Oh very nice! Is that just an am fm or does it have bluetooth or something?

 

AM, FM, USB x 2, Aux Input x 2 and BlueTooth. Has a handsfree microphone that attaches to the sun visor as well.

Plays your MP3 and WMA(?) files via USB. Will also interface to iPhone and iPod via USB.

Interfaces to iPhone, iPad and I think Android via BlueTooth too.

4 channels at 25W per, line outputs for an external amp as well as two subwoofer outputs. I'll just go with the 4x25W. These cars, even with sound deadening, are still too noisy to go for super high quality sound from an amp and I also don't need to make everyone around me listen to my music.

I realized that all three other cars have CD and cassette capability and we NEVER use them. All our music is on the iPhone or iPod so why bother.

Liked the handsfree too. Arizona doesn't require handsfree (still kind of the Wild West) but managing a phone and shifting doesn't work too well.

The pushbuttons do act as presets although they aren't mechanical like the old radios.

The mounting system if pretty innovative. The two ***** are physically separate from the main unit and even the display can be separated. All three pieces connect to the main unit via separate cables. It's intended to be mounted in all sorts of older cars, even some that had both ***** on the same side of the radio.

Of course this is all about three times the price of a mass produced DIN radio of similar capabilities, but still, after all the layout of bucks for the A/C, it's almost nothing ...

 

Ahh that makes sense, so they could fit different opening since old school radios weren't really one piece, but had to fit into cutouts! Pretty neat! Haha I almost asked if you think you are going to be driving it before the winter starts..but... ay.

 

Thanks for the laugh. Today was awesome. Only reached 90F and had enough white puffy clouds to block the sun now and then. Finally got cool enough to drive my convertible topless.

I think we're just reversed seasonally as far as cars go. I get so tired of working on the car in the Summer and just pray for cooler Winter days. You're just the opposite.

 

begs -

Just popped in after a long absence (summer, lake season etc), and glad to see the stunning progress on your build.

Congratulations, well done!

 

Thanks for the encouragement Pez, glad to see you're back. Hope the lake season treated you well.

Things have slowed down a bit as some of the latest work (A/C, remedial body work and upholstery) are things I don't want to do three times before they're right (that's my batting average). So I farmed them out and have to wait. It's been really frustrating as now I don't have good excuses to avoid things like lawn mowing (yes, even here in the desert I have a small lawn), tree trimming (with a chainsaw), painting, cleaning, fixing doo-dads and so on.

BTW, I don't think this thing will ever be "done". Just more and more refinements as time goes on.

 

Well it's about time folks. Some visible progress in the upholstery area. Thought I'd share some photos.

Seat cushion pretty well shot ...


New foam looks much better ...


And even better with the cover fitted ...


Original seat back with horse hair stuffing ...


And of course the seat back with new foam and a padded back side as well..


And the cover with fitting in progress ...


This is the door panel material with a 260Z logo embroidered along the old style line. It will be completed with a red stripe on each side and will run around the edges of the panel. The original heat pressed diagonal style lines will be replicated using black cross stitch embroidery.


And finally, all the other panels are being covered (or recovered in the case of the dog-leg panels) with the door panel material. The red stitching theme from the seats will be carried onto these panels too...


I'll be posting more later in the week. Expect the finished interior by Friday!

 

Beautiful!. It seems like the details take the most time. When someone says 90% complete it is really more like 50% time wise. That is when some people get to anxious and don't pay attention to the details.

 

That looks so nice and crisp. I was just laughing at how many millions of farts that old cushion has buried in it ! haha yes 31 and immature as hell still. Woop.

 

OMG. That was a thought I could have done without but the laugh was definitely worth it.

BTW, there's no hope for maturity for any of us. 58 here and haven't grown up yet.

And Tom, that was a good thought. When I was paid to manage projects I was fully aware the last 10% of the job took 90% of the time.

 

From July of 2012 when I started pulling the Rust-Z apart to procuring a "parts car" in April of 2013 which became the restored car to today, six days before its first show ... what a journey!















Still have to attach the badges after a final body shop paint polish. There are a few other nits (passenger door lock needs adjusting, rear hatch doesn't reliably stay latched, got to tie-wrap a few wires ...) but for the rest of the week it is pretty much show prep. Detailing, sign board, detailing, polishing wheels, detailing, tire black, detailing and so on.

Did I mention detailing???

 

Amazing transformation. I got emotional just seeing the end result, and its not even my car, so I can't imagine how you feel. It is perfect, inside out. Very well done!! But now you need another one to keep you busy!

 

Thanks Skully. That's nice of you to say and certainly says some good things about your character. Yes, I'm pretty proud of it.

Got the carbs adjusted today. Once the mixture is correctly set and they're balanced it sure runs better. Had some fun "test drives" today.

It's a pretty good car now and will withstand some close scrutiny but I've got a list of things that still need attention. I'm sure this Saturday's car show will provide even more items for the list.

Additionally I've got to pay some attention to a cat that's been neglected while I've been working on the Z.





Clear coat has failed in some places, front seats need new leather and the top is about to fail as well. It's my daily driver...

 

Awesome journey Mr. Scott! It's ready to take the show. The reason it isn't finished is because it will never be finished, it's all in your mind.

 

You're quite right Tom, it won't ever be finished. I need things to do!

Well, the car show was interesting. It was a benefit with over 650 cars on display and 15,000 attendees. Admission was free and the weather was beautiful.

Judging was pretty much a popularity contest as every entrant was given a ballot and attendees could vote if they wished as well. There were almost sixty categories and each ballot could have at most 25 votes.

There were five Z cars entered in the Z class and three other Z cars entered in different classes. One was a School Shop class another was an Owner Under 25 class and the last was an Under Construction class. The first two of those cars won awards, very nice.

Of the five Zs in the regular class, there was one 240Z, my 260Z, a 280Z and two 350Z cars. The 240Z and the 280Z took first and second. No more awards were given. RATS!

But, there was plenty to be learned from the winners. The 240Z had older paint but was well maintained and clean. Its big difference was the bling in the engine bay. Lots of chrome and shiny stuff. I think I'll be focusing on my engine bay next.

The 280Z was a low mileage (18,000) trailer queen that is completely stock. Of course it looks nice and had a nice set of presentation material pontificating on just how wonderful a completely unmodified car can be. Hmm ... I think I'll have to work on better sign boards. We did have some, but they could be more detailed.

The ugly part of the event was one of the winners was seen (by me) walking around the show approaching folks with ballots and simply saying something like "My car is number XX in the Z Class, would you please vote for me." In my mind, I just couldn't do that. I'd want my car to be seen and judged on its merits to get votes. I'm still bouncing off the walls here.

Now all that said, it was a lot of fun to sit with my club members and watch folks come by and look. It was often obvious when people would just stop, stare and then tell their companions a story. They were clearly remembering good times with a Z car. Nice to know the work brings back good memories. Got lots of compliments on the work so that was nice too.

I also saw a lot of folks with ballots take a look at my car and write down its number. The car was competitive no matter what the result of the ballots were and we'll do better next time.

I think one good approach (next time) will involve being a bit more proactive when folks with ballots come by. I'll invite them to sit in the car and then give them the story as well. Most entries are so hands-off I think that would make a positive impression.

Anyway, the phase of this journey as a restoration project is pretty much complete. The new journey begins with tinkering, maintaining and improving. Maybe there's another Z restoration in the future, I can't say for sure right now, kind of out of room here in the Old Pueblo.

I want to say thanks to all you forum folk who have chimed in and provided support, both technical and moral, to me during this project. Your help was so valuable! Here's to the ZDriver Community!



BTW, that "Ferrari" next to my car is actually a factory produced clone based on a 280Z. The real Ferrari this car emulates last sold at auction for $39 million. It was so much fun to watch people come by and drool only to find out it was really a Z car with a lot of Ferrari components. It was entered in the Kit Car class (shouldn't have been as it was factory produced).

 

I'm sure you would get higher marks from a real judge, one that would notice the fitment of the body lines and quality paint. Did anyone even look underneath? About all you can do to it is bling out the engine bay. I would not let anyone sit in the car unless I new them or they had nice *****.

 

Tom (theramz) is right, if you get real judges, the car does better. It's now won its class in two local shows.

I continue to add bling to the engine bay. Replaced the valve cover with one that's polished. Replaced the old fuel rail with a nicer one that still has its yellow zinc coating and has three pipes instead of two - supposedly more correct for a 260Z.

Adjusted the valves (when I replaced the valve cover) and have been playing with the carbs too. Found out it was running way too rich. Got all that done and the motor is running nice.

Most recent addition was due to the discovery that "theramz", i.e. Tom, has been selling some nice looking strut braces on eBay. Went whole-hog and got both front and rear. They installed easily and do they ever make an improvement in the cornering.




During the restoration I replaced all the rubber with polyurethane, replaced ball joints, tie rod ends and so on but otherwise the suspension is in a stock configuration. Even with all this, even I could tell (I'm no race driver) the front end would nose in and the back end was a little skittish during hard turns. Once the braces were in, cornering is very well-behaved. It goes where you point it without complaint. Although I don't intend to make it a common occurrence to make hard turns in a show quality car, just knowing I've stiffened up the chassis makes me feel better about the car.

 

Nice work Scott! I new you would like the bars and performance enhancement. She's too pretty to flog but knowing you could if you want to is enough.

 

beg... you have my second favorite z, fantastic stuff...

 

Nice Z!!!! You're going to make me work harder on starting my 1975 280Z project.

See you back on the Jaguar XK8 forum...

 

Thanks. I expect to soon see a thread about your Z project.

 

Please don't tempt me! I have to many projects now...maybe next spring

 

Progress report!

Back in May I took a visitor out on a drive to see a local tourist site. It was a hot day and we noticed what I have to call "bucking" (hey, it's Arizona) during acceleration. A/C was on as well but the temp gauge showed everything as normal. We ended up on an Interstate with a speed limit of 75, so that's what we did. Hot day, A/C on and 75 MPH. Aside from the bucking, all was good until we got off the Interstate. Within 100 yards the motor died and would not restart. Pushed it over to the side, raised the hood and waited about 40 minutes. It started right up, no problems. We did our tourist thing and went home on another slower but more scenic route. Still had the bucking but at speed the motor ran flawlessly and we had no issues with it stalling out when we had to stop for traffic lights.

Got home, did some research on various Z forums and figured it was classic heat soak/vapor lock. Figured it could be managed so I decided to put that problem on the back burner.

Forward to June and while prepping the car for a show, I noticed some drops of fluid on the underside of the hood on the right side. Hmm ... looks sort of like coolant but something's not right. Anyway, long story short, I found a bad hose clamp on one of the heater hoses at the firewall. Replaced that crappy worm gear style clamp with a cleaned up factory original one. Cleaned the underside of the hood and took it out for a spirited test drive. Did I mention it's hot in Arizona? Going to be 115F tomorrow BTW.

Still had the bucking problem when the motor got warmed up and still had some fluid spraying on the underside of the hood. This time though it was a little different. While still on the right side, it was more forward and it's consistency had changed, it was oil. This caused me to search more diligently. No leaks could be seen on the motor, around the filter or anywhere else obvious. Then I noticed the mechanical fuel pump seemed a bit "moist". It wasn't oil but seemed to be fuel. Using a clean paper towel I cleaned off the pump and discovered some sludge underneath the pump. This was an original style pump that came with the car.

Time for more research on Z forums. Seems this style of pump is known to throw oil from the pivot pin when it gets worn down. I put two and two together and got myself a new Carter fuel pump. It's not the same design but is a direct bolt on. The pivot pin is now internal to the assembly so no oil throw when it gets worn either. Installed it and went for another test drive.

OMG, maybe it's me being subjective but from the first blast out of the drive onto the street, the motor feels more responsive under acceleration already. Took it out for the spirited drive, A/C on, hot day and so on. All I was trying to do was get rid of the spray under the hood but the bucking is gone! Seems a tired mechanical fuel pump was the culprit. I suppose its performance dropped as the heat increased. It also could be the new pump's design is an improvement over the original. Anyway, that's all good.

Time to take the car to Tombstone (the town that's too tough to die, where the legend of Wyatt Earp, Doc Holliday and the Clanton gang was born and location of the gunfight at the OK Corral). Today Tombstone is pretty much a tourist center but it's fun.

We decided to make this an overnight trip so we booked a room at a local hotel and headed out on Friday afternoon so we'd be close by for the 8AM staging for the car show parade through town. Again, a hot afternoon, high speed drive for about half the distance, A/C on. Everything seemed great until we noticed it getting hot inside the car. A/C was still blowing cold and gauges looked fine. Problem was determined to be less and less air coming through the vents. Still cold, but just less air. Damn I thought, that brand new Honda Civic blower motor has crapped out or maybe the squirrel cage is loose on the shaft. That will have to wait until we get home.

Got to the Grand Tombstone Hotel, opened the doors and realized it was now cooler outside than it was inside the Z. Tombstone is about 1500 feet higher in elevation than our place in Tucson, so it's natural for it to be a bit cooler than home. However, being cooler than a car with A/C - arrgh.

Checked in, looked around and then went back to the car for our stuff. My wife exclaimed "The car is leaking"! Sure enough, a big puddle underneath. My heart froze as I initially thought the worst, something's blown when we shut off the hot motor. To our relief, nothing had blown, it was water melting off the A/C evaporator. I suddenly realized what happened. The evaporator in this A/C design sits between the air box and the vents. I had set the A/C to be full on, i.e. not cycle, and as there was a bit of humidity in the air, an ice block had gradually formed around the evaporator which blocked the air flow.

After unpacking and so on, we took the car into town for dinner. It drove fine and the A/C worked again! Yea!

Show Time! The Wild West Car Show is organized by a local club called the Door Slammers. It is a loosely organized group of car folk with no particular focus on any individual type of car but they love all their cars and have banded together for some fun and to support the Cancer Society. I'm not a member (they have no meetings or dues either) but I am probably going to join. I've run into them at various other events and they're a great and diverse bunch of people.

Entry was simple. Show up at one end of town and put your car in line. Go to the registration booth, get your dash plaque, fill out your window banner, get your raffle ticket and go wait with your car. There was no entry fee. Donations to the Cancer Society were not being accepted at registration but would be accepted in the show area.

A couple of town Marshals showed up in their vehicles and then escorted the show cars, front and rear, parade style down the main walking street and all around the side streets to the show area. First time I wasn't worried about having a law enforcement vehicle behind me with the flashing lights on.

It wasn't a huge show with only about 30 cars. Evidently last year's show was larger but there was a threat of rain so I think that kept some folks away.

Judging was done by Tombstone's Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday. While these guys dress up in character pretty much every day, they are known to be car nuts themselves. No special criteria, just trophies to whatever they like. Awards were for places 1, 2 and 3, Best of Show, Sponsor's Choice (a local restaurant) and People's Choice. There was one other Z car at the show, a friend of mine from our local club. His car took first place in the Z class and a big show last year. At this show, he took third and the rest of the awards went to some very deserving cars. Hmmm... time to do some thinking.

Here are the two Z cars at the show:


The silver 240Z is very nice, I really can't say anything bad other that it is my car's kryptonite. It features lots of chrome in the engine bay, 40 year old paint in good condition with some pin striping, an interior that is "experienced" but in good shape, four wheel disks and so on. No special performance mods.

I'm on a budget here so I make incremental changes to my car now. I just ordered a set of these:


I'll be painting the calipers red now that you'll be able to see more of them through these new rims. My current rims are from one of my two source cars and most comments are something to the effect of "The 90's called and they want their wheels back". I have to agree, they don't really go with this car.

As an aside, not wholly for looks, I'm installing some mud/rock guards. I picked up a couple of rock chips just behind the tires on the rockers on this trip and don't want that to get out of control.

So there, I've brought things up to date on the saga of the 260Z Retirement Project. Seems I've caught the show bug now. Didn't realize I'd feel this competitive on a budget. Hey folks, any constructive comments on what to do next will be appreciated!

 

Scott-HAH, I told you you would never be done! I'm putting the same wheels on mine when I paint it. I lowered mine 2 inches and it looks much better than before. You could lower yours 1 inch with just lowering springs. With 17" wheels it would look better. JMO
By the way, I thought the 260z had an electric booster pump near the tank because of the inherent vapor lock problems with the earlier Zs.

 

You're right, I'll probably never be done but at least the pressure's off to get it show ready. My mind often drifts toward thoughts of starting another car but first I think I need a bigger garage!

I'm open to lowering an inch and will likely do so in the future. Not near future nor distant future, just future. I am a bit concerned as in my current configuration the tire rubber seems to protrude just a bit past the wheel arches. I don't know the heritage nor the offset of the existing rims so I'm waiting to see what happens when the zero offset Koenigs get mounted up. If you have some links to info about springs for these cars, I'd appreciate it.

Yes, the 260Z did (notice the past tense) have the pump back by the tank. When I went back to round top SU carbs, Bruce at Z-Therapy told me the pump was really there for the flat tops and I should leave it out. I did, figuring it's just one more thing to go wrong. What I did do though was to leave all the wiring and relays in place just in case I decided the pump had to go back in at a later date (I've even saved the mounting bracket). I do see how it would help by circulating cooler fuel from the tank through the hot fuel rail. It might also help at higher altitudes where boiling points drop. For now though it looks like this Carter pump has solved my problem.