oldhemi

I have had this happen on last gear -3rd,4th or 5th on several used/abused cars in the past. I was always told it was the syncro - dont know for sure. My '90 Nissan pickup was loosing teeth on 1st gear , as it got worse I found it harder to get it into 1st gear and it would pop out of gear when I lifted the gas pedal. Shifting forks bent or worn out makes sense to me. But tranny innards are mysterious things to me!

Whoo, Johny, you are gonna be busy! Let us know how it goes and which brand parts you used! Quite the ambitious project with the cold temps, I would think.

I have had read good luck with Rockauto.com. They give you several choices of brands and prices. They usually have the lowest price, ship extremely quick and shipping cost is cheap. I always use MOOG parts in my MOPARS - do it once and do it right. Also, look for grease fittings on the new part.

I really admire your courage to bring that beautiful car out on a track exposing it to possible harm! I know that you will be cautious the 1st time out. Methinks that there will be another Z in your garage if you like doing this! Where is the track?

I have never done the Z, but I have read on Hybridz or zcom a couple of different posts where the guys actually let the tranny drop on their chest and moved it out and then back in - I dont recommend that! My point is that its pretty light and you might want a small jack (with the obligatory spare piece of wood) under it. You dont want to just wiggle it out and let it drop 2 feet to the ground - you could screw up the spline or ruin a bushing. Some kits come with the clutch alignment tool. They are also cheap on fleabay or you could use a large socket and eyeball method. FSM or Haynes will be helpful. There will be tranny fluid that will leak out the rear. How much depends on the angle that you have the tranny at after you remove the tranny mount. Be prepared for that. In the past, I have purposely chosen a dirt area of the yard to contain some fluids loss and provide a soft landing for the tranny. It just depends on the tranny and my previous experience with the tranny type and the amount or quality of helpers. Be thankful that the car is not an MG or Jaguar.l Your exhaust *MIGHT* get in the way a bit. "While you are at it", check your driveshaft ujoints, tranny fluid level and mount, maybe even lube your ebrake cable. You might even consider replacing the clutch slave cylinder and line - at least scope out the work needed to replace it at a later date. If you do replace it - be prepared for the bleeding exercise. I dont recommend doing this unless you are prepared for some potential extra downtime unless you can see obvious leaking. Its OK to cry a little if you discover some rust. I agree with JelloBob that it should not be too hard and I do not want make it out like that. I just want to point out a few things based on my experience that can help you be better prepared for. IMHO, $700 sounds like a bit much. If I could charge that much, I would be happy to do 1-2 a week and then pay someone else for bodywork on my POS's!

Looks like several of have "been there". But, I was thinking :stupid:, if one still has a working interlock system and know its workings, this might be a cheap theft deterrent. Most thieves have never seen this less-than-one year deal. I know that I would never hook it up again seeing as it has been nearly 36 years since I unhooked it. I might tear it all out to clean up some more firewall crap, extraneous wiring etc. And think of the weight savings! Hmmm, add this to all of the weight I plan on saving in getting rid of the bumper impact mounts and I would have -um- about the same weight savings as removing the impact bumper mounts. New vehicles of any sort dont come with this POS system do they?

So Dave, when you gonna offer the tail assembly with lights and license plate recess as a kit? :laugh:

The black thing in your picture is your seat belt interlock relay. The other thing is your fusible links - the cover just pops off. When you took the seats out, did you notice some wires plugged into the seats on the floor? There is a pressure sensor on the bottom of the seats that plug into those wires. I wonder if that is what is stopping you? I just unplugged them the 1st day I owned my Z and they never presented a problem afterward. There should be a red push button thing that was mounted on the firewall that was supposed to be an override. Worked sometimes. Its mounted between the battery and the strut tower.

Umm, figuring out the year of an American 260Z should be pretty easy? Or do you mean early vs late? Dont count on a parts cars soft parts to be any good. If so, its a bonus.

Late or early 260Z not correct - doors interior metal panel and the interior panel - you could swap the doors complete but be incorrect. Seats covering is different. Transmission and other vinyl covers diamond stitching is different. Dash and console. Bumpers and mounts. Rear parking lights and panel. Lower rear valance. Ignition - electronic dizzy and ECU. Carbs. Gas tank is slightly different. Late 260's front valance/parking lights and grill - ng - early good. Struts. Above is based on original parts on 260Z.

You CAN run the points w/o the ballast. It will get the full 12 volts and wear out the points quicker. The ballast RESISTOR will cut the voltage back a bit. Yours is missing!

Hey Mike, I hope you can avoid selling the car. I followed it from ebay to Houston Craigslist! Great pics, I wish my car had as little rust as yours! I met up with several Zhedz a few weeks ago at the Galleria. Great cars and even better people! If you get the time, you can drive that Z up to my house, so that you can see a very old Weber install. Send me a message. I can see that your mechanical fuel pump is blocked off and that you need some "choke" cables. I used the original 2 that were on my car and that puppy never failed to start right up in cold Connecticut! Your 73 had roughly the same carbs as my '74, so there should have been 2 cables, IIRC. Since you have an electric pump only, you might want to turn the key on and let the pump fill the bowls before you start it. Do you have the vacumm advance hooked up? Here is a link to a pic of the carbs on La cagada cafe for comparison: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14971874@N03/4346496433/sizes/o/in/set-72157623403713850/

Good info!!! Thanks for the time to put it out here. JM is prolly right on where the noise is coming from. I would have suspected a new install to be the new clutch components!

Brattisani, is the car new to you and you dont have much driving time with it yet? Or, has the car run fine before this happened? If you have had extensive drive time with the car, and it ran fine, then something broke to cause this. The fuel pump broke and it dumped the gas into your oil pan - happens a lot when a mechanical pump breaks. Your post stating that you had to use cleaner to loosen the choke mechanism indicates to me that these carbs are in dire need of some work, or cleaning at the least! Are you running a fuel filter and if so, is it plugged or filthy? It sounds like you are getting plenty of fuel which would indicate that the filter is not the cause. If no filter, its possible that junk got into your carbs and could be hanging something up. Any chance that there is something amiss with your air cleaner? I am guessing not if you have been dinking with the carbs and have the air cleaner off. Too much gas indicates a choke problem, a float problem, a stuck slide in the SU case, an A/F mixture screw mis-adjusted, too large of fuel jet(s) or a blockage of some sort for air to NOT get in proberly. I know absolutely nothing about the SU's - I listed the above because they are common problems with carbs in general. Like Stevef72z, I have been running Weber's since 1977 and they have their own set of problems! You might want to ID your block and head. The block casting can be found on the driver side rearwards of the motor mount, the head casting ID will be on the passenger side just below and between the #2 and #3 spark plugs. While this wont help with your current problem, it might be beneficial to know down the road. I would be inclined to guess that you have a 240Z head E88 or E31 sitting on top of a N42 block.

Vin indicates late 260Z - grill, valance and parking lights are correct. 240Z bumper mod is nice - should be a selling point! Carpet is also late 260Z. The 260Z's did sit high in the rear end. But, this car sits a little higher than I remembered. Shocks or springs re-done wrong? Or not. I also dont know if the late 260Z had the 280Z struts, which could be affecting the ride height if there was wrong parts put on. 260Z's are the red-headed stepchild's when it comes to part vendors listings as to what year fits - is the part in question 240Z or is it 280Z??? Pics of the underneath of the car show no rust floorboards - I am extremely jealous and this appears to be a good car. BTW, there is a 280Z floating around Austin for sale for the last few moths that has close to the same color. That seller is down to $5450. There are a couple of other 280's for sale in San Antonio that are not selling either. Point is that the prices are down a little right now in Texas IMHO. Ebay might have been a good choice. Good luck with the auction.

tried to insert picture:angry:

Edit borrowed camera here is a link: http://www.flickr.com/photos/14971874@N03/4346495351/ Still waiting on a new camera. My early 260Z has whats left of the original boot. My best description: There is a rubber plug portion in the firewall and then going forward it is a "bellows" type affair - about 6 bellows, 3" long with throttle at rest. It runs from the plug portion on the firewall to the white plastic socket on the pivoting metal piece that is attached with a pin to the spot-welded bracket on the firewall. I do not see any metal sleeve, nor have I ever looked at a 240Z to determine if they are the same. I would guess that it would be more like the $6 240Z than the $16 280Z deal. Aint owning an early 260Z fun? What does your 240Z run for a boot? If my description is understandable and you have the same boot on your 240Z, you have a match. Who knows what you get, as far as what MSA is selling W/O a picture(damn them) In the picture of my car that I have linked, you can see what left of the bellow boot sticking out of the firewall as I am trying to describe. In the middle of this picture - higher up - you can see the fat rod that connects up to the thin shaft w/hook for the carbs. That shaft in the picture has a very small rubber bellows type boot! Perhaps this is what MSA is referring to? From why I can gather from other post is that the 240Z has a different shaft and bracket on the firewall to the carbs than the 260Z and 280Z - in our case; all 260Z's! and probably a different boot on this shaft. I think that MSA's rubber is for this shaft and not for the firewall throttle rod. If this is the case, then who sells the rubber boot for the throttle rod and are they same for the 240's? or 280's? or unique to the 260's? Put those triples on the stock(hopefully) L26, then we can compare notes!

leftover, now that's funny! I wish that I had some floors left to bolt it to at this time. Noticed that my original passenger seat has a couple of "dents" from some parts sitting on it for a lotta years. I have to give a shout out to a local Texan youngun "tuner-type" that knows a whole more than I ever did about these cars for giving me a seat from a 260Z, a 240Z door (unfortunately will not work on the red headed stepchild 260Z) and a decent wheel/tire for me to use to roll the car around with. His runs 11.8 with a hell-ified turbo and stock bottom end!

rjk, w/o pics your description of the various lines/hoses is confusing. Not ever having a 240Z, I would be less helpful in any case. I can only suspect that lines coming from the back of your car are from the evaporator tank and a fuel return line to the gas tank. I am not sure if the 72 240Z has an charcoal canister mounted on the passenger side inner fender as the 73 and 74 260Z had. BUT, I can tell you that you need to plug up any vacuum line FROM your engine at this point(diagnosing) so that the vacuum available to your booster is not compromised. A wood golf tee works great! I have run w/o a PVC valve for many years after I did a triple Weber conversion. I "temporarily" swung the large PVC hose to "dump" out on the crossmember(no rust there!) The only vacuum hose hook ups that I installed on the Weber intake manifold are for the distributor and the brake booster.

I was given a 260Z seat yesterday that matches the patina of my very good original passenger set. My drivers seat is in real bad shape. My "new" seat is a passenger seat that I believe I can switch to my drivers seat's rails. I have some "dents" in the seat of my "new" seat from something sitting on top of it for awhile. Has anyone been able to "fluff" up the foam to get the covering looking good. Or, will time and warmth make the vinyl and foam spring back? I have it inside the house right now and it looks like it might spring back - maybe wishful thinking!

In my case, lack of funds due to permanent disability pay will ALWAYS trump actually going out and BUYING one - dont stop one from WANTING one, though.

IMO, no, its not a bolt on. The 77-78 doors are completely different than 240, 260 and 75- 8/76 doors. The big difference is the striker and plate design. In the case of your question concerning interior panel fitment, I will tell you what I have learned: Yesterday, I borrowed a 240Z door and I can not use it on my early 260Z as is because there is a big difference in the arm-rest pull handles attachment. The 260Z and up use a 1 piece unit whereas the 240Z are separate units. There are many differences in the stamping on the inner door panel steel - indentations, raised areas and welded nuts to receive the armrests and pull handles. Obvious outside difference in the door panel covering would be the location of the lock button. It was moved forward a couple of inches at some point - 77/78 for sure. I "think" the striker area of the panel might be different. If you are willing to drill holes, weld on panels, pound out some areas, you might be OK with the outcome. But, I doubt it. Here is link to hybridZ's discussion on door interchange. I now know that it is not completely correct! http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?p=1026341

You might want to check out this GREAT thread on mucking with the gas tank. IIRC, there are some up close photos: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=19034&highlight=fuel+vent Here is another one: http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/fuel/gastank/index.htm

Hmmm, a set of TR6's with some redline tires might look pretty good. Anyone tried it of have a pic?

I thing Geezer is correct. I had one of mine lockup and a "mechanic" had to break off the arm to free up the star wheel to get the drum off. I never fixed it and its been like that since 1978. Soon, I will have to fix that now that I am trying to revive the car. The price of a new wheel cylinder about knocked me over! I have used a Mity Vac to pull the fluid with great success on Motorcycle brakes. I also have a pressure bleeder that hooks onto the Master Cylinder which is great when your wife dont want to pump no more - the pedal that is.