Captain Obvious

Take a read through this recent thread that talked a bunch about the same sort of stuff. There is discussion about the water lines and such that may help: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/64432-260z-round-top-conversion-a-couple-questions/

Wait... So this is turning into "post a pic of your bike"? 82 SECA 550

So I was poking around with the pics again and I'm starting to think that maybe @Racer X was right when he suggested that "someone has mixed two Z cars, and then rust happened." Looking at the rear strut towers again, the plastic trim is unquestionably 280 style with the high hip cutout. But the METAL part of the rear tower looks like it only comes up to 240 height. That results in a large gap between the top of the metal strut tower and the bottom of the plastic trim: And looking at the drivers door... Notice the weather strip along the top of the window frame. That is without question a 76 feature: Front lower valances where the turn signals aren't is without question a 280 feature. Taillight panels are at least 74. So even though it seems hard to believe, I'm starting to think that someone may have started with a 72 and put on so many parts from a 76 that it actually shows as a 76. If the firewall VIN comes back matching the other numbers, I'll have to assume that's what they did here. Butchering the VIN plate to fit the dash is probably still illegal (considered modification and/or defacing maybe?), but to give the seller the benefit of the doubt, the unibody section may have left the factory in 72. I gotta just stop looking at the pics and let the whole thing RIP.

Congrats on all fronts! And yes... The N-27 is the stock needle for the 240Z round tops. At least in the US. Not sure about other locations.

Gotcha. Thanks for the lead. I'll let this sit for a few days and see if someone comes up with other options, and if not... It's a go.

I did check out the link. But it took me to ebay Canada, so I wasn't sure what the deal was. However, I did poke around enough on ebay US and found the same guy there too (no surprise). So on your custom plate, the VIN is painted on, not engraved. I think the original 77 plate was stamped? Did you ask for everything to be painted instead?

And yes... It was that other thread with the pics of the 76 rebadged as a 72 that reminded me I ought to get a replacement plate.

I'm missing the engine compartment VIN plate for my 77. All the other VIN plates and numbers on my car are fine, but my PO removed the engine compartment plate (presumably to paint the car) and never put it back on. Anyone have a good source recommendation for a correct stock looking plate for the 77 280Z? I looked at Bonzai and he lists a repro for the 240 and a different one for the 260, but he doesn't list anything for the 280. I know they changed the data plates a number of times over the years and I'm looking for something that's correct for 77.

Wow. OK, so now it has moved from "clearly wrong" into "illegal". I believe it's exactly as you suggested... Someone decided they would rather own a 72 than a 76, so they took the plates off a 76 and stuck the 72 plates on in their place. That 72 dash plate clearly does not fit in the spot in the dash. So what is there to do if the VIN on the firewall DOES somehow match the VIN on the dash and door jamb? Based on the work someone put into the fraud, I suspect the firewall WILL match. At this point, t would seem unlikely to me that someone going to that level of thoroughness would not have left the firewall unmolested. I bet they cut out the original VIN area and welded the other one in instead? Or maybe they just welded over it? Woof. Comes back to the philosophical question of "So what is it that 'defines' a car?"

I threaded a nipple into the drain hole on the left side of the block and jammed a length of garden hose onto the nipple. The nipple was the one that threads into the back corner of the head, and the garden hose was from my buddy's hose when he wasn't looking. We did two blocks like this. First block we used ospho, and the second block we used evaporust. The ospho worked better, but the evaporust didn't stink like the ospho did. Note that the length of hose must be long enough so that you can keep it above the deck surface. Used a funnel to fill it, and then just unhook the hose and lower it into a bucket to drain. What you can't see is that I made a block off plate to cover the water holes that go into the front timing cover. But the rest of the process looked like this: Fill it up to the point where you get worried about it coming out the holes in the deck and let it sit: If I were to do it again, I would use ospho followed up by the evaporust. But I would do the ospho with better ventilation. As for the rinsing... I made a copper adapter spray nozzle for a hose that worked as a kinda pressure washer. It wasn't pressure washer high pressure, but I bet it shot twenty feet at typical house water pressure. I don't have any pics of that device, but if I can find it, I'll snap a couple. The biggest advantage was that it was small diameter and about a foot long. you could stick it into the holes in the block. wretch it around, and really blast stuff out.

So what the heck eats off all the rubber and fabric like that? I'm thinking that this car came from Piedmont, AZ near the site of a satellite crash or something?? @Dave WM

I still just see a 76 that had a 240 bumper and grill conversion. Note that there are NO turn signals on the front. Nothing in the lower corners, and nothing in the grill. The original turn signals perished with the original grill, and the guy doing the conversion didn't spring for 240/260 style down on the corners because the parts are hard to find and expensive. The rest of the front looks like straight-up 280 with the original bumper stuff removed and 240 bumpers installed. The 280 comes with the recesses in the lower panels just like in the pics. Drill out the spot welded valance pieces and you've got room for the 240 bumper. As for the rear quarters... I can't tell from the pics if there are really indents in the sides for the bumpers. And even if there are recesses there, I can't be sure if they were intentional or not. In other words, even if there are recesses there, they may be better called "dents" than "reliefs". Haha!! Racer X, and yes... One of the things that is a solid "280 tell" for me is the rear strut towers. The hips are higher on the 280's and so are the cut-out notches in the interior trims. And this car has the high-hipped strut towers.

So does that VIN work out to be a 72? I'm with Zed Head. With near 100% confidence, I say it's (what's left of) a 76 with some 240 parts bolted on years ago. Yes, yes... I looked at the pics again and studied them. And yes, I wish I hadn't.

Honestly? I don't want to have to look at those pics again to figure any of that out for sure!

Yeah, I know you're stressed and not feeling your best. I hope you can get some sleep. You were simply trying your best to help, and regardless of which end of the car you were on, the fact that you were trying counts big!

LOL. Actually I'm going to wait to NOT hear it on your car. Duh.

Man, that thing is gonna move.

I don't have any input on the valve cover gasket, but for the valve stem seals... It is my understanding that the Viton is the "top of the line" and polyacrylic is not as good. I don't think you should pay more for polyacrylic, and in fact, I think the price should be lower for the polyacrylic. Any of you engine guys have input to confirm or deny my understandings?

Yeah, everything about that car says 280 except for the bumpers and the steering wheel. Engine compartment, dash, door panels, rear panel, shift knob, voltmeter... Everything. Does the VIN work out to a 72? And regardless.... Are you friken' kidding me? They ought to be embarrassed to drag that across their floor for the pics. It must have left a pile of parts behind when they drug it back out!

Your 5mm sheet sounds perfect as long as it's hard enough. Oh, and you really want smooth jaws in the vise. if your vise has serrated jaws you could put two small pieces of flat sheet metal on either side to smooth out the jaws. Good luck and here's hoping they come out without much fuss.

Oh, and glad your issue was pretty much a non-problem!

Well I wasn't going to mention it before, but since you asked... The reason you can't find what he's talking about is because we're all at the front of the car except AK... He's at the rear of the car instead of the front. I was going to just let it go until now, but I'm thinking he's been sniffing the spray cans again and someone might want to think about doing a cabin fever intervention.

I was going to tell you to get those needles out of the pistons as soon as you could. I didn't like the way they're sticking out of the pistons laying on the bench like that. Too easy to damage them. So I'm no carb expert, but for pulling stuck needles I've had good luck using some thin pieces or (grippy) rubber sheet on the needle and clamping down with a bench vise. Sorry, but I don't have any pics. The rubber sheets will hopefully spread the force out over a large enough area so you don't dent the needles, and the stickiness of the material hopefully provides the friction required to get them to move without slipping. Clamp the whole needle length and a little twist-and-pull. I've had good success with that.

Perfect. I should have known!

Happy Birthday!!!