy and the four control cables. The cables are curved and somewhat stiff, so you'll need to tug a bit to pull them free. The radio and the Fan Blower speed control knob will get left behind. The lower part of the Heater fascia plate is like a ring and it can break at the corner(s) if you pull on the fascia plate unevenly or too enthusiastically. Here's what you'll be looking at (sort of)... x Experienced Z owners will see that my control lever assembly had experienced not just a bent cable (not visible in the photo above) also a mechanical failure of the topmost linkage (a guide pin had snapped out of the lever frame, allowing the top upper lever plates to separate. An intact lever assy looks like this (note how the slots in the two top link plates both fit over a common 'peg')... x Here's what a bent control cable looks like this. On my car, it was the bottom lever and cable (goes to the heat control valve) that had problems. The cable was bent into a full J-hook shape. In the photo, the lever asy has been turned upside down, so you're looking at the bottom... You won't be able to unbend a bent control cable. Easiest is to buy new ones (Z-Car Depot has them, maybe others do too). Or you can do what Zed Head and I did, which is to buy a roll of tempered-steel 'music' wire and form your own. Not easy, but not impossible either. The Series 1 system used 1.0mm wire. Later versions used 1.2mm wire. The ID/OD of the plastic cable sheathing is the same for both versions, so you can use 1.2mm cable inside the Series 1 or Series 2 sheathing. Make sure you find out why your control cable bent and fix that problem too. Otherwise, your new cable will probably bend just like the old one did. Unfortunately, the top control lever operates two inner air control flaps that are buried inside the Heater assy. It's not likely that they've jammed just because the pivot points got a bit rusty. Instead, it seems more probable that the one of the padded vinyl covers used on the internal control flaps has come unglued from the metal flap plate (common problem) and is preventing the flap from closing fully... To the driver (or passenger), this would have felt like the control lever wasn't moving all the way to the right or left in its slot, so they would have started tugging on it to try to get the lever to go to the full 'OFF' or (more likely) 'HEAT position'. If I'm right (and I hope for your sake that I'm not) you're going to have to drain the engine cooling system, disconnect the heater hoses, pull the Heater assy out of the car, and then pretty much fully disassemble it. Big job.

Better than a cheap, 'Who dunnit' private detective novel.

You might want to try to figure out why those wires got so charred before you cover things up. If they're in the vicinity of the driver-side headlamp connector, you've probably got issues with the three-wire connector on the headlamp pigtail. Or maybe a PO tried to install aftermarket fog or driving lights and made a mess of it (as in, short circuit). If the region of the harness that needs re-covering is relatively 'fat' (say, 1/4" diameter or more), the correct way to do the job will be by using loom tape ('wiring loom'). It's just like electrical tape but has no adhesive. Buy a roll that's about 3/4" width. It's inexpensive. Takes a bit of practice to learn how to apply it. There are a few on-line articles explaining the technique (try an MG or old Ford club website). Just don't use electrical tape.. It turns into a gooey mess after it's been exposed to engine compartment heat for a while. Nissan used thin, flexible black 'plastic' sheathing as the covering at the end of some of the skinny branches of the engine wiring harness. That sheathing turns rock hard with age and usually significant amounts have cracked and split away. Replacement sheathing is available in three or four different diameters from one of the specialty wiring connector suppliers (Vintage Connections or Eastern Beaver... can't remember which one). If you're not concerned about restoring the harness to OE specs, there are a variety of more modern wire sheathing solutions available.

My column shell parts had similar problems (the styrene plastic that Nissan used for the housing pieces was not a good choice). Although none of the towers were completely broken off, a couple were splitting away near the bottom. I managed to glue the pieces back into place using krazee glue. The repair is probably a bit fragile, but it's adequate. My lower shell piece had a one-inch hairline crack that needed repairing. I used krazee glue in the crack and then backed up the repair by gluing a piece of thin plastic sheet (from food packaging) onto the inside of the shell to provide some reinforcement. I also did some sanding and 'coaxing' on the towers and the shell mating edges to try to get the shell halves to fit together flat and flush. I gave the shell pieces a couple of coats of SEM 'Landau Black' paint afterwards. I'm still not totally pleased with the way the two halves fit together, but they're a lot better than they were at the start.

Why not shoot them an email and ask?

Although they were stuck to the metal, I didn't really get the feeling that the paper gaskets in my horns had any kind of glue or sealant used. I agree with Grannyknot that you don't want water getting inside. I debated about using sealant. I even thought about using thin-sheet neoprene foam rather than paper when I cut new gaskets. However, I was worried that a thicker or softer material might mute the horn, so I just used thin gasket paper (dry). After all was said and done, I ended up with the characteristic Z horn sound that I wanted, but I don't think it's loud enough to get the job done in modern traffic so I'm going to back them up with a pair of FIAMM 'Freeway Blasters'.

Agreed. I was thinking that he could extract a suitable contact point from some non-Z relay (pref. a from an older Nissan product) and then transplant it into the relay from his Z.

I would go for a generic dustboot (no one will know... or care). Probably $4.99 each. Have a look on eBay.

No car manufacturer adds parts that will never be seen (i.e. parts with no perceived value to a buyer) without a good reason. Nissan must have decided that their OE-design struts (which didn't use a cartridge-style shock absorber) were failing prematurely because of either water/salt-induced corrosion and/or dirt intrusion at the top of the strut. Of course, you will be installing cartridge-style aftermarket shocks made with modern materials and there's reason to expect that they're less susceptible to top seal failure than the somewhat old-fashioned design that Nissan used on the S30's.

A used relay would be the easiest solution. Whether you can get one without buying an entire wiper motor/transmission is another matter. Used relay? Five bucks. Used Z motor? Either cheap or expensive, depending on who's selling. The big vendors say, 'NLA'. A Honda motor may be your best bet. $90. Still, it's just a relay. Go to the local pik-n-pull and buy a dozen. You should be able to find a piece to swap in. Nobody will ever know.

Don't throw away the metal sleeves from your old grommets. The replacement pieces from 240ZRubberParts don't have them.

Steve or Dave Zs-on-da-Brain can advise. I'm a mechanical engineer and only understand hammers ... although I'm pretty sure that solder is not going to get the job done (not for long, anyway)

Possibility #1is that you somehow hurt or confused the wiper relay during your original tests. The humming noise could be one of the contacts inside the relay vibrating as it tries to close. Put your ear close to the relay can and see whether that's where the hum is coming from. If it is, then a deft whack with a hammer might coax the relay back into operation. Or not. If the hammer fix doesn't work, you could try opening up the relay can and poking around to see if you can coax the thing back into life. Probably better, though, to just replace it. If it failed after 2 tries during bench testing, it'll probably fail again after you put everything back in the car. Probably when it's raining . Possibility #2: The worm gear in your wiper motor's gearbox may have jammed. I don't know how this would have happened, but the fact that you got two successful cycles on your original test before you ran into trouble suggests that possibility that the gear jammed at the end of the second forward cycle (maybe when the motor tried to go into auto-reverse? or maybe something broke off inside the gearbox housing and got lodged in the gears?). It'll be hard to fix this by trying to move the motor and the output shaft by hand, because it's essentially impossible to rotate a reduction-type worm gear system from the output end. You might be able to free things up by loosening off the load-adjustment screw that's located on the outside of the gearbox housing at the bottom of the worm gear shaft. If that doesn't work, you'll probably have to take the cover off the gearbox to see what's going on. Possibility #3: This is a WAG. Maybe, by some impossible coincidence, you stopped the motor at the end of the #2 test at the point when the reed switch for the 'PARK' position was j-u-s-t beginning to open, and now it's electrically hung up between 'off' and 'on'. To check, you can try moving the 'Park' switch to a new location. Look on the underside of the gearbox casing and you'll see a pie-tin shaped cover that's held in place by three screws. The cover has two wires coming out of it (from the reed switch). The edge of the cover has five or six notches and there's an indexing mark stamped into the gearbox housing to serve as a reference. If you loosen the three screws, you can rotate the can to change the location of the reed switch. Try rotating the cover by one index mark. Re-tighten the screws and hook up your power source again for another test. If this works, make sure you return the PARK switch to its original setting before you button everything up. Let us know what you do next.

Thanks, CO. I'll take a look in my local auto parts stores the next time I visit. In the meantime, I made my own spring and installed the full wiper assembly back in the car yesterday afternoon. Given the way that the spring clutch operates, I decided that it wasn't important whether the spring is made from tempered wire or not. In fact, it seemed to me that it might work better without the tempering -- so I made my new one out of 0.065" hardware store wire. I'm a little concerned about the durability of the tang, but only time will tell and, hey, if it breaks off, I'll just be back to 'normal'. My new spring came out pretty darn close in ID to the original spring, so that was good. The stack height was close, too (the OE spring is 2 coils in height). I also took care to wind the coil it in the same direction as the OE spring. I debated about whether the shoulder of the eccentric washer should be greased or not, but decided in the end that no grease could lead to breakage whereas grease - if incorrect - would only lead to clutch slippage (i.e. 'normal'). So, with everything back in the car, I hooked up a 12V power source the the appropriate connections and turned it loose. All good in 'HI' and 'LO'. Then the big test, which was to engage 'OFF' (you do this by opening the motor relay's ground circuit). The result? Well, I'm not really sure. What I know is that the motor and linkage stopped, paused briefly, and then reverse-rotated to the 'PARK' location -- where everything just stopped What I can't tell is whether the spring-clutch ever kicked in. I tried several cycles, thinking that the new spring might need time to bed in. No detectable change, though. I was running the system without the wiper blades attached (just a clothes peg mounted on each of the wiper shafts to give me a visual), so I guess that's the next step. My new theory is that it may be necessary for the motor and linkage to have a load to work against before the spring clutch and eccentric cam will do their thing during the motor-reverse sequence. If I'm feeling energetic after I get home from work tonight, I'll go back out to the garage and give it another try, this time with the blades installed. More tomorrow.

OFF doesn't just turn off the power. It actually sends a signal to the wiper motor relay that then tells the motor to operate in reverse until the output gear in the wiper gearbox reaches the PARK position. I think you've either pooched the relay or you've got a mechanical obstruction in the system that's preventing the motor from operating in reverse. Do you have the wiper blades installed?

I wonder if the wire is acting like an electromagnetic cage, so that it sets up some kind of adverse electrical field in the zone where you get the dull spot? You'll probably say, 'Why don't I get the same effect when I plate a regular flat washer?' My guess is that this particular part is 'deep' enough in section that it shows some of the plating characteristics of a hollow tube. If you're still feeling 'experimental', try this: Sandblast one of the two parts to take it back to bare metal (hopefully, this will get rid of any residual problems in the dull-plating zone). Now try a centralized supporting system for the part when it's in the plating bath. I'm thinking you could take a length of wire and wind it into a coil that's about 10% bigger than the ID of the centre hole in the strut cap. The idea would be for the wire coil to be under enough compression when you put it in the hole so that it will grab the part. This is just a WAG... but that's what drives scientific investigation sometimes. (When you enter the world of DIY plating, I figure you deserve to call yourself a scientist. It sounds a lot more confident that 'wizard' )

Nissan kept the FSM's relatively low-detail for the first three years. It wasn't until the 260Z arrived that the broadr descriptions and new, detailed diagrams started to appear. If you have a 70-72 Z, theres's a lot of worthwhile info to be had, provided you know how to filter out the stuff that doesn't apply to your model year. In the case of the Wiper system, for example, you have to ignore the discussion of the 'Intemittent' feature. BTW, I find it interesting that the plastic molding for the Combination Switch stalk in my 70 Z clearly incorporates a 'dot' (not painted) for a third Wiper speed setting. Kind of like they knew from the outset that they were going to add either a 'Medium' or 'Intermittent' setting later on.

Yep. Bench-tested two motors today and both demonstrated the reverse rotation when OFF was selected. Not always a full rotation, though. Depends on where Off is triggered during the the regular 360-degree rotation cycle. It`ll be interesting to see whether the rotational clutch has time to engage during the less-than-360-degree reverse rotation. I'll know soon, because I made my own replacement spring. Wiper assembly goes back in the car tomorrow, so I hope to be able to report tomorrow evening. Stay tuned.

Thanks, CO. I hadn't thought of the spring coil/uncoil in terms of it cinching down on the hub of the eccentric cam. Brilliant! A few minutes before I read your post, I found this in the 1974 FSM: That made me remember the eccentric cam, and then I suddenly realized that its purpose is to change the effective length of the linkage arm by about 1/4" when it rotates from one stop to the other (by way of the torque applied by the spring. Another S30 mystery solved! BTW, I've had good luck making my own helical and hairpin springs from music wire. The OE spring in the wiper linkage is made from 0.065"-diameter wire. I have some (OK, a lot of) 0.040" music wire. Not perfect, but maybe close enough. I just need to make sure that my coil that has the right 'grabbing' diameter. If it works, I can start selling them for $50 a pop and retire. Let's see: 100 buyers @ $50 each = $5,000. No good. Guess I'll have to keep my day job after all.

So, CO, I have a question, then: You haven't really explained how the 'rotational clutch' action actually works. We know (because you told us) that the motor is supposed to spin backwards when the wipers are turned off. We also know that: the 'park' position for the wiper arms can't be any lower than what the crank arms will allow, meaning that they won't park any lower than their lowest point of travel during regular operation. That seems to be at odds with what you're saying, but maybe -- with a bit of encouragement from some reverse wind-up in the rotational clutch -- the arms might appear to tuck a bit after the motor shaft stops at its 'park' position. the spring seems to only be engaged at one end (i.e. the end where the tang locks the 'shield' plate (millenium falcon piece) to the end of the linkage arm. I can't find any evidence that the other end of the spring engages with anything. It seems to just push against the underside of the washer that sits on top of it (and even if it did, that washer has no tangs or indents, so it's rotationally free and can't transfer any torque from the spring to the linkage arm) the keyed center hub is free to turn on the centre shaft but it doesn't engage with the spring. In fact, it only engages with the keyed washer that sits on top of the parts stack and that washer looks like it has the ability to rotate +/- 180 degrees, with end travel limited by the raised edges of the linkage arm. So it seems that the assembly can only exert clutching action if the free end of the spring engages with something under certain circumstances. One possibility comes to mind: when the motor spins backwards, the free end of the spring bites into the underside of the washer enough to make the spring coil expand to the point where the free end of the spring bites into the raised lip of the shield plate, at which point the spring starts to exert some actual torque into the linkage. This sort of makes sense to me. I have two of the units disassembled on my workbench at the moment and on one of them the shield plate has four or five ragged holes poked into the lip at random locations around the periphery. The holes are just about the same diameter as the spring (in fact, if you look at the picture that SurferD posted at the top of this thread, you'll see exactly the same kind of hole in his shield plate. And then there's a cryptic note that somebody made somewhere (I don't remember where) that said that on later units there is a 'plastic ring' that been added that sits around the outside of the spring (can anyone verify?) So, Captain Obvious: How does this thing really work? What happens to the spring when the motor turns backwards? p.s. On both of my springs, the tang has snapped off. When I tried to bend a new tang onto one of them, it just snapped off so no joy that way. I'm going to see today if I can maybe put a sleeve made of brass tubing over the end of the spring and then bend the tubing to form a substitute tang. Might work. We'll see. I have other ideas if it doesn't.

I think Gav240Z's recommendations are on the money. The minute you start personalizing/customizing/improving a car, it looses its appeal for collectors and you limit the potential-buyers pool to very small group of individuals -- people with exactly the same taste as you, but who lack the skill, time/patience, or facilities to do the work themselves. They have to trust your workmanship, too, or else they'll be looking for a bargain on the price to help compensate for the uncertainties. Buyers with deep pockets are looking for originality -- preferably non-restored originality, right down to original paint and interior. For proof, look no further than the 260Z that just brought $46K on BAT. While most of us on this site consider the 260Z to be the red-headed stepchild of the Z family, the collector who paid big bucks for the car clearly had different motivations. More BAT examples: A very clean and original 240Z located in Montreal recently attracted $33K, IIRC. It probably would have brought even more had it: 1) not been located outside the USA; 2) not been Ziebart rust-proofed (although it seems to be one of the few examples of a Ziebart job that actually worked), and; 3) not had the engine compartment re-sprayed. A couple of years ago, a bone-stock 72 240Z (located in Toronto) with an undesirable red-over-white color combo (but original paint) and an auto trans also brought over $30K. This one, too, was probably hurt by being offered by a seller located outside the USA

I did this replacement earlier in the year. Very pleased with the end result as there is now zero slop (more like, 'click') in the front and rear joints. A couple of tips: When you reassemble, it helps to chill the needle cups before inserting them into the yoke. I used a spray can of 'Part Freeze'. Doesn't hurt to also warm up the yoke ears , too. I used a heat gun. When you're pressing the cups home in their bores, be careful not to let one of the cups go too far so that it travels past the inside face of the yoke. When this happens, the cup behaves like it has a slight draft angle and it won't back up into the bore. Maybe it gets cocked a bit sideways, too. Whatever. Bottom line is that the cups will go one way (in), but they won't go the other way (out). I learned this the hard way and ended up having to cut a brand-new spider in half in order to extract the cup from the yoke. After that, it was back to the cycle shop to buy another one. You may need to dress a bit of metal 'flash' off certain edges of the spider casting (forging?) before you'll be able to get the second yoke in place. You'll know which edges need to be shaved when you try to assemble the parts. You won't need to remove much more than ~ 1/64", but without doing this there may not be enough clearance to get the second yoke ear to fit over the ends of the spider. What with chilling, heating, and pressing, you're probably going to make a bit of a mess when you're doing the re-assembly, so save any painting until everything's back together.