grannyknot

@Namerow I think John did a complete complete tear down of a prop. valve not too long ago.

Moelk, I will gladly trade you all my space for your beautiful Z, do we have a deal?

My experience exactly, the 123 distributor is a good investment.

And so they should, I did a stint on a car assembly line when I was younger and it was brain numbing, soul sucking kind of work. No union at this plant and management was always pushing for more output, but then on the other hand a few years after that I worked as a gardener for the city with a bloated public sector union, I remember being told by the union rep."What's the rush? Slow down, you're making the other guys look bad"

Mine is similar to this but with much thicker fabric and tensioned with straps. http://www.eastcover.com/productsny.aspx?ProductsID=37&cid=23

I go to place down in the industrial area that is sort of a metal supermarket, I would think most cities have something similar. That piece of aluminum sheet was $35. Hardware stores will charge you 4 x what you will pay at a metal shop.

If you have the land you might consider one of those industrial storage tents, a fraction of the cost of a structural shed and no permits. I have a 20'x40' storage tent which is also filled with stuff but it's good dry storage space.

How true, I have lots of doubles and triples, you can never have too many tools.

I rigged up this splitter brace to keep the air dam stiff, those rectangular pieces grab onto the inside lip of the air dam. It works pretty well but I didn't get a piece of aluminum wide enough to cover the full width so I will probably build another one. Hope this helps.

I know exactly where everything is most of the time,

Congrats, I was watching the auction, looks like a very clean car with only a few minor paint issues. You will have to get use to all the thumbs up you will be getting now, have fun.

Finding those two panels NOS will be a very tall order if not impossible, your best bet would be to cut out that section from a parts car and have it grafted in or drill out the spot welds and re work your original panels. I'm not sure how much it is done anymore but some body shops use a rack, chains and hydraulics to pull/stretch a chassis back to spec. If you can find a shop that still does it, that would be the fastest and cheapest way to fix the problem.

Hi Kevin, welcome to the forum. I remember those Chinooks, walk out the door in a parka and realize a T shirt will do it. I think you will find everything you need here, good bunch of guys with lots of experience.

Looks good, the replacement strut lift is charged with gas and oil and the manufacturer recommends installing 180 degrees from where you have it now so the rubber seals are always lubricated, probably not a big deal but thought I would mention it.

Yes the ball studs come with the lift strut, at least they came with mine. That strut will have no problem lifting your hatch with a spoiler and louvers, very strong smooth unit but it isn't hard to close. That's why I had to replace the original lift, the spoiler was just a little too heavy for it and it was 45yrs old so it did its job well for a long time.

Here is a recent thread I did on a new hatch lift. Not sure if the original design is available, this is the one I ordered, hard to beat at $21.00 Works perfectly. https://www.liftsupportsdepot.com/strong-arm-4313-gas-charged-nissan-hatchback-lift-support-strut-10029w/

Yes that's the one, drain or drive the car enough so the gas level is well below the round sensor opening. It's always good to replace the O ring and locking ring at the same time, http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/CTGY/classic17d03

That's a good question, I'm pretty sure the blasting will remove any contamination from the acid but it wouldn't hurt to sprinkle some baking soda around the area if it is going to be a while before the basting gets done. Try as you might, you can never get the rust out of the seams unless the spot welds are drilled out and the panels separated. Media blasting or even chemical dipping only gets the visible rust.

Are they saying the rubbing alcohol is alkaline enough to neutralize the muriatic acid?

You could delete the spare tire well as many others have done to gain gas tank room, you could also extend the rear valance farther down under the car like the old Jags so it covered the tank. Are those skulls on your brake lights?

That's what your winter looks like eh? I'm living in the wrong part of the world, -32C tonight with the windchill factor

I've tried that before, didn't go over very well Nothing like a box full of nice new parts, your car looks in pretty good shape without too much rust, are you going to tackle the suspension next?

and another $70k to get it in shape, could be a fun project though.

You're not going to push it around like that are you? All that work.

It's a big job but in every Z's life that console panel with the heat and vent levers has to come off and be cleaned and lubed, that also gives you a chance to check the push/pull cables (stiff wire rods) clean and lube them as well. You have to detach the wire cables at the heater box in four locations, it is a pain because you have to cram yourself up into the foot wells under the dash. You may also find that the problem lies in the heater box itself and not the control panel. There are also some good threads in the archives that go through the procedure.