From Smoker to Sssssmokin’!

Turn & Burn

Club Member
Great picture, does beg the question as to where Ali’s break line is.
It’s there just visible in the back of the clip, still in it’s rubber mounting. It looks like the main fuel lines have been replaced by rubber hose, probably due to corrosion.
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Gentlemen, thank you very much for your advice, knowledge and the pictures. So another school day then!!!

My apologies for the delayed response as I’ve been playing teacher most of the day then under the car. There’s yet another story there - but not PO related, more of that later ...

That final routing picture is very interesting as the clips are all in the right place for the routing on my car too. The hardlines have been deleted along with the rubber “bushes” in the clips. I did wonder why there was only a third of a one with the brake line. Now I know; it was cut to make room for a bodge with rubber lines!!!!!!!

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]

The fuel lines on my car are copper and run from just below the filter in the engine bay (on the chassis rail) to just before the ARB where they go into rubber. [emoji849]

I guess I now need to buy pipe, a straightener and take my time routing. Also will need to source the rubber bits for the holding clips.

What do you wise chaps recommend for the hard fuel lines (size and metal)?

Again, I am most grateful for all your inputs so far, many thanks! [emoji106][emoji106]

Today’s effort was taking off both sides to replace the shocks - having taken the drivers’ side off first I learned how heavy the whole assembly is. Note to self, undo the top nut on the shock shaft in situ rather than flailing about doing it off the car.

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I found two loose bolts on the rear bushes (one each side) where they hadn’t been driven home properly (possibly forgotten for final torque?). Also discovered that the soft brake lines date back to 1999. They don’t show visible cracks but are very stiff old rubber. Thankfully I have new ones.

On the other side, learning had taken place ...

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Taking the shock boots off, there was an inordinate amount of what at first I thought was purple mud but transpired to be dry grease and dirt. Particularly bad on the nearside and you can see why ...

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The springs have a marking on that I was wondering if anyone recognises? Does anyone think these are the famous Mr F lowering springs? Looking at the bills the PO definitely kept the late Mr F well fed and I need to go back through over, no joke, 100+ receipts to see if they came from him.

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Good progress was happening until I pulled the new shocks out of their boxes ....

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I spoke with MSA and they were very sympathetic - so an email with detailed pictures will go to them tomorrow and we’ll see what they propose.

No in transit damage that I can see on the boxes matches the position of the dents. Both rears have dents -one near the top and one near the bottom.

The saving grace is when I looked closer, the dents are either above or below the normal operating range of the shocks. So unless you fully extend the shock the gubbins inside won’t reach the dent. On the other one, even if you compress fully, the gunbins won’t reach it. Much of the bottom of the damper is a spacer. So if I’m stuck with them, I feel relatively comfortable they won’t fail because of the dents. But equally I would prefer to have undamaged items when bought new.

So let’s stay positive and see what MSA do for me.

Here is a comparison of old and new ...

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The brake lines also turned out to be copper, so more flaring and bending to come!!

On that note, the one at the front on the passenger side is still not fully sealing despite a second flaring. I am strongly suspecting the soft line as inside the box, it was not packaged the same as the other and not plated. I wonder if it was a QC failure item that made it through? RockAuto will not pay for returns if the price is over a certain amount so buyers, beware! I have torqued it further - let’s see if that helps.

On a happier note, my steering column arrived but I haven’t had a second to open the box yet!!

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Strangely the parcel-force letter demanding VAT payment was for a shipment from Germany! So I guess USPS have a hub there.

And I agree Rob, unmolested cars are worth a lot more. I should have looked harder to find a better car for the money at the time, but it was a £10k heart over head decision. I absolutely love the car and strive to bring it up to scratch and have fun along the way. I do enjoy a bloody good tinker! The most boring car I ever owned was the brand new s2000 which I couldn’t do a thing to except polish, as it was perfect and under warranty. Somehow doing all this work makes it MY car and gives me supreme confidence driving it (although no more mechanically sympathetic when booting it!!) - does that make sense?
 
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AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
So Mr [mention]Turn & Burn[/mention] so you have a picture of the routing of your fuel lines at the engine bay end of your amazing looking car? I was tempted to run an 90 degree “up-turn” just below the fuel pump to clean up the engine bay a little but also the bit where it sits on the chassis rail and goes to the teams tunnel I think is likely not original routing.


The only thing I’ve done since Friday is to make some ears

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And sent MSA (https://www.thezstore.com) an email about the damage to the rear shocks ....

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While the plunge and rebound smoothly and will probably be OK I want to see if they will replace them. Let’s see how MSA respond.
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Yes - something hard has hit them. As it’s only the rear shocks and the MSA other box was OK, I strongly suspect damage in the warehouse or while handling.
 

Rob Gaskin

Treasurer
Staff member
Site Administrator
It's always good to look at a damaged box. Sorry Ali ;). I think I might have some in the garage.
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Thanks Pete, always appreciate your kind words.

Time for a quick update.

The entire rear is off the car !!!

Inspecting the diff mount, I discovered what I always suspected to be the cause of the loud clonk when coming sharply off the power. The diff has connected with the ARB a few times!! Thankfully I have a brand new Nissan one from 6 year ago!!! Yes it’s taken me this long to get around to it.

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It was holding on with a few last molecules!!

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Before dropping the diff, I stuck a socket extension piece onto the end of the impact drill and loosened the drain plug / drained the oil in situ. The diff oil came out looking like new (it was replaced 7 years ago.

Not having bought the swishy square socket, I used an adjustable spanner and 2.5lb lump hammer to undo the filler plug. 2-3 moderately hard hits and she was off.

Lowering the diff using a luggage strap and a jack, made the job a piece of cake and stopped the diff rocking on the jack. I may use ratchet straps for lifting it back on! ;)

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Looking at the brake line routing, does anyone think this is where the T should have been as stock? There is a point under the car (circled in red) with a sheared bolt, would that have been the original place or is that the one for the fuel lines to be held on? I’m thinking the latter given the feed points on the tank.

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I then inspected the diff and got the 3.9 one ready for a swap. The pinion preload on the 3.9 is just over 3kg and the backlash (which I can’t recall now) is well within spec. It came off a 100k miles emissions hampered N/A 280zx in Arizona so it’s barely worked for its money ;)

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The fuel sensor connectors are clearly not stock and the terminals on the sensor are very corroded - which explains why the fuel gauge is pessimistic and never goes to full. That corrosion is definitely adding ohms.

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Not taking Toopey’s advice, I went for the tank too.

Dropping the tank was a piece of cake. The only thing that gave me a little trouble but was soon overcome was taking the filler pipe off. Using the panel clip removal tools helped it let go very easily.

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The fuel filler bracket wasn’t ever bolted up property which explains why it was always lopsided. The filler though is in I’m good condition, so one less thing to have to replace!!!

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Mercifully, the underside of the car and the area above and behind the fuel tank are in excellent condition not requiring much de-rusting work.

The tank itself though was missing a couple of the rubber spacers and has clearly been rubbing the underside of the car in places.

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As suspected, I found very perished breather hoses. All fuel hoses have 2006 and 2004 printed on them, so about time the were replaced I guess. This one though was over tightened on the clip.

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I spent an hour with a borescope inspecting the inside of the fuel tank - I found an eel and some fish, all of which felt like perished fuel hose. Some reckon it’s residue from the tank treatment. Looks like it’s been POR-ed inside but the PO left some residual treatment behind; quite a lot actually. But in general the inside looks in great condition (much to my surprise) - a very pleasant surprise.

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Used a head torch on a string inside the tank and bar-b-q tongs to fish out the black stuff. Then I flushed the tank with water and left it to dry in the 30 degree sun all day.

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Finally, I got evil with the wire brush. It took an hour to get this far before kiddie bed time stopped play. Sadly my POR magic coating has hardened inside the jar. So for now I have treated it and will give it a coat of paint to stop it rusting while I await a new delivery of POR. I still have the rest to do. The underside has lots of surface rust and some of it is quite hardy as it’s been there for a while below the under-seal I guess. The top of the tank is mercifully in superb condition. I suspect the underside has seen some action in the past.

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For anyone else planning on using this POR stuff, I would highly recommend getting the smaller more expensive 113ml tins as you will waste a lot less. Once the tin is opened the lid is pretty destroyed and /or the stuff sets on the lid making you destroy it the next time you try to open it.

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On a very happy note, MSA will send me new shocks and have not required the other ones back, so it looks like I have spares! ;)

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Not sure what this weekend will bring as it’s my wife’s birthday celebrations but my 2.5 weeks arbitrary deadline is at great risk ;).
 
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Bazzateer

Club Member
Try putting cling film over the tin before replacing the lid, might stop the lid sticking to the tin?
Another trick is to store the tin upside down, lid firmly on of course. Keeps the stuff around the lid wet and less likely to dry out, this works for my modelling paints.
 

AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Very little happened at the weekend but here’s a bit of good fortune:

I discovered that the fuel level sensor was leaking on the live terminal where there is insulating plastic, remember this photo?

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To confirm it, I hung the thing from the float over night, with the “bowl” bit filled with self penetrating oil. The next day there was ample oil on the other side to prove it’s no longer air tight. I could have repaired it with fuel resistant mastics but I started to look at the cost of a new one. Utterly HORRENDOUS prices. Over £300 for the right shaped one. Then one appeared on eBay advertised for a Datsun 510 with very similar kinks etc so I took a punt at £40!

Today, this little package arrived ...

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Now you can see the differences below:

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The resistances however are virtually identical +/- 1/2 an ohm. 10.8 ohms full, 88.5 ohms empty.

I was tempted to move the rod and float from one to the other but decided that as it involved cutting the squashed end and re-calibrating, I was going to have a go at bending the new one first.

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I straightened up the first kink on the new one, measured the length of the same king on the old one and bent it in the same place as the 260z sensor. The end result? Ignoring the parallax of the iPhone lens, it turned out utterly perfect. It even sorted out the difference in length - they are now identical in length also.

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I gave it a test run in the fuel tank and fortuitously, there is plenty of room in the tank for the float to sit the opposite way round to the original. The bottom of the tank is actually deeper at that point and thanks to the PO has a raised bit where the POR treatment wasn’t fully flushed out. That will give me “reserve” when the gauge is on empty.

A total win!!

The hard fuel lines and POR15 rust preventative paint arrived also today, so back to fuel tank derusting duties again today. I do need to get a better wire brush to use on an angle grinder instead of my drill to make the job go faster.
 
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Turn & Burn

Club Member
So Mr [mention]Turn & Burn[/mention] so you have a picture of the routing of your fuel lines at the engine bay end of your amazing looking car? I was tempted to run an 90 degree “up-turn” just below the fuel pump to clean up the engine bay a little but also the bit where it sits on the chassis rail and goes to the teams tunnel I think is likely not original routing.


The only thing I’ve done since Friday is to make some ears

7a71060bd689da8d3f77a307a5d00404.jpg


And sent MSA (https://www.thezstore.com) an email about the damage to the rear shocks ....

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08f6a6a7d38263622ca362b2000aa4e8.plist
727e9ed9adf708d6dcfede7d21a648c1.plist
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While the plunge and rebound smoothly and will probably be OK I want to see if they will replace them. Let’s see how MSA respond.
Ali, I’m afraid ive gone away from normal 260 routing in the engine bay, as I’m using an in tank pump to feed throttle bodies my fuel line run straight up the bulkhead
 

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AliK

Vehicle Dating Officer
Staff member
Club Member
Ali, I’m afraid ive gone away from normal 260 routing in the engine bay, as I’m using an in tank pump to feed throttle bodies my fuel line run straight up the bulkhead

Thanks for that. Such a stunning car - how will you ever have the heart to drive it on a dirty road!? ;)
 
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