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Got the digital dash mounted and a new dash made. It's taking shape. Now to make some pods for the oil pressure and wideband so I don't have to drill the nice new sheet metal.
Finally figured out my cooling issue. Been running cold, not even up to choke off temp. Replaced thermostat, no change. Finally put in my other fan clutch, even though it passed all tests. Now it's back to normal.
Next is a very annoying rattle from what seems to be in between the tank an bottom of the car. Very frustrating....
It was a good day. Replaced the wink mirror with a Longacre concave; rewired the analog temp gauge; wired in the Holley gps sensor for dash; searched the Holley dash for a screen I could see, and added about 50 miles onto the Holley Terminator computer learn by driving the 7 to a racing buddy's house two towns away.
BTW he has a turbo FB for sale if anyone is interested.
Looks like the trees might have a little snow on them, but can't tell for certain.
My SA is daily driven year round, but I can totally understand not wanting to because of road salt (thankfully we don't salt here) or if it's just a weekend toy. Regardless, I think we all look forward to spring! It sure is a lot more fun than the endless defog wars with such a small interior (and no AC).
The car was stored the day before our first snowfall, snow is in fact visible on the trees, and I had shoveled the driveway that morning. December in Indiana is not ideal, this is not my daily driver anymore and is strictly driven blue sky and dry roads days.
Over the past week or so I've gotten a few things done on the SA, first of which was installing my new (purchased months ago) electric fan. I also took this opportunity to deal with my power distribution disaster and installed a new fuse block for extra circuits (five were already present, the fan is the sixth). Mounted the fan controller near the drivers side headlight/next to the headlight relays. The fuse block is next to the trailing coil and the factory fusible links.
The fan ended up working out really well. It's tall enough that it still has influence over the oil cooler without a shroud and at 3,000 cfm it's proving to be plenty powerful. Of course most of my driving/testing has been with ambient temps around 40F, but even still... Before I had the controller adjusted properly (temp too low) the fan would keep engine temps far below ideal (I was idling at 130 with the fan on only some of the time). It could also drop the block temp 25F (~175 --> ~150) within three to four minutes of idling in ~40F ambient air with the fan on. Anyway, so far it seems to be plenty, but that won't be for certain until summer rolls around. Oh, and for those curious it's a Flex-a-lite 238.
Today I finally got around to installing some new, H4/9003 conversion housings by Hella (PN 002395301). The beam pattern is really clean with a sharp upper cut-off and a wide, consistent spread. They seem a little brighter than my old Sylvania XtraVision's, but it's the beam pattern that makes the biggest difference since now I can see around corners much better, in addition to general improvements everywhere. They also look nearly stock which was a major deciding factor for me - in my opinion I think these cars look weird with projector or LED sealed housings.
And then just a photo of the car to finish things out. Paint has never been its strong suit...
I cannot believe that wires between the head light motor parts without any protection working very long!
Ah, I should've put a note there. That photo was taken in the process of wiring, so those wires that look like they are running into the headlight motor linkages are actually in a completely different place now and are well clear of moving parts. I can definitely see how that photo made it look amiss.
The fan ended up working out really well. It's tall enough that it still has influence over the oil cooler without a shroud and at 3,000 cfm it's proving to be plenty powerful. Of course most of my driving/testing has been with ambient temps around 40F, but even still... Before I had
Today I finally got around to installing some new, H4/9003 conversion housings by Hella (PN 002395301). The beam pattern is really clean with a sharp upper cut-off and a wide, consistent spread. They seem a little brighter than my old Sylvania XtraVision's, but it's the beam pattern that makes the biggest difference since now I can see around corners much better, in addition to general improvements everywhere. They also look nearly stock which was a major deciding factor for me - in my opinion I think these cars look weird with projector or LED sealed housings.
Same set-up with the Hellas, but dropped in BEAMTECH LED H-4 bulbs ($37-ish a pair on Amazon when I bought mine). Improvement over halogens is EPIC! Clean white (not blue) light. Much lower draw on already minimal electric-capacity. Plug-and-play....
Same set-up with the Hellas, but dropped in BEAMTECH LED H-4 bulbs ($37-ish a pair on Amazon when I bought mine). Improvement over halogens is EPIC! Clean white (not blue) light. Much lower draw on already minimal electric-capacity. Plug-and-play....
Stu A
80GS
Hella/beamTech
Sounds great. LED's will certainly be a future upgrade, probably once the halogens burn out. I'll likely try to find some LED's with a similar color to the halogens whenever I do it. I prefer the slightly yellow light as opposed to white, and certainly blue, when it comes to older vehicles.
Yeah, I had "preferred" the warmer tone of the Halogens as well - or so I thought. Once the LEDs were in, the old halogens looked positively "yellow" by comparison. And DIM! You will only ask yourself "why did I wait?" Then it was on to replacing the Dash bulbs with LED. Wow.
Yeah, I had "preferred" the warmer tone of the Halogens as well - or so I thought. Once the LEDs were in, the old halogens looked positively "yellow" by comparison. And DIM! You will only ask yourself "why did I wait?" Then it was on to replacing the Dash bulbs with LED. Wow.
Stu A
80GS
AZ
Maybe I'll change my mind on the color before the time comes around, who knows. I do already have LED dash lights and they really make a difference, especially on the SA since the cluster only has backlit illumination (as opposed to the two additional front lights that FB's have). I doubt I'll ever go LED for the tails though, mostly because the inefficiency of the incandescents work wonders as automagic defrosters .
Finally painted a set of GS/GSL/SE mirrors to match. The paint match came out perfectly, just not sure they look how I envisioned them. I’ll live with it for a while and can always re-spray. I painted a buddy’s bumpers and decided to do these too. No sense wasting expensive paint.
Finally painted a set of GS/GSL/SE mirrors to match. The paint match came out perfectly, just not sure they look how I envisioned them. I’ll live with it for a while and can always re-spray. I painted a buddy’s bumpers and decided to do these too. No sense wasting expensive paint.
I prefer the polished black plastic look! The colour of your door mirror matches with the rest of the car.The driverside head light cover seems to have a little bit darker look. BTW nice car you have.👌🏼
Thanks, the driver side front has been body worked at some point in it's life. I'll eventually do a repaint, but I hate not being able to drive it. I figure by myself, it would take 3-4 months and I get always get to a point where I just want to drive it before project get done.
Thanks, the driver side front has been body worked at some point in it's life. I'll eventually do a repaint, but I hate not being able to drive it. I figure by myself, it would take 3-4 months and I get always get to a point where I just want to drive it before project get done.
You also always get to a point where you just want to make your seven better. Hey your are a rotorhead, are you?😜
Same set-up with the Hellas, but dropped in BEAMTECH LED H-4 bulbs ($37-ish a pair on Amazon when I bought mine). Improvement over halogens is EPIC! Clean white (not blue) light. Much lower draw on already minimal electric-capacity. Plug-and-play....
Stu A
80GS
Hella/beamTech
OK, you convinced me. Just ordered the Beamtech LEDs.
Today I finally got around to installing some new, H4/9003 conversion housings by Hella (PN 002395301). The beam pattern is really clean with a sharp upper cut-off and a wide, consistent spread. They seem a little brighter than my old Sylvania XtraVision's, but it's the beam pattern that makes the biggest difference since now I can see around corners much better, in addition to general improvements everywhere. They also look nearly stock which was a major deciding factor for me - in my opinion I think these cars look weird with projector or LED sealed housings.
And thank you for convincing me about the Hella's. I agree completely about the stock appearance of these. Just now ordered two.
yep- get 'em while you can! Been doing so over the last 20 yrs and it saddens me to see the stuff I used to be able to walk into a dealership and order - and now is NLA!!! I dreamt we might get the aftermarket support for parts the 240Zs enjoy, but it does not look like that will ever happen...
11-11-20, 10:44 PM
It sure is a lot more fun than the endless defog wars with such a small interior (and no AC).
