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bramagedained · 01-05-2016

I've decided to just work on the car for 2-4 hours a day while the sun is still bright in the garage.

That sort of schedule also stops me from getting overly frustrated/tired of working on the car.

Dash out of the car:

What I meant about comitted:

I found more than a couple spots of questionable wiring like this:

...that actually ran to the starter.

Dash on the new workbench so I can work on it where stuff is warm. Most of the hard part of re-wiring the car is here, getting the painless stuff connected to the stock combo switches for lights/wipers.

New stuff came in the mail today, now just to send in for the $100 rebate:

I think the instructions were written by an old guy. I can't see someone who grew up with the internet thinking that the font for all of the "Note:" sections was a good idea:

I pulled the evap coil out too. These were dealer installed options, it's a 240z part showing the mix and match of parts on the 260z:

It's not very heavy, but, is something else I don't need in the car so it goes. I decided last night that anything not required is going. Pulling insulation/sound deadening, but, leaving the panels as based on the ones I took out, they can't weight more than 20lbs total.

I have the harness pulled out of the car except for rear of the seats which runs the rear lights. It runs into the passenger side quarter and it seemed like a good place to stop before I have to start pulling interior panels off.

I left myself a couple feet of the stock harness from the front lights which I'll put a weatherpack connector on and tie to the painless stuff.

The dash harness is still there, but, is coming out. I decided to put in new gauges while I have it out.

I left a pigtail for the wipers for now, as I don't know how much of a hassle that could otherwise turn into. I don't expect it to be a problem to take things apart to get to the motor itself, but, it is still a 42 year old car. The same logic was behind leaving a length going to the front lights.

I'm ordering gauges when I'm done with this post. I'm also tacking a new shifter on to that order. I don't like how the one that is in there doesn't lock you out of neutral, so you can go right past Drive/3rd into Neutral. So, I'm buying a ratchet shifter. It will fit better in the car, too. The space between the dash and where the shifter needs to be is limited and the current one is so close in Park that you can't get your hand all the way around it which has been semi annoying since I bought the car.

I'm going to order wheels in the next couple of days. My plan is to have the wiring done, and the interior back in the car by mid-feb.

That will leave me spring break to hack up the body for flares and pull the motor/trans. I can't do that until I have wheels+tires and new springs for the front(to set ride height, etc). I can't get new springs until I know if I need to change to smaller coils to clear the wheels+tires. I can't pull the motor until all of that is done so the car is at the right weight.

At that point I'll decide if I swap in a motor. There should be enough time between spring break and the end of salt on the roads to pull it off. It is amazingly well documented online.

Tomorrow I'm pulling the bumpers/bumper shock absorbers. Supposedly they weigh a bit over 100lbs total. They'll get replaced with fiberglass replicas of the smaller 240z bumpers.

If I had the cash, there's a guy in NY making carbon fiber dashes and consoles which combined weigh like 5lbs. The factory dash is probably like 30.

01-05-2016	#64
bramagedained Join Date: May 2010 Location: KY/MN/Afghanistan Drives: EVO IX SSL Posts: 413	Re: My "new" car/project. I've decided to just work on the car for 2-4 hours a day while the sun is still bright in the garage. That sort of schedule also stops me from getting overly frustrated/tired of working on the car. Dash out of the car: What I meant about comitted: I found more than a couple spots of questionable wiring like this: ...that actually ran to the starter. Dash on the new workbench so I can work on it where stuff is warm. Most of the hard part of re-wiring the car is here, getting the painless stuff connected to the stock combo switches for lights/wipers. New stuff came in the mail today, now just to send in for the $100 rebate: I think the instructions were written by an old guy. I can't see someone who grew up with the internet thinking that the font for all of the "Note:" sections was a good idea: I pulled the evap coil out too. These were dealer installed options, it's a 240z part showing the mix and match of parts on the 260z: It's not very heavy, but, is something else I don't need in the car so it goes. I decided last night that anything not required is going. Pulling insulation/sound deadening, but, leaving the panels as based on the ones I took out, they can't weight more than 20lbs total. I have the harness pulled out of the car except for rear of the seats which runs the rear lights. It runs into the passenger side quarter and it seemed like a good place to stop before I have to start pulling interior panels off. I left myself a couple feet of the stock harness from the front lights which I'll put a weatherpack connector on and tie to the painless stuff. The dash harness is still there, but, is coming out. I decided to put in new gauges while I have it out. I left a pigtail for the wipers for now, as I don't know how much of a hassle that could otherwise turn into. I don't expect it to be a problem to take things apart to get to the motor itself, but, it is still a 42 year old car. The same logic was behind leaving a length going to the front lights. I'm ordering gauges when I'm done with this post. I'm also tacking a new shifter on to that order. I don't like how the one that is in there doesn't lock you out of neutral, so you can go right past Drive/3rd into Neutral. So, I'm buying a ratchet shifter. It will fit better in the car, too. The space between the dash and where the shifter needs to be is limited and the current one is so close in Park that you can't get your hand all the way around it which has been semi annoying since I bought the car. I'm going to order wheels in the next couple of days. My plan is to have the wiring done, and the interior back in the car by mid-feb. That will leave me spring break to hack up the body for flares and pull the motor/trans. I can't do that until I have wheels+tires and new springs for the front(to set ride height, etc). I can't get new springs until I know if I need to change to smaller coils to clear the wheels+tires. I can't pull the motor until all of that is done so the car is at the right weight. At that point I'll decide if I swap in a motor. There should be enough time between spring break and the end of salt on the roads to pull it off. It is amazingly well documented online. Tomorrow I'm pulling the bumpers/bumper shock absorbers. Supposedly they weigh a bit over 100lbs total. They'll get replaced with fiberglass replicas of the smaller 240z bumpers. If I had the cash, there's a guy in NY making carbon fiber dashes and consoles which combined weigh like 5lbs. The factory dash is probably like 30. Last edited by bramagedained; 01-05-2016 at 05:47 PM..