JimmyZ

Try and rule out ignition first. Check your plugs for fouling. Maybe you dialed it too rich. Fouled plugs won't readily clean themselves. Clean or replace and set your fuel mixture right. Get a timing light and see if the spark is becoming erratic at 3K+. If it is then check the distributor shaft for play and check the points gap and dist cap. (assuming plugs are good) Check the timing to see if the distributor has shifted. If all is well with the ign system then you can move on to fuel issues. Change the filter and check your fuel level in the float bowls. Hopefully you don't have tank rust. If it's not a fuel issue it might be a mechanical issue. Be certain that the oil pressure is OK. If you overheated the engine the pistons can seize. In some cases the engine will run for a short time but then dies once the pistons have expanded from overheating. Grasping at straws here Jim

This is an excellent thread/topic so here's another bump. People get away with painting over nontreated metal all the time. The question is how long does it take for rust to develop under the paint. My wife's volvo had some repainting done a few years ago with no treatment. They simply sprayed high build primer on some bare areas and sanded it. Now we have sheet rust in those areas. The paint has a raised and uneven surface from where rust is festering underneath. For production style bodyshops such concerns about longevity are thrown to the wayside. Turnover is all important and in time they forget about how to do things right. It's more about what they can get away with. Looking at the attached photo you'll see a sandblasted windshield channel. Look closely and you'll see tiny pockets of leftover rust. You could paint over them but what would happen in a few months would be predictable. Old metal which has rusted this thoroughly needs to be chemically treated. This eliminates or at least slows the spread of rust. Newer cleaner metal requires less severe chemical treatments or just ZC primer. RE: Drying and removal of chemicals... Most people (Hobbyists/noobs) don't dry their rinse water off as quickly or thoroghly as they should. This will cause sheet rust later. You've got to use clean dry air and a towel/clean wipe followed by a trip out in the sun to bake. This is the best insurance. 2c Jim

The prices seem pretty close to what my PPG jobber charges for the DX and the Ospho. (gallon size) Remember that the DX gets diluted with water too. You get more than a gallon. It does eat up spray bottle mechanisms though. Jim

Just curious. What material are the stamps made of and how thick are they? How much would you say they weigh? (For something the size of a quarter panel stamp. Maybe we could facilitate the creation of some Z parts by making a trip with a forklift and U-haul.

It's fixable. The question is how much experience do you have with body filler and metal bumping? Depending on where the dent is you may need to pull it out if you can't get a hammer and dolly to it. Weld-on studs are good for this. Here's a page I made for someone who is new to paint and bodywork. It should give you some ideas and direction. http://warbuddies.homestead.com/RestoHelp.html Post a picture of the damage. It might help. You will need to get it repainted of course. It might be quicker/better/easier to just have the body shop handle the whole thing. They will do a better job of matching the paint and getting the bodywork right. There's nothing stopping you from doing it if you have all the equipment and materials. Using a wide spreader for filler such as a drywall spreader helps to get a good initial shape to work with. (On large area jobs such as this) A long durablock is a must too.

Hi Juan, Here's a page I made just for this sort of thing... http://warbuddies.homestead.com/240Zignition.html The page is not finished but should get you headed in the right direction. I'm assuming that you took the distributor cap off and blew it dry as well as the points plate. When you wash you engine water can actually collect in the distributor and get slung about when the engine turns over. This means that even if your cap is dry it can still get shorted when the residual water in the dizzy evaporates or gets slung. There is a wire on the distibutor which you may have unplugged while washing. It's easy to do. Check for any loose wires. As far as the coil getting hot... You aren't leaving your ignition switched ON with the car not running right?? Doing so will fry your points and can make the coil hot. (Possibly killing the coil but definitely killing the points) An improperly wired ballast resistor can cause the coil to run at 12 volts making the "normal" coil get hot and die. The system starts the engine with twelve volts and when the key is in the "run" position the voltage to the coil should be around 6V. You may want to buy a new coil anyway if it's gotten that hot. (Assuming it's really hot) It should cost around $25-$30 if you shop around. Jim

In some previous threads there was high talk of brass in distributor cap terminals being superior to/more durable than aluminum. In all the years I've owned my Z I've only been able to get the aluminum variety... Until last week! It seems that Carquest carries some excellent parts. http://www.carquest.com/ Everything I've bought from them for the Z has been top notch. Never bought from them until the gas crunch made me buy along my route to home. Glad I started. Here's a few things I've recently bought which are of better quality than Autozone or Advance... Dist cap / rotor (brass) Points (high quality) Not like mainstream crap stores sell Exhaust flange gasket (Like OEM aluminum sandwhich) 3 row Radiator New clutch kit (not rebuilt) 76 280Z clutch for $150 (PP, disc, throwout and input shaft bearing and clutch tool included) 2c Jim 2/71 240Z

You probably mean/ should have said hesitation. "Lag" is what you experience during online game play when someone has a bad connection or is resetting their #$*@ing modem. There is also "turbo lag" which is a genuine form of engine lag. It might be best to give the car a "full" tune up. Before balancing the carbs be sure that you have adjusted the valves. Get a dwell meter to set your points. You can get by with feeler guages but it's better to use the meter. Make sure the rpm is right when setting dwell/gap. Check for free movement of pistons in the carbs. Do they stick? Check by hand as outlined in many manuals. Tear down and clean with brake parts cleaner or laquer thinner. Ignition can also cause some poor performance of this nature. Check the condition of plugs and clean/replace if necessary. Points in poor adjustment or condition can cause hesitation as well. A distributor with sloppy bearings can wreak havoc on points ignition settings. In synopsis... Get a Haynes manual. Adjust tappets Check/replace spark plugs Clean and adjust carbs Service the ignition... Points, condenser, clean terminals in or replace dizzy cap (Best to replace points condeser, rotor and cap) There are a few things outside the tune up which could cause "lag". Do the tune up first and check back. 2c Hope this helps. Jim

Just did a search one the fuel pump topic. Check out Carl Beck's post. This cleared up the electric pump issue. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29392&highlight=240z+electric+pump There was also an extra filter described in back. The good news is that the electric pump is an aid and the car can function w/o it.

On some later 240's they had an additional electric pump near the tank IIRC. I don't know if failure of the electric pump could restrict the mechanical pump from getting gas. (If you have a two pump system) The electric pump is near the tank. I've had mechanical pumps which seemed fine but needed to be replaced. It wouldn't hurt to have a spare and they're $40 at autozone. Valve cover gaskets aren't that expensive so I'd just take the cover off and see. I'd pop the cover off and use a screwdriver to bypass/switch the starter on. This will allow you to see if the eccentric cam working. Turn the engine over with the pump installed and valve cover off to verify motion if a replacement pump doesn't fix it. A clogged fuel rail can also cause a no flow condition. I've posted my experiences with a clogged fuel rail so a search might help. Do these things and it WILL live again! :) In synopsis... 1 Add 2 gallons gas. It's a simple thing to overlook 1a.Try manually drawing fuel to verify flow. (See previous JimmyZ post) 2.If fuel flow exists replace filter. Make sure that all hoses fit well and have good clamps. 3.Fill float bowls manually 4. Crank and run engine for 45 seconds if no fuel is pumped/drawn replace pump. 5. Fill bowls again and start engine. If new pump fails to produce fuel check eccentric. Also check for flow with exit end of pump unplugged. 6 If pump flows on engine (When turning) then the fuel rail/carb strainers are suspect. 7. Clean rail and float bowl strainers. There are posts detailing good ways to clean the rail. Just trying to help. Jim

If you have a compressor get a siphon sandblaster and use the pickup end to suck some fuel from the tank just upstream of the pump. Do it outdoors and away from any ignition sources! DON'T try this with a vaccum!! (=KABOOM! ) Allow any raw fuel to completely evaporate before continuing. Imagine dropping a wrench and having it spark. You might also try a handheld vaccum pump available at parts stores to check for fuel flow/blockage. (Much safer) The suction end of a hand sandblaster will spray a cloud of gas about 20 feet. Best to stop the moment any fuel begins to flow. My bet is that the pump is bad or the cam bolt has loosened OR you need to add a couple more gallons of gas to the tank. It would take a lot to clog a 240's line. Now that I think of it it might be possible to have a clogged line if your tank liner went bad. (Assuming it was a refurbished tank) Isn't there an electric pump on later 240Z's??? If you have such a pump it might be the culprit. I'd definitely crawl under the car and have a look to see what it has. Perhaps someone put an extra filter in upsteam of the pump? 2c Jim

SEM colorcoat and other SEM products are nice. (You had mentioned reconditioning) Years ago I sprayed a vinyl top with SEM and it still looks great. PPG sells vinyl paints which are basecoat/clearcoat. You can choose various sheens this way. (Gloss/semi etc) 2c Jim

Park it in a museum. :) From what I've seen dash cracks are hit or miss. Maybe it was an inconsistency in the manufacturing that causes this. (something with the underlying foam) My dash has several grand canyon valleys. Nothing a dash cap won't fix.

When you say that you are laying it on the fender and getting spark that's odd. The plug should not ground because of the paint. If the coil is making a spark at the main coil wire then it is downstream of that part. It should beone of the following ... rotor, dist cap, fouled plugs or it might be that you have a bad coil which sparks under atmospheric conditions but has become too weak to jump the gap under compression. I was once stumped by a coil that did just that. It might also be possible that your dizzy has so much slop that the pertronix pickup isn't in close enough proximity to the sender to get a good signal. A sloppy distributor can even cause a rotor machine the cap giving rough running or no run. (extreme) Wiggle your dist shaft and check your parts for "wear". First thing I'd do is swap the plugs and dist cap given what you've described. (Just to experiment) Times like this it's nice to have a backup distributor with points just to try some "plug 'n play". 2c Jim

Did you try checking for spark at the coil wire? You could have a bad dist cap. Use a new plug for any spark tests. I'm assuming that the plugs in your engine aren't fouled. Try installing three new ones just to see. You did try spraying some starting fluid in the carbs to verify that it is not a fuel issue? Just food for thought

Try removing the fuel from the bowls and adding some fresh stuff. There should be a drain on the bowl or you just use some throw away rags to sop it. Possible that the bowls have water from tank?? (Or bad gas or diesel) I once pumped a few gallons of diesel into the Z and ended up draining the tank. Be sure to let any raw fuel evaporate completely before starting. Would hate to see you or the car get burned. I once had some debris clog my return line on the fuel rail. Remove the return line and crank to verify flow. If clogged some blow the fuel rail from the return end then run a little laquer thinner through it to clean and dissolve anything else. 2c Jim

If you have the early SU's you can always take the float bowl covers off and put some gas in them. This will give you about 45 seconds of run time which is enough to prime the system if everything is working OK. 2c Jim

U-joints are pretty easy to change. With shop rates near $100./hour do you really want to find out? You need a few basic tools and it would cost less than paying a shop. (Hammer, socket, snap ring pliers and two 12mm wrenches) To be safe I always use red loctite on the driveshaft bolts when reassembling. Check for loose mounting harware by tightening all harware related to the diff. Two common culprits are the mustach bar outer and inner nuts. 2c Jim

Here's what we need for our cars!! http://www.dynacornclassicbodies.com/ford_models.html Wouldn't it be great to simply buy a new shell?

I believe there are three keys which are used in our Z's. (four actually) Earlier cars had the one sided key. Then there were two series of double sided keys.(DA24&26?) If you get an aftermarket ignition switch then it is for an even later style Nissan switch. (1982+ I think) I recently went to my dealer and tried getting duplicates for my newly purchased IGN switch. They tried the two double sided styles which came with 70-78Z's. The keys didn't match so the locksmith figured it out in minutes. I think the keys went in an '80's Maxima or ZX??? Moral of the story is to visit the locksmith. 2c Jim

I'm sure this will get some flak but I don't buy the whole global warming story. It really makes me cringe when I hear people say it. To me, it's just something we've been spoonfed by our government and slanted media. I DO think that we need to move on to the next generation of fuel however. As China and India come into the modern age and start using more gas prices will only go up. We need options. Supposedly they are building another refinery here in the states but it will take ten years to complete. Since I was a kid I've been into astronomy and recently had a realization which could explain climate change. (Just a musing) We take for granted that our star's output remains constant when thinking of our climate. There are variable stars with periods of days and years. I wonder if anyone has collected enough data to show what our sun's output has been over the last few millenia? Food for thought. http://gribbitonline.com/2008/03/03/al-gore-may-be-named-in-possible-global-warming-fraud-suit/ Wonder how the Gore lawsuit is going. It seems that he is being sued for false or exaggerated claims of global warming. 2c Jim

Is that new hardware or does he do his own cad plating?? Very nice looking engine(s)!! Jim

You don't wash ospho off with water. There are other solutions (various "metal preps") such as PPG's DX 520 which are rinse off and dry types. These don't do as thorough a job as an ospho type of solution where you leave it on and have the acid "attack" the rust. To me, ospho is the king of rust killers. The metal prep types are meant for treating any flash rust (light stuff) which happens once the metal is exposed for a short time. Ospho tackles the deeper/thicker rust which has been festering. It's always best to remove as much rust as you can before applying. I like to ospho then remove the ospho scale or skin with a metal prep such as DX520. The problem with leaving ospho on underneath is that it can be too thick in places which creates a shifting substrate. A thin layer of ospho left over would be OK. (This is in the directions) My body shop had a paint job come back to him because something went wrong with the ospho. (Hence my suggestion of completely removing the stuff) Ospho needs to be sanded flat or removed because it will show up in the finish coat as streaks and bumps. (If you lightly scotch brite it) The reason I like the idea of using a metal prep as an aid in ospho removal is that you completely remove the ospho film by using a scotch brite pad while keeping the metal under a mild acid bath. (Use gloves or have your hand eaten! )Let's say that you were to sand through to bare metal suing a dry method and some stray moisture were to get on the exposed stuff. You would end up with rust under your paint. It's overkill but it's better than completely stripping a car the second time because you didn't control rust. My 2c Jim

It would be easier to use another set of towers. It really depends on whether the factory did the final machining as an align bore. (Towers in head) If this were the case then you'd have to use a matched set. As a couple thousandths/in difference is to be found between heads. If the factory used a jig to hold all towers in close proximity for boring then all towers should in theory be the same. (Towers machined outside head) Heads are pretty cheap to come by and you will probably end up with a few spares in the end. 2c Jim

http://warbuddies.homestead.com/RestoHelp.html A site I made for just these kind of questions Jim