stevef1972z

Darrel, there is power to the charger all the time. It seems from those who are using the Tender have stepped up to the Optima, something I might have to do, a yellow one would look good under my hood! Battery chared with the old reliable Sears charger got the battery up to charge, and I got the car started and run today. I left it with no charger connected tonight, and I will check it in the morning after I check on the 24 Hours of Daytona race. That way I can see if the battery held a charge. Down to single digits tonight so that should be a good test.

Any word on the carbs? I dont run the SU's I have the Webers and they dont have that problem, they have thier own problems! If the choke nozzles are hung open it will run like Diseazd said, or if the choke isnt closing properly. If the choke and carbs are good, then start by checking spark in all locations, voltage to coil, points for proper operation, cap for cracks. Have you pulled a couple of plugs to see what they look like? Spark plugs can be your best friend in tracking down some problems.

Good to seem some DONE on the list!

No the cables were not disconnected per instructions, you leave it all connected, the Tender has a cable connecter you simply pull apart and drive away. No the car does not drain the battery on its own any other time, there are no shorts drawing amperage when the key is off.

Electronic ignition or points in the dizzy?

I would doubt that the car jumped timing, it is very rare in these cars without a good reason. Had you been doing anything else to the car before the problem happened? Battery fully charged? Points in good shape and gapped properly? When you say the points do not move, what do you mean? Are they not opening and closing? Or is the plate not advancing? That part has me confused.

Anyone had problems with thier battery after using Battery Tender? My wife got me a Battery Tender, the smart chipped charger that is supposed to keep your battery charged when the car is not in use without over charging your battery. I have a new battery I purchased last year, but in the winter months here in the St. Louis Metro area we get snow and they put tons and tons of salt down so I do not drive the Z much and my garage is not heated. I went down today to start the car, it hasnt been started in about a month, and I wanted to get everything spun over and circulated. No go, low battery voltage. I broke out my larger standard charger and the battery was taking 10amp charge showing about 30% of charge. I do not know if it is damaged yet as it is still on the charger, but it seems rather odd that the battery was that low, with the charger on it showing full charge. I plan on charging it to full and load testing it. Has anyone run into this type of situation using the Battery Tender?

OK its worth a try, the worse that can happen is I spend some quality time with the car detailing the engine bay! Thanks for the idea!

I have the new Champion three core alu. Rad to go into the car, along with the hoses. I think the old rad was done in fro 170,000 miles, flsushing worked for a while but began to heat up again. I used my Christmas money to get the rad and a brand new set of Z rotors for the front. They had been for sale here, but I got them on Ebay for half the price. I have new pads coming into the store today and will pick them up this evening. Now I need some decent weather. Need to take down the Christmas lights off the roof before I get to play in the cold garage. I did get a Battery Tender, its plugged in and holds the batter fine. Cant wait for warmer weather!

Were you looking for the next number or did it just sort of happen?

I found several posts saying it can be rebuilt, but is there a gasket or do you put it back together with RTV? Is RTV black or Blue prefered? Really dont want it leaking and spraying the underhood, its not a perfect engine bay by a long shot, but it is fairly clean.

I have new Goodyear Upper and Lower Radiator hoses and a new Champion 3 core Alum Radiator to put into the 1972 Z. While I have the front apart I am wondering if it is worth putting in a new fan clutch. Autozone two blocks from the house can have a new Torqueflo in house in 2 days for $39.99. Has anyone used this brand? I know you get what you pay for, but this is reasonable and with a bit more than 170,000 on my original I know it could use replacing.

I am a bit jealous of the AZ guys getting to go. We are thinking about going to the Vegas auction the hotels are cheaper and so is the airfare, the cars are not as high a quality as Scottsdale, but still way above what I see around here.

The biggest of the big auctions has started along with the coverage from the SPEED Channel. I happen to watch quiet a bit of the coverage every year, truly some amazing cars, rare and like nothing I will ever get to be around. I find some of the prices totally beyond reason and level of work and money that has gone into some of the restorations and modifications staggering. Many boards will light up this weekend as "thier" car goes across the block for a huge sum of money. Some say the coverage of the auction has driven up prices, making getting into collector cars more expensive, some say it has drawn more people to the hobby seeing all the high level cars. The early 240Z are now starting to get into most B Level collectable lists. I didnt get my Z for a collector, I got mine for a fun GT that I can take back and forth with some fun. Did you get your Z for collection or fun? Is Barrett Jackson good or bad for the hobby? Are you going to watch the coverage?

If the gas was not treated you may have varnished everything up pretty good and it may take some serious cleaning to get everything working right again. Fuel injectors are not fond of being gummed up.

Wow, Star Wars was new when my car had 70,000 on it! 170,000+ right now, and waiting for the salt to get washed off the roads to add some more to it!

Rust repair is very time consuming. If there is rust underneath like most of these cars have, then the trade just wasnt reasonable enough for them. I did my frame rails, TC boxes and floorboards myself. It was very time consuming. Even professionals loose a lot of time and shop space on repairs like this. Be brutal about the condition of the car. Figure worst case for any problem. Do the same for your skills. If the work is beyond your skills get some dollar quotes from very good reputable shops. If the cost is too much for you, then perhaps this Z is not for you and you can start to find a new project car. You can always take your offer to other shops, they may be more willing to work with you.

When I picked up my car, the cables had been replace, but the prior owner used bolt on battery post connections. The cables were coroding from the inside out, unseen under the insulation, this caused a great deal of resistance and caused starting issues for me. My car is not restored to show room or even close, so I installed new sealed cables from a local parts store and solved the problem. It is well worth the time to test the resistance of the cables.

I had'nt given much thought to posting US based information as rude, but it is in its own way. I will definitely keep it in mind when posting from now on.

My grinding noise in the back was from bad rear brakes when I got my car after it had less than 5000 miles between 1983 and 2008. After a rear brake rebuild and new master it was fine. Going to have to replace the u-joints some day, its on the list.

If you own it make it the way you want it. I like stock appearance with some upgrades that make the car run and corner better, and make it more user friendly and reliable. Some want the very first restored to better than factory. Some want a racer, straight line or corner carver. Some go low, some build tall 4x4. Whatever it is get out get some grease under your fingernails and build it. Its a large hobby and there is room for everyone, just dont be surprised if you go to a purist board and they dont like it.

After the wonderful photos and great work from this post I had to add brake work to my list of "To Do" projects for 2010. Thanks for the great detailed post!

From what I have read so far it seems that between all of us we have enough parts in boxes and shelves to build a couple of cars! I used my Outlook Calander to set a reminder in June to repost and see if any of us are making any progress on the plans. I forgot to add that I need to do new pads up front and replace the rubber breaklines and repack or possibly replace the front wheel bearings. No driving for me for a while, they have put down enough salt here to undo all the work I did last year, so it is time to mess with the little stuff if I can get the garage above freezing!

Well I have totalled up all the gift cards and cash for Christmas and I am coming up with a plan for the updgrades for the New Year. I am going to get rid of my overheating problems with a new radiator and fan clutch, upgrade the blower motor for more heat, and swap out the points for electronic ignition. I have a few more things to do but they are more involved, replace the sagging springs, redo the original steering wheel and install, and replace all the weather striping and rubber with the parts I gathered through last year. Then drive it a lot more. What are you plans for the Zed this year?

For me the hardest part to find is whatever part I just broke trying to fix something else!