71 Z summer resurrection

[vling]

Hi all, my goal is to get my 71 Frankenstein z as road worthy as possible over 3 months this summer, with roughly $2000 budget.

I've been away at school, but will be back home finally with a bit of time to work on the car in the mornings and on weekends.

So for a little background info on the car. It's a series 1 71 240z with a L28/5speed and E88 head, roundtop SU carbs. Compression looked decent (around 170 with +/-5psi). I rebuilt the carbs with the ZT kit. New mechanical fuel pump, fuel filter, fuel lines, tank, (old tank had rotten fuel sitting in it) rotor, cap, plugs, wires. So it runs decently, albiet loudly, (exhaust leak somewhere) The one thing that worries me is one of the valve rocker guides(?) ( the little cylindrical shiny part with a groove in it ) had popped out of it's socket. I got it back in and it hasn't popped out again so far.

First priority is brakes.

There's dragging and clunking noises from the rear end. The car is hard to stop and feels unsafe. It has a new brake power booster and master cylinder, but my brakes still seem unpowered, the vacuum line that goes to the power booster is also new and secured. I've reset the handbrake as per haynes, and the dragging seems to go away, but if I engage the handbrake again, and disengage, the dragging comes back.

I have new drum shoes, hardware and front pads waiting to go on, after that, what else should I be looking at as far as brakes?

Any advice? I'm just trying to get it in reliable running condition (possibly for cross country driving). Do you think I should go as far as rebuilding the engine? Is my budget and timeline realistic at all ?

Thanks,

-Vaughan

[VITAMIN Z]

My 2 cents, just pace yourself, you already have a nice budget and it should get you well on your way to get the car going. Just to give you some perspective, I've had my car for a couple of years now, and I have spent a little over $600.00 on brakes, vacum hoses, misc. gaskets, wheel bearings, and I am about to start on the carbs, which I hope I can tackle myself. As far as the engine is concern, I would check compresion, hoses, oil leaks etc. just get it running and start checking, although I have taken a long time to get my car going, I do not want to be stranded due to rushing through and overlooking things.

[Z Tyler Z]

First priority is brakes.

There's dragging and clunking noises from the rear end. The car is hard to stop and feels unsafe. It has a new brake power booster and master cylinder, but my brakes still seem unpowered, the vacuum line that goes to the power booster is also new and secured. I've reset the handbrake as per haynes, and the dragging seems to go away, but if I engage the handbrake again, and disengage, the dragging comes back.

This is probably a dumb question but have you bleed them properly? Master cylinder, rear passenger, rear driver, passenger, then driver. Also the clunking is probably just a worn Diff mount, common Z flaw nothing to really worry about. A new diff mount should solve the problem until it wears out again, but an RT mount will solve the problem for good.

[vling]

This is probably a dumb question but have you bleed them properly? Master cylinder, rear passenger, rear driver, passenger, then driver. Also the clunking is probably just a worn Diff mount, common Z flaw nothing to really worry about. A new diff mount should solve the problem until it wears out again, but an RT mount will solve the problem for good.

no not dumb at all haha. I haven't done that yet but it's on my list to do.

Thanks for the tip on the RT mount...I just looked it up and I'm a bit confused, but at least I know it's there now.