240z Resto

johnymd

Club Member
That's a good Price. I paid £130 plus shipping (usually £55) plus VAT from Ricky Evens Motorsport.

I had a screen fitted a few months back and the guy did both front and back in 30mins. Both went in really easily with just the string method.
 

Makesy

Club Member
Been away for 2 weeks but back to rebuilding this weekend.

Finally dropped the tank and got a goof look inside.

Ever had one of those days where you just want to give up and sell?

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Not sure what this sealant/paint crap is inside the tank, but it has definitely got me thinking that a full tank refresh is needed.

The "faulty" fuel gauge may be partly to do with the fact the sender wasn't connected to anything at all, and partly to do with the fact it was stuck. The "wire" wrap which the float rubs against is catching, so i'll need to fix this somehow, or buy a new sender. It also looks a bit grotty!

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One of the vapour hoses was completely frayed, which I'm guessing would have impacted my fuel pressure and my ability to start the car.

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The rubber seal I got from my local auto shop was too fat, so made the door stick out horribly when closed! Going to try cutting it down but I'm not covinced it will work.

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And my regassed SGS strut isn't strong enough to hold the hatch open, so it looks like I'm in the market for a 2nd strut!

On the positive side (clutching at straws for something!) I'm soaking the calipers in the old petrol from the tank to try and free off my brake pistons which are still firmly seized, as a final go before sending them off for refurb.

Do wish me luck!

Alex
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
Blimey, that tank looks a fright. I might do mine over the winter at some point.
Where are you going to get the brakes refurbed, out of interest?
 

Makesy

Club Member
Blimey, that tank looks a fright. I might do mine over the winter at some point.
Where are you going to get the brakes refurbed, out of interest?

Bigg Red I think. I haven't enquired yet as I'm too stubborn/persistent on my quest to free these pistons off myself!

They have been sitting in petrol for a day so far. Tomorrow I will pull them out, boil again and blast some compressed air through them again to see if i can get them to budge!
 

Makesy

Club Member
A belated update...

After fannying around with a grease gun and wrecking 2 clamps, I managed to free off a number of the pistons on my brakes.

Sat on my garage floor, covered in grease and sweat I decided that after putting in so much effort (and cash) to get this thing on the road, I'd rather not bin it due to cheaping out on replacing the brakes properly.

My new Toyota calipers arrived today. I'd asked BCS and Bigg Red for quotes. Bigg Red were particularly helpful but I went with Brakes International in the end.

They look decent (I'll post pics later).

My tank has been sent off for coating inside and out via Hartlepool Radiators: (http://www.fuel-tank-renu.co.uk/pages/tanks.html) Looking forward to seeing how that turns out.

I've bought a few metres of fuel hose and some other bits and bobs from Demon Tweeks to support the job. I'll be using the opportunity to change all the hoses on the car, though I'm a little concerned that the hose I bought may not be up to the job (feels a bit squishier than the other hoses I've seen). The DT website does state it is 'high pressure hose' (https://www.demon-tweeks.com/uk/mocal-high-pressure-fuel-hose-611856/) Any advice is welcome.

I've got my fuel sender sitting in Evapo Rust in a vase downstairs. When Mrs Makesy sees it in the morning she will be less than pleased, however I will have a fancy fresh sender :) (and hopefully some bacon by the time she's noticed).

Started cleaning up some mirrors @Seikoking kindly donated to the cause - I will post pics of them later also.

I'm a bit stuck with indicators - I replaced all the bulbs with LEDs and now they blink extremely slowly - I need to investigate further but suspect it's partly due to the bulbs and partly a wiring issue. I also need to dig out a guide for cleaning up the stalks around the steering wheel as the connections are a bit old.

Back on track!
 

Makesy

Club Member
After a night in Evaporust, the sender looks much better!

I gave the slider contact a light sand and it moves up and down much smoother now, whilst still making contact with the wire. It does still catch the wire wrap at certain points though, as the wire seems to have stretched and moved over time.

I may have to get creative here, adding some solder to the underside of the contact to ensure nothing catches, or further sanding the contact.

Where the contact is positioned in the picture is one if the points where it stick against the loose wire.

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Hard to imagine from the photos, but the sender does look much better. You can see the protective shield on the left of the photo above has been through the wars.

I also haven't had a chance to test the unit yet, so this may all be futile!

My new brakes look very neat, however!

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I had some time to test the indicators today and swapped all the bulbs with "standard" bulbs. To my surprise, the blinking was fairly consistent and certainly suitable for day to day use, so I have decided to hold off moving to LED indicators until the car is in a better state and I can dedicate more time to that job alone.
 

toopy

Club Member
Are you going to paint those calipers? the shiny coating is only really cosmetic, and will show surface rust probably within a year unprotected.
 

Makesy

Club Member
That's a shame! In that case, yes.

I was going to run them as is until I decided what colour to have the car, but I can always repaint later I suppose
 

toopy

Club Member
That's a shame! In that case, yes.

I was going to run them as is until I decided what colour to have the car, but I can always repaint later I suppose

Indeed, just paint them with HT silver paint for now, and top coat with chosen colour at a later date. Main thing is to stop them degrading to start with :)
 

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
I tried cleaning my original sender up the same as you have. Literally a day after refitting it the thing seized solid with contact from fuel. A new one was only around 75 quid and fixed the problem straight away.

Dan
 

Makesy

Club Member
I tried cleaning my original sender up the same as you have. Literally a day after refitting it the thing seized solid with contact from fuel. A new one was only around 75 quid and fixed the problem straight away.

Dan

Maybe I'm being optimistic! Where did you obtain yours from?
 

Makesy

Club Member
Current thoughts: Lots of parts and not enough time!

Recently acquired:

Interior bits and badges from @Seikoking (Thanks Phil!)
Hoses, clips and grommets from Demon Tweeks
Brass step down connector and fuel pump brackets from Ebay
Door seals from East Kent Trim
LED relays for the indicators (thanks @AliK for the advice!) - I've misplaced one of my LED indicator bulbs in my plethora of parts, so unable to test these out at the moment!

I made the decision to fit a new fuel sender, given the state of the old one. I didn't want to introduce an old rusty sender to a new, clean system.

Mike from MJP is hooking me up with a new 240 sender and all the necessary components for that, as well as some new injector o rings - waiting to hear when these will land.

New ignition switch and door locks should be landing shortly.

The plastic(?) striker on my driver door looks to be missing so I might have to obtain/fabricate one. Found a good guide last night on this subject which I'll post below.

Also, based on the advice of @toopy I'll be spraying my brakes a shade of gunmetal for the time being (as corrosion protection more than anything!)
 

Makesy

Club Member
Saw this pdf on another forum. May be useful for others with a door lock issue.
 

Attachments

  • door-wont-lock.pdf
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Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
Saw this pdf on another forum. May be useful for others with a door lock issue.

The thing about these 'little' faults is that they provide a great opportunity for us to get into our garage and tinker. By doing that we learn all about the piece of kit we have a problem with, sort it or replace it and get a great deal of satisfaction. Then we go back in the house after the wife has finished watching the 'soaps'.

There was an issue with the driver's door lock/latch on my Sam. I had it all to bits (not easy getting it out, so window frame out too) , cleaned it, oiled it and was happy it was all working well. Bought a new lock with key too because the old one had been forced to try to get it to work. Re-installed it, no joy - after further investigation it was something that is mentioned in that pdf above - one of the screws that hold the latching mech to the door was too long. But at least it all works fine now and I learnt a bit more about Zs.

You don't get that opportunity with modern cars that just keep working until the ECU packs up.
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
The thing about these 'little' faults is that they provide a great opportunity for us to get into our garage and tinker. By doing that we learn all about the piece of kit we have a problem with, sort it or replace it and get a great deal of satisfaction. Then we go back in the house after the wife has finished watching the 'soaps'.

That statement is so true!
 
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