kenz240z

I went ahead and replaced the steering coupler with the urethane part, since it was in the kit and I had everything apart at the time. With urethane rack mounts, urethane coupler & rebuilt front suspension, the steering on my Z is TIGHT. It definitely gives a feel of the road, quite a contrast to my cars that have a Pitman arm/idler arm/power steering setup.

I'd replace the hatch. It would take quite a bit of new metal, welding & fabrication to cut out ALL of the rusty metal and replace it. Anything less and you'd be left with a wavy panel & rust eating through and bubbling the finish around the hatch glass seal.

I'd also pull the fan, radiator, wiring (starter, oil pressure sending unit, alternator, coolant temp sending unit, distributor, etc...). Be sure to label everything. If you have a digital camera, take lots of pictures, they will help jog your memory! What kind of tranny, auto or manual? Drain it if it's an auto and remove all wiring. If it's a manual disconnect the clutch plumbing. Make sure the shift linkage is disconnect for either one. Drop the drive shaft & pull the engine & tranny togther. Remove the carbs, intake & exhaust manifolds. Not essential, but easier to manouever without them on. If the exhaust manifold is left on, then disconnect the pipe from the manifold. I use a leveling sling. I connected one end to the rear of the head using an exhaust manifold mounting stud. The other end was connected to the front of the head using one of the AC compressor mounting holes & a heavy duty bold. A leveling sling will help you tilt the engine & tranny as you lift them from the car.

Bill, if you haven't done any carburetor work before then you might consider having a shop replace the flat tops with the round tops on your Z. There's a great shop near me, T&D Auto. They are located in Hygiene, just a few miles west of Longmont. Phone number is 303/772-0404. Talk to Dale or Evan. These guys know Z cars inside & out, & may have any miscellaneous parts needed for the conversion. Hygiene would be a bit of a drive for you, but if you call T&D, they may know of a shop closer to you. If you plan to do the work yourself, the first step is to do your homework. Read anything & everything you can get your hands on that relates to the Hitachi round top SU carburetors. These carbs are pretty simple in design & operation. But, just like anything mechanical, it can be messed up and cause your car not to run if you aren't careful & precise in setting it up.

Welcome to the club, you will find lot's of good information here, and lot's of knowledgeable folks, too.

I'm not familiar with the flat top carbs that came with the '73. Somewhere in its past the flat top carbs on my '73 were replaced with the round top carbs. Is the front carb leaking fuel? It could be that the float isn't floating any more - maybe has a hole in it, or is out of adjustment - and the fuel inlet needle isn't closing against the seat. That would cause too much fuel to enter the float bowl and leak. If you are mechanically inclined you might pull the carb off the car and open it up to check the float. Not sure what gaskets & rebuild kits are available for the flat top carbs, you might check on e-bay. Sounds like the carb needs a little attention.

Hi Steve, Yes, I remember meeting you at the salvage yard. How are you and your son doing with your Z's? Mine has come a long way since that day!

I replaced the steering rack bushings on my '73 with the energy suspension urethane set and it is solid. No side to side movement of the rack itself.

Hello Mike, welcome to the club! I, too, have installed the Tokico HP struts & springs on my '73. I also replaced all the bushings with the Hyperflex polyurethane set. My Z handles great with a nice firm ride. I cleaned and refinished all the suspension & driveline parts when I did the work, now everything looks clean & new.

How about ZCAR4ME

Regarding the speaker wiring (series vs. parallel), the important thing is to have the total speaker load match the rating of the radio power amp output. In addition, the speakers should have a power rating that is the same or higher than the power output of the radio. I'm not sure where to find these tidbits of information, perhaps in the service manual somewhere? For arguments sake, let's say the radio is designed to operate into a 4 Ohm load. You could hook up one 4 Ohm speaker, two 8 ohm speakers in parallel, or two 2 Ohm speakers in series. All three variations would present the same 4 Ohm load to the radio. Now let's say the power output of the radio is 20 Watts. If only one speaker is hooked up, it should be rated for 20 Watts or more. If two speakers are hooked up, they should be rated for 10 Watts or more. When connecting two speakers together in a mono setup, I'd wire them in parallel. That way if one blows, there is still a load on the radio's power amp. Without a load, the power amp section could burn up.

You might want to do a basic tune up: points, plugs, cap & rotor, air filter, fuel filter, maybe the plug wires & coil if spark is weak. The carbs could probably use a good cleaning, especially if fuel has been sitting in the float bowls for 6 years. They may need to be rebuilt. Also, you might want to adjust the valves. Check the timing if you can keep the engine running. My '73 has an electric fuel pump back by the fuel tank. Not sure if the '72 has this. If so, the pump has a fuel filter inside that I'd recommend replacing. It can get clogged with sediment from the tank and restrict fuel flow. A few other items to consider: Drain the old coolant out & re-fill with new coolant. Replace the radiator hoses. Change the oil. Check the brakes (pads, fluid & hoses, calipers, wheel cylinders, rotors & drums). Brake fluid absorbs moisture, you might consider flushing the old fluid out of the brake system and re-fill with new fluid. Replace the fan belts. How's the suspension, struts, springs, bushings, etc? What kind of shape is your Z in? Post some pics, and keep us updated with your progress!

I bought a dash cap from MSA. It came with a tube of silicon. IIRC, the instructions suggested applying the silicon sparingly around the perimeter of the cap.

I'm on my first Z, a 1973 with an automatic transmission. I'm on the lookout for another one, but I don't have any room left in the garage for another car!!!

I put a full dashcap on my dash. You can see the seams along the side of the dash when the doors are open. But, it sure looks a lot better than the original dash, which had several large cracks! Not what you'd want on a show car, but fine for a nicely "refreshed" weekend driver! http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=9937&size=big&cat=500&page=9 I have a few other photos in my gallery.

Wow, sounds like you found a great Z! Once you've been bitten by the Z car bug you just can't stay away!

Congrats! All the time, sweat, bux & cuss words are forgotten when you get your Z put back together! At least that's how it was for me! Keep the pics coming!

Is the white smoke billowy and sweet smelling? It could be a coolant leak. A blown head gasket, cracked block, cracked cylinder head, etc... could cause coolant to leak into one or more cylinders, which would cause white, billowy smoke. Another thing to check would be the oil. Start the engine and run it until it reaches operating temperature. Shut the engine off and check the oil. If it is frothy you've got a coolant leak.

You may also want to check the relationship between the starter and the flywheel to make sure you don't have any problems with the starter drive gear engaging the teeth on the flywheel. If the flywheel is closer to the starter than the flex plate was, the drive gear could grind on the flex plate teeth, and may have trouble engaging the flywheel. Or, it may start the car fine, but get locked up and fail to disengage the flywheel. Does anyone know if there is there a difference between starters on cars with a manual transmission and cars with the auto? I seem to recall that MSA lists different starters for each. If there is a difference between starters, and you keep the one you have, you may need to install a shim between the starter and the transmission bellhousing. You can make a shim from another engine backing plate, if you have one. Of course, it could be all backwards from what I've just mentioned. The flywheel could be further away from the starter... :paranoid:

When I repainted my Z I took the doors off the car, and left the hinges on the body. I cleaned the hinges with carb cleaner & a toothbrush to remove all of the old grease. I left them on the car when I repainted the body. The doors, hood & rear hatch were all painted off the car. Be sure to support the door when you remove it. It can be done by one person, but get a helper or two to make sure you don't drop it. Same goes for putting them back on. If you do it by yourself, use an engine hoist to support the weight of the door for removal & installation. Or, put some heavy duty hooks in the garage ceiling and "hang" the doors with wire or rope. You might consider adjusting the door alignment before taking the door off. Remove the kick panels and you'll have access to the bolts that hold the door hinges to the body. You'll definitely want a helper for this, it will save you a lot of time. This will allow you to set the gap between the door & the rear quarter & rocker panel, and also make sure the door has the proper height all around. Once everything is painted, take care not to nick the paint when putting the door back on. I would recommend taping all the door edges, and perhaps around the door opening on the body.

The SU's used on the Z cars don't have any fuel overflow outlets. If an inlet needle sticks open, the fuel level in the float bowl will rise, and will dump more fuel into the carb. There would be so much fuel going into the carb through the jet that the carb would start leaking fuel. A dangerous situation, as raw fuel would be dripping onto the engine. Also, the air/fuel mixture would be getting very, very rich and the engine would probably stop running. I don't know if enough pressure would ever build up to actually push fuel out through the vent hoses into the air cleaner. Keep in mind that the fuel level in the float bowl and the jet height in the carb are related. The two are connected by a rubber hose that runs from the bottom of the fuel bowl to the bottom of the jet. So, in normal operation the fuel level at the jet will be roughly the same as the fuel level in the float bowl. If you've every siphoned liquid out of a container, you'll understand what I'm talking about. As long as the outlet side of the siphon tube is below the level of the liquid in the container, the liquid will flow out of the siphon tube. In this case, the the liquid is fuel, the container is the float bowl, and the rubber hose & jet make up the siphon tube.

Hi Llama, Nice looking Z! Welcome to the club from Longmont, Colorado... Rocky Mountain "Hi!"

#1 is NOT a fuel overflow. The two hoses identified as #1 in the picture are vent hoses to provide atmospheric pressure to the fuel bowls of the carbs. On a stock setup these two hoses are connected to the backside of the air cleaner. Run them to the back of the Ram Flo's. #2 is the PCV valve. The PCV valve connects to the crankcase. There should be a pipe, about 1" in diameter, that protrudes from the block just under where the thermostat housing is. Try MSA, Victoria British or e-bay for the proper hose. #3 is the brake booster vacuum port. It should have a hose that connects to a check valve mounted on the firewall. A second hose connects the check valve to the brake booster. #4 looks like the vacuum line that connects to the distributor. Hope this helps!

240Zdragon72, I couldn't help myself. To my twisted little pea brain, X's in the eyes are associated with dead characters... Furthermore, my pea brain also associates flies with the aforementioned dead characters. Too many Ren & Stimpy cartoons!

Here's what I would do. Make sure it has a good battery. Change the oil. Check the coolant & top off if necessary. Check the condition of the distributor cap, rotor, points, plug wires, & plugs. Check all hoses & belts Replace anything that looks questionable. Before trying to start the engine, pull all the plugs. Squirt a fair amount of WD-40 in each cylinder. Pull the coil wire. Disconnect the fuel lines from the carbs and put a catch can under each. Turn the key and see if the engine will turn over, and also check to see that fuel is flowing from the disconnected carb lines. If everything looks good so far, then put the plugs back in and re-connect the carb fuel lines. Before re-connecting the coil wire, run it up to one of the mounting bolts for the left front strut. Put it close, leave a gap. Turn the key and verify that you see a spark jump the gap. If you see a spark, hook it back up to the distributor. Now, the engine should be able to turn over, you've got fuel flowing to the carbs, and you've got spark going to the plugs. Turn the key and see if it will start. It should at least try to start, it may take a moment if there is no fuel in the carb float bowls. If it starts, then be sure to change the oil before running the car for any extended period of time. The WD-40 you sprayed in the cylinders can thin the oil out a bit, best not to take chances. If it doesn't start, then you'll have to do a little trouble shooting to find out what is out of order. Could be the timing is off, the valves could need adjustment, the carbs, could be gummed up from sitting, the choke cable from choke lever in the car to the carbs could be out of adjustment, etc.... You'll want to check these things anyway once you get it running. Also, you should drain & refill the coolant. Hope this helps!