Captain Obvious

I'm not aware of any easy to convert to the wedge sockets for the gauges other than stripping wedge sockets out of something else and splicing them into your dash. Out of curiosity, why would you want to? Just to get rid of the flimsy bayonet base on those LED's? If that's the case, epoxy would be a lot easier. Lot easier. It's not like you have to do a thousand of them. You only need seven. The HVAC is already wedge. Use the one you "broke" in the HVAC position. Problem solved?

Most of the LED's I've messed with are somewhat fragile. The one you pictured is interesting for another reason as well... If you look around on the web, you'll find a very similar bulb in wedge base as opposed to the bayonet base in your pic above. But now that you have pulled the base of one of your bayonet versions, under close scrutiny you'll notice that one side of the wedge shaped base is actually ground down (probably on a belt sander in China) to fit inside the bayonet collar. It's the exact same bulb as the wedge base modified to fit into the bayonet. One side has a solid wire to the positive connection, and the other side is soldered (sometimes not too robustly) directly to the bayonet base. If you want more mechanical stability, I recommend mixing up some epoxy and dripping it down into the base. Fill it all the way up to the top of the metal bayonet collar. That will help keep it from rotating in the future and breaking the soldered connection.

Those hub/bezel rings sound interesting. Have you got any pics of them installed?

I've never measured 350Z seats, but seat width is a critical factor when considering replacements for later cars because of the catalytic convertor bump out on the floor. The mounting points for 77-78 are also less "universal". Putting different seats into 240's and 260's is easier than putting different seats into 77-78 280's. I know this isn't a generic seat replacement thread, but I'm now rockin' Fiero seats. Most comfortable seats right out of the factory that I've ever pressed butt into. Have you measured the width of the 350Z seats?

Yup. The ability to use the same arm on either side went away when they changed to the 77-78 design. With the later design, the lock body itself is interchangeable to either side, but the arms are unique to each side. It's all because of the shape of the shaft sticking out the back of the lock body and the corresponding hole where the arm goes onto the lock. The shaft and hole on the early design is symmetric, but the hole on the later design is not. I'm not sure why they ever changed the shape of that linkage, but if I had to guess, it was because they were trying to fix the issue where the back of the lock body would deform and smear with use and not work anymore because it had become too smooshed. (The reason you used that coat hanger fix.) I would surmise they believed the new design was more robust than the early versions. I don't know about how many lock cycles you get for each design before they fail, but I do know that the later designs do eventually suffer the same fate as the earlier versions. It may take more cycles to get there, but they all eventually fail in the same sorta way. The big difference after all these years, however, is that you can replace your early design locks with cheap replacements. And until the new product offering from Zcardepot that was no replacement option with the later versions. So what may have been an advantage of having a more robust design is actually now a hindrance (until now) because you can't get replacements. I expect that Zcardepot's locks will fail in the exact same way as the early version locks did, but at least now you can repair or replace them when that happens. And you and I may be dust by the time that happens. As for how your modified arm fits onto the lock, I say it's not as tight as the originals because of the gaps on the sides. It's been a while since I looked at lock stuff, but I believe that the originals fit more snugly on the shafts. I thought the only gap was where the dead travel was needed. I have a box of lock stuff around here somewhere and I might have some of the new design locks. I'll take a look when I get a chance.

Nice. Not as tight of a fit on the shaft as the original arm, but looks like it would work. One other thing to consider though... Are you sure you've got enough linkage travel to lock and unlock the door? I don't remember how much dead travel there was on the original version, but since you're adapting one hole style to another shaft shape, you might have changed the amount of travel. Also might be nice to take a good close-up pic of the centering springs for those who aren't familiar. I took a look through my old lock pics (get it?) and I didn't take any of those. I was in such a hurry to get my locks back together that I didn't do a great job of documenting my work.

Second. That looks great!

Haha!! Exactly! I knew my bud has my back when I throw that stuff out there!! One of the greatest movies ever. As a matter of fact, I was considering Waco Kid as my nickname here, but didn't want to continuously field the question "Are you originally from Texas?" So I went for something a little more realistic. OK, a lot more realistic. I also considered Mongo, Black Bart, and Governor Le Petomane (you should look that one up...)

"As chairman of the welcoming committee, it is my privilege to extend a laurel, and hearty handshake."

Well I hope I'm not sounding like a know it all either as I'm certainly no carb expert. Heck, I've never even taken the 72 versions apart. Haha! Jarvo, Thanks for the info on the 72 alignment cones. I've held the 72 versions and looked them over casually but they weren't mine, so as much as I wanted to, I couldn't disassemble them. And I'm loony, but if I was mixing and matching parts and had binding pistons, I would heat and dig out the existing nubs, make myself an alignment tool, fixture and lock the chamber into it's new correct position, and epoxy inject myself a new set of nubbies. A little release agent on the chambers before fixturing.... Clearly overkill, and a good example of why why my projects take ten thousand times longer than normal!

Without seeing the parts myself, I can't tell you where the interference is, but dropping it sure doesn't help. It doesn't have to be bent much. A thousandth in the wrong spot would probably be enough to cause the binding you're experiencing. Think about it this way... The only "seal" between the upper side and the lower side of that suction piston is the close fitting (but non-contact) dimensions of the OD of the piston in the ID of the suction chamber. Doesn't take much distortion to cause interference. Out of round chamber. Out of round piston. Bent damper tube, Bent needle. Bent mounting tab on chamber. The reason the binding goes away with the screws not installed is that the chamber and piston can squirm around just enough in whatever direction it wants to in order to move without binding. Doesn't have to be a lot of interference, and doesn't have to be a lot of squirm. You'll figure it out, and hopefully it's as easy as swapping out the piston and chamber. Maybe you'll have to remove the nubbies, maybe you'll get lucky. As for the alignment pins.... You really only need two alignment pins to establish repeatable positioning. That's why a third pin on the rear screw is unnecessary. On the flat tops, the nubbies are actually cone shaped and that shape does a better job of establishing position than a straight sided cylinder. Are the 72's cone shaped or straight sided?

I second the skepticism on it being a 10K mile car. I suspect it's a 110K mile car. Pics or it didn't happen. Redardless, however... Welcome aboard!

Best of luck with the replacement parts. Hope that fixes your carb issues. While you're waiting for parts to arrive, can you take a couple close-up shots of the suction chambers and the top of the carb bodies where the nubbies stick up? I've never seen those alignment pins on anything other than the flat top carbs. Sounds like they started that process in 72 and went on like that through 74. So your carbs don't have any provision for aligning the nozzle underneath? Sounds like (unlike the previous years) your nozzle position is fixed and the suction chamber is (was) the movable entity?

Cool. Hope some of the concoction works. Anyone know what type of binder they typically use in that composite stuff?

Haha! Ooops... Sorry. Mums the word. Good luck!

Haha!! Glad to help! And just so you know that I'm not making this stuff up and do actually I live it with you... Here's my most recent expedition to frustration land. Dipstick from my kid's car. Snapped off in the block: Used a jigsaw blade in an exacto knife handle to cut a slot in it. An angled center punch to collapse it on itself a little, and an ezout to grab it and pull it out. See the remaining little stub of the SOB in the lower right: And here's the final result: You are not alone.

Maybe I'm underestimating the flexibility of the stuff, but I give it about zero chance of success trying to use just the door panel clips to retain that shape. And I'm not sure relief kerfs would do it either. The word "snap" comes to mind. Followed by the word "$^!#!".

I believe the flush trim bit is the cutting tool you put in your woodworking router to shape edges on stuff. As in: "Rough cut to shape with a saw and then use a flush trim bit in a router to cut the edges to final shape."

When the simple mundane five minute job turns into hours and hours of misery and frustration. Been there. Done that. When you spend two hours trying to pull the wheel speed sensor out of it's rusty hole in the suspension and still snap it off in the process. When it takes an hour to get the crushed, mangled, and screwdriver speared remains of an oil filter off the block. When it takes two days just to get a frikin dipstick tube out of the block because it cracks off at the bottom. When it takes a week to change your thermostat because the bolts snap off. You are not alone.

How would you handle the bend near the bottom? Flat is easy, but have you bent/formed/contoured Masonite? Sounds like you've got some experience working with the stuff? Soak it and dry it in a press? Maybe a little heat?

Wow. Good luck to him! That's got to be a rare bird for the person who just has to have the real thing. Seems to me that I could pretty much "convert" my 77 glass to 69/70 JDM glass with a scraper blade and some acetone...

Well there's no guarantee that those alignment nubbies will line up with your replacement suction chamber, but certainly TRY them first before you remove them. You might get lucky and have a temporary local relaxation of Murphy's Law. Doesn't hurt to try first. When you think about the geometry, you really need to be very close. You're trying to stick a 95 thousandths diameter pin into a 100 thousandths diameter hole and (in a perfect world) have it not contact anywhere around the perimeter. They couldn't hold the necessary tolerances at the factory, so they resorted to characterizing every carb instead by fixturing them and using "cast in place" alignment pins instead. And if you do cut the alignment pins off, remember that you're going to have to realign those suction chambers each and every time you ever take them off again in the future. (Same goes for you Cliff!)

Earlier you said that you have a 3 pot. (I'm assuming that means you have three screws holding the suction chamber to the carb body?) I've not messed with those personally and am wondering... Does that version have the little epoxy alignment nubbies sticking up into suction chamber to align the chamber to the body? If that's the case, then there's no guarantee that a replacement suction chamber will align correctly onto your existing body. It's a surmountable issue, but something to watch out for.

Despite the simplicity of the carbs design, they are actually precision instruments with some very precise dimensions in a couple spots. I'm not completely sure what part you dropped, but if you dropped the dome or the piston on the floor and bent either piece, then I think you're in the market for replacement parts. The clearance fit between those two parts is crucial and if it's not right, it will affect mixture ratio. If you're sanding parts to get the piston to rise and fall smoothly after dropping something, then the whole "constant velocity" part of your CV carb could be thrown off.

Wrong. The correct response is "He's a desperate man". I'm disappointed you weren't all over that... I though you had my back!