Zedyone_kenobi

Thanks, was researching my "How to rebuild your L Series: last ngiht and found that exact statement. So I should be looking for 5 BTDC and no more than 36 degrees at say 3500 rpm without the vacuum advance then. I will let you know, by the way I am running the Pertronix on my car.

Okay, I dont think I was completely clear with my situation, my apologies. Its been a long time since I had to do timing on an old car, my trans am ran a mechanical advance MSD distributer. When you check the timing, are you suppose to disconnect the vacuum advance? Gosh I feel like a moron for asking that!

I have checked my timing and at 700 to 800 rpm, I am sitting at about 7 Degrees of advance. Is this right? Also, just a note, at 2800 rpm, I am at 44 degrees. How does this stack up to what it should be?

71 240Z with 69569 original miles on the engine. Changed plugs, all were a lovely light brown color on the electrode but were burning cleanly and even. The last thread on each plug and the land that sees the cylinder was a a bit shiny black, meaning probably I have a tad bit of oil seepage down inside the wall. Car does not burn a drop of oil that is measurable, and never smokes. Changed out the stock vacuum advance as the diaphram was completely shot. I am happy to report my car almost eagerly revs to 6500 before any drama. I think the carbs may need a tiny tweak or two, but my 5000 rpm wall is gone and she pulls smoothly up the rpm band. No hurry to mess with the carbs right now, but will eventually do a rebuild on both. Checked the timing and I was pleased at the results. My only problem is I am not quite sure what the factory settings should be, but I am about to do a search. At 800 rpm, I am running 7 degrees advanced. At 2850 rpm I am running 44 degrees. I do not know if that is too much or too little. But that darn vacuum advance is advancing! Checked the engine vacuum at idle on the balance tube, and its sitting pretty rock solid on 17 in hg. Next up are an oil change as soon as I modify my ramps to fit under my spoiler and I think I need to do a quick valve lash. I hear some tapping going on that sounds like a V8 rocker arm. I have not run a compression check yet, but with the way the plug are burning and complete lack of burnt oil, I think it can wait. The car idles steady as a rock, the coolant is clear and clean with a lovely shade of green. I have no overheating issues to speak of and my oil pressure is good. At idle when completely warm its 15 psi, and at 2500 rpm cruising when warm its about 45 psi. This is with 10w30, and since we routinely hit 100 degrees in Houston, I am going to bump it up to 10w40 So far the car responds very well to all inputs. And I am pleased. I am still leary of the clunk when in gear, I dont know if my rear end, or if its a u joint at the front of the driveshaft. More fun to come!!!

Thats happening today! Finally get some quality time with the Z.

Actually truth be told, I think they are shelby rims.. I have the shelby centercaps.

So thats great, I have some Redline 75w-90 for the tranny, and I will pick up some 75w-140 for the rear end. I am a huge fan of Royal Purple products and noticed a difference in my Subarus over Mobile 1 even. d240zx2, I did not mention it, but I have some of those slotted mags sitting in my garage I would be more than willing to part with since I will never replace my panasports. If you need another set, let me know, you can have them for any reasonable offer.

OH man, I love the solutions the early pioneers of emissions took. The ideas are often creative. I am not looking to gain any HP or Performance. Mostly, It would make it easier to get my scrubber brush in there to clean up my manifold. Thanks 240ZX.. I would wager that I would have seen that if I blipped the throttle and saw it move, but alas, the diaphragm in it, as in my vacuum advance is long since rotted away. I cannot wait to get home and free up some dead weight. I think I will keep them and clean them up though and bag them. I may want to get new ones one day if I ever decide to do a complete restoration.

Does anybody have pictures of tokiko springs installed on the front of their Z. I was checking mine out on my recently purchased 71, and when the car sits at rest it looks as if the coils are almost binding. IF this is true then the car uses its bumpstop for almost its entire suspension... Now all I saw was the top portion of the sping, which may or may not have been progressive, so I may have more coils below the tire I could not see. I noticed this as I was waxing my rocker panels the other day. Just thought I would ask. THanks!

THats good to know. I was thinking somewhere in that range. Thanks very much for your quick reply.

When I bought my car, it came with panasports installed. The PO also gave me a set of 14 or 15" slotted mags that I have seen on many Z's. I have no intention on ever using them, and would like to sell them, but have no idea how much they are worth. What is a fair price. THey look fairly ding free, and come with Shelby hubcaps, but they need to be polished. Before I hit the classifieds, thought I would ask the folks in 'the know'

Kudos to you for making your Z yours! I am happy for you. Its stunning, and you should be proud.

pictures would help!:nervous:

I think these are just emissions parts. I am about ready to take them off, but want to be sure. I have looked them up in my how to restore your 240Z book, but they give little more than a name. I honestly do not see what their purpose is at this point. Perhaps they had something to do with some form of emissions equipment? The guys at hybrid Z said it has something to do with idle control? Any help would be great.

Bravo! Bravo! What an awesome garage!

From the sound of this, it sounds like I may just want to try to get a new strap and new diff mount. I may back the car against a curb and video what the diff does. If it moves, it may explain the bulk of my issues. As a rule you should always start with the simplest things first. Then work your way forward. THanks so much for your Video Steve. When I get on and off the gas like you did is when I hear my clunk. My arrestor strap when the car sits actually quite lose. I will look into the rear diff mount. If yours moves that much, then there is a good chance if mine is original, that could be the source of my problem. The more I think about it, the more I dont think its my half shafts. But we will check these out tonight. Again, thanks for going above and beyond the call of duty.

UPDATE: I pulled the distributor cap off to have a look at the pertronix and to see how the vacuum advance is working. Well, when you suck on the hose with all you have, the vacuum advance does not move. AT ALL. I can take a screwdriver and force the shaft inside the diff to move inside the diaphragm, but no amount of sucking on that darn hose moved it. I assume that a pertronics still can use a vacuum advance. So, long story short, that may account for why my car has issues revving. I will replace it and let you fellahs know. Also, the clunk in the back end that is mildly annoying may have been discovered. I posted in engine and drivetrain if your interested. have a great day!

I checked the mustache bar nuts, and they are TIGHT! however, I have not verified the integrity of my diff front mount. Thats today when I have time. AS for the half shafts. How much play should there be in the yoke coming out of the diffs in the radial direction, as in normal to the axis of rotation? When I grab mine, I can make it move, but just barely. I dont know how much slop there should be in those splines?

Well, I decided to try to tackle my rear clunking I heard on my new baby. I crawled under her today and poked around at what it may be. Before I tell you what I discovered, Let me explain the noises. When you put the car in 1st or reverse and let out the clutch, no matter how gently or slowly, you hear something mechanical make a very muted thud. Its just one thud, but it makes it each time you go from 1st to reverse. I also hear a thud from the back end each time I get on and off the gas in 1st or 2nd gear, like the diff is torquing up. That about sums up my clunking issues: So I crawled up underneath to see what I could see. This is what I found. The car is in neutral this whole time with the emergency brake on and the front wheels blocked. I can grab the driveshaft and turn it about a half inch. It does not translate up or sideways. This has me thinking that the ring and pinion has some slop in it, how much is normal I do not know, but this seems excessive, but the bearing on the pinion seems fine. Item two, I can grab the fat part of the left and right driveshafts/halfshafts and I can physically move them up and down with my hand a little. I am thinking that the bearings on both sides are probably worn badly, or something greater is amiss inside the R180. Keep in mind the Ujoints felt solid and did not move, I could see the whole drive shaft coming out of the diff move up and down just a little. Other than that, all else looked fine. All fuel lines feel soft and supple. The CV boots felt good with no cracks. I am thinking I may need to start looking for either a new R180 or a new set of bearings. What worries me the most is the ability to turn the driveshaft so easily. Keep in mind I am on ramps, not on jack stands. So the wheels did not move. In the vast world of clunk investigations, how does this rate? Any opinions, before I start ordering the parts I think I need.

As of today, I am LEGAL! So I drove her around a little. Got my Classic Auto plates coming in with a little personalized touch... One of my favorite places to shoot pictures. I am still learning the right angles to shoot Z's from. And what lens to use. But it will come with practice.

I was paging through the black dragon catalog looking for bushings here and there, and noticed that the R180 and R200 were both around in 1970, since my car is a 71, I was wondering if they are stamped somewhere on my car.

I am running the pertronix per the Original owner. I have a bosch coil sitting proudly on my fender...

Well,I took my Z out for its first real cruise. What an experience. The sounds, the sights. It was a good shakedown cruise. I checked all my fluids again, pulled the choke, and after 4 days of sitting she fired right up. What a sound. After I let the temp come up I was off. I was smiling more than I ever have after buying a new car. This car felt special, unique, and it was such an involving experience. The mechanical nature of the car talks to the driver. Of course this being my first shakedown cruise of any length, I was hyper sensitive to every sound, smell, vibration, etc. I was pleasantly surprised. 37 years this car has been on the road, and its history talked to me over every bump. What did it say. Well plenty. It was 101 degrees in Houston that day, and its water temp never exceeded 185 Degrees. Thank you new 4 core radiator. Oil pressure at 2200 rpm stayed rock solid once fully warmed up at 46 psi. At idle fully warmed up I am at about 15-20 psi. I know the PO used 10w-30, I may go to 10w-40 here in Houston. So that is a good sign and I was thrilled. At 60, 70, then 80 mph on the freeway, the car tracked straight and was smooth, with no vibrations through the wheel while accelerating, braking, or steady cruising. Hard braking was straight, and did not pull left or right or vibrate. Again, my amazement grew. What a solid car. Throttle response was instant, as was steering input. Body roll control was impressive (Tokikos) and allowed the car to feel as light as it actually is. So was it perfect, nope, but buying a 37 year old with such expectations is asking for disappointment. I was thrilled with what I found. Issue number one, The car has a slight thump from the rear of the car when blipping the throttle while in gear. I am almost certain its an old bushing issue on the mustache bar, or the differential. I will check all the rubber back there this weekend. Its not annoying, but every now and then, I hear it. So we will call that project 1. Issue number two, I figured this little sports car should pull to close to 7k. Well I put it in 2nd gear and let her rip, well at about 5500 rpm, she hits a soft wall. The tach bobs and weaves a little and she never really makes it past 5500rpm. I am thinking this has to do with timing, vac advance, maybe even the carbs, fuel delivery. etc. Project #2. This can wait as it drives beautifully below 5500rpm and the tach is dead steady as well. So I think this will not be a big issue. Tuning is something I enjoy. Issue number 3, at one time, I smelled a strong wiff of gas. But only once, and it never came back. Time to go over all the fuel lines, and perhaps replace them. Project #3. Overall, I am amazed at how well the car drives. It has the stiff throttle syndrome that some Z's have reported. I will eventually fix that, but at this point, I have already learned to drive it fairly smoothly. So no hurry on that. As I work through all my issues, I am sure I will be on this board again, but I cant wait to start turning wrenches! I am so impressed with the car, I cannot wait to get my plates on it.

I removed the over-rider bar to see how it looks. I think I like it plain. I got out my chrome polish, and put a nice buff job on it. I baggied all the bolts. I may put in on. I want to remove the rear extra bar as well, to see how I like that. The rear bar does not bother me all that much ,but I think it will look better cleaned up. As for the transfusions, I plan on doing that as well. Oil, tranny, and diff fluids all will get a good change. Then comes the radiator flush, followed by the air cleaner and fuel filter. Its all about maintenance! by the way, can you recommend good lubricants for the tranny & diff?

gotta get the kids involved early