Well, it finally arrived!
DAY ONE
But one of the things pointed out in the pre-purchase inspection ($250 thru J-spec...you'd be mad not to get it done before paying for the car in Japan) was that the clutch master cylinder was farked and it was hard to get into gear...the towie said the same thing, so I got in, pumped the clutch, started the car, miraculously managed to slot it into gear, and then roared up the driveway, pulled up into the garage and knocked it out of gear.
So one thing's for sure...she's not really driveable yet, and will need some work before I will take her on the road...
But damn...even if it doesn't drive anywhere...it sure looks good sitting in the garage!
One of the pre-purchase inspection criticisms was that the paint was very ripply and wavy but to be honest, I think it's better than the paint on the Luce...it'll look great with a bit of polish
The only damage done in transit...the front spoiler got crunched a bit...
Rear tyres are fux0red
DAY TWO
I start the fun bit...put the car up on stands and see what we've got. One of the things I noticed was that the tray under the Webers had a little puddle of fuel in it...the extractors are under the carbs, so this is potentially a problem with a fiery end
So I notice one of the fuel hoses is a little cracked, so I pull them all off.
There's a bit of dodginess here...the carb fuel lines are 8mm, but there's the huge 10mm line going from the fuel pump to the carbs....I'll replace this
The offending pipe...I'll have one remade in 8mm
The fuel leak issue is I think from the carbs tho...you can see the bottom is wet....these are Bologna-Italy made Webers, so they date back to before 1987 at least, so I think the best thing to do will be to pull off the carbs and get them rebuilt by a specialist with new seals etc.
Rather comically, some herculean dockworker broke the wooden stock gearknob...
So I just bunged on a random cheapy one for now.
Here's an interesting thing...the stock seatbelts are in 2 parts...first you have this lap belt only ie like an airplane...
But the sash part has a little hook in it...
Which hooks on to the main buckle....
I'm pretty sure this isn't even remotely legal over here, so I bought a Klippan replacement set but the buckle was too short...
While we're on the inside...the carpets were all soaked from the steam cleaning at quarantine, so I pulled them out for drying. One little patch had a bit of rusty water coming from under the sound deadening, so I kinda feared the worst...but after cleaning it up it's fine, just needs some rust treatment and repaint with hammerite or something.
The history of the car was that it was restored in Japan 2yrs ago...windows out, engine out, and the whole car (engine bay, boot, interior) was resprayed. New sound deadening mat was laid down on the floors and I think it trapped some water at that spot....the rust is only on the surface tho.
So far, looking inside, over and under it, it looks 100% solid. There was rust, but the sills and rear guards have been replaced during the restoration, and it all looks quite well done....phew.
Look at that, FWD aficionados...there's the oil filter...it's just *there*...not behind something, or above something, you just reach in and grab it
But the big thing I have to sort out is the clutch....so I remove the clutch master, but have a devil of a time getting off the flare nut holding on the fluid line...
Even get hardcore on it with various German uber products
Then I realise that the rear shaft of the clutch master is dry, so maybe it's ok...usually if the piston seal on the clutch master is blown, fluid leaks to the back and coats the rod. So I turn my attention to the clutch slave cylinder.
And oh yeah...peel back the rubber seal and it's completely fux0red
Last job for the night...repaint the flaky wipers with my favourite
DAY THREE
Carb removal time....for anyone used to working on modern cars where the inlet manifold is a PITA to take on and off, this is almost comically easy..
Just remove the fuel lines, unhook the throttle linkages, undo 12 bolts and voila
These are bound for Carburettor Services Co
They look like they could *really* use a sprucing up
And once the carbs are gone, there really isn't anything...at all...on the passenger side of the engine bay
There is a bit of dodginess in the carb setup though...firstly the throttle linkage is badly set up and only allows 75% throttle when the pedal is floored (not difficult to fix, the linkages are adjustable up the wazoo) but there are only these phenolic spacers on the manifold.
By rights there should be some o-ringed "softmounts" that rubber mount the carbs to isolate them from vibration...but the guy at the carb specialist reckons some 6cyls are smooth enough not to need them, but we shall see.
Nice bonus I discovered...Watanabe wheelnuts
The more time I spend looking over the car the more solid and well preserved it seems...the restoration must not have been cheap (you can see where there is a patch of new steel welded in tho).
Typical JDM though, the work is a little rough and unfinished in the places you can't see...but at least they painted the engine bay body colour!
Well the important thing is that the car seems to be solid, so I think to preserve it I'll book the car in for some sort of wax injection rustproofing or something.
DAY FOUR
Remember that tray under the carbs?
It was a bit manky looking so the Mothers Powerball polisher came out
And then it seemed a shame not to give the rocker cover a go too...came out pretty well.
Then the last touch...there was a dodgy looking bracket which held the throttle cable in place, you can see it on the cam cover in this pic.
Just dodgy...it's the wrong shape (looks like you just went to Bunnings and got some random bit of metal) and the welding is a bit ugly, and it's rusty, although it obviously does the job.
So I give some cleaning with a wire brush.
Then I file down the welding a little to smooth it out a bit
Then hacksaw away the un-needed holes, etc so that it looks less like a random bit of metal.
Then a coat of epoxy satin black....
DAY FIVE
New $45 clutch slave:
Refitted the clutch master:
Not really sure if the prob is fixed, will have to wait until I have a helper before I can bleed the clutch line.
Fitted the throttle cable bracket I tried to pretty-up yesterday....hmm...it looks a little better I guess:
...and we have SEAT BELTS!
Well...sort of....on the driver's side it was fine but on the passenger side the top bolthole was cross threaded.
I'm not sure if I did it, or if it was already like that, but it's pretty mashed now! Helicoil time.
DAY SIX
I decided to look over the brakes.
The previous owner was pretty hardcore...fitted spacers on top of these huge wheels....and oh yes, we did the spin the wheel test and no, it doesn't have an LSD
The back wheels actually stick out past the flares a bit, so removing the spacers will be perfect, but the previous owner also fitted extra-long studs (at least he wasn't dodgy) and without the spacers the watanabe wheelnuts are too short and bottom out. So I'll have to get open-ended wheelnuts, at least.
The springs are some sort of random lowered spring (no brand name visible) and the shocks are adjustable KYBs, but the adjustment dial is stuck, so I think at some point I'll be replacing them.
Drum brakes in pretty good shape, the shoes are maybe 70% and the wheel cylinder looks very new. No leaks.
I decided to fit these, and took a chance with the 240Z part number:
Fitted just fine, the old fluid was pretty clean, I think the car was quite regularly serviced. Plenty of meat left on the pads, which still had a smear of copper grease on the back. Wheel bearings seem pretty smooth and tight.
Onto the fronts...the rubber seals in the calipers look no more than a few yrs old, and there's no leaked fluid behind them so I think the calipers have had a seal kit put in quite recently.
Grease nipples!(and yes those sway bar bushes are pretty dead)
Grease is still clean looking and caramel coloured.
...damn...I'll have to go and buy a grease gun now....probably from a museum or something.
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Originally Posted by Uncle
