rossiz

my vote: polished stainless grille. much more complicated than the bumpers, but would be beautiful!

when i first got my z the kids asked if they would be able to drive it (i have 5: 14, 15, 16, 18, 20) and i told my (then) 18 yr old he could take it to the prom. he was the star of the show that year, when the pictures came back all the girls wanted a shot next to the car in their fancy dresses and the boys put on their best James Bond rental tux suave... that was a couple years back and the next one (now 18) just took the z to his senior prom this past weekend - boy was he happy to go pick up his date! each time i see one of my sons drive off it takes me right back to high school and how a cool car was everything.

looking at your headliner pics reminds me of when i did that job - a real pita working upside down in that tiny cockpit. some tips: do a complete dry-fit test before spraying glue, then hold it in place, pull and spray 1 side then when it's all tucked in pull and spray the other. once the foam touches the cement it's a done deal so think before you stick. oh, and wear a beanie that you can toss when done - or be ready to go to the barber afterwards 'cause that glue don't come out!

the gaskets turn into a pringle the first time they get fuel on them and get increasingly difficult to keep in place when putting the lids back on. put a thin layer of fuel-proof adhesive/sealant on them when they go on for the first time and your life will be so much easier if you have to pop the lids off a dozen times to get the float levels just right.

Set float levels first or you'll be chasing your tail with anything else you do to compensate for them. Carbs want to be tuned in a specific order from gross adjustment to fine.

the issue is pretty simple: air horns do a lot of things to help performance, but they provide the best benefit when the air entering them is controlled. i'm not saying don't use 'em, just that the actual performance gains are significantly reduced when they are out in the wind. i think they look cool as hell and that's a perfectly good reason to have them. the other thing to remember is the performance gains we're discussing aren't really all that noticeable on the street anyway, so it's really a matter of personal preference. flow separation is a result of localized turbulence. negligible in comparison to wind rushing past perpendicular to the air horn intake at 60 mph...

btw - i have a set of 6 used injectors from my 78 that all worked when i pulled them. pm me if you want 'em to play with for the price of shipping.

just to be clear - regardless of the clearance around the air horn intake, unless you have an air box around the filters you won't be taking advantage of the horns design due to turbulence while driving. you can tune to perfection on the dyno and then when you're on the street/track (where it counts) you will not hit that mixture/performance. this will be the case with any open filter design - again, the tradeoff is aesthetics vs. performance. i'm not saying the car will run like crap without an air box, just that it won't really be taking advantage of the horns and most likely you can just take them off and run the filters without horns since they won't be really doing a lot if what you want is the visual of the open filters.

2 questions: is she looking for a lockable filler cap or the door? i may have a cap from my 78 that came w/the car in my pile of parts, will it work on the 76?

squirting oil in the cylinders is a quick test for worn rings. if the numbers jump up (like yours did) then good chance you have worn rings and the oil helps seal things up. if you squirt oil and get little/no increase, then it can be valves, head gasket, or a broken ring. either way, pull the head and quick re-build (rings, bearings, gasket kit) is pretty cheap and can be done with basic hand tools. these blocks are tough - unless you have serious scoring i'll bet you get away with just a hone and deck to clean things up. the head is another story - you can spend a bit more time and $$ there, but that's where the performance increases live...

most powder coat is made of powdered pigment "globs" encased in hard wax. the part is given an electrostatic charge to cause the powder to stick in place, then the part is baked in an oven to melt the wax into a continuous coating. imagine trying to adhere to the side of a candle... if the pitting is bothering you that much, than i'm guessing you may need to bite the bullet and strip it, do the sand/fill thing and then re-coat properly. otherwise between the texture, blending sheen differences and potential peeling, you'll be chasing imperfections forever.

looks pretty close to me, i'd be concerned you aren't getting full benefit from those horns. a few years ago i set up a ducati with air horns on flatslide carbs and was trying to figure out how to keep dirt/debris from going in (one of the carb horn points up under the tank, the other points directly forward, right behind the front tire) and i rigged up a circular aluminum plate with spacers which sat about 1" in front of the horn thinking things would bounce off it rather than getting sucked right down the throat. i ran it on the dyno to tune and that carb wanted a completely different set of jets. pulled off the plate and saw an immediate gain across the whole curve. i was shocked how much that plate affected flow - even though it didn't really restrict flow directly. the horns are designed to work w/laminar flow, with the trumpet shape increasing the velocity of the air as it is compressed to the diameter of the carb body. when you introduce turbulence things don't work as well. that's why modern engines use a large airbox - it allows the horns to draw from a controlled pool of air and the flow through the horns is as designed for maximum benefit. shiny air horns hanging out in the open look cool but don't do a lot because the turbulence of the airflow is uncontrolled depending on the speed you are driving, wind conditions, heat in the engine bay, etc. the best air filter setup would have a large outer can (the airbox) and filter elements that have enough clearance to allow the horns to provide max benefit. unfortunately, this doesn't look nearly as cool as a row of shiny horns... btw - i also tested multiple filter types (foam, paper, oiled fabric) as well as screens of various density. the screens choked off flow more than filters, with a corresponding dip in performance. screens are specified by open area, so an 85% open area mesh cuts 15% of your flow. my bike has a pretty high hp/weight ratio compared to a z much (100hp pulling 325lbs), so a small change and you could feel the difference in performance directly. not sure if this exactly the case w/a z making roughly twice the power but weighing almost 8 x as much...

adjusting the lash hot has been important in my experience. others have differing opinions, but my reasoning is: when the engine is at operating temp, it is within a fairly narrow/specific temp (provided your cooling system is functioning properly). when it's "cold" you don't really know how "cold" it is - can be a relatively large swing depending on ambient temps. get the car good and warmed up, leave it idling while you get everything ready (blanket on the fender, 14mm and 17mm wrenches for valve adjust, 10mm socket w/extension for valve cover, large crescent wrench to turn the cam, feeler gauges set up (.010"/.25mm intake, .012"/.30mm exhaust), plug socket & extension, then when you're all set, shut her down, pull the plugs, valve cover, start at #1 and work your way down the line. you should be able to slide the correct feeler gauge in with a light resistance and the next size up should not go in. remember that the clearance gets tighter when you torque up the lock nut, so you need to back check every one as you go. once you get the hang of it, you can do all 12 in about 10-15 min. set 'em right and she'll run nice and quiet.

i got great results with a pressure washer - you can rent one for pretty cheap. looks like you found my thread, so you get the idea. i had the head off and used the nozzle to flush down the passages that feed the head, it pushed out quite a bit of stuff through the frost plugs and the lower drain plug (drivers side down low on the back of the block). i wouldn't worry too much about the deposits that remain just because it looks ugly, i'd focus more on getting water through/in/around everything - it's decent flow that matters, not a shiny surface. that's where the pressure washer is handy. i also agree that using some CLR would be a good idea to loosen the crud up. what's the condition of the oil? does it show signs of water contamination? if you're planning on re-building the motor, might as well pull the head and then the head gasket will tell you if there was a warpage/overheating issue. otherwise, if you're just going to dust it off and run it, then a compression test and quick flush will be fine.

looks great - a couple of questions: how did you deal with sanding/blending and matching the surface texture? how did you blend out the sides that are seen when you open the doors - my dash cap only covers about 1/2 of this area do your new gauges sit differently than the oem (not as deep in the holes) and are they installed from the back or the front?

i really like the look of those auto-reset fuses - how do they work? do you push a button to reset them after they blow, or do they just cool down and reset themselves - if so, will they keep blowing/resetting if you have a short?

i don't have any info on my paint - the PO did it. if you're trying to match it, have the paint shop do that. if you're going to start over, pick the green you like. the metalflake does add some life to the finish - not original/correct, but then my car is a DD and modified in many ways from original/correct...

nice work on the deck - funny how we sweat the details while in the midst of a project and then after a week all those little issues seem to vanish from view... re: the fuel pump - do you have an inline filter between the tank and pump? perhaps some rust/crud from the tank is causing problems?

looks like it might have been re-sprayed at some point. mine is about the same color as yours, and was dark green to start with (visible in the back hatch deck and engine bay) the original owner had it re-painted with the same color but they added a little bit of metalflake to it and a clear coat - both of which really change the look from the original single-stage paint.

have you done a hot valve lash adjustment? these motors are really sensitive to getting that set just right - both for valve train sound and tuning. glad you got it done - without losing a collet. those seals are a "simple" job made more difficult by old stuck parts, but really make a difference.

dude... i can fix it!!

wow - are they missing a 0 on the pricing??

i got frustrated with the way rope seemed inconsistent and too squishy on my last head so i used some small diameter vinyl tubing from the hardware store. it worked great for me and was easier to get in/out than the rope, which would get kinked up and squirrelly after a couple of cylinders. i know what you mean about that third hand - it takes a little practice. i'd compress the spring and hold the handle down with my left forearm and then use the left hand to hold the screwdriver and the right to tap the collets until they let go. it's fiddly for sure but you'll get the hang of it and be a pro by the time you're done :}

hey kd, does that endoscope work with an iphone/ipad? it says android on the ebay link.

you want the piston at tdc on compression stroke in the cylinder you're working on and really need to jamb the rope in there so the valve can't move down much at all. then compress the spring a bit and tap on the keepers with a small tool (screwdriver or drift punch). tap, tap, tap - not a big whack, break it loose without bending the valve. if they've been on for 30+ yrs they can be mighty stuck - do yourself a favor and stuff a rag in the "hole of doom" (timing chain) because those keepers want to fly when they pop loose. i think i have a permanent dimple in my forehead from one...