LanceM

Over the years everytime that I have had to remove the drums I use a large puller with an air impact. It works everytime and I haven't damaged a drum yet. This time when I reinstalled them I gave the axel hub a lite coating of anti seize, we'll see in a few years if it makes the job any easier. I rented a puller the first time, $25 for the day, after that I went down and bought a set of the cheap china crap ones for $25, got like four of them in the set and they are still going strong after 20 years. They aren't as nice or as good as the ones I have at work but they do the job.

I was thinking that maybe I should ask first if a glass bumper is available from someone already? That would save me a lot of work!

Thanks! I'm waiting for catalogs from everyone, if they are in there then I'm on my way!

My front bumper is shot, has some rust through along with the holes that the rotted rubber hung on. I'm planning on making a mold and making a fiberglass replacement. I want to paint it anyway, and state law says I have to have a "bumper", not that the original did anything but dent or crush when you "bumped" something. So I'm going to make a mold and build one out of fiberglass. My question is if there is anyone that would be interested in one? It's a case of I can make a one time use mold cheap or a production mold for more. My understanding is that '73 front bumpers are different than any other and are hard to come by. If I do make more understand that I won't have any till probably spring as this isn't a production run, more like one at a time between honey do's, just one Z guy helping another, and if it's a hassle there won't be any No idea on costs until I make the first one. Anyway I'm really looking to see if there is any interest from anyone in need that doesn't know how to work fiberglass and needs a replacement. If nobody cares I'll make a one time mold and have mine. Of course check your state laws for legality and all of those other disclamers

Well 16 years ago when I painted the car I put these black plastic things in a safe place, so safe that I can't find them.... Where can I get new ones or does anybody have a parts car that wants to sell them??? They are the plastic bushings that fits under the windshield in the body where the (the correct name escapes me) grill that the windshied wipers poke through fit into in the back, screws hold it in the front.... HELP

Thanks for the methods, I like the work lite idea, I'm using one anyway and I might as well have it do something besides make me sweat!! I will probably also do the torch thing since some of the areas I want to do are pretty small. The chemical methods I'll pass on since it wouldn't be easy to do outside and I don't care to fill the shop with fumes and then be breathing all that crap in the rest of the night! Bad enough just washing it down with a rag and lacquer thinner to get to the metal.

What Kmack said! As a tripple webber owner I can say that I never mess with mine unless I feel like tinkering with them. They stay in sync and stay adjusted just fine. I think the real trick is getting them dialed in right the first time, and as was mentioned above knowing and understanding how they work. They are not your everyday carb. But by the same token they work almost exactly like a carb on a 2 stroke weedeater does, now that statement is enough to scare just about anybody off!! On Webbers the idle jets run all the time and the idle mixture adjustments are critical for smooth transion from idle to full throttle, they really should be called low speed jets. On most "typical" carbs the idle circut cuts out once the main jet takes over, typically once you hit 1500 rpm or so. The thing to remember when adjusting webbers is to idle the engine down so that it just runs, and expect it to die a couple of times during the adjustment, this can be tough with a big cam. If your idle speed is too high you are already into the main jets and the idle mixture adjustments will seem to make little to no difference causing you to set them too lean. If they are too lean you will have problems with starting, throttle transision, throttle response, and in general will make you blame them for all of the troubles of the world. Really, if they were crappy carbs, formula I cars wouldn't have used them in the days before FI or any of the $200K Italian sports cars The thing to remember when you build an engine, it is a system, if you only inprove one part of the system you may not see the gain that you expected, worse yet you may see a decrease in performance.

I aggree that you get what you paid for when it comes to paint. You might want to see if you can get the price cut some if you do some of the prep work yourself. My neighbors run a bodyshop and told me it would cost $800 in materials to repaint my car. That's just paint and tape! So I can believe $3-4K for a total job. Most of the labor is in getting ready for the paint, maybe if you do all of the sanding, cleaning, degreasing and taping off or pulling off the crome and emblems you might save some on the total costs. Of course if you don't do it right and the paint falls off they'll just lay it in your lap as a bad prep job which you did not them.... Macco, Ha I remember an old saying we had for Macco, paints on red, peels off the white!

Outstanding Steve, I'll give it a try, I'm tired of coming out from under the car black with undercoat! Not to mention how bad my trouble lite smells as the undercoat dust burns off!!

OK it looks like the vinal will come off of the trans tunnel no problem, what's the modern day replacement for the horsehair padding which I want to eleminate totally from the car. Anyone have any suggestions or leads?

Well as I continue to work on my 240 that has been resting for the last 15 years I have found some rust in some places of the floor pan. Nothing bad just something that needs taken care of before it gets worse. POR-15 time. My delema is that 20 years ago I heavily undercoated the car, now I have to take some of it off. Anybody got an easy way to strip areas of undercoat? About the only thing that I've found that works is a twisted wire wheel in a grinder, it gets the job done but is a real mess and is slow. I've thought about a propane torch with a flame spredder and a scraper but the idea of flame, tar, and my car all in the same place doesn't give me any warm fuzzys. Any hints or tips out there??

Here's my $.02 for what it's worth. If all you are doing is carbs your in for a $700 disapointment, if you are doing carbs, cam, head, exaust then spend another $300 and go tripple webbers. I really like mine and don't have any of the "problems" others complain about, perhaps I'm just lucky but they run good and I never have to mess with them. The choke works great for cold starts.

Taking the pos off with the engine running is not a good idea, some alternators will burn up with out a load. I don't know if the Z's will or not but it isn't worth the cost to find out. I would do two things, reinstall a mechanical fuel pump, I take it that you only have the electric, and get the battery tested. In my opinion 2 pumps are better than one, you can still get home if one breaks The battery may have an intermittant short between a couple of cells, this often happens when you run one out of water or if the battery is old (a lot of sediment in the bottom of the battery). This will put a hell of a load on the altenator causing your voltage to drop and may be slowing or shutting off you electric fuel pump.

Very Pretty I have to admit that this site has me thinking of working in the engine compartment myself. Mine looks like hell but it runs great. I guess that I just hope no one ever asks me to "open the hood"

The hissing is for sure a leak, check the hoses but it is probably the booster. The clutch master/slave probably just figured it was time to die, or it could be worse, if your pilot bearing is sort of shot or just real dry it could keep the input shaft of the transmission turning enough so that you can't put it in gear. That is what I suspect. Replacing the pilot bearing requires pulling the transmission and either special tools or a lot of luck. Sometimes you can use hydralic compression to force them out by packing the center with grease and using a tight fitting rod hit with a hammer to back them out. Pros have a tool that fits inside with hooks that grab the back of the bearing and pull it out. If the hydralics are working fine cold, easy to check, have someone push on the clutch while you look then, it is probably the pilot bearing. Since it gets better after it warms up it might be that whatever grease was in there has dried up. A free fix/try would be to pull the tranny and clean up the end of the input shaft and put a "little" and I mean a "little" grease on it and and maybe a dab in the bearing, put it back together. This is a case where more is not better, too much can be thrown back on to the clutch plate, grease and clutch don't mix well

On my '73 the hazzard lite switch is a big arse knob under the cig lighter, you can't miss it if it's there I suspect that your flasher problem is a bad ground, with all of the lites on there is too much resistance to draw enough current through the flasher and make it switch on and off. Check all of your body grounds at the lites and elsewhere.

Just want to be clear, I mean to loosen the valves .010-.015" more than stock clearances. It will be noisy but won't hurt anything.

It could be that chain streach is getting you, a guess, it's been a long time since I cammed a Z and don't remember for sure now how to dial it in, have to check the books. One way to check, not that's it's less work, is loosen the valves .010-.015" this would have the same effect as retarding the cam, if it is better driving you know that the cam is advanced, worse, that it is retarded. At least that way you would know which way you need to slip the sprocket. Faceing the front of the engine moving the cam clockwise would advance it, CCW would retard it. Good luck!

Sorry, yep a new pump is the only way to fix a bad diaphram....

Since your tank sounds many times worse than mine was I would for sure recommend it be take to a professional, it sure sounds like more than a home job. The float sending unit comes out in one piece and should be removed and cleaned up. Take care taking it out, there is a metal ring that you will have to drive counter clockwise and get out then the whole sending unit can be removed. Take care removing the ring, as far as I know there are no replacements, the little tabs that you pound against (gently) can be broken off and you are screwed.... I cleaned up my sending unit as I have not been able to find a replacement, if anyone knows where new replacements are available let me know as I'd sure like to put a new one in. As was mentioned before don't break the little wires on the rheostat or you are screwed again!!!

Being a tooth off on the cam affects the cam timing not the ignition timing. If the cam was advanced too much the intake valve would close too soon, loss of fuel charge, and the exhaust would open too soon, less of a problem power wise but could cause a burnt valve. A retarded cam the intake opens too late, loss of fuel charge as the piston may push some of it back out before the valve closes on the compression stroke, exhaust valve opens late causing exhaust vapors to be compressed (power loss) before they can escape, and maybe causing some to be drawn back in on the intake stroke (because the intake hasn't opened, even though there is valve overlap) reducing fuel charge. Really a bag of worms if you look at worst case Best way to check is to take off the valve cover and hand crank the engine around to TDC on #1 cylinder compression stroke and check to see that your timing mark on the cam is in the right place or off a tooth or two, I don't think it would run if it was more than that.

An alumimun flywheel is sure the way to go if you can afford it, they say that every pound off the flywheel is like taking ten pounds off the car, or something like that. I love the way it will rev with a light flywheel, if nothing else is sure sounds cool You won't need a heaver clutch with a lightend flywheel, but I have no opinion on theirs. You might want to check and see if there is a clutch rebuilder in your area, they are farily common, and have them rebuild your old clutch. Usually it is cheaper than buying new from an auto parts store, which is probably rebuilt anyway, and you've got a local guy to bitch to if it isn't right.

Sounds like a bad diaphram in the mechanical pump causing the leak down. My fuel filter never fills full even at high rpms, mine is before the mechanical pump.

Sounds like the master cylinder crapped out. Climb under the dash and see if you have brake fluid coming out of the rubber boot sticking through the firewall. Since it was stuck, when you punched it all the way down you may have torn a seal on whatever was holding it up.