2009 240Z build

A forum for owners of S30 and S130 Datsun Z's... 240Z, 260Z, 280Z and 280ZX!
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RustspecS13
Posts: 928
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:30 pm
Car: '74 260z and '88 300zx turbo

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You know I'm down. Except tomorrow i'm going to beaver run for a drift event. Your welcome to come....

Also for those who are reading, that freaking old pump could be heard just cruising down the road. Its insanely loud.

~Alex


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HxC_Nismo
Posts: 1036
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:26 am
Car: 98' Nissan 240sx SE R33 RB26DET, 07' Nissan Titan SE, 05' Toyota Corolla
Location: Missouri
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very nice build man, congrats on getting her on the road. :crazy:

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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Update

I got the turn signal lights in the speedo working. I also played around with the high beam indicator. That is going to take some work. :confused:

I removed the FMIC to have access to the front running light connectors and also hook up the horns. I ended up mounting the horns sideways and to the outside of the intercooler. :bigthumb:

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That way they do not restrict airflow, and are sort of hidden.

My stalk switch had the horn contact wiper broken off. :mad: I ended up epoxying it back in place. Thats two strikes against my switch. The intermittent contact for right front turn signal and the horn wiper. It sucks having the old crispy electrical stuff. Probably going to have to order another one, but it works for now. :gapteeth:

I had a few spots of bare metal in the hatch area. I cleaned and primed those areas. I also tried out some seam sealer and then I ended up rattle-can painting it as well. Looks good. :dblthumb:

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I took her out on a test drive to try out the horn...starting to push the throttle a little more. Really happy with her.

That's it for now.

Gord

SharolMac
Posts: 7
Joined: Sat Mar 21, 2009 3:21 pm

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Gord you must be over the moon happy!!! Looks fantastic and I can't wait to have a go. Beautiful!

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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Having a great weekend so far.

I went to a car show on Friday night. A whole bunch of Z's were there including Betzy.

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And too many others to mention.

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Went back over for the Saturday afternoon part of the show after getting sun toasted on the golf course...

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I remember this one from two years ago, my fav...

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I bunch of people actually told me to keep the paint the way it is. I'm not too sure about that.

I stopped by a friends place to look at his progress on his Skyline. He almost has it ready to drive.

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Inside is coming together as well. Getting parts for this is next impossible, but he is making good progress. :dblthumb: We should have both cars painted by next year.

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I put 130 miles on Betzy since last week. I haven't had any problems except with the turn signal switch. I am going to try and tackle the dash today. That might put her down for a week or so. There is a track day going on at Nelson Ledges on the 24th of July and I want to be there. :mike

Gord

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Ni$$@n240
Posts: 204
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:45 pm
Car: Currently 1995 S14 Se
Location: Illinois

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On a scale of 1-10 this is Epic. Then :ohsnap your friend has skyline. If there's not a build thread on that there needs to be.

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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Ni$$@n240 wrote:If there's not a build thread on that there needs to be.
Agreed. He needs to sell the Skyline to me, so I may document a proper build thread. :biggrin:

Update!

I finally got some work done on Betzy today. I figured it was time to get the dash back inside. I spent a few minutes this morning going over a bunch of old photos I took of the dash, and how to run the harness. I'm glad I took so many photos along the way. I forgot how facked up the interior was when I started out.

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I got a little overheated yesterday, so it was nice to work on the stuff in the basement today. Nice and cool.

First step was to adapt the gauges to fit in the dash.

Tach and speedo get the mounting ring screwed on and some vinyl tape applied to outside. The stock bezle and gauge are really close in size.

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Assemble the stock bezel without the Plexiglas..

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The gauge fits right inside. A few wraps with the vinyle tape and it is solid. Simple, yes... :gapteeth:

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That takes care of the tach and speedo...

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Now on to the smaller gauges. These were no so easy.

I took the old gauges apart and used the bezels, with adapters that came with the gauges, to mount them together.

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Then I put them in the dash with the original brackets to secure them.

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Tach and speedo got a bracket attached for support on the back too. :bigthumb:

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Harness and ductwork back in place.

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Put the heater back.

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Then the dash back in place... :dblthumb:

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:woot:

Time for a beer.

Gord

Daz
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue May 10, 2011 10:11 pm
Car: 1974 260z

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Suscribed !

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RustspecS13
Posts: 928
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:30 pm
Car: '74 260z and '88 300zx turbo

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I doubt there will be a build thread, hes keeping it pretty low key. Thats as much as Ive seen of it, and I live a mile away from his house, not that were those pics were taken is his house, but what ever.

Gordon, come get that alignment! You'll need it before that track day! :D

And I'm a little mad you didn't tell me you were going to a meet! I used your buffer and the Z is looking much better!

~Alex

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Ni$$@n240
Posts: 204
Joined: Sun Nov 22, 2009 12:45 pm
Car: Currently 1995 S14 Se
Location: Illinois

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[quote="RustspecS13"]I doubt there will be a build thread, hes keeping it pretty low key. :frown:

boostedh23a1
Posts: 281
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:37 pm
Car: Datsun 240Z
Datsun 280Z
Location: Beaufort, SC

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Gord, are you using the GPS speedo or the regular one? im getting close to ordering my speedhuts.

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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boostedh23a1 wrote:Gord, are you using the GPS speedo or the regular one? im getting close to ordering my speedhuts.
I used the regular one, not the GPS. It was so easy to hook up. It measures the pulses transmitted from the signal generator. It accepts any signal from 500 to 250,000 pulses/mile. All you do is drive along and push a button and it starts counting the pulses as you drive along. After two miles, you push the button again. It now knows how many pulses/mile and does the math. It does not matter what speed you go. I used my hand held GPS to calibrate it, but you can use the mile markers. :dblthumb:

Update!

I got the dash in last weekend. Had a few little loose ends to tie up before it was completed this week. I snagged the left turn signal wire on something and it stopped working. I ended up finding out a wire crimp had pulled out and I had to replace it. Now everything works. :biggrin:

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I needed to install my door seals. I had heard some pretty bad stories about the aftermarket seals being too stiff and not really fitting correctly. The doors end up being too hard to close, stuff like that. I had also heard there are a few alternatives so...

Off to pick-and-pull to find a 93-02 Kia Sportage. I had 3 to pick from. Here is the donor vehicle. I think it was an 2001.

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I had read the front doors were the one to get, I grabbed two front and one back door to compare the length. Total cost...$11.00. The guy threw in the back for free. :gapteeth:

Here is shot of cross section of the seals.

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OK. So the front door seal is a little longer. About 18 inches. Here is what is excess after you press it in place.

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So next up is trying the Kia back door seal. First attempt had a little excess length, but really close. So I tried to compress it a little as I went around the second time. You gotta be kidding me...I fit perfect! :chuckle:

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Well, almost. A few wrinkles here

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And there

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But overall, it was pretty good. The sharp angle is the place to start, and it fit on the inside pretty good as well. Left or right side seal does not matter, as long as you start at the top corner.

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So now what? I figure I had the longer pieces and would try and cut a miter joint in the seal to get a perfect corner. :dblthumb:

So I used the longer pieces from the front door. The picture here does not do it justice. It actually looks pretty good. The seal presses on hard and holds on real tight. The neoprene seal is very flexible and takes to it's new shape very well. The doors open and close easily. I think it will get even better as the seal takes to it's new shape after a little time.

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Much better

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I will clean it up a little later. Using the sealant is kind of like drywall. And I suck at both. :squint: I tried the sill plates. The outside aluminum one fits perfect. The inside one is going to need to be trimmed as it no longer will fit over the rubber.

That's it for now, Time for a beer, and I finally got the video to work. Not much to look at, but at least you can hear the car running. Maybe time for a gopro...

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Gord

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RustspecS13
Posts: 928
Joined: Sat Sep 08, 2007 5:30 pm
Car: '74 260z and '88 300zx turbo

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Your car looks weird with a dash. For some reason I just think betzy = no dash. But its still nice. I'll just have to get used to it.

So alignment?

~Alex

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svairman
Posts: 210
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 7:41 pm
Car: 1993 Infiniti Q45

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I wish car doors still made that nice heavy metallic sound when you shut them. Now they just kinda sound like hitting two Rubbermaid containers together :gapteeth:

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raremotive
Posts: 3581
Joined: Sun Oct 07, 2007 8:54 pm
Car: 04 G35
Location: Stuck in the middle.

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gmac708 wrote: I finally got the video to work. Not much to look at, but at least you can hear the car running. Maybe time for a gopro...
Love the noise of the 120* crank rotations. Got a nice deep note too. Makes me envy. :dblthumb:

Can't wait to hear your tracking impressions.

Keep enjoying :)

boostedh23a1
Posts: 281
Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 1:37 pm
Car: Datsun 240Z
Datsun 280Z
Location: Beaufort, SC

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I hope your T3 suspension isn't as harsh as mine is. the rear is ridiculous. i have 225 in the front and 250 in the rear, tokico 5 ways struts on soft setting. granted i do have the r230 kit but that shouldn't really matter.

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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boostedh23a1 wrote:I hope your T3 suspension isn't as harsh as mine is. the rear is ridiculous. i have 225 in the front and 250 in the rear, tokico 5 ways struts on soft setting. granted i do have the r230 kit but that shouldn't really matter.
I am running 250 front and rear. I think they are perfect! I just cranked the rear up another .250" to make them even stiffer. I am sitting at 1.75" spring perch to bottom of adjustment nut. Yea, it's a little stiff, but it hooks up so hard, and no wheel hop. She squats down a bit during the launch, I think the springs are just starting to break in.

It might be the tires are different. I'm running 245/50ZR-16 at about 30 PSI...I haven't even started playing with the shocks yet.

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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What a week!

I plan on going to Nelson Ledges road course tomorrow. It is just outside of Cleveland and is a 2 mile track. Should be a good shake down for Betzy and I have a bunch of other guys from the local Z car club heading up from Columbus. Some sort of track "fun" days. I will try and get as many miles as I can. I hope to pick up some instruction as well. I'm a noob and need as much stick time as I can get. :yesnod
So...

I had my wheels balanced on Thursday. Then on Friday I took Betzy over to let Alex dial her in.
Up on the rack she goes.

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Alex found a few things that needed attention, made the adjustments, and now we are very happy. It made a big difference. :bigthumb:

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Today I swapped out the left rear caliper because it bled down with the e-brake. I changed the oil filter, checked the front wheel bearings, Changed the spark plugs...Everything looked great.

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It was pretty hot around here. Cam and I decided to head over to the local gun club and take out a couple COD Nazi Zombie targets with a 357 magnum to get out of the afternoon heat. I think it is more relaxing than a movie or going to a shopping mall. :gapteeth:

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I also got a Gopro video camera for the car. I hope to get a bunch of stuff from tomorrow. I shot a couple vids from around here on the street. Nothing crazy, but you get a little more than idling in the driveway.

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Anyway...I hope to run into some local NICO people up there. You never know. Be sure to stop by and say "hi" if you see me.

Gord

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evildky
Posts: 14713
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Car: 71 240ZT, 87 300ZXN/A-T, 06 350Z GT, Tundra TRD RW
Location: Louisville, KY
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boostedh23a1 wrote:I hope your T3 suspension isn't as harsh as mine is. the rear is ridiculous. i have 225 in the front and 250 in the rear, tokico 5 ways struts on soft setting. granted i do have the r230 kit but that shouldn't really matter.
lol, I run 440 lb/in fronts and 350 lb/in rear
I find the softer rear helps keep the back end behind me

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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UPDATE!

I got home from the track last night and I was beat. I have a totally new respect for drivers. The up all day, pack and travel, adrenalin rush, heat exhaustion, concentration...It really is a blast, but I had nothing left, but I was smiling. :biggrin:

Sunday morning started out at the rest area north of Columbus at 6:30AM sharp. The local ZROC (Z car and roadster owners' club) assembled with a wide assortment of cars. Alex was there with his 300Z turbo.

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It was about 2.5 hours north to Nelson Ledges road course. The day started at 9:30 drivers meeting. Usual rules and stuff. The drivers were divided up in three groups. A, B, C. I was a Noob so I was in group C and that was fine with me. Today was called "fun day" and was supposed to let you have fun with your car in a safe environment.

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We set up in the paddock. Not real busy, but the track workers were very customer service oriented. Everybody always asking if we needed anything. We felt at home.

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The A group had a few really fast cars, GTR, Viper...

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Track was beautiful, well, the scenery was beautiful. The track had a bunch of patched spots and was pretty ruff. It had probably seen better days, but that seems to be going around a lot these days.

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The day started out for the noobs with a few parade laps (6) behind a pace car to let everybody have a look the track over. We had been told to look for a few important marking on the track to use as reference points. Then we went back in for about 40 minutes of instruction. I found it informative and they really were driving the point about being smooth and being on the conservative side to start out. The track time was 20 minutes every hour for all three groups. That rotation was fine with me. I ended up getting on the track 5 times as a driver and another as a passenger in the B group.

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Nelson Ledges is a 2 mile road course. Not really all that technical. Mostly a drivers course. Betzy handled better than I had expected. I got her up to 117 MPH on the back straight, which was a little too fast for me after I hit a few bumps and "the kink". After that, I decided to keep her under 110 MPH and that seemed to be a nice safe limit. The rest of the track was mostly 3rd gear. Down to 2nd around turn 13 (negative camber, sharp right hander) then back up the front straight. I think I should have adjusted the shocks for the bumpy surface. They may have been a little too stiff. Meh...The steering is incredible. She really holds the road. I took some in car Video and posted it on you-tube. This is a couple laps. I left the part out about spinning out. :gapteeth:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hA0-i61Q ... 1311647830

I suppose there always is a chance that something will go wrong, and it did. We lost a 73 240 that hit the tire wall going sidways. The Driver was ok. I think the Z is pretty much a gonner :sad: . I guess that is why we do this at a track and not the streets. It could have been a lot worse.

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Here is a picture of Alex working on his Z. That thing was very fast. Alex is also very handy with the duct tape repairs. Must be his drifter training. ;)

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I really had a great time and would recommend this to everybody. I drove home in the rain. Time to get the wipers and about a million other things done.

Gord

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BigTDogg (MA)
Posts: 4322
Joined: Wed Aug 29, 2007 8:26 am
Car: 1990 300ZX Twin Turbo
Location: Boston MA

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So awesome. Still in awe

If you're going to drive it on the streets, I suggest you look into an agreed value insurance policy. Gotta protect that beautiful car and your hundreds of hours of labor.

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Coolwhip
Vendor
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glad to see hear on the track... :mike

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300ZXttZMAN
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Car: 1990 300zx Twin Turbo 5 spd pearl white.

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PAGE 18!

Spawn_CA18
Posts: 142
Joined: Tue Apr 13, 2010 9:36 am
Car: 1993 EDM Nissan 200SX S13 CA18DET & 1995 EDM Honda Civic Crx Del Sol EG2 B16A2
Location: Turkey/Istanbul

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i watched Wangan Midnight last 2 days maybe 4th times , and i remember this project .

and i want to do the same so bad!

with a L28 custom 3.1 stroker carb with twin turbo :gapteeth:

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SBC 240Z
Posts: 309
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Location: Pensacola, Fl
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I had not heard of the kia sportage rubber fitting, had only heard of cavalier and dc integra rubbers fitting. Gonna have to give that a try.

The condition of your interior when you started looks surprisingly similar to mine haha

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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Time for an update!

I have put 900 miles on Betzy since I put the odometer in, which was less than a month ago. I have been fixing little annoying rattles and stuff like that. I jacked her up and put a wrench on every nut and bolt. It is surprising how much the stuff loosens up. So far my axle CV adapters, front wheel bearings, and the forward differential pinion mount are a few that need mention. No real vibrations, just a weird sounds. The rear diff has a bunch of backlash as well. Going to need to fix/change that out soon.

I did replace the old Sparco belts with a new set of Takata 4 point belts. I know, Totally fan-boy status, but I figured she deserved the upgrade and everything else is JDM, engine, seats, why not the belts.

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Shift boot is installed. I ordered the Black dragon one and ended up cutting it to pieces to make it fit :mad: . The clips that hold it to the center console made the rest of the R&R pretty simple.

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I am thinking about changing the shift knob. Looking at options. Any suggestions would help.

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I got my wipers installed. I installed two part number B6370-E4100 blades. 18" long. They are the original aluminum color. The newer blades were black (after 1973). I think they look good aluminum. I got them from Nissan direct. :dblthumb:

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I never really paid much attention to them before. I don't think they stand out too bad.

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I run into all these crazy Z people. I have been stopped on numerous occasions by people with a Z story. It's pretty cool. One day I was chased back to work by a new friend with an original 73 240Z. It was gorgeous. Have not seen one with a vinyl roof before. It is nice to see them in there original condition. The white interior was unusual as well. Making lots of new friends. That reminds me, I need to get a NICO sticker on her.

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I have been given the approval from the boss to go to the tail of the dragon this year. Time to get Betzy ready for that. I really need to seal up the floors and install the oil cooler. I will keep you posted. Time for a beer. :dblthumb:

Gord

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gmac708
Posts: 1913
Joined: Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:59 pm
Car: :o)
1970 240Z
1972 510

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Betzy's first tat. It was a little too long and needed to be trimmed.

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Ricky props next...

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That should help with the questions. Build thread? Where did you get the engine?

Gord

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NismoDonkey
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1993 Nissan Hardbody KingCab
2000 Chevy Metro
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I have 32 boners right now. Truly. Amazing.

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SBC 240Z
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wood shift knob, just do it

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AZ89two4Tsx
Posts: 13635
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Car: 2017 VW GTI, 14 Honda CBR650F
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^ With a Nardi wheel! :)

Looks great man. Too bad you don't live closer! I would love to see it in person.


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