peng155

Hi Folks..... I've been thinking about an engine swap for my Z, for a while now... There's a 77 ZX non-turbo being parted out in the locale area. The owner is advertising it as having low miles. I'm still running the stock engine in the car, I swapped out the stock 4-speed for a 5-speed, but I do still have the original 4 speed stored in the garage somewhere, if I do the swap I'll be keeping the original engine in case I want to go back to the original engine and tranny sometime down the road. The seller is asking 300 bucks for the engine, do you guy's think this asking price is reasonable ?? Thanks -Phil

Becareful with the WD-40, it won't harm the paint of anything like that, but when I used it to remove some adhesive residue in the bed of my truck to prep it up for a Line-X spray in liner. The WD-40 worked great at removing the adhesive no problems. When I brought the truck in to have the liner sprayed in... the guy who did the work told me how tough of a time he had in getting the bed clean where I applied the WD-40 to remove the old adhesive.. he tried all types of solvents to remove the residue, but he still couldn't get it cleaned, so he ended up sanding the paint down in those areas so the spray liner would adhere to the paint surface. Since your repainting the car this may, or may not be a problem, but just be aware. The last thing you want is to have a nice finish on it, only to have the paint in areas where you used the WD-40 start flaking off or something like that.

I started the car up before i started doing any work, so i know the timing is currently correct... now if it stay's that way after I get done is another matter :nervous:

This is what I'm sort of worried about... The timing marks are in the general ball park of the pointer on the block, The rotor is pointing to the #1 plug wire on the cap. Should I take the valve cover off and check to make sure the valves on #1 are closed? Thanks

Thanks for the info Dave, I'll have fun once the weather turns sunny, and the car is back on the road again. I still got the electrical upgrade I recently emailed you about to do, and the induction mods I'll need to do to make room for the MSD. I'll be in touch.... -Phil

Hi Folks, Basic timing question for you.... I'm replacing the stock distributor in the 'Z' with a Mallory Unilite unit. If I line up the TDC mark on the engine pulley with the timing mark on the engine block, will this be close enough to where once I make the swap the engine will start up so i can hook up a timing lite to get it dialed in? The TDC mark doesn't exactly have the rotor line up with the number 1 plug position on the cap, and I don't want to remove anything before I have the timing lined up correctly. Thanks -Phil

The broken curved piece of metal is the ground contact for the horn button, The red wire in all likelihood use to be the positive contact from the horn. I say use to be since you say you now have a button under the dash that operates the horn now. You might consider having one or both of your switches rebuilt by Dave, here's his post. I had my done recently...and they came back looking great, or he maybe able to repair, or tell you how to go about repairing the horn contact. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=24304&highlight=Combo+switch+rebuild

I like driving the 'Z' around, BUT when I remember that I have an errand to do, I usually find the parking spot furthest from the crowd, drag out the club and lock it on to the steering wheel, lock the doors, and set the alarm. Than while I'm shopping I'm worrying if someone is parking next to it and giving it a nice parking lot door bruise, or if someone is casing it out trying to figure out how to jack the car..... And if I'm ****'s (a locale burger joint).. I can't relax at all Sometimes I think it would be easier on the nerves to own a Porsche..... :surprised

Thanks Dave

Hi Guy's... I'm sure this it's pretty simple.. BUT can someone tell me how to remove the dome light in a 71 'Z'? I went through my manuals, but nada on how to remove it, I need to take mine out and see if the push switch is broke. the push to manually turn on, Push to turn off doesn't work any more.. I use to feel it click on, and off... not anymore. MSA wants 60 bucks for a new one, so I thought I'd see if I can fix this one before I buy a new one. Thanks

Question... How do you know there is a short??... If you have a short you should be blowing a fuse. Also how long does it take to drain the battery down?

Ed, I think I did see this mentioned again in one of the past threads that came up in my search... thanks for the suggestion... I'll give it a try. thanks

Hi Carl, I saw your past post on the subject during my search... thanks for re-posting in this thread. I did note in your past post that without knowing the whole maintenance history the dash, if a new owner spiffs up the interior, and starts to drive said car on a regular bases yeah I can see where an old aged dash that didn't show or have any significant signs of distress, can now start to show signs the signs. My car only comes out during the summer, and it's very limited at that, other wise the rest of the time its under wraps in the garage. I guess the best thing is to go by K.I.S.S.... Keep It Simple Stupid so it looks like a mild soap, water cleaning is probably the best thing.... Luckily the graying that I am seeing is in the finish panel in between the windshield, and the actual dash... The dash itself color wise is still in very good shape, and I hope will out last me.

Hey Guy's Thanks for all the suggestions... I did call the folks at ZTherapy and they have a lead time of about 7 to 14 day's.. And they offered the use of their facilities to swap out the carbs there if I wanted to... They said it take about a half day to do the swap... Still haven't decided if I'll head down to pick the up, or just have them sent up... I'll keep ya all posted...

Hi Guy's I've been searching through the old post looking to see if there is a preferred method to care for the original dash in my Z. The one thing that I have been able to come away with from previous post is that I should stay away from applying Armor-All to the dash unless I wish to continue applying it on a regular bases. I know the car has always been garaged since the first owner. Since I've had the car anytime it's been left outside in the sun for an extended period of time, I've always put a windshield sun shade in place (I'm the 4th owner). The dash is showing signs of age, with the black stating to fade (no cracks yet).. I've been thinking about just applying a black vinyl top type dressing to the dash to restore the color. Cleaning wise I don't do anything fancy just a damp rag dipped in a bucket of mild soap, and water. Anybody have any other recommendations?? thanks

I'll probably call them tomorrow to see what type of lead time they need... and if they have a garage service to do an install. I got most of the tools that I would need to do the swap.... just worried about the seized or broken bolt, or not being able to get the carbs synch correctly to where I could drive it the machanics to get it tuned properly

Hello Folks, I decided to treat the Z to a new pair of SU's from Z Therapy... With summer finally here I thought I'd take a road trip on down to Salem, OR. and pick the carbs up myself. I have a couple of questions, and I thought I ask for opinions... First off does anyone know if Z Therapy have a garage service to where I could have them swap the carbs out while I'm down there? If not can anyone suggest a reliable, reputable garage that would be able to do the swap while I was in Salem... thought I would save myself the core, and shipping cost, and spend it on the gas for the trip the other question is would this be a good idea?? Should I just send away for them and have my mechanic install them? My fear is if something should malfunction related to the new carbs, or something else... I live in Seattle, WA so it's not like were talking about driving half way across the country... but it sure does feel like it when your stuck on the side of the road with a car that won't run. Beside as the commercial goes "Driving up I-5 in a clean shiny old school Z, with a new set of SU's...... Priceless :)" What do you guy's think... thanks

When i had the interior out of my car.. I should have but didn't because I wasn't thinking But if I were to do it over I would consider Dynamat insulation, it's kinda pricey, but since I don't plan on selling my Z, it would be worth the investment to me. Just my .02

Here's a link I picked up on another car board I view.. I thought it was kinda interesting article on B-J... http://fourwheeldrift.wordpress.com/2007/01/27/barrett-jacksons-westworld-tents-turn-out-to-be-a-house-of-cards/ Mod... Move this if you want... sorry I think I should have posted this in the General discussion forum section... My bad

There's a '72' 240z for Sale in Seattle area for sale if anyone is interested... http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/car/268864393.html I'm not the seller, and I don't know anything about the car

Hi Folks, Thanks much for the suggestions.... I still haven't decided on how I'll mount the spoiler yet, But I'll either get another hatch from a pick and pull yard as Carl suggested. I also have thought about the 3M adhesive that 240ZGL mentioned. I'll probably get another hatch, since I want to fill in the seams between the spoiler, and hatch with filler. Thanks again.. -Phil

Hi Folks... I ordered a few things from MSA, one of them being the BRE rear spoiler. When I placed the order for the spoiler, I asked the sales guy how the spoiler mounted on the hatch, he told me that it mounted to the side lip edge of the hatch, so I didn't think I would need to drill any holes into the hatch. Well that's not the case, to mount the spoiler I'll need to drill two 5/8 inch holes into the rear hatch something I'm really looking forward to doing on my fairly new paint job. The Datsun, and the 240z badges will also need to be removed and the mounting holes for them will need to be filled in, and painted. I can't rally decide if I should mount the spoiler or not... Part of me likes the clean design of how the back end of the Z looks, But on the other hand part of me feels that the back end lacks a little something... What do you guy's think I should do??

Too bad you don't live closer to me.. I'd take it off your hands for some cash... I'm looking for a 280 engine to mod, and swap into my 240.

It's not so much how it looks now, but what it could look like if it were fixed up... Like I said I've got cabin fever right now, The Z is stored away in the garage until spring or nicer weather returns to the PNW.. but judging from today's weather.. it might be a while I'm thinking about doing stupid things that I normally wouldn't think about doing if I weren't cooped up inside all day from work, and lousy weather

Hi Guy's There's a Datsun 510 on Craig's for sale.... With winter here I've got cabin fever something bad... ready to go crazy if I don't find something to keep me occupied... I originally was looking for a Porsche 914, or a 944 to dink around with... and than I started to think about maybe doing an engine swap on the 240.... Maybe a massaged 2.8, or may be a stroker 3.0. I really wasn't looking for another project.. But a 510 would be pretty cool... What do you guy's think??? :paranoid: Link to the 510 http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/car/260207115.html :squareeye