Huw

tomorrow will tell :-) spent all day at work today but charged battery whilst gone...so shouldn't be a problem with that.... Will check to make sure didn't knock anything out of tacho cause have had that coil prob before..... thanks for the offer on the coil and stuff but I've got the 280zx coil etc sitting on my bookshelf in my room waiting as well....so if the coil etc ends up being the problem I'll just do that swap :-) anyway...we'll see tomorrow Huw

got a bit of a quandry.... went to fire my zed over the last couple of days....it had been a bit reluctant to fire and keep idling (even with choke on)...now it won't fire at all...it turns and there is spark at all plugs... (there is petrol too!) However it seems to come closer to firing when you play with the leads and plugs (take lead out force it to jump from lead to plug, strange) The plugs and leads are basically brand new...engine fully rebuilt...carbs rebuilt (but have had trouble with them before, believe it to be all sorted tho) AS some background I did rewire under the dash prior to this, to fir the radio in, but i believe everything went back where it should and everything else works...... any help would be great... Huw

One piece of advice....when you are trying to get the bolt out.... do it very slowly and carefully....if you break an ez out or something trying to get it all out it just gets harder. (or more expensive depending on expertise) Huw

depends on what you're after....my father is obsessed with originality in his zed (it's not even an early one though) I just scavenged a couple of bottles (much like what Rod did, except I swapped for an original motor from a shot bottle, but it was hard to come by.) Huw

nissan sells the washer bottle & motor for around $100.. just boughtr one for my dad's zed. cause finding an old one with working motor is a challenge. Huw

I'm not sure if Datsun performance centre is still open.... someone in the trade said he may have retired (if we thinking of the same bloke (used to race the fairlady roadsters)... If he's still open, wouldn't hesitate at all, from everything i've heard he knows his stuff backwards. Huw

where do u get the modeling foam? cause that's one of the ways i was thinking of doing it....

all mine have holes in them from teh previous owner (who covered in all in shag felt!! F....idiot) so I'm not having guilt twinges. There isn't much space under the dash that would work well is there?

well....cause I'm too broke to do anything else, I'm fixing up the doors myself at the moment....and I'm wanting to mount two small speakers and tweeters in each door (little JL ones)....(kinda like the way 240z.id.au has his mounted).... anyway, I've made a teardrop shaped mounting bracket for the speakers but....I'm trying to decide whether to make them more 3d by making fiberglass pods (or even making a mold to make them smoother) or using a light wood shaped by hand to match the curves of the door.... might sound vague, it's easier when you're looking at it....just want to know any suggestions? has anyone made fibreglass pods before? or molded stuff? I'm not a big fan of highly visible speakers etc (considering I've lived with AM radio for last 4 years this is spoling myself) and thus want to do a nice job on them (without paying an upholsterer!!) Huw

zedevan...Just got of the phone to all the insurers (Vigil, GIO, RACV, etc etc etc)...When i spoke to GIO they said that they couldn't insure someone under 25 with a 240Z because it was classed as High performance (power/weight)....how'd u get around it? I've only been able to get a decent quote from Shannons and Vigil, Vigil was very helpful. The rest gave me b....s.... quotes of between 4-5k as maximum value! Huw

don't have any good pics at the moment (have a long cramped drive) but there are a couple on my cardomain site... have a look at the bottom of the page to see what it was before resto :-) [scares me even now] once it's registered I'm gonna get some good ones. [and once my exams are over!] Think I might give GIO a call, have got a couple of places set to contact me. wanting to insure for around 15-20k...but might be dreaming. Huw

in terms of upgrades and roadworthiness.... I have to read this again because it was 6 months ago or so..but i recall something along the lines of (for brakes) if it appears well engineered and works within the limits, you may not need one (i remember being shocked b/c i was about ready to call an engineer)...... Not entirely sure tho. Huw

the only problem with that classic insurance mentioned is that my zed (initially anyway) will be a daily driver....and i think most of the 'classic' policies have a km limit (i drive to country regularly....) so might be out on that front.

here we go.... Considering I'll be insuring my car comprehnsively in the next couple of months, I'm just wondering what insurers everyone favours... I've only heard rave reviews about shannons so I'm erring that way but someone suggested 'vigil'.... any suggestions would be appreciated. I'm only 20 (soon 21) so i think my insurance will hurt regardless of who insures my car... Huw

Warren, is that matting you bought a tar based one or is it similar to the old jute padding, ie. is it a thick greyish carpet with a denser backing? (i have some of that from Vyfab and have used on firewalls)... Another reason for wanting it removable, rather than using sticky tar stuff (apart from track stuff :-)) is for drainage reasons, if it gets wet i can take them out to dry and remove the plug without worrying about moisture getting under the rubber layer (cause the car always flexing slghtly)... one of the motivating factors for this is seeing everything when i stripped the factory layer of my floors and rear deck....little patches of rust (admittedly only surface) everywhere.... Huw

hmmmm I just bought my carpets for the zed, $140 from Trufit, only problem is bit that goes behind seats (not deck) is for a later zed, and may need 'adjusting' .....but that's a job for after my Torts exam (2 hrs and counting!!) Anyway, besides that was just wondering what everyone used for insulation, will be sowing it/attaching it to the carpets to prevent rust and make removable..... I have a light'ish jute padding stuff quite like factory but don't think it will insulate well enough...does anyone have any suggestions? is the dynamat stuff good? worth the money? Any advice appreciated (although i think it sounds great w/o any trim or deadening gf might disagree :-)) Huw

well the carpet for my zed is on its way, will pick it up on Monday...... now i have to look at getting my seats re-upholstered...any suggestions? does anyone know what the price diff is between vinyl and leather?? (having wicked thoughts)... cheers Huw

its alright....I'll just finish my car in a month or so (money pending (as always)) and then I head off to Japan for the year after only having driven it for a couple of months :-(!! might see if i can speak really nicely to mr OS-Giken whilst over there :twisted: Was so close to getting it rego'd then discovered that: gearbox isn't right (out it comes again!! and that my 404 is built like a tank (won in an accident but at fault).... Are the HID swaps hard? I've jsut put slightly uprated Hella units in, they a lot better than original but still not brilliant for country driving. Huw

with regard to compliance..... when i bought my lines from better brakes they made a point of pointing out the markings & compliance numbers on the lines that they had made....so i assume they are legal if you go that way. cheers Huw

I can't recall exactly but braided lines aren't that expensive.... when i started in my brakes...did it the cheats way and took the old grotty rubber lines down to Better brakes and asked them to make braided lines of the same length as them..... furthermore, if you need any advice on the lines (or stuff brake related), Better Brakes have always been helpful. Huw

I'm in the same boat at the moment....my zed is within 1k of being finished (just need to put carpets & a doors on...but just don't have enough time with uni exams and everything else. It gets even more frustrating when you can legally drive it on a permit..... If i were you, the small annoying things (like anything electrical related etc) I'd send them off to someone to: save time and to save sanity :-) Good luck Huw

btw way, the 'killrust' is fairly expensive at around $75 for a large paint tin's worth (sure there are other products without brand name)..

Well as far as mine went.... we initially cleaned up and used phosphoric acid on the rust...but after seeing how long+slightly ineffectual that way was.... simply blasted the entire car (on rotisserie) with rust prone box sections left open (dog leg in sill, part of front guard etc, so blaster could get in..... Once that was all done, covered all non-visible sections like the inside of doors, hatches, any of the open box sections, roof etc in 'killrust' (a black wattyl paint).... (Brushed that mainly) **N/B it might also be a good idea to get all removable panels galvanised (esp if u want to keep the car!) In terms of primer, I really don't remember... but on the underside you can buy a spray on tar like substance (think it's made by K&H but it will need a special gun. which is what we used and it worked really well.... then again....I'll only know how well it went in a couple of years!! hope that helps in some way...