Clay C

At this point it was running but something still wasn't right. It wouldn't idle smooth and we couldn't get the carbs dialed in. Sprayed brake cleaner all around the exhaust manifold and the area where the carbs sealed with the Intake and as soon as the spray hit the engine it would smooth out and run good for a few seconds. We had pretty bad vacuum leaks at the headers and the carb to intake. I feared the headers weren't going to seat up correctly when I was installing them due to the angle of a couple of the pipes coming off the flange. I should have looked over the carb assembly too before installing it because straight from ZTherapy there was one gasket they had missing a bolt hole with. The carbs were easy, simply took all of that apart and fixed the gasket and used a little silicone to put it all back together. The headers were a bit more involved. Removed them and had to heat and reshape a couple of areas where we could get the proper studs in place and use the fat washers that bridge the gap and hold everything tight to the head. Just more work but after we got everything put back together the vacuum leaks were fixed and we were able to set the time and adjust the carbs. IMG_5625.MOV

First start up! It took a while but finally got everything flowing and running. NO OIL PRESSURE! Now its been almost a year since this car has run. I didn't have very much time with the car before I tore it all apart but I thought the gauge was fine and I installed a new pressure sending unit on the block. I was freaking out at this point wondering what I had done wrong. We took the filter off and it was totally dry. Oil pump wasn't working. Filled the filter up with transmission fluid and squirted some in that passage and tried again. This time we got good pressure. Ran the engine a bit more with the filter off to push all the trans fluid out. There was an airgap I supposed in the pump. Just couldn't get enough pressure to start picking up oil. I was told later to pack the oil pump with grease or fluid next time to give it something to build pressure until it can start pulling the oil. 1st_Run.mp4

I was dying to see if the engine I rebuilt would actually run. I followed the instructions but I have never torn into the bottom half of anything before. I was very nervous about the startup.

That valve cover is NO BUENO! I struggled getting it clean and eventually resorted to wire wheeling it to remove the old crud that was all over it. Luckily I have a few others and found a place near me that does vapor blasting. That should look a lot better.

Winter is the slowest time for my business so after the paint job was all done and buffed out I was able to spend the next few weeks at the shop putting everything back together. I should have taken more pictures but I was so focused in on getting this project that had suffered so many stumbles along the way done and back home. The hood was an absolute mother to get lined up where it sat down correctly when closed. I wasn't sure if it was my hood or the hinges but we finally got it lined up. This was before the respray though. Didnt want to fight with it after the paint was done and risk scratching and messing up the paint. Instead of removing it to sit the engine back in we chose to bring the engine and transmission in from the bottom. Wish I would have gotten a picture of that! We had the car at least 3' off the ground and used a creeper to wheel the motor under the car. Then used a forklift VERY CAREFULLY to hoist it up from the bottom. I was skeptical it would clear the crossmember but it went in fine.

Few weeks later and tons of work doing it right I finally got a proper paint job.

It was BAD! Overspray all over the place, contaminated paint spots. The finish on the hood was horrible. Nothing like Epoxy Primer all over the fresh powder coat on the crossmember I was so careful to get looking as nice as possible.

Picture Problem solved.

Looks like I may have to convert all my Iphone Pictures over to jpegs now. Nothing is ever easy.

I haven't been good at keeping up the postings on this build. It's been one bad thing after another but finally getting all straightened out! Finally got the car back to my shop around the end of September and there were some serious problems with the Paint and Body. I don't want to bad talk anyone but basically the whole process wasn't managed very well by my friend who was taking care of that process for me. They essentially did all the paint work without first reassembling the car to make sure all the gaps and reveals were good. Also the one body line doIMG_5106.HEICwn the middle of the car was different from one side to the other. I was pretty unhappy to say the least but in the end it was made right.....they just had to do the work all over again the correct way. Trying to attach pictures but they only show up as attachments...Got to figure out whats going on with that. IMG_5106.HEIC IMG_5109.HEIC IMG_5133.HEIC

Does anyone have a link or brand of speaker that fits the bracket in the back? I assume they are plentiful but I know next to nothing about car audio!

Late to this and I know you wanted all original but I took my diff in and out about 4 different times trying to get something to work. I had a lot of extra late model parts so I used a later transverse link mount, later mustache bar and a RT Mount...but I had to add a bracket to the RT Mount towards the back so the bushing wouldn’t fall directly on top of the front yoke of the diff. Welded a piece of channel on the RT Mount and moved the bushing back about 3 inches and all is well. I also had the late model drive shaft so I’m hoping that makes up the difference.

I don’t know much about the process either but the plater I used is probably the one you would use based on proximity. Anything that was plastic was left with a bad chalky look. The ends on the dog bones, the plastic bits on the door striker parts. Not really a good look. You can polish them a little and make them look ok. I know you are talking about rubber hoses, I can’t think of anything rubber I sent to them. You will more then likely have to have a couple of batches of things anyway. Run a bad or old one through with some of your other stuff and test it. i didn’t have them clear zinc anything. Maybe that problem is only with the yellow chromate.

I already went down the road with a 260 donor for a 240....it will ruin the value of your car to anyone that’s a collector down the road. Too much is different on the front end. Wait for the right car.

Thank you sir

One more easy question for someone. On the finishing panel topside....I had to replace the metal on the body that the panel screws down to on the top, under the hatch where it latches. How is that screwed down? Is it just sheet metal screws threaded in the body metal or does it need those little clips that are used to hold the marker lights to the body? Well...now that I think about it the holes sit too far back from the edge for those clips.

SteveJ you are in my town. I know you are itching to come put together a car!

Same upholstery guy resealed my quarter windows, he said he had done that before too. It's all back together good but it doesn't seal up in that rear corner. I read in the "How to restore bible" that the early cars used some rubber shims and caulking to build that corner up before the outer strip was glued on. At least that's that way I took it from reading the book. There aren't any pictures of that I can find. I didn't take the windows apart so I have no idea how it was "shimmed". If anyone has any advice on that I'm all ears. All I can think to do is removed the outer weather strip...cut up some tire tube and build it up some. I also don't think the window is seated all the way back at the moment but its not that far off. I can see daylight around that corner.

I had a guy I've used to do upholstery work on various trucks and things over the years come and remove the old black vinyl while we were tearing it down because it was in nice shape and had that old vintage quality to it. I had intended on reusing it. Someone, I cant remember who told me most of it ripped when they were taking it out. I was pretty bummed about that but went ahead and ordered a new kit. Just doesn't look as good as the old stuff but what could I do. Time came to put it all back in the car and the old veteran upholster sent his teenage son in training over to do the job. I wasn't there but I came back to find this. I think his response was, "I've done a lot of these cars and that's how they all are! There is a bench that goes back there to cover that up." It wasn't funny but I had to laugh. His next words were, "If you can show me a picture of the vinyl going to the deck on another one of these I'll pay twice to replace it!" The boy had also covered the cross section of the roof with the overhead light all the way from side to side....nevermind those wires and stuff! I told him to get his check book out. Luckily I found the old stuff that had been thrown over in the corner somewhere getting covered in body filler dust and overspray. A little gasoline and it cleaned up nice. For now I just left the new stuff on the tunnel cover and strut towers but I have the original in case it bugs me enough later to redo it.

I do not have another 240 around to reference so this site has been such a great tool to use for pictures of correct cars and how things go. Motorman7 always has good pictures to reference but he threw me a curve ball with this one! The grill mounting brackets in the blue circles are upside down (or bent up). You should have seen me holding my grill up trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to mount it that way.....then after an hour of scratching my head and cursing myself I found a lot of other pictures with the brackets hanging down instead of pointing up.

This is the best I could come up with. It's a little goofy but damnit my grill, bumper and valance fit now and honestly it could look a lot worse. After all the extra metal was cut away that I have chalked up it left the gaping hole in the radiator support panel which had to be patched. The holes are different but everything else is basically the same. I did leave the extra metal on the backside of the support panel but its not hurting anything.

Back to the problems with the difference in the 260 front end vs the 240. I think by this point I had noticed it was very different, of course AFTER it was painted, but I didn't realize how different it was. Headlight buckets and lower corner valances with the turn signals go on fine. The center valance, grill and bumper not so much. Those extra angles cover up the holes that are actually still there for a 240z bumper bracket. They also get in the way of the front valance and it cannot be mounted. This is when I really got down on myself about using the 260 front. When i inspected it further I noticed besides those angles and the radiator support panel being shaped around them it was basically the same. I could either start over and cut the car again or do some modifying on the fly. I needed it to be like "The Orange". I looked at the bumper conversion brackets and I think they would work fine but that still left the grill. I didnt want the 260 grill on this car.

Carbs came in from ZTherapy and they look amazing. Got them installed on my engine that has now been sitting for around 4 months waiting on its car.

I was going to say these next pictures obviously aren't part of this build but technically I have used this to run around many days getting parts and shuttling supplies to and from this build so technically it is! Somewhere during this build thread I found this and had to have it. This was the very 1st vehicle I owned. My kids think its stupid and ugly but every time I climb into this beautiful, very slow, cramped, no AC having little pickup truck I am 16 years old again and couldn't be more tickled with it. Makes we want to score a six pack of Miller and go to the Rock Quarry outside of Athens GA to skip school and try and talk some gal into doing something she shouldnt! Its perfect!