Jeff G 78

Put several layers of protective tape on the hood latch assembly and wrap it down into the tunnel to protect your paint. Also remove your hood prop rod and tape a WD40 cap over the prop rod spring clip. Many clips have snapped off from oil pans catching them.

Hey Cliff, you might want to dry fit the header first with the intake just to make sure you know that the thick washers seat right, the nuts can be started and that you know what tool works best at each location before you drop the engine in. You don't want to fight the header and wind up with leaks. Good luck! I have installed the whole shebang alone and it can be done, though in my race car, I'm not worried about a paint scuff here and there like I would be on a nice street Z. It's really hard not to touch the hood latch and the top of the tunnel with the valve cover. When I powder coat my valve cover, I will wait to install it until after the engine is in. I have lots of old covers to use for installation.

I always look forward to seeing pics of Guy's collection. I haven't done much with the Z cars lately since spring hasn't sprung here yet, but I did pick up a new toy. I bought a 996 and drove it 2000 miles home from Phoenix.

I haven't heard much good about the MSA dampers. I believe Guy @Diseazd has some info on them.

What's your plan to keep the timing right with the shave? Are you going to use shims under the towers or adjust the timing and chain? If you do the latter, PM me and I'll tell you exactly how I did mine. I shaved 0.50" and didn't use tower shims.

It depends how original you want it and which is easier to form. You can either shape the replacement floor pan to fit the 280 tunnel or shape the tunnel like the 240 to better fit the floor pan.

Racers are all too aware of the 260/280 floorpan hump on the driver's side. We have to cut the hump out to fit a race seat lower than the stock seat.

I install everything I can before dropping the assembly into the car. I use the stock lifting eyes on the front and back of the head. I have tried several different methods over the years to tilt the powertrain with varying degrees of success. I bought a balance bar before my last install and it worked okay, but it didn't have enough travel the way I hooked it up. The next time, I will try to start with it all the way at one end of the travel to get the maximum tilt. When I installed the powertrain in the pic above, I did it alone and simply used four adjustable straps. Two on the front and two on the back. I would leave the front straps really short and then alternate the rear straps back and forth to lower the trans tail down low enough to fit under the firewall. Once in low enough, I would work the two front straps down to lower the front of the engine down. I can have the engine sitting on the mounts in about an hour working alone or about half that long with a helper.

YES Cliff, it is easier to install with the header while the engine is out of the car. I roll the stand to the side so the flanges are up at a 45 degree angle for easier access. I then install the carbs and even the air cleaner assembly before decking the powertrain. It's very easy to make sure everything is properly tightened when it's looking right at you. I've done it this was about 15 times over the past 35 years in various Z cars.

Yes, they fail and when they do, bad things happen. My experience is with racing, but I have also failed one on a street engine. Luckily, I caught it before crank damage occurred. The best prevention is to have your damper rebuilt by a quality shop like Dale Mfg. or buy a quality aftermarket damper.

Sounds good. I tried to flush mine with everything I could think of and then I removed the baffle to see if there was anything caught. There was grit everywhere! Luckily, it was just a spare cover I was experimenting on, so I threw it away. If you are putting the baffle back in, just make sure you use an epoxy that won't come apart over time from the heat and oil.

Be VERY careful with that valve cover. I once tried to blast a cover without taking the proper precautions and media got under the baffle. There is no way to get it all out until the engine flushes it out and into the oiling system.

Wow, it sure looked kinda, sorta, almost like a Z.

I run SU's on my 260 race car and my '78 has the stock L-Jet EFI. The '72 I had with triples ended up in Paris with forum member "Lazeum". I was moving and was forced to give up one of my projects. I should have kept the '72 and sold the '78. That was about 10 years ago before 240Z prices skyrocketed. Oh well...

It sounds like Weber is still the best gamble for long-term parts availability even though they might not be the easiest/best to work on. I had a Z with DCOE's years ago and I long to have triples again someday. Good luck with your borrowed carbs!

So, can a 280Z valence be swapped for a 240Z valence for a small bumper swap? Most people have to weld up the bumper shock holes when they do the swap.

Good call Steve. You're right about IdahoKidd.

Hmmm, I never knew that either. Nice to know.

Sorry to hear about Kathy. The Z community is thinking about you and your family.

When you dead head the fuel supply, be sure to plug the chassis return line to the tank so no fuel can puke out while driving.

Was that question for me? Either way, I do not run a return. I tried it with and without and found no benefit to keeping it. Before I eliminated the OE rail, it vapor-locked worse with the return.

One of the things I tried over and over was return vs. no return and not using a return seemed to be better for some reason. With the rubber hose replacing the OE rail, I did not run a return line. I looked through my files, but I don't have any pics of the new routing. I will eventually take a few pics and post them. I'm going out of town again for work, so it might be a week before I have time.

Yep, that's what we do.

I was part of the previous discussion. My racecar was a nightmare. It would run great for 30 minutes and then start acting up. At first, it would break up at high RPM and then after a bit more time, the engine would misfire at lower and lower RPM until it wouldn't pull at all on the straights. We changed everything including fuel pump(s), ignition, exhaust, heat shielding, carbs, etc. The only thing that worked was ditching the steel fuel rail and replacing it with rubber hose. The heat was transferring from the head into the fuel via the rail mounts. Once we made the switch, we have never had a minute of trouble with vapor lock.

Looking good!