IdahoKidd

I'm with SteveJ. Classic car, TV, lawnmower, whatever. If you can't pay cash for it, you can't afford it. Buying the car is only the beginning of the spending of money.

Yep. Apparently took the liners out before they were powder coated. Assumed they were part of the original bushing. Soooo, now what? Duct tape?? : )

Bought a set of urethane bushings from prothane for my 72 240 manual. They are about an 1/8 inch in diameter to small. Bought a set from Energy Suspension. They too are an 1/8 too small. Pulled a different mount from a parts car. Same thing. All of the other bushings for the car were very tight fit (Energy Suspension kit). Am concerned these are going to allow more movement than necessary. Anyone have similiar issues or perhaps a remedy? Thanks, Leonard

Thanks. Honest I googled and googled. Found lots of links on how to remove and replace, but none with sizing info.

The boys at the alignment shop messed up the lh jam nut on my 240 tie rod. I need to locate another. Can't seem to find the size and thread pitch anywhere. Anyone have any help? Thanks, Leonard

Under hood condition looks more than 14k miles to me. A lot more.

The guy was extremely difficult to communicate with. Couldn't answer a question on topic. He now says it is sold it f $650 but I can still have it if I want. Refused to send any pictures of the body damage. Am thinking the other side of the car was in pretty bad shape. He said it had water in the tank and needed a fuel pump. Pretty sure he had absolutely no idea at all what was going on. Car was 300 miles from me. $300 in fuel round trip with the trailer so with all the difficulty in communication, I decided I wasn't all that interested.

Wow! Thanks for the honest opinions. Rear drums it is. Now to sell my new powder coated caliper holders.

Am finally able to get back to putting my 240 back together. Is it really an upgrade from the stock rear drums to a ZX disc brake conversion? The pads are miniture. While the cost isn't horrible, it is still money. I know from experience on my Volvo that converting the fronts and then the rears, for average daily driving the installation of disk brakes did nothing but eliminate the pull to the right. They look cool and offer some bragging rights, but it doesn't stop any faster. Would those you who did this conversion, not some high end one, and not the track warriors, would you put the time and money into a ZX rear disc convesion? Leonard

I'll jump in............ My little blue volvo, the one with the VIAGRA plates in my avitar, will dust all but the late model camero's between street lights. First off, they absolutely don't expect anything like that to happen, but when it does............ it is all smiles. The down side is, I am all done at the second light. There is nothing more. 8500 out of the four banger and the 4.88 gears .............the overdrive takes WAYYYYYYY to long to engage. But, they don't need to know that. A solid tuneup/optimal engine performance is about as good as the stock motor is going to do. In town performance is gear ratio's. Deeper gears, 3.90's, 4.11's will give great launches and a quick pass through between the lights. It will also be great on really twisty rural roads, etc. It is dreadful for economy and long trips. The rpms will wear you out. A later model 5 speed brings the rpms back down a bit. If it were my dollar, I'd get a used zx 5 speed, and some deeper gears. Tranny will be $150 and the rear end $150 to $300?? . One of my 240's has that set up. Another is bone stock with the automatic.(it REALLY needs an overdrive) And the 280 has the turbo, and non turbo 5 speed, but it hasn't moved across the yard for a year now..... still needs some love. The Volvo is quicker than all of them, but not faster.

That works and would be easier. Personally, I like things to be voluntary. Some newbies may turn away if they 'had to pay'. I would have. It isn't long enough to establish a relationship (speed dating in a sense). And besides, I had a bunch of 'stuff' to get rid of :classic: I was thinking silent auction on the honor system, registered buyers send money to the site, registered users send the item to the buyer. I realize there will be problems and really havent thought out all of the logistics. Maybe someone can dream up a monthly online event that will create an interest. Trying to think up something that works across the spectrum, a raffle drawing for a larger or desirable ticket item. The site could buy or be donated........ a set of wheels, new or used, spoiler/air dam, seat foams, who knows, tickets could be bought with paypal, a number given and then some sort of live drawing in a chat room or ??? something to spark interest and participation. And maybe not, maybe just an icon of a pot at the top of each page and let folks donate as they wish. I personally never gave the costs of these sites much thought. Out of site out of mind And I do remember a year or so ago when the site went down due to a go daddy issue it generated a lot of spontaneous donations. Could happen again.......................

Mike mentioned in a different post about adding ads for fundraising. I suppose it is inevitable but he mentioned money out of his pocket too. I have projects I support out of love for the project, and perhaps this is Mike's, but there must be a way we can help out with a semi annual or ?? fundraising project. Any thoughts? I was thinking like a charity auction, those of us that can could donate an item, Z related or not, to a silent auction and the proceeds could go to the upkeep of the site. Donating person could submit a pic and arrange shipping, buyer could pay shipping from donator's address. Items could be anything from misc parts to non related but interesting stuff. The details could be worked out, but it is a thought. Anyone have others? I haven't participated on the boards for some time due to health reasons, but still lurk when I can. I'd hate to see it become and ad section with a bit of Z info. Leonard

Hey Mike, First, thanks for the work on the site and for out of pocket moneys spent. I do think there must be a way to organize a monthly, or semi annual fundraiser for the site. Personally, I get a kick out of some of the wild claims from some of the advertisers, but I suppose there are members who simply aren't aware that the gimmicks are gimmicks. This one isn't the most outrageous I don't think.

I was planning on making it a daily driver Be sure you have a backup driver. Don't mean to bash your hopes or dreams but we've all been there. Visually, there is a lot wrong with the car. It may well run for years, but it is going to cost major money to make it decent. Paint with no body work is at least 3 grand. On the other hand, it may be worth the price to determine what to look for next time. Sort of like paying for college.........

Cool, it will work for me! I have a later model fuel injected engine in my 240. Still don't understand how it will help the Z therapy carbs on it.

It is full of rust. Look again. The hatch is toast, wheel wells are toast. Am betting the floors and the battery box are gone. Frame supports on the front are likely bad. Wheels (offset are wrong). Didn't see the interior. Depends on what you want. I woudln't put another nickel into it, treat it as disposable. It isn't worth more than 15. How do you know the suspension is 'starting to go bad'? Springs, struts, ? It is likely throw away money so you have to calculate how much return you are going to get. Long term, no, not worth it. my opinion, owning 7 Z's

Did you put the coil wire in the coil?

You can lead a horse to water.............

80 miles on the rebuild and still needs................... this car is going break your heart-and your wallet. Mine is in the same situation and is still 5 grand from driving. Honestly, this isn't the car you want. Been there, done that. Leonard

Chiming in...... not on a bet! One is a $200 parts car, the other one, which is totaled, is worth the value of the wheels. $500 for the pair. You will be looking at 2 grand for body work, another 2 for paint, another 1 in incidentals. Parts are worth almost nothing. A few dollars here and there, but essentially nothing. Buy a running driving car for $4000 and enjoy it.

Voltage regulator and alternator are new (day old). He mentioned something about it not shutting off sometimes, which tells me diode too. Problem didn't go away with the new parts. Trying to determine is there is a fusable link inline somewhere that may be an issue. thanks

Hi guys, I am trying to help a 16 year old with a charging problem via phone and texting and could use some help while I search for clues. It is a 77 280z, all stock. The voltage meter apparently works but the red altenator charge light is on. The altenator has been tested and is producing 14.4 volts at the altenator, but no charge to the battery. The battery obviously goes dead in a relatively short time. As best I can determine (150 miles away) when the engine is reved, the charge light goes out. Sorry for the sketchy info, it is all I have at this time. I sold my 280 and don't have one to go look at. It sounds like a fuseable link or some thing that is interupting the flow. Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Leonard More: Alternator, Battery and voltage regulator are all new trying to fix the problem

How long has it been since the motor was used long enough to be at normal operating temp? Could be residue from a previous cleaning, could be brake fluid spilled over from the brake master work, both will burn off shortly. Could be the crank breather hose is loose at the block. Are you sure the dripping sound isn't the sound of a heat shield creaking during temp changes? Really hard to tell without hearing in person. The engine doesn't look bad to me as far as 'dirty'. Leonard

I've only had one vehicle that has a turbo, and that is the Duramax in my Chevy. Accordingly, I've not heard all that much about glitches although I am certain I am about to learn. The 54 block, which came out in 79 (?) in the Zx was/is the one you read about with the siamesed cylinder walls, etc. From all that I have been able to gleen for some years is that it is the very same block for the turbo, down to and including the rods and crank. There has been talk about guys taking non turbo motors, putting the turbo (stock) on them and running them without issue. The BW 5 speed from behind the factory turbo car is physically different and apparently very difficult to install in the 77 body style. My donor had an auto and I used an 83 non turbo 5 speed as I have yet to hear of anyone breaking one behind a turbo motor. Probably been done, just haven't heard of it. I put the larger turbo clutch in while I was there. I did track down the non egr intake (much cleaner appearance), intend to use 440 injectors (supra) and an intercooler with a goal of 300-325 rwhp. (and if I don't get there, the bs story will certainly make up for it . I had an 83 donor car sitting right beside mine and it made the wire swap much easier. I am not sure how much knowledge/experience you have with the Z but there are two distinct wire harnessess, one for the fuel injection, one for the body. In the ZX, some of those wires are in the same harness and have to be separated. I don't recall now exactly what gets left out and included. Seems there is only two wires that get clipped permanently and one or two that have to splice back into the original harness. I started right up after the conversion but had an issue with higher rpms. Locally, there are four Z's, one now has tripple webbers and mild cam, one is getting a 350, one of mine is getting the turbo setup, and the other one of mine is getting what is now amounting to a major refreshment (will be a new car essentually-98% stock). The turbo car isn't getting all the candy, oe seat covers, interior, etc, etc, just a nice clean low profile zippy gg to ambush the college kids I am not a big fan of hybrid z people. I personally think there is an ego that one must have to be on that board and a budget you must have in order to not be completely blown off when you ask a question or even ask about obvious wrong information. I don't aspire to that ego, nor do I justify that budget. Do go there if you haven't and read through some of the posts about the conversion. You'll have to sort the wheat from the chaf. What I have done is to print out the posts and the pictures that I thought were relavent and put them all in a note book binder that I can take to the car with me. Leonard

Did this conversion. Ditch the zx 5 speed. If you aren't going to use the turbo, ditch the turbo motor too. Get the non turbo zx motor and matching 5 speed. Direct bolt in/swap. Get in and drive. I don't believe anything is any stronger, or even different other than the dished pistons, the head, and the cam (besides the turbo of course). I did the 83 turbo motor into my 77 and although it runs and drives about the yard, then I got interested in restoring my 72 before medical issues sidelined me. There is a ton of information and even more misinformation on Hybrid Z for the swap. Wiring is a matter of swapping the fuel injection harness from one car to the other and eliminating a few stray wires. With a good diagram, could be done in 3-4 hours. Exhaust is straight foreward and not nearly as complicated or tuneable as non turbo car. Typically the smog stuff has to be consistent with the later model, be it the car or the motor, so in your case the motor. Here in Idaho there isn't an inspection of any kind so what was there is gone, mostly for sanitation purposes. If I had it to do all over again, I'd go with the V8 swap. But, I'll finish this up this spring and do that swap some other day. One guys opinion