skillinp

Man, EE was definitely one of the tougher classes for me in college, and it's still intimidating! However, I think I understand you here. Is that anything to be worried about, do you think? The part in EE they never explained (annoyingly) was what the real-world consequences would be for various scenarios, like this one. Thanks!

I'll have to check that out, thanks for the reply!

Hi! I was having some trouble with my left headlight being really dim compared with the right hand side (yet according to my multimeter, the connection was still pulling 12V), so I looked around and found it might be a fuse problem or a ground problem. I looked here: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/electrical-s30/4684-fuse-box-73z.html Found the fuse that I needed to check, the upper right hand one. I pulled it and just for kicks, turned the lights on. Nothing changed. I still had the dim left hand light. Um wat? Put the fuse back in after dusting if off with my fingers, the light is now 100% But I think that the fact that the left hand light still worked, albeit at only partial strength, must indicate something else as being wrong. How could the light work at all without the fuse? Should I be checking for crossed wires or something having melted? Thanks! Paul

Sorry, was gone for some time, here's what it looks like now:

This will probably be the last update for this specific issue that I will write. The car is basically finished. Everything is wrapped, and tonight I'm reattaching my fiberglass bumpers which I painted glossy black. In a few days, I'll be getting the rest of the interior body panels put in place with plastic rivets, though I'm not really sure if that's what I'm supposed to use... I guess it was what was there before so it should be fine. The driver side door is hanging kinda low, I tried a couple things, but none of them fixed it I need to clean it both externally and internally, there is some grease and silicone on the outside that will be fun to remove. I somehow lost the right hand fender light (turning signal I guess?), so unless I find it soon, I'll be ordering a new one. Same with the plastic bit that connects to the rod for the passenger door's door handle and the latch. I used this 3m spray that's supposed to be good stuff, but it left a mess all around the areas I used it, and it doesn't seem to hold the weatherstripping in place like I had hoped. I might need to reapply something else instead. The hatch lock isn't in place correctly, but I'm not too worried about that since I'm going to re-key all the locks soon anyway. That'll probably be the next step, actually. After that, maybe some new tires and wheels, or brakes, or an MSD ignition system... maybe even fender flares and an BRE spoiler. Anyway, here's how it came out:

Sorry for the late reply, for some reason I didn't get a notification of your reply to this thread. The single piece from MSA (the one that was from precision origionally) was too long, I had to cut it back by about two inches on each side of the hatch. The three piece fit perfectly, but again, that was a problem because the middle third was all messed up.

I got the part from MSA in mail today. Exactly the right shape and everything. The bag it came in was labeled precision, so I guess that's one place that's making them correctly.

I guess black dragon has since gotten a new source, or perhaps just a bad batch. MSA seems to have the single piece in stock, I just ordered mine today. If they end up telling me they actually don't have it, I'll probably pick up a more expensive piece from vintage rubber.

Yeah, it might be new, but I linked it in the description. Guess I'll pick one up. Thanks for the feedback!

Alright, new handles it is.

Hey all, I bought black dragon's weatherstrip kit recently. Everything seems to be fitting about as well as I had hoped, but I've come across an issue with the upper outside hatch seal (the type that's broken into three parts). The top section is supposed to look sort of like this: Instead, it looks like this: Which I think means that it isn't going to sit as well, or be as effective. I'm considering dropping a couple bones on MSA's "Rear Deck Outer Weatherstrip, One Piece Top & Sides", but I'm not sure that it is something I should worry about, or maybe I should stick with the three piece system and simply get a better top third section from another source, like MSA, Vintage Rubber or Precision (though I'm not sure if I would actually get a better quality product, since I don't know the sourcing for these parts). Anyone have any thoughts/experience on/with this? Thanks!

My roommate actually helped me out with this one, we dug pretty deep, though not as deep as we could have gone (we didn't do the floor panels or underbody) but we did take out, seal off and repair the metal under the fenders, along the front of the roof, along the rear of the roof, where the seals met the metal (and replaced all the seals)... it's not quite done, but I have a lot of pictures uploaded with the process documented in two albums you should be able to see on my profile. I know this won't keep rust at bay forever, but it will buy me a good amount of time before I need to do a whole body strip down and repaint from bare metal or a new car or whatever.

I've decided that not all parts are worth the effort of wrapping, for example, I just rattle-canned the grill in flat black, and it seems to work just fine. I might have to touch it up every now and then, but that'll save me a lot of trouble since the wrapping would be a huge pain in the butt. Something of note for anyone who wants to wrap anything: don't start out with the hood. It may be flat-ish, but the fact that it's so big and actually not very flat at all makes it good to do once you've figured out the rest. I'm going to re-wrap the hood, now that I sort of know what I'm doing. Instead, start out with the inspection lids. Those are the smallest and flattest. If you screw them up, it won't put you back 15+ square feet. Then move on to the doors, fenders, roof and rear quarter. I still haven't done the headlight scoops because they are going to be a major pain, so I'm just putting that off as long as possible.

Hi all, just stripped the paint off my 73 240Z so I could wrap it in vinyl, and I've come across a problem that has stumped me (granted, this doesn't take much). I recently replaced my driver side door handle because it broke (fatigue and age, I guess), so now it is a nice shiny chrome surface. The passenger side was covered in paint by whoever the previous owner was. Since I've taken off the paint (I used acetone, not an abrasive surface), I've found that the passenger's handle wasn't in the best shape, and looks quite a bit more dull and beat up than the driver's side handle. Is there anything I can do short of re-chroming the handle to make them match a bit better? I've thought chrome spray paint - maybe, but probably more just gray than chrome colored, or sanding it, though unlike much of the car's shiny bits, I'm guessing this isn't just some stainless steel with a high shine on it. (passenger side on left, driver side on right in case it's not obvious) Thanks for any help anyone can provide

Found these review mirrors on eBay: Here Got them for Christmas, thought they looked like they were made from crappy cheap plastic (probably are, I mean the name on the sticker says Phanton when I'm guessing it was supposed to say Phantom) Lots of flashing made them look sort of bad as well, I thought. I took a razor, cut off the excess flashing, sanded down where I cut. Then I sanded the whole of the exterior, cleaned with acetone (which seemed to react with the plastic once the outside was sanded off) and rattle canned in flat black to match the rest of my nearly finished matte black car that I'm currently finishing the wrapping of (in vinyl).\ I think it looks pretty good now, and here's a couple pictures for reference: (the last picture shows original on left, painted on right, except the paint is not quite fully dry) The main reason why I wanted them was because they look so much more like they are JDM, but a fraction of the cost (I'm seeing JDM go for around $300 online, and that's when I can find a source), and these will be better than the bullet style mirrors which I find too short.