skidmark117

I know my cable had stretched to the point where the first time I went under the car, I found the PO had used about 4 nuts on the thread of the 'adjustable' bolt as spacers, to counter the stretch . With the lack of availability of a reasonably priced replacement, there's now 5 nuts...

Hey lads, After laying low for a while, and with the Zed off the road while I focused on babies , pergolas, decks and landscaping , I plan to get the Zed back on the road for a 3 month period. Self-set deadline is June. I'm needing to sort a hole in the radiator, which I hope will push me to installing the overflow bottle sourced from MSA. I also plan to replace the unoriginal dodgy seats, as I've had new foam and covers sitting around waiting for the job to be done for an embarrassingly long time. Catcha, Skidmark117

Hi Dallas, Welcome! I'm in Weston Creek along with the other 2 Zeds owned by my in-laws. I bought inertia reel belts from Hemco about 3 years ago. I don't have the details of the ones I bought, however ReverendZ posted this earlier this month (I worked through Wayne as well, seems he's in the know! ): --- This was my order to Hemco for a 74 260z 2 seater, I don't imagine that the 2+2 would be much different although you would need to check mounting points etc. 2X front inertia belts are part number S1790006 with the 330mm stalks with the right angle floor mount. 2X 200mm Drop Links , part number S1800074 approx. Contact Wayne at Hemco: wayne@hemco.com.au --- They work fine. You use the existing hole for the floor stalk, and for the anchor nearest the 'lap' belt. I drilled an additional hole into the back deck/wheel arch, that's used to mount the inertia reel. Take some time measuring this one up, as you firstly need some space away from the deck lip to enable the reel cover to sit, but more importantly, you need to ensure the belt exits the reel vertically, otherwise it will wear away at the belt edges :-\. Regards, Skidmark117

Hey lads, Been a while... Thanks Chris, I did get your message. Sounds like a good run but I won't be putting my Zed back on the road until after Easter. I'll likely get a 3 month rego just to allow it some practice back on the road for a bit. It's been getting a bit jealous sitting in my garage while I build pergolas and gardens and 'stuff' around it. I hope to sort the leather seats out and then enjoy it through the colder months for a bit. Thanks for thinking of me for the run. Scamp

Funny stuff, mine did this too, and I always thought it was a saggy spring issue. I owned the car for 2 years before I finally twigged that the different brand rear tires I'd bought the car with were actually different DIAMETERS, despite having the same rating. I felt a right doofus at that stage... New tires all round fixed that issue.... Sheesh.

Looks like you'll have the option of a 'President of the United States'- type procession. 10 Zeds passing through, with every 2nd one dropping someone off...

I had similar issues when I worked on mine earlier in the year. After all the frustration, I liberally soaked the joint in WD-40, then went to work to beg for a ball joint breaker (aka. pickle fork to the US). Came home that night without anything and gave the bolt (with the nut screwed on) a couple of belts, and it just fell apart. I did some levering under the ball joint with a big screw driver between the steering arm, but to be honest, I think the WD-40 did the trick.

Hey lads, I did this conversion about 2 years ago to my 1970 240z. I thought the thread that gave me the help was actually on this site, but maybe I've confused it with Zcar.com The pics posted below are not of my car, but are the original thread pics I saved as my reference bible when doing the job. Not that the shot of the reel has the belt twisted. This is either a 360° twist by accident that could have been removed before the pic was taken, or the bloke has mistakenly installed the RHS on the LHS (I have vague memories that there is a Left and Right, due to the way the reel rolls across the wearer's body. Can't recall exactly ) Given a bit of time I'm sure I could source the part numbers etc. from the supplier, Hemco industries in Ballarat Victoria. The installation was pretty straight forward, with the pillar and floor mount points from the original system re-used, and a hole drilled into the wheel arch for the inertial reel. The kit comes with a nice big load spreading plate that plants across the arch metal, bolted outside the car. The only 'hard' part is to ensure you drill the wheel arch mount hole far enough to the rear of the car that the belt doesn't rub against the plastic reel cover, which it does when released and gravity lets it drop back against the slot. My driver's unit is probably about 10mm too far forwards and there is already signs of rubbing. Easy fix would be to widen the slot. I recall I debated a bit over whether to buy 90° or 45° stalks. Can't recall which I did (I'll find it...), but do know I needed to do a bit of light bending of the stalk to get it to sit where I wanted it - on my hip, not in my kidneys. Another thing to consider is where do you put your belt when you take it off? The inertia reel wants to drag it into the No-Man's Land next to the seat, as the pillar hang strap drops down and lets it happen. I have plans to mount some sort of hook on the side of the seat (MX-5 type thing? Dunno) to guide and hold the belt. For now I loop it over the head of the chair, which is great for me because I know it's there, but offers me much entertainment watching passengers contort their arms to fish around for it. Now, where were those part numbers... [edit on Friday 2nd Oct - As per Lynton's post below, my reel bought from Hemco came with a molded plastic cover, looks nice and neat. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oh Joy, I found the original thread and pics, and they were on this site . The info, part numbers and pics below were all originally posted in 2005 by WarrenZ. http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=100.0 What's got me confused is that a 'normal' search for Hemco didn't find it, but if I used advanced search parameter 'older posts first', there it was It seems there's a 10 post limit... Can someone PM me with an answer please? I thought I knew teknologee...]

Hey lads, A bit more info for this thread, realising the question was asked in July... I bought Koni shocks and poly Control arm bushes through Fulcrum (Hilcrest) back in April 2009, and understand that Jimmy no longer works there. From March I dealt with the Branch manager, Darren, and later with Steve. The prices I paid for Koni shocks were slightly more than those mentioned in the original "Jimmy' post, but still significantly cheaper than the next I found. I don't know if Fulcrum Hilcrest are still providing such prices. Regarding bushes, I haven't seen a full kit of rubber bits, only of polyurethane. I bought poly Control arm and sway bar bushes, but stuck with rubber for everything else. My sources for the rubber bits was about half Black Dragon and half Motorsport Auto. With store sales and their standard prices, there was real benefit to be gained at the time in sourcing from each. I have to say that the Aussie to US exchange rate at the moment is a heap better than it was when I bought (who'd have thought the biggest economic downturn in 70 years would happen just as I started to upgrade my Zed's suspension!! ), so the conversion benefits I was chasing then might not be as pronounced now. I've only got around to replacing the front end bits on my 1970 240z, but am happy with the results so far. The one piece of info I've always found missing to help decisions in the 'rubber v poly' debates, are comments from anyone who has experienced both, as opposed to someone saying how good poly was compared to 35 year old busted rubber.

Hey Locky, How did you go with the window regulator? I suspect we may have been competing for the same part from Warren a few weeks ago? I had a metal tab break off inside the driver's regulator cog mechanism about 3 weeks ago. After pulling the door apart I concluded it was -->stuffed<--, so got a LHS unit from Warren (some other fella had first dibs on his only RHS unit... ). Pulled the regulator mechanism apart and swapped the cogs over into the driver's unit. Greased up the cogs and the track slides and the whole thing works like new. The door mechanism's really aren't as daunting as they initially appear, I reckon.

I suppose car freight is the only option beyond 'drive it yourself' one way or another. My Zed came up from Melbourne on a car trailer. My father in law did the deed, and said it was initially quite disconcerting to check the rear vision mirror and see a Zed RIGHT behind... Would one way car and trailer hire be a cheaper option? Despite the fact it'd be 8 hours you wouldn't get back... :'(

Hey lads, Seems I should start up a thread in the Member's Project section. I'm still doing bits and pieces, with the major work of late being new exhaust system, and (big whoop) new tires. Exhaust system is now the classic Zed 2.25" with a resonator and muffler. Sounds quite barky and angry at revs, but the initial drone in the car nearly did my head in. Not sure if it's possible for an exhaust system to 'settle in', but it doesn't feel as droney as it did. Maybe I'm getting used to it. After having my planned supply of BF Goodrich tires dry up, I've ended up with Federal Formoza FD1s all round. 195/65R14 and 215/65R14. Amazing the difference some nice, pliable rubber makes instead of the crusty three-different-brands I had before. I'll get working on that project thread... Skidmark117

Hey all, Sorry I missed the event. I had great plans until I got crook and the young fella got croup. It just didn't seem 'right' to recover long enough to leave my wife with the grumpy toddler. Some nice pics there, hope to catch you all next time.

Howdy lads, what's the proposed time? Hopefully it'll fit in with my weekend plans for massive amounts of Backyard Blitz-style concreting, but I may end up being a piker.

Howdy all, Long time loiterer, first time poster. I've also posted this in the ACT section, as I ran into Chris_240 at the Shannon's Show in Canberra back in March. I have a burnt orange 1970 240z as my daily driver (pic below), which I've owned for about 3 years. Original colour was red and the P-PO has done a couple of resprays. Not a ‘bad’ job, but my goal is to strip it and redo the paint in 5 or so years. The Zed bug bit me through the extended family. I was in the UK for a couple of years drooling over some of the classics and wondering if it was time to foray into gaining some motor experience (I had very little). I realised quickly that I wasn't going to be able to ship an E-type Jag home to work on, so I started looking around for an Aussie based option. Coincidentally at this time, my brother in law bought two Zeds, selling one to my father in law. I looked up the Zed and was pretty much sold on the idea immediately. It took a year of looking around to find what I was after. My car was an Ebay find from Victoria, and I took a risk and bought it based on photos and phone calls. What a find. The other pic below is the three cars that were owned by in-laws and myself. Since then my father in law has laid his hands on an immaculate white 1973 that was completely stripped and redone about 5 years and 2 owners ago. I've mostly been doing small cleanup bits on the car (panel seals, blower upgrade, rear speaker box) over the past few years, helped greatly by this and the US-based Zcar.com forum. Completed last week though, was a complete rebuild of the front suspension, including new bushings, ball joints, tie rods, Koni adjustable shocks and Lovell springs (and a general spray of black paint to make it all pretty). The rear will be done, but not until I have some more home time set aside. From my copious reading of forums and Blues Tech Tips, I know that one will have pig elements in it. Anyway, that’s about it for my introduction bio. Thanks for being a source for such good advice up to now, and I look forward to taking a more active, less voyeuristic role in the site from now! Regards to all, Ian