grannyknot

After reading more than a few posts in the archives extolling how well the stock exhaust manifold breathes I thought I would work up my 1970 manifold. Ground out lots of metal and semi polished it to match the head. Heated it to 300F then sprayed 3 coats of header paint then back in the oven at 500 for 20min. Gas tank before install, Carbs are now in as are the gas tank, fuel pump, regulator, driveshaft, and exhaust. Nothing sexy at all about the heater/blower but after removing, restoring and installing I think I have spent 40+ hrs on this thing.

[quote=ta240;427476} That's good advice and I'm thinking this might be a good justification for me to drop the car off at Rebello this summer Oh I can hear that one, "Sweetheart, I need a $10,000 Rebello engine, it's a safety issue, can't be too carfeful these days."

As long as your various vin plates and stamped vins match it's hard to believe that anyone is going to make a fuss. Resto shops routinely remove them for paint and and repairs. I like to write a message to the future restorer from me , the current restorer and slide it behind the vin plate before I rivet it back on. Chris

George, have you tried soaking in straight bleach? Not sure how I ended up with different driveshafts but I wasn't going to clean any of them until I found the one that fit the best, as it turned out the center one was the best fit with R200 diff. got some stuff done, Did enough Murder mat to allow me to get the firewall insulation up slave cylinder in, starter and steering rack in. and got the engine and tranny up where they belong. I have 5 more days before I go back to work so I'm pushing hard. Once work starts it goes back to being a weekend project.

Bryan P. I have purchased the murdermax panels and am just about to install it over my own version of Lizard skin that I made up from the same components, paint and micro balloons(micro spheres by 3M) I used Tremclad metal rust paint as the medium, it was applied at about 60*F and the metal of the body has been with in 30* - 70*F since then. That was a month ago and I can still push a fingernail into it if I push hard. As the temps increase I think it will harden up more but what I think is really 'giving' is the micro spheres, they are popping as I push. Tomorrow I'll be heating the inside firewall before applying the murdermax to the cab then spray adheseve on that to attach the firewall insulation. A bit of over kill I know but there is nothing like hearing a good song in a quiet car. I'll let you know how it goes. Chris

Got the engine and tranny bolted together on the floor under the engine bay and was going to lift it up into place before dinner and thought I better get the transmission oil in first while the fill plug is easy to get at. In a recent thread Blue posted an article on how to remove the old yellow look from plastics using Hydrogen peroxide, Oxi Clean and sunshine, so I though I would give it a try, Prior to treatment "You're soaking in it" After 2 days continuous soaking in the sun, Didn't do much that I can see, but then I'm sure the Canadian government has removed the good chemicals from the Oxi Clean in an effort to make all products as safe and useless as possible. I'll have to smuggle some of the good stuff back with me next time I go down to the states.

Good morning Z Got the entire drivers side rear suspension and halfshaft in by 10am and was feeling good and then realized I forgot to install the bump stop on the shock...and that it all had to come apart again, the parking brake, the brake lines, the spindle pin, the halfshaft and spring, head in hands. Ted left quickly as things started flying across the shop, now I'm short a trouble light as it took the brunt of the anger. So I tore it all down, shoved the bump stop in and started the re-assembly. Trying to get the shock tower bolts into the holes for the second time was very frustrating and I guess I was banging the shock/ spring around too much and came within a couple of inches of toppling the whole car into my lap, just managed to push it back onto the stands before it went too far. The car is still quite light and unstable, got a good reminder of that today. So I wasted 4-5 hrs but I got it done.

That's a steibil nautilus

Just about to spray the body toxic mist she comes home! Still can't see the green tint, might be this camera Back in the shop got some stuff installed, brake and gas lines,parking brake and R/T mount, wiring harness Working on the rear end today and tomorrow. Travel'n Man, I will be mostly driving highway so the 3.9:1 will work for me.

Nautilus Twin Compact Air Horn Black | eBay I'm not recomending this seller, just wanted a pic, Steibil Horns are what I use on my car and bikes and they are VERY loud, I've seen people jump. I bought one pair of the red Hella horns pictured above and they were loud but after one rain storm that I had to drive through they never made another sound and I mounted them in the usual place. Chris

Glen, your Z is a Uni-body and it's strength is built in, the gauge of metal is an integal part of that strength. That metal under the battery tray is 20 ga., if the metal you want to use or reuse is as thick then it might work well but you will have to deal with the with cleaning off the white ceramic paint. Most of the freezers that are made these days use thinner metal than 20 ga. I'm all for re-using thrown away metal, I do it all the time, the waste drives me nuts. If you use thinner metal it's not like the car is going to suffer for it but you also want to think about the resale value. If you come across thicker metal than 20 ga that will work fine as long as you can bend it to the right curve. I have also heard that an old Z front fender has the perfect curve to replace the sheet metal under the battery tray, if you have access to one then it might be worth a look. Chris

This what we got done before a late winter storm desended, final primmer, Getting ready to shoot colour, All dust has been sucked out, floor has been soaked, shop is warm And here we go, Wait til you see this colour in the sun! I know it looks kinda bland in this pic but if we get some sun in the next few days I'll take a piece of body work outside and take some pics. So far I'm really happy with the colour, it's a single stage poly urethane understated grey with just a hint of green, With any luck we will be shooting the body tomorrow and the shell back into my shop by Thursday.

I wish I had bookmarked the threads on headers that I was reading in the archives because they were very convincing. One comment by John Coffey (sorry john if I spelled your name wrong) he was responding to the OP who was building a street engine like mine and he basically said take the money you are planning to spend on a header and put into opening up the cast iron manifold and be better off. There were other comments (not by John) of guys running 300 hp street engines with original manifold with no problem. Since I will be running the engine at WOT at high RPM maybe 2% of the time it just seems that a header would be there more for looks and since it's going to be covered up by the heat shield anyway... but your right Andrew, I will do some more research. I figured the header I had would be plug n play, didn't even consider that it had been made for a stock head. Zed, I put it up to the original L24 head (N31 ?) and it matches the exhaust ports well. Chris

Your in the home stretch, will you have it on the road this summer? Chris

Just realized I haven't told you guys about the engine, don't mind the valve cover that is going to be refinished And here are the carbs with just finished heat shield, The engine was built by Whitehead Performance here in Ont. and although expensive these guys are the best around here. About all they do Z's, races cars and street cars. The engine has 15,000 kms on it so it's just broken in and I bought it for about a 1/3 the cost of what the same engine would have cost me to build. F54 block/N42 head, hardened seats, port and polish, unshrouded valves, flat top pistons, C/R of 9.93:1. Mild grind camshaft. Cast aluminum oil pan, lightened alum. flywheel, dual friction clutch, Triples carbs are SK/OER's basically weber clones with a couple of improvements, the most important being an external float level adjustment. I heard the engine and drove in the car that it was in before I bought it and was impressed. Also have a close ratio 5spd tranny and a R200 3.9:1 Diff. And for those who are interested, Ted had a infected paw for a couples of weeks but he's okay now and back to being the emperor of all he sees,

The head was built by Whitehead performance here in Ontario, it was properly done, they have built a lot of L6 race engines. I was going through the archives this morning and found several mentions of how well the original exhaust manifold flows so I put them next to one another The port is certainly bigger than on the header but I will have to plug the pollution control bump and grind it smooth. It's another option.

Zohan, Chas, Bart, and all, I really do appreciate your encouragement. Primmer is done and I think we will do paint on Mon. or Tues., depends on the weather, it's still quite cold here in southern Ont.The paint shop is heated of course but being an old reused barn the winds play havoc blowing dust in through the panels in the ceiling and walls so we have to pick a day with little or no wind before we soak the floor wall and ceiling . I will have some updated pics on this coming Monday. The colour I have chosen is Jaguar JUC56 (grey/green) single stage. I have to admit that I don't care much for metallic colours anymore, I still think they can be very beautiful but they are everywhere these days and I love a single stage paint for the advantage of being able to colour sand it and polish without fear of breaking through the clear coat. Chris

Are you kidding? I've been off the wagon for years, I just don't drink until after dinner that way I get a whole day in before I become useless. I have arranged my work so I get 4 months off in the winter and 14 hours a day the rest of the year. It works for me. Thanks for the complement Andreas and all the other kind words from everyone who stumbles onto this thread. A small truth, I have to admit to doing better more complete work knowing that everyones eagle eyes are looking at it. I sometimes cut a few corners like we all do but documenting the rebuild like this really keeps me honest. I like it.

Pulled my header out of storage today to start matching it to the new engine/head (N42) and found there is a big difference between the openings. Looks like the header was made for a stock head and not one as worked as this one. Here the template is over the header, Lots of grinding! Now I do have .4" of header flange to grind away on an angle but the final result will be a funnel that will still shove these wide exhaust ports into 1.5"OD pipes. The car while I own it may see some track and some tearass driving on quite rural roads but mostly will be used for highway cruising, should I think about a larger header or am I splitting hairs? Thanks, Chris

Steve, this is some old stainless steel from a bbq shelf, I hate parting with hard earned dollars. It still needs to be finished for rough edges and a better shine but you can get an idea of the good materials that are thrown away all the time. Chris

The P1800 hatch back, I would raid the kids college fund if I found one.

And she is off for paint, this is my buddy Tubo's paint shop. I know it looks kinda rough but he consistently puts out great work. Hopefully we'll get a primmer/sealer done tomorrow and colour by the end of the week.

Hey Thomas, I hope it will be bulletproof but stiffer is all I'm hoping for. I have been following your thread on OntZcar for a while now. The extent of your rust is very similar to what mine was when I started and as you know anything is do-able just depends on how much money or in my case labour you want to throw at it. Is it okay if I include a link to your thread with in this one? Chris

I had a Clifford 6-1 that I used on my 66 Mustang and it was a piece of artwork. Terrific sound and it felt like more ponys. Sad to hear Jack is gone, he was a interesting, dedicated car guy. Chris

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/engine-drivetrain-s30/47852-valve-adjustment.html there is some good info here