Racer X

Be sure to clean and prep the surface very well. Solvent and a stiff bristle brush, followed by a thorough scrub with another stiff bristle brush and soapy water. Rinse well, and be sure to get the surface clean deep into all the irregularities of the undercoating. Adding a flex agent to the paint applied to the undercoating would be a good idea too, so the paint will be more resistant to chipping from stones and grit thrown around by the tires.

If you can find a good one, the earlier 240Z manifolds are less bulky, lighter. You can then use an aftermarket head pipe, or build your own. Building your own is easy. Make a flange from 3/8” flatbar, and go up a bit in diameter for the primary pipes, I used 1.75". Install the manifold on the car, and the head pipe, take it to an exhaust shop and have them make up the pipes for you. I told the guy to bend them only, and welded it up myself, on a fixture I made, and ground the mating surface flat when I was done. It should be cheaper than the MSA pipes, and flow better too with the larger primary pipes.

I used to get a McChord brand gasket that came with red silicone on it. Can’t find them anymore, so getting a plain gasket and coating it with red RTV should work. I found the stock head pipe flange to be too thin, and it would deform, and then leak. So I made my own from 3/8” flatbar, then made my own headpipes. No leaks. This got started because I was running a production class and had to run the stock manifold. The engine produces a lot of heat when racing, the manifold and head pipe get cherry red.

I ran twice at Spokane when IRDC hosted the first two races there about 20 years ago. They were double races, so I actually raced there four times. The brown Z appears to have been originally registered in Walla Walla county based on the license plate numbering. Back then plates were issued by county, and I feel very confident that the plates on the car when I bought it are the original ones. Pretty cool yours and mine are so close in production. Do you know where yours was sold new?

I have had luck removing broken extractors using a pin punch to break them up, removing the broken pieces as I go. It is a tedious process. You may also try using a center punch, dimpling the center of the extractor, then try drilling it out with a left twist drill.

Remove the bolt adjacent to the drive adapter. Then it should slide right out.

Welcome to the forum. Find out what is causing the catalyst to overheat. A lean condition can cause cats to get hot, and if they get too hot the carpet will catch fire, and once that happens it is too late. And they take a long time to cool down. I have seen that very thing happen to many cars of this era. Owner standing on the side of the road, the catalytic converters glowing cherry red, smoke filling the passenger compartment, and nothing can be done but stand there and watch it go up in flames. By the time the fire department arrives, it is over. Get it checked out, and correct the cause, before your pride and joy is destroyed.

The exhaust was actually pretty quiet, at least from a distance. The club measures the sound, and I never went over about 85db at 50 feet. But. I borrowed a sound pressure meter once, strapped it in on the passenger side, and recorded 140db during a 30 minute race. That is quite loud. The suspension is basically stock. Tokico Illumina strut cartridges, aftermarket stabilizer bars front and rear (I forget the sizes at the moment, but they are big, and I had to reinforce the front frame rails as the mounts were tearing out) with urethane bushings, and those eccentric lower control arm bushings that enable camber adjustment. I forget what springs I used, but those were cut down a bit too. I also had those compression rod aluminum cup and delrin ball things. The delrin would get beat up pretty badly, so I milled replacements from aluminum, and lined them with teflon. No more galling, or need to grease, just replace the teflon once a season.

And the doglegs, lower rear front fenders, and a small potion of the left rocker. HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr. HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr

How about some car porn? HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr

Deer's Leap on the backstretch. My car would get very light there.

Well I tried to play a bit of a joke on y'all, but there must not be too many people cruising the forum today. Anyway, I'm surprised neither of you was sharp eyed enough to notice the pictures aren't of a 240, but rather a 280, the 77 that came with a set of Panasport wheels I bought from the neighbor 18 years ago. And yes, that is some serious rust porn. Rust porn that would make Ryan @240ZBUILTBYME think he doesn't have it so bad after all, eh? So here, is my 72, down and dirty. HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr HLS3056539 1972 240Z by Racer, on Flickr They undercoated these cars quite aggressively at the dealers back then, and I think that is what has saved this car. It has very little rust, a bit around the battery tray and the firewall/frame rail/ floor pan and some evidence that the right frame rail will need replacing before too long. The doglegs, lower front fenders, and a small area on the left rocker panel have some bubbling forming. I'm not going to get real exited about repairing any of it at the moment, but rather focus on getting it running well and safe to drive. I plan on driving it for a couple of years, and then address the rust with a full restoration, top to bottom.

Here (a poor scan of a photograph, I need to find the negatives and do a proper job of digitizing them) is the first pipe I built. The baffle on the end is on a slight turnout. I scraped the bottom of the cone off and about an inch of the baffles in one race weekend. Summer 1990 by Racer, on Flickr Before the next time out I added some more elbow work and got it up off the ground a bit. Still the whole thing rode pretty low, and my cylinder head guy suggested the shorter pipe with the Lowback. The first is exiting the hairpin and heading for the esses and front straight at Westwood, in Canada. Westwood Hairpin by Racer, on Flickr Then up through the esses, again, Westwood. A buddy of mine took this shot, and was going to throw it away. I managed to get an 8x10 from him first. Westwood by Racer, on Flickr The next one is the banked (15 degrees I think) second turn of Westwood. The car is as compressed as the suspension will allow, and even with the added elbows the bottom of the baffle cone would drag the track. I could go into that turn after only slightly tapping the brake, grab a gear, then mashing the accelerator hold on and the car took a set, it was on rails all the way to the exit. A short chute down hill then a flat left, around the clubhouse, another short chute and a downhill off camber double apex right hander that opened onto the downhill backstretch. I sure miss that track. Westwood Turn 2 by Racer, on Flickr

I ran the car in a production class. Any exhaust system so long as the stock exhaust manifold is used. When I had the exhaust pipe in the stock location it burned my right foot. I tried header wrap, heat shields, you name it. So I built a side pipe, with a Supertrap baffle on the end. That evolved into the shorter pipe in these pictures. The “muffler” isn’t really a muffler. Inside is a spiral of flat stock, wound around a 1” tube. The spiral fits snug inside the tube, is tack welded in place, then the end swaged down on the ends and 3” inlet and outlet welded on. It was sold under the name Loback, and common in stock car exhaust systems. They were available in various lengths and diameters. I had mine aluminum coated (flame sprayed). This was just before Jet Hot coatings became the thing. It has held up very well, but the business that coated it went legs up.

Bummer. Good luck tracking it down, eh?

What is the build date on the door jamb tag?

Here you go Captain. Not prettied up on bit. HLS30400870 by Racer, on Flickr HLS30400870 by Racer, on Flickr

Cool! I haven't been down there since the additional track was added. These are from the last time I was there. Thunderhill by Racer, on Flickr Thunderhill 2001 by Racer, on Flickr Thunderhill by Racer, on Flickr

Left myself wide open there, didn't I?

Where is that at? Thunder Hill?

For three hundred bucks I can make my own, from stuff I have lying around, and have money for my Z cars.

And today I am starting to process about 75 images. Soon Captain, soon.

Wrapped up removing stuff from the 77 Saturday morning, but didn't get a break in the rain until afternoon, then towed it back out behind the shop. Did some maintenance and repairs on the lift, then got the 72 back on it. Today I shot a bunch of pictures of the bottom for Captain Obvious. Now for some time to process the images and upload them..

Did you save the rubber that was there?

Did everything get painted black? Brake and fuel lines? Harnesses? Overspray on the engine, carbs, etc?