Things I've learned... MIDDLE

Things I've learned about the MIDDLE of my Z




EXTERIOR



  • The little sheet metal rails that go along below the kick plates are NOT the jack points. Lots of people use them for that and they bend easily. Ouch. Actually, the JACK POINTS are just inboard of the rails behind the front wheels. You can also use the front suspension cross-bar. In the back, I use the bottoms of the struts.

  • I don't know if this is common, but the front of my doors are a little inboard of the back of the front fenders. Just a little note there.

  • It is important to take the T-tops off regularly and clean below them. Also, my driver's side drain hole is slower than the one on the passenger side. I don't have any explaination for this.

    INTERIOR



    DOORS
  • I guess this is just a general comment on our imitation suede: take a cloth and put warm water on it. Then squeeze it out well. Buff the suede stuff and it'll look very nice, and your rag will have lots of dirt on it.

    T-TOPS
  • My passenger's side T-top wouldn't come off. It acted like the key was in the 'lock' position all the time. No amount of jiggling would loosen it. I recieved a note from Steve Chong (New Zealand) concerning removal of the lock mechanism; kind of. Behind the big release handle on the top is a phillips head screw, painted black. I never noticed it before. If you remove that and the release 'button' (It just pulls off) then you can take off the whole cover of the mechanism. A word of caution: it's attatched to the leather around it, so you will make some small tears, which are unnoticable when you replace the cover. In my case it was unnecessary, because when I removed the button, it worked okay. I guess the button was just stuck. Go figure.
  • Even with the blinders in place, the inside of the tops get dirty. So take those blinders out and clean the windows, will ya?

    SEATS
  • I like the Lexol leather cleaner, but I may try the MotorCars brand next time. You can get their catalog by calling 1-800-977-9707. They sell all kinds of neat things, like $135K Ferraris and $300 floor mats. And leather cleaner.
  • Behind the seats is this crazy stuff. I don't know; it's like carpet or something, but when you vacuum it it gets all stringy and stuff. Big hunks come off. Somewhere down the road, I'll have that done in a nice short carpet as well. And maybe some $300 floor mats from MotorCars.

    REAR DECK
  • On the driver's side of the deck under the plastic bulge by the little useless window is the headlight aiming tool. Also fairly useless I think. I may try and put a small woofer in there to add to the relatively poor bass performance of the Bose system.

  • There's not too much going on in the middle of our Zs. Back to Lessons Home