SuperDave

I think you are on the money. No solution will be easy. Energy just ain't free.

Obviously you have a new part that the rearward part of the sway bar bolts to that replaces the rear frame-to-control arm mount (see images). <img src="http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/data/500/medium/IMG_0284.JPG" width="300" height="225"> <img src="http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/data/500/medium/IMG_0286.JPG" width="300" height="225"> That came from Suspension Techniques? Also, do you know if the layout of the rear sway bar is pretty much like that of the 260/280 rear sway bar, but just flipped around backwards? Or are its dimensions significantly different? The reason I ask is that I have a suspension techniques kit I bought on eBay but haven't tried to install (and figured I'd need some alteration to install the rear bar). It would be nice if all I need additionally are the rear frame-to-control arm mount pieces that you have.

Thanks. That's the kind of info I wanted. My purchase remains on hold.

I'm thinking about just getting my own press, since I've got other things to press off and on (wheel bearings, races, piston pins). How big a press do you think I would need for the stub axle job (since it seems like the toughtest one so far)? I see a 12-ton press on sale for $99 at Northern Tool and equipment. Would that be big enough? I'm pretty sure it would be sufficient for the bearings and maybe the piston pins.

Yes, I've seen some of his "How To's" and found them informative, entertaining, and...real. He makes mistakes every now and then, but documents them, too, and I find that very refreshing. If you can resist the urge to laugh at his goofs, you realize that you are no different. I think it takes a self-assured person to document their failures as well as their triumphs.

I think I'm going to just take them to the machine shop and have them press out the bearing while they're there. I had put a block of wood against the stub axle and hit it pretty hard. I wonder if the wood softened too much of the blow? I'm just afraid to hit it too hard too many times.

The rear brake/axle assembly is one of the few assemblies I haven't torn down on any of my Zeds. I've been dreading it, but the time has come to get the job done. I've removed the retaining nut and easily pulled off the companion flange (I think that's the right term--the part with four bolts that attaches to the half-shaft). Now it's time to drive out the stub axle. I soaked it overnight with PB Blaster. The Humble "How to Restore your Z Car" book says to prop the drum brake backing plate on two 2-by-4's, use a soft drift and give it a few good licks. But this puppy isn't budging. Am I missing something, like a retaining clip somewhere, or am I going to have to resort to the torch to get this out? Here's what she looks like. I've removed the oil seal. Although the second picture is out of focus, you can see that there is an orange/brown substance coating the splines of the companion flange, presumably rust. <img src="http://www.davesweb.com/Houndawg/images/P1030393_320x240.jpg" width="320" height="240"><br> <img src="http://www.davesweb.com/Houndawg/images/P1030394_320x240.jpg" width="320" height="240"> I really don't want to pound on this and destroy it. But at this point it's not going anywhere. Any suggestions welcome. D

Very nice, detailed how-to. Much appreciated. It was printed out and stuck in my "Body and Paint" file. I'm about a month into stripping my Zed. It has taken me a lot of time learning the best techniques for the aircraft stripper and the sander. I've found that when you don't have a lot of bondo on a spot, you can "reuse" the stripper. Scrape it after 15 minutes or so, then smooth the used stripper/paint mush back over the spots that need more work and scrape it again in another 15 minutes. Keep doing this without letting it get dried out and the stripper goes a long way. I've taken the roof and rear quarters down to bare metal and I think I'll be glad I did. The curious thing is that there was lots of bondo here and there, but when you put a coat of primer over the bare metal, it looks pretty smooth. Why did they need so much bondo? There was tons of bondo running from front to back on each side of the hood, but when I took it all off, it looked pretty nice underneath. I guess the true test will be when I paint a guide coat of primer and start looking for those low spots. Did you paint in your garage? I have a 10x20' canopy kit and am considering building a paint booth like this guy's: http://www.wendels.com/55chevy/booth_constuction.htm SD

Is San Diego generally considered as rust-free a zone as other parts of California and Arizona?

<img src="http://www.ciaramoonnewfoundland.com/files/Drool.JPG" width="463" height="347">

Mr. K was born in 1908 (I think...he's 97 now). Here is a 1908 Cadillac <img src="http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/08cad01.jpg" width="600" height="450">

Is it a Buick? This 40 Packard looks pretty sweet. <img src="http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/40pack01.jpg" width="550" height="256">

And FINS! Ah, the days when cars had FINS!

Instant karma gonna jump up and bite you, boy!

So sorry! I would have taken the time to insert the dimensions of the photos so that the page would render instantly and the images would fill in their pre-defined spaces as they download. But either this site software can't let me add that to the HTML or the sysop has it disabled. Maybe I'll edit the page so show the URLs instead of the photos.

http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/58ah01.jpg Austin-Healey Bug-Eye Sprite http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57bmw01.jpg BMW ISetta 300 http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57bck01.jpg Buick Roadmaster http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57mas01.jpg Maserati A6G 2000 Spyder http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57deso02.jpg DeSoto Adventurer http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57ford05.jpg Ford Fairlane 500 4D http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57nash02.jpg Nash Metropolitan

This is kinda fun, because 1957 was an awesome year for cars! <img src="http://bredik.euweb.cz/57_corvette_conv_10cm.jpg" width="283" height="153"><br> Corvette http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57ford03.jpg Ford Thunderbird http://www.car-posters.com/prod_images/57chev.jpg Chevy Bel Air http://www.theironalley.com/57%20Ford%20Ranchero1.jpg Ford Ranchero http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57por01.jpg Porsche 356A Cabriolet http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57ferr03.jpg Ferrari 315S Spyder http://www.studebaker-packardclub.nl/images/2002%20zondag/2002%20zo%20'57%20Studebaker%20Hawk.JPG Studebaker Hawk http://www.1motormart.com/gallery/57jag01.jpg Jaguar MK1 And there are more...

Another member posted a link to a 240Z site that included a link to the Yutaka Katayama Official Site. It's in Japanese, but thanks to AltaVista's Babelfish you can translate it to English. Here's how: 1. Go to http://babelfish.altavista.com 2. In the "Translate a Web page" field enter http://www.mister-k.com/ 3. In the drop-down select box select "Japanese to English" 4. Click the Translate button. (There is a one-click way to do it, but this site won't let me insert the script code.) Enjoy! There's a lot of good stuff here!

I have some Dupli-Color 500 degree engine paint. Reading the label, it doesn't say anything about primer. Their web site doesn't mention primer on engines either. What would you suggest? Is this stuff supposed to go directly on the bare metal?

One phrase I've heard them use often is: "slippy maybe"

Just wondering if anyone has tried to install this on a Z. This is a newer technology where each spark plug has its own ignition coil directly on top of the plug. Because there are no high voltage leads going along the engine you can get higher voltages and sparks. One problem I've read about is that the coils can short out. Here's what the coil on plug coil looks like on a 6.0L Lambroghini Diablo (that's my parts car I have up on blocks behind the garage )

Go to http://ztherapy.com/ and click Z Car and read the "ZTherapy 240Z SU Carburetor Spotter's Guide"

This dyno plot raised my eyebrows a few months back on improvedtouring.com. At the time, it was purported to be a 260Z running flat-top carbs on an engine dyno (data measured at the crank). Later, one of the owners posted that they now feel that the dyno run must have used round-top carbs, because they are SURE it doesn't make 235 hp at the crank. I will say here (I didn't chime in on the other board because everybody is so arrogant there and the owners have some other nice cars so I figured they knew what they were doing) that I immediately doubted their dyno plot. The sad part of this story is that these guys took their car to Carolina Motorsports Park last month and had some bad luck. Their carbs were cutting out (been there, experienced that!) so they worked on the floats in their hotel room the night before the race. They posted that their carbs ran well for 3-4 laps of the race, then a plug worked its way loose and they had a fire. Race Results You can read the discussion about it here

I will check out the brake fluid softening trick. It would be cheaper than the commercial softeners. The recent news about the dangers of older tires gives me pause, though. The rubber obviously breaks down or gets brittle over time. These older tires should be fine for autocrossing and maybe even solo I, but I might hesitate using them in a road race where they would really get hot. They are in excellent condition otherwise.

There's a correlary here (at least from my experience): You run a street clutch (especailly an aftermarket one) on the race track and it will overheat and not grip properly causing it to slip (and causing you to be red in da face)!