kmack

Here's a cheaper method: Find a less picky inspection station. There was a smog pump and all associated plumbing on the '72 cars. Here's what I would do: Pull everything off the car that is associated with the smog/emission stuff. Don't leave anything visible that would draw attention to the fact that these items were removed. Make sure the smog pump mount is off the block, remove your air injection tubes from the exhaust manifold (assuming you're still running a stock manifold), and get rid of the anit-backfire valve. If the guy looking at the engine can see no signs of anything having been removed, then he has no reason to suspect anything was removed. Then ask around to find out were the more "relaxed" inspection stations are and go there. Here in San Antonio, they are all on the southside. Most won't even get into the car let alone look under the hood. When I got my car inspected, the guy asked me what the mileage was instead of looking for himself. Note: this is not to say that my vehicles are unsafe or are not up to vehicle standards in any way. In my opinion, the smo/emission systems on the early Z's did nothing. You can tune the SU's to meet the same emissions standards that the smog pump provided. So why keep it? I just like not having to go through the hassle of some guy telling me what should be on my car when he doesn't even know for sure himself. I mean that bracket hanging off the driver's side of my engine block with nothing attached could be from the A/C system I removed because it didn't work!:nervous:

I used a 500 Watt halogen work light and a putty knife when I pulled the undercoating off mine. But it also pulls the paint too! That's why I used the same setup to strip the paint off my car. No chemical mess, and you just sweep up the stuff on the floor when your done. (Or use the shop-vac)

Or: "If you can read this, you're faster than you look!" and (I have this one personally): "My child is Inmate of the Month at Florida State Prison"

Try encasing the entire car in shrink-wrap and pull a vacuum on the inside that way no air is left to attack the metal. Other than that, you could always completely strip the car down to the shell and have it dipped in a rust preventative treatment bath. You'd need to make sure it got all the way inside the interior body panels and was completely covered. Or you could just avoid rain, puddles, sprinklers, and forget washing the car....:stupid: Moisture is the killer of Z cars....

Also make sure the heater hoses coming in through the firewall are hooked up correctly. If they're not on right, then you won't get any flow to the heatercore; therefore, no heat. I had mine connected wrong at first, but have since got it corrected.

I don't know that any early 240's ever had a 2 levers for operating each individual choke, but the very early cars did have 2 levers; one operated the chokes and the other was a throttle control. To my knowledge there has always been one lever for the 2 chokes. Technically, there is one lever, and only one cable for both chokes. the end of the cable (or wire) runs from the rear choke arm up to the lever where it wraps around and continues back to the other choke arm. Interesting tid-bit.

The fusible link is the wire you see coming out of the harness going to the positive terminal of the starter. If the link is broken, then you will not get any power to the car what-so-ever. If you have power (ie. instrument lights, etc.), then the link is good and you have a problem somewhere else. I think I know why 2many told you the link comes from the battery.....he hasn't worked on a car (or at least a running car) for quite some time! (Sorry, 2many, I couldn't resist. )

I couldn't get onto this site..... I'd like to see if they have any of the other commercials, as my car is shown in one of them. Particularly the one showing the group of cars all parked next to each other that was taken at the National Convention Car Show.

A lot depends on what all needs to be fixed before the paint goes on. You say "that the undercarriage is very rusted." Do section of metal need to be replaced? If so, figure a "good" shop is going to charge $2000-4000 depending on the extent of damage. Doing it yourself is cheaper. As for the paint, figure on another $1000-2000 for a good quality paint job. That should also include sanding the car down to get rid of all the chips. For reference, when I painted my car, total coast for paint alone $550. That was a medium grade paint (not high dollar) and I did all the work myself.

There are supposed to be a set of bushings where the shifter goes into the transmission. The rattle is most likely those bushings going bad. Replace them and it'll go away. My shifter moves considerably and rattles like crazy at certain rpm's. But I chalk it up as a characteristic of an old car. I kind of think it's cool! :classic:

First, I'd try to get the motor running using a small gas can. Hook it up to the pump, but don't use any of the fuel lines along the frame rail. But before you do, pull the plugs and squirt a little oil into the cylinders. Enough to coat them real good. You might also want to change the oil in the block as it's probably gotten pretty gunked up. Pull the valve cover off and coat the cam and valves with oil. Once you get it all buttomed up, turn the starter over w/o the plugs in to prime the lubrication system with oil. Run the starter until you see oil pressure. Then throw the plugs back in, spray some carb cleaner into the carbs, a then see if she'll fire. I'd also do a good thorough check of the carbs after you verify that the engine will run. But getting the engine to run after so long of a time, is half the battle.

Ok, this is being carried over from another thread for those that might be interested. Some of us have been using it to make new avatars. The link is to a license plate maker program. It's pretty cool, check it out. License plate maker

I don't mind at all. In fact I've made over 20 different plates so far. I have one lined up for my car when the current plates come due, but I won't show it because I don't want someone to steal it. :tapemouth

Thanks, billcapp. I made it off this website: http://www.acme.com/licensemaker/

There should an identifying mark at the base of the needle. It'll be pretty small and you'll probably have to pull it out of the carb piston to see it.

Hey Britt Boyette, If you're looking for a rotisserie and you're good with a welder, email me and I'll send you a set of plans that I used to build mine. Or I can build you one and ship it to you.

I agree with Rick on using the pickle fork. I hammered on an old steering rack (that still had bad ball joints atteched) with a 20 lb sledge hammer for over an hour and they didn't budge. Took a pickle fork to them with a 5 lb sledge and they both came loose after 3 hits! Go figure....

Also keep in mind that the marker lights from the early cars will have different connections than the '73. I have a spare set (not in that good condition) that I tried to use on my '71 and the connectors (although both bullet type connectors) were different and would require a little re-wiring at the light to make work.

Ed, I built a rotisserie for my car when I restored it. The stands mounted using the bumper mounts (in the rear) and the under-tray mounts on the frame rails (in the front). The stands were able to take the weight of the car minus doors, engine, transmission and glass. The suspension was still on the car when I first put it on the stands. It held up fine. I have pics up on my website.

The two gas tanks should be identical and swap easily. The only difference would be in the evaporation tank inside the car. the early ones were plastic while the later ones were metal.

Nate, My understanding is that somewhere between the 240's and 260/280's there was a shift in either how or where the horsepower readings were taken. Thus causing the misunderstanding that the later models actually made less power(or not as much). Or something like that......it's really late as I'm writing this and my brain my be malfunctioning....:stupid:

Update on my answers: Both the second and third are 2+2's.

The first one is from a 280Z. The second is from (this is a guess) some sort of right hand drive 280. And the third has me stumped.

"If I couldn't do a Harley, I'd go with an Indian." Sorry Mike. If you can't afford a Harley, then you're not going to afford an Indian. The dealer here in San Antonio has Indian's priced starting at $27,000+. And they're only an Indian by name, the engine is a Harley clone! Want a cool cruiser? Take a look at an old Vincent Black Shadow. Now that's a bike. I'm not a cruiser fan myself and I don't have a total hatred of Harley's, but their riders are a different story. Most won't even look at you let alone talk to you if you're on a Jap bike. But I could definitely go for a Buell XB9S!!!

Actually Dave, the ZRX is going to be my next bike. (If I can ever save up a little money) I used to have a little RD350 that would beat CBR600's and scare the hell out of Harley ("Hardley", I like that one!) riders. As for the Harleys, I just can't see spending $15k + on a bike with backwards, outdated technology. My opinion, though.