Dclarkfs1@yahoo.com

I just discovered this site and feel inspired to bring my 1978 Z back to its former beauty. I bought it Dec 1977 and have put 309k miles on it. It mostly resides in my garage now but everything works better than you would expect for a car this well used. I even have every receipt for any work or oil change. I told myself in the early '90's that I would restore it once the kids stopped putting dents in the doors. That was 20 years ago but it still looks good. I bought the car in Tenn and many years ago the California Nazis (CARB) forced me to add a cat converter. The poor thing was designed for leaded fuel, not corn squeezings. I hope to get lots of help from this forum. David San Diego

I have read this entire thread in one sitting and once again am thinking of restoring my 1978 280Z. I am the original owner. I have lived in San Diego since 1979. One thing that really bothers me is the smog testing every two years. The car passes but California toughens up the emissions every time I take it in. Reading your posts has me thinking about a lot of issues my old car may have: cracked vacuum lines, clogged injectors, faulty AFM, poor fuel pressure, etc. The car barely cranks in cold or rainy weather and when it does it acts likes there is no fuel getting to it and back fires (sounds like someone hitting the engine with a hammer?) if you touch the gas. Once it warms up, it's like its old self. I put 244,000 miles on the original engine and a Japanese rebuilt long block now has 65,000 miles on it. Anyhow, have you registered your Z with its modified cams, headers, etc in California yet? Did you run into any issues? Shoot me a PM if you want to get together sometime and talk Z's, motorcycles and have some craft brews.