oldhemi

I'm fooling with Firefox browser and thought I would figure out inserting images, so here's one of the afore-mentioned pictures(hopefully):

Check these puppies out(scroll to post 133) http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php?/topic/55212-seat-swap-list/page__st__120

Steve, like you, I did not not find a lot of "bad" info posted about certain covers. I have no axe to grind with MSA. But, when a retailer does not show a picture of items on their web site, you gotta wonder.... If you dont care much about original seats, you could go with cloth for the Houston heat. You could put totally different seats in there. Hybridz has a whole seat swap list thread going. One guy over there has some butterscotch color older Recaro LS seats in his. I never was overly fond of that color. But, does that interior look great with those seats! I would seriously consider tapping my retirement fund for those seats! That is, if I can get the rest of the car up to snuff.

I recently bought a MSA vinyl cover off of eBay. It was just the seat back piece for $25. The damn thing was not even close in the seams! I sent it back. Here is a link to some pics of that cover compared to my original seat and what I think is a 74.5 - 76 seat: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14971874@N03/sets/72157623632720534/ I know that the 260Z seat has different pattern (vertical vs. horizontal) than the 240's. I posted this to show the quality of these seat covers - maybe the 240's are mo'betta. But, c'mon this thing is in left field! I am now more than ever intent on saving my originals after seeing MSA seats. My passenger seat is real nice. My drivers seat needs a bottom but the seat back is very salvageable by an upholsterer. And, I do have the unknown seat that I could use very nicely. Those independently made seats sure look good. Are they leather or vinyl? How much are we talking for this work? Hmmm, didn't all 240's have the 4 ventilation buttons?

Rockauto.com has rebuild kits and new m/c's for my early 260Z plus other years. Being happily ignorant of the early 240's, I suggest that you look there. A lot of the different manufacturers/distributors on their site has pictures that might help you determine if the stuff LOOKS correct. I have found that Beck Arnley usually has the correct stuff as compared to others ( Dorman comes to mind). What I have found it that sometimes they have something in stock, sometimes not, sometimes at one price and the next time I look at another. Some parts are in low supply. I THINK that they either scour distributors for warehoused parts or are able to get some parts that have been in short supply and then list them. They are cheaper than most everyone else and sometimes by quite a bit. They ship extremely fast and the shipping costs are not inflated. For example, I had to do 2 '96 Dodge trucks upper and lower ball joints and idler arms (Thanks Hurricane Ike). I saved over $150 on MOOG over the cheapest I could find in Houston parts stores! Shipping was a lot less than the 8.25 sales tax also - so I saved another $25 there! There is also a 5% discount code posted recently here. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=37752

An IR might be helpful! I also have one of those. IIRC, aim it below the spark plugs at the gasket for variables comparison. #5 is the troublesome booger. Good luck on the tank job!

I think I know where you are HEADing on the cooling issue. You have attacked all of the smaller items on overheating problems - and more with the radiator shroud! Since you have tested the car with more than 1/2 tank of gas, you probably have ruled out the pick up tube being perforated. Because the tube bottom sits off of the bottom of the tank, its doubtful that some rust will be a problem. Plus you have a filter between the tank and the electric fuel pump. I have never checked the return line's output, so I have no knowledge on how much of a spray should be coming out of there. Hopefully someone will chime in about that. I admire your "get r done" attitude and the quickness in all of this work. I have a Slant pressure tester if you wish to borrow it. It will tell you if you have a compression leak. I live on the north side - 249 and Louetta. Its about 4 miles north of the 1960/249 intersection. PM me if you want my phone number.

Needs TLC = Tons of Loot and Cash

When the mechanic shook your wheels, did he point out slop in the tie rods? If not, there is a good chance that your wheel bearings are LOOSE! Not saying that is your problem, but I have been down that road with "mechanics". With tie rods, you want to look at the ball portions movement to see if they are shot. Its easiest to check on an alignment rack that has a revolving disc that the tire sits on. I have not ever checked a rack for play. But, if it really is bad, I agree that rockauto would be the best bet. However, if the outers really look good, I would leave them. But that's me these days - I am now all about saving money. Its a pretty easy job to do later - if needed - compared to rack replacement, ball joints and control arm bushings in the front end. Just my opinion - worth what I charge.

Beandip is one of "da mans" that I follow on Z's. He should have some good input here. From what I have read, there is some sort of nozzle in the hard line in the return. It is some sort of metering deal. I dont have the hard lines anymore, so I cant help there. It is sounding a little like fuel "boiling". Good tip on the wp bolts. Maybe some neversize on the new ones? I hope that you can remove them w/o breaking them. I have a spare L28 sitting here with a broken wp bolt and some sort of silver colored goop that matched the aluminum color so well that I never noticed the broken bolt when I picked the engine up! My Z blew a head gasket on cylinder 5 back in '86 or so. Symptoms were running like it was on 4-5 cylinders at times and then clearing up at other times. I can not remember if it was worse at low speed and idle or not. I am pretty sure that my temp gauge was running hotter also. I had a friend who worked on Z's part time and had done many headgaskets. He listened to my description of my problem on the phone and immediately stated "headgasket". He came over that weekend with the tool - wooden stake - to hold the cam chain tensioner in place and we were done real quick. It helps when you have an expert make a house call. I digress. If its idling for 3 minutes and getting hot, you could wait to see if your thermostat kicks in and its starts cooling down w/o driving the car - if it keeps getting hotter it could be the thermostat - or not. Open the hood and put a box fan in front of your radiator and see if this environment keeps the car cool. If so, its probably not your head gasket and more likely a fuel issue. Hopefully someone can chime in if this is a valid test. I agree with your plan to do the thermostat 1st. As least check it like Beandip outlines and you can also see what temp its rated at. Here is a tip - do not use the wife's best pot or her candy thermometer. Even with her permission, it can be a sly trick to get new pots and pans! Even a cheap electric frying pan even has a temp gauge built in!

I am happy for you that your tank is good. You are probably OK with the fuel flow. The only other thing related to that is the filter (and magnet) in the stock electric pump. Doubt it now if there is any problem there. I have read folks complaining about the accuracy of a fuel pressure gauge. I dunno if some brands are better than others. We haven't even got warm yet and your temp gauge is climbing - that is a concern. I hope that its as easy as a thermostat. These cars will run warm with prolonged idling. Nissan tried many fixes including cutting a hole in the hood and installing a "scoop" over it - some worked. You might want to consider a 160 degree thermostat. Does the problem clear up when you are driving? Maybe with a/c off? Does the temp gauge go down when driving? Does the upper radiator hose get hard as a rock? This is sometimes an indication of a bad head gasket. They usually blow out on the rear 2 cylinders. NOT saying that's where you are at yet. Check for wet on the bottom of the water pump sometime after it has been warmed up. Marginal water pump will cause high temps - ask me how I know! I am not discounting WM's post. But, I dont think that you will have to worry about mixture adjustment yet because it just has not been hot enough! But you could be borderline on your adjustment. Zednobi is running SU's. He lives down towards Galveston. There are some interesting threads over at hybridz on cooling. Those cats are always pushing the limits on these cars engines WAY over what the original engineers would ever have envisioned. 4 row radiators, dual cooling fans, drilling holes in the head for extra cooling at the rear, etc

Junk in the gas tank? Pickup tube in gas take rusted/perforated? Fuel line or filter plugged? Is your tank less than 1/2 filled? If so, try filling it up and see if it solves the problem. These zuckers are notorious for gas tank problems. What with the low mileage of your car, I would not be surprised if it sat for long periods of time letting the gas tank rust. Mine did!:stupid: I wonder if the temperature outside today and yesterday here in Houston is a red herring as far as the performance is concerned. The temp gauge climbing like it did is worrisome. Are you running a return line to the gas tank? This helps keep the fuel cooler. The electric pump was added in '73 to help with vapor lock. If you DONT run your newly installed A/C, does it run cooler? Maybe its just a stuck thermostat? Just playing devils advocate here, your previous posts indicate that you know what you are doing.

Oregon, no insult taken! Most folks dont "restore" 260Z's as opposed to the 240's and even the 280's! And I am not the foremost expert on 260's, I just happen to have owned one since new that's sitting in one of garages. I can walk in there and look at something to answer a question or two. You have round top SU's from a 70-72 240Z. The 240 guys can tell you which year(s)that they are - 3 screw or 4 screw tops. That is probably a good thing for you! Does not look like that you have the original intake manifold. BTW, Oregon has a TON of Z car fanatics! You should have a lot of local experience to draw from. It looks like you are tearing the car down for a paint job? Your bumpers are 260's as Arne posted. I never cared for the way that they stuck out from the body and the way that the rubber quickly deteriorated. My bumperettes are starting to split on the bottom and I am afraid that they will disintegrate if I try to remove nuts off of the impregnated bolts. Wont be easy to find good ones these days. Its easy to let the gas out of the shock mounts, push the bumper in and then weld up the shock tube. There are other methods also. Depending on how far you push them in, you will have to either remove or trim the rubber aprons that are attached to the body. For me, they are history when I get around to it. I am pretty sure that the rubber on the bumper is still available from Black Dragon and MSA. Dont know about the rubber on the body that sits in back of the bumper on both sides and front and back. Your front valance panels look to be in good shape. As does the grill. Is that lower side trim hiding some rust? I hope not, but dont be surprised. Its a common "trick" to cover the rust. Are you having fun yet breaking the bolts on the car when you are removing items? I cant tell from your new pics if the hood grills are 280Z or something else. I never had any vapor lock problems and my car still ran smooth when I removed the original carbs. Arne could be right that they could be something added at some point. A lot of discussion on their effectiveness at removing heat over at hybidz. I dont care since I dont plan on running one of those hoods. Is it me or does the new format of Photobucket have really small pictures?

I specifically posted that mine is not ALL stock! The webers and exhaust were installed in early '77 along with suspension mods. The rust is all original too! Your 2 carbs could be the original flat tops, previous years SU's or even downdraft Webers! The car in your avatar has some trim added to the bottom. Dealers would load these cars up with "dealer options" for more profit because there was still a waiting list in early '74 for these cars. I have seen this trim before on cars along with the belt molding. If your hood has vents it is likely off of a '77-78. I can not tell if you have 260 or 240 bumpers/bumperettes because the pic is too small for my poor eyes. Try a more specific search like: 260Z bumper. You will get lots of hits. You have to sift through them. Some even have pictures! Do as zcurves posted and link us up to foto album. We can then all get into arguments on what is stock or not!

The VIN only has the serial number. There is nothing there to indicate any options. The born-on date will be stamped on a metal plate on the drivers door striker area - on the body - not the door itself. Another metal plate is located on the passenger side of the engine compartment, forward of the strut tower and near the trouble light. There will also be a sticker on the passenger side upper radiator support that will contain the code of the paint color. Lastly the VIN is stamped on the firewall above the M/C brake booster. Now then, my numbers and datum are not correct yet for the 260Z and some following info is a little fuzzy: There were about 65,000 260's built. One year only in the USA. The rest of the world got the 260Z thru 1978. The latter portion of the cars were more 280Z appearance-wise in their bumpers and strut changes in the suspension. I have never been close to a later 260Z to observe all of the changes. Some mechanical changes can be gleaned by parts offered that state which years or serial number range that they fit. I need to document this info when I find it. If anyone that reads this far can point me in some directions, I will be grateful and stick it into a word document. My serial number is 13490, born on 11/73. Doing some dirty and fuzzy math, there were about 65,000 built in an assumed 12 month period. 65K/12 = 5400 built per month. I am guessing that production started around 9/1/1973. So, yours might have been built in April 74 give or take a month. This would be considered an "early" 260Z. Again, if anyone has read this far and wants to chime in with some info, please have at it as I am too tired tonight. Oregon260Z, please use the search function, there is a lot of info here on 260Z's. If you have some specific questions, you will get a better and more concise answer - maybe. Look at my signature, I know what's factory and what's not because I am the only person to have mechanically worked on this car. It's not stock, but close and I still have nearly all of the parts that I changed out.

Zedyone - I agree with you on the validity of this plug check, but I was under the impression that Crazyoct's car was not able to out on the road confidently at this point. Using this assumption, I figured that this was better than nothing. I should have been more clear! Crazy, I have very little knowledge on these SU's, but I am agreeing that you have some leaks which could be ALL of your problems or not. Are your floats set too high? High floats will cause flooding on most carbs that I have worked on. Since you are using a not-explosive spray to find the air leaks, you could be also loading those plugs up causing misfires leading to the plugs getting fouled -except for #1! I dont have an answer for that one! As far as new/rebuilt carbs, I would not advise you on that. More Z - SU experienced folks would be much better than me!

My opinion - after you get the car warmed up, rev it to 2-3K for 30 seconds or better and shut it off. Take your plugs out and take a look for one that looks way different than the others. If so, that cylinder could be getting some H2O in it! Then take your compression check and see if that cylinder is lower than the others. The reason that you want to get the revs up, is that you dont want a rich idle condition affecting your "plug chop" - reading the plugs condition. We do this on Honda 4 cyl SOHC/750's etc for main jet reading/changing when changing to different air filters, exhaust etc. I think that this technique would be applicable in this case.

I want to let everyone know that there are some great folks on this forum who have gone out of their way to help! AnthonyG saw that I was a little late in getting in-line for Zsondabrains rear brake drum parts that he was giving away. Turns out that AnthonyG was doing a swap to disc brakes and (like Dave did for another lucky Zhead) GAVE me all of his parts AND the front calipers. These parts are in great shape with some only a year old! At the very least these parts allow me to get the car one step closer to drivable position or more. I plan on rebuilding one of the calipers and maybe one of the wheel cylinders. This wonderful gesture really helps out a retired person like myself who has found himself financially challenged to get his old neglected but still loved Z back on the road! Thank you so very much Anthony! You rock!

White smoke COULD be a sign of coolant getting into the combustion chamber(s). Also hearing a knock or ping on cylinders 5 and 6 could indicate a bad head gasket. Also, have you done a compression check yet? Bad compression does not mean that you have a head gasket leaking water into the cylinder. Black smoke is an indicator of a rich condition. Blue is oil.

WAG - dirty fuel or plugged gas filter?

There are cheaper alternatives to MSA for many mechanical parts. Just saying..........

These pumps were made to be rebuild-able. Dont know if the kit is still available. Arne, Use your lawnmower tank. Your motor will run longer! You could use an old motorcycle tank and hank it up higher - like an IV deal. Maybe one of your other cars has a better pump! I do like your ingenuity to use a mustard bottle for pressure! Get a gas filer attached before you start running from your installed gas tank if you have not yet. I am just playing Devil's Advocate here, I'm sure you know all of this already. Double check your plug wires. 15-24-36 where #1 is the closet to the radiator. Check for vacumm leaks. WD 40, propane ect aimed at connections.

Loz - lmao !

Soap and hot water, pressure washer works good. Light enough to bring to a car wash if you dont have these items! Easiest part on the car to clean, IMHO. As others have stated, no solvent tank!

I dont think you will be able to.... but if you do, I would like to know! I never had in success and I would worry a liile about bleach. You could try different methods including an abrasive method - wire brush, sandpaper etc - on the bottom of the washer tank where a screwup dont show.