Joel

I read that Pee-bucket had a change in management and allows 3rd party hosting now. Testing... testing...

That's really annoying. :mad: I didn't know why so many forums are full of broken links now. Thanks for throwing away 15+ years of useful information, P-Bucket!

I must be really old. Back in my day Photobucket was a reputable and reliable image hosting site. Guess times have changed. I'll re-host and re-post.

At the beginning of this year, my wife and I relocated from LA/OC to SF/East Bay, and fortunately were able to find a place with more (and attached!) garage space, so we loaded up the ol' Silvia and brought it up: http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz20/dkapt2/Joel%20Projects/Silvia/20170103_080026.jpg I recently replaced my water pump, so while I was in there with the radiator out--I couldn't pass up having all that extra space to work--I decided now's as good a time as any to buy a Weber 32/36 DGEV carb and ditch my stock one. Which led to my remembering that the car has stuff for a/c just sitting there getting a free ride without giving anything in return, so that was taken out too. And since the smog pump had seized years ago before I bought the car, that was yanked too, along with the a/c compressor/smog pump's shared ~15 lb mounting bracket. While researching the smog-delete process I saw that most of the threads included a comment from datsunmike advising against pulling all the smog equipment out, but when all was said and done, I removed 85 lbs worth of smog and a/c trash (which is sitting in a heap in my garage, if anyone wants anything). I think that'll be worth the potential vacuum leak hunt that I'm left with. Speaking of which, does anyone know what the chew toy squeak is in this video that seems to make my engine stall? https://youtu.be/aVkEFXjL8VA Stock rat's nest of needless vacuum lines: http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz20/dkapt2/Joel%20Projects/Silvia/20171028_113959.jpg Weber relative simplicity: http://i809.photobucket.com/albums/zz20/dkapt2/Joel%20Projects/Silvia/20171111_192354.jpg Once I get it back on the road I'll keep working to clean and declutter it as much as I can. If there are any other pics/videos that would help to diagnose the stalling, please let me know what to include. Thanks for any advice! (Sorry for the links instead of photos... I'll update once I load pictures onto a usable image hosting site.)

Took my 2+2 out back and shot it today:

Forgot to mention, in the pics the fronts are turned as far as they'll go until they hit the sheetmetal at the front of the wheel opening. I tried to do a u-turn and it was about a 15-point job... that's all taken care of now, but like I said, at the expense of the front quarter panel and the valence. I'll put up some shots eventually. Another thing I forgot, I finally stripped the nasty green paint off of the air filter covers. Hit them with some Aircraft Stripper and finished them off with steel wool. They're fairly pitted, but the finish goes well with the rest of the car. Time machine took me back to '74 to work on my car and my same-year CB200...

Finally got my wheels in, ended up ordering some XXR 532s a couple of months ago, but they seem to have not been in production yet. They got here earlier this week so I had some Kumho Ecstas put on a couple days ago. Wheels are 16x8 ET0, tires are 225/50R16. As stated before it's sitting on Eibachs + Tokicos, but I haven't driven nearly enough for it to settle so it's hard to judge what the final fitment will be like. Really happy with the way things are going now. One setback was front clearance--the low offset wheels were swinging forward too far and hitting the fronts of the wheel openings so I had to take a baseball bat and jack up the quarters and lower valence a bit. No big deal since my car's body isn't great to start with. May be an issue for anyone else looking to fit low offset wheels up front. Maybe there's a caster adjustment that will help? I don't know. Anyway, pics, pre-fender-batting: Hate to toot my own horn, but I quite like this shot:

Great pics as usual at http://www.cncpics.com/2012/September/Japanese-Classic-Car-Show-2012/25388902_P4H7pM#!i=2088918407&k=7WQPdLc

I've only been there the past 2 years, and the weather's been weird (for here) both years--unseasonably hot this year, unseasonably raining last year in the early morning. Great shows both years though! One comment since there was talk at the show about the motorcycle section expanding... I was a little unhappy that this happened to be the same day as the Venice Vintage Motorcycle Rally. I know it's impossible to plan around all the other vehicle-related shows going on in So-Cal, so I'm not blaming anyone. Just saying it sucks that it worked out that way, and I'm sure there would've been more bikes if the two didn't happen to fall on the same day. I'll have my ugly Virago all gussied up in time for the big day next year; please can it be on a different day than the Venice Vintage event?

Here are some pics: http://s809.photobucket.com/albums/zz20/dkapt2/Car%20Shows/JCCS%202012/?start=all Some random shots chosen for no apparent reason: That Kaminari ZX was an interesting piece of history.

Got the car back this morning, drove it a few miles tonight after work. Runs well, doesn't overheat. Can't fully judge the suspension yet as my current tires have dry-rotted creases from sitting too long before it was mine, but it feels well controlled and as smooth as it can in corners, considering the tires. Planning to get it all tired up this weekend so I can start using it next week. Still a long way to go, but it's at least a driver now with what should be reliable carb tuning, brakes, cooling, and suspension all taken care of. Everything else I think I can handle on my own.

Pre-update update: I may have mentioned that I don't like working on old cars so much anymore... So I sold my daily driver WRX and took the Z back to Datsun Alley about a week and a half ago to finally get the cooling system sorted. I'm anxious to get it back later this week with a fully rebuilt cooling system, as well as Eibachs with Tokico shocks. The tires have dry-rotted flats from being completely stationary before I bought it, so I'll need to put new ones on still before I drive it any farther than home from the shop.

Do it. If you can find one.

I love the Webers. Nothing insane, just 32/36 progressive downdrafts, but I liked the one I had on my 610 so I was ready to try a pair on this car. The sound is fantastic, and it pulls a lot harder than I expected. I'm very happy with them.

Ok, so now the emotional roller coaster I mentioned-- Friday I was going to meet up with my room mate at the kick-off party/GTG for the Z-Car West Coast Nationals in Orange. (Does the phrase "West Coast Nationals" actually make any sense?) Got about 5 miles and my car started to overheat. I was on a part of the freeway that's under construction so I couldn't pull off as soon as I wanted--ran hot for a little while, but didn't make any weird noises aside from the hissing of escaping coolant pressure. Then when I tried to turn it off it dieseled for a full 15-20 seconds. Haven't had that happen in a car before. Called Yuri to cancel plans for the night, waited for it to cool off, and put some water in the radiator. Started it back up to try to limp it home in multiple short trips; slow to restart, but it did start and ran fine, no rod knock or anything that seemed catastrophic. But then it started heating up in less than a mile again. This time there was a kind of metallic smell, it didn't restart after letting it sit a while, and while it was cranking little puffs of white were coming out of the exhaust... I left it alone, had it towed home, and didn't touch it for all of the next day. If it really did have a blown head gasket and/or bad motor I wasn't ready to see any more proof just yet... Sunday night I wanted to see if I could start/move it. Fired up on the first crank, absolutely no smoke, runs great again! I think the cooling system is clogged up from sitting too long, so I have some things to replace before I try to drive it any farther than around the block. But that's much more acceptable than needing a new motor.