Racer X

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?

No, I take them off, and they go in a drawer in one of my toolboxes.

OK, a quick and dirty cell phone pic. The long one with 2 holes bolts on the right front side of the cylinder head just behind the fuel pump. The small one with one hole goes on the last exhaust manifold stud on the left rear of the head. My engine sling has tabs on the ends of the chains, and I use a 5/16” bolt, 2 fender washers, and a wing nut on each one to attach to the lifting fittings.

I'll try to get some photos soon. I also promised @Captain Obvious photos of the underside of my 72, but have been working lots of overtime lately, and can't seem to budget time for that, so bear with me.

I have a set of the factory lifting brackets that I use for engine removal and installation. Used them dozens of times swinging engine and engine/transmission in and out of my Z cars. After use they go back int the tool box to be used the next time they are needed. Never had a bit of trouble with them.

Chrysler used ATF in manual transmissions from the mid 1980’s up to when they stopped offering manual gearboxes. It works just fine, and helped raise fuel economy numbers.

I guess I should also mention that the poll needs a third choice. “Choose the method that best suits the goal. If only the engine or transmission need to be removed for repairs, remove that item separately. If the reason for removal includes repairs to both, or work on the chassis requires the removal of both, pull them as a single unit.”

Having worked as a journeyman mechanic for 30 years, I have changed out hundreds of engines, transmissions, and differentials, in all manner of machinery and vehicles. The process is pretty much the same, be it a tractor, car, heavy truck or trailer mounted equipment. Most important is good planning beforehand, selection of quality tooling, and having enough room and an organized work area. Reasons for removing (and subsequently reinstalling) an engine or transmission separately might be that one requires repair or maintenance, while the other doesn't, or, when performing a full restoration of a car. Then it makes sense to join the engine and transmission before installing them in the car. I even dress the engine fully before dropping it in to reduce the amount of time spent bending over the fenders afterwards. I lost count of how many times I have removed and replaced the engine in my race Z, but the last time was after the crankshaft broke. Nothing wrong with the transmission, so I rigged up a way to hold the front of it, and pulled the engine only. Soon, I will be pulling the engine and transmission from my brown 72 Z. I will be pulling them together, as the engine needs a rebuild, and the transmission (an automatic) won't be going back in. And when I reinstall everything, it will most likely be as a unit. So there isn't really a right or wrong way to remove and install these things, provided it is done safely.

Looks like that ZX has a scoop on the front, and would be perfect in Death Race 2000.

The defroster lines on my 72 (11/71 build date) are vertical.

$2,000? That’s what I paid for my brown 72 Z 28 years ago.

I bet he doesn’t have problems with exhaust gases in the passenger compartment, eh?