bevisjl

Hey guys,

I am a proud new owner of a 1987 2+2. After years of searching, and being disappointed that the car was never in as good shape as my current one, I finally bit the bullet, convinced myself that I would never find one that was kept up as well as my Cavalier, and if so I wouldn't be able to afford it, and even traded for this beauty.


Now, I have a few questions about how to do some minor repairs. First off, though, I have noticed that the turn signals on the digital dash as well as the trip meter and water temp panels do not turn on. I did the self-check test on the dash and they did not come on. I am guessing the dash would need replaced for them to work. I have found this:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/230982611090?item=230982611090&viewitem=&vxp=mtr
A digital dash from a 1988 300zx. So I guess my first question is, does anyone know if this is compatible. So far it is the best price I could find for one as the next one I found was $200. If it fits I would like to get it and find some sort of step-by-step instructions on how to replace the dash. ( I also saw something on some site about how to change the color of the lights. Someone had a blue dash that looked amazing. I may have to try that on the new one before I install it.)

So far I think that is the first thing I want to ask about. There are a few other things I need to do as well:

-- Check for a vacuum leak in the ac/heater lines because it is only blowing through the defrost vents

--Find out how to take the dash off so I can replace the light bulbs for the oil and volt meters

-- I think there is something drawing power from the battery because it is always hard to turn over in the morning, and then starts right up after it has been running. Have no idea how to troubleshoot that though. I noticed the clock stays on after the car is turned off. Is that supposed to happen? Think it would draw enough power from the batter at night to cause it to not want to start?

-- And a few other things but those are on top of the list right now.

Any thoughts or answers to questions above would be appreciated and I can't wait to work on getting this car looking and running perfect.

AZ-ZBum

Yes. That cluster will work for you.

Buy a Haynes manual. Tells you how to remove the cluster.

Big Slappy Z

Congrats, I just got a 1986 z31 myself and just ripped out the dash to replace it with a noncracked one I pulled at the junkyard. This thread may help:

ZBUM's Z31 Dash Removal Procedures

bevisjl

Thanks. Congrats to you too. I have much I want to do with it. The battery was okay so that wasn't the cause of the long cold start in the morning. I have new spark plugs and wires on order. That will be my next thing.

Then changing out all the vac lines.
Replacing the ac vent actuators -- checked the vac lines and they were good
And then maybe I can get to changing out the bulbs in the new Digital Dash I ordered with blue capped ones and then pulling out the old one and in with the new.

However, even with all that, I am loving it, and can't wait to see how much I will love it after all that is done.

aujbman

Thanks BSZ, I have seen that site. The changing of the dash may have to wait until after the Bar Exam. But other things I will be addressing over the weekend. Here is a breakdown of what I am doing.

Ok. So I got this beauty 2 days after my graduation from law school.



So far, I have:

• taken paint off the T-top glass
• Replaced the scratched and cracked windshield
• Repaired the trunk latch
• replaced to the best of my ability the 3 vac lines for the ac in the engine compartment
• Oil change
• new K&N quality air filter
• Deep cleaning

I got a bunch of parts in today that I need to find time to install.



Still waiting on spark plugs. Once those come in the first thing I will be doing is changing them and the wires out.

Also, this actuator



needs to be installed. It controls the face door vent for the AC. As of right now, my AC does not blow cold and only blows through the defrost vents. I have heard this is a vac leak issue. That is why I changed the vac lines in the engine compartment, but that didn't fix the issue. I hear these things like to rupture and that could be the cause. However getting to it has become a problem. If you look up under the steering wheel towards the center of the car, this actuator is the highest up. I can barely stick my hand in there to get to the screw holding it in place, and cannot see where the other side goes to at all. Any advice on how to do this without tearing everything out would be appreciated.

Next, I have a digital dash replacement.



My current dash does not show the turn signals or the water temp.



I probably rushed into buying this dash, based on my further research that the power supply could cause such issues. I was under the impression that if the power supply was bad I would be having much more severe symptoms. But, I guess I shall see. Eventually, I will take the new one apart to install these blue bulbs



that are supposed to be an exact fit for the dash. Has anyone used these before and know if they are an exact fit? I would also like to use them for the center dash gauge cluster (oil and voltmeter) as those are completely out.

Also, at some point soon I will be converting the AC from R12. I have someone that has a vacuum that can take it out. Have a conversion kit ordered and have the new accumulator ready to go on.



I also will be replacing the hood struts at some point, and using those vac hoses in the picture above to replace all vac lines in the engine compartment.

So all in all, I think I have enough to get my mind off studying for a few hours on the weekends, but could definitely use any advice, suggestions or comments from anyone that has done all this before and/or answers to my questions above.

Thanks

AZ-ZBum

Eww.... Those wheels look hideous.

Seattle

Yea I dont like the wheels either or the three little "thingys" on the front but oh well to each his own. Still a nice "Z" please keep us posted on your progress! Nice catch! Make it your own!!

z31Nightshift

Hey did your 300 have the analog dash before you put in the digital dash because im looking to see if i can convert mine ?

rogerz

here is stuff you really need to do before messing with all that cosmetic stuff.
Get your battery load tested. Be sure you have clean, tight corrosion free terminals on both ends of your battery cables. Be sure the ground (negative) cable goes to a bolt into the frame before going to the starter. grounding through the starter is not a reliable connection. Z's don't like low voltage. causes the electronics to act funny. it is possible to have enough amps to crank but not enough voltage to run the electronics. If you have one size fit all cheapo clamp on terminals they are a problem waiting to happen.

Clean the connectors for the maf or afm, ecu and tps. Deoxit by CAIG is probably the best connector cleaner on the market. spray with CorrosionX after cleaning and before putting together this will help prevent any further corrosion.

Replace outer tie rod ends, and ball joints. replace the bushings with poly (don't forget to lube them as directed unless you like squeaky things). New shocks. all those things will make you think you are driving a different car. doing them piece meal is a waste you won't see a great improvement until you do the complete job. Rear bushings nice too but more work and you won't notice as great an improvement. Rear shocks also because if the fronts are gone so are the rears. if car squats when you jump on the gas the rears are gone. If you have the electro adjustable shocks they are DEFINITELY GONE.

If you are doing a turbo car shocks (electro adjust I think may be only on the turbos) then you need the adapter plates to fit modern shocks to the car. Easiest way is find an n/a at the junkyard and take the mounting plates. They may be available thru NAPA (listed) but I had the n/a plates.

Make sure you blow out the holes that the sparky things are in because there is usually a collection of junk down there waiting to fall into the hole and thus onto the piston.

you don't need to pull the whole dash to change bulbs that center console comes out tho a pain as you have to stand on your head to get at two 10m/m nuts that hold in the switches on either side of the unit

download the free fsm from xenon z31 or buy the CD from courtesy Nissan. my opinion better than Haynes but sometimes they make it hard to find things.

the vacuum you need to run things under the dash comes into the cabin a little right of center. It then tees off and goes right and left. I found mine taped to the heater box. FSM diagram pretty good. they usually break right where they hook up. plenum line comes off on the right rear goes forward to the vac tank. (I'm more familiar with turbos but I think I looked at a friends n/a and it was the same) originally had a white stripe. a blue stripe line then comes back and goes to the water control valve on the firewall. the water valve fails open (ie no vac full hot to the heater). the original redstripe then went aft into the cabin where you would find the tee I talked about. don't dither around just replace everything.

Did you get Magnacore wires? probably the best around.

aujbman

No. It came with a digital dash. I also have discovered that it wasn't the dash itself but the power supply (or more than likely, the connectors in the power supply) that was the problem

@ Rogerz: Thanks for the info! At the moment I am studying for the bar that takes place the last three days of this month. So all work on the Z has been put on hold. However, after the bar I will go from having no extra time at all, to all the time in the world as I won't get results until October and can't practice until then. SO, I plan on doing a lot of work to it then.

I have a build thread on BamaGZ.com here...

1987 300zx 2+2

that tells what I have done so far. My biggest gripe as of late is the leaking T-tops. It rained here for about 2 weeks straight so I couldn't risk getting them off to work on them.

However, I did finally take them off and have a look. For the passenger side T-top I removed the screw on the end holding the outside weather strip in place and pulled it out some so now it comes in contact with the weather strip on the car.

I tried doing the same to the driver side, with no luck. The screw on that side is not budging!

Eventually, I will need to drill it out and replace it. Unfortunately, that seemed to be the biggest leak spot. So until I get a chance to get that screw out, I just put some vaseline on that section of the weather strip on both the T-top and car. I heard that makes the rubber expand and can help make a more effective seal, and also that it is bad for the rubber if used a lot. Hopefully that will be the only time I will need to use it.

I've also got to find a tie rod for the front driver side wheel. The car was shaking pretty badly when in the 42-48 mph range. Took it to the shop and they said the tie rod would need to be replaced before they would perform an alignment. But the tires were way out of balance so they went ahead and did that.

That fixed the bad shaking but now it shakes a little at a higher speed, 50-56, and still shakes pretty bad when decelerating through the original 42-46 mph range, which means I may want to check my brakes at some point.

Ok, enough bar study procrastination for now. That is my update so far.

Check out my build thread linked above for more details.

Monkies

By changing the color of the lights, do you mean the actual gauges or the background? I have experimented with the gauges myself and this is what I came up with. I ended up just sticking with the blue color.

cords z31

Hey the reason why your ac may only be blowing out the defrost is because of the floor vent switch is wrong, try underneath the steering heel you will see a floor vent switch, I had the exact same problem and that fixed it, hopefully it works.

aujbman

That looks so awesome and I would love to do that someday. Unfortunately a few days ago my digital dash went out and I had to install the one I bought before I had a chance to change the color. Hopefully one day I can do what you did. Looks great!

aujbman

With some changing of the vacuum lines I got the face vents to work but they stop working when accelerating. I'm thinking that is the vacuum pump where the vacuum lines in the engine compartment come from. Problem is finding a reasonably priced replacement that is guaranteed to work...