Ben's Z

I was thinking of their Gas adjust shock

This is now gone and is attached to the much more pliable rubber vacuum lines inside the car. I also changed out the lines from the white plastic vacuum bottle to those BS solenoids. Turned on the car and what do you know all the different vent locations worked! Now for the big one tomorrow. Putting in Johnsen's Freeze 12 and getting the AC working. Never done AC but talked to a guy who seems to know his stuff and worked on a lot of R12 systems back in the day.

I have a chance to basically pick up a set of front KYB struts for the 77 for free. Customer of mine is selling down their KYB inventory and just happens to have the light duty (non GR-2) struts on hand. I don't want to base any future plans around a front set of shocks because they are cheap, however... In the future I would like to go with some Tokico or Eibach lowering springs. 1) I know KYB does not recommened using any of their struts on lowered cars. Has anyone done so anyhow with non GR2 struts? How is the ride? 2)Another parts distributor of mine is becoming a Tokico WD in the next 3 months. Should I just wait and go with Tokico? Seems the adjustables are the way to go? I will never autocross or race this car, so when making suggestions please keep that in mind. 3) No matter what I pick will I have trouble fitting 16" Rota RB-R wheels in the future? I think I will go with +4 for a little deeper look, but have not totally made up my mind on the offset. I don't think I will go staggered or wider wheels in the rear even though my ultimate goal is a 280ZXT motor with a goal of 250rwhp when done. Thanks for any help.

Took the car our last night after I adjusted the valves and ran some sea foam through the intake. Holy crap 3rd gear in this car is LOOOONNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG!

I found this line going in to my fire wall broke off. I think I found the other end, went to something A/C related. Going to be trying to get the AC to freeze me out and want to make sure I cross my I's and dot my T's. Unknown line.bmp

What sort of cars should I be looking for, for a 3.90 or 4.11 diff? It would really be righteous if I could get a LSD with it.

I wasn't real sure on how to go about this so I did some trial and error. I found wet sanding with 400 and 320 grit sand paper knocked down all the pitting and corrosion pretty well. I went to a local heavy duty parts house and bought a yellow and white buffing wheel. With the yellow buffing wheel I applied brown jewelers rouge to the wheel and applied it with my 7" Makita buffer at about 1800 revs. This really cut well and took out the majority of the sanding marks which were pretty limited to begin with. After I used that wheel and compound I switched to the white wheel and some light green compound. Both of this compounds come in long trapezoidal block and are found at trucking parts stores. I also bought some stuff called "white diamond" that I put on with a rag at the end, I don't think it helped shine it anymore but it was recommened and supposedly it protects the finish. You don't want to use the same wheel with different compounds. Be prepared to be covered in black soot/film when you are done and if you want to be divorced do this in the house. With only the large buffing wheels I couldn't get the recesses of the bolt holes for the valve cover too well. Ideally a little spindle buffing tip on a drill or straight die grinder would be ideal here. Help this helps.

Took one picture of it off the car before I started. Two pictures with the cover back on the head. Decided to do this while I did my cold valve adjustment. It is not mirror finish but has a pretty decent look to it now. Now I want a non egr manifold to smooth down and polish!

In the book that came with the car it said the adjustment nut was 15mm, and I saw that somewhere else, however my adjustment nut was 14mm. However the other nut I loosened was 17mm. Was something changed on my car in the past do you think? As far as the adjustment goes most of the exhaust valves were too tight. I believe it said .012 in the manual. I made sure that when done that .014 and .010 would not fit. On the intake valves I made sure .006 and .010 would not fit after I felt a slight drag on .008 I hope all it well. This was cold and I have not put on the valve cover as I am wet sanding the valve cover to polish it later today.

I am looking for a new Booster on my 77' and rockauto is asking about booster diameter. Why? And which size do I actually have? Not a 2+2.

I want to take my taillight panel off to paint it. Looks like when you open the hatch you have to drill out all those rivets. What does everyone use for hardware after that to reinstall?

If you find a good price on a R/D let me know as the only I have found is from Four Seasons and was around $60 I believe.

Didn't know Barrett Jackson offered. Thanks for the heads up. Does anyone know how regular insurance companies look upon "classic car" appraisals?

This is an interesting thought. I just spoke with buyer at one of my bigger distributors about this insurance deal. He drives his little MG to work everyday in Longview TX. It is only about 4 miles to work for him. He said he does not carry any collision either on his car and figures he drives careful enough not warrant that. I may consider this route and see how my regular auto insurance adjusts my premium in that regard.

Hey if anyone does not feel my arguments are valid feel free to exercise your 1st amendment rights. This is my first "collector car" and perhaps I "don't get it". Mind you I grew up in the midwest and understand that for basically 6 months a year you don't drive collector cars. I just don't see the difference in making a day trip in a car because I happen to have a laptop computer in the back instead of some detailing spray.

Mike, I understand completely. I told them I have a 2007 Taurus that I use for primary use and business use. I work out of my home, I do not commute to any office at any time. Explain to me how making a trip to Austin, TX and back in 1 day is a higher insurance risk than you driving from CO to CA? I would leave the house at 9AM meet with my customer and be back by 4PM, what if a drive to a car show took that long? I see more chances for claims being filed because of the 'tards at the car show I attend every Saturday night leaning on, bumping in to, etc. etc. then some nice collector car parked way out away from everything else at (insert retail box store) once in awhile. I live in an areas that because of the weather permits year around driving, I don't think 7500 annual miles potentially is all that much. Hell I would take $500 or $1000 deductible if it allowed me to drive the car more. My Dad has both his cars insured with Hagerty a 1967 Oldsmobile 442 convertible and Factory 5 cobra. His house is less than 1 mile from his office where he owns part the building and has his own spot. Should be interesting to see what the Stasi says if he comes out and someone has backed into one of his cars sometime.

My wifes uncle lives close to me. He had R12 gauges and a vacuum. I was going to put a little dye in there with some 134A and see if a leak was obvious before pumping in the liquid gold known as R12.

So as I am looking for insurance for my 280z I entered all my info on Hagerty, and a member of their Eastern Germany Stasi calls to talk to me. They had "questions" regarding use. I was honest and checked all the appropriate boxes. They asked about the "daily use" & "business use" boxes I checked. I said "If the weather is nice I would like to make day trips to Austin, TX to see customers/clients and whatnot, I wouldn't use the car for overnight trips etc." Hagerty:"Sorry sir we can't allow that." I said "I would use the car to make short trips to Home Depot on Saturday" Hagerty: "Sorry we cannot insure a car that will be in a parking lot for extended periods of time." My questions is what in the hell are these guys doing for insurance on the "Hot Rod PowerTour" etc.? My regular car insurance... The limp wrist on the phone asked if you spelled "Datsun" "Dotson". I should have hung up the phone right there. $400 a year extra with a $1000 deductible. For some reason he asked what in the hell the car cost when it was new. So I can either a) enjoy the car with my regular insurance ($400 annually with $1000 deductible) or pull the car out of the garage and look at it with hagerty only when there is less than a 10% chance of rain and the temperature is between 55 and 85. Apparently driving a car with Hagerty is not an option. ($230 annually no deductible)

My car A/C is not cooling. It has R12 fittings on the compressor. I took one of the valve covers off and pushed in the schrader valve and I did get a hissing sound. I bought some Johnsens Freeze 12 and some oil. One of the auto parts stores I sell parts to suggested putting in cheaper r134a and some leak detector to find the leak first before I a)put on a new drier etc. and put in expensive freeze 12 only to have it possibly leak out. Do you all agree with this assessment?

If I wanted to ruin it I would just run it over with my truck. That plastic would be in a gooie pile using a chemical stripper. I think you have a 240z though which is metal, safe there.

I need to strip the paint off my taillight surround. Do you think glass media in a blast cabinet would be too harsh on the plastic? I was thinking of turning the pressure down real low and testing a spot on the back of the panel.

If this is sweet then there are no adjectives for your wheels!

Took some quick pictures. Have lots of old receipts. One dated 2/21/79 Original owner bought Cibie Z Beam headlamps for $57 a pair and Mulholland shocks for 144.00 from Z Accessory Products in Paterson N.J. Cibie lamps are still in car and work well. Click here to view these pictures larger

I just bought my 77 280z yesterday and the brakes are a little touchy. If you need to press the brake pedal quickly it grabs all of a sudden. If you slowly get in to the pedal it seems fine. The previous owner said he put on new calipers, rotors, pads, shoes wheel cylinders, drums and master cylinder. It looks like the original brake booster. Anyone else have any thoughts? Looks like reman is my only option. Any other ideas or suggestions would be great.

Runs good. A/C does not blow cold. Trans was rebuilt by the guy I bought it from. The dash is completely original with no cracks anywhere. Andrew "ZCurves" was crawling all over it and he said I really did nice. Frame rails are great, hatch is flawless. 98,000 original miles. Have all the fuel fill ups in a little log book from 1977-? Original plates. ZCurves said I have the original optional padded center console in flawless condition. Light in the engine bay works!