Pilgrim

Good call. More people probably got hit by cars than had the serious responses reported. My daughter got the J&J shot last week and is one of millions who is fine. Others in the family got the Moderna and Pfizer. All fine, a couple felt lousy the day after but were fine within a couple of days.

I am blessed by having three vehicles with some of the very best inline 6 engines ever designed - my 1983 280ZX, (thanks, Mercedes) and both a 2008 and 2009 BMW 3-series with their wonderful straight six engines. And they're all fuel injected, which is cool with me. It's interesting that we're still dissecting the flat top problems more than 40 years later.

I figured out a general timeline estimate years ago, and it has proved more accurate than I want to admit. Figure out the longest time the job could possibly take, then double it and add half.

I'm glad the Spanish Inquisition didn't have one of those.

Very nice idea that highlights more Z-cars than any other model. I like it. And they use a manual transmission Z in more than one place! Nice!

l'll bet the fluid is low in the hydraulic clutch system. I'll bet you find it there. A suggestion - he might do better without you in the car. Our daughters got their intro to manual transmissions with their uncle as the instructor and I think it worked better than if my wife or I had done it.

Agreed, that looks off center. It might work if it's centered up, but best to replace the damaged part. I can't imagine how that happened. Those clutch discs are easy to center up by hand.

Seems like most of those responding missed the fact that the tank hasn't had gas in it for more than 20 years.

Thanks, @Zed Head I later edited my post (which you quoted) to reflect that I removed the rods while it was on ramps (had a brain fart and originally wrote "jackstands ") but still had to do a lot of prying to get the bolts back in. It's possible but not a "drop the bolts in" process.

I have removed both of those compression rods (one at a time) on my 280ZX, while the front end was on ramps, to change those compression bushings. Once I got the two bolts on the strut base loose so I could remove the rod, it was a project in re-installation to get the rod into position where those two bolts would go back in. A fair amount of prying, grunting and linguistic lubrication was required. I'm not sure whether putting the front up on jackstands (so no load on the front tires and struts) would have been better or not.

Hey @Pop's Z....I live in Fort Collins. I'm 70 and not enthusiastic about dropping trannies or pulling engines, but if I can lend a hand or contribute a cold beer I can be available. I take care of my '83 ZX Turbo without problems. I live in the NE corner of Fort Collins south of Lemay and Country Club road. Feel free to drop me a PM. At 70, I'm facing the same issue in a few years. I have two daughters who like the ZX a lot, but neither have room for another car. I suppose I'll eventually look for a buyer who wants to preserve it, not turn it into a chopped-up rice rocket.

I'm a bass player, and the Soviet era basses are pretty comparable to cars like the Yugo. They might run, but using them for their intended purpose isn't rewarding.

Man, that looks WONDERFULLY 50's or 60's. Italian styling from that era knocks me out!! I owned a 1958 Fiat Transformabile (Spyder) for many years. Classic 50's Italian sports car styling.

Good eye to catch all the signs of the scam. I've seen similar things in Facebook market postings. In those cases it is always an extremely low price coupled with some pitch about how they are traveling, or lost their relative and just want to sell the car, or some such crap. The financial deal always would run through some illogical third party. Giant waste of time pursuing these.

I'm not a snob about these things, as I sometimes use Autozone, but I agree that Rockauto would offer more options and quality levels of parts if you don't have NAPA around.

Suggestion: use NAPA parts supplier rather than Autozone next time.

I understand the concern. My learning experience about the vagaries of the Z-car oil pressure sending unit happened back in 1974. I was driving my 1971 240Z home through a snow storm in Spokane, WA and there was already 6 inches of snow on the ground. I looked down and saw that the oil pressure gauge was sitting on zero while I drove. I turned into a parking lot immediately, parked and locked it, and walked nearly a mile through snowdrifts to get home. I was living very close on income, so I called Jaremko motors in Spokane to see if they had any ideas. They had an outstanding parts guy, and he suggested a new sending unit. I got a ride to the dealership from a friend the next day, went to my car and changed the sender out in about 5 minutes. Fired it up, got a nice oil pressure reading and drove home. Ever since then, I have taken the readings from the oil pressure system in an L6 Datsun with a certain skepticism.

I suggest you screw in a real oil pressure gauge and see what you actually have. I bet the senders are both bad. Regardless, there is no better info than a real oil pressure gauge, and it's easy to reach the port on the L6 engine. I've had a 240, a 280 and two 280ZX Z-cars. Every one showed in the low pressure range (@ 10 PSI) once warmed up and at idle. Most ran about 40-60 PSI at normal operating speed. Usually a "0" reading at idle is a bad pressure sending unit; they are notoriously short-lived and highly variable in accuracy.

One commentator made a point with which I agree. The most important aspect of trends is not the number of infections, but the the number of hospitalizations and deaths. Being sick with CO-19 is no picnic, and it may have long term effects, but being dead is worse. If the measures being taken reduce the severity of infections and result in fewer deaths, we are winning.

That would make sense. GM's intermediate line cars were identical in some ways, very similar in others. They often shared body shells. If you want to see this in action, check the early 50's Chevrolet - Olds - Pontiac - Buick sedans, especially the rear ends. The rear fenders were nearly identical in those cars, but side trim and grilles differed. Just IMHO - to my eye, the 1966 and 1967 GTOs were some of the most beautiful cars GM ever built. The styling from front to back was eye-catching, graceful and lovely. But it's true, they completely abandoned the squared-off look of the earlier GTO/Lemans models.

Thank you for sharing that with us. He sounds like a remarkable man. Take good care of that inheritance. I'm sure he would want you to drive it like a Viper deserves to be driven.

I was in Bryan, 90 miles north of Houston. It's mighty humid and rainy in Houston, fer shurr.

Texas has about six climate zones. I was fortunate that my '83 ZXT was bought in southern OK and soon moved to Central TX, both of which are far enough north to avoid the Gulf Coast and far enough south to avoid much winter weather. i suspect it was not driven in winter before I got it in 1990. We moved to Colorado in 1998 where the car has been a three-season vehicle. As a result, the undercarriage and body have essentially no rust. Sheer luck on my part, but I'll take it.

Agreed. Biggest mistake that the BLM made was not to treat this seriously. I would bet that with the change of atmosphere over the past four years, it would be handled differently today.

Well, those morons at the BLM did accomplish a couple of things, both negative: trashing environmentally sensitive protected areas, and encouraging other freeloaders who don't want to pay their leasing fees for running stock on government land. It flabbergasts me that the feds didn't pursue the case against them more energetically.