Jeff G 78

So, is there any chance you'll ever do a plug and play harness upgrade for the post- '73 cars? If I remember right, there was an issue with availability of a connector. I would love to upgrade mine, but don't have the time to cut and splice a 240 upgrade harness into my car.

Your car looks great Jared! I have lost out on quite a bit of nice weather. Right after I got back from the Cleveland Nationals, my radiator started leaking. I pulled it out and took it in, but the core is shot. I can't get a new radiator locally, so I'll have to wait for one to arrive from out west. November 15th is bedtime for my Z, so it looks like I'm done. What really stinks is that I couldn't even go fill it with gas or wash it. I'll have to make a few trips with gas cans to get it full of fuel. There is no point in putting the leaky rad in, so now I have open hoses, so I can't even start it to circulate the Sta-Bil. With the 70 degree weather here, it would have been really nice to drive it a bit more. Oh well.

Has anybody here bought an aluminum radiator from AEON Imports? They sell an aluminum 3 row 75-78 Z radiator for $140. My radiator is shot and it looks like there are no local stores that can get me one here in Michigan, so my choices are MSA's 4 row for $200+shipping or an aluminum on off eBay for anywhere from $140 to $250+shipping. My car is a manual and I'd rather not give up the bottom of the radiator for the trans cooler that I won't use. Most of the radiators now come only wih the trans cooler so they don't have to make two different units. From what I understand, copper/brass radiators are slightly better than aluminum for heat rejection, so I don't really care which I buy.

Tom, be very careful about which 4" speakers you choose if you want to fit them behind the factory panels. They MUST be almost flush. The Boston speakers were one of the only ones I found that fit the bill. Several others claimed to be flush only to not fit. Even Crutchfield wasn't aware of the real dimensions.

I bought Boston Accoustics 4" speakers and they sound ok with my very good head unit and amps. I will add the MSA speaker box and 6x9's which should make it MUCH better. With the 4" speakers alone, I can hear it okay with the windows up, but it's useless on the highway with the windows down.

Skip, I don't have any pics, but it's really pretty straight forward. You VERY CAREFULLY cut the two post opening in the console to be the correct size for the DIN sleeve that comes with the stereo. I used a cut off wheel on a die grinder. A dremel with a cutoff wheel works too. Once the hole is cut, slide the sleeve into the console and bend the tabs to hold it in place. It holds very well and doesn't require any kind of additional support. After attaching the wiring to the car, reinstall the console and finally slide the head unit into the DIN sleeve.

I hate the looks of my big bumpers, but I am really worried that if I remove them, I will get rear ended at 5mph and total my Z :disappoin Just a few days ago, a woman ran into the back of my Toyota 4x4. She was going less than 5mph, but it was enough to buckle her hood, bend the core support, and take out the grille, lights, and radiator. Her bumper went under my bumper and she took the hit right in her grille. My bumper did bend up, but only because it is rusty. I bent it back today by hand. If I had been driving my Z with a 240 bumper swap, it might have been enough to do serious damage. On the other hand, I think my car with its big, ugly bumpers would have taken the hit with little to no damage.

I don't have any pictures handy, but in my '78, I have an Alpine 9886 headunit, 4" Boston Accoustic speakers in the factory spots under the 1/4 windows, two Alpine amps under the wood deck, and a Sony crossover under the deck as well. I still need to pick up a rear speaker box and get two 6x9's. I love the headunit. I have a 4Gb USB flash drive hooked to it to house my music. I hate the heavy wood flase floor in the '77-'78 cars, but it does make for easy stereo component installation. The components are out of sight and protected from cargo.

Every now and then some weird things happen. For example, I have a factory externally oiled cam N-47 head on my Z. It must have been an early '77 head. I don't think there are too many like it floating around. I bought if from a guy in San Diego about seven years ago. Apparently it was a brand new take-off head that had been sitting on a shelf since 1977. It came complete with the cam and valvetrain parts. The cam didn't even have a wipe pattern yet. The seller said it once belonged to one of the factory race teams. It *might* be possible for TomoHawk's car to be a really early '78 or something.

Great. I will look up the P/N using my handy dandy microfiche and order one up. Thanks Stephen.

You guys suck. I haven't seen a Z in a Detroit area junkyard for over ten years. The best junkyard I ever went to was in Atlanta back in the early 90's. It's probably long gone now, but it was a Z-only JY and had what seemed to be hundreds of Z cars. It was right across the street from a Porsche-only JY. I was able to find a few things I needed, but most were too big to take back to Ohio.

I have the BD parts in my engine, but I got mine about ten years ago. The chances of their piston supplier being the same after ten years is slim. I wasn't overly impressed with the parts I got, but they were way less expensive than anywhere else.

Where exactly is the check valve and what does it look like? Is it part of the pump or between the pump and the metal fuel line? Mine has been losing pressure as well and I haven't taken the time to look around for the check valve.

There is one quick test you can perform, but I can't remember off-hand where it is on a '78. The diverter flap in the heater box is controlled by a vacuum diaphram under the dash. When the diaphram gets vacuum, it closes and moves the lever that shuts the flap in the heater box and diverts air to the heater core. On my old '76, the diaphram was under the driver's side of the dash. I could actually reach it while driving to close the flap (I had a cracked hose and wasn't getting heat). If you reach with your right hand while seated in the driver's seat WAY up under the dash, you can fish around and feel that there is a canister with a lever on the bottom. If you push that lever up, it will simulate vacuum and close the flapper in the heater box - giving you heat. On my '76, once I pushed it up, it would stay there until I pulled it back down. If you follow the cables from the heater box, you should be able to find the vacuum diaphram. It will have a vac hose going to the top and a lever and cable going to the bottom. Again, this is from memory of the '76 I had 25 years ago . I don't know for sure where it is located on a '78. If I get a chance, I will look at my '78 tonight and let you know. While checking the vacuum lines, be sure to check the rubber fittings on the RH side of the engine bay where the vacuum hoses connect to the vacuum solenoids near the fusible links (look for the once white square plastic domes that are now probably cracked and discolored). Those fittings can crack as well as the hoses. Good luck.

Understood TomoHawk. I'm just thinking that all of the cars were photographed, so the only trick would be to match the photos with the owners. Since the majority of the Z cars at the convention are owned by people we don't know by name, it's tough to figure out who's who. If they were all members of this board, it would be easy, but the majority were not. I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining, because I certainly understand the effort that went into the convention. I just think it might be something to think about for next year. Congratulations to all the winners and participants!

I saw that Michael. You deserved it. Nice car!

It loaded right away on mine Chris. That said, I was a little disappointed that it only listed each class winner's name with no car info or photos to go along with it. There were only a few names that I recognized in such a way that I could picture their car in my mind. Otherwise, I really don't know which cars won. The professional photos didn't appear to have any names either, so that can't be used as a cross reference. When I took my own photos, I didn't take a close-up of the entry card. I wish I would have known and I would have done that.

Due to the age of your Z, you should buy about 15 feet of vacuum hose and replace every vac hose under the hood. I found that they crack most often on the RH side of the engine bay between the vacuum solendoids and the firewall, but they can and will split everywhere. With the info you have given, you have found the problem and now just need to replace the hoses.

If my memory is correct, he died while riding his Vespa scooter.

When the control lever is set to floor, does the air come out of the floor vents or only out the center vent? You cannot get heat from a Z unless the air comes out of either the floor, or defroster vents. The center and side vents are only for either unheated outside air, or A/C. If you have it set to floor and only get air out of the center vents, then the problem is with the vacuum system - most likely a cracked vacuum hose. If you get cold air from the floor vents and defroster vents, the problem might be the heater valve. If you look at the firewall behind the engine, the two heater hoses go through the firewall and directly into the heater valve. If the cable is broken or way out of adjustment, the valve might be staying closed. Look under the dash and find the valve (it's not easy to see and you might have to remove the glovebox). When you can see it, move the temp lever back and forth to see if the valve opens and closes. If it does, then you might have a clogged heater core. This is unlikely, however. Do the tests in order and let us know what you find.

No, the lock pull move coincides with the redesigned latch mechanisms in '77. I learned this back in the mid-80's when I tried to swap a '77 door panel onto my '76. My '72 and '76 panels would swap, though were different due to the door pulls.

No, the lock pull is not in the same location and I believe there are other differences as well. The lock pull moved forward in '77.

At least they were in a 350Z with airbags and real crash protection rather than a classic Z. It's good to hear that they are both okay. Hopefully there are no long-term injuries.

I hope he's able to patch everything up in time. Tell him we're all pulling for him!

That is a really cool project. It should be very light with the mods you are making. I can't wait to see the finished product.