tlorber

Nice car. It looks to be in good shape for an early Z. I agree with the statement above that you should plan on doing most or all of the work yourself. These cars are simple and fun to work on, there is more info than you'll need on this site (get a Haynes manual and download the factory service manual from the xenon site) and there's no guarantee that a mechanic will do the work any better than you can. I would not be overly concerned with keeping the car absolutely stock. There are many benefits from the 13 or so years of technology that later ZX parts can provide, and most are a direct bolt on. Just don't do any wierd stuff to the car. You'll draw the ire of this crowd and the Z gods will frown upon you.

I really want to go. However, the Targa Califoria is April 7-9. I have SERIOUS doubts about the wife letting me go for a 3 day run, and then another 2 days the next weekend, and possibly Solvang for the roadster meet at the end of the month). However, if I can get a pass, I'll be there.

Took it out for a 3 hour drive with about 60 other cars. Great day for a drive out here.

Price?

I picked up a pair of 300 zx seats. The leather is in great condition but I'll need to figure out how to dye the seats before I install them. Always have to plan for the next project.

I plan on putting 16's all the way around on my car once I wear out the tires that are on now. The outer circumfrence will remain the same. I want to eliminate the sidewall flex. With the 60's that are on there, if I stand next to the car and repeatedly push it sideways, there is a significant amount of movement. This will go away with a 50 or 55 profile of the same width. Putting larger wheels on the rear only (while keeping overall circumfrence the same) might help to induce oversteer a bit, but that's pure speculation.

Why the flat tops?

My $0.02 is that you should get whichever will require less body/frame work. The suspension upgrades on car #2 are worth about $400.00 in parts, + labor if you don't plan on doing it yourself. Suspension bushings will probably need replacement if they haven't been already but you don't mention that on either car. If there have been more replacements on either car, you should list them so others can reply to their value. I've been working on a spreadsheet for how much such parts have cost me and I'm up to about $4,000 for a car that started out in good condition.

Another thing that really helps is, assuming you manage to get the fill plug out, replace it with a male plug rather than a female one. That way you can get a wrench in between the cross member and the diff cover. My car has nowhere near enough room for a 1/2" drive ratchet to fit in there.

I third the motion of avoiding power steering. The cars are not that heavy and as long as you have adequate tire pressure, steering is not really a problem-especially with the huge "ahoy matey" boat steering wheels that these cars have on them. Whatever you decide, make sure you first drive a converted Z or a ZX that has power steering so that you can see if you like the feel.

Pretty cool cloud formation in the background. At an average price of more than $1,000 for what look to be shells, he may need to wait until the economy improves.

I hope this resurrection helps someone here. I just completed my passenger's side mirror and it came out nicely. I bought two original mirrors from courtesy nissan, flipped one and made a base out of aluminim for the passengers side to compensate for the camber. However the flat mirror was less than desirable due to the small field of vision. So I took a convex mirror (from a honda, but you can use pretty much any car's) and I used this dremmel bit ($6.00 on ebay) to score/cut the mirror to the proper shape and size. It was easier to clamp the dremmel to the bench and move the mirror back and forth. http://www.google.com/products/catalog?rlz=1T4ADBR_enUS209US210&q=dremel%20545%20diamond%20wheel&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=10807187833479235161# Then I siliconed the convex mirror onto the flat one. I'm extremely satisfied with the results. The mirror looks original (even though the car did not come with it) and it is MUCH safer to drive due to the increased visibility.

I think as long as its clean at the bottom of the door and the weep holes are clear, any water that gets in (no way to prevent this) will get out. The problem is not that the metal gets wet, but that it stays wet. I've had the car for about a year. I knew that the window channels had to be replaced, but they took a back seat to the first 72 items I had to deal with.

Not to look a gift bottle in the mouth, but...why not a 5 speed?

Well I've finally gotten to installing the felt channel for my driver's side window, so I have the whole door apart. I just wanted to let you all know that the old felt that ends up in the bottom of the door crevice is the PERFECT medium for retaining moisture. I had my [garage kept] Z out in the rain 5 days ago and as I pulled the old felt pieces out from the bottom of the door I could literally wring water out of it. While the resultant rust has not made it through the door, it is the worst rust I've seen on my car by far. I took a blow dryer and dried everything out, scraped and wirebrushed as best I could and vacuumed out whatever I could. I then rattlecanned the heck out of the inner door to coat everything. I also noticed the lower door as seen from under the car (where the weep holes drain to) was rusted as well, so I treated it the same way. I just wanted to mention this to anyone that has their door panel off-you may as well deal with it at this time so that you're not surprised by cancer bubbing through your paint.

Very nice car. But I'm not sure if you've ever heard the saying "Black isn't a color-it's a hobby" referring to keeping it clean and free of swirl marks. Being so new, at least whatever may happen to the car will be on your watch. Enjoy it.

Another revival here-just for curiousity's sake. I drove my '73 onto a scale the other day and it showed 2,660# with me in it (160 lbs).. It had almost a full tank of gas, my +/-25# tool box, a spare tire and the on board jack hardware. My wheels/tires are wider than stock so I'm sure they weigh a bit more. So I figure the car itself weighs about 2,350# dry. My question is, for an apples to apples comparison when they talk about "curb weight" is this with fluids/spare tire etc. or just the car?

I agree that bumping compression up a bit would be good, but you are smart to be cognizant of it getting too high. My roadster has a shaved head and it pings under load on hi oc pump gas when it gets warm. This means I have to back the timing off more than I'd like. My Z has dished pistons and someday I may look into going to flat tops, but I really don't want to be using anything higher than "premium California gas" (an oxymoron if I've ever heard one). There are quite a few variables that effect your dynamic compression. So, while you bump your compression ratio, installing a taller/higher duration cam will bleed off some of that pressure and may allow you to avoid pinging. Make sure you talk to a builder about this so you know what you will be facing.

Interesting thread. I never would have seen it were it not revived. One item that is only briefly mentioned here is that it is not the purchase price, but the maintenance cost that will kill you on the old Porsches. E.g. I recently bought a tranny rebuild kit for my 5 speed for $130.00. A Porsche tech I know told me that the corresponding kit for an early 911 would be around $500-$600. At the end of the day, in addition to just liking an understanding Japanese cars, I like the fact that here in Los Angeles, old Z's are WAY less common than old 911"s. I'd say that for every pre '75 Z I see, there are 10 long hood 911's, and you can't throw a rock without it landing on some newer Porsche.

Cozye, Personally I like the look of a slightly larger wheel than the 14's. More importantly there is quite a bit of sway in those sidewalls. I realize that makes a bit more comfortable ride, but I like the precision of a 50 or 55% profile. My springs are eibach pro's but I'm probably only 3/4" lower than where the car was sitting before I changed them.

My car (the grey one in the pic) has 14x7's with 215/60's on them. Once I wear the tires out, I plan on putting on 16 inch rims. I'm still debating on 16x7's, 16x8's or 8's in the rear and 7's in the front. I plan on Rota RB's.

Holy crap! A calculator for every occasion. I do indeed like the tranny/diff combo. Totally different car. This is how they should have come off the [assembly] line. In fact, I'm not sure why they didn't. My '69 311 has a 5 speed w/o drive and a 3.7 rear end, so its not like they didn't have the parts laying around.

Steve, Is your fuel filter clean? Also make sure you check the screens in the banjo bolts (just before the fuel enters the float bowl). The ones on my Z were fairly clean, but my roadster's had all kinds of crap in them.

This is a pretty cool calculator if anyone is interested. I probably got it off this site somewhere. I'm sorry to say that I too was suffering from insomnia last night. For no particular reason that I'm aware of. http://webspace.webring.com/people/cz/z_design_studio/

ezzzzzz, are you sure about that 500 rpm delta? It seems that the difference between the two is 3.9/3.7 or 5.4%. Assuming one can use straight linear math on this, you'd have to be at 9,260 rpm for that percentage difference to be equal rpm. I just put a 3.7 R180 in (I don't ever plan on getting this motor above say 170 hp) and I really like it with the '82 5 speed. I'm at about 2,800 rpm at 80 mph. When I had calc'd it out I figured that with a 3.9 I'd be at 2,950 rpm at the same speed.