SteveJ

Here's proof that preparing for the Judged Car Show can make you dog tired.

I should add that there was some very light rain at the car show, but that did not dissuade any of the participants. We had about 100 cars entered into the show. The judges were busy...and thorough.

You can see people were really hustling to get their cars ready for the Judged Car Show. Video courtesy of Split Frame Studios (http://splitframestudios.com) who is one of the companies providing video and photo services to ZCON this week. Judged Car Show Prep.mp4

Nice job with the photos, Pat!

We had a torrent of people coming through for registration today. It was nice to see many familiar faces going through the line. I had the privilege of escorting Johnnie Gable over to the registration tables today. She was smart and arrived after the rush. The opening ceremony was tonight. Aside from the usual announcements and descriptions of events, we were treated to clips of videos shot by Johnnie Gable back at the 1995 convention in Atlanta. Also "Mad" Mike Taylor held a charity auction for someone to do three hot laps at Road Atlanta in the passenger seat of Randy Jaffe's BRE car. The driver, of course, would be none other than John Morton. Bidding escalated to $3000, and someone came in over the top with a $3500 bid just before "Mad" Mike could say, "Sold!" Randy was talking to the losing bidder who said that he just couldn't go higher than $3000. Randy responded by donating his car for another 3 hot laps. So, by Randy's efforts, ZCON 2018 raised $6500 for Make a Wish and Hurricane Michael Relief, in addition to our other charity efforts. I can't tell you much about the chili party because I needed to help back in registration after the opening ceremonies. When I got out of the hotel, I could see it had rained, though I don't know when that happened. The water patterns on my car caught my eye, and I had to stop and take photos. I plan to be at the Judged Car Show tomorrow.

I saw on FB a couple of hours ago that he is on his way.

Well, I saw the Jim's today. We're still dotting the last couple of "I"s on convention prep tomorrow so we are ready for the flood on Tuesday.

The drives were $10 per car. As far as I know, the drives were sold out. I think there will be maps for self guided drives.

Have you thought about doing some that would fit Konig Rewinds? That might be popular.

Argh! A spring broke on the garage door today. The Z is trapped for now. The repairman should arrive between 4 & 8 today. I can't complain about that. It just delays my final prep on my car.

If you can get it on Monday or wait until Sunday. I'm thinking I'm going to be in crazy mode most of the week.

The problem is that the ZCON organizers have a spy somewhere around here...

I will be doing my best to do photos and hopefully video with regular posting.

You guys who aren't coming will definitely be missed. Branson is the 2019 location, and I believe it will be in Nashville for the 2020 edition. I will definitely be at Nashville. I just hope that they take a cue from us and schedule during cooler weather. It's no coincidence that the celebration of the 50th anniversary will be at HQ Nissan NA. Nissan supports the Z car. I'm not sure the North American market supports the Z car...Heck, aside from the pony cars, I'm not what the North American market supports in the way of sporty coupes.

Unless you install the sensor at a water passage, that temperature will probably exceed 185, so you would be running your fans more than you need to.

Worst case scenario is that I'll be staying across the street from the Sonesta if you want to work on the headlights.

Unless there is a tornado, I don't expect any adverse impacts on any of our selected venues from Michael. He's in a hurry to go somewhere, and we're not going to try to stop him around here to chat a while. The 10-day forecast keeps changing every time I look at it, so it's hard to tell how the end of the week will be for ZCON. Ironically the car show days are the only ones with rain in the forecast.

We're less than a week away from the start of ZCON 2018. Registration for the week will close on Friday, 10/12, at midnight Eastern Time. If you are only planning to go on Saturday for the People's Choice/ZNationals show, online registration will remain open for a couple of more days after that. Please note that while you can still pay at the gate for People's Choice/ZNationals, lunch is an additional charge above admission. I hope to see you in Atlanta...well, make that Duluth, Braselton, Dawsonville, Buford, and Lawrenceville. ? Go to http://zcon.org/conventions/2018/?page_id=132 to register before it's too late.

Someone more familiar with pipe threads than myself will have to confirm, but I don't know if the thermostat housing used any NPT fittings.

If it's not on here in the Downloads section (see the link in my signature), try http://www.xenonzcar.com.

To me, it looks like it's for adjusting the phase difference in the dual pickup distributor. I don't know what the page is for the 77 FSM, but I believe it's described on page EE-29 of the 76 FSM.

My first thought was the same as Zed Head's.

Does that mean you have your Z rigged up to drive under water?

What is the voltage at the alternator at idle? I have gone to LEDs and electronic flashers for my turn signals, so I don't have enough of a load to move the ammeter.

If your ammeter was non-functional, it would affect many systems in the car, including making where you had no power to the ignition. A jump start wouldn't solve the problem, either. For a 73 with the ZX alternator swap, you have to be careful that you don't have the electric fuel pump modification in your car. That modification added some wiring that includes providing power for the fuel pump relay coil. Leaving this wiring modification in place after swapping in the ZX alternator will cause the relay coil to be energized all of the time. That will run down your battery. Keep in mind that if your electrical system is good, you won't see the ammeter move hardly ever. The ammeter was moving with the turn signals before probably because the voltage at idle was low. The voltage dip from the lights lighting up meant that the battery had to prop up the electrical system momentarily. The ammeter measures the flow between the battery and the alternator. All but a couple of electrical components are wired to the alternator side of the ammeter. (I believe the brake lights and hazard lights are two exceptions. They will light up with a blown ammeter.)