5thhorsemann

There is a Z on the cover, the center bottom pic. Looks pretty radical.

I just was doing a thread search and I realized that the above assumptions may or rather are flawed. I made these assumptions based on how the pinion housing was installed by the PO. Is the slot that is cut in the housing designed to accept the keep bracket? I just moved the housing to that position, and the fitment looked perfect, but with the torn up pinion the speedo doesn't work at all. This is driving me crazy, and without a good part to install I can't get this out of my head.

So I've been having speedo problems of late and decided to check out the speedo drive pinion. Upon removal I noticed the housing is not keyed and it has an eccentric or offset pinion shaft boar. As I rotate it 360 degrees (the housing), I can feel the pinion gear engage and disengage at certain locations as I turn it. Now at this point my pinion gear is trash, so no matter where I index it, it will not drive the speedo for long (this being the problem I am experiencing). I will get a new pinion this week, but my real question here is, where is the gear that drives the pinion in relation to the center of the hole? (12 o’clock’, 3 o’clock, etc.) I realize the eccentric housing is such to accommodate the larger and smaller gears, but none of my manuals contain information on how to index the housing thereby timing the pinion to the drive gear. That said, I need a new pinion, my tire size is P235/60-14, they are 24 inches tall. What would be the most accurate size pinion 16 tooth, 17 tooth, etc. It had a 16 tooth which I think is the original, but the PO was running P225/60 -14’s and may have changed it. I’m thinking a 17 tooth may be more accurate with the taller tire, what do ya’ll think?

As a side note, I'm 46 years old and I'm STILL an excluded driver on my parents insurance policy.

It's all about attitude, and the Z has plenty. If your son is anything like I was at that age you need to tear that car apart and do a father-son 4 year restoration project. Let him cut his teeth on another car and get the hormone level down a little before you turn him loose on the rest of us in the Z (which has more than enough speed and power to get him hurt or killed).

Not much, there are running turbo cars in that condition going for around $1500, so I would put yours under a grand.

Picks of the "bubbling" would help.

No zdude, it won't bolt up, the lower brackets on the 240 grill face outboard, where the 260's face inboard. I took a 240 and 260 grill and used the three long grill slats from each to make a full grill which dosen't have the grill pockets. I used the 260 vertical supports but had to swap the lower corner brackets from the 240 to make the thing work without modifing thr car. If you look closely you can see the 260 brackets in the pic, and how they turn in, where the 240 you have turnes out. Being the pack rat that I am I still have the 260 brackets, they are easy enough to swap out, PM me if you need em, just pay shipping and they are yours.

I bought a 4 wire, that deal fell through. I have the late 73 which takes a three wire tach, which I bought in this auction but he shipped me the wrong set of gauges. I know the tach is wrong but I think the speedo might be okay, although I don't recall that lil' box on the back of my existing speedo. Hope to get to this project (the speedo) today, If it's not going to work in my car, it will save me a drive to the other shop later, any thoughts?

Which is why I recommended taking it to a shop, an old timer showed me how to with the plastigauge under a shim made out of feeler gauge material spun through the gears to measure lash. Hense the PITA.

Does it light when you toggle it at the lense like on a 240?

Can anyone identify what speedo and tach I have here? My car isnt in front of me, I know the tach isnt rite for my 73, but what about the speedo?

You might find a used positive pressure mask, that feeds you fresh air, a lot of body shops are going under with the economy the way it is. Then use a small exhaust fan to ventalate slow so your heater can keep up. Also be careful of flamable vapors around the heat source...............KABOOM!

What JM said, I think you would be hard pressed to find anything on a car that can take more abuse than the diff gears. If they aren't whining, clunking or grinding, there good. I would however recommend taking it to a shop to have it set up properly. I can't speak to the R180 per say, but I have done a couple of Ford 9" and Dana rears, and its a PITA to time the gears without the proper gauges. I used plastigauge, and it takes a lot of patients and time to get it right.

Yea, but I didn't buy a kit, I rewired the car and added relays and 2 new 30A circuits for the high and low beams. I don't want to go through all that wiring again, so I guess I'll pass.

Soooooooo, how does this wire in with headlight the relays? or do you remove that modification in favor of the above schematic?

Ambient temp makes no difference in my car, if the temp. gauge isn't in the warm range, I get exhaust popping and can feel the car larch a bit no matter where the choke knob is. I don't know what a PITA it would be to add hot water to you're manifolds, maybe contact ZT and see what they recommend

Check the hot water plumbing to the carbs as well, mine does this when it is not up to temp.

I see the firebird now, snuck that one in on me.

BIG NO to butain or propane, nowhere near hot enough. Go MIG, you can be proficent in one day of practice with sheetmetal and exhaust tubing. PS, don't weld galvanized tubing without grind off the galvinize, it can kill you.

It's not a Firebird, it's an SS El Camino. (72? me thinks)

The difference between gas and TIG is technology. A skilled gas welder with a high end torch can do just as good a job as an equally skilled TIG guy. The fact that it takes two hands to form the welds in these methods, and the skill required to control the heat, makes them very challenging to master, but the end results, on any material are superior to the other disciplines

Follow the line from that master cyl, it will lead you to the throw out cyl on the clutch, check that for leaks, fill the MC first.

I came up with 1500 based on 750 for the carbs and manifold as cores for a rebuilt set. And I think thats a bit high.

I don't think it' worth much more than $1500, It needs alot of work and parts. This thing will be more than a nickel and dimer, I see $2000 worth of parts missing just in air filters, wheels and bumpers. Than theres the rust.