Mike's 68 SPL311-17219

[spl310]

The speedo and tach aren't bad. The clock though...

[dynaguy]

http://www.311s.org/pmwiki-311/pmwiki.p ... n.Humorous

My write up on under dash work is very helpful. Pat

[damarble]

So I mocked the tach in the empty speedo hole before calling it a night and it doesn't look bad at all. It's just slightly undersized and I'd have to come up with a bracket, modeled after the original gauge housing. I might do this instead of an immediate dash swap. Can always change it down the road and this dash is flawless.

I found out that a few NC Miatas did not have ABS and those had a hole in the trans to mount a VSS sensor, and the hole was just plugged on ABS models. I was pretty excited about this for driving my speedo, but on further inspection my trans does not have the hole finished, just a spot where it would be. It appears when they updated to the NC2 and revised the trans they did away with that option. Intellitronix offers a GPS sender for their speedos and that's looking pretty good now.

http://www.311s.org/pmwiki-311/pmwiki.p ... n.Humorous

My write up on under dash work is very helpful. Pat

Do you have a camera in my garage? That's eerily accurate to how the night went.

The speedo and tach aren't bad. The clock though...

The heater box is already out, I presume that will help?

[spl310]

Actually, if you pull the glove box and glove box door, it makes it easier.

[damarble]

Actually, if you pull the glove box and glove box door, it makes it easier.

Thanks. Still thinking about what I might put there instead, I don't need a clock in the cell phone age.

I remembered I have this gauge set too, more in line with the oem configuration. They're a little small though and I don't have documentation for them so wiring could be interesting since I can't find this particular set on their website.

[damarble]

Ordered a few more parts tonight. 76 280z clutch and brake masters and braided brake lines with -3AN/M10 adapters. $127 total for that.

[damarble]

I finally LEGALLY own it! What a mess. The guy I paid was selling it for the husband of the late owner, and no names matched on any document. It took about 6 total documents to make it kosher for the DMV.

BTW, shout out to Michael Spreadbury, I had some questions about installing his brake kit and he answered my email late in the evening.

I made an unfortunate discovery the other day. I can't drive this car in my favorite boots. Hit two pedals at once.

[dynaguy]

I finally LEGALLY own it! What a mess. The guy I paid was selling it for the husband of the late owner, and no names matched on any document. It took about 6 total documents to make it kosher for the DMV.

BTW, shout out to Michael Spreadbury, I had some questions about installing his brake kit and he answered my email late in the evening.

I made an unfortunate discovery the other day. I can't drive this car in my favorite boots. Hit two pedals at once.

Check out the episode of Wheeler Dealers with the Datsun Roadster, I believe1st episode of this season. Brake pedal was "adjusted" for big feet. FWIW Pat

[C.Costine]

I finally LEGALLY own it! What a mess. The guy I paid was selling it for the husband of the late owner, and no names matched on any document. It took about 6 total documents to make it kosher for the DMV.

BTW, shout out to Michael Spreadbury, I had some questions about installing his brake kit and he answered my email late in the evening.

I made an unfortunate discovery the other day. I can't drive this car in my favorite boots. Hit two pedals at once.

Mike, when I was 21 years old any shoes that I had fit the pedals no problem. Now at 71 both my feet and shoes have grown, so I went looking for smaller outside dimensioned shoes just for Datsun driving. I settled on a pair of topsiders which work very well.

[damarble]

Regular shoes seem to be OK, is just my boots.

Parts are still trickling in. It's been pretty cold and I haven't felt like spending much time in the garage. I did spend a few minutes on the gas tank to see what I was up against. Dropped a chain inside and some soapy water. Shook it a bit and dumped brown water out but I don't see any difference in the crustiness. This is going to be a big job if I want to save it.

[damarble]

I do believe this tank will be serviceable now.



The Focus pump will fit.



Focus pump ring cut out and matching 1/4" smaller hole cut in tank.

[damarble]

I removed the master cylinders today and while laying upside down in the foot well I noticed a "crack" by the heater box intake. I poked it with a finger and a gaping hole appeared. The first significant rust I've found.

Back to the masters, the new Z master doesn't have a push rod. I think I will try dynaguy's approach.

[damarble]

It's been bitterly cold this week so I'm just kind of picking at it. Earlier this week I finished the assembly of the Spriso brakes then I chucked my front wheel spacers in my mini lathe and opened them to fit the hub, they were slightly too small. It's nothing special, one of the $500 chinese ones, but it lets me work aluminum and plastic.

Tonight I did the pass side drum rebuild, pretty easy all said and done. My new 510 cylinders only came with 3 clips and the cylinder that came off had 4. I looked at the driver side and it had 3, so I copied that layout. I had to clean up the casting a little bit for the lever to fit.

Oh and an exciting little personal touch came in today. I ordered a 2" diameter Shungite sphere. It will be drilled and filled with epoxy, then the epoxy drilled and tapped to M10x1.25, to become my new shifter knob.

[damarble]

Finished the driver side rear brakes tonight. All the parking linkage is frozen so I need to get back to that but I moved up to the front to install the caliper brackets.

While there a closer look at the suspension components showed tight joints with clean grease still in them, but the boots crumbled to dust when I touched them. Add it to the list...

[damarble]

Dash is out! My screws along the windshield were not hex head but this got the job done.