rossiz

i would be concerned that a thick coating could hide rust or trapped water - if for example there's a pinhole or edge gap and water gets under it, or the paint it's applied over lifts/fails and water is able to get under it at the perimeter, allowing it to wick water in - then this area would never dry out, making the rust worse. kind of like the issue folks have with undercoating. the material itself is quite durable and shouldn't pose any issues of leaking, it's really just the edge where the "rubber meets the rust" that i would be careful, especially in a zone that is hidden under the cowl.

i commute daily 20 miles each way and it's been a wet winter here in seattle. never had a problem on my commute, even in a total downpour. however, i drove down to portland a couple of weekends ago and it was an absolute car wash the entire 3 hr. drive and after about 2 hrs. of steady wet cruise i hit the breaks for some traffic and absolutely NOTHING - then it pulled very hard to the left with the second application, so i pumped the pedal and after 3 or 4 pumps my breaks were back. luckily i had plenty of breaking distance, because it was a serious pucker moment - had to practically pull the vinyl out my crack after that one. totally unexpected as i've never experienced this in 18 months of daily driving - i'm guessing it was the intense, uninterrupted dousing that did it. needless to say, i left even more breaking distance the rest of the trip and pumped the breaks before stopping each time. i haven't touched my breaks since buying the car and i have no idea what kind of pads they have. they are "adequate" in the dry but probably could use a refresh. i will be watching this thread intently to see if the collective forum knowledge can shed some light on best options (without spending $$$ on a "big rotor" swap with new lines, proportioning valves, etc.)

what model colortune works for the L6 - i see a host of different sizes/models... how well does it work?

did you check the screens at the banjo fitting on the carbs? these can get clogged/corroded and will restrict fuel going into the bowls.

great write-up on the different motors. i was originally planning to do a motor swap when i bought my 280, but was convinced by a z guy to get to know the L6 first. i'm glad i did - absolutely fell in love with it, loads of character and it does everything i want it to.

clever - i like it. but out of curiosity, why would you need to spin a motor on a stand? with the plugs out i could just turn mine by hand using a breaker bar on the crank bolt to set timing.

easy to check if the pistons are stuck - lift up w/your finger and let it fall down, it should lift up smoothly with just the tension of the spring, then go "thunk" when you let it fall. if they are binding, loosen the 3 (or 4) screws holding on the domes and then see if the pistons move smoothly - you may need to twist them back/forth a little to find just the right spot. when done, both pistons should be matched so if you push them both up using both hands and let them drop at the same time they should "thunk" exactly together. check your float level - the most important adjustment to get right first, everything else is based on this.

i've been collecting sources for parts, articles, good tech threads, websites, etc. over the past year or so and figured maybe they would be helpful for others. not sure if there's already a good "resource library" on the forum, but i thought i'd post what i've got and maybe others could do the same. Disclaimer: these are just links and sources i've come across - no endorsement or business connection whatsoever, just trying to pass on what i've found. ZResources.docx

great to see you got this done - nice teamwork! bruce, i'm jealous - i wish my teenage sons were interested in mechanics. how cool to pass on your skills/knowledge to the next generation, i always wished i could do that the way my dad did for me. i can't even get them interested in checking the fluids - unless i tell them they may not make it out to their friend/girlfriend/party/whatever... as a result they have no understanding whatsoever about what's happening under the hood and would rather take the bus than fix their own vehicle. so i'll live vicariously through your posts - hope the hyundai project proves successful and the boy learns to become an intrepid tinkerer like his dad!

dedication... hats off to ya!

site has it - smoke check. with the original motor i was having issues with oil consumption and poor AFR due to the efi system. during troubleshooting i was checking to see how much carbon was blowing out during an "italian tune up" every so often. after 5,500 RPM i couldn't see much out of the rear view mirror. the balanced/lightened motor spins up to 7K quite quickly (and makes an awesome sound in the process). it's quite addictive ;} site has it again - w/the new motor, since there's no smoke at all, i find myself glancing nervously in the rear view looking for flashing lights...

let the fun begin!

folks on the forum have had good luck w/clevite bearing sets - i went this route and all is good so far. biggest difference in my build vs. stock comes from having things balanced. the shop did the whole rotating assembly, including crank, flywheel, clutch assy. & harmonic balancer. add to that turning down the flywheel for weight reduction and she spins up quite quickly. with the stock motor the rear view mirror would blur at 5,500 rpm, new one runs soooo much smoother all the way up to 7K.

huh-huh-huh... he said naked butt!

+1 on the good crimper - a ratcheting style is even better because you can't release it without full throw, which helps ensure you get 'em good. i got my crimpers from Vintage Connections http://vintageconnections.com/ click on the "tools" tab - makes electrical work soooo much nicer. don't waste your time with the hardware store variety, unless you want to do the job over again...

love it! and man-oh-man that black 240 on speedhunters is gorgeous...

i just enjoy working on my car, and getting it set up just right by myself with simple tools and some ingenuity makes for an awesome saturday in my opinion. when i was a kid my dad taught me to be a fearless tinkerer - he promised me that as long as i paid close attention when taking something apart, i would always be able to put it back together again. he was taking apart the toaster on the kitchen table (on a newspaper, of course) to fix the auto-up mechanism and he showed me how to group fasteners by function, recognize wear marks on mating parts and put sub-assemblies into separate piles. i was probably 6 at the time. i asked him where he learned how to fix a toaster - he smiled and said it was the first time he'd ever seen the inside of one. i tore apart every toy, old clock, broken camera, etc. that i could get my hands on just to try and see if i could put them back together again. probably a pretty common story w/a lot of folks on this site i imagine. it's a huge point of pride/satisfaction to be able to work on and improve a simple mechanical device - for me, anyway. that's why i have a 38 yr old car. sure, it's cool to look at and fun to drive, but truth is i get just as much joy out of fixing and modifying it. and i know my dad would be proud of me for stringing the front end the way he taught me when i was in high school.

i did mine w/string and she drives straight as an arrow. the way my dad taught me may not be race/performance perfect, but it's actually really simple and works fine: start w/the car on a flat, level surface, tie a string to the rear hub (a spoke on mine) so it's pulling around the sidewall of the rear tire at the center of the wheel, then pull it 20' in front of the car and tie to something so that it's tight and just grazes the sides of the front tire at the center of the wheel. i screwed a long, piece of wood to the garage door so i could slide the strings (both sides) left/right to get it adjusted where i want it. you will immediately see if the tire is turned to the left or right, when you get the string just grazing the sides of the tire, if the wheel is turned it will bend the string. set up the other side of the car the same way, measure the strings out at 20' in front of the car then at the front of the car and adjust them till they're parallel. set the steering to center, then adjust the tie rods a little at a time till you bring the wheels paralles with the strings then add whatever toe you want - i kept it as close to parallel as i could get it. i may be missing something, but i don't think that it really matters where the rear wheels are at to adjust the front - i'm simply using a point (the sidewall of the rear tire) to anchor the string so i can pull it out in front of the car - this is where you get the parallel measurement, and at 20' it's surprisingly accurate. i don't bother w/jack stands cause you can't pull really hard on them to get the string tight without them moving (mine are too light), plus the rear wheels are already there, so nothing to pull out of the garage. i'm sure there are all sorts of more detailed, professional ways to do it, but i use the car as my dd to commute and the odd spirited romp - no serious track time, and this method worked great. did it last summer and have put about 5K miles on it since and the tires are wearing just fine. i did this after refreshing the steering rack isolators, control arm bushings, t/c rod bushings and adding stiffer sway bars and replacing worn out ball joint boots. the front was way out and i got it nice and straight pretty easily.

...i want my baby back... (sorry, couldn't resist)

ouch... talk about "splitting the baby"

zed and euro are on it - people tend to jump to the most complex part (the afm) to try and fix what is often the cumulative effect of several much simpler issues. problem is, you will never get it running right unless ALL the little things are correct. your first priority, before buying any parts would be to undo all the fiddling of PO mechanics and get the system working as designed - this means: sensors must be working right - if the numbers you get from zed's test chart are off, start at the sensor location (front/bottom of your thermostat housing) and clean/check then there's a set of bullet connectors about midway up the manifold to clean/check then you can check the sensors themselves if you are still getting bad numbers at the ecu. you can disable the csv (cold start valve) which is just a 7th injector over by the throttle body - it fires up when the engine is cold adding extra fuel and they have been known to leak or get stuck, i think because it is located in an area that gets exposed to the pcv crud. you can disconnect the fuel line from the csv to isolate that potential problem and it should run just fine after a little warm up - the csv should only stay on for starting, not much more. all your grounds & connections - this may seem silly, but there's a huge effect on the system if there are poor grounds or corroded connections, as the ecu reads resistance from the sensors and this resistance is amplified greatly from corrosion. vacuum leaks - check every single hose, especially the pcv. you will probably wind up replacing all of it since it's cheap and easy so i'd do it once and be done. be aware that there are different size hoses, so you may want to cut small pieces out of each one and bring them to the parts store to ensure you get the right ones. then be sure to replace hoses one at a time so you get them all connected correctly - look for a diagram so you correct any mistakes a PO may have made in this dept. beware of dry, brittle fuel lines - as you're fiddling in the manifold and wiggling things the high pressure lines can develop hairline cracks leaking tiny streams of fuel onto the exhaust manifold. a bad thing. i've replaced them on my z and on another forum member's for this very reason - keep a watchful eye.

my fuel line is dead-headed, and i removed the evap canister and plugged the return line.

i drove a '64 corvair ragtop for a couple of years - fun car, but nader was right...

another approach if you're not using the mechanical pump: i re-routed the fuel lines to avoid the heat issue when i went to su's on my '78. i bent the supply line up 90 degrees and ran a rubber hose up the firewall, mounted a clear filter to the firewall above/to the right of the battery, then ran rubber line along the firewall to near the throttle linkage then across the carbs using a "T" at the back carb and dead-heading into the front carb. the rubber line between the carbs runs under the balance tube - just to be safe, i rolled a little heat shield for it out of some aluminum flashing because i could feel heat flowing up between the carbs - works fantastic, never had a problem all through the summer. i'm running a little airtex electric pump which seems to do just fine. this re-rout eliminates the circuit around the head and doesn't have mounting points to anything hot.

the pcv hose runs from the block under the distributor, above the exhaust manifold to the underside center of the intake manifold. it gets hot and rots out on the bottom, often causing a huge vacuum leak. the next spot would be accordion boot that connects the afm to the throttle body - cracks in the valleys of the accordion are hard to see and leak a lot. bad grounds/plug connections and vacuum leaks are where your problem most likely resides - i'd be surprised if the afm is the culprit due to being out of calibration. lots of folks go there too soon and fiddle with it (me included) when the issue was a combination of many small problems adding up. siteunseen is right about the gunk that can build up from the pcv connection - this could cause a mechanical issue in the afm vane or throttle body, but again i'd adjust the afm spring tension last in the series of tests. if you do decide to fiddle with the afm clock spring, be sure to use a sharpie to mark the starting point (mark a gear tooth and the housing) so you can get back to zero should things go awry... the injector connectors have a little spring clip that must be pressed in order to pull them off the injector - start with the one that is easiest to access/see and figure out how it works, then pull them all one-by-one and use a dental pick/deoxit/400 grit paper/whatever to clean connections. be careful w/the plugs - they get brittle w/age & heat and want to disintegrate. oh, (and sorry if i've missed this or you've already done it) check your fuel pump relay is working properly - it should send power to the pump at key position "start" and then at "on". you may need to pull the starter solenoid wire (simple, no tools) put a test light at the contacts (i'd go right to the pump behind the passenger side rear wheel) and have someone turn the key to both positions to ensure you've got power.