beandip

If you only feel like experimenting go for it. Otherwise why go through all the effort ? You said it makes the pistons more like a ''racing piston'' then you are using a head with hydraulic lifters ? The turbo head is a low compression head also. Why not get some flat top pistons from a f-54 non turbo engine? The turbo cam will work fine with SUs , it will make more torque on the low end but will fade at high revs. Some like the stock turbo cam for a street driven Z with SUs for that reason. I contemplated that cam for my Z.

yes for sure it is a interference engine. Sorry

Will, mine must be etched because I tried vinegar with no effect. All the rest of my glass is fine , just the one passenger window. This door is not the original one to the Z. I found many colors of paint on it when I was sanding for paint. Gary

The P-79 head is not from a turbo engine first off. I have the same head. P-79 is from a normally aspirated engine. The head has diamond shaped exhaust ports. The turbo head have square ports and are P-90 or P-90A heads. The block could vary well be a '78 or '79. Both have dished pistons. '81 - '83ZX blocks have flat topped pistons and are marked F-54. L-28 blocks all have dished pistons unless modified. The P-79 head is a 8.3 to 1 , or there abouts, on a F-54 block where it came from. On a dish piston block , unless it has been milled it would be a low compression combination.

It depends on what you are calling haze. If it is scratches form abrasive that has been rubbing on the glass by a contaminated fitting. I don't know of anything. However I have a side window on my Z that is heavily etched to the point that from a angle it always looked dirty. I tried everything I could think of. Even Sapphire dust made into a paste. At a car show I recently attended I found a product made by Adams Car Care Products. Swirl & Haze Remover. the guy in the booth at the show was talking to someone that had the same problem on a tee top, so the three of us tried it on his Z. It worked amazingly well. I bought a bottle and in about 20 min my glass is almost completely clear. It may help depending on what your condition is. adamspolishes.com They have a fantastic line of products. Gary

Texas, welcome to the club. Congrats on the Z , the pictures look great. Just a little suggestion. Sort out the glitches and check out the breaking then drive it a while before you start on the redo. So many times guys buy one of these cars and jump right in and start tearing things all apart then after the car been down for a year or so they loose interest and sell off the parts. Take some time to really enjoy your Z . Then when the job becomes discouraging , if it does , it is easier to keep going. My Z took over 3years. I kept plugging away and ''got er done''. I drove her for 2 years UGLY, first and am glad I did because I was hooked . And it helped. I waited 30 years for my Z. Gary

Welcome Mike it's good to have you aboard. I think you have come to the right place . You will find that there are several Z drivers in Washington. There is a Z club in Seattle, ZCCW, and one in Fort Townsend I believe. I live in the Portland area and belong to NorthWest Z. The Wa. club is coming down for a 2 day cruise up the Columbia River Gorge in April. We are meeting them in Seattle for our annual Kart Challenge next month. So you have company. Congrats on finding a great Z , you will be money ahead with a rust free car. Hope to see you at one of the events along the way. Canby Show in June , in Canby Or. Gary

Like Carl said , it depends on how deep you are into the Z. Also how handy you are with a torch. If you have to have the work done by others . Part it out and save the good stuff and or sell the parts. Both frame rails need to be redone. It's a shame , looks like a good car from the outside. Gary:(

This is just a form letter sent to all. I received the same one from several of the Reps Gary

Polish will only shine the metal that is smooth and blemish free. If you have scratches or nicks you will need to lower the surrounding level of metal down to the bottom level of the scratch or nick. Now having said that , polish will remove some metal , not much but a little. Light surface blemishes can be removed with polish with a lot of rubbing. So if you want to remove a scratch , buy some 1500 grit wet/dry sand paper and use water or kerosene to wet the paper and remove the metal and blend in the scratch. Then I use a buffing wheel on either a die grinder or on my drill press and some polishing compound to buff out the light scratches left by the 1500 paper. Also try some 0000 ,4 ott, steel wool, with any liquid aluminum polish. I know of no short cuts , it just takes time. Gary

Personally I wouldn't use steel wool. I have done several of these and I just use one of the 3M pads used for doing dishes and some dish washing liquid to clean the ''wood''. this will both remove the old finish and the oils from your hands. Just put it in the sink and scrub the ''wood''. It won't scratch the ''wood'' and when it drys it will be ready to apply the finish of your choice. Use satin black for the metal if you wish the wheel to look original. Gary

Just remember that just because the timing mark lines up with the pointer on the engine , it DOESN'T MEAN THE ENGINE IS ON ITS COMPRESSION STROKE. You could vary well be 180* out of time. However if you are on the compression stroke and line up the timing marks , all you need to do is plunk in the dist where you want to have it point and where ever the rotor points , THIS IS #1 and the plug wire from that position goes to the #1 spark plug and following the firing order the rest of the wires follow. It's that simple.

I have two , but am going to keep them.

I am an Oregonian also, I almost always pump my own gas in my Z. I find the VAST majority of attendants take care when fueling my Z. The GPS idea first came form California, and our dip $^!# Governor seems to fall into lock step with the Governator in Cal. The Bill being considered car parts is the Governors idea and he is the driving force behind it. The same mental midget also is pushing for a 1800% rise on taxes on BEER. Not a typo 1800% , over a buck a bottle. I have seen this sort of tactic used in the past on taxes. Make a motion for a large amount and then settle for half and the people think that they dodged the bullet and are screwed once again. The after market bill is for tires at this time but hang on because if it is passed , a simple stroke of the pen and the whole after market parts is slid in place. Oregon is still a great place to live in spite of it all. No sales tax. But the property tax is huge as well as state income tax. I am not going to bring up politics, but we all have to suffer here being on the LEFT coast. Our Governor never met a tax he didn't like. Gary

first off the drive line will rotate at the same rate at a given speed , regardless what gear your in. It spins according to the gear ratio in the Diff. Yes a bad u-joint could be the reason for vibration. It would show up at a higher speed.

Charlie, welcome to the group. Forth gear in a 5 speed is direct drive the same as 4th in the 4 speed. As what was stated the 5th is overdrive. That being said, if you have a L-24 engine , over drive will be below your power band unless you lower the differential gear ratio. If your Z now has a 4 speed then you have 3.36 to 1 ratio. If it is a automatic then 3.54s, in 5th the engine will lack torque due to the low RPM. 3.70 or 3.90s would be a better ratio. If you would like to get more lower end performance and are now running a manual tranny. Install a 3.54 differential. This will lower the ratio and you will notice more off the line , but you will lower the top end slightly. This is a straight across install if you stay with a R-180 diff.

Only you can judge weather the car is worth the money. Here where I live it would sell for less than 1K. Especially with the fiber glass "mods'' that were done. I live on the left coast though. There was a good looking 260 on Craigs list last weekend with a 280 and 5 speed nice mags . Needed some paint repair. $650.00 , I know we are a long way from your neck of the woods. Gary

I was surprised to see this old thread up again. As the song goes , '' another day older and deeper in debt". I will be 35 for the 2nd time on the 14th. Since the start of this thread I have put about 17K+ on my Z. Not a daily driver and not driven much in the fall and winter. They ''sand'' the roads here with small gravel when we have ice. Hell on paint and glass. I still belong to NorthWest Z. In fact we are entering the Roadster Show as a club this first week in March. We will be entering about 10 Zs. This will be the 53 year in a row for the show. Mostly Hot Rods and Customs. Come and have a look if you are in the area. It's a great show. If anyone wants to have a look at our web site northwestz.org . We try and have at least one cruise a month , plus several other activities. We post them on our events calender if you want to join in you are welcome. I had fun starting from the beginning of this thread and rereading all the posts. So many familiar names we don't see any longer, or at least vary often. This Spring and Summer is going to be GREAT. Looking forward to some serious cruising. We may be having a cruise to eastern Oregon making it a two day run. So we may meet 70Z4fun along the way. All the best to all. Gary

I have never seen the point! Only if you are on the drag strip and are running slicks that need to be heated to provide traction. Gary

Welcome to the group. As was stated , there is a wealth of information to be tapped here. Sometime have a look at what has been discussed in the past by going to the search function and ask a question. More than likely there will be information there waiting for you. But if you want to ask here just go right ahead. Gary

Tuning your L-24 , running SUs , or a L-28 with the same Carbs . You use the same specs. What electronic ignition do you have installed? I know Arne had detonation problems with his '71 with a ZX ignition. I ran a ZX on my '73 with no problem. I could run 12* advance with not a ping on either regular or Plus gas. His engine is much fresher than mine was. Pinging or detonation can be caused because of the shape of the combustion chamber and the space if any between the head and the piston. This gap can cause the detonation. Carbon build up and all that also. the advance curve comes into the picture with the later ignition . But as I stated I had no problem with this . I now have a different engine with the same ZX ignition. Go with 10* advance and .035 on the plugs . Use only NGKs. Valves set at .008 and .010'' hot or .010 and .012 cold. ''If it aint broke don't fix it" Gary

There are a couple of possibilities Check the spindle pin bushings . If it is bad, this could cause the car to lower some. Also the rear wheel can move forward and back . There is no alignment adjustment on the early Zs. The other thing it could be is the spring it's self is sagging. But check the spindle pin bushing first. Do you have a service manual, or How To Restore your Z ? If not Motorsports has the How To book . I highly recommend it. Gary

Otherwise see if you can tighten the gas cap so it will seal tight. They can be made to seal tightly by SLIGHTLY bending the ears that attach the cap to the filler neck. Gary

I cannot tell by your picture what year your Z is . However in any case . The large filler hose attaches to the metal end that has the cap. I know on my '73 you access the upper clamp via the inside of the car. You remove the plastic panel on the passenger side in the rear corner of the hatch area. On a later car access is up in the back of the wheel well. On both models , there is a small panel of metal held in place with three sheet metal screws right in back of the right rear wheel. When this triangular piece is removed you will be able to see all of the filler neck. The early cars have the rubber filler hose that goes all the way from the tank to the underside of where the cap section is located . the newer years have metal extension that extends down from the cap area in the fender well under the car. Hope this helps. Be careful with these large hoses because they are not cheep. All the best, Gary

EScanlon is correct spark,Gas & air flow and she should run. First thing I would do is check to see if you have spark to the plugs. If that proves positive then passably fuel pump. I had one fail with no warning . Some times they diminish in the quantity of gas they will pump, mine just froze up. My guess is that it is one or the other. Did you check all the fuses ? My experience with Zs is mostly with the 240s and I don't where the fuse would be for your pump. Hopefully someone else will chime in here . I don't know at what point the pump is activated when you start the engine. I imagine the pump would need to be running at first start to pressurize the injectors, so if you had some one turn the key and you listened back by the rear wheel on the driver side you should hear the pump running. Gary