texasz

A few weeks ago (9/26) very early on a Saturday morning I set out on an adventure to pick up another Z. I hit the road at 4am...yes you read that correctly, far earlier than anyone should ever be awake! The starting point, Cedar Park Texas (suburb of Austin)...the destination, Oklahoma City which is just over 6 hours per Google Maps (and it's fairly accurate, considering I was pulling a car trailer). The goal, pick up HLS30-018482, a 1971 transition car with most all the series I bits and pieces...production date of 1/71. First obsticle, only an hour on the road and I'm starting to fall asleep. Ok, pit stop for a 5 Hour Energy Drink...20 minutes later and I'm wide awake and ready for anything the day can throw my way. Or so I thought. All was smooth sailing until Norman OK where there was some NASTY road construction leaving the road rougher than many trails I've 4-wheeled on. I don't mind so much except I have two Z engines strapped down on the front of my trailer and don't want anything to happen to them. Well you guessed it!!! Something did happen. After one especially bad bump I see two of my tie down hooks with little strips of blue webbing go bouncing off the back end of my trailer towards the car ridding my a**. I'm certain I was more scared that he as I knew what would happen next...he'd end up with an engine (or two) on TOP of his hood if we hit more bumps like that one and he had not backed off. With this I slow WWWAAAYYY down, he backs off and fortunately we are nearing the end of the construciton zone where I can pull off the side of the road. Now on the side of the road, still a bit shaken, rather pissed off about the situation, and a mere 3 feet from traffic that has now got back of up 70-80MPH (and yes, there were plenty of 18 wheelers which caused a lot of wind when they passed) I'm out on the trailer assessing the situation and determining how best to deal with it. Of the 4 ratchet straps (1000lb working load each mind you, they should not have broken) I had holding down the two engines only one is not broken. I see that I only lost two hooks though and neither of those were attached to the ratchets. So with a couple of quick rescue knots (bowlines specifically, good thing I'm an Eagle Scout) I manage to have four tie downs again. Though of course after this little incedent I don't trust these straps completely so I pull out two of my car straps (G-Force rated for 10,000lbs each, if these break then I'm totally screwed) and put them on also. I did notice that both engines were sitting on an old tire...now only one was...scary how close that was to being a REALLY bad situation. Back on the road again! Well I get to OKC, stop at Home Depot for more ratchet straps as I have to have my car straps to...well...tie down the car. Now it's time to get the car and this part goes fairly smooth. We have to move his other Z out of the way by pushing it UP the driveway into the grass. One of the tires on 'my' new Z is completely flat and the bead has come off so we have to work it a little and shoot it full of air before it's going anywhere. Then due to the front end damage put the front wheels of what is about to be my new Z on dollies which I brought (and didn't realize that they needed put together since I had never used them nor taken them out of the box). We roll the Z down the driveway into the street lining it up with the trailer and winch it up on to the trailer. Redo all the tie downs on the engines and strap down the Z. Ahhhhh, all done. Make sure I have all the odds and ends that go with the car, complete the paperwork, check that everything is fastened down one last time and start back home. I did have to make one last stop at Home Depot to get more ratchet straps though as I had not previously realized I would need one to keep the hood from flying open/off while driving down the road. No big deal, this is fast and easy. The trip home was completely uneventful, just the way I like it. On the way thorugh Norman I did look for my lost old tire...never saw it though. When I hit Sanger Texas (about 5 miles North of Denton, 30 miles North of DFW) I spotted something that made me stop in my tracks...a junk yard full of vintage autos!!! Pulled a U and went back. This place is right next to a drag strip too! NICE! Unfortunately they were closed, at least they only had a chainlink fence so I could see a lot of the yard. I even spotted a few old Z cars, they were too far away to tell what model...they were 1970-1983 body styles though for sure. Very cool place, I'll have to remember it and make a point to be in the area when they are open some time. Anyhow, back on the road home. I get back at 8:10pm and am beat, I just want to head straight to bed. Sunday morning I get up and am excited to get out and start assessing my haul. I'm out sorting through the bins/boxes of stuff that came with it, cleaning out stuff that's in the car, tossing trash, and vacuuming out the inside. This is when I realize I have hit the mother load. This car has a hand throttle in it that is hooked up and appears to be fully functional!!! I nearly fell over backwards off the trailer in to the yard when I saw this, I had no idea it was in there when I bought the car. There were no handles on it though I figured it's still worth it. I clean the center console area a little more and fide two switches in one unit...this strikes a memory, I have just found the dual switch used for the driving/fog lights!! Another nice rare part in the US market. OMG what a day! Well I continue on and while sorting through the bins I find the proper series I ashtray and it's got something rattling around inside...it's the choke and throttle handles and set screws! I'm lovin' this car right now!!!!! After assessing the car, ripping off the mangled sheetmetal from the front end I am thinking that this car is really not in that bad of shape except for the front end damage. The floor pans seem to be solid as does the spare tire well. The driver's dog leg needs attention and the battery tray is not great though I've seen worse. The driver side front frame rail is toast as is the inner wheel well. The good news is that I have a doner car that could be used for these parts. Someone along the way really cared for this car and it shows. I'm going to have a conversation with my body shop to see how feasible it is to fix this ol' girl and get her back on the road...and just how much it will cost me to do. Pix of the car that the owner took which I based my buying decision on as well as pix I took after having clean her up are available here: http://www.pape.ws/gallery/v/Our_Life_Together/Our+Hobbies/Allan_s+Hobbies/240Z+Car/1971+Yellow+240Z+_HLS30-018482_/ Oh, and for those who asked why I didn't take my car to ZCON...this is why. After the above adventure and having this car on my trailer already I was not interested in dealing with all the work that would be necessary to take my car to the show.

So I'm in the garage this evening doing the final packing of two Z car parts orders and decide I don't want to carry these two large boxes out to the street to put them in the 4Runner. So I back the 4Runner in to the driveway and load up the two boxes close the back and set the alarm. I'm now done with Z work for the night and glad to be ready to ship some more parts off. I just happen to glance over at my 240Z on the other side of the driveway and about die...the entire rear hatch glass is shattered!!! The whole thing is still in place though it's spiderwebbed and every now and then I can hear more cracking taking place. I'm doing my best to remain calm and not totally freak out. I closely look over it and see what appears to be a slight outward bulge in the lower right area as if someone or something had hit it from the inside causing it to break. My first thought...it's got to be the girl (she's 5, can open the car doors on her own, and loves the Z). I march straight inside to the living room where both she and her brother (3yrs old) are watching TV (again remaining calm). Turn the tele off and sit them both down in front of me asking if either of them were playing in/around the Z today or yesterday. Of course nobody has a clue what happened and neither child claims to have been anywhere near the car. True or not I may never know. I advise them that this is their one chance to tell the truth and if they don't and I find out about it later they will be in big trouble for lying. Still nothig. Ok then, we are done. I called my wife who's at work to see if she knows anything about the window or either kid playing in/around the car...another dead end. Well I may never know what happened to the glass (unless anyone here knows anything about spontaneous glass shattering)...though I do know one thing, part of my weekend will be spent replacing it. For anyone who wants to see here's a link to a few pix I took of it: http://www.pape.ws/gallery/v/Our_Life_Together/Our+Hobbies/Allan_s+Hobbies/240Z+Car/My+First+240Z/Mystery+Of+The+Shattered+Hatch+Glass/?g2_fromNavId=xa62b5e15

Ok, now I know. I'll work on being more descriptive.

Oh ok, great...thank you!! The info above, was that for the other end...the one that's attached to the hub?

That's what I thought too, I had a feeling this guy didn't know what he was talking about. This is the kind of mis-information or general lack of information that is causing me to ask so many questions lately...more than I have had to ask since I first got in to Z cars a few years back. Thanx again guys!!

The piece that fits into the diff which you then bolt the half shaft to. Is this the wrong name/term for this part? My understanding has always been that this is the stub axle and then the piece (actually more than one held together by u-joints) that bolts to this and to the wheel hub on the other end was the half shaft.

Ok, I got a yellow "lumber yard" crayon and used it to aid in counting the splines again marking every 10 splines. I still got 29! Are these from a 300ZX?

Did these ever exist? Were they ever available in yellow? I'm asking because I have a pair of 2+2 doors that I was told came from a 240Z and they are yellow inside and out so that leads me to believe that it may be an original color (I have not inspected too closely for over spray yet). I do not recall the 240Z ever being made in a 2+2 style...

One is not really "better" than the other, just different as described above. Check out this little tool, I think it will help you make your decision as well as the info from this forum. http://www.geocities.com/z_design_studio/

Only one reply after posting up pix as requested. Is the general opinion that this is a 4-speed?

My earlier post was comletely generic and I stand on those statements...that being said I have no clue what thread is specifically being discussed here so I have no input nor opinion on any of that.

Ditto!! I was looking for Z club members and asking the owners as I walked through the field if they were members here and if so who they were. Only ran in to two members, one is hardly ever on the site though he said, we did visit for a while about their ZXs (two couples both original owners of their ZX). I did spend a little time chatting with george71z also. All great people! Chris, very disapointed I missed you...after the years of getting to know some of the people on here I was really looking forward to meeting as many as I could. Kinda bummed about that...still had a great time though. Oh hey, did you see the table at the swap meet full of intakes, a head, header, wheels, etc? As long as that was there I was around...that was my stuff I was hoping to sell...unfortunately no sales.

Kinda, my car has terrible blow by on one cyl. (the compression in this one is 40) and the carbs are in desperate need of rebuilding so it does not run very well. I discovered just how bad one day a few years ago when I was kickin' around town and it started sputtering and loosing power. I managed to get her in to a parking lot on the side of the road and began tinkering to see what was up. After pulling a plug or two I found that they were VERY fouled. As luck would have it there was an O'Rileys walking distance, maybe 1/2 mile down the road, so I went and bought new plugs. I replaced them and headed straight home...well wouldn't you know it, before getting home it started doing the same thing again about 20 minutes in to my trip, fortunately at that point I was only about 5-10 minutes from home and managed to make it by playing with the choke and gas pedal a bit. Now at home I pulled the plugs and found them to be in the same fouled condition as the ones I had just replaced. It was at this point that I discovered the benefit of having a blast cabinet with glass beads, cleaned up one of the sets and put them back in the car and it ran fine. I then cleaned up the other set and put them back in the boxes and kept them as spares. This little experience showed me that my car will not run for more than about 20 minutes before needing the plugs changed. So I quite driving her at all and allowed all the registrations to expire and removed the insurance. Since then life has been in the way until late this year when I have become serious about getting her back on the road with a rebuilt engine and carbs (not started yet, saving the money for it though and will be starting soon). I have started her from time to time to keep things moving though and have gone through the remove, replace, clean the plugs routine a few times.

I would agree in general, this board is the best Z forum on the net! There are times and have been people/threads/posts that have been in poor taste or inappropriate...that just happens I understand that. When it does things need to be brought back in line promptly though so as to keep this the same great place it's been. I'm neutral on the comment about hybrid because they can get bad over there so I would not disagree with that comment. In my experience zcar.com is the worst, they seem like a bunch of inmature children...or at least a few years ago when I spent more time on that site. I only bring this up to further support my original statement about this being the best Z group around. As for specific actions on this board...well, we are all adults here and should act like it. There are absolutely going to be times when opinions differ and we just need to accept that, agree to disagree, and move on. Some debate is not a bad thing though when it is done in a mature way and has some merit. Examples of these two last statements are clear when the topic of "what is the best motor oil" or "what is the best muffler/exhaust system" come up...those are rather subjective in nature to a point and have no real right or wrong answer so there will be different opinions and debate...now if the debate over oil for example is supported by some studies or data showing why one product may be better/worse than another go for it, I want to learn more. If it's just pure opinion then state it and leave it be...and don't attack anyone else for doing this, just realize it's only an opinion. I could probably go on though I think you can see what I'm getting at here so I'll leave it at that.

Does anyone have a list/chart of the different MAF numbers and what cars they were stock on? I have a few and would like to determine what cars they were removed from.

I have a P79 head for sale. What condition is your N42 in? Maybe we can work out a deal. Shoot me an email to discuss further.

Ok, those splines are a challenge to count and I swear I counted 29 of them...I even counted a second time. Does that make any sense?

Ok, so now I'm honestly feeling like a complete idiot...I can not seem to determine if it's a 4 or 5 speed, I'm only able to confirm 4 shift positions which I know is wrong since a 4 speed would still have 5 positions with reverse! Below are the pix, hope they help.

How do I tell if it's a 4 or 5 speed all by myself? Just kidding, I can get that far of course...it's determining which of the various flavors it is after that point. I'll put a stick in it and run it through the gears to see if it's a 4 or 5 speed. I should have done this before posting, my bad. While out doing that I'll shoot a pic or two of it also. I would never! Oh, and thanx for the help.....Shirlye.

# of splines, perfect! Thank you John, that's exactly the kind of information I needed. I may have to shoot a pic when I dig out the rear suspension section (it's all assembled still) to help identify it better.

Is there a way to visually tell if the rear suspention parts and stub axles are from a 240Z or 280Z or 280ZX and from an R180 or R200? I have some rear suspension parts that I'm needing to identify.

Yes, I was there Tuesday for the car show...here's a link to the pix I took: http://www.pape.ws/gallery/v/Our_Life_Together/Our+Hobbies/Allan_s+Hobbies/240Z+Car/2009+ZCON+-+San+Antonio/

If you want a stock Z oil pan I have one for sale, please shoot me an email if you are interested.

Really? I can't believe there's been no replies to this...

Are you talking about the part that is under the cowl cover? I've got one of those for sale, check out my website for pix and price www.TexasZ.net and shoot me an email if you are interested in it.