fuzze

good morning all , when I got my Z the price was reduced drastically for electrical reasons . 2800 $drive home price , it did not have any turn signals at all . The po had a specialty shop look at it and they said everything was in need of renewal '' a wallet grab I believe '' . I read a article on hybredz and there was a guy who took apart the steering column and exposed the turn signal switch and went on to explain how with a small brass shim he was able to improve the the friction on the rocker in the switch . there is a part in there that is plastic and it wares out over time . I followed the directions and put it all back together and '' bravo '' turn signals at all four corners ! I took pics of the process so u can PM me and I can send some shots to u to show the way . I'm off to a lacrosse game so I will respond later . Chris

Thanks for all the help and suggestions . Next week I'm going to take the z out to a a front end specialist shop and I will see what they can come up with besides money out of my wallet . I like the idea of balancing on the car . just to be sure of myself I will also tear down the front end and check my torque on the ball joints . What should the correct spec be for this setting . As well I will switch the wheels from front to rear to see if there is a difference . Thank you everyone for your continued help . Chris

Hi all ,as you all know I rebuilt the front end just like everyone else here including poly bushings all around except for the t\c , which is half rubber \ poly . Cut to the chase , I just put new speed rated h , 14 inch federal fomoza tires on my original shelby libres , computer balanced . New outer tie rods , ball joints , end links and tokiko lowering springs and blue tokiko struts . The car drives straight as a arrow but the steering wheel shakes after 45- 50 mph to the point where i will not drive it beyond city speed driving . My suspicions are that I did not torque the ball joints to the proper setting and i think that the steering rack needs a professional to look at it . As well front and rear brakes are fully serviced and new as are the front wheel bearings . Any help or suggestions are appreciated . thanks Chris

Hi guys , always like posts about Libre's . When I bought my 71 these where on the car . I love the look , although my teenage sons keep telling me to get with the times and buy some new wheels and tires . i suspect I will but i want to get another summer with this wheel set . Yes there are very few performance options , but I am leaning towards falken Azenies , they come in a 195 60 14 for a little over 110 $ Canadian a piece . My libre's are the shelbys with all four center caps . I tumbled the caps in a rock tumbler that was filled with stainless steel pins and shot . The pits in the pot metal where almost completely removed and I then sprayed them with black chrome paint . In the direct sun the contrast between the caps and the graphite spokes looks great IMO . They will be sold next year and I hope I can get 6-700 with the azenies . Thanx for reading Chris

Thanks Chris , you for one know how much of a plate I had to go through to get her where she is . It was fun considering that this is my first build of any kind . Do you recognize the Ruskin dam , nice twistys up there !

Hey all , well the insurance was finally up during mid october which gave me 5 months of troubleshooting and tweaking after 16 months of hard refresh work . The list was big , but not unusual for everyone here . Suspension bushings front and rear , Brakes f\r rebuild , Diff bushings , springs , struts , tokiko hp and lowering springs , undercoat strip and reweld and fab new floors , seats rebuilt with extra lumbar supports and new webbing and nice cloth \vinyl upholstery . Craigslist find for carpet kit and lastly , all my own body work and paint . It was shot with 2 coats of e-primer and then shredded on hard for most of the summer .Over winter it will get a coat of real paint , Hot rod black with some red and white pinning for accents and then if budget allows , some new wheel ,tires and then back on with all the lights and bumpers . hope you have enjoyed my project as much as we have . Z ya all later . Chris

Thankz , but I don't need regulators , I was hoping to pull the ones out of the 2+2 doors and just stash them away in case I ever had a need to replace mine , Now I'm hoping someone local could take them from me and find a good use for the parts . See ya Chris

Thank you for the reply , you have confirmed my suspicions . Now sadly I must do what has to happen next , off to the junkyard for someone else to find maybe . I have tried to give them away for free including a rear hatch ,all with perfect glass and such . If anyone here is near Vancouver , British Columbia shoot me a pm in the next couple of days and you can come to me and pick them up . I do not do the Ebay thing and I don't like to warehouse things I can't use . Have a great day all Chris

Good morning , no love so far for my question ? Enrique , you know these cars well , could you chime in hopefully . Thanks for any help . Chris

Hello all , I'm hoping someone could help me . I own a early 71z and I was recently given a set of doors from a 74-76 260 2+2 . The doors are all intact with very good operating regulators . Are these parts interchangeable with my 71 ? Thanks for your help Chris

Hello , I would follow the advice that Carl suggested . the atf \acetone mixture is the best penetrate that I have ever used . I read about this mixture while reading on this site and it was my saving grace when I encountered any stubborn bolts and nuts . I would soak and use a little heat in combination and let it sit a while and then repeat with atf\acetone combo and you should be able to free up most anything that seems frozen solid . Good luck, and when they come loose you will have a great sense of victory until you reach the next obstacle , known as fixing up a Z car ! Just have some fun with it and be patient. later Chris

Evening everyone , you have all been here or hope to be soon . Two years ago I started my tear down and after a lot of sweat and knuckle blood , a bit too much cursing and emptying my wallet many times , our 71 Z is cruising the streets and turning heads all over the place ! I promised my oldest son that it would be ready for his high school graduation this past Friday , and short of a couple '' well many '' incomplete things , we put a ten day permit on her and he and is girl had the coolest car to go to grad with . I won't go on about all the things we did , but the fact of the matter is that when we started this project we had a discussion about seeing the job through and we are proud to say that the end product turned out great . We still have a lot of tweaking to get the body lines closer before it gets it's final paint , but as it stands right now we have a Z to enjoy and I would like to thank everyone on this forum who we have gleaned information from and thanks to all those who PM,ed with advice and helped us through some trying times . Our Z is primed flat black with epoxy sealer and we hope over the next few weeks we will have her finished in her final paint scheme of Hot Rod Black .We like the stealth look ! Long post , but we just want to share our excitement with you all . Z you all later and one again Thanks to everyone . Chris and family

Have you owned this z for a while and did the signals work prior while driving .I ask because when I bought my 71 Z , I had no working signals so I did what you have done and the fix came in the way of re-building the switch . I was able to do my own although I know that Dave from the above post will fix it up right for you . Chris

Hello all , hoping for a little help from those who have installed Oem bushings . I removed all the old and now have the bushing pressed in at work one one side , but what do I do about pressing the lip over on the backside of the bar like it was from the factory . Any tips from those who have done it . Thanks Chris

Hello all as my title says I have a chance to purchase a set ,that the print on the box says '' Custom auto carpets , ''240z black complete set '' and they where purchased in the late 80's from a co in Chicago called Jc Whitney and Co . The seller says that they have built in underlay with the set and are still in the box never installed and with the installation instructions included and the asking price is very reasonable . Has anybody ever used these or know about the product thanxz for any feedback . Chris, in snowless Vancouver hosting the Olympics at the end of the week !

I see the parallel Darrel to all the hard work an a Z, a person should be able to go and relax with what the other things in life that bring you joy . This is our 8 month old Labrador '' Sage '' and myself with my 15 year old son on the Fraser river with a 6.5 ft white sturgeon . I know you members in Oregon will have seen much larger sturgeon than this but this is one of my favorite pics . Z you all later , also I think the color on the Z is awesome ! Chris

Morning all , have any of you ever see a dead chicken thrown into a pig pen , it takes mere seconds for the pigs to devour all the usable parts , it's natures way of taking care of everything , same as what should be done with a good parts car . Darrel , I totally get your sense of humor and I hope you get the parts you can use . Take care and have a great day from a very cold Vancouver , British Columbia BRRRRR Chris

I am very envious of you as my car is still undergoing paint prep , but come spring time my Z will be out on Sundays for the very reason that you spoke of ''the smile from ear to ear '' . Although where we live I wouldn't dare to leave it running outside a store , it could be gone in a heartbeat or a copper could pull up and charge you with leaving a running car unattended . sadly these are the times we live in these days but I will say that your post brought a big smile to my face as well , Thanks ! have a great day all Chris

Hello in Toronto , I'm just jamming the doors this weekend and then the final body line work will be completed after that . I will trailer the Z down to the body shop for a dial in on the wedge clamp frame machine and then it will be time for paint to be laid down . As you know we do get winter out here so any road time won't start until after April at best . Z you all later and I will post some pic's of my progress as it happens . Chris '' aka Fuzze '' .

Good morning all , this is a great thread as I will be repainting black in a very short time . When Joker72 lived out here on the west coast it was always his Z that stood out from the rest of the pack, and that was based on the paint , which I might add was several years old and still looked awesome ! When I told J72 I was going to change my color to another he replied with '' Black is the sexiest paint that you can have on a Z , nothing else compares '' . With due respect to all the other colors out there I agree with him totally . Bonzi Lon , if I where to change my color I would have gone to blue just like yours and saying that '' beauty is in the eye of the beholder '' and color is definitely a personal choice . Yes it is true that the body work needs to be perfect but why wouldn't it be when you a doing a total paint job . Have a great day Chris

Evening all , as the title says has anyone come up with a system \ fix for the broken pins on the emblems . I have a feeling that I might be out of luck on this one but there are some very bright people around this site and they might have come up with a fix that doesn't include taking my wallet out again . My originals had been glued on from the PO and are in great shape otherwise , but I would rather not go that route if I can help it . Thank you for any advice and help . Chris

Hi all , I was wanting to help you guys with a method to polish the aluminum caps and for that matter all small parts '' ie , wheel nuts , hinge parts ,etc . We have a hobby size rock tumbler that my wife uses for jewelry making . When a silver smith finishes a piece they then place the item in the tumbler with what is known in the industry as stainless steel pins . You then take a little bit of Ivory bar soap and a little water for lubrication and then tighten up the tumblers lid and and place it on the rollers for several hrs until you are satisfied with the finish , a ring might take a few hours where as my center caps I polished overnight . The pits almost completely disappeared and then the autosol finished the rest . Stainless pins can be purchased at any good jewelry or lapidary supply store for around 30$ lb and they last forever .I'm sure a media tumbler would do the same thing . Zee ya Chris

Ok my mistake , I know we all need pics for verification . As above stated in my previous post

Evening , was looking at this thread with interest as my wheels are off my car and they must be real libre's as they have the re-inforcing rib down the center of the spoke , although the are Shelby vipers complete with all the caps and in spotless shape . I did re paint them and then polished out the caps and then painted them in black chrome . The rubber is cheap bunk but they will not be on for long as I'm searching for new tire's , probably azenis or yokahamas . Don't start a swordfight as to what is real and what isn't . 250 $ for a set of 5 is a steal , someone run and go get them .

I have to say that when back when I owned my 72z back in the early 80's I was always a $ short of putting stripes on my car like the track Z shown above . Now that I am very close to laying down some paint on my 71 I will seriously consider striping this one, as it seems to set these cars apart from all the single paint schemes that I see here in the Vancouver area . I really like the look and the stance that the track car has and I believe that the stripes are the major contributing factor . As Idahokidd says every body has a opinion so it it what suits you that counts . Z ya later Chris