EScanlon

I wrote this some time back to help a member whose window had fallen off the tracks. Remove the regulator assembly. That's the gear and scissor mechanism that the window crank operates. This will allow you to operate the window pane within the opening without the regulator getting in the way. Once it's out of the way, slide the window glass up and down inside the frame and tracks. You should be able to determine if the window will go up and down smoothly and effortlessly (of course barring the weight of the pane and gravity). If it passes this test, then you know that the window frame and sashes are set up properly. You can now direct your attention to the regulator. If on the other hand you find that it sticks either on the way down or on the way up, address the problem. Is the window roller (the little barrel shapped roller) pressing on the window pane properly? Is it guiding the pane into the upper part of the frame or not? How about the lower front sash? Is the front nylon guide on the window pane sliding through the sash smoothly? Is it bent? Will lubrication take care of it or do you need to remove it? I recently had the same problem with a passenger side window. I finally disassembled the whole assembly and discovered that my lower sash was just slightly bent and was causing the nylon guide to bind, causing me to exert a ton of pressure on the handle to get it to go up and down. After replacing the sash, the window goes up and down like new. Check the Window Frame, is it straight? There are some gentle curves to it, that's to allow the glass, which isn't flat itself, to slide up and down inside the frame. But other than the gentle curves is the frame itself straight, i.e. no twists, no sharp bends nothing that would stop the glass from going up and down? If all these check, then last couple items: Are the roller guides on the window pane frame straight and unbent or undamaged? These little guides are what the wheels on the scissor assembly of the window regulator ride in and exert the pressure to raise and lower the pane. If there are kinks, gunk, or other obstructions they will cause you problems. Check the roller wheels, are they able to rotate freely? If they are binding or sticking, clean them out and make sure they operate without wobbling on their axles. If they have a lot of play on the axle on which they are mounted, i.e wobble on the axle, they will probably jam as you exert pressure on the wheel through that axle. Next, check the regulator gear and spline arm. Any teeth missing? Is the gear portion of the spline arm straight and making proper contact on the gear that the crank handle actuates? Is there a spring on the scissor assembly? If so, it's there to help exert pressure upwards on the glass to help neutralize the effect of the weight of the pane on the assembly, if it's broken or missing, then raising the glass is going to be extremely difficult. You shouldn't have to apply grease to the upper portion of the window frame "fuzzy channels" This part of the window comes into contact with passengers, believe me your girlfriend will kill you if you get grease on her $90 blouse. She will probably do more than $90 in damage to you and / or your car. The only place for grease on the window assemblies is on the front sash, where the nylon guide slides through, the gear / spline contact area, the swivel point for the scissor, and the two roller guides that fit in to the window pane frame guides. Other than that, no grease, oil or other lubricant other than the "fuzziness" of the gasket. If the fuzzy gaskets in the upper part of the frame have lost their "fuzzy" stuff, then they'll act just like rubber stops on glass, which is basically what they are. Replace them. There is no other way of restoring those items. This post has been promoted to an article

I wrote this in response to another Z owner having problems with his windows. His initial question had been about the need for the pressure roller situated on the top part of the door and it's effect on the window operation. I also wrote down the steps to adjust a door window to operate smoothly. The window roller is required to push the glass inward as it reaches the top of it's travel. The inside door panel and the fuzzy strip attached to it, push the window outwards. Between these two and the window frame and front sash the whole thing is maintained in the center of the window frame. The fuzzy gasket in the top part of your window frame should be FUZZY, no grease, no bare rubber spots. Grease here will just get all over your shirt sleeve. Bare rubber will just prevent the window from rolling up and down smoothly. The inner fuzzy strip mounted to the panel is what presses against the window to push it out, if it's missing or caked solid with dirt / grease / gunk it will just impede the sliding of the pane. The outer gasket on the chrome trim is to seal the window from rain once the window is closed, it is the roller which locates the window in the center of the frame. That you have to loosen the front sash and the rear guide channel (there is no rear sash) tells me that you don't have these adjusted right, or that your frame is bent or that it's misaligned. The adjustment for the window is straight forward. You DO have to have the glass bumper roller installed or it will be a b*tch. 1. Loosen the installation nuts for the front sash and rear guide channel. 2. Roll the window up and down and check the alignment of the rear edge of the glass with the door frame. 3. If the glass angles too far to the rear, move the rear guide channel upward. If it angles too far to the front, move it downward. As a general rule, the rear guide channel bolts will both be at the same location within their respective slotted holes to each other, i.e. front bolt won't be higher or lower than the rear bolt in relation to the bolt hole in the metal door frame. 4. When the glass is parallel with the window frame, adjust the front sash so it is parallel with the front edge of the window. You can just look down from above and ensure that the nylon guide mounted on the bottom channel of the window pane is going to go up and down the front sash smoothly. If your regulator is not allowing you to crank up the window after this, check to make sure that the spring on the regulator isn't broken. Without this spring it is literally impossible to raise the window. The sheer weight of the pane is too much for the angle / gearing in the regulator. The gear within the mechanism will just work its way out of the teeth on the arm. The spring is what helps you counter the weight of the window pane against gravity. This post has been promoted to an article

I wrote this some time back about how to adjust a hood. Has the hood always been hard to open, or did it just recently become hard to open? If it's always been hard, it is possible that at some point before you owned the car someone adjusted the pin or the hinges such that it's pressing against the fender lips and hence requiring the "slam". If it just recently became difficult, did you recently do some adjustments to the hinges, the latch pin or accidentally hit something with the car? If so go back and double check what you did, the hood shouldn't need re-adjustment for most procedures you do to the car. If you smacked someone, then it's possible you've tweaked the hinges / hood and need to re-adjust. Checking the manuals for how to align / adjust the hood, they give very generalized directions but don't address what you have. I'll tell you how I did mine. First do a visual, is the hood generally aligned to the opening? Is each side of the hood even all the way front to rear? Is the cowl edge of the hood even and about the same dimension as the side edges? Now look from the side, is the hood at the same level as the fender edges? does it seem to be higher in the front than the rear or the other way around? The correct placement is where the hood is separated from the fenders and the cowl with even spacing along all those edges. Additionally, the front of the hood and the rear of the hood should align to the side fenders on both sides of the car and not be above or below the fenders at either of these locations. If the above is all correct, you need to adjust the Male Latch Pin. That's the one in the center of the hood and has a spring behind it. If however you have a discrepancy on any of the above items, then you need to adjust the hinges, or the location of the hinges on the hood or fender. To do that do the following: Remove the Latch Pin and Spring Assy at the center of the Hood. Mark along the edges of the hinges to the fenders and on the hood with a dark pencil so you can see where they WERE. A visual inspection of the hood right now will also help, since the latch pin isn't pulling the hood out of it's "natural" fall. If your hood is being stressed shut, you'll notice it here because the cowl edge of the hood won't be down at fender level. This is a good indication that the hinges have been mounted too low on the fender walls and should be adjusted slightly upwards. If your hood had uneven edges on the SIDES, then you need to loosen the hinge to hood bolts and adjust the hood to the proper location and then retighten. Usually an uneven cowl edge line will also show up with uneven side gap, although a very subtle gap on the side will be more noticeable at the cowl. If your hood is fine side to side, but is too close / far from the cowl, then loosen the bolts to the hood from the hinges, and carefully pull / push the hood till the gap is satisfactory. If the hood is higher in front than in back or vice-versa, then you need to adjust the hinges to fender. To loosen these it's easiest to close the hood, and access the bolts from underneath the hood and behind the grill. You may have to loosen one or two of the bolts with the hood open, but you'll be setting the hood into position and tightening the bolts from behind the grill. Move the hood / hinges up or down as necessary to get the hood to line up front to rear evenly with the fenders. Once you've tightened the hinge bolts, then replace the latch pin, and tighten it enough that it doesn't float around, but loose enough that a good shove will move it into position. Close the hood, and very carefully pull the cable release, and open the safety latch. This should move / force, the pin into the actual position required for the latch assy. Now tighten the pin. Close the hood again, and verify that the Male Latch pin isn't pulling the hood too far down, or leaving it up above the cowl edge. At this time also check your Hood Height adjust screws on each edge of the cowl, they shouldn't be exerting pressure on the hood, other than that required to make sure it isn't fluttering on the edges and that the edge is even with the cowl. That's it, hope it helps. This post has been promoted to an article

For the vast majority of plastic r/c model (boats & car/truck bodies), you're right, I would not use lacquer thinner unless I were going for a specific effect. Almost all of those plastic bodies are made with a Styrene based plastic. That's why you can glue it very readily with MEK based glues, Cyanoacrylate's, and your typical Testor's Model Glue. Although mineral spirits alone shouldn't harm the plastic, they tend to leave a thin film of goil (oily gunk). That I've found can leave fish-eye's like crazy. The Denatured Alcohol is the way to go. From what I've seen of the plastics used on the Z, for the most part, stay away from Acetone, use lacquer thinner only after experimentation, and don't be surprised if your personal "perfect" glue doesn't work. Enrique

License Plate gasket can be easily reproduced with a piece of sheet rubber. The Hatch Vent Drain Tubes pop up on e-bay every once in a while, but I seem to recall that either Too Intense or another guy who's memory evades me at the moment. I'll see if I can post a dimension on the LP gasket. Enrique

2¢ First try "Wax and Grease Remover", available at your local paint shop and a lot of hardware stores. If you're not going to be doing a lot of W&G work, I think you can get it in a pint. You'll be surprised how much overspray you will actually remove with that. Now, you didn't describe the amount of "overspray". I've seen some of those plastic tubes for the vents have enough primer AND paint to be considered PAINTED and not overspray. With those, I've found that a gentle flexing of the part, will do a LOT of removal, you need to be careful as you are basically cracking the paint off. Now, knowing that there is so much material on the piece, I attack it with Lacquer Thinner. It's aggressive but not as much as Acetone. You basically want to soften the paint, so that repeated wipes with the thinner soaked rag will lift the paint fast, without allowing the thinner to just "sit" on the surface. If you do that, expect the plastic to become soft and sticky on the outside. If that happens, stop, allow to dry and then buff the area with some plastic polish. Hopefully you will have removed all of the paint and primer without much damage to the plastic (remember, we were talking a completely painted part), If you accidentally left a thinner impression on it, you can buff it out with 800 sandpaper. HTH Enrique

DITTO! With all the wire cutting and splicing and soldering etc, I doubt you'll do more than ONE, before you decide to pull the dash. Enrique

If, as I presume, you are referring to the shaped flat gasket that goes between the "acorn" cup (main headlight housing) and the back side of the fender support, then good hunting. I've not been able to locate a replacement either. I was fortunate in that after 3 cars at the boneyard I was able to get one pair that, with adhesive (since the little rubber tips that go though the acorn were gone) could be made to work. If you are successful in finding a vendor, please post the address. Another item that you will find a hard time finding are the hinge "socks" that go into the body and surround the hatch hinge. 2¢ Enrique

Simply pull gently but firmly at the center "ring" that goes around the shaft. Enrique

I might surprise a few people by this, but the kind of damage you exhibit is exactly what I had, and I used the POR and their Power Mesh product to repair it with. The Power Mesh is basically a strengthened, single ply fiberglass sheeting that you apply along with POR to strengthen panels. Is it the BEST way to repair this, no. Is it a BAD way? Not in my opinion. The rust in your pictures is nasty, as the holes show. The "proper" way, is to cut it all out, and weld / braze replacement metal in. This can be a very tedious and expensive proposition, which is why the complete pan replacement would be the "best" and the most "proper". However, it doesn't necessarily get cheaper. Expect to pay about $1,000 US by the time you are done to replace the floor panels. That amount includes the purchase, shipping and welding of the floors. If that amount does not scare you, AND you can find a good welder who can do just that, then go that route. While laying in patch panels may be a bit cheaper, it does have the unfortunate effect of looking unsightly when you are finished. (Unless you take a LOT of time and care to hide / blend in the repair, at which point you might have been better off replacing the whole pan.) The POR method uses the Power Mesh fabric to reinforce the POR and the metal. I would not expect this to be as strong as the original metal, but having seen a "fake" panel actually made from the POR/Power Mesh and having had the opportunity to try to bend / break it, I was very impressed with the strength it DOES have. Having learned that, and knowing that down the road, I'll be taking the car apart and redoing that whole area (possibly years down the road), I decided to try it. My results were exceptional. The floor has a noticeable strength to it, has no leaks, is noticeably quieter, and what's more, cost me less than $100 US for both floor pans, and I was able to do it rather quickly. For those interested, here's what I did. Once the tar paper had been removed and I was able to ascertain the extent of the problem, I wire brushed, and ground off as much of the "soft" rust as I could. Soft rust is the stuff that is already flaking or already permeated completely. Although this exposed a few more holes, I wasn't surprised. Then I sandblasted the floor, specifically those areas that still demonstrated that shiny black rust that you can see in a couple of your pictures. At this point, the complete extent of the damage was evident. I decided to braze closed the more critical cracks and holes, as well as make a couple of metal patches for the really weakened and torn areas. The patches were migged for the most part, with only one or two being brazed in. Now the floor was ready for the POR process. There were still a few areas that showed some of the holes, but the steel around the holes was still relatively strong. I vacuumed and pressure blew the interior to remove the sandblast media, then I applied the Marine Clean product, and used a nylon and soft metal wire brush to thoroughly degrease the area. This was followed by a thorough water hose blasting to ensure that it was rinsed thoroughly. I then used my air hose to power dry as much of the metal and nooks and crannies as possible. The car was then allowed to dry (in summer). The next step was the Metal Prep. Again, the floor was completely bathed, scrubbed and treated for at least an hour or more. I made it a special point to ensure that I also reached inside the rocker panels. In order to do that, I used a Cleaning Wand with my compressor and a pail of the Metal Prep. The Cleaning Wand has a hose attached to it that allows you to pick up a liquid and expel it out via air into tight nooks. (I had placed several of those wallpaper soaking tubs underneath the car to recover the Metal Prep so I could re-use it over and over again.) Once finished, I allowed the Metal Prep to drain out of the car, recovering as much as possible in the wallpaper pans. That done, I rinsed the car again with the hose. Another force dry and air dry period. Now the car is finally ready for the POR. First, using duct tape, or some other liquid proof tape, I taped the bottoms of the holes from underneath the car. This was to prevent gobs of POR from dripping onto the driveway as well as reducing "scrap". Once satisfied that all the holes were "patched", I applied a good layer of the POR paint to the floor. Then, I cut the Power Mesh material to conform to the areas I was repairing. Since I still wasn't completely sure of the material, I decided to cut TWO pieces for each area. My intent was to lay the second layer of material at a "cross" direction to the original. Although it is a fiberglass mat sheet, by rotating the nominal "direction" of the second layer of fabric, you add strength to the union (just as in the true fiberglass/ resin process). I made what I consider a mistake then, immediately after coating the floor, I began to lay out the mesh. Looking back now, after the hazzles I encountered, I would recommend that you WAIT until the first coat of POR is just..almost..tacky. Meaning that the POR is still somewhat liquid, more of a real sticky tar, but not yet hard nor what the instructions refer to as "finger-drag" sticky. Depending on the humidity, this can be an hour or more to more than 4 hours. It is better to err on the side of wet than on the side of dry. At this point, lay your mesh pieces in place. They'll stick MUCH better than what I had happen (don't ask). If the mesh doesn't stick to the POR, you waited too long, give it a quick re-coat to make it sticky. If on the other hand, the POR literally feels goopy, then you're early. You want the POR to be dry enough that it doesn't release the mesh once you've pushed it into it, and soft enough that you CAN push it into it. Lay out all your pieces, and push them firmly INTO the POR you've painted. Once you have them firmly in place, start painting POR over them. Remember that the NEW paint over the old will activate the old to an extent, so don't get so over eager that the POR lifts the Power Mesh. (That's what happened to me. Geez, what a mess / nightmare.) Add enough POR that the mesh is coated and somewhat wet, but don't go for saturation yet. Allow this coat to reach the same state as before, i.e. just before finger tacky. Paint some more POR over the whole floor, this time taking the time to fully saturate and smooth out the mesh finish. Allow to dry. After about 4 hours or so, you should be able to cut out any drain holes that SHOULD be in the floor pan. (It's up to you if you don't want to, but they are there to allow you to DRAIN any liquid from the floor.) This is a simple process with an X-Acto knife (hobbyist scalpel) if you catch it just before it turns rock hard. (If you've worked fiberglass, just as if you were trimming mat or cloth from a mold / repair.) That was the repair of the floor. For those interested, I also used my blow gun sprayer to shoot POR into the rocker panels as deep and as thorough as I could. That way I could protect the INSIDE of the rocker panel. Hope this helps someone. Enrique

You are NOT being an asshole. You are entitled to restitution to restore your vehicle to the condition it was in PRIOR to her damaging it. That internally the car required more repair than you knew would be is not the issue. The issue is that she damaged it. Now, if you wanted to be a really nice guy (read that as in "sucker") you could offer to pay for part of the damage since neither you nor her were aware that there was prior damage / rust that is exacerbating this repair. Enrique

AND Ok, if the answers to the next questions are what I think they are, then you may have a somewhat tedious but very desireable out. Is your car insured? That is, were you properly insured at the time of the accident? Lastly, have you reported it to YOUR insurance company? Was her car insured, and did she report it to her insurance company? If you were insured AND she was insured, just turn it over to your insurance company. Advise them that you were "trying to save them and you money" , and that her offer was a way of not having to pay out the deductible. Although they'll hem and haw, they'll not nick you for it. What they WILL do, is force HER insurance company to pay up to repair the car to what you insured the car to be. Even if you just mention that you're going to send it to the insurance company may be all that is needed to force her to come up with the full amount of the repair. That is what you want. Either she will NOT want you to go to your insurance company, cause she knows the hazzles that will entail, or she's afraid of being canceled by them. You, you just want your car fixed. Whether HER company (which it will) pays or your company pays (which it won't, and will fight it), is irrelevant to your final desire. As long as either one pays the body shop, they'll fix it to what it needs to do. The biggest limitation here is what you and the insurance company evaluate the car at. An insurance company, aware of the purchase price may want to limit it to 2/3 of the sale price. However, if you point out the VALUE of the car to the collector market, you might have a better chance. The previous condition of the vehicle will determine it's collector value, and therefore the amount that you must use with the insurance companies, in order to determine what it takes to return it to THAT condition. Think about it. It may offer that solution you're looking for. Enrique

Welcome to my world! On the front page the two columns on the sides block part of the center, and pushes stuff all the way down. Let me see if I can upload a pic. Enrique

Sadly, many sellers do just that, hide a fail-safe profit markup to the HANDLING portion of the S&H. They figure that they're starting the item at a low $, so if it does go cheap, they will still make a few $ when it ships. However, on other sales, they'll be more realistic on their initial selling $ and not gouge you as much on the S&H. Don't know if e-Bay has any rules against that, but you might check and if so just forward the message you wrote above to the appropriate people. In the meantime as you mentioned, Caveat Emptor. Enrique

I spoke to a windshield glass repair business owner recently when we had my wife's Subaru repaired. I asked him specifically about polishing rhe windshield on the new Z and he said it would be cheaper to replace the windshield. Since I had figured that they were NLA, I asked him for a guesstimate. It turns out that the glass is still relatively easy to obtain, it is the gasket that will affect the price dramatically. As far as polishing, he recommends that it only be done by a true professional, and only if a replacement cannot be found. FWIW Enrique

First, just try to "open" the door by pulling up on the outside handle or out on the inner. If that doesn't solve it, FINISH the rotation of the "swiveling" part, to the position it would attain when the door is closed properly, and then "open" the door. Trying to close the door with it as it is now will cause more problems. 2¢ Enrique

Quit your bragging! Your SIDE markers should NEVER be lit unless the driving lights are on. This applies regardless of front or rear. That they operate in response to the turn and hazards, and also to the brake circuit, tell me that someplace a wire has been connected incorrectly. Since you mention that the IPO had made some creative fixes, I'll mention that that is the reason I replaced all of my dash wiring to correct the errors in mine. That being said, it isn't impossible to repair a bunged up wiring harness, but it might be a very long and extremely tedious process. Replacing the harness will make it much easier to correct problems without introducing new ones. You also need to be aware of some production differences between the wiring harnesses. That your car is an early Z with a stick will make it easier than if it were an auto, ( AT's have a kick-down circuit as well as a Neutral cut-out. Not sure as to the neutral switch in a manual.) It has the least or no smog equipment that was wired in. If you need some help, I'll try to give a hand. Enrique

From the INSIDE out: The two incidents, were they one and the same? If the accident was totally her fault, and she requested you avoid hazzling the insurance for it, and she would just pay you out of pocket. Did you then enter into a WRITTEN notice of such? If so, how does the wording in that notice describe how she's going to pay you? If it states that either a dollar value or level of restored functionability is an inherent part of the deal, then, you might have something to go on...or not. Right off the bat, from what you've described in your initial post, I would be inclined to say.....you're Phillipsed. (Before you PM me, as in a Phillips SCREW). So, let's get more details.

First, open the tail light covers and check that: 1. the Parking Light element in the bulb is not broken / burnt out. 2. you are in fact, getting power to the bulb. Then we can start giving you all sorts of suggestions, like how to remove all of the wiring, changing your alternator and how to convert it to power steering. Enrique

I'd like to read about the results if someone tries this. What I know about levers and pivots is that you would be reversing the "throw" of the lever. Stock position would require a short push/pull for a longer pull/push. Think of those model air planes on a control line. The distance your hand travels at the end of your arm is a very short distance in comparison to the distance the airplane flies. By reversing that, now it is your HAND that needs to travel the distance, while the plane gets to move a short distance. Translating this back to the car, is that you will now require a LONG push/pull for a SHORT pull/push. How this will affect the car's behavior is what I'm interested in finding out. My thoughts are that it would restrict the rpm's to a given "window" simply due to the limitation in the throw. (i.e. only allow 500 to 3.5k or 3k to 6k, simply because the set of the throw at "idle" and "wide open" is such to only allow that much adjustment.) So, will someone try this and get back to us? Enrique

I don't recall the particulars, but I believe a member previously replaced his cables with some piano wire. Sorry, don't remember the gage nor hardness, Hopefully someone else will recall the specifics or can inform you better. Enrique

Before you go tearing your car apart, do the following basic checks. First swap your front tires for the rears, and take the car out for a drive. If the problem has gone away, you need to get the tires checked. Go to a reputable tire dealer, preferably one where you have done business with, or the one that services the tires you have. Have them do a SPIN balance on the tires. A spin balance over a bubble balance is the only way to truly balance tires. The spin balance may very well cure the problem. Also have them check the tires for belt separation and failure. I had a pair of tires on a car some time back that exhibited the exact problem you mentioned, when I finally had the money and went in for a front end alignment, and suspension workup, the mechanic called me up and said all I needed was a new set of tires. In my case, the belts in the tire had failed and seprarated, causing this middle speed vibration. On the other hand, if swapping out the tires from front to back does not alleviate / eliminate the problem (you might find that the shaking now comes from the back end), you then can address the suspension, alignment, etc. 2¢ Enrique

The lawyers are only interested in the ones with deep pockets. The car rental company will probably offer some sort of settlement in order to get the case to go away. It is a sad fact of the economic blackmail that lawyers have instituted onto our society. Either you pay out right away, so the scavengers...oops, lawyers get their full share, or they'll suck you dry over a period of years. The lawyer rarely if ever has anything to lose. They get paid by the hour to battle ANY kind of argument that can be legally plausible, and if they win, they have pre-arranged for a share of the loot left AFTER they take their hourly wage out of it. It is for THAT reason that the settlements have gotten so high. A family or individual who sues due to a truly negligent action, is hoping to get some economic restitution due to the limitations imposed upon the rest of their life(s). They may not be able to AFFORD the legal representation required to achieve that restitution. A lawyer when presented such a case, if he feels they can pay him for his time while they pursue it, he'll take the case on. If on the other hand, the promise of a LARGE payout is there, they'll take the case on a contingency percentage of the payout, and then take their hourly wage out of the payout. Large companies have evaluated the cost of litigating such a long and image damaging trial in the public court. The cost in lawyer fees, expert witnesses, lodging and all other related expenses, in addition to the buying publics perception of the company, very quickly add up to more than a fast 5-7 digit settlement. Economically speaking, which would you rather do, pay out 5 million in fees and lost sales, or 500 thousand right now? The lawyers know this, just like your average street mugger, a small pain as opposed to a larger more protracted pain, the choice is obvious. Even a wolf will gnaw off it's own paw in order to get away from a trap. Unfortunately, any attempt at mitigating the leech effect of the lawyers, is constrained in that it takes LAWYERS to write it up. Give up a lucrative and sure thing for them? HAH! 2¢ Enrique