kenz240z

As Ed suggested, start with rebuilding the front suspension. I bought an Energy Suspension Hyperflex Urethane bushing set for my 73. It included all the front & rear bushings, including steering rack bushings, steering link bushing (between the steering column & the rod that goes to the steering rack), and the end links that go between the front transverse links & the sway bar. I also got new sway bar bushings & strut rack boots from Victoria British. I had the engine out of the car at the time, it greatly helped with doing the front end rebuild. It took me a few weeks to finish that project, as I spent a lot of time cleaning & repainting all the parts. I did the same thing with the rear suspension, cleaned & repainted everything. The spindle pins connecting the rear transverse links to the struts can be a pain. On one side I was able to remove the spindle pin easily. The other side was rusted in, and I had to have a suspension shop remove it. I replaced the rear differential mount while I was in there. Now I have a nice, firm ride, thanks to the rebuilt suspension. Steering is tight and very responsive, and I get a good feel for the road. It's a blast to drive my Z in the winding mountain roads near home!

If you are pulling the engine without the transmission you should be ok with using the engine hoist from the side. If you are going to pull the engine & transmission together you'll have to have the engine hoist in front of the car, so that you can pull it back as you lift the engine & transmission. An adjustable cradle, the kind that allows you to tilt the load, is a major help in this situation. It will keep the transmission from banging against the transmission tunnel & firewall as you lift everything out. If you are working in a garage, make sure you have enough ceiling clearance to lift the engine out. My garage is too short to fit the engine hoist in front of my Z and close the garage door. But, with the garage door open, there isn't enough clearance to lift the engine out of the car. By clearing a few things out of the way I was able to get my Z in the garage diagonally and close the garage door. I had enough room to put the hoist in front of the car and close the garage door. I couldn't pull the engine in the driveway because my driveway slopes down towards the street, and I didn't want to risk having the hoist roll towards the car & put the transmission through the windshield. Yikes! FWIW, I bought an engine hoist from the local Checker auto parts store, it fits under my Z without any trouble. My Z has new Tokico HP springs and the suspension is lowered about an inch.

Hey 240Zdragon72, is your Orange 72 drawing flies? Just wondered, it looks like it has X's in the eyes... ha, ha!

Even before I rebuilt the suspension on my Z, it never handled like a Buick or a wallowing hog. Who would think such a thing :stupid: ! It did have a harsh ride, though.. Every bump in the road was enough to rattle my teeth, it would jar the car so bad :hurt: . My Z still had the original springs, although they seem to have held up well. Even so, I replaced them with Tokico HP red springs. The strut inserts were in bad shape, they were replaced with Tokico HP blues (I got the springs & strut inserts as a package on e-bay). The bushings on the car were in pretty bad shape, one of the rear transverse link inner bushings was rather deteriorated. Also, none of the struts had bump stops. So, I replaced all the old bushings with new urethane bushings from Energy Suspension. Now, the completely rebuilt suspension gives a firm, comfortable ride . I didn't make before & after measurements of the ride height, but it seems about the same to my eye. Fortunately for me, my lower back pain only troubles me every 2-3 years. When it hits, I can't even stand up :dead: . I've literally had to crawl upstairs to get to bed, because of the pain associated with trying to stand up straight after sitting. The rest of the time it is merely a tolerable discomfort. The only other thing I can think of would be to replace the strapping in the seat. While the drivers seat in my Z is in good cosmetic shape, the seat bottom is kind of saggy . Another option would be to put in a different seat from another car, something with better lumbar support, etc... It might make a big difference in comfort when you drive your Z .

Hi Tom, I used vice-grips to remove them from my car when I rebuilt the rear suspension. I clamped the vice-grips to the clip where it bends. I was then able to wiggle the clip and pull it out. You're right, they are like the brake/clutch line clips, only smaller & thicker.

Eastwood sells several different paints that duplicate various plating, such as cadmium and zinc. They also have paint for alternator housings, carbs, etc... that is supposed to make them look new. I've used the cadmium paint, it consists of 3 different colors: red, green & gold. I used it on all the brake hard lines, fuel lines, hood prop, accelerator linkage, etc... and it turned out great. Not as good looking as re-plating, but a heck of a lot cheaper, & not that noticable to the untrained eye! For cleaning aluminum parts (intake, carbs, alternator, etc...) I have used steel wire brushes and also brass wire brushes. Harbor Freight sells the ones that are toothbrush sized, perfect for cleaning in tight spots.

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For the vinyl try Meguiar's vinyl cleaner. It should work well for cleaning up the plastic & vinyl interior pieces and will leave them smelling nice. Febreeze will make things smell nice, as Beandip suggested. It should work well on the carpets.

What Cremmenga says is true. I mean, think about it for a moment. In the State of Nebraska, Memorial Stadium (where the Huskers play - Go Big Red!), becomes the third largest population center for the whole State when the Huskers have a home game. There are just over 1 million people in the whole State. BTW, Cremmenga, good luck keeping the birds out of your grille... I used to have plenty of them in the grille of my '89 Ford Probe whenever I'd race up Hwy 2 towards Alliance, and I never went over 100 mph. Speaking of Alliance, anyone else ever been to Carhenge?

Yank the engine and drop in a small block V8... Personally, I'd put in a HP 327 with a Carter AFB and 2 1/2" dual exhaust...

Just put a switch in line with with hot lead to your stereo equipment, that way you can turn it off and prevent the drain on your battery.

Nothing a small block V8 won't fix...

A sports car is meant to give the driver the feel of the road... buy a big old Buick or Oldsmobile, one with a couch for the front seat, you won't feel a thing.

Dude, Get an air compressor and a paint gun, you can paint your Z any color you want. But first, do a little troubleshooting and figure out for yourself why your headlights don't work. It's not rocket science...

Hi, BuDavid, I think that is a wonderful idea. I wish more of us "Westerners" could embrace the idea of a unity of cultures. I know I do! And the Z car, what a wonderful example of a unity of cultures!

Hi, SFART, Welcome to the club!

Warm water, a drop of dish soap & a soft bristle tooth brush cleaned mine right up.

Put that meter to use and verify that there is voltage at the headlight connectors. If you can't find your meter, how 'bout a continuity tester? Pull the connector from the back of the headlight, turn the lights on, and check for voltage. I'm not sure which pin in the connector is the low beam, but if none of them have any voltage, you'll have to track backwards through the wiring harness & switch to find the problem.

Hi, ZSaint, The horn relay on my '73 is mounted up high on the passenger side kick panel, amid several other relays (see attached pix, pardon my crude label!). One pic shows the horn relay surrounded by the other relays, the second pic is a closeup of the horn relay. It has 3 wires: green/black - from horn button on steering wheel, the connector is labeled "S"; green/red - battery, the connector is labeled "B"; and solid green - to horns, the connector is labeled "H". I think the horn relay is mounted on the driver's side kick panel on early 240's. On the steering column the green/black wire connects to a wiper that rubs against the backside of the steering wheel. When the horn button is pressed, it creates a path to ground through the steering column for this part of the circuit. If the wiper isn't rubbing against the back of the steering wheel the horns won't sound, a common problem. A DVM set to resistance can be used to verify the wiring, disconnect both ends and connect a lead from the meter to each end. Should be 0 Ohms. Another simple test is to use a jumper to ground the horn button. If you remove the horn pad you will see a black wire screwed to the horn button. Use the jumper to ground the wire to a good frame ground. Normally this is through the steering column. If everything is connected properly and the relay is good this should sound the horns. When I was troubleshooting my horn problem I measured a couple hundred Ohms with one lead of the DVM touching the center of the steering column and the other lead touching the frame. When I chased the threads for the steering column mounting bolts, the resistance dropped to less than 1 Ohm, and the horns worked. Hope this helps!

From your description, it sounds like this relay isn't doing anything. I'd guess that one side of the toggle switch is hot. When the switch is flipped, it would trigger the relay, which would then connect the battery lead to whatever was connected to the dead-end lead. So it would seem that the relay was there to provide power to something. If it was my car, I'd take that relay out, and remove all questionable wiring associated with it. Wiggling the wires attached to the relay could have tugged on another connector somewhere, which might be causing your cold starting problem.

You might also want to check the ball joints. Are the lug nuts on all 4 wheels tightened to spec? What about the motor/tranny mounts? Suspension bushings? Differential mount? Steering rack bushings?

On a similar note, my horns wouldn't work after I re-painted the engine bay in my Z :disappoin . After verifying that all the wiring was indeed good, I figured it must be the relay. So, I pulled the relay out to test it. It is tucked up on the passenger side kick panel with several other relays and the connectors are hard to get to with it in place . Anyway, after I got the relay out I was able to test it and sure enough, it worked just fine. After a bit of noodle scratching (something I do too much of, as evidenced by the growing bald spot on the back of my head ) I put the relay back. The relay has 3 connectors: one hot lead, one lead to the horns, and one lead to the horn button on the steering wheel. When the horn button is pressed, it creates a path to ground that triggers the relay, which then connects the hot lead to the horn lead, therby making the horns sound. The path to ground for the horn button is through the steering column. In my case, it turned out that I hadn't chased the threads where the steering column mounts to the firewall. Once I cut through the paint (primer/base coat/clear coat), the mounting bolts made a good path to ground and my horns worked just fine :knockedou . If only I had begun the trouble shooting process by chasing those threads... :stupid:

I would guess that the wire on your car isn't original. Every car I've worked on has had a wiring harness that ran inside the car from the front to the rear that provided the connections to the tail lamps, back up lamps, rear license plate light, fuel tank sending unit, etc... This harness is tied into the under dash wiring (main harness) by way of a large, multi-pin connector. I would remove the mystery wire, especially if it is not connected to anything on either end. If the electric fuel pump isn't hooked up then bypass it. If you keep it in line (working, or not) then be sure to open it up and check the fuel filter inside. Mine was clogged up with sediment from the tank. The previous owner had parked the car and left it sitting for 7 years before I bought it. Caused a bit of a fuel starvation problem in my Z, but I finally figured it out!

Those projections on the wheel side of the outer fender should have pads on them before the fender is put back on, so should the one in front of the inspection lid opening. I cut a couple of pieces of closed foam rubber strips and stuck them on. I bought the closed foam rubber at the local Ace hardware. I also ran a strip of the foam along the outer edge of the filler panel between the inner & outer fender. It's the one right behind the tire, can't remember what it's called...

My employer has asked for volunteers to go to New Orleans to help restore communications (I'm an RF Engineer for a wireless provider). I have offered to go, and at least two of my co-workers have offered, too. I should know tomorrow if they will still need us. I figure it would be a good way for me to help out directly, there are so many people who don't know if their family or friends are ok simply because cell phones & landlines are out of service.