Hs30-01415 - 904 White And Blue Interior - Auto - 71

[gav240z]

Just put some feelers out there and got lucky. Turns out it was someone I had sold a Rally Clock to previously.

[gav240z]

71 year date stamped Topy steel wheels... with original spare tyre still on the 5th wheel. I like how the paint has come off due to the hubcap claws..authentic..

Big thanks and shout out to @PB260Z for collecting them for me too!

[PB260Z]

9 hours ago, gav240z said:

71 year date stamped Topy steel wheels... with original spare tyre still on the 5th wheel. I like how the paint has come off due to the hubcap claws..authentic..

Big thanks and shout out to @PB260Z for collecting them for me too!

 

 

No worries, they appear to be in amazing condition.

I haven’t unboxed the one with tyre, so can’t comment on that one.

cheers

[gav240z]

It has been too long!

Having the car stored 45mins + away from me in Sydney always made it hard to work on it. I recently moved my FD RX-7 back to Melbourne. Since it's blown a coolant seal sadly and will need an engine rebuild. But not wanting to pull another car apart in Sydney at this stage. So I'll get to it in a few months time.

I used Get My Ride - which came recommended and found they were very good. But that meant i had some room in the garage of my Sydney house/garage. So the white Z was dropped off last night. Sadly it was a year or so since I last started it, and I couldn't get the fuel up into the carbs. So we rolled it into the garage, I went to the fuel station got some fuel in a jerry can, poured it into the float chambers via the breather line and then boom up she went first go.

Video of it running here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/8Uo6Vx2KiKGbmNUs6

I actually managed to drive it up and down the driveway a bit too. So that was good. Auto's are so weird in a Z... the missus likes the idea of an auto though, so it may become her Z.. she got a bit excited at that idea. ;).

Plan is to give her a clean up and get it road worthy so I can drive it down to Melbourne in future. I was hoping to have it ready for Bathurst, but it will be too tight a squeeze i think and I'm nervous an old radiator hose would give up half way there... so may have to show up in a car other than the Z. :(.

[hmd]

with that many cars you will soon obtain a master degree in logistics.

[gav240z]

LOL, fair point.

However hopefully I won't be moving them too much more. We bought a place in Melbourne last month. But I'll need to extend the garage/area space to accommodate all the toys.

[gav240z]

I took it for a drive around the backyard last night.  Kind of felt like I was 16 again. Since it can't be driven on the road at the moment and before I had my license I used to just drive my car up and down the drive way (my first car was a 73 240z back in 98).

Video here:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/5WmFYmLmv1B4FHhD6

I found the auto box is sometimes slipping, my guess is that it's low on fluid and old fluid, it got better the more I moved it around though. So hopefully a good flush and change will see it back to health. So weird to drive an auto though.

The hazards still flash because of the alarm system. 

[PeterAllen]

Nice one Gary.

Couldn’t you get an Unregistered Vehicle Permit and take it for a test drive?

I got three or four no trouble at all.

 

[gav240z]

2 hours ago, PeterAllen said:

Nice one Gary.

Couldn’t you get an Unregistered Vehicle Permit and take it for a test drive?

I got three or four no trouble at all.

 

I was hoping to get it on the road and registered so I could drive it Sydney->Melbourne, but maybe I should just get the permit and register it in Melbourne on their Historic plate scheme. Less hassle perhaps than trying to register here and then doing the same thing later in Melbourne?

I will have to replace all the consumable items like radiator hoses, water pump, thermostat and fix all the oil leaks, bleed brakes etc.. hopefully she makes the journey. I'm sure she will, but I might have to take a support vehicle along with me.

[PeterAllen]

Can you get an RMS UVP to drive it to Albury and a VicRoads UVP to drive it Wodonga to Melbourne?

[C.A.R.]

Multiple permits aren't required - a single one from RMS will cover you in Victoria as well.

[gav240z]

I've spent nearly 2 days on the body work, buffing it and cleaning it up. I managed to get quite a few marks out of the paint. However there is blistering and flaking in parts and nothing can be done about that. These photos were taken before I tried to re-attach the body moulding on the driver side. Since it had been off the car it went a bit wavy (no longer straight) and I attempted to use a hair dryer to straighten it out which helped but didn't give it that dead straight line. Then I put it back on with 3M body moulding tape, it works well but I tried to re-adjust the alignment and it pulled off some paint on the door (the 1 panel that actually looked ok paint wise). So I've kind of had to leave it wavy looking, which is annoying..

I'm going to have to figure out a way to patch up flaked paint (bonnet has a big flake missing) and do something about the rusted headlight bucket on the passenger side and rust behind rear bumper. It's otherwise a solid car.

Put about 1L of transmission fluid in it and seems to have sorted the slipping gearbox. There is a leak that will need addressing and a few others under the car. I hadn't detailed the interior before the video.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/djDf5i5cu8SUctEs7

But it's amazing how I feel more proud of owning it now than I have in 2 years. The blue interior really pops, the driver seat rip is sad, but I'll give the other spare set of seat trims I go at fitting. Since the foam isn't that bad underneath. Engine bay still needs a degrease and clean up which will come next.

It tends to start up pretty quickly now, but I noticed it fluctuates in terms of idle in the beginning, almost as if it's hunting. Never having owned an auto Z before I don't know if it's related to it being an auto or something else? I think the chokes are probably sticky like all SU's. I do have a set of Z-therapy ones that are beautiful and I will likely install, but want to clean the engine bay first since they are "restoration" quality in terms fo finish and I don't want them getting all dirty as a result of a filthy engine bay.

[PB260Z]

Hi Gav

That looks so much better, amazing what some elbow grease can do.
FYI some of the oil leaks may sort themselves out (temporarily) once all the seals get lubricated again.

Cheers

PB

[gav240z]

18 hours ago, PB260Z said:

Hi Gav

That looks so much better, amazing what some elbow grease can do.
FYI some of the oil leaks may sort themselves out (temporarily) once all the seals get lubricated again.

Cheers

PB

I guess you saw the state of it when we collected it. Interior half arsed and apart, filthy all over and faded paint etc.. It certainly is looking very different today. In some ways it's come up better than my 72 240z. Since it's so straight and never had a nudge. Plus it's very original - which is something I've been trying to take my 72 back to for years now. Just goes to show the value of buying a really good car from the start. Saves a lot of time and effort.

Another video here after I cleaned up interior and engine bay a bit more. A wet rag can remove a lot of filth in an engine bay.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/HgH7Srj6ae2qadJp9

[Cozza]

Nice Gav

Will you get it up to Bathurst for the weekend to be with all the other Zeds?

It’ll be nice to have a z to cruise in. 

[gav240z]

2 hours ago, Cozza said:

Nice Gav

Will you get it up to Bathurst for the weekend to be with all the other Zeds?

It’ll be nice to have a z to cruise in. 

I was hoping to, but the car arrived at my place a couple of weeks later than I had anticipated and so I would have had more time to get it on the road. But the alarm system wiring is something that needs rectification and a good oil/fluids change. Along with a new set of tyres.

So unless someone can lend me a car + trailer to tow it out that way I don't think I'll make it down in the Z. I may drive out in the Stagea though.

Had a lot on recently, bought a house in Melbourne and somewhat busy trying to get all the paperwork / mortgage details sorted etc.. I would love to have it there, but can't see it happening at the moment.

[hmd]

1 hour ago, gav240z said:

Had a lot on recently

 

1 hour ago, gav240z said:

I may drive out in the Stagea though.

 

Just admit it, you've been spending way too much time on https://www.sau.com.au/forums/

[gav240z]

1 minute ago, hmd said:

Just admit it, you've been spending way too much time on https://www.sau.com.au/forums/

haha, actually no, but I have been spending time on Stagea groups on Facebook. But you can see I'm dedicating more time to the Z's again. My first love.

[gav240z]

Sometimes it's the small details...

Let there be light!

I had previously rebuilt the switch incorrectly so it kind of wiggled around and would work with a bit of a fiddle of the switch (angles). Now it has that proper clunk (action) into place.

Had a bit of a peak under the dash also this evening to see if I can make sense of this alarm install.

Since the hazard are being triggered I wondered if the loop back plug was somehow tapped into that part of the loom. But to my surprise the loopback plug was still in place.

What I did notice though re: alarm install was that the wiring appears to be using a splice connector as opposed to soldered. I am not sure if by removing them I have to worry about the integrity of the original wiring or not? But I guess this is what I'll have to familiarise myself with over the next few weeks.

[KatoKid]

Those "Vampire" connectors are absolute shite Gav. They have a habit of partially cutting the conductor, when you remove slide back the insulator a bit and you should be able to see if this has happened, pay special attention to the large white/red cable as this is the main power source. Some insulation tape to cover where  the splice was will be fine.

[gav240z]

On 12/6/2019 at 7:07 AM, KatoKid said:

Those "Vampire" connectors are absolute shite Gav.

You're correct..about that..

I think I was out there since 4:30pm today and just finished up around 11pm..

To begin with I disconnected the module that was controlling the flashers.

So far so good..

Car still ran and I could start it without issues.

Then I pulled the alarm module - whilst the car was running. Everything was fine, but then I couldn't restart it..

Oops. The plug is a ribbon cable style plug and it doesn't only fit 1 way, so you know what I did when I put it back in? I put it backwards. I saw a spark at the time.. damn it. I fried the alarm module.. which meant the car was dead. I couldn't start it..

Anyway I decided the only thing for it is to completely remove it. Which sounds easy, but it's tentacles where everywhere under the dash and I now have a sore back from playing human contortionist.

I found a hidden kill switch up behind the glove box. Clever.

Half of it removed..

The other half..

And then I discovered it was spliced into the ignition black/yellow cable. So I have re-joined those up and now it starts fine. I also removed a wire from the ignition coil going back down the back of the car, which I believe is for the old electric fuel pump. Removed the horn that was added under the ignition coil (since that was part of it too)..

Actually the horns worked with the alarm, but after re-connecting them they don't work from the horn button? Gonna need to look into that.

Looks like the car is connected to the socket, but that was my work light.

See if it wasn't running I wouldn't have been able to reverse it into the garage.

Went for a few sneaky laps around the block :). First time I've driven it at speed. Nothing major wrong with it, steering feels a little vague so might need tie rod ends and ball joints.

Removed these stickers.

Good view of the loom now that it's tidied up under there. NB the wire coming from the defrost / defroster tube? That had a switch in it..

No idea if this was another kill switch? Very odd indeed.

Recall this is what it looked like when I bought it..not pretty.

and just because Alan @HS30-H asked me if there was anything on the globe box still. Got these photos of the Kanji text.

So all in all, 1 step closer to being roadworthy and on the road again. Felt good driving it down the street :).

 

[gav240z]

Split the topic on glove box markings into a separate thread for further research etc..

 

[gav240z]

Finally... It was annoying me...

[gav240z]

So the horn hasn't been working... couldn't work it out.

There was some additional horn in the engine bay near the airbox that was tapped into the horn loom. Think it may have been done for the alarm. Otherwise someone could disconnect the horns by reaching under the bumper.

I looked in the Haynes manual at the wiring diagram and saw the horn circuit is pretty simple. It basically just grounds out to sound the horns. I also found this diagram on the web.

I removed the additional aftermarket horn, reconnected both horns at the front, removed the additional loom that was aftermarket.

Still wouldn't work... then I decided I'd swap the relay out from HS30 00150..

But it made no difference. I knew the horns worked because when the alarm was installed and I reconnected them, they went off..

So that lead me to believe there was an issue on the switch side.

After a bit of faffing about, I removed the cowling around the wheel. Then I noticed the horn was working? I thought maybe I jiggled a wire and checked all the connections.

Then I put the cowl back on and the horn stopped working. Perplexed I realised there was a loose wire (see photo).

It looked like rather than solder the joint, someone had tried ti silicone it in place... anyway, I soldered it back so it's nice and secure and the horn now works. Success.. I had to remove the steering wheel to get to it properly though.

I'm sure the neighbours were wondering why the hell the horn kept going off, but this was the last non-working road worthy item I knew would come up.

Other items not working are interior courtesy light (which I think is the bulb), 1 reverse light is out (probably bulb) and the antenna switch doesn't work (or antenna doesn't go up and down).

[gav240z]

Oh and I noticed that it appears the aircon compressor works. So it may just need a regas.