It's been quiet in here for the past little while. I got caught up with work, and then went back to school for a bit. Money and time were short, so this project was put on hiatus for a bit.
I picked up a '96 Lude as a beater, but, that turned into a bit of a project as well. It siphoned a lot of money and time away from this car. I ended up getting rid of the '96 in March. Three hours later I became the proud new owner of one of my all time favourite cars, a '90 300ZX. The Z is a great car, but being nearly 26 years old, it has its share of issues that need to be resolved.
With winter descending upon us, the Z is off the road, I am afforded more time to save for parts, and tinker with it... AND the '99. No more rushing to get it back on the road.
I spent a weekend clearing out the the garage. I had a blowout sale on hoarded parts (none of which sold), so I spent $500 and had them, and a truck load of junk taken to the dump. 4th and 5th gen interior(s), suspension(s), exhausts, you name it, and it's landfill. Don't worry, I kept the rare 4th gen stuff (which is now for sale)!
I now have a nice clean garage, which I can restart the '99 rebuild, store and work on the Z, and, hang out in general.
The Lude was originally in the middle of the garage, which make it a bit of an obstacle, so I picked up four Auto Dollies (by Merrick), and moved the lude sideways, right up against the wall (literally 2 inches from the garage wall), which opened up a huge spot for the Z, with room to walk between the cars, and up the passenger side of the Z. I can pull the lude out from the wall when I need access to the drivers side.
Even after all these years, several inches of dust, and, missing most of her front end, the lude still looks beautiful to me. There is just something about the shape of that car that gets me.
My babies, together at last:
To a new beginning, and renewed love affairs!
So before I get too carried away with the Prelude project, the alternator on the Z crapped out.. I ordered a new one. It took them a week to get it. I finally get time to install it today, yay! Struggle to get it out...
Digression time:
Removing the alternator from a 300 is a lot like... childbirth. You have the alternator which is way up inside the belly of the beast. Between it and the outside world is a mass of innards, and a hole that is far too small. Once you get the umbilicals (harnesses) unhooked, you have to root around to move the rad hose, power steering line, and AC line... finally you can see it "crowning". Where it differs from humans is, the hole is 2/3rds the size of the "baby", and the crossmember and stabilizer bar are not going to "dilate" any farther. So you have to twist, turn, swear, yank, and pray to god that it will pop out.
Well, that's what I did.
Back to the story...
I get the alternator out and set it next to the new one and find the stupid drokking kid at the parts store gave me the wrong one.
Now I have to make another trip there and return it. Fortunately I don't have to rush to get the Z running again.
Its a shame because there is very little roughness to the inside of the runners, unlike the intake and exhaust ports of the head. It would be a snap to do with a bit of emory cloth.
