Zeddophile

Always the way... Hope the damage is not too bad, and repaired to your desired standards. Meanwhile, my girlfriends Peugeot 306 which is not required anymore, is worthless to sell (would be worth 6 times as much written off), and has a bunch of mechanical issues, is parked on the street. Last weekend, a driverless Commodore rolled out of a driveway at the top of the court, went straight PAST the Peugeot on our narrow street (must have missed it by inches), and smashed into a car in a driveway at the bottom of the court. I hate that French piece of crap.

Yes, light flywheels drop RPM very fast indeed - this effect for me was much more noticeable than in the acceleration, and took a bit of time to get used to. Have to give it a much bigger rev when heel and toeing, otherwise the revs drop too far, and if grannyshifting on the street, you need to get back on the throttle a bit earlier (in relation to the clutch) to have a smooth gearchange... And that is in an Alfetta, where the whole tailshaft spins at engine rpm, and there is a second flywheel at the back of the car that the clutch is bolted to - still a lot of rotating mass left!

Why do I have a suspicion that starting that weapon will result in sore knuckles (hand crank?).

That is all well and good assuming YOU did the panel work. Most of the cars we have had to get RWC for have had previous 'repairs' rather than what I'd class 'restoration', may have been 15 years ago at times. By repairs I mean a bit of rust cut out here or there, maybe a guard replaced due to minor accident and localised repainting, all probably done with the car mostly assembled. The sort of thing that pretty much every 30 year old car has. And even cars which have had good quality repair work have been asked to get a panel beaters certificate on occasion. It really wasn't my intention to suggest that ANY car which has had panelwork will instantly fail, the point of my original post was that since this latest course, the required standard of the bodywork has been raised considerably. Put it this way, if we took a sample of 100 cars that we get through that are around or 40 years old, and put them through a roadworthy 12 months ago, then put the same cars in the same condition again through now: 12 months ago I'd expect 20 of those cars to fail for bodywork reasons, either bad work or rust in structural places (as opposed to rust bubbles on guards etc). Testing them now, I reckon we'd have issues with 50-60 of those cars for bodywork reasons. I also find it hard to convey what I mean with regards to bodywork - to me it's not sufficient to say do the bodywork to a good standard. I've lost count of the cars we've had coming to us to get running/assembled that have just come out of a panel shop or 'panels fixed by a mate', and the owner is saying how good a job the shop or mate did. Meanwhile, I take one look at the car and think, yeah, it's shiny, BUT that swage line on the door isn't sharp, that panel isn't the original shape, I can see the shrink back in the paint on every panel, the bumpers are higher one side than the other, I can see 10mm of mig wire hanging down under the floor, and there's overspray all over the suspension. I've seen cars that have had 5 figure respray jobs on them that I can walk around and run out of fingers on one hand to count the things that aren't right (which to me is unacceptable if you've paid that much for panel work). The worst thing is, you have to nod and smile and say "Yeah, it looks good.", as for some strange reason people get really upset if you tell them what you really think. I guess what I mean is, for example if you weld a patch into the floor - grind the weld back on both sides, make it smooth and seamless. Make it so when it goes up on the hoist, the join can't be seen - no bits of welding wire sticking out, no lumps of weld. Try and do all the work in such a way that you really can't tell that it has been done - and that's before you get out the bog, if you're using it. And while we're on bog - make sure you sand it off the corners and insides of panels too. So many people only sand the bog back on the outward facing part of the panel, but when you use bog at the edge of a panel, it ends up going around the corner too - and it makes it really obvious work has been done. Likewise on a sill, it all gets sanded back on the parts of the panel you can see, but look at the car on the hoist, and you'll see half sanded off lumps of bog under the sill (on the part that faces the ground). Take the time to look at the job from all angles, and say to yourself "Can I see any evidence of the work I've done?" If you aren't doing the panel work yourself, but are having a panel beater do it, make sure they are prepared to certify the car as structurally sound on the appropriate Vicroads form at the end of the job. You may not even need it come to RWC time, but it could potentially save you a lot of hassle if you do.

Yes. You have been misinformed. Try actually completely reading and comprehending a post for once, nowhere did I say a panel beater has to take the course. You also might realise that my mechanics pay cheques get paid into my bank account, and I can even read his mind. I'm guessing you haven't done the most recent course yet, since every other workshop in our area have started shitting themselves about bodywork directly after doing the course. We used to get cars passed no worries when (using your example) the rust hole in the floor had been repaired by welding a new piece in. Now, as soon as they see the welds, we've got to send the car off to the panel beater to certify that it's structurally sound. We're losing probably 1 in 4 roadworthy jobs now because of this, and we don't end up with any extra money from the others. It's a pain in the ass. We actually started using a different guy to do our roadworthies, which was fine until he went and did the course, now we have the same problem with him too. Fail to see how it is good news for people with older cars, it's going to mean a lot more cars getting scrapped because people shit themselves when they find out how much a RWC will cost them.

I suggest making him aware of this new requirement by Vicroads (as above), and make sure he is prepared to sign off on it when it comes to doing the roadworthy - may save you a lot of hassle.

What you guys probably don't know is the content of the latest Vicroads course which all inspectors are required to take. By July this year, ALL inspectors must have completed this course, and believe me, this is bad news. The roadworthy guy we use through work (mechanical workshop, but without our own RWC licence) did his around the middle of last year, and ever since it has been a nightmare to get old cars roadworthied. The biggest issue has been that if he spots any indicators of body repairs or rust, you need to supply him with a certificate from a registered panel beater, on an official Vicroads form that states the car is structurally sound. Vicroads now don't consider RW inspectors to be qualified to assess the condition of the body of a car. Of course, how many panel beaters, especially with older cars, are going to sign off on a car when they have no idea what lurks beneath the paint until the paint is removed? Particularly when the piece of paper they sign goes into a Vicroads filing cabinet, so that if the car is in an accident 6 months later and splits in half due to bogged over rust in the sills, Vicroads will come back to the panel beater and say 'Well, you certified this car as sound, what gives?" The course also addresses tightening of the tolerance on oil leaks and various other points, and an dramatic increase in the amount of paperwork a RW inspector must complete, both for each car, and overall for each month. For what it's worth, the display car at this Vicroads course is a BA falcon which looks to be immaculate when it sits on the ground. Putting it up in the air however, reveals that the sound deadener has been chipped off, and it's actually two cars joined together right through the middle.... Which is a part of what this latest tightening of regulations has been about, but it has the side effect of making it very difficult to get old cars roadworthied.

Hopefully with less hose clamps

I hope it was a female driver....

No argument here - its much more satisfying to do, and even if you can't (or can't be bothered to) metal finish it off, it doesn't take long to get a panel pretty damn close to original shape...

Welding aluminium is great fun. Have never regretted buying my AC tig.... Enjoy!

Yep, looks like a broken uni joint to me too. Also seems to have some rust coming through in the body... Don't want to burst your bubble here, but these older cars take a fair bit of time and mechanical ability (or money) to keep running. Given you are posting asking if that is a broken driveshaft and how much it will cost to fix, I'm guessing your mechanical knowledge is fairly limited. So my question is, do you have the time and inclination to learn how to fix things yourself, or if not, do you have the money to pay someone to keep it running (as a student, I'm guessing not?). If the answer is no to both of these, can I suggest perhaps holding off on a Zed or similar aged car until you have a bit more money or time on your side? Perhaps buy a pulsar or corolla (something that's nearly unkillable) with a good history, and in a couple of years buy a Zed or similar as a second car. That way, if it breaks down, you aren't relying on it to get you around every day, and have the luxury of time - both to save money for parts, and pull it apart and fix it yourself. Boring I know, but ultimately it would cause you less heartache, and you'll probably enjoy it more.... Just some observations from someone who's been a student with an older car not all that long ago, and is now a mechanic.

Perhaps this? http://www.caradvice.com.au/2892/ford-falcon-ba-bf-brake-hose-recall/ Or, if the ABS uses an accumulator to store pressure for the system, that could be on the way out, in which case it will hold less pressure for less time. There are other things that can cause a soft pedal, but given your symptoms I think we can rule out things like pad knockoff etc.

I WISH I could find a deal like that! There's 4 of the bloody things in my Alfa, at about $600 each :'( How the hell does someone break a camshaft in shipping? Must have been packed pretty badly and dropped from a decent height, or put under something bloody heavy...

Good point - brakes, too. Worth keeping.

That is a MEAN looking 280zx - usually I'm somewhat indifferent to the ZX's, but that thing just looks evil! Love it.

Personally, I'd keep the diff for a spare, especially if it's an R200. And if it's the later version with the CV jointed halfshafts, I'd keep those too. The rest, probably not.

Another here who thinks 25k or a bit over should sell it. This is not to say the cars not WORTH 35k, it looks to be a good car with good bits (haven't seen it in the flesh). The problem is, most people look at that price in comparison to the cheap ones, and say "I can build that car myself for that price, and I don't have to come up with the money all at once." What they don't factor in is all the little costs (and sheer time) involved in building a car like this, which just keep adding up, especially given the facilities the average person has on hand. Even Gav240z, who knows quite well how much a lot of these things cost, has been a bit optimistic with his comment previously: Gav, no disrespect meant, but the average person won't get any change at all out of 35k to build something like that when you include buying a car to start from. I'm not convinced I could build that car much cheaper (if at all), as a mechanic by trade with plenty of contacts. For reference, my Alfetta in my signature owes me not much short of 20k - everything mechanical has been upgraded (every piece of suspension, and the entire powertrain), and the only labour I haven't done are the bits involved machining (engine and gearbox). That is 20k in parts and machining costs, nothing else, and the engine is standard internally, just that I rebuilt it and balanced. The machining costs probably make up at MOST 10% for the whole car. I already had the car, and I'm running a Megasquirt which costs less than a quarter of almost any other aftermarket ECU. I'm using motorbike throttles which cost me about $400 to buy - considerably less than the EFI hardware gear. But, back on topic, since the average punter reckons they can build it for 35k, to appeal to them, you need to price it in that 25-30k bracket so they actually realise they are saving money. Or, you wait for someone who is serious about building a car like yours, realises and understands their limitations, and has fully costed the project out before even buying a car to start from. That is the guy who will pay 35k for it, but that is also a very rare person, and you may have to wait quite a long time for someone that sensible. Comes down to whether you need the money now, or want to get what it's worth. FWIW, if I had that kind of money to play with (Tattslotto please, even a smaller one will do!), 25k would make that car very appealing to me - I know I just could not build it for that. But keep in mind, I have a soft spot for 3.1s and individual throttle bodies (was a dream of mine when I had my Zed project) - not everyone is going to want that.

LMAO... Err.... Good luck?

Simpsons did it! Lol. I'm surprised not to see the Michael Jackson picture again here Lurch, as you say it looks like it might be a big project. Good to hear you seem to be seriously considering keeping it original, that early a car deserves it. If you think you'd rather perhaps steer back towards your original plan, might I suggest putting that car up on here, and see if anyone who has a later project car (maybe even a 260 2 seater) and is after originality, will swap you? Good luck with the project, whichever path you end up on.

Its just you. Although they weren't working for me the other day either.

I think there is something about parts for a car that is older than 30 years that allows you to get away with less duty/tax? Not too sure, but might be worth looking into....

Obviously the thought is that its better to have too much oil pressure than none at all? Didn't have a failure in your weapon did you Lurch?

I wonder if it was a hose clamp..... Looks like the right type of screw head to be off a hose clamp, and the two metal clips with Australia on them could be part of the mechanism too.... That would be my suggestion too, we have enough members around your area that someone should have a motor known to be good floating around. Probably an L26 or 24, but there's been few guys wrecking 280zx's lately too, so you may get lucky. Then in the future use the buggered one as a base to build up a hot motor without having to take your zed off the road.

Assuming there aren't valve marks in the front 4 cylinders, I'm going to take a guess at the valves being bent from the crap in the cylinders.... What the hell is that you found in there, anyway?