MikeW

Welcome. If you're up for a little road trip you can swing by the monthly Georgia Z car meeting Tuesday evening. http://www.georgiazclub.com/

A little googling found some interesting information here: http://www.bimmers.com/02/upgrades/engine.html

Do you have a Z mechanic in your area? You might ask here for recommendations ...

I would take the car to someone with experience with these cars for a thorough evaluation. When I bought my car almost 20 years ago I did this and came away with a long list of things that needed work in a priority order. I didn't cross some of them off the list for many years. Someone who knows what they're doing will be able to evaluate your engine and tell you what, if anything, needs to be done to it. If it really is 103K miles and not 203K then it may not require any work. Evaluating the rest of the car will require putting it up on a lift and examining all of the stuff that Enrique mentioned. The suspension components and brake components are obviously important.

I'm not sure if it varies from one year to another but the FSM for a '77 L28 lists 164-178 PSI.

I have re-examined my emblems and they are indeed as RIP260Z describes. Each has a slot on the top, bottom, and towards the rear of the car but not in the front. When I originally compared them I was looking for a taper (back thicker than the front) or different positioning of the pins. It would indeed be possible to install them on the wrong sides without realizing.

The vents actually open towards the top. What you have sounds original.

When I got new emblems from Chloe a while back I noticed that one was marked L and the other R. I installed them that way but otherwise didn't see any difference between them. I suppose I'll have to pull them back off and inspect them more carefully.

Yes, you can remove the head without removing the timing chain cover. It's absolutely critical to wedge something in the chain guide to prevent the timing chain tensioner from coming out and putting too much tension on the chain. If it pops out you won't be able to get the chain back over the camshaft sprocket. I learned this the hard way. Every service manual I've seen has proper instructions on this procedure and some even have instructions on how to make your own wedge out of wood.

The only part of Dave's harness that is specific to anything are the connectors. You just unplug them and plug the harness in instead. I'd be surprised if Nissan had to change the connectors as it's only got three wires. They're right in front of the radiator on each side where the harness comes from each headlight. Perhaps you could unplug yours, take a picture, and upload it here.

I don't really need to see pictures when shipping is quoted at $300.

It's hard to say from the picture of the quarter panel but I'd say that the roof can be fixed fairly easily. My roof had some waves in it (probably from someone sitting on it, etc.) before I had it painted a while back. The guy who did the work whacked it a few times from beneath with a 2x4 to get it close to the right curvature and then slowly worked on getting it perfect. The roof is easy to access from beneath and it's easy to see you're progress while working on it. You'll need a new headliner and paint work but you won't be able to see it afterwards.

When I test drove a G35 coupe a while back the sales guy was quick to point that out. I then tried on my other cars and notice that the regular lights seem to come on instantly as well. I wonder what the real time difference is and how to measure it adequately? Perhaps a high speed camera aimed at one of each type of light wired in parallel through the same switch? Maybe the incandescent bulbs come on instantly but take some time to get to full brightness?

I used a special glue that's just for plastic to fix the housing that covers the clip that the rear-view mirror attaches to and it worked quite well. I think this is what I used: http://www.micro-tools.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MT&Product_Code=82565-F

The last pair purchased by a club member went for a considerable price. You might want to read this thread and encourage Will to get on with the plan despite that fact that he has a new baby: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=14343&highlight=headlight

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showpost.php?p=45493&postcount=34

Keep in mind that the steering wheel is not really wood but rather a plastic made to look like wood. This has been debated many times here in the past. As I recall, others have also discussed various restoration techniques so you may wish to search old posts to find what worked for other people.

Welcome to the club. Your profile indicates that you've got an early 240Z. Feel free to tell us all about and and upload some pictures to your gallery.

From the web page it appears as though the product only comes in 6 x 11.75 inch sheets. Do you know if they have rolls or longer lengths? Perhaps it's so thin that you could overlap two sections without really noticing it. Sounds interesting.

It's Carl Beck who runs the internet Z car club (www.zhome.com) and who posts here occasionally.

Agreed. Here's one I like much more. It looks even better in person; Kevin has put a lot of work into it while maintaining the original clean body lines. http://www.zcar.com/month/2003/12/

Is the car burning oil? If the plugs are fouled with oil then it's either coming past the rings or through the valve guides. A compression test can help you determine which is the source of the oil.

Yes, it's a dark blue almost clear plastic.

I also used metal tape but cut it into a 3/8" wide strip and put it on a piece of plexiglass in order to polish it with metal polish. I first used a board to support it but the wood grain appeared in the tape as I polished.

The picture appears to be the same Precision kit that many vendors sell. I got mine from MSA. I too had to really slam my door at first with new seals but over time it gets squeezed down and becomes easier and easier.