The drivers side seat belt mechanism decided it didn't want to extend more than 10"... removing it revealed 33 years of gunk was preventing it from extending of all the way. Cleaning it was easy; getting it back in was a real pain, as the bolt that goes into the side of the car is a REAL !@#$% pain to get reinserted. I ended up breaking the plastic seat cover for the seat mechanism for the driver's seat (already on it's last leg).. MSA sells replacements, so that will mean removing the seat AGAIN to get it screwed onto the seat. Bummer.

Replaced the vinyl strip that starts at your feet and extends along the interior sides to behind the seats - the originals were torn up and had rust residue behind them. I learned the hard way that the seats/seat belts/kick panels/door weatherstrip had to be removed to get the new ones glued on. The MSA replacements also don't have any of the cutouts... which made for some fun moments trying to find the three small screw holes for the scuff plates. Looks great now though!

Carpet kit install came next. After hunting down some POR-15 from the local NAPA store I proceeded to scrape off decades-old thick 'soundproofing' material from the floor boards - it took my largest screwdriver and a rubber mallet to get it off. I did find some small holes in the top layer of the floor board but nothing that went through.. I guess the carpets retained water that ate through the metal while the car lived back east. One of the previous owners had drilled five small holes all the way through the car - I found some metal screws that fit and screwed them into the holes (which the POR-15 have made permanent additions to the car). The vinyl door sill pieces had rust stains on the back of them also but no rust on the metal beneath them. After taping back the various interior pieces I took my time and applied the first coat of POR-15 - that took about 2.5 hours. After letting it dry for 26 hours I applied the second coat (which went much quicker) - that coat was left alone for three days.

My center console had two small factory holes in front of the ashtray - I guess that switches were installed there as optional upgrades that the 1st owner didn't buy when the car was new. After quite a bit of time I finally found this plastic piece that covers the holes - nobody seems to make it anymore so I lucked out (thank you eBay)! Another eBay find was a windshield bottle with pump - MSA wanted over 2x what I paid for this one - if it works then I'll have finally saved some money on something for this car <g>.

I bought a complete set of replacement gauges.. the thought being that I would replace the back faceplates with the white colored set (from MSA) when the dash is pulled to replace the burned out instrument bulbs (very irritating - can hardly read the speedometer at night, as the top bulb is burned out). I'll then sell the original gauges on eBay (and recoup most of the cost). Will be nice having a working clock again!

Took the car to Meineke (1812 Juan Tabo Blvd NE, 505-299-6081) to have the springs/struts installed.. learned the car already had polypropylene bushings and stainless steel brake lines installed (YEAH); problems identified were a snapped tie rod (front right) and both lower control arms needed replaced; the front springs were chopped so short that they were flopping around loose inside the cups. The mechanic (Keith) was a real trooper, identified the broken/missing items, thoroughly examine the underside and got the suspension tight again. I set the Illumina's on "3" - on "2" the car was too bouncy driving down Gibson Blvd (near Sunport airport). I highly recommend this Meineke store location.. very fair on labor, a qualified mechanic (who has owned a Z and builds race cars), and a great manager (Jamie - built her own Camaro drag car). I have an appointment the first week of Jan 08 to have Meineke replace the brakes with the parts I already purchased (oversized calipers/Brembo drums/master cylinder) and also install a new exhaust (current one is missing the resonator; the muffler itself is of unknown quality and the "Y" shaped exhaust tips are home made in appearance). That will complete the brakes, suspension, and exhaust systems!

Bought a refurbished steering wheel to replace my Momo wheel with; I feel the Momo is slightly too small, although it has a "meaty" feel to it. The Momo's color is a dark reddish color, which doesn't match anything inside the car - the nonworking horn is also a checkmark in the deficit column. Think I might also replace the steering coupler with a polypropylene one to see if it tightens up the remaining slop that the suspension job didn't take out.

Tried having the mirrors and window crank handles swapped out at Melloy Nissan - the mechanic couldn't figure out how to get the handles off; the mirrors are even worse, as the 2nd owner installed the mirrors right on the door crease, which calls for a concave mounting plate (seems all new mirrors come with flat plates). Hate to think my only option to get usable mirrors on the car is to go ahead and have the door guts swapped over to my spare door shells (sitting in the garage), mounted on the car and then painted to match the current paint job - quite a bit of $$$ and effort to simply see behind you <g>. The mechanic was really worried about breaking the original door panels - he claimed that when he worked for Datsun in the '70s that these broke all of the time, as they are held onto the door with metal fasteners. Same problem with the backing plate behind the interior door handle. Don't know if those parts are really that brittle, but it didn't make my day.

Still have to install the windshield washer bottle/hoses.. hopefully it works. Also have to install the soundproofing in the hatch area and glue the carpet down. Also need to get a tire mounted on the spare.

TOTAL: $2686.33