A Mani-Cure for Aging Emblems

I have the fenders off of the 280z which gives me the opportunity to freshen-up the fender badges.  One common problem with the aging badges is the orange epoxy surrounding the letter Z; the epoxy begins to crack and oxidize badly.

The first step in restoring these badges is to "chip out" the aging epoxy.

Once the old epoxy is removed the chrome plating will be exposed underneath.  

Many people simply paint the surrounding area with a gloss red such as Rustoleum.  While I considered such a path, I really wanted a finish that closely resembled the stock look.  I was having trouble finding the right color which was a dark metallic orange.  I was browsing Amazon for metallic paints and came across a 3-part gel nail paint with a color that looked really close.  I decided to take a chance and ordered a base, color, and top coat.  For those that might like to follow this path, the paint came from Elite99, and the color code on the bottle is 9914.

I followed the instructions and applied the base coat, 3 coats of color, and a thicker top coat, using an LED UV curing lamp my wife already had (this type of gel nail polish requires the lamp for curing).  The nice thing about this paint system is that since the lamp is required for curing, I could let the coats "settle" and smooth out before curing them.  The resulting color is a very close match to the color of the epoxy chips I removed from the emblem (judging from the bottom of the chip that was not exposed to oxygen and sunlight).

Knob Job

During my last few drives in the 280z, I noticed a rattling noise coming from the shifter.  After some highly complicated diagnosis of grabbing and releasing the shift knob, I came to the conclusion that the noise had to be coming from the knob itself.  My theory was confirmed when the knob actually came apart after a slight upward pressure.

So much for the Amco shift knob!  I began searching for a replacement knob, preferably a knob that resembled the stock shift knob.  I had difficulty locating a picture or description of a stock knob, but eventually found a brochure that featured a picture of the knob.

Apparently the shift knobs were commonly replaced with wooden knobs by dealers as an upgrade, so you would think a stock knob would be easily located... not so.  I had found cheap (really cheap) knock-offs, but nothing close to the original.  

I was about to give up and purchase a replica wooden knob when I came across an eBay seller offering a stock knob from a 1976 280z being parted out!  It was even being offered at a very reasonable price far below the wooden knob I was considering.

Upon receiving the knob, I found that the description left out a few details, such as the medallion had separated from the knob and the threaded insert was missing.  This shouldn't pose too much of a challenge though.

The medallion was easy to replace.  After cleaning out the residual adhesive left from the original installation, I used some Liquid Nails water based adhesive to secure the medallion back into place.

For the threaded insert, I used a 8mm furniture threaded insert nut (actually two stacked on top of each other) locked into place with JB Weld.

I now have an original shift knob!

Another badge of honor

I restored another badge on the 280z: one of the pillar vent badges on the rear of the car.  I removed this badge as I needed to paint the body underneath, so why not spruce it up a bit.  I used the smallest brush I could find to paint the outer ring where the paint had completely vanished.  I used some white Rustoleum for the Z in the center and Krylon satin black everywhere else.

Applying a little polish and elbow grease

The valve cover on an engine is usually the first thing that is noticed when a hood is opened.  Nowadays, pretty plastic covers sit atop the engine hiding the beauty of the mechanics underneath.  Not so on the Z, and the valve cover was looking somewhat dingy.  Since I wanted to inspect my top end anyway, why not pull the valve cover and give it a bit of a shine.

The valve cover had developed a dingy look over the years

Looks like there's a bit of sludge I'll have to flush out

A few areas of pitting had developed on the cover, so I used some JB Weld to fill-in those areas.  I knew that it wouldn't be a perfect match in color, but then again the valve cover itself isn't exactly show quality and the color mismatch between the aluminum and the JB Weld would still be less obvious that the deep pitting.

A couple of small areas of pitting needed to be addressed

I started out by soaking the valve cover in a mixture of Pine Sol and water.  This would hopefully address some of the gunk that had accumulated on the underside of the cover.  I used a pot scrubber to aid in the removal of the oil and sludge on the underside of the cover.  

The underside of the valve cover before cleaning

A soak in Pine Sol.  Note the balloon covering the PCV fitting to keep it in.

To begin addressing the outside of the cover, I mixed-up a batch of Simple Green and water.  Since the cover of the inline 6 is so long, I had to soak each end of the cover separately in a tall bucket.  This would remove the soaked-in stains in the aluminum exterior.

I don't have a bucket tall enough for the long cover!

Once the cover had soaked for a few days on each side, I then began the tedious process of shining.  I used sandpaper, Quick-Glo, a 3" random orbit polisher, and several buffing bits on a Dremel to shine the aluminum cover to a nice luster.  The Quick-Glo was applied at the end of the process to (hopefully) seal the aluminum with the wax that the product leaves behind.

Look at that shine!

I then donned a fresh gasket and re-attached the cover using new stainless steel hardware I purchased from a seller on Ebay.  Now the cover is the center of attention when the hood is opened!

Stainless screws complete the upgraded look

Pumped about washers

While cleaning out the washer bottle on the 280, I discovered that the washer pump was seized.  This is a common problem, but what to do?  On eBay you can find NOS pumps for a reasonable amount of money.  I found a cheaper solution: Trico makes a pump that is almost identical to the original unit.

The most difficult part of the swap was swapping the electrical connections.  The new pump had a large connector that needed to be cut off so that it would fit into the rubber cradle.  After using a Dremel to remove the connector, I used a soldering iron to transfer the connectors from the old pump to the new.

The washer is now ready to be returned to the car.

My dash needs more fiber

Since I had my plastic welder out tonight, I decided to take a shot on a small hole in my 280Z dash by patching it with a fiberflex rod.  You can see the hole in the picture below.  S30 dashboards are well known for cracking and I have a major crack down the middle in addition to this hole.

After melting a small bit of the material in the hole, then a little more, I had a fix that doesn't look half bad...

It's not perfect, but definitely livable.  I may attack the crack soon after seeing the results here.  In fact, if the crack turns out this good, I may not pull the dash for refinishing after all!

Maintenance Day

While MLK day is tomorrow, I don't get to celebrate with my wife and son who have the day off.  I instead celebrated maintenance day which is a little known holiday and regional... very regional.

To celebrate maintenance day I hoisted the daily drivers and performed oil changes.

One thing that always perplexed me is the frailty of the rock guards under the engines on newer model cars.  They are on and off with every oil change, but over tighten one of the bolts just a bit and they fall apart.

On the G37 (which desperately needs a wash as you can see), the rock guard had several mounting holes which had split.  I decided that I would fix these on maintenance day.

My plastic welding kit continues to earn it's keep.  Using stainless mesh and a fiberflex rod, I reinforced the holes and patched the cracks.

I used a step drill bit to quickly open the hole and ready the part for re-installation.

Happy maintenance day!

Chasing the white rabbit

I'm deviating a bit from my usual on this post.  Normally my posts explain work from beginning to end.  The amount of time it takes me to complete the work is abstracted from you, the reader (oooh, I just broke the 4th wall there, I really am off the reservation on this one).  

Now that I'm completely off course on this post, let's play follow the leader.  In my last post you've seen me go down the since I'm already there rabbit hole.  I guess I wanted to outdo myself tonight.  Here we go, try to keep up...

A few weeks ago I noticed how bad the wipers looked, so I pulled them for painting.

Since I had the wipers off and I noticed a bit of surface rust on the cowl finisher, why not pull that off and peek underneath?

Looks like I'll have to prep and paint the finisher.  I wonder what the cowl area looks like?  It is, after all, one of the common rust areas on a 280Z.

Yep, surface rust in there too.  Now, as I recalled from some research, gunk accumulates in the cowl area and clogs the cowl drains (causing moisture to build up and bad rust).

Well, I have the gunk but the rust is still just on the surface.  Whew, I dodged a bullet there.  Hmm, from that same research though, I remember that the cowl drain simply dumps into the fender area.  I already had a few rust bubbles on the door, but lets look a bit closer at the fender...

See that brown line where the fender meets the rocker?  Ruh roh.  How can I tell if that's a problem?  Well, I read that pulling the fender isn't actually that hard...

...and as far as you know it wasn't!  Blog magic makes everything easy.  Check out how much decaying organic matter was inside the fender on top next to the engine.  

Well, what about that fender?  See the pile of dirt and crud behind the wheel in the wide shot above?  That was all in the fender, right where that rust line had started.  Aside from the dead leaves, dirt, and compost that was in the fender, I also found a potato farm amidst a small self-sustaining ecosystem.  As for the fender...

You can see the impact that the nature preserve had on the fender.  Luckily this was caught in time.  There will be no need for weld-in patches here.  I will also be able to pound out a dent in the fender now and repaint the lower front valence.  Why?  Because I'm already there anyway!

After seeing this, I will most definitely be pulling the other fender as well.

Gauging my work

I pulled the center gauges to complete the LED instrumentation conversion.  The replacement of the bulbs was the easy part; it's the always the things I do "since I already have it apart" that seem to be the most difficult...

Center console trim and heater diverter removed

Since I had things apart task #1: replace the bulbs.  Easy.  The gauges were already out. Done. 

Bulbs replaced and gauges cleaned up

Since I had things apart task #2:  clean the HVAC diverter.  This is the part that "splits" the blower air between the center vents and the vents on the sides of the dash.  Not only was this thing nasty, but the seals had deteriorated and there was 20 year old duct tape residue on one of the outlets.

Yuck!

After much soaking, cleaning, scraping, lather, rinse, repeat... along with generous helpings of Goo Gone...  the diverter was finally clean.  I replaced the seals on both sides with some weatherstripping.  

Let there be clean air!

Since I had things apart task #3:  clean some corrosion from the voltage meter.  This is the task where things didn't go so well.  I'm not exactly sure what it was, but there was some brownish, rust-like corrosion around the charge warning light.  While it wasn't rust, I couldn't tell exactly what it was and I had seen an identical halo around pictures of other Z car voltage meters (ammeters adorned the dashes of 240 and 260 Z's).  

The halo of funkiness

I began with a wet toothbrush in an attempt to remove the gunk, but found quickly that this stuff had loosened some of the white paint nearby!  I decided the best I could do at this point was to paint over what was left of this stuff (losing my CHG label over the indicator) and try to restore any missing lettering and meter markings.  I quickly found that I neither have a brush small enough nor a hand steady enough for this task.  I ended up carving a toothpick to a point, then roughing the end to make a few strands.  I did my best with some white and red enamels, but I wasn't terribly happy with the result.  I'll have to live with it for now; maybe I'll find a solution such as a replacement insert in the future.

Meh, not a perfect repair...

Since I had things apart task #4:  polish the gauge lenses.  If you've read some of my previous posts, I always end any work on the gauges with a nice polish using Novus plastic polish.  In this case, I had already polished the clock, so I polished the voltage/fuel gauge and the temp/oil pressure gauges.  The polish worked well, but without being able to remove the lens from the gauge bezels I couldn't get perfect results around the edges.  They still came out looking great, though.

Back together again

Is it weird that my car received gifts for Christmas?

Would it be odd for a car to receive Christmas presents?  Maybe.  We'll say that the presents were for me instead to make it less weird.

How do I know my dad was involved in picking out my Christmas presents this year?  Because only he would know that I would need polyurethane bushings!

It's the gift that will keep giving all year long, mainly because it will take me that long to install all of the bushings included in this master set!  While the 280Z still handles well, visual inspection shows that most of the rubber throughout the chassis needs to be replaced. 

When working with an old car, hardware tends to be missing or corroded beyond repair.  Not to worry when you have a mega bolt, nut, and washer set at your disposal!

Not to be outdone, Amy (my wife) gave me a genuine factory owners manual for the 280Z.  1976 is a hard year to find for a 280Z owners manual.  I think I may have gotten one of the last few remaining.

I'm guessing that Amy has also accepted the fact that I'm spending more time in the garage working as she gave me some garage-worthy furniture as well...