3/9/08
Still more of the same going on around here. I remove parts, take pictures of them and offer them for sale, and frequently I sell, pack and ship them. It has all gone much easier than I expected, partly because the yellow car truly did have a fair number of decent parts, and a number of them were/are somewhat rare parts that were only used on the first year or so of production.
Not all of the parts get sold, however. As I continue removing parts from the yellow car, I noticed that the worn spots on the vinyl seat covers was quite different than that of the red car. The backrests of the yellow car are worn, tattered and ripped open. But the seat cushions looked pretty good. In contrast, the backrests of the red car are very nice, but the vinyl on the lower cushions was brittle and split open in the pleats. I do know that the red car's original owner was very tall, well over six feet, and apparently having the seat adjusted back that far has prevented wear on the seatbacks as he got into and out of the car.
Oddly enough, even the vinyl on the lower cushions of the yellow car appeared to be factory original. So it seemed to make sense to combine parts to see if I could improve the red car's seats. So I used the lower vinyl from the yellow car with the original red car's seatbacks. I swapped the lower vinyl side to side to optimize the wear, and used both of the foam cushions from the two cars' passenger seats. This worked out quite well. The seats are much nicer looking without the splits in the seat cushions, and the driver's seat is a bit more comfortable as well with the better foam. Admittedly they aren't perfect, and at some point I'll end up replacing all the vinyl and foam in both seats. But this swap did make a nice improvement, and has moved seat work much farther down the priority list.
I'm making plans to attend a Datsun swap meet in Wilsonville at the end of the month. I'm going to try to sell a few of the larger items that are a pain to pack and ship. We'll have to wait and see how that goes.
Preparing for Summer
3/30/08
Welcome back! (To me writing this, I mean, not to you as a reader.) Here's what's happened in my Z world since the last post.
I had originally planned to take a bunch of parts to a Datsun swap meet in Wilsonville yesterday, but as last week progressed and the weather forecasts continued to deteriorate, I was leaning more and more towards staying home anyway. Then, while driving the red 240Z to work on Thursday, I thought that there seemed to be more road noise from the rear than normal. I drove it again on Friday and paid attention to it, and no question about it, there was a lot of noise coming from the left rear. Sounded like the wheel bearings were bad (again).
So instead of driving to Wilsonville, I went into the garage Saturday morning (while it was still snowing outside) and jacked up the left rear wheel. Pulled the wheel and brake drum off, then unbolted the halfshaft and spun the hub. No doubt about it -- the hub was stiff to spin and very notchy feeling. I had replaced these bearings a few months ago, so I must have got something in one when I did it, either grit, or maybe a chip from the hammer or drift.
So I need to do it again. This time, I won't cheap out, I'll take the strut/hub to a machine shop and have it pressed together by them, instead of by me and my hammer.
In the mean time, I decided to keep the car useable by temporarily installing the left rear strut/hub from the yellow car. Since I have had the spindle pins out of both cars recently, I was able to pull them back out fairly easily, no puller was needed. So the red car has the LR strut from the yellow car in it for now, and the red car's strut is on the floor of the garage awaiting new bearings. Started this at 9:00, finished about noon.
On the test drive, I went down to my local Nissan dealer to pick up parts. I'm starting to gather replacement pieces in preparation for paint. Today's load was some of the rubber parts that I'll want/need to replace. Things like wiper shaft boots, rear bumper end pads, hood rail bumpers, and fuel door flap. I am tentatively scheduled to take the car to Salem (~50 miles) at the end of April to have the roof re-skinned. The rest of the paint will hopefully happen later this Spring.
Up next, the new wheel bearings, and dropping the transmission to look for a leak, probably the input shaft seal.
