jfa.series1

Welcome to the group - all the help you'll probably ever need is right here. That's a great looking car and your description suggests it's solid throughout. Your co-pilot looks to be the right age to get into some wrenching. Tell her the first letter of the alphabet is Z and really mess with her day-care folks! P.S. - My car says hello to it's slightly older sibling!

I love the comment "Not as aggressive in mods from stock as car # 1233" - me. - I had 3 underhood mods: air pump and related controls gone, header and exhaust, air horns. Go figure. Agree with the comments on Z Brothers - what a fantastic group to be with. Jim

I also removed the tracks from the frames for cleaning and repainting but re-assembled them prior to putting the soft bits in place. Otherwise, the track nuts are a blind access as you have discovered. I don't know of any way to get to them with the cover and foam in place. I had no significant problems getting the covers in place with the tracks installed. Not what you want to hear but I think you're facing a teardown and re-assembly.

Since you're not going for a ZCCA Stock Class look, here's another BIG vote for 2-stage. Appearance: clear coat will give a big "pop" to the underlying color. Buffed and waxed - grab your cheap sunglasses (apologies to ZZ Top). Protection: the additional layer of clear is a barrier protecting the color coat from wear, swirl marks, light scratches, ...etc. Maintenance: the clear can easily be re-worked if needed, not so the metallic base coat. Earlier this year I noticed some irregularities on my hood when viewed in a reflection - very small hair-width depressions in a close pattern almost like orbital sander marks. Most important, a fellow club member who has done some ZCCA judging spotted them and said that could be a judging problem at ZCON. I showed it to my paint shop and he said it was likely some shrinkage in the primer or base coat that later became visible in the clear coat. Repainting a four-year old hood would be a color-match nightmare. The solution: color-sand the hood and re-clear it. When buffed out, the fresh clear had filled any remaining depressions. Problem solved! Hope this helps your decision process.

Hey James - congrats on your new project! I'll bet you're going to have a tough time keeping Zup away from this one. Great looking car, you're going to have some real fun with it. We'll all be looking forward to your progress posts. Have you made contact yet with my buddy Scott who recently moved to Springdale? Jim D. has already made contact and I told him you were also in the area. He's a pretty intense S30 guy and has an interesting stable of cars.

A more detailed story identified this as a software design issue - the car's software is able to detect when its going through emissions testing and switch all controls into full compliance mode for the duration of the test. After that it reverts to smog and particulate emitting mode as its normal operating setting.

+1 on the process described above - its exactly what the paint shop did for my bumpers.

Welcome to the group. +1 on Mark's comments on getting the suspension all tightened up and proper toe-in. Z's are also very sensitive to tire condition. Shudder is common to any out-of-balance / out-of-round situation. Be sure to flush the brake fluid and get some fresh stuff in there.

Very nice Zed! I see another one in the garage behind it.

Matt - for your splash shield weatherstrip and the pads under the fender, look no further than your local auto supply. What you want is closed cell strip, 3/8" thick X 3/4" wide. Closed cell is important as the original Nissan stuff was open cell which holds water and promotes rust. Here's a pic of my car as it was coming together at the paint shop. That's a double thickness of the 3/8" stuff on the fender pad - it provides greater support. I did buy new upper fender seals as its the only design that will correctly fit and seal. Hope this helps.

Here's the source article the Aussies picked up on: http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-nissan-z-car-be-crossover I can't argue with the trial balloon theory - that's what car shows and concept cars are all about. The current Z platform has run its course and its very expensive to design and build a new one - and it cannot be only for a single model. I suspect the Z is primarily a North American market vehicle and corporate-think needs it to be much larger audience. The speculation of a current Renault platform as the next host is logical, even though not desired. I personally hate the bastardization of the NISMO brand across so many vehicles, but that is what marketing is all about. Every manufacturer does it to some degree.

Clear across the continent and he bites! Keeps those shipping companies in business.

The "out of stock 2-4 days" usually means its not on-hand, will ship to them from the whse with 2-4 days arrival. Its the dreaded NLA you don't want to see!

Don't overlook the '71 Supplement Chassis Manual - it has all the good info on the dash wiring. http://www.xenonzcar.com/s30/fsm.html

I see the problem he has identified - it is the right side inner bushing that is damaged. Pulling off the outer nut will not show anything. The only way to be sure is to pull the spindle pin and separate the LCA from the upright. The damage likely occurred at the time the bushings were replaced - when the LCA was being positioned around the upright. With new bushings, this is a force fit requiring some lube and gentle working into place. As to painting or other refinishing, after cleaning be sure to thoroughly neutralize that rust with something like POR-15 Metal Ready or a similar phosphoric acid product before any paint is attempted. The POR product is good because it leaves behind a zinc oxide protective coating, ready for primer.

The folks at RockAuto might appreciate some feedback on this as their reman supplier is doing a crap job and this can eventually come back to them.

It is stamped into the engine bay firewall just above the carb linkage bracket.

I woke up this morning to find a "like" on a post I made 2 1/2 yrs ago. What The Heck - why is this guy is trolling old posts??? Then I find this thread and understand your logic (scary thought). Glad to see you getting underway on your own project. One year will be a tough timeline. Body and paint work will be the long lead time item, essential you get the car stripped and into the shop ASAP as that could be a six month effort while you pull together everything else. I'll send you my build sheet - not because you will duplicate it but it can be a ref. doc for bits you might need to consider. I'm sure we'll talk some more. Z'ya in Toronto! Jim

Can you expand on or clarify your question?

Jeff - your work on the car is awesome, congratulations on a super effort and an outstanding result. The next time you expect to be in the Dallas area, give a shout - maybe we can get together for a cold one and swap some stories. Jim

Yeah, I located a P/N for Centric kits 144.42009 and could not find them in stock at many sites. Bummer!

Welcome to the group and your new diZeaZe! Owning two S30's is a great way to start. That 280 should be a very nice car, looks like you are getting it sorted out very nicely for dependability. As to your 240, I think the VIN will be correctly stated as HLS30-0932 - same number of zeroes, just edited differently. Check the plate on the driver's side "B" pillar to get your build date and report back to us. One-owner cars are special to all of us so think of this one as a bit of a heritage obligation you have assumed. Don't be afraid to start a thread just for this car as you get further into it. We're all a bunch of voyeurs, need lot of pics and details.

Mike - I tried the upload two times: 75 mb MP4 file, got a server error at the end of the upload both times. No joy!

Glad to hear you guys can get the music - its suppressed on my playback with the copyright warnings. Clearly its a personal problem!

I've uploaded a video of pics I made during the judged car show on Beale Street. About 1+ min into the video, there are some scurvy-looking guys on the sidewalk that have a distinct resemblance to CZCC members. Since the music seems to be available to all, I've edited out prior comments about the copyright dispute with YouTube. The two songs on the video are early 1900's original recordings now in the public domain. First is Bessie Jackson with "Barbeque Bess", I'm sure she's really singing about her "BBQ" . The second number is by Memphis Minnie (appropriate for ZCON) doing "Down By the Riverside". Enjoy the tunes.