JRSGTS

Thanks for the link Sarah. I was thinking I might have to do that if he didn't come up with one. I know his signals worked if you held the mast in place, but it was quite floppy. I figured it was more than just a contact issue. Have to wait till it gets here to diagnose properly. If it's real messed up I'll contact Dave or Steve above. Thanks guys!

Hi Sarah! Long time.. Thanks for the tips. The flashers are a great idea I hadn't thought of. Are replacement switch's hard to come by? The owner said he'd get it. I'll also recommend the LED bulbs. Can't wait to get the exhaust on it! It's good to be back! JR.

UPDATE!!! Just saw the owner. He put an Alternator on it, says it still runs great! He was doing some "Body work" Prepping, going to pay someone for a paint job. Says he got a quote of $3K to paint it black! Hell of a price, hope it comes out decent. He's determined to drive it this summer. So he's bringing it back to me for some exhaust ( YAY!) and some electrical work. Needs directional switch, and he wants better tunes. Stay tuned! Should I start a new thread for progress? Missed you guys and ladies , hope you all had a good winter! JR.

Fix the leak, Check your valves, Check your timing! Then lose the accel wires. Can't trust them. You need to do what Travelin man said. Sure up all systems before you try to read the plugs. Unleaded fuels DOES make them very hard to read. Better off with the AF gauge.

Get lots of extra fresh plugs Lenny. All this rich running is going to fuel foul them and not help you at all.

Has anyone seen the 1974 Z at Gas Monkey Garage? Looks pretty nice. 5 speed conversion, decent paint. Listed in their Ebay store for $6K. Good deal?

CONGRATS LENNY!!!! Way Cool Cool! Oh yeah, Congrats on the baby too!! You have made history! I agree, way better than the super Bowl.

Here in NY. We have to fail for structural rust IE: Frames, subframes, crossmembers etc. But floors, body mounts etc. No. essentially your seat could be falling through the floor, as long as you have a seat belt holding you to it, I can't fail it! . In NH. ANY rust hole any where is automatic failure.. Go figure. Get a good look at the structural stuff!

Thanks Sarah! Yeah, I'm all for DIY'n it as long as they are not "Cobbers" as they call them around here He's totally capable of an Alt. swap. As far as the coneectors go,It was just a miss on my part not plugging the damn thing in right.. He said he'd be back for injectors and exhaust though. That works for me!

Final update for now...I knew the owner was bringing it home, but I was not happy with how it was running. I fired it up to mess around with it. Started good but had a roughness that I didn't like. Turned out #2 Injector wasn't plugged in all the way! NICE! smoothed out a lot better! Still sounded like a truck, but hey much better. Went for a ride. WAY better! wanted to fly! Got back to the shop, thought I'd mess with the tuning a bit (Still idled a bit high) Then it starts going away...UGH! Stumbling, lean popping, generally running like crap no matter what I tried! I shut it off in frustration. Tried to restart...Nothing...Dead battery.. No alternator...I can deal with that..Put the charger on it had 13+ volts running through the system and it runs fine! It was running on low Batt. voltage when I got back from my rip...WHEW! When the owner came to get it I had the Battery charged up and it ran great! He loved it. Loaded it on the tow dolley running so he'd be able to drive it into his garage... Said he'll change the alt. and bring it back when he has more $$ Once again, Thanks to everyone!! Couldn't have done it without you. Really great people here! I'll still be stalking around here, so keep in touch! JR.

Well, looks like he's putting it on hold for a bit....Went for a ride yesterday. It runs OK, but definitely needs more $$ thrown at it. He's kind of tapped for now. It's been a tough winter/holiday season so far. I think this cost a bit more than anticipated. I wish it ran a little better for him. With a little roughness and a leaky exhaust, it sounds pretty poor. He does have a running car when before he had nothing, But he's going to have to wait to do any more... Thanks so much for EVERYONE'S help here! I'll be back if/when we start back at it again! JR. PS. I'll definitely still be stalking around here. Great site!

I too Thank you Mike. I'm quite new, but so glad I came. Your "refreshingly civil" Members here saved my butt and helped get a Z car that had a pretty bleak future, now have real potential! So glad this place is here! JR.

OH!! That's much better! Guess I didn't read carefully enough...I can sell that! New set injectors, new exhaust! This car will be awesome! Thanks folks! JR.

Wow! Those are pricey! 6X165=990 my cost...Doubt he'll do that. Not sure what brand these were I priced from advance. I do know if they give me any problem they will take them back NP. Maybe I'll try the cleaning first to see if it helps. Fired right up today and drove out of the garage fine, but a little lumpy. Taking the owner for a ride tomorrow. We'll see how much he wants to spend..

Any thoughts on reasonable injector replacements? If the aftermarket ones are no good, what do you suggest? I do have access to a professional cleaner, I was thinking about trying. JR.

So the kit Needs something there. I like the idea of less drone. My truck did that before I added an H pipe. Much better. Drone is real harsh in a small 2 person cab that's 50% Glass, the rest straight steel. Thanks for the tip Sarah. Going to let the owner drive it, and see how far he wants to go next.. Hopefully he's ready for some real fun with it now. I will let you know! JR.

Sounds like it will sound just right. I love Dyno-max mufflers. Have run them on lots of cars. To be clear...I thought it looked like this system eliminated the mid pipe muffler..? That would be preferable to me. Especially if this engine is as high comp. as the PO says. I say, open it up, let it breathe, to hell with the DB's! Besides, the mid-muffler is shot! I don't want to have to use it. No worries about fitment issues, got that. Do I need to make a replacement pipe? I drove it today!! First time! Down the slushy, salty road! ... I can wash it off right in the shop. Ran pretty good. I think we could still do with some injector cleaning/replacement. I've read here to not get the aftermarket inj. I can get them for under $50 each my cost... I think a fresh set would change everything for the better. I have to sell him on that though. Plus the exhaust he has to have. Translates to another grand + for him.... we'll see.. It was fun to drive though! I will add a Z to my toy box wish list! For the record it's a long list. The Z will be somewhere in the middle.. Finally having some fun!! Thank you everyone! JR.

There's a company called PM industries in NJ. That makes chassis primer and paint that is way better (IMO) than POR-15. Way thicker, stronger, and CHEAPER! They give you full data test sheets with it. They even make engine bay coatings that are totally chemical resistant. The stuff is a type of bridge paint or something. I painted the dump bed on a retired VT state plow truck. They hauled sand and gravel in it and it held up well. The bed was almost shot before I started. I needle scaled it, primed and painted. The owner was very happy. I think it was under $500.00 in materials for the whole job. Just a thought. they're on the interweb. JR.

It's true I am attached a bit. I do that with all my clients "Baby's" I have to. As we all know our cars are VERY important to us, so I make all of them important to me. This Z and I have been through a lot already, and I plan to see it become a great fun car! Someone else can do the body work though! Thank you Sarah for the exhaust link! That's exactly what it needs next! I'll be selling the owner on it next. I'm glad you prefaced it with not sounding like a fart canned tuner car. I hate those. Any good 6 cyl. with the right exhaust can sound awesome. This car really needs a system bad! I'm hopefully going to get some brakes on it today, then let the owner drive it. That will get him excited for the next phase! Although it is snowing again...That's ok, haven't been drifting in a while!! I'll keep ya posted as always! JR.

Thank you Sarah I honestly do think this is a sweet little motor! It should be especially nice with the later bottom end. After all, I am a sucker for a nice bottom end! . After I sort out the brakes..and exhaust, I can finally drive it. I may have to bleed the clutch also. THEN I'll report how much fun it is! Hopefully it won't be a ping monster as the PO described. Any easy suggestions for exhaust? I'll search here so not to go off topic. Now to see if Z car source will take back the other distributor...

:beer:IT LIVES!!!! Runs awesome!!! FINALLY!!!! The dist. was F'd.. The new one even being a single pick up fixed everything! Well the exhaust still sounds like crap but.. I'm able to put the timing any where I want it, The motor sounds solid. Sounds like it wants to fly really. Still have a bit high of an idle. 1150 is about as low as I can get it. Played with the idle air bleed, I can shut it right down and it still won't go any lower. Checked for vac. leaks, Nothing. Can't drive it till I change the rear wheel cyl's and shoes or it will grind up a drum. The snow all just melted, so a good window to take it out for a rip..Have to finish one in front of it though so it'll be a couple days. Thank you again everyone who helped!!! Lenny, the other ECU will be in the mail tomorrow. Sorry I didn't get it out sooner...Weather BS put me back a bit.. I'll keep ya'll posted on how the first drive goes!! JR.

Thanks Len and Zed! I was thinking about trying this Dis. Now I will!! according to the Chiltons the owner provided. The Federal has dual pick ups, the CA. has the one...Seems backwards to me. Who cares as long as it runs. I still have to pull the V.C. to check Cam position, but I will. Paul, Yeah you needed to read my exceedingly long thread cause we've(thanks to all the great people here) been down the AFM road and all the others too. Car runs good above 2K RPM's Can't get the timing right. Where in NY do you go Paul?

They sent the wrong Dist. last week...ugh..Way too busy with frozen pipes, messed up furnaces, Shoveling out. Now it's 50 degrees and about to drop below zero again tonight. They got me the single pick up dist. If they can't get the right one, I might have to do the GM Module conversion. Have to fix my own furnace today and help my Mother in law with her frozen pipes.....Maybe this car will be fixed in the spring...

Really cool Lenny! I'm going to talk this owner into doing this upgrade by spring. I'll get him teased by making his car run ok on your "Donor" ECU then sell him on the benefits of Hell Fire!!

All great info Guys( and Lady) When I "static" Time any engine. I pull #1 plug, Bump the motor over with a switch till it pops my finger off the hole. That way I know it's comp. stroke. The mark is always close, Just a matter of moving it a bit to line up with zero. Then I get spark and fire it over. I'll have to pull the VC to verify Cam position. I need to know it, but I still really feel like this dist. isn't right. I'll get a better look at the balancer. Well aware of slip issues with some cars. Because the mark is so close when I bump it, I'm thinking it's ok. According to the PO. it's not a 12:1 engine, but it is about 10.5:1. So I warned the owner we'll either have to recurve the dist. ( Not my forte) or run octane booster and high test. As you said Zed, and I know. The dist. just fires the spark when it spins by the plug tower in the cap. But if the cent. advance is locked up or flopping and the vac. advance isn't working. It's going to make things run like doo doo...No... I felt a lot of grit under the screws when I was checking air gap and trying to get to the cent. weights. I decided not to go too deep in case I'm trying to return it. But things didn't look right in there. Started a motor swap on another dead one today. Not sure I'll get to try the new dist. tomorrow. I'll let ya know when I do . Thanks for all the input! JR.