7/12/09
Here follows a veritable hodge-podge of Z updates from the previous four to five weeks.
First up - Spent some time in the garage last month, and completed a modification I've been meaning to do for almost 3 years now. Here is the picture:
Now I realize that those of you who own '72 and later Zs may be scratching your heads about now. But those who own '70-71's will recognize that the early seat backs don't tilt forward like that.
Yes, I refurbished and installed a set of the later reclining-type hardware on my seats. Now they not only tilt forward for easier behind the seat access, but they will recline back over a much larger range. The hardware came out of the blue parts car, which was also a '71 so they weren't original there, either.
But I think I will like having them in my car. And of course, I still have all the original hardware to go back to stock at any time.
I got tired of the way my clutch keeps rapidly losing adjustment, so I bought and installed a different slave cylinder. Totally different manufacturer from the one I took off, fit fine, works fine too. Same 11/16" bore as the Nabco part I removed, so no change in clutch feel. Will try this for a while before deciding what I might do next. I do have a nearly new spare clutch (was in the yellow car), and if I find any reason to drop the transmission again (which I'm not really planning on) I may install it to see how it feels. Or if I continue to have problems with the clutch rapidly falling out of adjustment, I'll swap it out. Changing the clutch is only a two to three hour job, so it's not something to fret over.
I now have two fuel door knobs, thanks to Dave Irwin and Jim Frederick. Dave sent me one to use as a stopgap until I could find a suitable replacement. It's not great (has the typical pitted and corroded chrome), but it worked and filled the hole in the door.
Jim ended up sending me two different knobs. The first was the best used one he had, and called it "pretty nice". My hope was that it would be similar to the very nice (but not quite perfect) knob that was stolen. Upon unpacking it, I'll agree that it was probably one of the best used ones I've seen, other than the one that was stolen from my car. But it was still not good enough that I could feel happy with it. So I sent it back with more money, and Jim sent me one that he described as "perfect, exceeding show quality". That sounded better than the missing one, albeit not by much.
The second knob arrived early this week, and it is as described. Looks new, and actually I can imagine that many brand new ones from Nissan might not have looked as good as this one does.
And when I'm feeling paranoid now, I still have the other one I can put on the car and not worry about it disappearing when I'm not watching.
Still tormenting myself about the exhaust. I'm going need to replace mine soon, but haven't been able to find quite what I want. After looking at MSA's Premium system on Toni's 240Z, I guess I could live with it, but I don't think I'd be totally happy with it. So I've been chatting with various local muffler shops, showing them pictures of the MSA system, and then discussing what I'd really like, in both appearance and sound. And I may have found a shop to do the job. One of the owners owned (up until a few months ago) a modified 260Z, so he is very familiar with how it needs to fit. Here's what we're talking so far -- use my stock downpipe to the Y, and weld a flange joint to the end of the Y. New pipe connects there with a resonator in the center. Another flange joint connects the center section to the S-pipe, which connects to a Magnaflow straight-through muffler. Once it's on, I would drive it for a while before deciding if I want a normal chrome slash-cut tip, or a resonated tip to quiet it a touch more. Pipe will all be aluminized, and my choice of 2" or 2 1/4". The shop owner swears that this will give me a sound similar to what I now have, but with a touch more authority and look nicer. And he's happy to have me hang around and watch (supervise) as he does it. Going to think about it for a few weeks before I decide. This would be more than the MSA system would cost, but not a lot more, and I think it's a lot closer to what I really want.
Last, Deanna and I were in Portland yesterday to watch the Portland Historic Races. We drove the Z up Friday after work and spent the night there so that we could easily make the beginning of the day's events. Hung out with Northwest Zs club, thanks to Bryan, who let us use his Saturday tickets and car parking pass for the day. Had a great time, and will definitely include this event on my agenda in future years.
