LanceM

I run synthetic in two of my trucks. With that many miles on the engine you would probably be better off sticking with what you have been using. On higher milage engines you usually find all of the bad seals when you switch to synthetic, it tends to leak out of places regular oil didn't.

If the piston is that stuck it probably isn't worth rebuilding.. But if you must, try using a small C clamp and try pushing it in, that may break it loose so it will come out. You should be able to find a new one at NAPA for around $20 or so.

Go to NAPA and get a universal repair cable and cut it to lenght, all you need is the inner cable, cost around $10.

I agree with not running it. You'll do more harm starting it and letting it just warm up than letting it sit. As Bart said moisture will be the problem, unless you can take it out for a 20 mile spin let it set till you can.

Go with the Scout, sounds like the better long term investment to me, can't live without 4WD where I'm at, wouldn't want to even think about driving a Z year around here... In the future you may have a two car garage that will house both a Z and the Scout.

Should work, I swapped a 73 4 speed shifter for an 81 5 speed with no problem.

You may need one to reassemble the rear calipers if they are the type with E-brake connections. On those the pistion sort of ratchets out when the ebrake is applied, they need to be screwed back into the caliper, if you just push they will break. I was able to just use a large screwdriver to twist mine back in. Be careful when blowing the piston out, don't get your finger between the piston and caliper body, they come out with a ton of pressure and could cause some real hurt!

3K at 70 isn't bad, you're just going to have to get used to pulling higher rpm. Here is a spread sheet I made up showing rear gear ratios/trans ratios/tire size. This should help you get an idea what you have and what you might want to go to to get what you want. I got the tire size info from www.tirebarn.com and the trans ratio info from http://www.schlaver.com/zCarGo.html Z gear ratios.xls

Yep, bypassed. You may have air in the system which has collected in the heater core, happens to my wife's Olds. Open up the radiator cap and run the engine up to temp to open the thermostat, watch the fluid in the radiator for bubbles, and have the heat on. Once the air is out you should have heat, if not then it's probably blocked.

Mike, Where did you get that insulation board for your stove extention???

Thanks Mike for the welcome, though I doubt I'll ever do more than my own items, it was and is an interesting experience. Never being involved in more than owning pc tools or other commercial items it something else doing it yourself. I'm amazed at how tough the stuff is, I did some test items and it is one tough coating, like everyone has said for so long, but who wants to take a new skill saw and work at chipping/scratching the finish I'm going to have to be careful, I can see that already, all those items already painted.... pc would be so much better, all I have to do is take them back off the car and strip the paint and ....... See I'm in trouble all ready

Tell me more about using the radiant heater, I've got one, do you move it around to get all of the part? Also does Pendry have a site??

This is what I got, on sale they are $69 http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=42802 Extra cups are $5.99. WWW.eastwood.com has a bunch of colors/textures of powder, average price around $10 per 1/2 pound which will do about 20 sq ft price goes down with quanity of course. The guns I have looked at all appear to be about the same in design, perhaps different boxes for the electronics but that's about it. They are all probably coming from the same factory in China... The only thing about the caswell one is the stuff you get with it, what would I do with those colors they supply in the kit? I'd rather spend the money and get colors I want. I've lost the link I had of a homemade oven, the guy had a lot in it but built it to do it for profit, his plan used sheetmetal, metal house studs, and unfaced fiberglass insulation. It was all pop rivited together, a good idea and looked easy to build. He had like $800 in it using all new comercial componets. I figure I could build one for around $100 using componets from junk stoves (pleny good enough for DIY at home) that would be large enough to do things like window/door frames which are on my list of things to do. My next project is to build an extention box that will slide into the door opening of the stove that will allow me to do a Datsun valve cover, nothing fancy, just something that will make it work.

After what seemed like a never ending quest I finally found a free electric range to use for powder coating. I am quite pleased with the results and wanted to say that the HF gun was well worth the sale price. After today's results I'm looking forward to doing other items and have learned allot doing just these few small things. I used Eastwood's powders and they worked well. The items in the pics are all done in black wrinkle coat, the finish looks very old school which is what I was looking for and does cover/hide small imperfections. I am now planning on building a metal cabinet to coat in so that it will be easier to reclaim the "overspray" powder. The cardboard box I used today worked fine but there is no way to reclaim all of the powder and what is left would contaminate other colors making this a one powder only box. So I would say that if you were on the fence thinking about doing this yourself go for it, IMHO it works great.

Thanks Enigma, I know what you mean, my first car repair years were in a gravel driveway, dropping a nut meant it was lost, next was a 3 bay loafing shed with plastic covering one side and a long extension cord supplying power, at least it had a cement floor but it was cold in the winter. 20 years ago I got lucky and was able to purchase some adjoining property with this building on it, many years later and with alot of work it is now a nice brightly lit warm work space.

I take it you are talking about K&N type of filters, oiled cloth type. I have one on my truck and on my Z's triple webers. Worth it or better than paper, well there's a lot of debate. The one on my truck I got at a JY for $5, it was like new, still red (they turn black with age), on the Z that's what came with the carb set. Really all in all I don't think there is much of a difference, OK so they may flow more air, how often do you demand Maximum airflow through the system?? For their cost you can by a lot of paper filters over the life of the car...

Ha, just what you think it is, a SBC Couldn't pass it up, buddy pulled it from his truck 010 020 4 bolt block, gave him 50 bucks for it. Was planning on putting it in a Blazer for my wife but then gas went sky high. I get 19 mpg in my 355 Jimmy, but she drives foot to the wood most of the time so it's just sitting now.

Having to move my Z around the shop was getting real old to say the least, pushing back and forth, sliding it with a floor jack, you name it I've done it/tried it. It wouldn't be bad if all I did in the shop was work on the Z but over a years time everything from lawnmowers to the daily driver ends up out here. I've been looking at the various car dollies, all seem underbuilt or expencive or both. Being your typical cheap guy I could never bring myself to spend the money to buy store bought ones but have always been looking for the parts to do it myself. Well the time had come, I found these huge used casters for $2.99 each here, http://www.surpluscenter.com/item.asp?UID=2005120215231571&item=1-2746&catname=trailer These casters are something else, probably rated 1000# each, I wouldn't doubt that they were probably $25 a piece new. I cut and welded up some 1 1/2" angle I had around and built the dollies. It is fantastic, I can truly push the Z around the shop with one hand, I couldn't believe it. If you need to move your car around in any direction this is the way to go.

Sure, left hand on the stearing wheel, right on the shifter, took a while to get used to that funny headlight switch I too came upon the Z in the late seventys after my run through the usual American Muscle cars, and must say that I didn't have any complaints about the car it was great. I bought it off of a Porsche lot, it was a trade in on a 924, poor choice on their part I think But it was my first car made outside the US and it was a great car and still is, I don't remember every having any problems with the car that weren't driver/owner induced. Really you can't compair American muscle cars to a Z, whole different breed. They were heavier so they rode nicer, bias ply tires and soft suspension made for crappy handling, but dump the clutch on a built big block blasting through that rock crusher 4 speed to some 4.11 gears hooking up some M60-15's real good and it was hang on for the ride Maybe time has distorted things, as I'm sure my Silverado is probably faster than some of the cars I had but there is something special to American muscle if you grew up driving them. But all that said, 25 years later I still have my Z and not a muscle car in the lot

Stock US 72 240, 2.75" from center to center tie rod hole to first mounting hole, after market short arm 2.5".

Most likely such leakage is in the bead area, a good cleaning to bare metal before tire install should elimanate any problems there. Any other leaks would likely be caused by cracks, and in that case I would consider the wheel scrap.

From what I have found on my 240 it was red oxide.

That would be a good choice for an engine without other upgrades. Stock carbs will work and a better exhaust would help. Should be very streetable and you should notice a lot more pep all around, but would think about a stage II first.

Never saw anything like that before. Try some acetone, if that won't take it off I don't know what will...

Those are the snaps that fit on the front of the drivers/passageners pieces that connect the carpet to the firewall to keep it from moving. Look on the firewall and you should see the other half of the snap connected there, if they are still there. To use them locate them on the carpet at the correct location push the points through the carpet, then bend over the points to connect the two halves, snap on the rear of the carpet, attaching ring to the face of the carpet.