So tonight after work I came home to get the starter out of the car and took it back to Autozone, fortunately the lifetime warranty was honored! Though I did have to run off to the Autozone Hub to get the replacement starter. The guy at the hub was kind of lost, but he eventually got everything worked out and I headed home with the new (remanufactured) starter.

So the last starter started off working, but after a few days just started spinning without engaging the flywheel, no grinding either. This one, once all wired up worked like a champ. I even got the car started up for a minute or so. I did all this without hooking up the computer, so I didn’t want to spend too much time keeping it running.

So now was the time, time to hookup the laptop and get the video camera out and record the car actually running! Well I am proud to say it was successful, here’s the video below.

So today we had a garage sale, nothing that resides in the garage was actually sold, but we did sell a lot of stuff that we wanted to get rid of before the move. Post sale the 240Z got some love. Here's the timeline, without times.

Attempt to start the car as is, no dice, turns over but won't fire.

Remove the VR sensor, rewire it the opposite way. Nothing, no signal, looks like the EDIS doesn't see it at all anymore.

Remove VR sensor plug, replace with a different plug, from the box of EDIS supplies.

Crank, what, what you want me to start? Okay, vroom vroom

Run around like a chicken with my head cut off, call Whittle and tell him the news.

Put a fan on top of the car to blow out all the smoke from the garage

Crank crank, damnit, won't start, flooded.

Remove the plugs, dry them off, crank it without plugs to try to get rid of fuel, whoops forgot to turn off the injectors

Turnoff injectors, crank it again, blow out the cylinders with air from the compressor

Insert plugs, wires

Crank crank vroom vroom vroom, turbo whistle

It was a successful day!

So tomorrow I'll get the radiator back on the car, and put the exhaust system on the car, and we'll see what she does then. The car is nowhere near done, but it feels great to have a car that starts again!!!

If you’re bored this weekend give me a ring! I’m going to spend this weekend getting the motor into the 240Z, and depending on how fast that progresses maybe even get the fuel and electronics hooked up to it and attempt to start it! Interested? :D I could use all the help I can get.

I don’t know what I’m doing with the Datsun just yet. I should sell it, but I couldn’t sleep the other night because I was thinking about what fun it would be to spend a few weekends in March working on the 240Z.

Well, I don’t know if it’s a sign or what, but month or two ago when I was trying to put the new motor back together I couldn’t find the bag of bolts for the intake and exhaust manifolds. Well guess what I just found today!

Now, I just need to get my book done, and hire my good buddy Terec for a weekend to help me get the motor back together and in the car. I find that if someone is here helping me on the car I get 10x the amount of work done as if I am by myself. So, Terec, what do you think, first or second weekend in March good? If we got it running on 3/15 that would be awesome, as that’s my bday :D

Happy Belated Bday to Terec as well, 2/18.

So, am I selling the car? I don’t know. I want to buy another 350Z, but it would make a lot more sense to not do that and try to get this datsun running.

So my weekend of working on the 240Z started off quite slowly today. I ended up sleeping until almost noon this morning, it was nice to catch up on some much lost rest from the travelling the past few months.

So after my restful morning I had a few errands to run to get my costume ready for a party tonight. Once those were completed I was able to spend some time in the garage. First things first getting the months of piled on crap off the top of the car. That led me to assembling the 2nd craftsman stool that I had purchased probably 10 months ago now, it was in a box on the hood of the car.

Once I could see the top of the car I made room at the back and rolled her back a bit in the garage, this allowed me to get to the motor which has been on the stand for quite some time sitting in front of the car. Without the Corvette in the garage (*sheds a small tear*) I had plenty of room to move the motor over to the free side of the garage to work on. The next step for the car is to get all of the motor bits back together, the manifolds, turbo and all other accessories need to be put on the car so that I can put it back in the engine bay. I spent some time this afternoon cleaning off some more of the grease/dirt that covers the motor. I think Lynn, the previous owner, took it to a rally cross based on all the dirt and grime I’ve pulled off this motor over time.

I didn’t get too far today, but I hope that tomorrow I can get all of the parts back on the motor, if I can successfully do that I should be able to get the motor back in the car next weekend. The biggest problem I have working on the car is staying focused, if I’m by myself I tend to stray from the task at hand, and I never seem to get anything done. Case in point today, at some point while working on clearing off the car I got out the angle grinder and wire wheeled the hole where the FM antenna was at one point, I thought it looked like it might be rusting so I took the paint off then sprayed some primer on the car. Now it looks worse than before, but I had fun! :)

More updates tomorrow, hopefully with some video. I tried using the Chase Cam today to shoot some video but apparently the PDR doesn’t really care for normal AA batteries as it only stayed powered on for about 5 minutes before shutting off, without me knowing.