Seat's taken

Yesterday, Justin, I and my dad shoveled the new motor into place. The crossmember took a lot of filing and grinding to get right, but now it sits in there just fine.

I also began the retrofit for my new gauge, disassembled the gauge i got from Knuckleduster (hybrid) and one of my own.



Had to do some trimming

Motor in place!

Fuel, cool, and the rats nest

My dad and I took the fuel tank and rear bumper down earlier in the week. During the week and today, he spent time cleaning up the front and rear bumpers. Meanwhile I welded together framework for the radiator. Later in the evening, Justin came over and began attack on the front body harness.




Not particularly shabby for flux core
Justice and the wires
Green wire to vacuum!

That mushy feeling

I replaced the steering rack and tension rod bushings with Energy and G-machine bushings while my dad located the source of mystery heater leak #2. It was a piece that is specific to air conditioned Z's which leaks from the diaphragm due to poor sealing in a grommet. We also put a full dash cap on the Good ol' Grand Canyon.

Farewell, Red.

Mining for gold

Underneath all that grime, oil, and dirt was nice paint. Saturday my dad and I worked on cleaning the engine bay a bit, he also cleaned up the floor pan on the inside. Today he put a some paint down on the parts that the original paint had been chewed up by rust.

Up and Away

Last night, Justin and I picked up the RB from Venus. It's in great condition. The old smoker came out and we began cleanup.


Justin's matching t-shirt and cherry picker.
ODI Longnecks on the crane!

My dad and BIG L

Not cool . . . man

Today I drained the oil from the motor and tranny, coolant as well. I removed the radiator, ac, and other cooling accessories.


Here's also a shot of the lovely dash

A screw loose

I've begun disassembly in preparation for the new motor. The exhaust, header, and various other engine bay trinkets are off the car and in the pile. Shift lever, center console, and things connected to the motor have been set aside or loosened.

Since we last spoke

So between my last post and now, i've acquired a few parts.

On my birthday, Justin, Corey, Russell, and Andrew got me the air dam that I have been eyeing since i got the car. Loreto gave me a pair of OE reupholstered 240z seats (they look brand new). I purchased a set of zg style flares from David from hybrid z. From Keith (kais) I picked up an almost complete bushing kit. The glass headlights i ordered from ebay came in, but i haven't made time to put those in either. Also from hybrid, I purchased a clean passenger side headlight nacelle and inspection lid.

I tried to daily drive it for a couple months, but it has been anything but pleasant to drive because the motor runs poorly and the exhaust full of soot sneaks its way into the cabin. When it rains, water leaks in through the windshield and the heater is not connected so the window fogs up.

My dad found the reason why my interior fan was not running - he traced it to the relay below the glove box that had a loose connection inside. Hopefully soon things will start coming together.

Oil and Water

Yesterday I did the pan and some of the water hoses. The oil pan was missing 4 screws and every eyelet had been overtorqued, so i had to bang them back into flushness with the rest of the flange. The previous gasket had rotted and was leaking from all around, covering the entire front half of the undercarriage with oil. Nasty.

I replaced two of the water hoses, one going from the water neck to the intake manifold and the other, also going to the intake manifold but from the t that connects the block and the water pump. Both lines had gotten brittle and were seeping pretty badly, the one at the waterneck turned out to be one of the mystery leaks that dripped along the block. Some of the hoses on the motor still remain hacked.

Somebody get the door

Last night Justin helped me out with the window regulator on the door. Working window now! yes.

Score #2!

Day two, front five lug! drivers fender!

Score!

Cheers to being a junkyard dog!

Matt and I went to the yard today. He was looking for brackets for his radiator and I, for front 5 lug for the z. Instead I walked with a full set of 240z tails, garnishes, plate box, and a rear bumper. Nice.

Today i did a compression check, cyl 1 :170, cyl 2, 3, 4, 5 : ~130, cyl 6 : 110. I guess thats enough to drive on lol. I'm going to start routine maintenance tomorrow.

Improvement

Today I worked on the carbs a bit, read up on initial setup and got it running ok. The window regulator is still giving me problems. A lot of maintenance still needs to be done before this thing is daily worthy. Its seeping water near the front of the block. Bad news.

Other than that, I pulled the side strips off with the assistance of Matt and Yuta. Found out that there are small dings underneath the strips.

Wring my waterneck

Saturday, i did the waterneck, which was gooped on and seeping from having a paper gasket and not having been seated all the way. I replaced the upper and lower radiator hoses since they looked like they were going to explode the other day.

Fixed the headlight switch, which was intermittent - resoldered the connections on the backing plate and cleaned the connections on the sliding springs. Works great now.

Today i put the car up and had a look underneath. so far it looks like there isn't anything wrong with the rear mounts and mustache, its probably a hotspotted flywheel or something that's making it chatter like hell going into first. Probably a product of all that extra space left open by the stock bushings that lets it clunk so loudly.

Other than that, my dad and i had a look at the fuel diaphragm on the front of the motor, which was caked with all kinds of residual junk. Cleaned that out and put it back on. The upper radiator hose inflates when the car is on, so i ordered a new upper and lower. One spot that i found that is seeping coolant is the water neck which, like the diaphragm, was gooped (rtved) on. It still runs so so, its tough to figure out since there seems to be a number of problems. I think the fuel pump in back is not working too well. For the oil pan, i ordered a new seal and picked up some screws (was missing some). The oil is black as hell.

I'm thinking of compression testing before going further.

New beginnings

April 28th, 2008 begins my fresh start in a new car community.

It's a gold 260z with minimal rust, driveline problems, and motor issues. The paint is in poor condition and the driver's fender is dinged up pretty nicely. Cleverly (not-so-cleverly) hidden by the soft dashcover (that everyone puts on their zs when this happens) are enormous cracks. Luckily the cover is glued on firmly. Inside the engine bay is not the 260 motor, but an l24. Everything on this car could use a little work to say the very least.

I picked it up a little over a week ago from a guy not too far from Justin's house, met the guy at 7eleven. The car is stock except for the shift knob that i already removed (hurst t shift that was gooped on) and the "racing" seatcovers. I've got a lot planned for this car, i hope that everything works out well.


Soon it will be time to say goodbye to my 240