Teach me about my z car (1971 240z Series II)

[Landshark]

Well, we picked it up on saturday and drove it around a bit on sunday. What a great car!

I'll have pics up in a day or two, and I have specs on the engine and what's been done to it, I'll post that up when I get the pics.

We (well, Anna is...I'm at work) are taking the car to Z Specialist today (right now actually, I think she's there already) to get it looked over.

From what I learned, the engine is a L24 with around 30k miles. It's been built for 10:1 compression with several other goodies added onto the engine (I'll update exact specs in a day or two). The transmission is a 5 speed from a 280z, not sure what year though. Suspension (shocks/struts) were all replaced about 2 years ago. Tires are all good, plenty of tread and we have a full set of winter tires we'll be receiving probably this weekend as well.

Things wrong with the car, maintenance stuff that needs done oil change/spark plugs/radiator flush/something else I'm missing.

The brakes are having issues, probably air in the lines so we need to bleed them for sure. This is compounded by a possible bad alignment. The brakes are disc brakes now and they have new pads, but it pulls hard to the right under braking. There's a klunk sound from the front left of the car when turning (only sometimes), probably suspension, not really sure yet. There's several blemishes on the paint that we expected, Anna is going to sand them down (especially the few rust spots that are poking through the paint) and primer them in prep for a whole new paint job. She gave it a good cleaning, inside and out, yesterday (both cars got a bath actually).

It's missing some minor things, passenger handle to roll down/up the window, passenger armrest on the door. Z decal on the passenger side quarter panel (exterior). The door panels on the inside don't match. There's a small ding on the front left wheel where the car ran into a curb at a round-a-bout, but it's barely noticeable.

The floor/carpeting is missing, trunk liner is missing, there's a small rust spot/hole in the floor on the driver's side so we'll be welding that at some point (we have the tools). both floors (drivers/passenger) have drop-in insulation right now. The dash has many sun cracks on it, but is otherwise ok (although it will need to be replaced). All gauges work except for the fuel gauge.

The seats are leather, not the originals. The drivers seat slides forward a notch when under heavy braking, I have to investigate this.

There's also a pop sound when up-shifting under moderate acceleration. This might be normal, but we'll have a shop take a look at it. Neither of us has any idea what these cars are suppose to sound like, so it's getting checked out.

There's a couple other things missing/wrong with the car, loose screws, etc, but overall the car is sexy and is really fun to drive!

EDIT: forgot to mention, the e-brake is not working, which makes it fun to park. Not really sure what's wrong with it. Also, Z Specialists are telling Anna the cv joints on the front need to be replaced, that might explain the klunk and the alignment problems we experienced.

Edited October 27, 2008 by Landshark

[Landshark]

Ok, here are extra engine specs :

The engine's compression ratio was increased to 10:01 from stock.

It has a Mallory Unilite distributor

It has an electric cooling fan, instead of the stock engine driven one.

Electric fuel pump.

Tokiko lowering springs (1")

Tokiko "blue" struts (Both under 1 year ago)

4 Piston Toyota 4 wheel drive truck calipers

280ZX rear disk brakes

280ZX Master cylinder

Adjustable proportioning valve

Relays for the headlights

K+N air filter

1978 280Z 5 speed transmission

280Z radiator

Stainless steel mesh bug screen in front of the radiator

MSA Aluminized exhaust

I was also wrong, the brake calipers are what need to be replaced, not cv joints...not sure where I came up with cv joints in my previous post.

[five&dime]

The pop under acceleration sounds like my dad's issue (Diseazd) His turned out to be the rear bushings for the control arms being bad. He replaced them with poly bushings and no problems now. Could also be U-joints.

Unless your car has been upgraded it shouldn't have C/V's