ClassicZCar – the DAILY DATSUN

August 17, 2014August 17, 2014

Bearings in the tranny go grrr grr grrrrrr

Ever since Don (of south san jose’s Don’s Datsun & Nissan specialists) mentioned to have my transmission checked, it’s been “grr-ing” like a mofo. Well not right away, just gradually getting worse and worse. Yep, clutch in, it’s all quiet on the 4-gear front. Clutch out, I can hear the gears turning ’round.. like rounding themselves out. Consistent grr-ing…. grrrrrrRRRrrrrRRRRrrrrr-type.

Fearing the worse, and checking the cheaper fixes first, I do a transmission oil change on the 280z. There’s a 18mm square screw that’ll allow you to fill the transmission from the side, and a drain plug on the bottom that can be opened with a 1/2″ driver. REMEMBER: make sure you can open the fill plug first. MAKE SURE YOU CAN OPEN THE FILL PLUG FIRST. Why? Because these have a tendency to be very very hard to break free, and once you have all that oil out, how you suppose to get it back in if you can’t get the fill plug off? :]

Well, I couldn’t get the fill plug off. So I drained it anyways. Why? because in a pinch, you can fill via the reverse light switch which is also on the same side as the fill plug. So I did.

Upon draining the 280’z transmission oil, guess what I found?! bits and pieces of metal! not like small metal shaving that are typical of manual transmissions (from accidental grinding gears), but full on, well designed, shaped pieces of something. I also noticed the transmission drain plug was magnetic (ah! that’s why they’re magnetic), so it must mean that the fluid was changed somewhat recently (clarity of the liquid supports this).

After browsing ClassicZCar.com for some answers, and studying up on my 5-speed options, I fell upon this picture…hey! those are the pieces!

doh – bearings…

Well, what can we do now. Just fill’er up and figure it out. Pumped in about 1 quart of 75W90 Lucas gear oil into the transmission case, which is just about what the case can hold given that I was filling into the 280z’s reverse light switch instead of the fill plug which is a touch higher.

Luckily I took my wife out tonight. She instantly made a comment, “what’s that noise? is that good? is it safe to drive in here?” To which i replied, “so i’m thinking of replacing the transmission”…

“how much?”
“about a $1000 with labor..”
“okay […] can you just change the engine?”
“well, there was this one RB swap…i’ve been eyeing…”

hahahahaha she green lit an engine swap.. but I’ll have to sleep on it. sniff, then i’ll have to hang out at HybridZ instead of ClassicZCar :[ hahaha

sigh.. wait, why am I laughing? I have to fix my tranny… grrr 😦

PS – amazing what you’ll discover hanging out under the Z…

Reverse lights weren’t working, not because bulbs were out, but because the contacts weren’t attached to the reverse switch .

Also.. why is one of the alternator bolts missing?

October 3, 2013October 3, 2013

Smog saga…

Sigh – “if it ain’t one thing, it’s another…”

Heard that before? We’ll let’s take this journey of the Smog Saga story together.

Last post was about having to get the Datsun 280z smogged because it’s a 1977 (and in CA, cars 1975 and prior are smog exempt!). Lo and behold the San Jose’s Smog Tech Test Only station was finally open. I was hoping Zac, the last technician who helped me out, would’ve been there, but I guess he’s gone. So, Nguyen (first name) help me out and put the Z on the machine.

Vvrrroom… vrroom.. [small chat].. i’m nervously looking at the digital gauge nearly falling out of the green passing zone. He pokes / prods.. gets under the car.

“You don’t have a legal cat”, he says.

Doh. Seriously. So i guess i know what a bagel and oj got me last time.

He mentions that CA gov passed a law recently about catalytic converters needing a special number. I quickly clamor, “But but mine’s a ’77 and they probably didn’t have numbers back then. I swear it’s all original!”. Nope, no go. Not only that, I failed out of CO spec on the actual smog test. Not by much, but still beyond the max % allowed:

CO% levels
15mph – MAX: 1.36; AVE: 0.17; MEAS: 2.03
25mph – MAX: 1.16; AVE: 0.15; MEAS: 2.66

*AVE = Average Emissions for Passing Vehicles

So as you can see, I’m just out of the range of passing 😦 Some google searching shows this is related to a few things, but probably due to running too rich (too much fuel in the mix). After a post on ClassicZCars.com forums, rcb280z pm’d me and we had a good chat about bringing those CO% levels down. His suggestion was to also check out the spark plugs for excess carbon (ah!). He swears by NGK, and lo-and-behold, most Z drivers do!

Time to get that 280z catalytic converter changed, new spark plugs, 87 gas, and head over to Smog Tech!

oh yeah.. if it ain’t one thing..it’s:

a broken alternator bracket (that’s why my car’s been squeaking!) and…

cracked EGR tube! oy…

i need a beer.

January 17, 2013

Datsun Dealership Parts Bin

Whoa, not every day you hear of a Datsun dealership being bought…who would’ve thought they still even existed?!

Supposedly they do, and luckily for us, there’s a guy on the ClassicZCar forums that just bought one out. Dave or ‘Nismo Silvia’, who is also a 240z owner, just bought a Datsun Dealership that closed in the 80’s and left behind a 25′ trailer FULL of parts. YES! Can anyone say, “NOS”? :] Yep, that probably means a treasure chest of ‘new old stock’ parts just waiting to mate with Z’s, 510’s and all other Datsuns for a refresh party. A pure NOS-fest, for sure!

Wow. exciting. it’s not even my trailer and i’m getting excited. It’s like watching Storage Wars…but this time, you KNOW it has Datsun parts in it. haha!