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keep it and enjoy it . Dennis nailed it , '' mid project remorse '' happens because of the dreaded '' while I'm there scenario '' . Get a can of chalkboard paint and paint out a wall or cabinet and make a list of all you need to do and then prioritize what is really important to get done , do it and wipe your chalkboard clean . You will feel satisfaction watching the list grow smaller . I did a mostly complete rolling resto and was able to enjoy my z without feeling like I was getting lost in the project . I taught myself how to stitchweld from the miller site and body and paint were as well from online tutorials . As my dad says '' I didn't know much when I was young , but I sure learned a lot along the way . By the way I like the green , it stands out , as a z should ! Chris

Morning all , I remember you talking about maybe needing to shave a bit off one of the bosses . My car has as well a 5 speed that from all accounts of what everyone said, I was prepared to grind , although I had around 3\4 inch of clearance so there was no issue thankfully . I believe my tranny is out of a 280 from what people suggested to look for in terms of design . c ya Chris

Hello hardway , you will love this header , I installed mine in late august with my son doing all the work , he is 18 and a excellent mechanic . I went with 2.5 inch stainless to a magnaflow universal muffler . It sounds awesome and the throttle response is wicked . The header fit perfectly and with some custom bending of the stainless we were able fit the exhaust system to the rear were I filled the stock cutout that you can see in my pic . My insurance is up in two more weeks and as long as the snow stays away I will be driving the crap out of her and then over the winter I will tackle the gas fume issues that you are currently dealing with . have fun with the Z Chris

5th horseman , you should re-read the posts , the only poster making comparisons to the road and the track is John Coffey . This isn't even a intelligent comparison unless you are at a state fair involved in a demolition derby . Racing is a directional pursuit , just ask John

I love the way threads affect people and illicit some emotion ! I road a 10 speed bike for years and gave up on it as it was way to difficult to avoid the fools . As far a driving , come to british columbia where we have a huge immigrant population , where the common saying is '' i can't see , I have a windshield in front of me '' . I have driven all over the eastern Us and I can tell you people in the Carolinas have their **** together . go to Seattle and you take your life in your hands but make it to oregon and you can feel safe once again . 5horseman , Maryland driving is a nightmare and if you would like to come to Vancouver Island or to the Coquihalla highway or the Sea to sky you would have a real adventure with a well tuned car . As far as skill and ability some people have it and others will never even come close . where do you want to place yourself in that line ! Chris

morning , some very interesting comments and some very valid points from everyone . Going to toot my own horn so to speak , I just turned 49 yr s old and I have had a spotless drivers abstract since I have been 18 . The one collision '' note it wasn't a accident '' I had is when I trusted my passenger to look for me to see if the intersection was clear and we got tee boned on the passenger side . My fault for trusting a passenger to do my thinking . The point is that driving is a privilege and not a right and the key to keeping that in focus it drive with absolute patience . In our family we own 5 vehicles and my daily driver is a 87 suzuki samurai . It doesn't go fast as it only has 60 hp although in my line of work I drive on a daily basis 13 speed , 18 speed dump trucks and a variety of loaders and heavy equipment on the road year round plowing snow and otherwise . I have the safest driving record in the whole corporation and have just recently taught two twenty somethings to pass their commercial drivers licence . While teaching these two young me my entire emphasis was on patience and observation of what was going on around them .My mantra was '' self preservation '' and going home at night so you can enjoy the money you have just earned . My dad who drove 45 years in a semi trailer with a spotless record to retirement taught me these virtues at a very young age and I am thankful to this very day . Almost any car can be a safe DD if you want to be a safe driver yourself . keep a safe distance and be aware always and hopefully you can pass on good skills to someone else . OK , off my soapbox and everyone enjoy your day Chris

After the install , my son will take it to his friends Shop and put it on a lift and will get some pics then and I will try to get a video post so we can hear how she sings ! Anybody recognize the old header yet Chris

Hello leon v , my trans filler is on the left side and as far as 5th gear it is very seldom used unless I'm on the highway to Whistler or making time on the freeway going to Kelowna . Our vins must be close as my Z is a 2/71 build as well . Chris

Hello hardway , I jut took a quick look and the only id reference # on the tranny is on the passenger side and it says '' L 5 '' . The po did the swap and to fit the console they trimmed the very front so you could shift to 5th gear . The header clears the bell housing with a half inch to spare . could not get my car on the lift today so tomorrow morn I changed my appointment to . Too bad about the trimming as the interior is spotless other than minor crack in dash , oh well . What else could indicate a 280 or zx tranny ? Chris

Hello all , after receiving my order two weeks ago we finally got to the header install yesterday . My 17 year old son Ian is a grade A mechanic and my go to always for these kind of jobs . we got it all apart and of course took reference photos . cleaned the carbs with some varsol and used some aluminum brightener on the balance tube and manifolds and then we started to dry fit the parts to be sure of fitments . when we were doing that job we realized that the stud closest to the fire wall had been cut to fit the old header and we knew right away we had a problem on our hands . tried the standard method to remove by using two nuts and the stud would not budge , abit of heat and the 50-50 mix of lacquer thinner , acetone and still nothing . Ok worst case scenario I welded a nut to the stub with high hopes , yea u guessed right , the stud snapped . Fortunately there was a least 5 threads still left so we had to come up with a mcgyver . One of the nuts on the old header wasn't normal , it was like a coupler that allowed us to trim a new stud to size and fit it into the coupler allowing for a now extended stud that extended past the thicker flange on the new header and just like magic we were back to the the install . A little over two hrs later and with some new atf oil in the carbs and a couple of cranks and my entire hood could hear what a 71 z sound like with a wide open header . Now off to the muffler shop in the morning for a 2.5 inch mandrel bent stainless pipe to my new magnaflow universal flow through muffler and we are cooking with fire . And yes for those who r wondering ,I am driving my Z to the shop about two miles away . I am going to go during the rush hour and crawl my way there and hope for the best ! I did not have to trim anything from the tranny to make it fit , I do have a 5 speed swap . i have posted some pics and am curious , does anyone recognize who might of made the old header ? Thanks for everyone tips that allow this forum to be so successful . Zya later , Chris

Morning all , i am in the midst of installing my new 6-1 ceramic header that was delivered last week and I have everything off and now I want to clean the manifolds and fuel rail to look like factory . I could polish out with power tools and paste , although all I want is to clean them up and make to look new . Any suggestions are always appreciated . thankz Chris

thanks Blue for the advice . I am a stone sculptor as a part time income and I have all the necessary face protection and a industrial vacuum system that i will set up to capture all the grindings . Thanks for the help Chris

Thanks for the positive feedback , I am really looking forward to this set up . love this site zee ya later Chris

Hey all , I will be facing this situation soon as i will be buying this header next week . My 71 is all matching #s with a E31 head and a 5 speed upgrade from a unknown year . The PO did the swap . Will all the 5 speeds be the same with the clearance issue ? I will be adding a custom SS 2.5 inch pipe straight to My new birthday gift from my son"s , a magnaflo SS muffler , model 11226 universal . Please offer opinions without bashing please . thanxz Chris

My memory serves me well most days , it is the best concoction out there . It is what got my rear brake drums off the 71 after many attempts with any thing else i could spray in the back of the drum . Like I said our mechs use it on all our winter plows that have had 4 months of salt and sand abuse , everything comes loose easily ! Z u all later Chris

yes acetone as well , zylene and a few others . the lacquer thinner is what i have been using . chris

Hello , a few years back reading on this forum i believe it was bonzi lon that wrote about homemade lube that is my go to always for really stuck fasteners and broken bolts . 50 % lacquer thinner to 50 % automatic tranny fluid . This is the hands down best i have ever used . our mechanics at work use this now for the toughest jobs . I spray and leave to soak for a few mins and then heat with a torch and then quench the stuck bolt one more time and then proceed to loosen . Works every time ! good luck Chris

Timing is good as we where out celebrating our 22nd wedding anniversary till this morning , and yes, there is no gas left in the tank !!!!!!!!!!! thankz for the help and off to Lordco to get my goods Chris

Morning , hoping someone can help with the rear bumper to body bolt size . I'm aware of the search function , although I am hopeing someone knows off the top of their head . Always appreciated the continual help from this forum , thankz Chris from rainy Vancouver BC .

Hey all , I enjoyed your video and I was remembering taking mine out after a long session of work . It is a awesome feeling of satisfaction knowing that you did the work . You have some nice country roads to cruise there in NC , I was just on holiday in NC and SC and took country roads and followed our gps around the state . Wished we had our 240 the whole time . see ya Chris

Hey all . here is what I have going on . I just put back on rd after winter sleep and If i leave the headlight switch turned off ,all my electric works perfect . I turn the lights on and I loose my turnsignals and the interior signal indicator lights both stay on . My 4-way flasher works as new and when I engage the switch while the headlights are on , the interior signal lights will then cancel themselves . I have Dave Irwins headlights relay upgrade for two years now installed and I,m wondering is it a relay issue and how would I check that . Thankz for any help Chris

Morning , back in the early eighties I was Chef and Did all the prep cooking for the Mountain top restaurant and lodge at Blackcomb Ski Resort . I would ski when I had time in the day and I was busting through the tree line when what did I see , a wallet with at first glance looked like 4000$ and Japanese ID . I put my self in there shoes and did the right thing , turned it in to lost and found . It was picked up later in the evening by a tourist , final tally with travelers cheques 7000$ . The next day I went in to work to a note written in Japanese that said '' Thank you for your kindness '' . My reward was the lesson of Honesty and integrity . Mantra for good living . Chris

Blue showed a couple of links , The princess auto is like a canadian harbour frieght , although canadian tire sells what is known as maximum mastercraft , these are good quality that are made For company , very similar to Craftsman from sears . What I want to point out is every three months they rotate inventory and the bargains are there . Yesterdays flyer showed a tune up kit including , two spark plug sockets , a 4 inch extension and a flex head ratchet with a 30 degree bend in the handle for the tight spots . I used this yesterday to get at the plugs on my 92 ranger . Price advertised before sale , 49$ . Sale price 9.99$ , worth every penny in mho . Chris

thank you , I hope they ship to Canada Chris

hey all , thank for all the tips ! I tore down the front end as planned and discovered that my ball joints were loose as I thought '' comes from late nites and a few molson Canadians . brought the b\joints to 55 ft lbs and then went through everything else including new wheel bearings and liners , new brake pads and bleeding the M\C and front brake lines. As well went to the front end specialty shop and had them re-balance the tires and do a alignment . They determined that the right rear wheel has a slight bend which can be repaired and the also suggested that I try to find adjustable t\c rods so they could set the castor . Not sure if those type of T|C rods are available , although I know the ball and socket set is out there to purchase . The car know drives straight and virtually has zero steering wheel shake compared to the former death wobble . As well there suggestion was to asap get new wheel nuts with a longer shank as what I have are to short . The wheel repair is a easy fix for a company that they use here in the Vancouver area and I have to tell you all that I could not be happier with the way the Z drives . I will plug this company as they true professionals in both their customer service and quality of workmanship '' Dale's alignment '' located In Langley , British Columbia Canada . Next question for you gurus , I see the t\c Ball socket is available at both MSA and Black dragon , although i have recently read that some members have had some issues with The MSA co with their shipping of products . Any thoughts on this are appreciated Chris