What did you do to your Z this week?

Bazzateer

Club Member
The non-polarity sensitive led lamps arrived today so I whipped out the tacho and swapped the standard ones for the leds. The leds are longer and foul on the green filters, didn't want to pull the tacho apart to remove them so used tape to secure the leds as far in as they would go. Very happy with the result, they even dim with the rest of the instruments. Took out the screws holding the speedo in but couldn't get enough purchase on the cable connector to release it. Currently left with this,

20200323_183838.jpg

That's before dimming it slightly.

So, how do I get the speedo out without dismantling the entire dash?
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
So, how do I get the speedo out without dismantling the entire dash?

I took mine partly out as far as it would go, then with contorted hands, much cursing and gymnastics changed the bulbs in situ.

I found that taking the steering wheel off was a great help. If you really want to make it easier take the seat out too (only 4 bolts).
 
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AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
No sir, I just lay upside down in the footwell while the speedo was pulled out about 1.5-2 inches then used the equivalent of Braille to feel my way to the bulbs. Truth be told I left the bottom right to God and gave up with it.

As said already, you can loosen it off a bit by pushing the cable through the bulkhead a little.

Also beware that at the top of the dash there are the connectors for the wiring which are locked into a bracket. I’ll try to photograph my spare dash for you when I next get to it. A PO of my car has tie wrapped the wiring so that was not helping at all either. How do I know? I sliced my finger a on the laser sharp razor edge of a snips cut tie warp!!! Watch your fingers - you never know if a spider is waiting for you! :p
 

Bazzateer

Club Member
Didn't think about pushing the cable through the bulkhead. Could even disconnect it at the gearbox to allow more movement.
I know about the wiring brackets from doing the tacho.
I'll have another look at it today.
 

Bazzateer

Club Member
...you can loosen it off a bit by pushing the cable through the bulkhead...
Had another go today and Ali's suggestion enabled me to get half the speedo out. So I slipped underneath and disconnected the cable from the box. Then it was easy to push more cable through and release the speedo from the dash. Cheers Ali!

I then swapped out the lamps replacing all but the main beam with leds. The brake light lamp had not been working but with an led it's fine now.

The polarity sensitive lamps in the 3 minor gauges don't dim but the speedo and tacho do. The photos make the large gauges look brighter than they actually are. Pretty confident I can use the dimmer to trim them to match the small ones.

First pic is how they look when the dimmer first goes from dark to I initial light up.

20200324_190509.jpg

Next pic is on full brightness

20200324_190523.jpg
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Had to move the Z to get to something in the garage and I could t resist the urge, so I did the annual oil and filter change.

Being paranoid in a good way, I checked the timing with a light. I discovered that the 123 dizzy was showing 5 degrees more advance on the app than was showing on the crank damper under the timing light. So I turned off the vac curve, set all the points to 2000rpm at 20 degrees and rotated the dizzy until it was absolutely dead on 20 on the damper pointer.

I know the tuners, not knowing anything about the 123, had loosened the base plate to change the timing during the final tune and power run. I had returned it to the correct position myself at a later point (1 hour later to be precise) but I suspect the bolt should have done another half a turn to make sure it didn’t drift during my taking the cap / leads off and on, quite a lot. At least it drifted in the safe direction and now it’s properly tight giving the desired advance.

Next up, transmission oil change. Not sure when if ever it has been done.
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Two bucket washed the Z

19f229c828678f40f480ecb5bffcc5b2.jpg


Quite scary how dirty the clean water bucket ends up and what’s in the bottom

d82c6d366d1dea394412b8979e3860ae.jpg
 
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WazzaJB

Club Member
Appreciate it's not much of an achievement, but I promised myself this year I'd pick myself up and crack on with the Datsun.

So given the nice weather we've had, I collected it from my friends unit where it has practically lived for the last 18 months and I drove it home. It's on the drive and ready for me to get stuff done.

I've got a leak on some of the injector hoses, so plan on removing them and putting new hoses on whilst sending the injectors off to be refurbished. Fortunately I already ordered the new seals and have already changed all the connectors because they were shot too.

I think I'v wired the TPS up wrong when I changed the connector, if I put my foot to the floor it kills all revs back down to idle. So going to have a shot at sorting that tomorrow!

Just the short drive from the unit to my house brought a massive smile to my face, love it.

(Also going to give it a really good wash!)

IMG_20200329_171009.jpg
 

uk66fastback

Club Member
Nothing (as usual). But in the light of a possible furlough period (it's either that or redundancy) - I might just get round to it sometime before the end of May.
 

Matt Berry

Club Member
After nearly 2 years of building it I’m about 3 hours away from finishing it. However it’s a 100 mile round trip to the workshop so it’ll have to wait no matter how much I try to convince myself it’s essential travel! EXTRA:(
 

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datsfun

Club Member
After nearly 2 years of building it I’m about 3 hours away from finishing it. However it’s a 100 mile round trip to the workshop so it’ll have to wait no matter how much I try to convince myself it’s essential travel! EXTRA:(
Now that is temptation. So close to completion !

Looks amazing and I bet it goes even faster:)
 
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