prilofx

no tread separation, tires will be replaced eventually but not hurrying because for the most part it's just sitting in the garage until I save up money to get the suspension worked on/replaced and I do other small stuff to it in the meantime. My guess is that it could be anything mentioned. Tie rods lack bushings entirely on both sides. Until seats can be bolted down and the gas tank drip fixed it's not going much further than around the block, anyway. I was going to do these things to it a couple of months ago but, as is what often happens, something else needed money thrown at it that I had put aside for the Z. Thanks all! Bookmarking this thread too for future reference.

I was finally able to get out and take a drive around the neighborhood last night... very late last night when there was no traffic around. It was AWESOME, first of all, even with its problems (that I have been chipping away at, slowly but surely). One thing I noticed on a straight, flat, recently paved bit of neighborhood street was that the car seems to have what I can only describe as a waddle. Very front-endish. As if the wheels were rotating like something out of a cartoon. That, instead of tracking straight, there is a wobble. Obviously a suspension issue, but can someone give me a heads up as to what I should be looking at first to correct this? Bearings come to mind first, of course... Again, this is a car that just about everything needs to be replaced on, and it's hard to decide what to replace first, but I have a growing list that I keep on hand for when I can run off and buy parts. Despite the exhaust leaks and the unbalanced carbs, it ran bitchen. I can't wait until i get it running perfect. Also the steering is unbelievably stiff, even rolling or at residential neighborhood speeds. I wonder if this is related to tire width, but it could be anything, probably.

Drat! I used to live in that area! Enjoy it!

I have to say that this is the mellowest forum I've ever been a member of. I sold Avon for a few years, and Avon provides a forum for their reps, and those ladies are <i>crazy</i>.

I'm not going to be able to come to this, with or without the Z. Kinda bummed. I have a trip to Portland scheduled the same time and it's with a group and there's no "let's make a stop in Canby for Pril" on the rented van itinerary. Catch y'all next year, though.

I have mine insured through Country on the same policy as our 4runner. Since it's a work in progress and has not been driven more than 2 miles since I got it, I figured that was just fine to have basic liability on it- a little more than the state minimum, as well, since they won't do just the state minimum. I can worry about better insurance later, once it stops looking and acting like an insurance company's worst nightmare. I just wanted enough insurance so I could test drive it, take it places to have things looked at, etc.

I'll just say this, sbblake- in a previous life where I was not so much of an upstanding citizen, I never knew any of my buddies to carry around a spare wire when they went out to "borrow" other people's cars- nor would any of them have been willing to look under the hood to figure out why one wouldn't start, and perhaps two of them would have been able to identify, immediately, that the wire was missing and that it had anything to do with the car starting or not. None of them would have run off to the nearest Pep Boys to buy a new wire, run back to the car and install it and then steal it. You get in the car, you punch the ignition, you go. If the "go" part doesn't happen, you don't stick around to figure out why - you head down the street looking for the next easy target. The car thief's enemy is time, not the police. So, while it may be "much easier to see and replace" for those of us who know how to get around an engine, the average car thief doesn't generally have that knowledge and you can take advantage of it. They don't work on them. They just steal them. I use the same method to keep my friends from driving drunk- no begging or cajoling or bargaining needed. Just "aw, look at that, bro... your car won't start. Too dark for me to look at it. Better call a cab".

coil wire. goes anywhere with you!

I remove the wire that goes from the thingie to the other thingie. Car won't start no matter what someone tries to do to it. Maybe they could push it, or tow it, but most thieves are on for the get in, start it and go, and anything that takes more than a few minutes to grab, they won't- the longer they **** around with a car, the more likely they are to get caught. Broken into and stolen out of? Yeah, I don't keep anything in my cars that I want to keep... You spend your early life living in Los Angeles and certain things always stick with you. You learn those lessons, you keep your stuff and your cars. BTW I know what the thingies are really called.

I'm a girl! Have fun with your Z! I've had my 240 for about a month and am finally able to start getting dirty on it. It's "driveable" but not particularly safely driveable. Taking it over to a friend's shop later today to do some stuff on it then in the next week or so it will FINALLY get its gas tank fixed and I'll be ordering the proper seat rails for it so I can get some junker seats in from one of the 280s at the yard. Yay for between-terms breaks! It's hard to decide what to work on first, and mine is one that if you shut your eyes and throw a wad of bubblegum at it, you'll hit something that needs to be repaired, replaced, repainted or rewired. There's GOBS of information here. Pick something-anything- and these folks can tell you how to do it, what's wrong with it, etc.

here's what I got for $995 (mine's a 73 tho)- running (just ok. much better now) no brakes (also fixed now) windows all work interior mildly trashed, seats from something else PO was a crazy person body in decent shape, sat outside for at least a year or two of Klamath, Oregon winter/summers some rusty parts, some bondo-ey parts, mostly good steel I've got pictures of it here. I haven't made much progress on it but that's about to change.

Looks awesome!

Good to know. Thanks. With all the backwoods mods done to my car I'm never sure what's up.

The car shouldn't run if the tach wire is faulty? I'm asking because mine is completely disconnected and I'm still able to start and run my 240. In fact, I'm trying to find a new tach wire. Mine had been connected with a nest of copper taped on to a length of speaker wire.

and pick up a couple of the rubber-sandwich temporary ones in case another one blows on you if you aren't going to do all of them at once. To keep in the glovebox for an emergency.

Well, mine is still sitting in the garage. School took over the last two weeks and finals are coming up in two weeks, so, it will probably remain there until the middle of June. I made the mistake of taking 19 credits this term and my life outside of school dropped to, basically, nonexistent. And then, every day I think "O I'll take it to the shop today for the gas tank thing", it rains or snows (it's the end of May, universe... ENOUGH!) and with the steering like it is I'm not willing to drive it on wet pavement in any kind of traffic. Yeah I could tow it but I'm cheapish. Want to DRIVE it to the shop. Weirdly, once I got the proper cap on and got it into the garage, the dripping gas stopped, but the leak remains. It was parked butt-down on a slope so I guess that has something to do with how fast it was coming out, before. I noticed this when I got the car and told anyone who would listen that I got my grubby paws on a '73 Z... EVERYONE, and I do mean EVERYONE I told has/had some great story to tell about a Z that they or a friend or family member owned at some point, or gets a wistful look about them - "I remember when those came out... I thought they were the screamingest little cars EVER". I have a list of friends waiting for it to hit "street ready" so they can take a ride in it. I have some that are, like, "Screw the seats, let's go!" What's it gonna take to get it to the day I can have a party in the yard and take my friends for a ride? Seats. The proper ones. Fuel tank repair. Probably a new front end part or two. Goal- the summer classic car cruise. Yeah, Beeb's fugly, but runs so nice I don't care. I just am bouncing around waiting for this term to end so I can spend solid days dealing with stuff... grab a fender from one of the yard Zs, find a tach wire, get into the carbs, start cataloging what it needs in the front end... Really I just want to hop into it, safety issues be damned, and take it for a nice drive.