hall.nathan89

I can make those with my custom vinyl business. Just let me know nathan@stickaroundvinyl.com

I totally agree with that! As a side note: 210,000 miles is nothing to worry about... The last '83 that I had (got totalled in an accident about a year ago) had 296,000 on it when we bought it and 308,000 by the time we rebuilt the engine. At the time of its death, it drove great and only needed a few relatively minor repairs (rear suspension bushings, rack and pinion, and a few other things).

Well, granted I'm no expert, and I live in the best-case-scenario state for these cars, but I'd personally say YES. It will be reliable once again. My newest '83 took me months of chasing problems, but now that I've done it all, It starts right up every time and drives like a champ. I can even let it sit for two weeks and come back to it, and I don't have any problems. That being said, the previous owner put a lot of new parts into it (including the engine and manifold out of an '81 automatic; which accounted for a great deal of my problems) But I also know that in the local clubs down here, there are several people that started with cars much like yours and built them up to be great looking and great driving cars! It's really a matter of your preference and what you can find; if you can sell that one for $3000 and buy somebody's fully restored job for $4000, then I'd say you may have saved yourself a lifetime supply of asprin. If you like doing the work, however, then it may be worth it to chase the problems and make your car your own, and something to be proud of. So to answer your question in a much shorter way: Can it ever be reliable again? Yes! Should you put the time, effort, and money into it? That's entirely up to your preference! Hope that helps

I appologize for the quality, but I only spent about 10 minutes on this, and in the pic, the decal is still on my machine. It should be a good representation of what's possible though, so let me know if you'd like me to persue it further. PM or email is probably the best way to get ahold of me. use hall.nathan89@gmail.com

If someone can take a good enough pic, I'll make them for you. I'll look around and see what I can find in the meantime.

Haha Yes, some of them do feel that way. Typically that problem is due to one of two things: The person that made them either used the wrong grade of vinyl (sign grade instead of clothing grade), OR they didn't have their heat press correct (Temp too low, not pressed long enough, etc...) In many cases, sign grade vinyl is used on football jerseys just to increase the resilience, so if that's what you're referring to, then that's probably what you felt. Then again, many people just don't like vinyl on tshirts. We don't have to go that route, I just thought I'd mention the option

I don't do silk-screening, but I'm looking into buying a heat press. With that piece of equipment I can do vinyl on t-shirts, and it comes out very high quality, and nice looking (It's how the numbers are applied on [most] pro sports jerseys. If there's enough interest in shirts here, I may just spring for the heat press. Mike: PM is about to be sent

Ok! Now the big question... Who's Mike and how do I get ahold of him? :-P

Somebody mentioned a sticker somewhere in all of this. I just thought I'd mention that I have a small vinyl sticker and sign business and I'd be willing to do the stickers pretty cheap. A friend of mine is in a national web-based Jeep club and they've got vinyl stickers with their screennames on them. Depending on the complexity, quantity and color, I'd do them for $2-4 +S&H each (personalized). Then the club could add their cut. Depending on the arrangement, each one would probably sell for $5-7 through the site. Just a thought. If you're interested, let me know.

I've recently started working on a '76 that's been parked for 10 years. After 10 years, there is a lot of work to be done, but the reason it was parked in the first place were the bad struts. The last time I did struts I think I was 10 years old helping my dad on an '81 280ZX. I'm planning on doing it this weekend, so I looked at the FSM and that made the whole process about as clear as mud . It makes it look like I have to remove the whole assembly, but I'm fairly certain that that isn't the case. Also, it doesn't talk about compressing the springs, which I'm pretty sure I'll want to do if I value my life. Am I just looking in the wrong place in the FSM? Any Pointers? Thanks!

Saving manual labor or not, I'm not sure I'll be trying that trick. I think I'd rather keep my tank in its original geometry I suppose if Red were going to solve the problem, he'd probably duct tape it to a spare tire, and duct tape that to the one on the car. Personally, I think I'll do it the hard way. After all, I am a man (but I can change... if I have to... I guess.) So what should I use to clean it if I don't need to seal it again. It's been sitting in a climate controlled garage all 10 years, so I suspect it's probably ok in terms of rust. Do I just use mineral spirits or something like it? Do I use more gasoline?

Yeah, I think that's what I'll have to do. Oh well. Where did you get the POR15 kit?

Well the '81 is in my woodshop; a pretty good place to do a project like that. The '76 is at my wife's uncle's house burried under boxes. So I figured if I could do that, I'd only have to transport a tank once. It's not a huge deal, just inconvenient. In retrospect, I suppose I didn't buy a 35 year old japanese car that's been parked for 10 years for the convenience of it all :-P

Ok thanks! I would just go look, but both neither car is at my residence, and they are both 5 miles from each other... Not ideal for comparison :-)

Well, it's finally time to start working on my '76 280Z. It's been sitting for 10 years, and I've recently confirmed that there was at least a gallon or two of fuel in it at the time that it was parked. The tank is the first thing that I'm going to go after, but I have a question about it. I have an '81 280ZX that I use for parts on my '83. Would that tank fit the '76? If so, it seems like it would be easier to pull that tank, clean it out, and then just do a clean swap. What do you guys think? This is my first try at an S30, and I'm super excited to get it running! Thanks!