jlenownnab

I was thinking that was old. It was dry on tear down. any recommendations?

I will check him out, thankyou. Here are some pics from todays efforts, I should post a picture of my bloody busted knuckles. Opinions on my drivers side frame rail would be appreciated. I don't know if I should go back silver or black it out. I think silver would look detailed and would be easier to do?? I will detail the bay and components more once its back together and everything is where it belongs.

Hardway, your engine compartment is outstanding! That is truly what I would like mine to be like. I don't know if I am that disciplined to see it through that far. You said your rubber is all correct, I am finding a lot of the hoses not available, any suggestions where to look besides MSA, Z Car Depot, Z Car Source and Z Connection? I would really like to replace all of them while car is torn down.

Are you happy with the quality and height of the springs?

Wheee! thanks, I will. I read about 20 pages of your build the other night, you have done an unbelievable amount of work. looking good. I spent an hour or so today removing some old brake lines that I could not get apart on the tear down and got the strut towers together a little. Waiting on Fed Ex!!!

While the project has stalled due to my mistake, I was able to nab a 1979 zx for the 5spd trans. seems to go in all the gears easy. Car doesn't run, so fingers crossed. Craigslist comes through again!

Carl and Heyitsrama thankyou for the detailed info, it's just what I was looking for. I have 1 spot under the brake power booster that has a little surface corrosion from a brake fluid leak, I will sand it down and treat it with something... I need to look in to Ospho. Nice work on the motor and the shroud, looks most professional. Today was a new a day at the shop, I finished painting the driveshaft, half shafts and belly pan, all looks good. I wanted to start opening boxes and checking out a few things. First box opened Vogtland Springs, on the internet they are ruby/blood red, these are a purpleish pink color, not happy. I was reading a thread last night by Captain Obvious about rack and pinion Prothane bushings not fitting good. So I went straight to the box with them in it only to find out they sent me the wrong ones, so pissed. The drivers side needs reworked as expected but the passenger side is to narrow and loose. lastly, I started fitting a few bushings to see how they are going to look only to find out I wasn't supposed to remove the sleeves out of the Mustache Bar. I guess reassembly of the rear won't be happening tomorrow!

Zed, I went with Vogtland lowering springs and KYB struts. I have Eibach with the KYB on my 70. I really like the look and feel of my 70 with 15" wheels. I think they will lower it an inch and a quarter if I'm not mistaken. If I were to not use my whole poly bushing kit and try for i little softer ride with good handleing which bushings would you go back with rubber? I drive on a lot of worn out side streets.

Thank you Zedyone, It's hard not to feel like everything needs to be touched on and gone through. My frugal side of me helps keep that part of the project in tact. A little more cleaning and painting tomorrow and Thursday I am hoping to start assembeling the rear of the car.

Can I get a little help on what to do about radiator housing, starter, distributor base, etc?????? Can those parts be painted the same or do they need special paint or prep or what ever????

Got a nice day in of painting on Friday, so far this is what I have accomplished. I am very happy with the results, The clear is really making the job look well finished. I still have a lot of painting to do..... I'm wondering how far to take this project at this point, I will drive this car alot on nice weather days to run errands for work and I will drive it somewhat hard. I want to clean the engine up but I have zero interest in chrome and bling. Is there a good middle ground? When it comes to the starter, coil, radiator housing, air filter box and other items in the engine compartment, do those items get cleaned or is it common to paint them as well? Any recomendations for maintnance while it's torn apart? I'm doing gaskets and most seals. thanks,

I agree 100% powder coating is the way to go. I am really trying to see this project through doing as much as I can at my shop. Worked on it today for 5 or 6 hours... heres my progress so far. I'm pretty excited how it looks so far and to help the momentum continue, my wife text me 2 or 3 times today saying I have packages piling up on the front porch. On the flip side, my shop is destroyed from taking the car apart, media blasting everything, burning out the bushings and now OVERSPRAY! I have started cleaning up the mess in between each coat of paint. Can anyone tell me if the oil pan and diff cover gets high temp paint or regular? Thanks

Did you do clear coat too? I'm hoping that keeps me looking good I don't know that the suspension will ever be wet again.

I wanted to upgrade my bushings,struts, springs, etc.... This is what my car liiks a few short days later. I'm pretty decent at tearing things apart.... I don't always remember exactly how they go back together. I need to clean all parts and I am going to use a self ething primer, 2 or 3 coats of black semi gloss and then clear coat everything. I really want this car to turn out nice. I am upgrading to a 5 spd, I had blue tooth installed and my a/c blows ice cold. After spending this summer trying to maintain a Triumph, 2 Datsuns and a race car I think I just want one nice classic car with some modern day upgrades. (Maybe the Spitfire helped me get to this point, it left me stranded 4 times this year). I am trying to replace belts, hoses, clutch, slave, master, brake lines, exhaust, mounts and more. I have noticed quite a few parts are no longer available, cross that bridge when I get there. Any advice or thoughts before I start reassembling. I sold the Spitfire December 31st, It's going to be a good year!!

Thankyou,

Hey, I am trying to put an order in at Motorsport Z for my parts and they are telling me in order to get a discount I need my membership number from this site. I can't seem to find it. Thanks

Great information, thankyou all.

I counted 39 teeth

Thanks, I need to run down to my shop and look at the housing and take a picture while I'm there should I pull the cover off the pumpkin in order to tell if it's LSD or is that not necessary I'm assuming it probably is not

Can you identify what rear diff you have by the numbers on the housing?? I have a 75 280

After a long battle of trying to get my 75 running good at ALL rpms, I finally took it to a specialist. Prior to taking it in, I threw a lot of parts at it including a mass air flow box $$$$. I checked all the usual suspects, everything checked out. The place I took it to has a guy that has been working on z cars since 73. He checked everything over as I did. He said even though the coolant temp sensor reads inside the lines they can be bad. He replaced the coolant temp sensor and switched out the plug to it with a bosch. He also manually adjusted the fuel pressure. Car runs great now. There was a long thread on this 2 or 3 months ago when I actually had time to work on it. Coolant temp sensor was only $28 and the plug was another $15 or so, good place to start. One more thing, my engine compartment is extremely clean, I didn't find any corrosion but his trained eye said I had the slightest amount on the coolant sensor plug which will affect it. Hope this helps.

If the car sits and idles for a few minutes it's good to go. In the first 2 minutes it has a slight hesitation when revving and not a backfire but a cough..... so to speak. So progress made, we will check the coolant sensor Monday. Thanks for all your help. Stewart

Here's the deal. I got there early and spent an hour or so checking connections and cleaning a few grounds, I have to say almost zero corrossion anywhere in the engine compartment. He showed up and checked the temp sensor, it's the #13 pin in the 75. The reading was 1.8 at around 80 degrees f, so pretty close. next we adjust the tps and retry the testing in the 3 and 18 pin. Still not getting the proper reading. I then brought to his attention you can adjust inside of tps, bingo! The 3 little copper arms that are sticking down were not touching at the right times. My mechanic did not know the tps was adjustable inside but after letting him know that he new exactly how it worked and said it was super simple. He actually had to bend the middle copper lead so that it touched the others at the right times. It seemed to be slightly hesitant still, but.... the backfireing seemed to stop. Along the way he adjusted the timing and after a test drive he checked the timing and it was 13. Hopefully cold start in the morning is positive.