Woohoo!

        Two posts in less than a week?! Yeah, that's right! The build is getting some momentum since we're getting closer to being able to drive this thing. So what has been done? Mainly fine tuning, but I was running into an issue of a high idle. Now my tachometer is temperamental and only works when it wants to (probably due  to some of wires I just found twisted together under the steering column...) so in the last video, it was idling very high (the video doesn't do it justice) and judging by my ear, it sounded around 2,000 rpm with it climbing up and down to the 2,500 rpm range with it cutting in and out and it wanting to die out. Also, when pushing down the linkage or the accelerator pedal, the throttle doesn't snap back down but instead slowly climbs down the rpm range back to the high idle. So what do we do?

        While there was down-time at work this week, I researched tons of information about Webers and the issues I was having and after work (thanks to the time change and having more sunlight). I was able to tinker around. I thought I figured it out when I noticed the idle speed screw was on the other side of the Weber (duh!) and I forgot to switch it to the other side when I moved the linkage stuff. Although, I don't think it made much of an impact (still important though!). 

        Next, I've read that the slow rpm drop can come from the butterflies within the carbs can bind on the side or it can be any part of the linkage. I basically disassembled the whole linkage assembly first and moved things individually to see if there were any tightness or sticking anywhere. I found out through trying to slide the levers (pictured below) were actually not completely straight! The main offender was the middle lever, but all three had to be straightened out in the end. I tested it out by sliding them left and right and also how easily it flipped back and forth from the carb side to the engine side of the linkage. Tightened everything down and tested it. Boom! Snaps right back with no sticking or binding and it didn't even need the return spring that I had added! I still attached the return spring because it's better to be safe than sorry, I think.

Was pinching on the left and right side on the linkage bar

       I felt like my timing was too advanced because of how high the idle was no matter how I adjusted the Webers, they simple would not go down. I had marked with a paint marker the initial starting point just incase I wanted to do a reset. I retarded the timing by just guesstimating (bad, I know but no tool at home) and went to see if it would crank over, but almost forgot to reset all the Weber idle mixture screws to baseline (turned in, clockwise, until it gently bottoms and then turn out 1.5 turns). I have two videos of the process. Not really technical, just going based off my ear. The guide I followed said it should idle rough like a tractor so if it wouldn't idle and die, I would need to adjust timing or the screws or both. I decided if it won't idle at 2 turns to advance the timing a little more, but I got impatient when my starter was acting up, that I was going to advance it a little more. The rest can be seen in the videos. (Note: I put two fingers up signing I'm 2 turns out and later a 3 for 3 turns out, which is in the okay range I've read. Videos are too long for Blogspot so you have to click the links).

Video 1                  Video 2

        

       This video is right after everything is kind of set up. I still have to sync up the carbs and maybe adjust things here and there but it's pretty smooth right now! I had to shut it off because it's still relatively loud and my neighbors in their apartments probably hate me already from the noise the past few days plus the gas/exhaust fumes. It was around 7 at night so I wanted to be respectful to my neighbors so I can continue doing cool car stuff. Also, my old door locks won't unlock all the way (have to unlock going through the rear hatch) and the car came with two different keys which is one for each for the driver and passenger side. The driver side bent one when I was testing it so I went ahead and ordered new ones which came with a key that can unlock/lock either side and a spare. Much better than fiddling with 4 different keys.... especially with doors I use every time I drive.

       Door locks will be installed soon! Will probably install other goodies I have next time as well and will also need to order a new starter as this one is getting worse (and probably wearing out my ignition and key haha). Until next time!

Opps.

     A lot has been done on the car and I honestly forgot I even had this blog until I wanted to write about what I've done...haha. Not many photos were taken as I've become lazy about documenting what I have done to the car. I wish you all have not lost hope on me getting this car running and driving. Time has slipped by quickly and balance with life is sometimes difficult. The following is what has been done in the long time that I haven't updated:

     The expansion plugs on each side (8 of them total) have also been replaced, which was a lot more difficult than I thought! I had the help of my brother to get the really tricky ones out. I had to bribe him to help, but in the end it was worth it. Filled the car with coolant and squeezed the upper radiator hose to check for any leaks and to get rid of any air bubbles. Turns out the rear freeze plug at the back of the head has a slow leak... oh man. It's going to be difficult to replace that without removing the head or lifting the engine and neither sounds too appealing to me effort and time-wise so I might just pay someone else to do it later when I can drive it to a shop.

      I'll save you from the boring photos such as repairing existing wiring or wiring in a new fuel pump as there are countless write ups on  how to swap those (green was power and black is ground, done). I've deleted the mechanical fuel pump as I suspected it was going out as well as the previous electric fuel pump due to it not preventing vapor lock in the uphill climb when my brother and I had picked up the car. It has been replaced by a new electric fuel pump rated to 3.5-4 psi to deliver fuel to the triple Webers which have been re-routed with new fuel lines as well.

     Speaking of Webers, the Webers and other parts I installed (intake and exhaust manifolds) are now on the Z. The intake manifold had a difficult time lining up with the existing bolt/stud holes on the new head with the exhaust manifold flanges there. I dremeled  the exhaust manifold enough on both the front and rear runner to get the intake manifold to line up correctly as I've heard this to be quite common with the MSA 6-1 header. No gaps for exhaust leaks as of yet, which is a massive improvement since when we picked up the car it had a huge exhaust leak toward 6th cylinder when I bought it, which made Erik (my brother) not appreciate the ride home especially in the heat. I guess he didn't like smelling like exhaust afterwards.

     After fixing all of this, I found out that the relays for the electric fuel pump only turns on IF the car is idling. Not too much of an issue, except when you don't have a mechanical fuel pump, which runs when cranking. As part of helping prevent accidents from turning into huge fireballs by continuing to pump fuel to the carburetors to a possible existing fire, it shuts off when the car is not idling. I'm not one to deal with chance, so with the off chance I do get into an accident in this car, I don't want the chance of me (or any passenger) catching on fire. So I had to find a way to be able to put fuel into my NEW (empty) carbs without opening them up to put fuel in to start and prime everything, because if the fuel in the floats dry after not driving for a while, I don't want to do that every time. Turns out I could disconnect the oil pump switch, put the keys to the ON position, and manually push the relay switch to get the fuel pump to prime after I charged up the battery with a battery tender, that was gifted to me by my girlfriend ^_^. With the triple Webers primed, I was now able to start my car! With no experience with carburetors and too much excitement, I wanted to try to crank it and if it ran rough, it would run rough, but maybe it will run. Tuning the carburetors could wait.

She finally ran! It was really rough and wanted to die out, but she finally ran.

     She finally ran. I was so excited and happy. The exhaust was bolted on but not the muffler which is why it ran so loudly. The video did not do it justice as this was LOUD! After a week of being hyped, I was excited to get the Webers tuned. I've read up on how to tune and it was confusing but I'm slowly getting there and understanding more and more each day. I was able to get them running smoother (or so I thought).

Running a little smoother

    First "drive" was done by my girlfriend, who helps motivate me to get working on the car so we can go on a cruise down PCH. The brakes and transmission working just fine, which is a good sign! Still need to work on the brake lights and tune the carburetors better to get rid of the high idle. I thought the exhaust sounds alright, but the sound of air rushing into the carburetors sound exactly how I thought they would.

     Car is sounds like it's running better now to me, but still has a high idle which I think I figured out how to fix. It will all sound much better without the high idle, which I plan on fixing soon, I promise! It's exciting to see where the car is heading and finally making good progress. Only a matter of time until she's road worthy! 

Redeux

I know... I know...I'm terrible at updating this Blogspot about my project (over a year!), but life sometimes gets in the way. I started a full-time job in January and my brother just got married last weekend to name a few things, so I've had quite a bit of change this year and still kind of readjusting. I was used to having a little money and lots of time, being in college and working part-time. Now, it seems like I have a little more money and a lot less time haha. Sorry for the lack of updates regardless, I want to try to update more often to keep the momentum/progress going.

The plan with the Datsun has changed in kind of big way. The Z, in reality, needed a lot of work (even though I said it was near "running/drive-able"). I was counting on everything working, although it hasn't ran in however many years (at least two in my possession) and was last registered in Nevada then went Non-Op? (surrendered license plates), making it a little complicated to get it registered here in California (not impossible, but probably more difficult). I ran into a few more issues and even though not many, it tends to add up both time and money-wise. At the two year mark of owning the Z (April 2016), I was sitting outside one night staring at the car, thinking of how much longer and how much more money it was going to take me to get it running at least (not to mention driving SAFELY). Looking back, I realized I was overoptimistic about buying that car as a project. Although, I did get it for a good price (for a rolling shell), what I needed was a Z that was running/driving (among other things) as a better starting point. So, I bought another 260z since it just made more sense money and time-wise.




 



I will keep the green Z (which will be referred to as "parts car") and will transfer all the new parts I bought to the new 260Z (side note: when I refer to my Z from now on, I mean the new one). Mechanically, the main issues it has was with the SU carbs and fuel lines, which I was going to swap out anyway. Also, I need to fix some wiring since one of the PO's thought twisting wires together and sometimes using electric tape to keep it together was a good enough fix rather than solder/crimp and heatshrink. The combination of these two things and a battery without a battery tie-down and a loose (-) terminal made it difficult/sketchy for my brother to drive back home and we had to stop every 20 mins (took streets from near Upland to W.L.A.) to recheck everything. But it made it back under it's own power, nonetheless. The car is registered in my name so I'm OFFICIALLY the owner of a 260z.

Also, I never updated when I purchased my triple Weber carburetors (see below), which I installed on my parts car and I've since transferred it, as well as my 6-1 headers, to my Z. I already installed braided fuel lines linking the Webers with AN fittings, but still need to finish lines to gas tank. Also, I need to change out the expansion plugs since one was leaking pretty badly due to it rusting out (might as well do them all). The leaking expansion plug kept getting punctured instead of getting knocked out so I might have to carefully dremel it partially and grab the rest out or may have to dremel the whole plug. This all means the car is not running atm (I know what you're thinking, lol), but I'm definitely thinking and planning this Z out more thoroughly.

I also previously bought Wilwood calipers with new pads/rotors, Techno Toy Tuning (T3) : GTX2 front LCA and TC rods, outer tie rod ends, front and rear coilovers (not pictured), and rear LCA (not pictured). I will be swapping/installing these parts later on in the future on a lift at the shop I currently work at (I'm spoiled now haha) instead of my driveway.

My main goal is to get it running with the Webers (and tuned), fix the wiring issues, and just enjoy it mostly stock for a while. One of the things I learned before with the other car is to not jump in too deep. It means less down time and more time enjoying the car, which also allows me to feel the before/after difference. That's the plan for now, I'll update again when I've made some progress!

It's been a long time

It's been a while since I've made a post on here. School was hectic as I just walked the stage at CSULB in May with my friends. I still have another semester left to finish up the last few classes but I didn't want to walk alone haha. Work has been crazy too and my schedule is inconsistent since people are going to vacations and I have to pick up random hours at times. But hey, more hours more car parts, right? Man, I seriously respect the hustle of people doing 35+ hours work weeks getting paid minimum wage. I'm working like 32 hours and I feel dead tired. Anyways, onto the car stuff.

A few things have happened since the last time I posted. The fuel hoses came in and I started working on replacing the wheel studs... however, for the front, the wheel assembly needs to be removed from the front rotors in order to replace them. They ended up being rusted together haha. WD-40 and hammering away didn't seem enough to separate the two so I threw in the towel. It was mostly the rear studs I wanted to replace anyway since a few were broken already and the fronts looked good so... yeah haha not going to bother with it so I'm putting everything back together today. Here's some pics of what I cleaned up in the process!

I also got some tires back in April! I ended up getting some Yokohama S-Drives in 205/50/15. Some stretch on the wheels I got but it's not too bad. Here's some pics!

Every time I saw my dirty, stiff, and crusty shiftboot, I wanted to do something about it. I knew I could buy a replacement, but where's the fun in that? I want the car to represent myself. As a person who loves the Star Wars movies, I figured why not buy some Star Wars fabric and make my own? I ended up taking out the stitching from the original to trace out for templates which I transferred to the fabric to cut out. The original boot had 4 sections so I tried it that way (shown in the following pics). Just need to stitch the seems together inside out so when you flip it the right way, it looks clean.

 Don't worry, I restitched the top since it was sloppy. But, this is what

it generally looks like. I made another one with two sections instead of

four and it looks better IMO since you can see of the comic book

covers more clearly but the other one stands up more easily so

I'm going to hang onto both and test fit when the time comes.

In addition, I wrapped my 6-1 exhaust headers with titanium header wrap which was a pain in itself. I ended up using 100ft. worth of wrap. Right now the headers are coated with a high temperature silicone coating to further keep the heat in the header and not so much in the engine bay which helps when your carburetors sit directly above the headers.

That's basically everything up until now! I just resprayed my center console which looks sooo much better now but I'm going to wait until it dries to take any pics so it'll be in the next update as well as putting up the pics with the wheel hub assembly/wheels actually on the car! Maybe more interior stuff and putting more parts back on the car also!

Momo Steering Wheel x NRG Quick Release

Hey everyone!

The Boss steering wheel adapter (plus horn button) came like a week earlier than expected and I also received the NRG 2.0 quick release a few days before. So last Friday I decided to install the hub adapter, quick release, and steering wheel and to have everything hooked up. Had to make some adjustments on the horn button to make a better ground than having to solder onto it (which I could have done). It was pretty simple and I used the old ground setup on my brother's old Honda horn button. I tried just switching the emblems but it just didn't work out.

NRG 2.0 quick release.I don't have  a picture of the boss wheel adapter 

because I got too excited that it came early and ripped it up lol.

There's plenty of guides online on how to take off the Z steering wheel so I won't go into detail on the process. Make sure the steering wheel (and wheels!) is straight before you take it off (take off column cover, stock horn pad, take off nut/washer thing, remove wheel basically). Put the Boss adapter on (I put it so the arrow is pointing to the top) and tighten the removed washer and nut down (I marked it with a paint pen to the end of the steering column so I know how much it needed to be tightened). Make sure the horn shoe makes contact with the back of the adapter if you want your horn to work! Now for the quick release, just connect the male connection on the quick release to the female on the adapter and the female connection on the ground. After that tighten the back of the quick release to the adapter. Then front of the quick release, feed the wires through the steering wheel to the horn button (power and ground), pretty straight forward and tighten the steering wheel to the quick release. Should take about 20 minutes. Took me 40 minutes since I had to fiddle with the horn button. I was afraid that it would feel super close since it added ~4 in. compared to stock, but it actually feels comfortable to me!

Here's a very short video of it.

Well, that's all for now! I just order the hoses that I needed for the gas tank and I plan on buying new tires for the Z sometime this week to get them mounted on my wheels. Going to replace all the wheel studs before putting all of that on as well. Until next time!

Side note: Check out this cool Z I saw on the 405S last week, Pretty awesome 3 piece spoiler that I'm considering getting  as well. The huge overfenders are way too big for his current wheel/tire setup, but would be amazing once it comes together imo. The paint was perfect and my picture isn't doing it justice. It looked like a nice midnight purple or something. 

It's been a while.

Hey everyone!

I know it's been a while, school has been taking up a lot of my time and I've been strict with spending money on car parts since I'm only working one day a week. Even though I have money set aside specifically for the Z and I could buy more, I feel like spending it all at once seems like an irresponsible decision to make. This also gives me more time for research for different parts/brands and mods that I would like to do. I still feel like I will be able to achieve my goal of running and driving by 2016! It would be very cool if I could have it running by the 1 year mark in May, though!

Anyways, since the last update, nothing much has gone on. I've bought new wheel studs for the front and rears and will need to buy tires soon so I can finally put on my wheels! Also, I recently bought a bought an NRG  2.0 quick release and Boss steering wheel adapter! I bought those because my brother gave me his old Momo steering wheel that was from his Civic Si! Hopefully it won't be super close to me in the driving position since with the adapter and quick release both add onto the distance from the steering rack (one of the complaints I've heard). Even though I'm considered short, the way I drive is kinda laid back anyway so it probably won't be too bad I imagine especially with my short arms,

Thanks bro!

The only thing I've done to the car was put the dash back into the car which was challenging with this heat that we had this week. It's a two person job imo and luckily I had my brother available to help in the morning. Overall, it wasn't too bad if you disconnect the wiring harness and turn signal/ windshield wiper lever to help speed things up so you're not working in a cramped space/upside down to reconnect everything lol. Lots of angles and wiggling but slipped into place pretty easy. The screws/bolts near the windshield are kinda difficult to reach but weren't not too bad to put back.

Kinda looks battle-scarred with the cracks semi-exposed, but

that adds a little character to my car, which I like. Sure, a perfect

dash would be more aesthetically pleasing, but my dash is one of 

a kind and I can accept it for it's flaws. Scars are cool anyways ;-)

Well, that's all for now. More car parts to come and be installed!

New wheels

Since my old wheels had cracks which were poorly repaired and wouldn't hold air well (well mainly the rears), I decided that I would get both new wheels and new tires (definitely need new tires as the current ones are deteriorating). I could have gotten used wheels, but after looking at forums and craigslist, the sellers were either too far, asking too much, or selling really beat up wheels. When I was looking on Datsun forums to see what would look great and fit on my Z, I saw these Enkei Apache II on one Z and I knew that's what I wanted. Classic wheel design, yet brand new (and affordable compared to other wheels). They are the correct bolt pattern 4x114.3 meaning I didn't have to go through a 5 lug conversion to fit more modern wheels and came in a 0 offset at 15x8 which means I don't need spacers or that I didn't need to roll my fenders or cut them for fender flares (which I was on the fence about in the first place). All in all, it met every single one of my needs. AND I got free shipping on them which made me really happy that I saved some money!

Opened up the first box and I was extremely happy on how they looked

that I had to take a picture of them to upload onto Instagram/Tumblr.

Although it was short-lived. As I was opening each box inspecting each

wheel, the very last wheel I noticed a small nick on the lip. I was a little

disappointed that I paid to get new wheels and it was already damaged.

The damage isn't too bad (less than 5mm long) but the idea hurts more.

I contacted the retailer and they said they can't replace it as the wheels

are now out of stock and they are not sure when they'll be restocking, but they

can refund me 2-3 weeks after they receive the wheel back (meaning about 4 weeks).

I told them the shipping cost in relation to the wheel cost wouldn't make sense and

that I'll just deal with it. They ended up giving me a small refund for the inconvenience

(not as much as a new wheel, but hey I'll take it). Even if they covered the shipping, if I were

to order a new wheel elsewhere, with shipping and tax it would  still be more than the whole refund.

I rather keep the wheel and get that small refund. It makes the most sense to me.

One of my friends said she knows someone that can probably repair it and

I would just need to buy them a 6-pack or something haha. 

 Here's what they look on the like on the car! I can't wait to get

some new tires and see how well it sits. Plan is to get some 

Yokohama S-Drive 205/50R15. I'm hoping my friend can get

me a discount, but if not then it's okay because the tires aren't 

too expensive and it shouldn't be too bad, as I thought tires would

cost more initially.