BadDog

Does the rear hatch have any rust?

Looks like I took it to the wrong place... trouble is, most shops around me won't touch a "custom exhaust". This place only agreed to do it once they verified they couldn't source their own. Now they're giving me crap about trying to make it fit the right way, with the manager saying "I tried it *myself* and it didn't fit. The pipe must be bent wrong" whatever... I looked at the picture in the MSA catalog, and it shows center inlet, offset outlet, so the muffler is correct... I'll try to knock it off with a rubber mallet. If that doesn't work, I've got to find another shop to look at it, or maybe one of the local Nissan dealers. If another shop can't get it to work, I'll have to try a different type of muffler, maybe a cylinder-shaped one. Or a totally different exhaust, which means I'm out $200 +

They crimped the pipes with the old-style clamps. I couldn't get it to budge at all The shop that did it claimed that the pipe before the muffler "must be bent wrong" because it wouldn't line up to the muffler if it were to be in the "right way". Guess I'm stuck for now...

Thanks, Escanlon. Mechanically, the car is pretty good. I've got the engine running well, the brakes are good, suspension is good, exhaust mostly replaced (needs tweaked). The car's actually in such good shape that I want to make sure I don't wait too long to do something about the rust where it has started. I've been focusing on getting the car driveable for extended jaunts, like when I take it to work and sometimes end up driving ~150 miles throughout the course of my day.

I think they tried it vertically, but I'll try it tomorrow. It looks like they didn't weld the hangers on, just slipped then underneath the clamps. I think I'll also call MSA to see if I got the wrong type of muffler! :-) Thanks again, 2ManyZs. (and again, and again, and again )

trunk bubbles

hatch lid rust

hatch glass area flaking

sunroof area flaking

Since I can't afford a paint job for a few years (or build a garage soon to try it myself ) I'm wondering if there's something i can do to help the appearance of my roof, and fix the paint flaking around my sunroof and rear window (due to the PO's paint job). The roof isn't bad, just dull. I tried a "de-oxidizing" polish (a turtle wax one?) to no avail. I'm considering a fine-cut polishing compound (like 3M "for heavy oxidation") and if that doesn't work, try wet-sanding with some super-fine sandpaper... any thoughts? I'm also wondering if I could super-fine sand the flaking pictured below to keep it from getting worse, kind of smooth it all out. I think it's just from too much paint and poor masking when the PO painted it. The worst visible rust on the car is under my hatch, also pictured below. I'm pretty sure it's rusted through the metal, at least by a pinhole or two. I'm wondering if I should attack it to slow it down, then start looking for a rust-free hatch, or if it's cost-effective (and realistic) to save it. Last but not least, there's some scary bubbling underneath my hatch carpet, on the driver's side, behind the wheel well and next to the spare tire well. I'm not sure if there's rust underneath because there's some kind of rubberized gunk under the paint. Hopefully the paint is just bubbling? If it's rust, I imagine it's through the metal by now and probably a nightmare to fix due to it's location.

exhaust pic 5

exhaust pic 4

exhaust pic 3

exhaust pic 2

Well here's some pics, just in case anybody wants to try and internet-diagnose... i can take more of specific areas

I actually had thought of that at the time, but didn't try it. One time when I shouldv'e paid attention to my mechanical instincts Speaking of door hinges, "door check" piece (at the top of the hinge) on my driver's side door hinge is missing... Before I do anything, I've got to figure out how to get that bolt out and re-thread the whole... I think I gotta drill it, then get the right size tap, etc... sound like an excuse to buy one of those moto-tool-thingies, maybe the one with the flexible shaft... I can grind off rust with it, too :-)

I was just trying to adjust them because it is very hard to get them to close... I thought I'd just need to adjust the striker. Maybe I need to do the whole shebang?

I don't think they had to weld anything but the hangers... I'll take a pic later and post it here :-)

Can anyone tell me a good procedure for aligning my doors? I tried doing them last weekend, but I didn't fare too well. Plus, the top bolt on the driver's side door catch snapped off :-( How about what hardware is needed to mount bumper overriders and how to do it? I don't feel like "winging" that one, especially the rear! :-)

Does anybody else have the MSA "turbo" exhaust fitted up to the stock exhaust manifold on their 240? I just got mine installed at a local shop, and they had a bear of a time getting it to fit (no directions either). They said everything was fine until they had to mount the muffler... it's mounted at a slightly off angle, so the exhaust tip is a little crooked ... FWIW I got the aluminized version. I can post a picture tonight or tomorrow if needed...

Well *that's* good to know.... here I am thinking "oh no, my reverse synchro is going" and I don't even have one! I'll try to make it a habit to go 1st-->Reverse... the only problem is my daily driver has a totally different shift pattern!

Well there's a small bit of rust I've got to take care of, but other than that the car's in pretty good shape... I think that may be more due to lack of use than TLC considering the K-Mart auto center receipts I found . Well who knows, maybe he *really* liked the mechanic there *every* nook and cranny of that poor car has pine needles in it! Yesterday I put in a new MSA shift boot: horrible fit, too tight. Darn thing ripped in a few places while I was putting it in :-( I also ripped out the old AudioVox and put in a nice new Alpine head unit (perfect fit) and some Infinity 652i's I had kicking around. They sound good, but the rotateble tweeter sticks out too much for the panels (stock location). I'm tempted to cut them because one of them is cracked anyway, but I think I'm going to try MSA's 6x9 replacement real panel instead, partially because the 6.5's don't have enough bass in the Z for me (they had good bass in my old Impreza...) The only other thing I can really complain about is the seats... the 280 seats in her have no support in the lumbar area, which means if I take the car to work, my back feels strained for about the next day and a half. I'm tempted to go aftermarket for comfort's sake, but I'd also like to get some "correct" 240 seats, then maybe add a little more foam padding in the correct area

Disregard my cry for help.... turns out my clutch master cylinder was almost bone dry I must have a slow leak somewhere. I topped it oof with fluid then pumped the clutch pedal like 100 times and everything's back to normal... I think I'll order the parts to replace master, slave, and line...

I think my clutch slave cylinder died today... my car grinds into reverse, and I have to strong-arm it into any other gear. It's almost impossible to drive anywhere. Also, my clutch engagement travel is very short, almost instant-on/instant off. This happened right after I replaced my shifter bushings this morning (or should I say "installed" as the rod bushings were totally missing!) I hope this is a coincidence! I was also doing a few other things like ripping out the old AudioVox cassette stereo and replacing the shifter boot... I started her up to drive to the stereo shop, and when I went to put her in gear, I started hearing this wierd high-pitched whine or whistle. I blipped the throttle and it went away, but when I put her in gear again and pulled away, I found that my clutch's engagement travel was about a third of what it was before! Right now it's at the stereo shop, and I'm hoping I'll be able to drive it home once the tranny cools down.

Funny thing: the last three times I've driven my car (since the initial post) she has run really well when cold, yet I've changed nothing! There's even been a 20-degree variance in outside temperature, and humidity changes, but the car keeps running well! Maybe the higher octane gas I've put in has finally pushed out whatever junk the PO was using. I may still get dual air cleaners, or a factory air cleaner that hasn't been tampered with so I can hook up the heat riser for more chilly mornings (which vacuum to use for the trap door?) ... but first I should really get the heater working, !