BoldUlysses

Thanks folks. I tried the technique and the passenger side is now aligned perfectly, but the driver's side is still 1/4" or so up. Bugs the fire out of me. I even tried gently sitting on the corner of the hood while reaching under to tighten the bolts (the grille and bumper haven't been installed yet, which helps access). Will keep trying. I really don't want to have to enlarge the slots in the driver's side bracket, especially now that I've got the passenger side locked down. Ugh. Thanks again.

Hi all. I'm hoping you guys can help save me a trip back to the bodyshop for this. So I'm reassembling a 240Z with a restored body. During the painting process, the body guys installed and aligned the hood with the fenders and cowl BUT without the torsion springs in place. Now that I've got the torsion springs back in, they preload the front of the hood and pop it 3/8" or so above the line of the fenders. See attached image. Front-to-back and side-to-side alignment are perfect. The hinges are slid as far down as they can go using the 3 bolts. And the fenders and headlight buckets are pulled up as far as they can go in their bolt slots. Is there anything else I can do to adjust? Thanks for any and all help!

Soap box derby, here I come! ?

Motorless, transmission-less, exhaust-less, dashless, fuel tank-less, etc etc. The upholsterers did a great job with the interior. Pics forthcoming.

Thanks for all the help guys. She was just delivered yesterday. Back in the garage now waiting for reassembly to commence. Going to focus on the mechanical stuff first. My dad has a lead on an OEM non-cracked dash but until he gets that, I'm going to hold off on interior work. ^This arrangement is just to get it into the garage. The car was delivered on a trailer.

Thanks guys. It's not so much the connectors that I'm concerned about (fortunately they're all pretty distinct and I labeled the ones that would be easily confused) as the reassembly sequence. My notes aren't as good as they should be; I got into the "take it all apart" zone a couple of times and forgot to record the order in which I was taking things off. Will d/l the FSM. Thanks for that. Spent some time scrubbing the ol' L24 earlier... More to go.

Hahaha Well it won't be fun if I install the dash and then forget a connector or 3 and have to remove it... That's what I'm trying to avoid! My dad will keep it in NC once it's done. I'm just providing the extra time and hands...

Hi guys. I'm in the reassembly stages of a '72 240Z restoration. My dad bought the car new in 1972 and it's been in the family ever since. I disassembled it and kept the engine, trans, dash, wiring harnesses and a host of trim pieces with me here in Chattanooga, while he took the rest to back to where he lives in central NC and had the body restored, floor pans fixed, rust patched up, etc. See attached pics. In a few weeks, he's going to bring the car back to me so I can reassemble. All the fasteners and smaller parts are bagged and labeled and I took notes during disassembly, but it would be wonderful to have another 240Z to compare to make sure I get the hose and wiring harness routing exactly right, etc. Would anyone with an S30 in the Chattanooga area be willing to visit for an hour or so while I compare? Beer (or another beverage of your choice) can be provided. Thanks!

Sorry for the late reply, but the parts are long gone. Apologies!

Found another piece of the puzzle. Alex commented on my blog post detailing the block ID / plate mismatch, and posted a link to his registry, wherein there's a long list of VINs and engine numbers. Turns out, if you focus on the section where my VIN (93069) falls: that the only plausible block number would be the one that's actually on the block, 118555. What that means is that the number stamped from the factory on the shock tower ID plate (110555) is wrong. Pretty wild.

I might need to do this. Having trouble getting mine timed correctly as well. Jeff, any danger the timing chain will skip a tooth or two if the engine is rotated backward? I've heard horror stories of BMW owners destroying their valves because they turned the crank pulley backward and the timing chain jumped.

Thanks for posting the article! Agree with them that the FB RX-7 is a future collectible. Prices have been on the rise for the past 5 years or so. I still want a nice GSL-SE; the FB was my "first love," automotively.

Thanks for the input, Carl. That's really helpful. I think I'm going to tear the car down over the course of the next couple of months and see where we are then. Thanks for the thoughts, Chuck. I wish you were closer too! Mechanical work I can handle, but bodywork is a black art to me... Don't know about a chemical dip. I assume that's where they dip the entire unibody? I'll ask the body guys when the time comes. Dave, rest assured my dad and I are going to have some long conversations about this one. We may move forward; we may decide it's time to move on. FWIW, neither my mom or dad are the type to throw things away easily, so...we'll see.

Gulp. Well Carl, you have an experienced eye if ever there was one. I plan on doing everything except the actual cutting, welding and paint shooting. That includes as much of the prep work as I can do, which may not be much. But I can certainly strip down the car. It was originally silver on red, which it will be returning to. (C'mon Carl, the car's on your registry! )

No visible rust around the front shock tower area. The inner fender under the battery tray has a nice rust hole in it (the tray itself is fine, weirdly enough). Wheel arches seem okay except where they meet the rocker panels behind the doors. Some bubbles under the paint, but they're not ragged and crumbling.

That's where it gets tricky. My dad was the car's original owner, so we're kind of stuck with this one. It's either restore this particular Z or don't restore anything at all. I'm going to take it apart at least and have a "Z-knowledgeable" body guy look at it. At that point I think we'll be able to make a more informed decision.

Thanks for the replies, guys. Yeah, I should post another video after I get the car stripped down to the metal. Chances are it'll be even more bleak.

Finally got around to editing/posting this one: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/xLiy7KBgPXQ" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> Comments/corrections welcome. Let me know what you think! Is it a goner or salvageable?

Same here. It's not something I'm going to tackle right away, but it did cross my mind. Ah, the old bug/feature debate... I'll try what you did. For the record, there's a difference between a nice, solid *click* or *thunk* (any Honda, BMW, etc) and a cheap plastic *crack* like the turn signal stalk my parents' old Oldsmobile Ciera had. Sounds like the latter is more in the vein of your Road Runner's.

Yeah, I have to do that too. There's also a certain sector of the wheel's rotation when the turn signal won't click into its detent. Nice touch, that. I gather it's similar. Heck, my dad's 1989 F150 had a horrible stalk too. Just trying to see if it's typical for the Z and if there's any way to improve it. It's not a dealbreaker by any means. When you say "works fine," does that mean the mushy feel is gone and there's some crispness to the switch's action?

Is it just my Z, or is the action of the turn signal stalk on our cars incredibly mushy? Call me OCD, but the flimsy stalk and ooze into the detent at the end of its travel definitely have a somewhat negative effect on my overall driving experience in the Z. Other cars, whose turn signal stalks snap into position with a positive, non-flimsy *click* or *thunk* just feel that much more special and substantial to drive. It doesn't help, either, than the action of the headlight switch is excellent and free of play. So is it just my Z? If not, does it bother anyone else? And is there anything that can be done?

Thanks for all the helpful responses, guys! That's great. The knowledge of what causes the red brake light in the speedo to come on (imbalance between the front and rear systems, not necessarily low pressure system-wide) is very helpful. I'll bleed the system again and see what happens.

So after rebuilding my Z's braking system a few weeks ago, I have some questions about the engineering justifications for several of its features: 1. The front and rear braking systems are completely independent, yes? If so, then why the proportioning valve? Why not do all the proportioning through the master cylinder? 2. Is the function of the distribution block under the MC simply to split the lines from the one leaving the MC into the requisite number to feed pressure to each wheel? No valving in there? 3. What exactly does the sensor on the bottom of the distribution block sense? Low pressure? High pressure? Air in the system? As information, my car has the early braking system with the proportioning valve back in the rear axle area. Thanks for any and all insight.

Quick update: The later rebuild kits are compatible with the earlier cylinders; all the seals and clips fit fine during my recent rebuild. Also, tidbit from Oliver of Z Specialties: Apparently it's easy to swap (rare and expensive) pre-mid-72 drum brake innards for (more common and slightly cheaper) later drum brake parts. Get the later brake bridge so that it will mate with the new location of the brake line entering the wheel cylinder; the backing plates are common between the two styles.

I second this. Would love to see a montage. Heck, I could hang it up on my garage wall as inspiration.