Namerow

Once upon a time (fifteen years ago), there was a generic rebuild kit available from NAPA that provided the necessary seals. When I checked circa 2015, it was NLA. Napa part #660-1000 Good hunting.

A few photos to go with my write-up. I didn't take any photos of the work that I did with my door trim panels. These pix show the same technique used for the rear kick panels...

For your consideration: HVAC duct-sealing foil tape (adhesive backing) can, with care and patience, be used to replace the chrome film. The result has a finish that's almost indistinguishable from the original. I used this foil to restore my door cards and rear kick panels. Five years later, the tape remains securely in place. Steps: Leave the trim strip in place, but peel off the 'chrome' layer. It comes off as a thin film and you should be able to remove 100% of it without needing to use chemicals. Left behind will be the blue-coloured plastic strip. It has a 'D' cross-section. Measure the perimeter of that cross-section by shaping a piece of aluminum foil over the surface and marking the base of the 'D' on each side with an awl or straight pin. Flatten out the foil and take your measurement. I measured it at 9mm for the rear kick panel. I'm not sure whether it was the same for the door card accent strip. Cut a length of HVAC duct-sealing foil that's about 6" slightly longer than the door trim strip. Secure it to a flat surface, shiny side up, using regular 'duct tape' at each end. Mark off several strips, using the 'D' perimeter measurement to define the width of each strip. Using a long straight edge and a utility knife (with a fresh blade), cut at least full-length 6 strips (you eventually only need two, but you'll probably ruin at least two at the start as you practice stripping off the backing sheet and then applying to the door strip). For each lengthwise cut, work from the inboard edge of the widthwise duct tape at one end to the similar point at the other end. Then, after making your six lengthwise cuts, use a shorter straight edge to cut widthwise at each end. Tip: It helps if you clamp the long straight edge to the table/bench top, so that it can't move while you're making each long cut. Clean the surface of the blue plastic trim strip thoroughly. I used denatured alcohol. It's particularly important to get the top and bottom parts of the 'D' clean (where the strip meets the door trim vinyl). As noted, it takes a bit of practice to figure out how to pull the backing strip off the aluminum foil strip without putting a kink in the foil and/or having the foil accidentally bond to some unintended surface before you have a chance to start laying it down on the intended target (i.e. door card's blue plastic strip). It also takes a steady hand to keep the tape properly centered on the blue plastic strip as you lay it into place along the length of the plastic strip. The application technique is to lightly lay the foil onto the crown of the D. Press it into place at the front end of the plastic strip, then align while gradually lowering the full length of the foil down into place. It may take a few tries to get this right. Unfortunately, every failed attempt will ruin the foil, so you'll need to use a new strip for your next attempt. Once you get a good result, the next step is to cut the excess off at the front and rear ends of the foil. You'll need to judge the position of these end trim cuts so that, once pressed down, the cut end of the foil will align with the end of the blue plastic strip. Getting an acceptable result here requires a little additional work because the end of the blue plastic strip is rounded. The foil will not stretch to meet this contour. The only way to avoid a crinkled surface is to make two short lengthwise cuts so that the foil is now divided into three short segments. Eventually (but not now), you'll be able to press the center part down first, and then press the top and bottom segments into place. There'll be a slight overlap. Returning to the main job, your foil strip at this point is lying flat along the length of the blue plastic strip, touching only the crown of the 'D'. You now start working the foil down over the 'D' contour. Use a soft cloth rub lengthwise, gradually working the tape down over the 'D' contour. To avoid 'bunching', work from the center out to each end, rather than from front to rear. Work from the crown of the 'D' outwards, alternating from the upper half to the lower half. I think you'll be very pleased with the final result. My only caveat for this technique is that I haven't tested the effectiveness of the foil adhesive under extreme temperatures (e.g. car parked outdoors in the summer with the windows up). If you're concerned about this and think you know of a better adhesive, you could always try gluing chrome mylar film over the blue plastic trim strip. Personally, I like the foil because it's metal and actually bends to into shape over the 'D' contour, meaning that there's very little residual force trying to lift the edges. At extreme temps, the adhesive may temporarily get a bit gooey (technical term), but I don't think the foil will lift unless it's disturbed by the side of your arm. I take some consolation from the fact that this foil is designed to be reliable for use on air distribution ducts that carry both cooled and heated air.

'Performance improvement'? Please explain.

After looking at Sean's website, I was unable to find any mention of these parts (window trim pieces, oil pump gear). Did I miss something? If not, how did you learn that they were available?

When I re-built my heater box several years ago, I left all of these flaps in place. After cleaning up the inner and outer surfaces of the plenum and flaps, I sprayed the inside with a rust-inhibitor paint and then the outsides with matte black. I then cut replacement pieces of foam (adding an outside layer of soft vinyl for the pads destined for the big flap). If you go to the 'Resources' section, I think that my full write-up is still there. Also included at the time was a set of templates for all of the foam pieces (these were designed to be printed at 1:1 and then glued to the peel-off backing sheet of the foam). If you can't find these docs, let me know and I'll re-post them. It's finicky work, but doing it properly produces a heater/blower that works effectively and quietly.

I remember that post, but I don't have a link. Here's a compendium of articles that I put together several years ago on the topic. No mention of the forming spring. but a useful suggestion for simulating the 180-degree bend using a 90-degree coupling and a section of a donor hose (EFI?) that has a 90-degree bend and the right ID. S30 Fuel Hoses & Hard Lines.docx.pdf S30 Fuel Tank Vent Hoses - Rating the factory replacements - ClassicZCars.com - 2011.docx.pdf

Whenever I read these discussions about Goertz, I'm reminded of another 'design consultant' of the same era, Raymond Loewy (automotive credits include the Studebaker Avanti and the Greyhound SceniCruiser bus). Both were European ex-pats -- Loewy born in Paris, Goertz born in Germany. Both gravitated to the US -- Loewy to NYC in 1919, Goertz to LA about 17 years later. While Loewy's credentials included some university-level engineering training (which he apparently did not complete), Goertz appears to have had no formal technical training and his career appears to have been based on not much else beyond an interest in performing Euro-customizing of pre-war Ford sedans. Apparently, he rented a garage with a showroom in LA to build and sell his handiwork (I sense that all of this activity may have been backed by a family trust fund). Somehow, he managed to get one of his kustoms (named the 'Paragon') exhibited at the New York World's Fair in 1939, where I'm sure that it attracted the attention of Mr. Loewy. It's not entirely clear whether the two met by accident of by design, but meet they did and it would appear the Loewy -- Goertz' senior by about 20 years -- decided to take Goertz under his wing. Or maybe Goertz just pestered him for a job. Loewy is said to have arranged for Goertz to get work with Studebaker, but this might have been nothing more than a piece-work role as a design sub-contractor (Loewy's industrial design firm was big and had enjoyed a significant consulting contract with Studebaker going back as far as 1936). It's worth noting that Goertz, after the end of WW2, had decided to shift his base of operations from Los Angeles to NYC and in the mid-1950's was busy enamoring himself with Max Hoffmann, the principal US East coast importer of many European brands (BMW included). One wonders how this led to his involvement with the Type 507 project. So: Interesting that the two knew each other and collaborated in some fashion. With their similar European backgrounds, it's easy to see how a dialogue of sorts got started. I wonder what was going through Loewy's mind when Goertz started promoting himself as a consultant for the BMW 507, Porsche 901, and Datsun Z? Loewy had put together a major industrial design firm by the 1950's, with over 100 staff (Loewy had even been featured on the cover of Time magazine). Goertz does not appear to have ever got past the status of 'sole proprietor'. While both men were, I'm sure, relentless self-promoters, Goertz 'chutzpah' really stands out in light of his 'one-man-band-with-no-followers' status. As HS30-H has pointed out, it can be tricky to try to assign the origin of a design to any one particular person -- as tempting as that might be. As a noteworthy example, the design of the original Corvette String Ray is often attributed to a sketch done by Pete Brock (designer of the Shelby Cobra Daytona coupe) while he was a junior member of the GM Styling department, working under Bill Mitchell, in the late 1950's. While the Brock sketch certainly displays many of the design details that became hallmarks of the Sting Ray prototype, it would be incorrect to claim that Brock was the designer (and, to his credit, Brock appears to have never made such a claim). I suspect that Goertz -- like Brock -- produced a sketch for concept that eventually became an icon (the BMW 507 in Goertz' case). Unlike Brock, however, Goertz appears to have no hesitation in claiming status as the sole-designer. Or, perhaps more accurately, he never said that he was but never denied that he wasn't. The same would seem to apply to his roles with the Toyota 2000GT and the Datsun Z. BTW, Raymond Loewy claimed personal credit for some of the most hideous automotive styling exercises that I've ever seen. Perhaps his real talent lay in assembling a group of talented people around him and then promoting and managing their efforts.

It will be interesting to see whether a European shop applies strategies or techniques that are different from those that we're familiar with here in North America for this type of bodywork surgery. Looking forward to your posts.

When I did my installation, I first tried with the grommet installed on the harness. I could not get the grommet to seat in the firewall. I then went to Plan B: I removed the grommet from the harness and then detached all of the engine bay connectors from their wires. With this done, it was easy to install the grommet in the firewall then thread the wiring out into the engine bay, working from the cabin side. Then I reinstalled the individual wire-end terminals into their connectors. You need a good-quality terminal-removing tool to make this strategy work (two different sizes required). I got mine from Vintage.

The clearance issue is obvious when you attempt reassembly. No problems fitting the spider into the yoke on the main shaft. However, when you go to fit stub shaft's yoke, the yoke ear won't quite clear the spider. Unfortunately, it's been a couple of years since I did this job and I can't remember the area of the spider that I had to relieve to get rid of the interference. I'm sure that Charles can explain. Maybe pictures, too.

I wonder whether they were able to install the wiring harness at the factory with the firewall grommet and end connectors already in place? If so, I'd like to know how they did it.

Bought the same part. Had the same issue. Annoying cut-and-try job, but not a big deal.

What's your power supply?

I truly hope that the results prove to be long-lasting. Imagine being able to treat the S30's unicorn side window 'squeegee' rubber strips (typically rock-hard and chipped) and have them come back to life! Think patents, Charles.🙂

Fastener torques. A great topic for deep reading. Here's a starting point: Lubrication Effects on Fastener Torque Specs - EngineeringToolbox.com Lots of interesting links at the end of the article. Another good source of information is the late Carroll Smith's book, 'Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing Handbook'. Smith was manager of the Shelby American race team back in the day and specialized in bridging the gap between engineering theory and real-world motorsports reality. It's an old book, but I don't think too much has changed.

I agree with BillGTP that it looks like a crude attempt at 'staking' the shaft ends to make them expand a bit (those look like chisel marks). Seems that the perpetrator either used too big a hammer or consumed one too many brews before commencing the work. Possibly both.

An interesting idea, crudely executed. It would have been more effective, I think, to drill a large-ish hole into each shaft end and then use a tapered punch to expand the hollowed-out section. I suppose it would work, although the wear pattern on the bushings would be pretty extreme. You might quickly end up back where you started. This invites further examination by the CZCC R&D Department @Captain Obvious!

Discussion? Pictures?

Very nice. Was there a specific regulation that led to the requirement for this double-lamp fixture?

This is the same as what I found when removing the insulator pads from my 5/70 -- light, patchy use of adhesive but most relying on the mechanical support from those square tabs. I think the adhesive is used to prevent bagging, while the tabs provide the main vertical support. If your insulator pad(s) are shot, I can provide you with some notes on how I made new ones from scratch. I was quite happy with the end result.

What is the purpose of pumping gas through the diff cooling system?

I would suggest you use glazier's mastic 'rope' as the sealant between the tail light lens and housing. It'll provide all the seal that you need and it's not so sticky as to make future disassembly a problem. The alternative is liquid window caulking. There is a 'strippable' version (clear) that would probably be a better bet than the more permanent types. Don't overlook the little drain holes at the bottom of each lens. Each drain hole should be fitted with a small rectangle of felt (cut to shape from a sheet of 1/8" thickness, purchasable from a crafts store like Michael's). The purpose of the felt is to keep small, uninvited visitors (spiders, etc.) from setting up house inside your tail light assembly. The lenses will come up nicely with buffing. Try not to buff away the raised manufacturer's info. You'll need to leave that area as-is.

Undercoatings of the 1970's were variously described as, 'oil', 'tar', 'asphalt', or 'wax' ('paraffin' if you're a Brit). If you investigate further, you'll find that each of these terms is somewhat generic and not really precise from any chemical engineering perspective. For automotive purposes, 'oil' meant sprayed-on and could be anything from heavyweight used crankcase oil to purpose-blended lightweight stuff. 'Tar' meant 'thicker but still sprayed-on', while 'asphalt' translated to 'thick and usually brushed-on'. 'Wax' was typically interpreted to be 'less oily', sprayed-applied, and suitable for internal body cavities like doors and rockers (Zeibart and Wax-oyl were two of the better-known wax-type aftermarket undercoating treatments). It's hard to say what kind of material Nissan used for the underside of the Z's. Obviously, it bonded well to the metal and skinned over nicely so that the paint spray adhered (for fifty years). I wonder, though, whether Nissan's objective may have been sound deadening as much as corrosion protection. Like many others, I remember using brush-on undercoating on the underside of my first Z after the first rust blooms appeared. I think that we all hoped it would 'seal off' the underside of the car from further exposure to winter road de-icing salt. It certainly looked the part. Alas, it didn't work.