motorman7

Here are the before and after with outoor lighting

Hi John, I will try and get the pics posted this evening. That should give you a better comparison. Rich

I think the flourescent lights in the garage make it look that bright. I will try and take it out tomorrow in sun and get some pics. I have some before pics taken outside, so it should be a better comparison.

Well, she is pretty much finished and up and running! Still a few things I want to do but for the most part the engine bay is done. Remaining items include bead blasting the valve cover, replacing the yellowed electrical terminals, and cleaning up a few hoses, and adding the two Radiator decals. Was very fortunate on the final build up. Car started right up after one small hiccup. Had everything put together, went to start, and only heard the relay click. Since I zinced the back end of the starter, I figured I messed something up there. Took the starter/solenoid assy off and rechecked all the connections. Cleaned the copper contacts inside the solenoid and some of the other elec connections. Did a quick bench test and starter spun. Assembled on the car and turned the key and the car started right up. Not bad. I adjusted the timing (audibly, will need to buy or borrow a light) and reset the carb airflow. Everything is running very nice even at high R's. I did have a small fuel leak on the forward float bowl, but tightening the nut stopped the drip. Below are a couple pics. Some before and some after. Will post finals when the items listed above are done. Man, this was really fun. I want to buy another one so I can do it again. Boy, I am going mental here. Rich

Got the horns cleaned up. Cleaned the rust off the back with a wire wheel and steel wool. Sprayed with clear lacquer. On the front, painted the outer ring but just touched up the center. The color is very close.

Got the Intake manifold, crossover items and carbs assembled. Should get the air galley and radiator on Friday. Might have it running by Sunday. That would be nice. I miss driving it:disappoin I am debating on whether to polish up the carb domes. Not really sure what the originals were like.

Definitely want some of those. They should be nice. If I can re-condition my current braided hoses I should be in good shape.

That is quite a bit cheaper. Securing the ends may be a bit tough though. Maybe use some black silicon

Has anyone checked out this Earl's pro-lite 350 stuff for use in place of the stock cloth tubing? From some of the pics, the braid looks similar to the original. In a bit of a bind here with half of my hoses braided (40 years old) and half not. It looks off. They need to be one or the other. http://www.earls.co.uk/earls/hose/prolite.html

Hi Carl, The car has 96K original miles. I would like to keep it below 100K for as long as possible, and definitely less the 2K a year. Rich

Put some more items on the engine. Added the starter, fuel pump, fan assembly (still original paint), fuel lines, and passenger side hoses. Also put on the thermostat housing and smog pump. The smog pump cleaned up nice, it was looking pretty bad. So, I made a big error. I put the motor mounts on the wrong sides. The long one goes on the drivers side and the short on the passengers. I made the assumption (and didn't check my pics) that the motor sits straight up and down. Such is not the case, it is tilted at a near 10 degree angle. As a result, I had to lift the engine up and swap mounts. The thing that clued me into the problem was that the smog pump was very close to the frame as was the support arm. At this point, I realized something was wrong. I went back and checked my pics and sure enough, the long mount goes on the drivers side. Anyway, problem is corrected and I will continue to assemble. Should get more parts in the next couple days. Rich

Finally got the engine in. Wasn't too bad, just a lot of details to take care of. I had to finish putting in the brake line clips. I cleaned up the steering rack a bit more and did a temporary mounting of the assembly. Will finalize when the second batch of zinc returns with the correct nuts and bolts. I also did another wax on the firewall and a bit more detail cleanup. It was nice to find a red stripe on the flywheel, Crank, and pressure plate to line up the assembly. I am guessing this is balanced due to all the unique holes in the flywheel. I temporarily installed the intake and exhaust manifold just to see how it would look (waiting on the zinced Air Galley). Also attached newly painted exhaust assy. The colors look good. The exhaust paint was near the exact color of the wired and sanded exhaust pipe. That was a nice surprise. Will start to attach all the other engine items as time permits. This seems like it will be a bit of a process as there is still stuff to clean.

For lawn ornaments, some people have Gnomes, others have Fountains; I have decided that the 240Z Exhaust System looks appropriate. We'll see how the wife likes it when she gets home. It's gotta increase the property value! PS: Can't believe how easy this was to take out- 3 bolts and 10 mins.

Thanks David, I'd like to get those from you when I do the front and rear bushings, after the engine refresh. Best Regards, Rich

Hi All, Just thought I'd post the tags and numbers since they were easily accessible (and look cool of course). The head had 2 different size bolts. 5 long that were on the cam towers, the rest were short. Got the T/C bushings replaced. Got the new rack bushings but will need to find a shim material. May send my son down to the tire shop to get the tire weights. It's not to far away. So, back to work here. Should have the motor in today. Will show pics later. Rich

Hi Kats, I like your web site. Those are some sweet cars you have. Yes, odd thing about the engine numbers. It would be interesting to track the pairing of engine S/N with body S/N. I wonder if there is a sequence (backwards in some cases) or it is just random. Also, it is very educational taking these cars apart. The 'non-standard' items are very cool. I lucked out today; looks like Les has the bushings (Rack and T/C) I need. That means I should be able to drop the engine in tomorrow. I have a 3 day weekend so should be able to get a lot done. Best Regards, Rich

Thanks for the input Guy. I will definitely get that cleaned up. Easier to do it now before the motor goes in. Rich

I am starting to put things back together. Both sides of engine bay cleaned up nice and are ready for parts. I need to figure out how to clean or replace the yellowed electrical terminal coverings. I am thinking I can buy new ones (somewhere) and recrimp the contacts. Also, white and blue tape on the Rack steering mechanism. I believe it is factory, but not sure why it is there. Does anyone else have this? Same colors? Rich

Depends on if your married or not

Wow! Put me in the old lady category along with my mom. I must say my typical shift point is at 3500 or lower. The only time the engine approaches 4000 is when we are on the freeway driving normal California speeds. And, I don't beleive that I have ever taken it over 5000 RPMs. I am pretty sure my parents drove the same way as they are typically the slowest car on the road (yes, even in the Z). So slow that I consider them hazardous and always offer to drive (Mom in 70s, dad in 80s). We all were taught the lower shift points were more economical and gentler on the engine (without lugging of course). FWIW, the engine had absolutley no carbon build up on the pistons and only a bit of white caking on the exhaust valve. Otherwise, the cylinders were very clean. Boy, I'm gonna have to rev that baby up one of these days when I get it back together. Rich

Thanks for the compliment. Really, this has become a 'labor of love'. I am really enjoying every minute of the cleaning, polishing, assembling, etc. It's very rewarding to see the great results of all the effort. It's also a tremendous learning experience. It has been a long time since I've pulled an engine. The engine is assembling well and looking good. I spent half of the last two days assembling and the other half cleaning. I cleaned the brake lines and coated them with clear enamel. Also cleaned the transmission bell housing. I will clean the electrtical harness (I am thinking soap and water for that) and then I will be about finished. I should be able to drop the engine back in toward the middle of the week. Below are some pics of the transmission, brake lines, pre-painted (original paint job) motor mounts, and engine build-up.

Interesting, I am now painting my motor mounts and noticed that the passenger side mount is longer than the driver side by over 1 inch. Lends validity to the larger torque theory.

Here are pics of the two mounts. On the passenger side, you can clearly see the spacer outline. There is no spacer on the driver side. Very interesting. Why just one? Not sure? My guess on the purpose is that it was used to strengthen the mount that saw the most torque (compressive load) during acceleration, to prevent the tabs bending.