Matthew Abate

I need to talk to him and see what he thinks we can trim out of the list. He did say his estimate was at the top end for the project list, meaning it might come in under estimate. I think there are things in here I can not do, and there are things in here I can do myself. My dad is having a friend of his who ran a shop in New Jersey until recently take a look and tell me how much of this is New Jersey prices and how much is just the shop being expensive. The former might be unavoidable. Shipping to AZ is looking more in the cards now that I have an actual number. Not sure how I feel about it, though. You pay one way or another. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This is the problem. For where I live this is about what I get from every shop. I am seriously considering sending the car to Arizona to have it done for about $10,000 less.

Here's the list of what 28,000 gets me: Remove suspension front and rear Mount on frame rack for floor and sub-frame rail replacement Remove left sub-frame rail and floor pan Test fit left new floor pan and weld in Test fit new sub-frame rail and weld in Fabricate panel to fill in gap from factory rail to replacement, weld in. LEFT Remove right sub-frame rail and floor pan Test fit right new floor pan and weld in Test fit new right sub-frame rail and weld in Fabricate panel to fill in gap from factory rail to replacement, weld in. RIGHT Test fit, weld in and metal finish rear seat compartment box "walls" Remove off frame rack Mount on rotisserie Scrape off loose undercoating from underside of car. Media blast body, body parts and various other pieces. Body work roof. Body work left quarter panel Body work right quarter panel Body work left door Body work right door Body work hood Body work left fender Body work right fender Body work hatch Clearance a pillars where fenders were rubbing. Test fit all body panels to ensure proper fit before priming Remove panels for high build priming Mask body and set up fenders Prime body and fenders Set up doors, hatch and hood and high build prime them Block out high build prime on body and panels to prep for final priming Mask body and set up fenders Final prime body and fenders Set up doors, hatch and hood. Spray final primer. Wet sand body to prep for paint Scuff inside of car, underside of car and engine bay to prep for paint Mask off exterior of car Spray lizard skin on underside floor pan, interior floor pan and roof skin Clean and spray engine bay, interior and underside. (Color to be determined) Remove car from rotisserie. Install suspension front and rear Prep fenders for paint. Mask body for paint Clean, seam seal and paint body and fenders Prep hatch for paint Prep left door for paint Prep right door for paint Prep hood for paint Prep headlight buckets for paint Prep other small parts for paint. Set up doors, hatch, hood and parts for paint Clean, seam seal and paint parts Sand and buff quarters and roof Sand and buff left door Install left door (includes installing main door weatherstripping and latch assembly) Sand and buff right door Install right door (includes installing main door weatherstripping and latch assembly) Sand and buff left fender Install left fender Install right fender Sand and buff hood Install hood hinges and hood Sand and buff hatch Install hatch (includes weatherstripping and latch) Sand and buff cowl panel Install cowl panel Shop Supplies Misc. Shop Supplies (sanding discs, grinding discs, tape, masking paper, etc) Paint 1 Primers, reducers, paints, etc. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes. 22,000 to 28,000.

Grannyknot, If that's your name and number it's on Google now. Might want to edit that photo (Louvres look rad angled like that). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Got the quotes back from the body shops. Looks like it's going to cost $2,200 to $2,800 to do the rotisserie restoration of the body. The guy I trust the most ended up being the most expensive of the ones that made the final cut. Most of the ones who didn't make the first cyst were also more than $30k. The one that came in sub $20k was super shady. Time to sock away more cash. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Nice! I like the mellow shape of yours. It was totally an impulse eBay buy and might not be that most effective of all the options, but I like this more than swapping on a 280z hood.

Look at what came in the mail:

So when you want to clean out a gas tank, after you tape up and seal all of the tubes make sure you put the tank plug in BEFORE you poor a gallon of carb cleaner into it. [emoji21]

Good suggestion, thanks.

Quick question: is it safe to submerge the float on the fuel level sender in carburetor cleaner? Planning to clean out the tank tonight and want to use the sender as a plug, but don't want to end up with melted float all over the inside of the tank.

Thanks. The site wouldn't let me send anything to him for some reason but it is working now. Read through those posts and don't have the explicit answers, but I'll continue combing through tonight. Thanks guys. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I tried sending a PM to him but that function seems to be down for me at the moment. I hear what you are saying about the RPMs. Maybe in the end it won't be an issue, but being cautious until I understand more. Still tons of time and stuff to do before I have to commit. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Okay, I had some of my information a little out of whack. Apparently we had not finalized the compression ratio yet and I was using old assumptions. Everyone seems to think 9.85 to 9.9:1 is the way to go, rather than 9.75:1. I have to figure out where we are going to get our cam, but I know we aren't going to just go big. We want to figure out the sweet spot for low and midrange gains, yes. But we are considering the limitation on valve speed that comes with a big cam and how a smaller cam with more duration can help with that on the top end without killing the dynamic compression. Gotta find the happy medium. Next steps on this will be getting the head worked over.

Everything I've read says stay below 10:1. If you guys are running higher and don't have any problems, what's the disconnect? Madkaw, I want to be able to run 89 if I have to by will probably run 91 regularly. Who knows what's going to happen to gas prices next year, and we only have 89, 91, and 93 around here. Regarding the cam, I'm so not there yet. Next month I should have the brain space to do that research, but right now we're looking at Stage 1.

Good stuff. Thanks! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Okay this right here is something I really don't have a firm direction on. I had been keeping it low due to numerous comments about pump gas being a problem at high compression. I definitely don't want 10:1 because that seems to be a guarantee of problems when using regular pump gas, but I want to sort of push it to the highest it can be on regular even though I'll probably run supreme. So you're saying take it to 9.85? There's plenty of room to add more CCs to the dome.

Yeah, I am planning to do a lot to the head, which is why I hired Lary. He did my dad's last two engines and they perform very nicely, plus he has enough L-series experience to make me feel confident having him work on it. And, yeah, we have a complete L28ET in addition to what we are making for my 240, but that one is my dad's for some project he's planning. Not sure what. Also, I get the impression you felt like you were overdoing it with the comments, which is not the case. I appreciate the advice! This is foreign territory for me, which is why I have professional engine builders putting it together rather than trying to do it myself. But even then, we are looking at what you guys have done and had success with for guidance. I'm not taking anything at face value, but I'm not dismissing anyone's comments either. I've seen a lot of really great ideas on this forum and well as Hybridz, Zcar.com, and others. I've also seen a lot of backyard hack stuff. Just gotta look deeply on every tip and investigate the long run impact, such as the diesel crank or shaving the head or offset grinding the crank. They are all great for particular applications, but they aren't precisely right for the direction I chose to go. I'm glad that I went deep on my research for all of those things before I chose NOT to do them because now I am certain of WHY. I found two solutions, both expensive: Have a custom piston manufacturer make them to your specifications. I am going with Wiseco because I have had a better experience with them on the phone, read that they have good customer service, and have gotten the impression that their product is reliable and the quality matches the price (if anyone strongly disagrees please speak up). I am going with this solution because it matches the precision build strategy that we opted for. Get a set of Z22S pistons and mill of 1.5mmoff with a CNC machine to get rid of the dish. Essentially doing the same as above but starting with a piston that is already halfway there rather than a cylindrical chunk of solid forged steel. This is fine, but You would probably want new ones, and then you are voiding any kind of warranty they came with by modifying them. I think in the end this is actually more expensive, unless you do this to a set of used pistons and I'm not certain it really gives adequate CR despite having read about this on a few threads. Something I forgot to mention above is that the new pistons will also be relieved for valve float, which makes the dome even taller (although we're only talking an additional ~6CCs total, so while it's bigger than the dome on the Datsun competition / European non-turbo 290ZX pistons it's not a huge bulge.

Zed Head, Needed rods regardless so went with 240 to get the better rod angle (max of 17.277 degrees) to reduce ware and get that microscopic increase in downforce during combustion. Madkaw, The pistons will be 87mm diameter with a pin height of 35.35 and a 6.008 to 6.314 dome, which should yield a CR of 9.75 to 9.8 with a 1mm head gasket. This is where I'm splurging.

Looks like some people are wondering WTF I am up to with the engine build because I keep posting random stuff about it. Here is the current plan, but not me that I have already adjusted my plan a couple of times from the original original original plan, but this is how I build my guitars and this is how I build digital medical devices, so it works. My team of builders are my dad, a jet technician who builds corvette, mustang, sprint car, and drone engines on the side, and Lary Peto from Larry's Engine & Marine in Tucson, AZ. ~ F54 block and crank P90 head (mechanical lifters) L24 rods with ARP 9mm bolts 87mm Wiseco domed forged pistons yielding 9.75 CR The cam is still up in the air. The carbs will either be SUs with a 260 intake manifold and '72 balance tube or triple 40pph Mikunis on a Harada manifold. The headers with either be Trust or Fujitsubo unless I decide to keep the EGR and can't figure out where to tap the exhaust system, in which case it will be the MSA '73 header. All comments and advice are much appreciated.

Rods purchased! Thanks everyone, but especially zKars. Siteunseen, I'll post the plan in my build thread this evening. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Seems like but I haven't seen one yet. Granted I've only been shopping for rods for a few days. Maybe everyone is doing like me and keeping their 2.4L engine in a crate. And there IS a consensus on CX Racing: stay far away.

Right now I'm just trying to maximize quality and price. MSA has some for $106 each, but I can't tell if they are NOS or aftermarket or what. Found a used set for $350 but seems high and there's an error on the site so I don't know if there's a shipping charge. If no one has a set I might be stuck with these options. I had looked into the CX Racing ones, but there's no consensus on them on any of the Z forums, other than that they have terrible customer service.

I'm shopping for a good set of 133mm long connecting rods with 9mm bolts from a late 240z. I've found a few places online but don't want to spend quite so much. PM me with a price if you have some.

That's a good point I had not considered. My wife wants it to be dark metallic green, which makes the trim look fantastic, but I feel like it really needs the tan interior and I'm not willing to replace my entire interior for that. I keep coming back to 918 or some dark solid gray like the Porsche Non Metallic Slate Grey above ("gray" may be the American spelling for the color but the name of that paint is spelled with an E on the site I pulled that photo from. [emoji6]).