ZSaint

I have done a few of these things on the Z. I have taken the bolts out of the firewall and made certain they were clean. I have a solid contact there. I have checked the fuzes and they are OK. I have replaced the horn relay. All of the pieces are OK but no power to the horns (so it seems). I will go through the process that was stated. I will check the horn button to see if I have power. After that I will go to the horn relay and see if I have power to the relay. (I will check each horn to make certain they work, as well) I do have an ace in the hole. A buddy of mine is coming down to help with the Z. He is a retired mechanical engineer and is right at home with the electrics. I want to solve this horn problem before he gets here. He is going to help me with the electronic ignition istallation. I do not want to overwhelm him! One problem I have seen... The horns were very rusty when I got the car. It came from Salinas near the coast. I bead blasted the horns and painted them. I wonder if the "vibrator" in the horns is seized up... rusted? Hmmm. I will check the horns first. I can get other horns. Yeah, that's the ticket!

You need a large nut & bolt supplier. We have Willamette Screw in Portland and Salem Screw in Salem. Either one of these places stock metric supplies. Lowes will not have them!

You must have a "screw" company somewhere close. Just take a sample in and buy a box. You can buy an entire box for what Nissan will charge you for 6 bolts!

I bought my '71 in CA and drove it back to Salem. I totally disassembled the car, restored it and have it back on the road. It did not have any horn when I drove it from Salinas to Salem. After taking the wiring out of it and doing a full over & under paint job and reinstalling the wiring... Still NO HORN. OK, I bought a new horn relay and installed it and... Still NO HORN. What is the process to check out the horn. I have a 11X14 wiring schematic but where do I start? I guess I need to see if I have power at the horn button, right? I can also try to see if my horns work with an APU battery source. I can just hook up each horn to see if it works. OK, if the horns work, where do I go? Or, should I just take it to the auto electric place and have them trouble shoot it. I would like to TRY and solve this problem. But if all else fails, I will take it to Jefferson Auto Electric. For $100+ they will fix it!

I can do most things but... I cannot do under-the-dash stuff. I just took my driver-side interior out to fix my antennae and speaker problems. The radio finally works. (I screwed up the wiring!) Now is the time to put the AM/FM radio in. I will see if I can hire this done. My SS check can handle this cost! (heh, heh!)

It is hard for a 6'3" 275# guy who is 66 to get under the dash and disconnect anything. I guess I need to hire a small, young guy to take this radio out. Ouch!

I have the faceplate off and the 2 screws out that you mentioned. Do I need to remove the entire heater control panel? I thought you could just slide the radio out the back. Is this not possible?

I am trying to remove my AM radio. I have taken the console out. I cannot find the screws that hold the radio. It appears in the manual to have 2 screws that go up into the bracket. Will I need a short phillips screw driver to get these screws out? It is a real bitch working on something that you have never worked on. If someone can help me, I would apreciate it!

Go by ZTherapy's display. Steve has a suprise for you. Can you say "three"? I watched him put this induction together. It is neat, looks stock and it WORKS!

I did the same project but w/o all of the rust repair (whew!). I had a rotisserie built for the Z. The painter said it was the first time he had worked on a rotisserie. He said he wanted to use a rotisserie on EVERY car he restored. I temporarily 'donated' the spinner to ZTherapy and Steve is now using it on one of his Z's. Wait 'till you start putting it together. You will marvel at how good these spinners are when you install the suspension, brakes lines, fuel tank, etc. When I see the shell now vs. when you first got it apart, no one knows what you have done. You saved one that should not have been saved. Well done Master!

Can you say powercoating? I had all of these "removeable parts" powdercoated. It is tough and fluids just do not harm it. We talked about epoxy paint but opted for the powdercoater. Glad I did!

Mine says "Japan" and "E31" on it but it was cut down and welded and polished. I had all of my hardward re-plated. Makes it nice but you need to do a lot of wirebrushing! I lost one of those special bolts that hold the tube in place. It went bang and went in the corner by my rollaway. I searched for 20 minutes before finding it. You simply must have the correct bolts in the correct location, right?

I tuned out when he talked about thin valves flowing better then the 3-angle thick valves. (Can you say "vortex effect") Then he said he was working on a "stock" engine and turning it 8000 rpm's. I lost interest after these two statements. He may be interested in some horsepower you can get by putting a magic symbol around your neck. It's a magic triangle. I think it is also supposed to take strokes off your golf game. It's magic!

Here are some pics of my euro balance tube. A couple of guys asked for it.

I have disconnected everything on my Z. I have the balance tube and the brake booster line. Everything else has been deleted. It works just fine with my ZTherapy SU's.

We ran our CP Z's w/o alternators all of the time. They ran for 30 minutes with electric fuel pump and brake lights. Started them on pre-grid with auxilliary power. Had trouble starting them after the race, however!

...got 1-2" of travel

I had some of my '71 media blasted and sand blasted the surface rust areas. The walnut shells will not take out the rust... Sand will! You need the sand to clean out the areas under the battery and behind the fenders. I used fine sand and did just enough blasting to get the surface rust off. It is a labor of love!

I went through this same drill with my '71. I put a '83 5-speed in it with a CF II unit. I barely could get the clutch to disengage. I played with the linkage under the dash and on the slave cylinder. I finally go 1-2". Now it works just fine. After the disc wore in, it shifts and drives very well. You just need to be patient. It will come around. I do not know why someone has not put together a kit for these 5-speeds/280Z combo. A clutch arm, T/O bearing(collar) and slave cylinder for each transmission/clutch assy will sell for less than $100 and save a lot of work for the ZGuys.

I have this shroud on eBay. Datsun 280Z 2-piece Radiator Shroud - Restored If you are interested, go for it!

I bead blasted mine. It had a primer coat and then it was painted a silver/grey color. It was also covered with orange overspray and undercoating. I am guessing it came from the factory grey, stock. No rust on this one. It had a great primer coat! It looks like this pan will make the engine cool better and keep the compartment clean. I will not be picking up the dust and sand with the fan. I'll send some pics when I get it installed.

I picked my 240Z splash pan from my painter. He had a '73 that he is putting an Infinity V/8 in. He was ready to discard this splash pan until I bought a 280Z one. I took it to him for painting and he said I had the wrong pan. He had the correct one. I guess I was lucky!

Ooooooooooooops!

I have never heard it called anything except lower engine cover. It is in fact the splash pan. I will paint it black just like I did my fuel tank.

What color is the lower engine cover on the early Z's? The one I have was undercoated! It has red on it but may be from overspray. Are they black or body-colored?