grannyknot

Mike, you're a good Z man.

Steve, I hope he finds something conclusive for you, or atleast it all sparks up nicely when you get it back together. Nothing worse then multiple gremlins.

Torby, personally, I would cut the console before bending the shifter. The part of the console that needs cutting is mostly covered by the shift boot anyway. Or if you use the console that has the sliding ashtray cover from the late 72 then you should have no interference at all, those consoles had a longer shift boot opening then the earlier ones. Chris

Mike there are so many good parts on that car! The rear quarters, the doors, the fenders, no one is making anymore of those. Chris

Or, you can use KIA Sportage door seals like many of us have with good results. $20 at the wreckers or new from Kia. Chris

dj, please update if you find anything, I know I have a tight engine but that 0 reading on the gauge always catches my eye. Thanks, Chris

Thanks Jim, wise words.

Steve, the braided hose is for originality only, I think I paid $10 for my knock offs and they are good quality. The rear tube on my 72Z is 1/2" dia. Chris

Hi Guys, I think I'm going to have to part her out, have been digging into it the last couple of weeks and just finding more and more rust. There are 2 ways I could save it, have the body chemically dipped to remove all rust then weld in all the patches and restore everything as usual or substitute a solid unrusted body and add all of the restored parts to it. When I do the arithmetic either way it comes out to about $14-15,000 outlay not counting any of my labour, heat and electricity for the garage or the hundreds of dollars in incidentals. I doubt I can sell it for much more then break even if that. Any ideas? The thing that really gets me is this 2.4L engine a 4spd tranny are in near perfect condition mechanically. Good compression numbers, nice even idle and the 4spd is tight and smooth. But who wants a 2.4 and a 4spd these days? They are sold by weight for scrap. I have a nice Z and really don't have the space, time or money for a second, This is not a good day, Chris

Mark, looks fantastic! It appears they are doing things properly. But that only leaves 1.5 months for reassembly and working the bugs out. What is the weather like in Alberta mid Oct.? Is that a stock colour for a 71 ? Great colour. Chris

sorry, double post

Is the etching on the inside or outside of the glass? Maybe they were switched left for right?

Tamo3, as the guys have said above you'll probably have to make your own but just be sure you use closed cell foam, you don't want that foam soaking up water and holding it. Chris

Mike, you are wise to go slow but removing the tar mat from the floor is not a bad thing, that is where the rust starts. From your pics it looks like a well taken care of Z but the rust spots that you show are directly above where the rails are spot welded in. If you remove the rest of the tar mat on the floor, driver and passenger side, you will probably find the same rust spots in a parallel strip on both sides. Chris

Something has to hold the car together! I think I'm going to replace the floors first and then do the doglegs and rockers so things don't get bent out of shape.

I really had no intention of buying another one but when I saw the ad for this car it was obvious that it was going to need a complete restore or it was going to the wreckers. Floors are completely gone, passenger side rear quarter and rocker are a mass of rust and bondo, it's bad but I know I can save it. The metal work and some of the body I can do without too much trouble but I'm not looking forward to the dog legs. I brought it home this afternoon and the more I dig into it the better it gets. Built Sept. 1971, Butterscotch interior, the original green is in the pic of the spare tire well (and it's going back to that colour) 2 owners, a father and then the son, it has been stored the last 20 yrs in a dry garage, numbers matching engine with documented 77,000 mi on the ODO, dealer installed A/C almost all service work was done at St Clair Datsun where it was purchased new, and look at this, The original plastic plate frame in usable condition! This thing is like a time capsule, except for the paint and wheels there are very few modifications. I'm not really big on keeping cars original but this one will be restored stock. Here's some pics, There will be lots more pics as I delve into it. My 2 girls, Thanks, Chris

The original AC units for the series 1 cars, were they installed by the factory or the dealers? Thanks, Chris

I would put a zerk in there if for nothing more than keeping the grit out, also, most grease zerks have a conical thread that is coarse enough to make its own threads. Just don't tighten too much. Chris

Cliff, funny that you posted this just now as I was about to ask the same question. I'm looking at an Isky stage III for my N42 head. I have read many times from guys on this forum that they regretted buying a stage I or II after installing a stage III. I heard that the idle with a stage III is quite good and useable in a day to day situation. I'll be watching the replys. Chris

Chuck, I used this thread to help me restore my early steering wheel and it worked well. The cloudy white stuff is mostly from the sun I think and just underneath is new material.

The rear wheel bearings on my 1970 had 150,000 miles on them when I pulled them off during the resto. They were working perfectly but I was replacing everything wearable. As I remember, the inside bearing behind the seal was open and was packed with some pretty hard grease, the outer bearing was sealed on both sides. Both or I should say all four bearings where replaced with sealed bearings. Anyone else find the same thing? Chris

Have you bled the master cylinder? There are 2 bleed screws on the side of the m/c

Well I don't know about that but I sure am glad I opened one up, very intimidating at first but after spinning it and playing with for a few hours you come to realize that it's a very simple mechanism. Hey Chas, you remember that rattling sound coming from my stick shift that I have been chasing around for two yrs? The rattling sound that I rebuilt a perfectly good working 5 spd tranny (that now drops out of 4th) and a driveshaft that also didn't need to be rebuilt or balanced? Well, the problem turned out to be the cheesy MSA stickshift knob, the threads that mate with the stickshift lever were over sized and although tighten up still rattled at a high fequencey then were amplified by the 1"dia hole drilled through the wooden knob and the thin metal plate on top with the 5 spd diagram on it acted as a drum skin and made it very loud. The fix was accomplished by wrapping the the shift lever threads with plumbers teflon tape, stuffing the echo chamber inside the knob with foamy earplugs and reattaching the 5 spd diagram plate with flexible sealant. The car is quiet now and that is beautiful! I sure hope this trick helps someone else, it was hard won. Chris

I wish I had asked this question before I removed the offending tranny and installed the spare one. The shift lever bushes and end caps are all new as are the bearings and syncro rings however I did re-use the check balls and springs so that is a good place to start. I could easily hold the shift knob in place with two fingers on deceleration but I remember it was very easy to shift out of 4th so the check ball could be the problem. Chas, how important do you think the countershaft front bearing shim thickest is? I didn't have anyway of measuring it so re-used the shim that was installed when I dismantled. Thanks, Chris

One of the two close ratio 5 spds that I rebuilt last winter jumps out of 4th gear on deceleration. It was rebuilt using the correct rebuild kit and I'm sure it all went back together properly. I want to open it up again this winter to try and fix it but I really don't what I would do differently, any ideas? Thanks, Chris