nissanconverts slow but determined progress

[nissanconvert]

So finding money for school and my car at the same time is hard. I haven't done anything that particularly noteworthy on my car since I've bought it but the list of plans keeps growing. I will graduate next December and finally have some expendable income and more time to work on it. I figured I should start a project thread so here it is.

I debated weather I wanted to swap to a heads up when I bought this car last year. I did quite a bit of looking and after much thought decided it wouldn't be worth the cost. Especially since my windshield and dash were in impeccable shape. Of course as fate would have it a tree branch fell on my car this summer and put a nice spider web in the passenger side of the windshield. I looked around to get it fixed and priced out getting a heads up windshield but it just seemed like too much extra money. I then found a place that would put in a new regular one for $200 including labor.

I decide to finally do it this week so I called them up to set an appointment. When I called they said they had a brand new one with a bubble in the glass if I didn't mind and they would know off 30$ from the price. I said sure since a small bubble is no deal to me. I woke up at 7:30 on a saturday and drove to the place. I waited 4 hours since they were very behind but I thought "ok it's worth it"They finally took my car back and removed the old glass and tossed it. Then I waited another hour before the guy came from the back with a bad look on his face. "We seemed to have lost your windshield..."Crap, I had to drive back to school, my old one is gone and they can't get a new one in until Monday. He did some looking and came up with a solution. He found a used heads up one that would work. It had a rock chip in the lower passenger corner but they applied the fixer to it and said if the crack ever get bigger I would get a whole new windshield for free. He also took off more money. It only cost $130 including parts, labor and tax.

Fate wants this car to have heads up conversion!

[Florida240sx]

LOL... Got windshield? He should of said it got broken not lost.

[ishkabibble]

Get full glass coverage (no deductible) on your insurance if you can. Glass is the most frequent insurance claim.

[nissanconvert]

Just finished installing new trunk struts, the same ones for sale at autopartsbylou. Install was a breeze with simply a flathead screwdriver and 2 minutes. The lid doesn't go up by itself though... I'm not sure if its the struts not being strong enough, the fact that is 10 degrees outside or that the scissor lifts are a bit rusty but it still takes a push to get it to move up. I hit it with some wd40 and will wait until spring t find out what might be the cause. Unfortunately the scissors don't look rebuildable. It doesn't fall down anymore though. Has anyone else had better luck?

Also, has anyone put 6-1/2s or 6-3/4s in the rear speaker openings? I know they are 5-1/4 orig but crutchfield says 6-3/4 will fit.(It looks to me like it wouldn't)
Modified by nissanconvert at 10:20 PM 2/10/2007

[ishkabibble]

I have 6.5" Lightning Audio ($40/pr at Wal-Mart, but sound like much more expensive speakers) all around. The rears fit fine in the stock hole, but I had to rotate the speaker so the speaker's connector plate pointed towards the rear window. I also wrapped the entire connector plate in electrical tape so there was no chance of the connectors touching metal.

If you look at the stock rear speaker hole, it's not completely round. That's why I had the issue with the connectors. At worst, the hole can be dremeled out if the speakers don't fit.

[cmkelly]

I installed two of the trunk lifts posted on this forum and now I can launch stuff from my trunk. Some members on the forum have even had to put one old lift back in to make it easier to close. Something must be out of whack or like you said, temperature and scissor lifts might be flakey.

Good luck.

[DeXteR]

I installed two of the trunk lifts posted on this forum and now I can launch stuff from my trunk.

we need video of this for sure... maybe a cat in a box or something...

i swapped an HUD windscreen into my vert with plans of doing a dash swap and having oem HUD in my vert. some deer had other plans for the car... when i get another vert, i'm going to try this again.

best of luck.

[nissanconvert]

cmkelly, you are using the sachs I take it? Does anyone know what the force rating on those is? I looked for a while and couldn't find anything online. I know mine are 45lb each.

[cmkelly]

I'm not sure of the brand (not driving the vert today) but I got them at Advance Auto or AutoZone, I don't remember. They were the part number that's been listed here before (and now I can't find).

I'll post a video of my car launching animals soon. I'll start small, maybe a hamster, then go to a rabbit and work my way up to the cat.

Does the coupe use the same scissor-type mechanism?

[DeXteR]

Does the coupe use the same scissor-type mechanism?

nope. that's a vert-spec part. coupe has traditional trunk hinges with the crossing tension rods.

[ishkabibble]

The animal comments remind me of my favorite commerical:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WACLdyN8iGY

[DeXteR]

oh! that was funny!

[nissanconvert]

Well, Crutchfield claimed 6.75" speakers would fit in the back side pockets and nobody here seemed exactly sure on the maximum size that could be dropped in. I ordered a set of polk db675 which sound great over the stock ones by the way.

The mounting holes for the 6.75 line up but there is too much sheet metal in the way, I had to dremel for 6 hours and used 10 cutoff wheels to take off about 1/4" from the inside speaker hole radius to get them to mount properly.

I guess what I'm getting at is if you plan to replace the rear speakers 5.25 is as big as you can just drop in, otherwise you better have some cutting skills. Just a heads up.

[ishkabibble]

I guess what I'm getting at is if you plan to replace the rear speakers 5.25 is as big as you can just drop in, otherwise you better have some cutting skills. Just a heads up.

My 6.5" dropped in with no cutting. See my earlier post (look up).

[nissanconvert]

So she decided as of late that the harder the gas pedal is pushed the slower it should accelerate. Starting on a hot day = no. cruise control decided that holding any speed is silly and it should drop 10mph at random. Stopping at lights mean take a brake and quit running. going more then 40mph up any incline is impossible. This car never had power past 3k rpms and I was wondering why since my old teg had less hp yet much more zip. Time for some work to see why i can't ever break 70-mph on th highway.

Step 1: battery, wires plugs, other sensors, filters, grounds, vacuum lines etc. all check out. The 100k mile distributor cap and rotor were badly corroded so a new set was installed. No change in running.

Step 2: install O2 sensor which clears code 33. All problems exist still except a bit smoother running and cruise holds speed now.

Step 4: replaced knock sensor to clear code 34. Whoa, new found power at 2-3k rpms but still dropping off, no hesitation. still stalls and won't start when hot and makes a fool of me on a nice day.

Step 5: found that my fuel pressure was only 20psi on warm days. promptly replaced it with an el cheapo one from the local parts store just to see(i'm too impatient to wait for a walbro) WHOA! what a difference! it starts all the time, runs great and has crazy more horsepower all the way up through 6k rpm! This car is 100X more fun to drive with all the power working.

I'm surprised that with only 100k miles the fuel pump was giving up the ghost but glad I found the problem. That was the cheapest HP mod i will ever make, lol.

Finally I saw a vert today applebees today. That is only the second vert I've seen in person up here ever. I was amused.

[DeXteR]

sounds like a lot of trouble. i had a similar situation. my problem ended up being faulty injectors.

anyways, i bet you're glad you've got it running good again.

i hope you had a tagging card for that other vert.

enjoy your newly rediscovered power.