Captain Obvious

Haha! You looking for something specific? :pirate:

Wade, Yeah, you should be getting more than 100-200 RPM difference out of the AAR. Wonder what's wrong with yours... Haha! So you're thinking that I should get into the AAR rebuild business? What's a new AAR cost these days?

FastWoman, I think what you described to oil the pivot pin would work fine, but I'm not sure there is anything in there to rust. The shutter is aluminum, and I believe the pivot pin is chromed steel. Of course, there's the possibility that you have worn through the chrome plating on the pin and have developed some rust, but I think that's unlikely. Mine wasn't rusty inside, but did have some sticky oil residue from the PCV system. As for getting oily stuff out, the first thought is some kind of solvent, but I'm not completely comfortable with that approach. I know others (TomoHawk for example) have had good success doing that, but it worries me a little for two reasons. a) I don't know what kind of insulation they used on the resistive heating element and I don't know if it would like the solvent, and Some of the shutter blades I've seen have a coating on them that I assume is supposed to provide a thin elastomeric surface to better seal against the inside face of the high vacuum side of the clamshell. Problem is that I don't remember if that rubber type coating was on the Z car AAR, or another one from a different car. I've got a few of them I've messed with at this point, and I don't remember which had coatings and which ones didn't. If I had to guess, I believe the Z was uncoated so it should be OK, but you should take a look inside through the holes first to confirm that all you see is aluminum. Maybe just try to keep the heating element on the uphill side so it doesn't soak in the solvent? I'm wondering if your pivot pin has creeped out some like mine did. You could file the crimped lip off, poke around inside, and then epoxy it back together. Wouldn't be quite as field serviceable as what I've got, but you could file the epoxy off again in the future if you needed to get it open again. A little heat would soften it up too. Do you have a spare AAR or just the one that's on the car?

I understand. I'm in the same boat. I picked up those other wheels and have since decided that I would rather have a better original than a 240 or aftermarket.

I was expecting you to be asking about differences in the keys used for the American and European 260z. So for what you really meant... If you're that serious about it, you might consider making sure everything is in tip-top shape and then get a dyno run done to establish a baseline. You might be surprised by what you are getting out of your current engine.

I'll trade you a 240 "wood" wheel or a Grant GT. :bulb: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread47775.html

The connectors are easy to install... Put the "U" shaped metal retainer clip fully into place before you push the connector onto the injector. The connector is designed such that the retainer metal will push out of the way as you force the connector onto the injector and then "click" into place once the connector is fully seated. No muss, no fuss. Taking them off is much more difficult than putting them on.

geezer, Thanks again for the info. I don't know how deep stain penetrates, but it sure does look like the wood color, doesn't it? Is your plastic insert split? It looks like a crack along the back top in your pic? I'm thinking for my next knob attempt I'm going to make an insert like that, but I'm going to make mine out of metal. Either aluminum (easier to work with), or stainless (will look more like the original and will stay shiny longer). hls30.com, Thanks for your info too. I've got a line on a solo retired pin that is just itchin' to be turned into a shift knob...

Thanks for the pics geezer. Your stock knob is certainly much darker than the other OEM knob pictures I've seen. Are you sure it wasn't stained darker than original? Maybe it was completely dunked and is stained on the inside hole as well making it look like it's the natural wood color? Speaking of wood types..... Anyone know what kind of wood bowling pins are made out of? :bandit:

FastWoman, The trickiest part was drilling and tapping for the screws to hold the clamshell back together. There isn't a lot of meat to work with there. I held the two clamshell halves together with a clamp and drilled the hole right on the seam between the two halves. That means for the first few turns of the screw, there are threads in both the front and back of the clamshell. Then, of course, once you get deeper, the front part of the shell ends and you've got a full hole in the back half. Doing a pretty shoddy job of describing that, I'm sure... What else? I used 2-56 screws for the clamshell. Small is more important than strong. The bottom hole is blind. Don't remember what size I used for the flat head screw on the shutter blade or the retainer for the bending element. Haha! Yeah, I use a stunt double for my photos. This is what my hand look like. It's kinda embarrassing...

Using a small spring washer under the original pivot pin would work in a pinch, but the problem is the additional friction that it would provide. You don't want any stiction in the pivot as the resultant hysteresis could cause in unpredictable operation. The flat headed screw makes it such that I can tighten the screw to jussssssst a thousandth or so before it starts to bind. That way, I have good tight fit, but still no additional friction. I also noticed that the original pressed in pivot pin had a tendency to loosen up after the blade moved around a few times. I wanted something with threads so that I could threadlock it in place and not have it loosen up by accident. Speaking of the calibration marks, you can see how I have my AAR adjusted: Once it's warm, the window is completely covered (as it should be), but as you can see, at room temperature the window opening is pretty small. Because of that, my idle doesn't shoot high when the engine is cold, but pretty much stays constant. In other words, the additional flow through the AAR doesn't actually RAISE my cold idle, but in fact makes my cold idle the same as my warm idle. I need to open it up just a little more. I was fighting a high idle condition because the AAR was sticking open, and I overcompensated a little.

Been a while, but I haven't forgot about this thread. I got the opportunity to pull my AAR off the 280 to take some pics of the modifications I made. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the work in process, but I took some of the finished product. To recap... I used a lathe to cut off the crimped over lip that originally held the two halves of the clamshell together, cleaned everything up, and made some improvements while I was in there. Here's a shot of the inside. My calibration notes W = "Warm", R = "Room": While I had it apart, I didn't like the way the shutter blade wobbled on it's retainer pin and didn't always align properly to make a good seal against the inside of the housing. This can result in an incorrect high idle, so I pulled out the original pin and drilled and tapped for a screw instead of the original retainer pin. I countersunk the shutter blade to accept a flat head screw and screwed the shutter in place with very little play. Here's a shot of the screw, and I am holding the original pin: Then to put it back together, I drilled and tapped three small holes to accept screws to hold the clamshell back together: Here's a closeup where you can see how the screw is installed: I also drilled a hole for a retainer screw to keep the bending element in place: Used a little RTV silicone on the bending element and also between the two halves of the clamshell and then tighten up the screws. It works much better than new! No binding, no leaks, and I can easily take it apart again if future cleaning is necessary. And just for illustration, here's a pic of the components:

Unless you got orangutan arms, you gotta ask the passenger to change the radio station for you!

I suspect you've got a vacuum leak somewhere and you are running way lean. Are you sure you didn't miss a vacuum port somewhere?

Got the second coat of stain on and here's what I've got. I've sent the original knob I had back to it's owner, so I can't do a side by side comparison for color, etc, but from the pictures, it looks surprisingly close for just happening to have a can of stain pushed to the back of a shelf in the basement. I've got some feelers out for some maple and some walnut to try again.

Hi Mike, Thanks for the pics. That looks fantastic. I don't know what you paid, but from the pics, they did a great job. Couple of questions if you don't mind: Are there finger grip indentations on the forward facing (unseen) side? Do you know if they completely removed the original rubber material before they started the reconstruction, and if they did... Do you know how they built the diameter back up before the final leather covering?

Hi Mike, Thanks much. I'd love to see some good pics of your redone rubber wheel. The "before" pics are less important... I know what that looks like.

Nothing? No info on anyone who refurbishes the black rubber wheels? And nobody wants to trade their cottage cheesy bubbly loose rubber wheel for a 240Z "wood" wheel or a Grant GT which already has the correct hub adapter? I figured people would jump all over a straight up trade offer like that... ? :paranoid:

I didn't specifically look for a seam on the OEM knob that recently passed through my shop, but I didn't see one. I do remember looking at the grain from all sides and noticing that it seemed whoever made it did a pretty good job of centering the knob in the original rough cut blank. I don't know woodworker terms, but what I'm trying to say is that the grain patterns looked symmetric from one side of the knob to the other. Two sides has ovals and the other two have edges of the grain disks. The ovals were pretty close in diameter from one side of the knob to the other. Since I got nothing to lose with my first attempt, I tried some of that ancient golden oak stain I found in the basement and I think it looks pretty good! Directions say I'm supposed to put on a second coat tomorrow, so after that's done I'll take a new pic and post it here. Then, I guess my next order of business will be to get my hands on a higher quality chunk of wood and really try to make one like OEM. So anyone have input into how long I would have to wait until I could make a knob out of wood that was felled last week in the storm?

What options are there for having the 260-280 black rubber steering wheels recovered? On a related note... Anyone want to trade their black rubber 260-280 steering wheel for either a Grant or a Datsun faux wood 240 wheel? I've got one of each and would trade either one for a 260-280 wheel that I can mess with. I don't care how squishy or cottage cheesed the rubber is... :sick:

Not a chance. I've just reviewed both, and I can tell you that the steering wheel is definitely a man made material, and the original knob is definitely real nature created wood. Huh huh... Huh huh... You "like wood".

Thanks olzed. I have no experience in the field, so I'm shooting blanks. Thanks for the ideas. So I've got one vote for maple, and one vote for sap walnut. Anyone else got a theory they would like to share? I've got a maple down in the back yard now due to Sandy... How long would I have to wait until I could make a knob out of wood grown on my own property? Might just be me, but I think that would be cool. grannyknot, I don't mind at all. Bring on the knobs.

I don't think there is much risk of flooding regardless of the throttle position. I don't think it matters. The carbs supply fuel proportional to the air flow and inversely proportional to the venturi area. If you've got the plugs pulled, then you'll have minimal air flow. The only cylinder that would be pulling any air in through the carb will be the one currently under test. The other five will be huffin-n-puffing through their spark plug holes. I'm thinking that even if you do manage to pull any fuel into the one cylinder under test, it'll dry out as soon as you move to the next cylinder?

Where would I start? I would check my floor mat to make sure it isn't interfering with the gas pedal. (They call me Captain Obvious!!)

I'm not convinced on the walnut thing... Seems to me that the grain is too pronounced. Here's a good thread that talks about the original knob. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread37451-2.html. From that thread, here's a pic of the original (left) and Nissan's current replacement offering (right): I would guess that the one on the right is definitely walnut, but the original on the left. I'm not so sure. The grain looks too (don't know what the correct term is, but...) "smooth". When you get your knob back and can take a better look, let me know what you think. olzed, Tinker or gunsmith is certainly better than the village idiot! I've done a lot work on paintball guns in years gone by. Does that count? So looking at that good pic of the original knob, can you make a better guess as to what type of wood was used?