Bringing back the RedZ

[Mark Maras]

 Single stage paint has it's benefits. I think it's a better choice for a daily driver.

[siteunseen]

Siteunseen,  (saw your post in another thread) can you shed some light into the bending of the rear brake hardlines that is required to move to the 1972+ wheel cylinders?  With no rebuild kits available, and my rear brakes certainly needing some love... I want to weigh my options.

 

You also mentioned swapping L to R hard lines in the back to make it easier. Were you at all worried when bending those lines that you were going to damage them or introduce a weak point?

 

Thanks

Sorry I missed this.

 

I've only done one car so my experience is limited to that but YES swapping the short hardlines from rear right to rear left and vice versa made the bending not too severe.  I was really careful to not pinch those, just go slow when you do the bending.  Another problem I had with the newer cylinders I bought from rockauto.com was the self adjusting wheel that tightens with the emergency brake.  The arm that catches on the teeth of that little wheel wasn't making contact with the teeth, so when I got all done and went to adjust them by pulling the E brake a few times didn't tighten the shoes.  I had to take them back off and bend that arm in a little more. 

 

The far left of this picture.  Make sure that arm is in contact with the wheel with teeth.

 

 

[DaveR]

Excellent advice, thank you. 

[gnosez]

Nice fine!!

I'd suggest Toyo RA1s to go with those Panasports. They come in 15 and you can order them from Tire Rack and pick them up just outside Bradley airport in Hartford which will save you the shipping costs.

They are great on dry pavement and quite good in the rain. I use them for a race tire (vintage rules require a treaded tire).

[siteunseen]

Add up your cost on refurbishing the rear brakes then look at these. 

 

I forgot all about them yesterday but I will be getting some very soon.

https://zcardepot.com/brakes/rear-brakes/disc-brake-conversion-rear-disk-240z-260z-280z.html

[DaveR]

Started taking a look around and checking out the fuel tank/evap.  Things look pretty good if you ask me, I'm not seeing a big reason to replace this stuff. I'll replace the fuel lines out of the tank, but all the evap and filler stuff seems really good. The filler tube is pretty nice on the inside, can't confirm its connection to the tank. The hose clamp is quite oxidized, but doesn't really mean much for the health of the tube AFAIK.

 

I drained the tank, and while I think it might have had fresh gas put it in recently, almost nothing can out of the tank but clear liquids.  I was planning to drop the tank and look inside just to clarify, but given that the J bolts weren't wanting to budge... I'm not sure i should even bother.   I plan to replace the flexible fuel lines and spray some injector cleaner through the hardlines while inspecting them. Hopefully that is sufficient for the rear end. Of course in the engine bay I will change out the other soft lines and filters and such.

 

 

 

The evap lines under the car are pretty decent as well. Not sure at what point this stuff needs to be replaced, but it would be great to limit the replacements right now to just the fuel carrying lines.

Edited December 5, 2015 by DaveR

[beerdart]

Wow that is clean. IMO fill and go.. I would love to zee this car in person. 

[DaveR]

As nice as some of the stuff is, other stuff is incredibly seized up.  For instance the brake line going into my drivers side rear drum cylinder is very very stuck.  Bolt likes to round off with a crescent wrench (10mm) and i can't get a pair of vice grips in there to break it loose. I got the others free with the vice grips for the initial break, but its way too tight in there to get them in.

 

I've soaked the heck out of with penetrating fluid, I suppose an option left is to torch it a bit. Probably should wash all the fluid off it before doing that, or I assume I'll burst into flames. 

 

I looked in the FSM to see if i could take the cylinder off with that fitting/brake line still attached and work on it off the car... but I don't think I can get it out with the lever arm of the cylinder needing to be snaked through itself.

[beerdart]

You need a flare nut wrench. I just went through my break system with all new wheel cylinders and rubber lines. Worst case cut the line and remove then replace. Let me know if you need help. Advanced Auto near the mall has new hard lines. 

 

 

Steve

[siteunseen]

I had to use the smaller vise grips on mine's flare nuts. Held the hose connector with the bigger set.

Your evap stuff does look good. Only fumes through those so if you don't bend them too much they shouldn't crack from dry rot.

Put a clear filter on the fuel tank's outlet. Fram G2 works better on smaller 240 lines, $4 @ walmart. If it stays fairly clear you're good IMHO.

Do you have a points ignition or has it been upgraded yet? I ask because that's the best thing money and time wise. $.02 worth.

[DaveR]

Originally I was going to use the pertronix kit. Well I was always going to, but I got a bit of sticker shock early on when I was assuming I might have to replace a ton of stuff and I didn't technically need that ignition upgrade right away.

 

Now that I have a better idea that I might not have to shell out QUITE so much money to get this thing safely on the road, I will probably go that route and get away from the points immediately.

 

My first big wave of parts/bits will most likely include:

-Tune up kit: plugs, filters, etc etc

-Plug wires

-Electronic ignition kit

-Fluids:  Oil, Trans Fluid, Rear diff fluid. (I really like to know exactly what fluids I am using, even if they don't need to be changed)

-New soft brake lines, new hard lines in wheel wells if I need them.

-Either rebuild kits for cylinders/calipers or new 

-Assorted soft fuel lines in engine bay area.

 

The rear shoes and drums look good enough, I have an extra set of front calipers so it looks like maybe they were swapped in preparation to sell, so I will see how those work. Pads are new and good enough for now.  I have to figure out how to hose up this different master cylinder though, but I want to have the corners worked out before I get into that.  I'm tempted to buy a rebuild kit and fix up the original, but probably no reason to do that.

 

I'll need to then dig into the carb and cooling system and see if those need anything, but that can wait for now. Getting the brakes and fuel delivery squared away will be a massive step in getting this thing road ready.

Edited December 6, 2015 by DaveR

[Patcon]

I wouldn't go pertronix personally. I would go 280z electronic distributor or 123ignition is you really want to go all the way. Definitely fuel filter after the tank