Sunbaked '76 Cali 280z

Kieronpollock

Club Member
Yep just caught a section to fit the main seat pad and added where my bolsters had become warm
Don’t want too much on the bolsters otherwise the new seat cover will be difficult to fit
 

MCBladeRun

Club Member

Huw's seat refurbishment post may help 👍
 

Robotsan

Club Member

Huw's seat refurbishment post may help 👍

Nice one thanks Martin.
 

Robotsan

Club Member
Been busy and not doing any updates recently.

Took the crusty steering column off and refurbished both that and the steering wheel in one go, just so the interior is a bit smarter..

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Sanded back the column and wheel..

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The rubber gasket between the steering column bracket and firewall had perished so I made a new one..

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And after a good sanding, rust proofing and yet more satin black paint..

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Interior really coming along now. Not going to do anything else to it now as I'm focusing on the fuel tank and thermostat & various senders to get it on the road before the suspension all comes off.

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Robotsan

Club Member
Finally sorted out the thermostat housing and senders.

My water temp sender had seized in the housing, the u-bend for a coolant hose on the back had a big hole in it and looked totally blocked, and the water temp switch's wires were so brittle they just broke off. So I pulled the whole thing out and refurbished it as best I could.

Ended up taking it to an old boy with a little garage workshop round the corner who kindly got the stuck bits out for me with some heat for a tenner.

Then I cleaned and polished up the housing, polished the old, working senders and sensors, re-finished the mating surfaces that were a bit pitted before, and now it's almost ready to go back in the car.

Here's some before and in progress pics..

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And voila!

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Robotsan

Club Member
Lots of work done since my last update, culminating in me finally getting it on the road for a quick drive! More on that in a bit..

Got one seat back from the powder coaters - incredible job for £70! Also got new seat foams so will rebuild that soon. Then I'll do the other one.

Reinstalled the thermostat housing with cleaned up senders & sensors.

Reinstalled the refurbished/relined fuel tank - what an arse of a job that was with one pair of hands! Also fitted an in-line filter just in case.

Reinstalled the cleaned up dizzy and learned how to set the timing.

Then, took it for its maiden voyage around the block!

 

Robotsan

Club Member
I had a good day or 2 of the car not starting before that though. The car was cranking but there was zero fuel pressure.

Thought I must have not put the dizzy or the fuel pump back together properly or something.. but eventually it turned out to be that I didn't have enough fuel in the tank to prime the pump - or that there was an air pocket before the pump.

So with 40l of 99 poured into the tank, it eventually coughed into life right at the end of the day when I was about to give up!


After this though I started getting what I think are 'lean pops' which are a nice word for scary bangs from the intake side of things, apparently caused by lean running. I thought it was the AFM to TB boot splitting open, and while that may be a cause I think it's actually a kind of 'front-fire'? And not good for cylinder heads apparently.

And indeed it seemed I was only getting around 30 PSI of fuel pressure, so I thought this might be the reason for the lean pops I then found a slight fuel leak from the in-line filter not being done up tightly enough, fixed that and now I'm getting a solid 36 PSI.

Next issue was this alarming set of readings from the gauges:

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This was after the car had only ran about 5 min. So naturally I panicked and turned it off!

But the IR gun only said the external head temp was about 130 °F (I'm working in F because that's what the gauge is in!).

The ever helpful @Larby then came to the rescue and suggested I check and clean up my engine earths. This not only fixed the gauges, but also my headlights which now stay on, and my wipers, and stopped the weird relay ticking noise when I turned the steering wheel (something to do with the horn). Result!

Now the gauges are not quote as extreme 😂

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Robotsan

Club Member
Also put together the rear lights panel, my UK spec lights and the number plate before that drive obviously. Very pleased to have at least one clean and shiny painted area of the car!

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Then put the carpets from Romas in too. Lovely. Unfortunately to drive it I had to put the old scooby doo seat back in too, which kind of ruins the asthetic! But I'll get the seats done soon.

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Nice clean powder coated seat parts..

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Compared to before:

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And a before and after of the dizzy..

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Newly restored tank:

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Robotsan

Club Member
Long time since I've updated this - I'm afraid I've found it much easier and faster to keep a diary of my work on the car on Instagram. But in a nutshell, since the above update, @richiep came over shortly after that to help me remove all of the suspension from the car (in 33°c heat I recall!), and will be welding my BCs onto the hubs for me, and getting everything powder coated, ready for reinstallation later this year.

In the meantime, I've taken it upon myself to completely strip all 4 arches back to bare metal and give it a fresh underseal. I started the first one in mid November and I've only just finished it! 😂 I have regretted the decision several times along the way, but now I've finished it I'm so chuffed with my work and pretty proud of myself!

Firstly, stripped all the old stuff off using a combination of angle grinder with poly disc, drill with wire wheels/cups, and dremel..

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Then used Bilt Hamber Hydrate 80 on the few places with surface rust..

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Then 2 coats of Bilt Hamber Electrox zinc primer..

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Followed by 2 coats of Bilt Hamber Epoxy Mastic..

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Then I redid all the seam sealer (after painstakingly picking all the old dry stuff out of all the seams)..

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And finally this weekend, 2 coats of Dinitrol 447 (a rubberised stone chip finish). Really chuffed with how that came out, as I thought from the aerosol it would've been a smooth finish, but it's actually the same nice texture as from a Shultz gun (maybe slightly finer?), but it looks great!

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Robotsan

Club Member
So now I just need to do the other 3 :confused:Hopefully now I can speed up the process a tad.

While this was happening my wheels arrived too. I got brand new Rota RKR in 15 x 8, then had them stripped and done in a custom powder coat by @Larby of JL Innovations, who did them in a beautiful deep satin grey. I absolutely love them! Sadly they've had to go straight into the loft as there's no room anywhere else now. But I cannot wait to fit them with all the refreshed suspension and newly redone arches.

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SacCyclone

Club Member
Beautiful job....

I've been looking at something like this dry ice machine for those inner arch jobs.....I think it would make quick removal of dirt, undercoating and mastic.


 

Robotsan

Club Member
Beautiful job....

I've been looking at something like this dry ice machine for those inner arch jobs.....I think it would make quick removal of dirt, undercoating and mastic.



Wow, yeah it absolutely would! You could open up a little side hustle doing it for other people with a bit of kit like that Mike! 😂
 
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