mjr45

The place I get these is The Clip House in Colorado Springs, I've replaced several different types of plastic parts with some of their stuff, i.e. the nylon screw holder on the headlight pan, door panel clips etc.

The driver side scuff plate on my 75 280Z(manufact. 7/75) is toast. I've been told that the plates sold by BD and Courtesy for 240Z will fit, and also been told that they won't fit. All the pics I've seen for the 280 show a straight plate, but mine has an arc cut at the back to fit the wheel well. Anybody got an answer?

darom, here is a pic of the fasteners I use. They are made by Au-ve-co for 1978 Ford inner fender to car body, sorry for the delay.They are 15mm long and the head is 15mm in diameter.

In the FSM, it gives valve specs for "cold" and then for "hot." Question is, if valve clearance is set with the engine cold is it necessary to to re-set with the engine hot? I've talked to several mechanic friends who all disagree, some say set cold an forget others say set it only when hot and others set when cold and re-check when hot. This is not something I want to do several times.

I've been prepping my 75 for paint and had pulled off the cowl several weeks ago, sanded the top up to 600 grit, but didn't really pay close attention to the underside. Yesterday took a close look and found (surprise, surprise) a ton of surface rust, there are 2 ?vinyl pads on it and were full of rust underneath, so today I will be treating that panel for the rust. This is just an FYI for yet another spot to check for rust on a Z.

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Will do, I plan on painting the bezels a gloss black for some contrast. It'll be awhile for pics since I'm just getting everything ready for paint and hope to have it done by Sept.

Here are a couple of pics of my tail light finishers (fascia) that I covered with 3M carbon fiber material. The finisheres were in really bad condition, all in one piece but looked like hammered crap, so instead of painting them I did this, I'm sure it will last a while 3M says 3 years exposed outdoors, we'll see. Tell me what you think.

Darom, I'll get some pics and dimensions as soon as I get some more, I seem to have misplaced a whole bag them someplace in all my loose parts. I'll probably find them as soon as I don't need them!

Thanx Zed, I may try the small screw approach, I've got 2 of these with wires broken on both, so I tried to "engineer" a fix on one of them, I drilled out all the hard plastic on both sides, put screw with wire attached on the ground side and actually screwed it thru the bottem of the brass, the oter side has a small brass contact in the bottom with the wire attached to another small brass contact, so I soldered a new wire to the contact and put it into the hole to contact the the piece in the bottom and filled it with super glue. Who knows, it may work, but I doubt it.

FastWomen, no its not the thermotine or coolant sensor, its the water temp switch with no connector just two wires, from what I've read and Zed confirmed it has to do with the pickup coil(s). Zed my car is a 75 and the problem is that I have literally no wire at all from the switch to run the ground which is why I was thinking that if I ran the ground from the body of the switch it might be OK otherwise its another $75 part.

Yesterday I pulled out the water temp switch with the intent of replacing the 2 wires on it. The ground wire broke off right as it goes into the fitting (not wire to solder). Since its basically just a ground, if I fabed a washer with a ground wire and put it on the fitting as it goes into the thermo housing would this work? I'm not sure if the ground has to be intergral to the switch or if an external ground would work. Or should I just leave it non functional since it basically only affects cold starts. I have removed the EGR system from the intake by replacing the intake with a non EGR type.

Darom, no stock number, I get them from a place that just sells all types of automotive fasteners, I got like 50 from them for $18. The head is slightly bigger and are about 3/16" longer than the stock Z type.

You might try Olover a Z Specialties, I know he has hinges, lower is $100 plus $25 core for the lower. Or you can rebuild the hinges with some Nissan bushings and pins. There is a good write up on the Alantic Z site.

Stock Ford P/U plastic rivets work as well and are a lot cheaper.

A quick tip I got from an old mechanic, after soaking a bolt with penetrating oil (your choice) try tightening the bolt until you hear a crack then back it out. Has worked everytime on my 75.

Oiluj, what brand are those lights, I'm looking for a set to mount in the same spot?

Thanx Arne, thats what I thought but needed some verification.

I'm replacing all the window seals and for the quarter window inner seal, I know the flat side of the seal goes onto the window frame, leaving the u channel down. Does the taller edge of the u channel go towards the inside or the outside of the frame? Thanx.

You're right I don't want to take the entire car down to bare metal, not enough time before it has to be back on the road as it will soon be my primary ride.The areas that were filled were sanded down to metal before and after filling and are just bare right now as are all the small areas, no primer or paint. The rest of the car is sanded down. I'm trying to figure out what primer to spray first self etch, epoxy, high build? The car only had one cancer spot on the body that I cut out and repaired, the underside was a different story!

OK, after reading numerous posts both here and on various auto paint sites, I'm totally confused about primer. My 75 has several small areas and 1 larger area (8 sq. in.) of body filler and glazing, multiple small areas sanded down to bare metal. What primer do I use? I've read "primer 1st with epoxy then high build and another coat of epoxy after sanding." "Primer with high build, sand down then seal with epoxy." "Spray bare metal with self etching, then high build, sand then epoxy prime." So I am totally lost. The entire car has not been taken to bare metal, but sanded up to 320 grit. Help, whats next?

Today got the passenger side frame rail patched (trying to weld laying on your back is a PITA). To date have replaced all bushings, struts, brakes, flex brake lines, ball joints, steering rod ends, welded new driver side rail and floor pan, new metal in the front wheel wells, gutted the interior, pulled the engine and tranny, removed all the lights, removed all the glass and all weatherstripping, started sanding for primer coat (hopefully in the next 2 weeks) then final paint (Daytona Yellow).

Used the hammer, screwdriver, heat method, one came off easily the other one, not so much.

Just did the fornt struts and replaced the old torn rubber boots with the KYB boots. Don't bother they don't fit and are a waste of time, effort and money. They have "built in bump stop" which is the only positive, but I'm not sure even that is any good, since its a rubber piece that fits into the top of the boot.

Looks very nice and will look even better on the car. I had my stablizer bars and T/C rods done and cost $40, I did the rest with Eastwood rust encapsultor and then chasis black gloss, won't last as long but is easy to redo.