Patcon

Thanks, Wheee! I have done a lot of reading all over and here. I was hoping to kind of consolidate and condense the info I found here in this thread, and to also come up with a process that works that others could crib off of. motorman7 I think I found his thread and there was also some info at Atlantic Z from Blue. I printed all of that kind of stuff I could find. I was hoping to compare the snippets I found to come up with a consensus for what the process should be. I was wondering about the blue chromate. I don't remember Steve using that when I watched him plate some bolts, but it's been a while and I am lucky if I can remember what day I'm in. I believe I printed a reply from you in another thread that mentioned the blue chromate. I haven't ordered any blue yet; I probably should... I don't know how many use the blue prior to the yellow chromate dip. What did you do for degreasing? Did you use an acid bath just prior to zinc plating? There was one thread I found, I believe on the Caswell site, and a guy named Brian was working for Peter Brock building a BRE tribute car. Does anyone know who Brian is or if he is on this site? It sounded like he had done a lot of plating too.

Thanks Steve, C

Rossiz What's your mailing address? You made that one so pretty, I thought you know... Charles Seriously, beautiful work.

Wow. That is fabulous... C

Steve (nix240) did tons of hardware and metal on his 240z, basically everything that wasn't painted. It takes some experimenting evidently to get your process down and you have to be careful not to contaminate the different baths. I had some hardware done by Norm (Zeddsavers) and it came out real nice but there is shipping and always the chance something gets lost. This way I can plate things as I come to them. It should pay for itself before I am finished. The biggest limitation is the power source. To do large things like the headlight baskets and window regulators you need a lot more power. (.14 A per Squ. inch). Larger power sources can get expensive but they are easily resold when your done. I may just stick to little stuff and have Norm do the few larger things I want done but don't have enough power to handle. I have 5 amps which should be good to 35 inches (counting both sides) I am still trying to figure out prep and whether to acid dip before the Zinc tank. I have a blasting cabinet, vibrating polisher and of course a wire wheel. Just don't know which way to go yet. If I remember right Steve blasted them first then wire wheeled them before plating. Charles

I worked on building a plating station today. Scrap I had around the house. The ply is 1/2" treated, they say not to use OSB or chipboard as it will not hold up. Cut the holes for the buckets 11 1/4" in diameter. Left a space on the left for a crock pot to put SP degreaser in. C

Does this block have a factory deck height? C

If I have read all the posts in this thread correctly. The car ran properly and had been tuned last summer. Dizzy broke and got replaced and problem showed up. If that is the case, then start at the dizzy and don't move on until you are 100% sure that timing, advance and spark are totally correct. Charles

"OH- and stop using the word ISSUE when you are talking about a PROBLEM. Issues and problems are not synonymous" Unless you work for the NSA... C

You would think the FelPro info would be easy to find but Noooo. Not ever on their website. Just silly...Jegs doesn't have it, Summit racing doesn't have it, Rockauto doesn't have it... Charles

Either unplug them from the manifold and put a rubber cap on the manifold port and a hose clamp; on a hose put a bolt in the hose with a hose clamp, golf tees work good in little hoses. Try to remove as many of the possible sources of leaks as possible. If that fixes the weak and erratic idle then add them back one at a time to isolate which one is the problem. Another trick for when the idle slows down after a while when you just let it sit and idle. Add a battery in parallel with the one in the car. Just use jumper cables to a known good battery. Not a battery in another car! See if the extra capacity helps the idle stay where it should.. C

Did you ever plug all the vacuum lines and idle the car. Don't spray the brake booster with starter fluid. Plug the vacuum lines to everything and eliminate possible vacuum leaks. Check the ignition system thoroughly... C

I am getting ready to start using the Copy-Cad system from Caswell. I have been on the Caswell plating forum for help getting the process lined out but their forum seems to be rarely used and many threads have no responses. I have also read through all the threads I found on the forum, I thought this thread could sort of be used to combine the working knowledge of the experienced platers (ajmcforester, motorman7, nix240z and any others) on here and I would add in where I could and my experiences as I go along. I spent a day with Steve (nix240z) with him showing me his process a couple of years ago and I am finally getting around to doing this. I have acquired the power supply and the chemicals came in this week. Some of my bigger questions are: How do you clean dirty hardware? Soak in solvents? Parts cleaner? Carb cleaner? How to you strip rust? Bead blaster? Acid? Vibrating polisher? Do you pickle or acid was to neutralize remainder of rust? Are you baking hardware for hydrogen embrittlement? Thanks, I look forward to some expert direction Charles

I have always wanted to add aux lighting on a z. I thought a smaller round light would look good, since the headlights are round and nothing about the car is squareish. Sort of like the rally cars but lower and tucked into the grill or airdam. Charles

That's a nice car. Don't car for the two tone paint. It will be interesting to see what it brings. At 10k now... C

So you are looking for a torque plate so you can provide it to the machinist? Not because you are using it at home... C

There is also a rubber part inside the large insulator at the top of the spring that will make noise if its left out (#50 on page 43). On the front there are bearings there, I believe. C

What I don't understand about some states, especially California. Why can't the FI be modified. You could probably get lower emissions with a more modern system than what is stock. They aught to exempt old cars that have cleaner emissions than stock. A good FI and a decent cat and many old 280's would burn nice and clean comparatively speaking... C

How does the yellow one "run strong" when the intake tubing is missing? C

When they rebuilt your suspension, did they torque the bushings loaded or unloaded? If they didn't torque it loaded that can affect the stance... C

They should be numbered. Are you can sometimes ID them by the size and location of the holes C

Mike That looks like a great drive. Charles

April Fools possibly???

Thanks for the info. I thought it looked like TIG. I have a MIG rig and have never tried TIG. Working in the front cowl area is no fun but the worked turned out well. Did you consider using the Tabco patch panels for the wheel arch and dogleg instead of fabricating from scratch? They are pretty close... Charles

Plug all of the vacuum ports you can. Any place on the manifold that uses vacuum. Distributor, emissions and the brake booster. Plug them all. See if the idle is more stable. You could have a bad booster, leaking dash pot on the distributor or some other concealed vacuum leak. Use rubber caps with clamps or put a bolt in the hose with a hose clamp. Dying when coming to a stop made me think of the brake booster... Charles