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I've already carried it back but looking at those pictures it does look suspect to use. He said it was a new stock cam though and he seems to be very honest. I need to see the bill he has for parts and labor. The $250 price is for the parts and I'm sure some labor for the valve grinding.

Well I'm going to be vice-versa. I bought a round exhaust port header for my '77 and would have to send it back, $30, to MSA, then they will charge me another $30 to ship '75 & '76 square exhaust port header to my house. Unless they can polish a cam or something, up close in real eye time, the cam looks to be new. It has white grease all over the lobes and he did say I would need to pour oil over the cam because it has been sitting so long. So if I send my round header back and get square then I could use either N42, square, or my original N47, round? $300 for a better flow exhaust head that's ready to bolt on. I won't sleep very well tonight.

I went back and he let me bring it home to compare to my N47.

I just went by and looked at the head again. The cam it has is new and stamped E30 just like the one on my N47 and is a oiler cam (small hole in the lobes) the machinest said that the cam towers were new also according to the bill they have on file. And they put 2 new stock valves in and ground all of them to the right height, I have know idea what that means. It is wrapped in heavy plastic bag with 2 pieces of cardboard for the bottom, attached with zip ties. And, get this, "if it doesn't work I'll buy it back" warranty. Should I take the chance? I've read alot of people run the N42 just for the square exhaust and no liners. It is supposed to be close to the E88 I think from the 240's which are hard to find because of the low number produced. I'm worried my N47 will be costly to refresh because of broken intake bolts that where fixed with some kind of putty, maybe JB Weld, and the PO drove the car and said it had an exhaust leak. When I got the intakes off the gasket was in many pieces and the exhaust manifold had some odd colored holes. #1 & 2 are soot covered black, #3 & 4 are white in the middle and soot covered along the outer edge, #5 & 6 where the bolt was broken and leaked really bad are pure white. Sorry for the rambling but I'm trying to describe as best I can because I didn't carry a camera to the machine shop and I'm kind of anxious because my 30 day return for the header is the 8th of October. One more thing, the drivers side of the block is covered with oil, greasy and grimmie ecspeacily under the thermostat housing. Passenger side looks fairly nice to be 36 years old. If you can make sense of what I've written would you buy this pig in a poke?

I got my P's mixed up. It's the P90 that had the fuel pump hole at the timing chain but it has round exhaust holes with liners so I know this is a N42. It's the cam towers with no holes for a oil bar that I don't understand.

I went by a local machine shop last week to ask if they would consider re-working my N47 head off my '77. He had a head that was, as told by the customer off a '80 ZX, not picked up from 2006. He got it down and removed the bag it was wrapped in and to my surprise it was a N42 with a oiler cam and the cam towers did not have the holes for a spray bar. It has the hole up front for a mechanical fuel pump but no plate covering it. So could it be that someone had new cam towers installed and the power steering pump on the '80 car covered the fuel pump opening? All my searching shows the P79 had that same hole but would the head still be stamped N42 or P79? All I see is the N42, no other stampings. And would $250 be a good deal for this? It's ready to bolt on and looks like new they have $275 worth of parts on it. I'll have to get a plate made for the fuel pump hole and MSA said they would exchange the round exhaust port header I just bought for the square port so it seems to be a no brainer and that's what scares me. Advice?

FastWoman could I use the check valve off ebay on my return line from my adjustable FPR that won't hold pressure in the fuel rail for the injectors? That's a problem I have and you suggested a primer switch remedy earlier but could this be another route?

If I have a frost problem I could always remove the heat shield. That guys so wrong. I will go elsewhere for my boil out vat bath. Thanks for all the replies they eased my mind up enough to remove the exhaust manifold. Baby steps before falling hard.

I see alot of benefit from the EGR but I've taken a sawz-all and now it's in the trash can. I have a $300 header with no EGR hole.

Well now I can say I have complete faith. Thanks, I can relax now!

I have spoken with 3 mechanics whom I have complete faith in their knowledge of Imports. All of them told me that cutting the EGR valve mount off the rear of my N47 intake would be fine. Turning my N47 into something closer to the coveted N42 intake but still keeping the newer technology on the N47. I have a ceramic coated header from MSA for my '77 car with a N47 head that has no fitting for any kind of heat tube. Today I carried the intake to a Foreign car machine shop to have it vatted hopefully to de-carbon it. He said that my intake had to have a way of heat circulating or it would frost up and not run well. That's totally backwards from everything I've read on all the Z forums (this is my favorite and most helpfull, thanks to you all) I wasn't going to stand in his shop and argue with him the fact that people run the non EGR N42 on '77 & '78's and seem to be satisfied with their performance. So I left feeling like I had ruined my intake. I'm a Z diver (this is my 3rd Z & also had a '83 ZX) not a Z mechanic but I really enjoy working on this car, it scrathes my brain. I would love to someday help other people with their problems but that's about 10 years away! Does heat have to be circulated through my intake through the EGR passage like he says?

So maybe if I had this welded over it might be ok? Last night I put a mini-mag lite inside of the hole in completely dark garage. I couldn't see any light leaking through, I have removed all the stuff off the top side for a vat bath for all the carbon inside, but I know that air leaks are harder to find than simply using a flashlight. And what I thought was a Dirt Dobbers nest was actually a bunch of sand. Would they use sand for casting? Why has that sand not gotten into the intake other than the EGR passage?

I had taken my manifolds off and found this hole under my intake, N47, and was told it was in the Heat Riser. I have taken a sawz-all and "deleted" my EGR from the intake for header install. My Dad says it's nothing to worry about but he's never and will never own a "Furrin Car", he retired from Good Year tire company so he's all about buy American. So I'm asking the Z crowd if he's right or should I buy another intake?

Push button primer? That's for weed whackers! Just teasing. That's a great idea but I have been reading about a Fuel Lab FPR that claims it will keep between 20 & 25psi for hot engine start up. I may end up getting one of those from Santa Claus, they're expensive, but I may try that prime button for now. No stereo but I could come off the cig lighter fuse. And I will be leaving my vacuum test gauge in the drawer of my tool box with all the other test lights and such I've acquired. That drawers getting full. Thanks again for your help FastWoman and Dave C. from Putnam New York. That header is soooo fine I don't want to put it under the hood. Kind of like that Kohler commercial where they bring a faucet to their builder and say "I want to build a house around this". Well I want to build my car around this header.

I have good news and bad. The new FPR came today and that was one of the most difficult parts I've had to replace. But the pressure is bouncing between 36 & 40psi. That's the good news. It will not hold the pressure after I turn off the ignition/ fuel pump. So it doesn't want to restart as it did before which is the bad news. I think I'm headed in the right direction just may have missed some turns or some turns have missed me. Boy oh boy was that a tough part replacement. My ceramic header also came in today so I'm about to be elbow deep in this engine and it probably won't be running for awhile but I'll keep reading this forum. It's the highlight of my day. I live a pretty boring life! "Work, work , work" Mell Brooks from Blazing Saddles.

Well after actually reading, the vacuum test are mostly done at idle. So maybe it doesn't need to be in the cockpit with me.

Also, fixing the leak lowered my already poor fuel pressure. The adjustable FPR with bypass port is somewhere in the postal system. Can't wait to get it put on.

I was going to try and get the hose through the firewall and let it come up where the stereo hole is. May have to buy a longer piece of vacuum hose though. I found a tech page from AtlanticZ for trouble shooting with a vacuum gauge. http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/vacuum/ when I get the car running right I would put it under the hood somehow and put in a cd player. I never knew vacuum was so important. I did your "yogurt cup test" with the long piece of fuel line from the FP gauge on the wiper blade idea from Z Train. When I blew, the air leak parted my hair. In my haste to adjust the valves while hot I had put the valve cover gasket on upside down and had a leak above #1 spark plug. Flipped it over and kicked myself. I'm glad I haven't driven it other than test runs around the neighborhood.

I found this on walmart.com for $20 bucks. I'm going to get one. I don't care about radios just want some gauges to look at.

Finally! found adjustable one that says will work on '77. went ahead and bought it.

FastWoman could you please read my thread "Fuel Pressure Compatibility". I would really appreciate your opinion of that adjustable MSD 2222 regulator. If that would work on my car, and if that's my problem, it may make up for that ECU drift you spoke of. I can get one off ebay for $20 more dollars than a non adjusting BWD from Advance, they're $57.99 and the adjustable one is $79 w/free shipping.

It looks like some kind of breathalyzer attached to wiper blade and kind of works like one. The more beer I drank the worse the car ran.

Spoken like a true Philosopher. I've had that problem my whole life, I get something in my head and start obsessing on that one thing. Thank you Mr. Putnam for reminding me to think of all the small things that make up the big picture. I've been couped up this past week from all the rain we've had and gone crazy thinking about that FPR. I apologize to all for being kind of lazy and hoping for a quick answer for my low psi. I've downloaded FSM and will try to figure it out.

Just got through looping the neighborhood (cops probably soon to come) about 4 times. with the gauge on drivers windshield blade. start up 24psi, cold. patted throttle went down to 22psi. started my 1st loop medium warmth 24psi, up a hill climbed to 28psi, back down other side dropped to 24psi. middle gauge heat range (hot) 24psi, rev up drops to 20 to 22psi. hot idle 24psi @800rpm. ran terrible. unplugged TPS, ran worse, got a little smoother after 3k rpm. plugged back up TPS. unhooked vacuum line from bottom of FPR and clamped it from intake side. 34psi and ran way better until I got caught at redlight. maintained 34psi but sputtered and fluttered until excess gas burnt off then ran like a jacked leg rabbit which was very strong and quick. when running so well psi was between 32 & 34. I'm no mechanic, more a maniac but I am pretty sure it runs better with the higher psi when vacuum to FPR is clamped off. $64k question, what is the problem? thanks for any input, I'll try anything.

Just got through looping the neighborhood (cops probably soon to come) about 4 times. with the gauge on drivers windshield blade. start up 24psi, cold. patted throttle went down to 22psi. started my 1st loop medium warmth 24psi, up a hill climbed to 28psi, back down other side dropped to 24psi. middle gauge heat range (hot) 24psi, rev up drops to 20 to 22psi. hot idle 24psi @800rpm. ran terrible. unplugged TPS, ran worse, got a little smoother after 3k rpm. plugged back up TPS. unhooked vacuum line from bottom of FPR and clamped it from intake side. 34psi and ran way better until I got caught at redlight. maintained 34psi but sputtered and fluttered until excess gas burnt off then ran like a jacked leg rabbit which was very strong and quick. when running so well psi was between 32 & 34. I'm no mechanic, more a maniac but I am pretty sure it runs better with the higher psi when vacuum to FPR is clamped off. $64k question, what is the problem? thanks for any input, I'll try anything.