Cleaned out the garage....found my old Z

[S30Jay]

New update for those of you who are following this, my engine is now home. Not on a stand as of yet because I'm particularly lazy today.

 

Pics tomorrow once she's properly displayed.

 

Also, for those of you who've polished your valve covers.....i'd like to see some pics and hear what your preferred method is? Post em up. Did you sand first or just go at it with some polish?

[S30Jay]

Not properly displayed, don't care. This thread needs pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[S30Jay]

Went out to the garage last night to pick up on the Z last night now that the master bathroom remodel project is finished. It wasn't my night, hoping for some better luck tonight. I wanted to jack the car up and get it on the dollies, this way I could (hopefully) wheel it over to the lift and get it up in the air. Most of what I want to tackle next is underneath.

 

The floor jack has apparently gone on strike. No problemo though, I'll just use the bottle jack instead.

 

I guess the strike is well organized, bottle jack is on strike too. Kind of glad I couldn't get it over to the lift, I'd hate to find out that doesn't work either. I didn't try it.

 

Also it appears that while the cat is away the mice will play....

 

 

and I was wondering if someone here can clue me in to what this grungy looking box is under the voltage regulator?? It says Fuse 3A I think. Never saw one like that before, curious what circuit its on.

 

 

Jay

[S30Jay]

So I managed to get some time to play in the garage recently. I haven't been a real ball of fire lately though, I think the shitty weather is getting to me.

 

I figure if I just keep picking at it eventually I'll get it done.  I'm also a bit distracted when I go out there as there are so many different things I'd like to accomplish on it, so I have a rough plan of attack that should work out.

 

So I pulled out some parts from the cupboard;

 

 

 

The first thing I started on, mainly because I have great access to them with the engine out, is the steering rack bushings. Started out looking like this;

 

 

After cleaning it up, giving it some quick paint, and wrestling (I mean gently easing) in the poly bushings......I ended up with this.

 

 

Better. Just ignore my footprints on the fresh paint. 

 

My next plan is to remove the transmission, driveshaft, exhaust and fuel tank. The tank needs to be cleaned and with any luck not much in the way of rust removal (doubtful I'll be that lucky). Also I plan to replumb every hard line on the car. They are rusty, you'll see soon enough. And they are buried when the car is assembled. I'm not interested in digging back in later if I can just knock it out now. Trans could use a cleaning and if I'm really ambitious, maybe some paint. We'll see.

 

But I'm not doing any of this crap on my back like I used to. Hell no. I plan to do as much of the build as I can on my lift. So I jacked her up, put under the cheap Harbor Freight dollies and rolled her over to Bay 1.  :thumbup:

 

 

 

 

At this point I thought I'd just take out the dollies and roll it back over the lift plate. Turns out that wasn't happening, couldn't get enough speed to get it over the damn thing. After a bit of thought I decided to put a tire against the front bumper and push it with the quad. Pictures of this would have turned out great but I was working solo (as usual). 

 

Anyway she is on the lift now. 

 

 

I would buy that thing again in a minute. 

 

Trans is drained, exhaust is removed, forgot what a pain in the ass the driveshaft bolts are on this thing. :sneaky:  The engineers buried em under differential mounting and rear sway bar. I forgot how I tackled them last time. Decided I'd had enough fun for one night. I'll save em for next time.

[S30Jay]

Keeping after it......I may actually get to drive this thing someday. It was brutal this week but the woodstove helps a bit. Since it was only 10 degrees in the gee-rog on Friday when I started, I ran the woodburner AND the torpedo heater until it warmed up a tad. Managed to see 40 degrees which was good enough for me.

 

Ol' smoky doing her thing. When I got this stove it had a sheetmetal plenum for hot air ducting that made it look like the one from the burbs.

 

 

Here is the compact driveshaft flange "situation" I was mentioning before. Its really helping things that I never seized all these bolts years ago when I had them out before. Haven't had to really fight with anything yet.

 

 

My shaft next to some 4' light bulbs for size reference. :rofl: 

 

 

Here's a picture of whoknowswhat. All newish looking stuff was work previously done by a younger, dumber version of myself. B) 

 

 

Next I wanted to get the gas tank out so I could see the mess that awaited me. If you've ever needed to replace one on a z you know theres a sheetmetal panel in the rear wheel well that has 3 screws you need to remove so you can access the clamp on the filler neck. One screw put up a fight (I lied earlier about no struggles) and I ended up drilling it to show it whos boss

 

 

Got the screw out with linesmans. :ninja:  Funny I couldn't get it with a screwdriver.

 

 

[S30Jay]

Moving on with the tank. I "lost" only one J-bolt. So thats a 50% success rate, or failure rate.....your call. Whatever she's out. 

 

 

A look inside

 

 

Way cleaner than I expected. I'm still thinking of using the POR kit anyway to protect it for the future. I'm on the fence about using a sealer, any experience with them I'd love to hear it. 

 

Pulled the rear too, what the hell. It'll make replumbing a whole lot easier.

 

 

[S30Jay]

Also pulled the TC rods out too since I still had a few minutes. The bushings were beat.

 

 

Gathered all the hardware and sent it to the "vinegar spa" where it will receive a complimentary 5 day stay. 

 

 

The lines all together didn't look terrible, but they had rusty sections. I briefly considered splicing new line just where its needed but I think I'm going to just replace the complete run. 

 

 

 

I'm sure good times await me there. 

 

Patina?  :rofl:

 

[bananahamuck]

My take on the tank..  if it's pretty clean now why put something in that could fail in the future..  Best way to keep clean from here on out is to run it,,  and hell that is the best part of owning an old car.. 

[S30Jay]

I agree, driving old cars is the fun of having them. I havent driven this one nearly enough. I don't see this thing ever getting back to this point either.

 

Leaning toward giving the tank a good cleaning and just reinstalling.

 

But if at some point the tank rusts through nobody makes new ones. And that thing has an odd shape, strange venting setup too...

[S30Jay]

Had a great weekend to work on the z. Weather was nice too so I ended painting a bunch of stuff, no of which was in my original intent when I started back in on this car. My goal really is just to make it mechanically sound and drive it. That's it. How I've gotten sidetracked prettying things up I don't know, and whats weirder is I'm not really putting the effort in to it to make the paint job a high quality one.....I think the cosmetic stuff is so that it looks better. Not perfect. 

 

So the T/C Rod hardware is back from Club Vinegar and looking great. Vinegar is some good shit. 

 

 

Looking it over it all looks pretty good. Some of the threads were pulled a bit and one was boogered up on the end so you couldn't start a nut on it. So I chased all the threads. I've been doing a lot of this so far and I imagine I will continue to be. 

 

 

Followed that up with a shot of paint and I called the hardware good.

 

 

It's not plated and wait let me check.......yup, I don't care. Its not rusty and looks decent enough. And I blew some paint on them that I already had so the price was right. 

 

Also took the opportunity to paint the exhaust manifold with some stove paint. The machine shop cleaned it up with some steel shot which had it looking fresh, but they rust quick. Not sure how well it'll hold up as I've never tried this before but it's better than nothing.

 

Before

 

 

After

 

 

Hit the patina with some rusty metal primer. Hoping this holds up for awhile. Itll get topcoated with rustoleum satin black. 

 

 

Then it was time to play with the aftermarket motor mounts I picked up. The old ones aren't technically bad but they are original and pretty rough looking. The new ones are dimensionally the same, but needed a bit of massaging from me. I guess thats why they are 1/3 of the price of the genny parts. 

 

 

All the threads needed chasing and the mount itself needed to be cut to follow the shape of the corresponding metal part. 

 

My cut line is traced on here.

 

 

Made the first cut on the bandsaw, finished up just with a razor knife. They fit nice now.

 

 

Boom

 

 

Painted these things too. 

 

 

And this

 

 

Found some grey rustoleum in the basement. Not my favorite but its easier to look at.

 

 

This update was brought to you by Dee Snyder's House of Hair

 

[S30Jay]

The list of parts needed to complete this thing keeps shrinking. The UPS truck has been delivering boxes of parts almost daily.....Im starting to like that.

 

Looking forward to putting parts back on this thing soon.

[Stoney]

Having a shed that size, a hoist and the tools at hand will certainly make this restoration/revival a much easier and 'dare i say it' fun task, nothing worse than crawling around in a carport or worse, under a car.

[S30Jay]

Thank you Stoney. I lucked out getting an opportunity to build the garage I wanted, that's for sure.

 

When my wife and I were shopping for a house about 7 years ago I only had one stipulation....it had to have a garage of some sort. Didn't really care so much about the house.

 

We ended up getting land and building instead. Soooooo, since I was building it anyway I made sure the ceiling was high enough for the lift, it had a chimney for the woodburner, and enough room for my projects.

 

And you are correct! Most any task is more fun to do in there. I like turning wrenches anyway...but working on your back does get old, especially in winter.

[hobospyder]

Your story is similar to mine, but I didn't have the option of buying land and building. I have a shop though, just needs some work. Will eventually get a lift in there

 

I like the progress, and a little clean up and reciting always makes it look like you've actually done something while fixing things right?

[S30Jay]

Thanks Hobospyder, it certainly seems to.

 

You'll love the lift when you do get one! I'd buy mine again without hesitation. Any preference on styles? 4 posts vs 2?

[bananahamuck]

House of hair rules the air waves!!!

 

It only plays out here , on the coast where my dad lives ,, so it makes Saturday nights at the beach cabin pretty cool, since me and my wife grew up there and we are both just this side of the ole five-oh brings back good memories.  It is played out of a radio station in Aberdeen Washington ,,,  the place where Kurt Kobain grew up..

   I have told my boys she used to wear a Twisted Sister concert shirt to school,,,,,,,,,, don't think they can wrap their heads around it though.

 

Anyways.. :rofl:

[Lockleaf]

4 post are only good for permanent lifted storage in my opinion. If you need to stack cars safely, they rule. As the only lift in a shop, and for general work, I feel like they take up too much real estate.

[S30Jay]

House of hair rules the air waves!!!

 

It only plays out here , on the coast where my dad lives ,, so it makes Saturday nights at the beach cabin pretty cool, since me and my wife grew up there and we are both just this side of the ole five-oh brings back good memories. It is played out of a radio station in Aberdeen Washington ,,, the place where Kurt Kobain grew up..

I have told my boys she used to wear a Twisted Sister concert shirt to school,,,,,,,,,, don't think they can wrap their heads around it though.

 

Anyways.. :rofl:

That's awesome! Your kids will likely never appreciate that ha ha.

 

I love that show, reminds of the good old days, when Mtv played music still. Too bad it doesn't get broadcast at your shop. If I only get one evening in the garage I try to make it Saturday for that reason. The station I get is out of Poughkeepsie, NY.

[S30Jay]

4 post are only good for permanent lifted storage in my opinion. If you need to stack cars safely, they rule. As the only lift in a shop, and for general work, I feel like they take up too much real estate.

Depends on the shop, some have the space. They are a good storage solution though.

 

I worked a couple years for a shop that had one, I found it to work OK for clutches, ujoints...that sort of thing. But your access to the wheel wells for brakes, struts, bearings..etc, is pretty limited. They kind of get in the way.

 

However there was always room to set parts and tools down right there.

 

I prefer the two post myself. Great access to everything, more room in the shop. Works for me....

[hobospyder]

I'd prefer a 2 post. 4 post just seems to cumbersome for what I'm trying to do usually. Can't take off tires and such

[S30Jay]

Despite having a busy weekend I somehow managed to find a little bit of time and energy to frolic and play in the garage. I'll admit I did go in circles a bit as I didn't really have a plan for the evening, but I squeeked out a lil' progress anyhow. I'm still in the cleaning crap up phase. As simple as Datsuns are they still have a fair amount of hardware and parts to contend with. And once you start painting stuff............down the rabbit hole you go. I'm wrapping that portion up though, I think.

 

First things first. I mentioned that the parts have been rolling in. It's funny, of all the parts that have been purchased it's one of the most basic that has me jazzed right now.

 

 

 

Its just a distributor cap. I bought through Rock Auto and it was sold to me as a Beck Arnley part. It reminds me of what the auto part boxes looked like when I was a kid. I wouldn't be surprised if this was sitting in the back of some small town auto part store for decades. Its as retro as the car. I almost want to use it for garage art and buy another cap to use on the car. This is the type of stuff my wife puts up with constantly.....

 

Getting back on track. My fan, which I originally had no intention of cleaning up at all got some new paint. Heres the before pic, stray undercoating on the blades and all.

 

 

Broken down and painted, I already cleaned and reoiled the clutch before parking it.

 

 

 

True to form I did not use engine paint. I used some krylon I scrounged from the basement. How hot can the plastic really get anyway? I guess we'll find out.

 

While paint was drying in between coats, I was chasing threads (something different) and ghetto fabbing a replacement j-bolt for the fuel tank mount,

 

 

 

 

I know, I know. The two are so close you can't tell the new one from the old one. I have the same problem. :rofl: Also the threads on the new one aren't metric. Shhh, don't tell anyone.

 

I also picked up some bolts for the alternator bracket. I broke one when I was taking it off, but I hadn't picked up a replacement one until recently. When I got one and compared against the original remaining bolt I realized that the heads were different sizes. I can't stand needing multiple size wrenches to change a part when it's not necessary.....american cars are like that. It drives me nuts. So I had to pick up another bolt so they matched.

 

 

I also put the new oil pressure sender in. After words I was wondering if I shouldn't have used teflon tape or something on the threads. Seems to me I never had to before. Anyone know?

 

Thanks to some replies I got on this over in the tech section the consensus is no sealant should be needed, but liquid sealant couldn't hurt either. I'm going to leave it and see what happens.

 

 

 

Lastly, I thought I'd leave you with a bit of inspiration. Your weekly zen. Something that I feel is every bit as clever as those mason jar salads my wife found on Pinterest. I give you my "upcycled" shop towel rack. Made from cleverly (dare I say it...masterfully) assembled trash.

 

[S30Jay]

Spent a few hours picking at this thing today. Weather was PERFECT. I managed to get some more stuff painted and knocked out a few things from the to do list also.

 

With the trans painted I wanted to replace some of the leaky seals on it. I THINK that most.....maybe all of it was coming from the speedometer gear housing. It would leave a puddle wherever I parked it. I bought new seals for that and also the tailshaft seal too. The new tailshaft seal is the wrong size so I left that alone. I did install the speedometer seals though.

 

 

Notice the high tech soft jaws in the vise.  :thumbup:

 

 

I don't have a completed picture of it all reassembled so you'll have to use your imagination.

 

While I was at it I tackled upgrading the bushings on the shifter. I used a tip from the atlanticzcar site that instructs you to replace the bushings with HELP #38377,  which is a door hinge pin and bushing kit for a chrysler. I may or may not have ended up with the correct part, the wingnut working the counter seemed very unsure of himself and the part had a different number since it was a NAPA part. My procedure also varied a bit so it may be a different one. Either way, this seems to have worked out really well, I am real excited to run through the gears now. What a difference! 

 

Heres the part # for reference purposes, I think it fits a K car  :crying:

 

 

 

Notice the chunks all stuck to the shifter, that's all that remained of what I can only assume were the original bushings. 

 

 

Supposedly you can just squeeze the new bronze bushings from the kit in with a bench vise. These were too big to do that, I would have damaged the bushings or the shifter. The inside diameter fit the pin perfect though. So I drilled the shifter 1/32" larger - to 31/64. Then I was able to press them in with the vise. Afterward I just flat filed the faces a bit to get them to fit the trans case - it didn't take much at all. The shift pattern is TIGHT now!

 

Drill bit for reference too

 

 

The finished product (before I filed it)

 

 

Also pulled my front control arms and dropped them off at a buddys shop to have new rubber bushings pressed in AND began a "lavish" $15 repaint of the engine bay.  :rofl:

[S30Jay]

So I figure I've beat around the bush long enough, it's time to tackle the plumbing.

 

Until now I've been avoiding tackling the hardlines because I knew they'd be a hassle. So far I was right. I've gotten one done, the double flaring is going fine. It's the forming that's the trouble, if they don't fit just right I won't be happy. And I really don't want to two piece anything in the engine bay but it may come to that.

 

Just finished bending up the second one, looks like amateur hour to me, not happy with it. I'm done for tonight.

[S30Jay]

Layed some pipe this weekend. 

 

 

 

Blurry one 

 

 

The old junk

 

 

Also changed the cabin air filter in the soob. Think it was too soon??  :rofl:

 

[Coda]

Jay, way to go full-throttle on that thing! Beautiful car, enjoying your updates. Keep 'em coming!