Mikes Z car

I'd buy that car for parts for $5. Something in there must still be an original part, didn't see one though.

Hi all, I heard about a way to find windhsield leaks between the glass and the rubber by putting baby powder on the outside at the junction between the rubber and the glass. Compressed air is then directed at the windshield on the inside of the car at the junction between the rubber and the glass. Anyplace where the powder is blown away is a place where there is a leak. I wonder if this would work to find a leak between the rubber and the car metal? Maybe a leaf blower used inside the car would work to force the air around finishers inside the car? Anyone else heard of ideas on finding leaks around the windshield? I want to be sure my car doesn't leak as an anti rust measure. Mike

I watched Craigslist for a couple of years and ran across an ad for a Z parts car that had the Chastain Shadow louvre on it. The gentleman was willing to sell me just the louvre (picture attached- louvre has been painted) though they don't sell them anymore. I had this kind on my previous 240Z back in the 80s and liked them because they didn't screw on though that kind would have worked as well. I have an interpart louvre key I am willing to mail to someone that I found in the parts car. Seems odd that the louvre key in the car was for a different brand of louvre. Looks like one of the vendors that advertises on this site sells a Z car louvre.

Is the spindle pin usually replaced because it is supposed to rotate slightly as the rear wheels go over bumps but can't if it gets old and rusty? How does it affect handling or something else when it needs replacing?

I am curious as to how the roller broke not that I would know anything about why it did. My driver's door in that spot has a hard to see tiny crack next to the spot I think you are looking at (might have to zoom in to see it) but the stainless trim is hiding a part of that area. My car is missing the rubber weather seal for that area, on my list of things to get but there is a spot weld there. The door skin further down next to the rubber weather seal just seems to be rolled over the door frame, I don't see spot welds next to the rubber seal. I wonder if pulling the door open by grabbing the door next to the roof pries against the front and back at the top and when that gives by cracking pressure is then put on the roller? I guess that might be obvious, maybe gluing in a reinforcement of some kind would help? HLS30 00907

My DD is a 4 cyl. I don't notice how slow it is until I hop into my 240Z and step on the gas. Seems a tornado compared to the DD.

Nice 43 minute video, I enjoyed it- thanks. Learned about cars I didn't know existed.

They had a demo electric small pickup truck where I used to work for a while. It was strange because it had a clutch and I couldn't tell after hitting the "gas" when to let up on the clutch because I couldn't hear the motor. It may have been waiting for the clutch to engage before turning on the motor. I think they should make electric cars sound like a gas engine to make them more drivable at least starting off the line. Someone used to make a radio transmitter plug thingy for the cigarette lighter that makes a very small engine sound like a drag strip engine by sensing engine RPM and sending the sound of a more powerful engine at that RPM through the radio speakers when the radio is tuned to the plugin thingy. Ha!

What is anyone's worst case scenario? I would only share this with my closest friends on classiczcars.com assuming I have any but I have been known to remove nuts and bolts holding the sway bar, suspension and other items on with the sole purpose of putting gray anti sieze on the threads and then re-installing the bolts and screws. I do make sure nothing is going to fall off in the course of this procedure. This also goes for screws inside the car. In some of the pictures of my car I have posted splotches of gray anti sieze can be seen here and there as I haven't gotten around to wiping it all off yet. I am paranoid about corrosion partly because of my previously owned 71 rusty Z car.

Steve, Thanks for posting that ID! I can't view it here, will take another look later with a different computer. Mike

The 4th picture with no fenders is painted blue but was originally orange looks like. I sold a 71 240Z (I wish I had kept it) back in 1985 in Sacramento Calif. that was orange originally but the new owner painted it blue and then I lost track of it. It had bondo on the lip of both rear wheel well arches. Can't help wonder if that is the car. Mine was an 8/71 (HLS30 38XX) (might be missing a zero) with no mods that I did. Yes I hate to see them in that condition. Some cars I see in the JY I think good riddance but not a Z! I would enjoy getting another one to work on, not sure where I would put it though.

I have a dream of converting my Z eventually to electric but not with the technology we have so far. I am thinking that electric power would be lower maintenance? Maybe better parts interchangeability with other car models? I really like the L24 that I have now for the time being.

EuroDat, My car has the exact same problem, won't return to center when I pull out of 5th making it too easy to tap reverse. What is a ring spanner? I imagine I will have to use a lot of force to get that spring back in there when I put a new one in, is that why I need a ring spanner? Just as information I notice the drawing above shows two springs, I recently was looking at this issue and noticed a similar drawing showing only one spring, maybe that was for a 280ZX transmission. Mike

When I get too old to drive my Z, say around age 110 I will use it to take naps in.

That is a big problem for me made worse by the fact I like working on the Z car. Most of what I think I need to do doesn't really need to be done as it is fine for now, with the possible exception of a paint job. If I can just stay focused on that I will be able to enjoy driving the car more while working on it less as a co worker pointed out. I sure hope someone has a solution.

skillinp, When you get that installed I wonder how far down the sides where the drain is does it go? The one on my car put on by a PO stops a few inches short of the end of the drain lip on the sides. Does the MSA side rubber go all the way to the end of the drain?

Just in case the Mayans were on to something I am going to move to a safe area. Where would that be though?

Can do this with a Mac (there may be a cheaper way) use iShow to capture the screen and then convert the resulting .AVI to .SWF with Video Converter Ultimate for Mac $65

Nice ride, thanks for sharing.

I agree, Sketchup would allow more to make use of a drawing of an SU carb. It would be easier to make a Sketchup drawing of an SU carb if one had a spare carb to make measurements off of. I experimented with importing higher resolution pictures into SU. I think I read that if the pictures get large in size it impacts performance.

Me too, I don't like to even see them like that. At least this one has a partial roof over it. The back part might be getting a little rain but the rear hatch area is easier to fix I think? I will send that guy a car cover anonymously with instructions it is to be used only on a nearby Z.

Thank you for sharing. I think it would be really neat to have a sketchup drawing of the Z carbs. I have a dream of grandeur where the drawing could be animated to show normal operation and faults with solutions. Sigh, my imagination for use of SU is better than my skill level I think. I imagine your floor plan idea will work. We have SU pro at work. I notice from using the pro version that it has a built in access to a 3D warehouse with a search function. We wanted to draw a bathroom remodel for a project and I found an existing bathroom I could use and modified it. I had to "explode" the download before I could edit it and accidentally discovered how grouping can have subgroups that can be further exploded for further editing. Once the whole bathroom was exploded the sink and other fixtures could then be exploded. Get me to talking about drawings and we will be here all day. heh heh.

Hi Stanley, The free Sketchup will import pictures by selecting file, then import. The only thing I know for sure that the pro version will do that the free one won't is it will save the drawing into an Autocad compatible .DXF format. I must be honest here, getting those two pictures to line up 90 degrees with each other and be the right size was a bear for me. If you just want to import a picture and draw on it that much is easy (and fun!). What I do is draw a couple of right angle lines that come together where I want a corner of the picture to be such as the lower left then I import the picture and click on the corner where those two lines converge. Move the mouse away from the corner and click when you have the size you want. Google has videos available that teach various aspects and their technique is likely better than mine, I have watched a couple of them. How do you use Sketchup? Mike

I never met EScanlon but grew to admire him from his posts.

I personally enjoy details like this, thanks for posting. I was speculating that the 280 ash tray is not as deep because smoking was declining by then? Kidding.