madkaw

Welll I wanted to use those brighter bulbs because they do make a nice improvement over the smaller wattage ones. I believe the that they are too long, but my fix was to file down the solder on the positive tip. There is quite a bit on the end of these bulbs and I probably took have of it off with a fine tooth file. Now the bulbs don't flicker at all. It does seem that this problem doesn't exist on all the sockets. I had issues with my oil pressure guage and speedo. I haven't takled the speedo yet because I'm not ready for that kind of pain. But for now the other guages are great. Drove the car around all night without a flicker:classic: If anyone sees any issue with this kind of fix-please speak up!!

Well I had several issues going on at once-but by far the brake issue was the scariest. The skim cut at the machinist cleaned up everything and the brakes will put you thru the windshield----but smoothly now;) The exhaust needed some resonators to help calm the resonance at 2500rpm. The drone was too loud and annoying to deal with. So I called Summit and ordered some cheapy 20$ resonators and installed them. The installation went smoother then I could imagine(it all actually fit under there), so I couldn't be happier. I still get some raspy resonance at 2500, but it is negligible. The only other thing to do is put some tail pipe resonator in. I've put about 125 miles on her now and I couldn't be happier with the sound and performance so far. I have limited myself to 4000rpm, but she pulls strong all the way from 1500rpm. Cruisin rpm at 80mph is about 3000-3200-I think I could put 390 gears in this thing. Temperature is rock solid, as well as oil pressure. My only conplaints are that I think I have a tire out of balance that is making a lot of road noise and I get tire rub on all corners-but it is very light. I don't know if i can squeeze anymore room out of my fender lips-so anyone selling their ZG's. I am going to make a last ditch effort to make the stock fenders work on Wed. Big items left to do are install carpet install plastic interior panels install front bumper change out faulty MSA instrument light bulbs:mad: Color sand and buff out car

Well I actually put some miles on the car, but with some issues. I believe i have brake rotor issues so I took all my rotors to the machine shop this morning to have them checked. the rear was really bad and I hope it is just the rotor. I had the hubs turned before I modded the rear kit on and I hope it was done right. Well the machine shop called as I am typing and said all the rotors need a touch. The rear was out .006+, so I hope that was the issue. He said the rotor had high spots so maybe that was the audible part that I was hearing. The good part was the motor felt good-although still pretty loud. i had to go with SM needles in my SU's since it was to lean-and it did make a nice change. I got to say that my family-especially my wife has been wonderful thru all of this. I am spending my entire week of vacation busting my arse on this car and doing NOTHING else. I need to make a decision whether I am going to make it to Zcon this weekend. A good day today would make a difference. I am also realizing that my body is not up to this pace. I have taken more tylenol this week then i ever have.

I finally got the car out and drove it around after sitting around years during resto. I have some issues right off the bat with my WILDWOOD brakes. I have a front end shimmy like a warped rotor and I have a knocking noise from the rear. I have to do more investigating, but I did find the front left bearing was loose and i tightened it-yet to test drive. Could or would a loose bearing cause the same symptoms as a warped rotor? In the same line of questions-would a loose rear wheel bearing cause the same thing? I can rock the rear wheel at the 6 and 12 oclock position and get a very small amount of play. The bearings were replaced, but i question whether I got enough torque on the bearings. The noise from the rear is almost like the rotor or pad is contacting something under braking. I've have pushed and pulled on everything under there, but the wheel is the only thing that has play.

I believe I use the stock crossmember with slight modification. I had to modify the tranny mount more then anything. Drop me an e-mail sometime and I had foward some pics.

damn, I wish i had read this before I installed these MSA bulbs. I am pissed that MSA has not done their homework-again. Don't they realize they are cutting their own throats with this kind of mistakes. Doesn't anyone there do and R&D work. This is not the first time or item with MSA-I thought they were the experts:angry: I have atleast 2 guages winking at me now and the speedo just goes dark sitting in my garage. Atleast my heater panel is not in yet so some of the guages will be easy to get to, but that speedo will be a lot of work.

BW T-5 trans with a pro-shifter, stock 280zxt boot.

I had a pretty decent week of progress even though some of the time was towards the redo of my exhaust. What i find interesting is that I spent more time redoing my headlight assemblies and installing them, then i did hanging new mufflers. Installing headlites also included putting on my lens covers-which is kind of a pain to get on straight. The best part is that most of my ventures ended successfully so my only complaint was the HEAT. After installing my new mufflers I drove the car around the block again and thought that this will work nicely. Besides the noise of the tire grinding on one of my fender lips, the other noises coming from the exhaust were muscular, but not overbearing. I called the insurance company and now i'm insured ready to drive(except for a plate). I need to install the hatch seal and door seals so the car won't rattle me to death, and possibly roll a fender so I don't eat too much rubber, but I'm ready to break this engine in. Just from my little put-put a round the block I can tell this engine is very strong!! http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/_mad_kaw_/?action=view&current=MVI_2290.mp4

Thankyou 26th for clarifying things about the show. I guess i will be looking for a large shelter type umbrella instead of a canopy. I guess I'm not sure what to expect at a big shindig as this show, just looking forward to making it there with my car and talking Z's with everyone-face to face:)

thanks Mike

Being optimistic that I will make it to the show, I have a few questions about how a big show like this works. I read the schedule of events and I see- Z car store hours- throughout the week-what does that mean? Is that just hanging out at the place, showing off your car? Do folks bring any kind of canopies to put there car under for sun shelter? Is there a market place to bring Z items to sell, or does everyone do there on thing if they want to sell some stuff-or is this not proper show manners? Hate to sound like such a newbie, but never have participated in anything this big:)

Well I left off with the dash lights giving me headaches. Well I realized after investigating that I put some of my dash lights in the wrong holes in the speedo. The bad part is there is no way to get in there and swap out with the defroster ducting in the way--soooo, out comes the dash. I also noticed that my ampmeter guage wires were not tight-bad scenerio that had to be fixed. so I lost a half a day, but all lights working-almost. I had traced all my wiring and have assigned all the loose ends to where they need to hook up to, except an ignition hot plug(green wire and black/white stripe), not sure what it hooked up to. All guages work-even the fuel guage(small triumph since this is a CJ5 tank and fuel sending unit), all lights work and my combination switch operates the way it should-any ideas on the plug? I recieved my airbox back from the powder coater, and of course it needed some tweeking too-can't anything just bolt on!!!!! The airbox would not slide on because of the M/C bleeder on the M/C just stuck out too far on my 15/16" upgrade. well I just had too cut off the end(1/4" worth) and it slid on. My new mufflers arrived to tame the wild beast. My twin magnaflows(all of 11" casing length) should fit in there nicely-after lots of work of course. Maybe this next week can think about plates and insurance and start breaking this baby in

I was told the BD(from their customer service) that they don't use precision. Then again-she wouldn't tell me who made their kits. I don't have any experience with the BD weatherstrip except fron t windshield weatherstrip and it looked like a nice piece.

I'm sure this has been discussed before, but i'm not to successful with my search. I noticed with my turn signals for my 71 had different bolt spacing for the mounting studs and one lens is longer then the other. So what year corresponds to what lens. One of my turn signal fits airdam perfectly(bolt spacing), the other side is more narrow on the spacing. I'd love to have a matching set, but not sure what year to get for the wider spacing.

Thanks Geezer for the info. I think if I hold on to any piece, it would be that incase I tear up my front air dam. I didn't see the fenders on there, they seem like very high quality. I bet they were expensive.

At the salvage yard today and scored BIG. Found an 72 that had fiberglass fenders and valence panel. The valence panel encompases the corner parking light panel and center panel all in one piece. This stuff is in amazing shape with maybe one small crack. Anyone hear of the manufacture Perfect Plastic Inc? These panels had a date of 1987 I believe. I will post some pics shortly.

Well i'm stilling making headway, but it seems to be an hour at a time. The clock is ticking in the back of my mind constantly and reminding me to stay on task. The engine compartment is about complete except for tying up some loose ends with the headlight wiring. I am waiting on my airbox to get back from the powder coater. I have given up on having the triple Mikunis on the car before I go, I'm just going to run out of time. The wiring i still giving me fits, but I expected that. I am going from automatic trans to manual, plus retro fitting some newer model stuff on the car which adds to the mess. I can't get my dash lights to work and i am getting a headache from staring at the schematic. I do have all my exterior lights working, including reverse lights and turn signals. I got my spoiler buffed out and mounted up, so now she is looking pretty good. I still have to wet sand and buff out the entire car. I have a weeks vacation at the end of the month and i'm hoping to have things looking better by then-if not- I might have to consider not making it in time-but I'm keeping my hopes up.

Well it was late when i threw this link on here, but here is my LOUD exhaust. Maybe in a younger year I would drive this around, but the magnaflow mufflers are on order. I imagine it would sound awesome screaming around with my triple Mikunis on there:)

http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y9/_mad_kaw_/z%20exhaust/?action=view&current=Zcar001.flv

All right, another good looking Z in Indy!!! Have fun with the assembly.

Not sure what is stock size, but most battery wire at parts stores are about 4 guage. I can't imagine that you would need any heavier then 2 guage for such a short run of wire.

I forgot to add that I stuffed an extra 10 guage wire in each terminal before soldering. The terminal ends were for #1 wire, but I used # 2 thinking that was more then ample enough and that allowed a little room to squeeze an additional circuit wire in the terminal before soldering. On the ground side I ran the exra ground wire to the chassis ground just below and the hot wire I will save for additional circuit(s) later. The whole car is painted Mike, but the engine compartment looks the best right now. Soon I will have all the loom run and will take some more pics.

Tomohawk, I will verify for you that these terminal ends are properly sized and tapered for the posts. There is only one way they will fit on, so you have to get the proper angled terminal for the proper polarity. These are top quality ends and since they are not universal they snug down securley with very little torque. That is why i didn't get the cheapy ones at the parts store because they are universal.

Although it was only about a block, but it did move under it's own power instead of me pushing it around on dollies. Did I say this thing is LOUD-like hide the women and children loud. It did really feel SOLID going down the road and i couldn't hear any strange noises coming from anywhere -because it's so freakin LOUD. I will try and post a video this week. I have to do some double checking but I believe I will be ordering some magnaflows this week. They actually make something small enough for my cramped space. It took so long to get the pipes to sit right in the rear valance and i will have to start all over again:cry: Oh well, I only wasted 25$ on Both glasspacks, so i'm not out a bunch of $$$. I will be posting soon for some wiring help. I am getting down to the final stuff in and around the fuse box and accessories and i seem to have too many loose ends going on. Like the combination switch has a blue/white wire(male bullet end) that seems to go nowhere. The schematic shows wiper, but the wipers work fine. I also have extra wires since i went from automatic to manual-i.e. kick down seloniod. My biggest worries are that the dash lights don't work yet, do all the circuits have to be complete to get the dash lights to work-as in parlking light grounds?? I start a new schedule next week that should help me gain some time to finish this car up-but it will be down to the wire.

Nothing fancy and you can't tell what kind it is under that nissan cover:) I just made sure it was the right size, and this battery fits nicely with the frame and the cover. The terminal ends were about 6$ each incase you'all are wondering. Plus I also got the eyelet type ends for the starter side of the cable-also fusion type-about 3$ a piece.