EScanlon

When I went to remove my undercoating on the front fender area, I tried the scraper, using both the ice scraper method, i.e. scrape scrape scrape, and the hammer and chisel method. I also tried paint stripper, wire wheels in various sizes and shapes, then the 3M Scotch Pad remover pads and the 3M Abrasive Finger wheels. The scraper was tedious and caused tons of gouges, scratches and was very tiring and hard on the hands / fingers. The Wire Wheels did a great job of flinging bits of undercoating all over the place as well as little pieces of wire into face, hair, shirt etc. About all they succeeded in doing was leaving little wire grooves in the undercoating. The 3M Scotch Pads on disks unfortunately would get clogged faster than I could replace them. The paint stripper worked quite well, but it was extremely messy. It did however do the biggest area the quickest. The 3M Abrasive Finger wheels worked VERY well, and gave me a good clean surface removing even some of the surface rust there. These methods were all attempted, tried or used on one fender area. Then a friend offered the use of his pressure washer. Did the other side with the pressure washer, and in only an hours worth of use cleared over 90% of the undercoating. I was able to remove undercoating even from inside the strut tower housing. To finish the job, I then used the 3M Abrasive Finger Wheels to clean off the rest. I then went back to the first fender and finished what had been a haphazard job. After all this, in order to remove the last of the rust, I then proceeded to sand blast the fenders. This allowed me to get rid of the last of the surface rust and "etch" the metal in order to paint it with the POR. After sandblasting, I then used the two steps recommended by the POR folks and used Marine Clean to remove whatever traces of oil, grease may have been left by the undercoating, followed by the Metal Prep solution. This did the final step of etching the metal as well as leaving a rust-proofing coating. I then painted with POR over every exposed metal surface. Although this may seem obsessive, I'm hoping that I don't have to worry about this part of my car for a long period of time. Anyhow, sharing so that others may benefit from my experience. Happy Thanksgiving!

Hazel Dell Exhaust on Highway 99 in Vancouver.

Modifications are like fashion. What one person loathes another can't do without, and others that just go along with whatever the masses do. Personally, I like the original lights on the 240. I'm not knocking the ones you have, they are different and they look ok. However, I'm no fan of the Ferrari Tail Lights either. I would personally have opted for something else if I had been forced to change the tail lights for whatever reason. Would I change the car back to original? If that were my intent in cleaning / repairing the car, Yes. If my intent were only to fix it to a mechanically and structurally sound condition, then probably not. You need to determine what your END GOAL is. If it is a pristine concours restoration, change the lights, paint the car, get the original wheels etc etc. If you are looking for a Custom Hot Rod built on a Z shell, then knock yourself out with the modifications. If you are restoring the car to period correct customization, then it might be fine as is. 2¢

A pressure washer used with the right tip and at the right angle will literally slice it off the car. Granted, it can and will expose weak sections in the sheet metal, (I found one that way) but the time saved in scraping! When I did it, I didn't use the soap, nor hot water, just plain old faucet water and started with the thin angle tip, then worked my way up. The needle tip does an excellent job of literally cutting through the undercoating, dirt and whatever all the way to the metal. That then leaves an exposed edge that you can use the other tips to let the water chisel it off. 2¢

I probably used about a gallon and a half to do everything I did. I'd have to check the invoices but that sounds about right. Although that might sound like way too much consider what I did: Both front fenders not only the inside but also the area around the strut from the front of the car (hinge mount area) to the floor pan, the sugar scoops, and the turn signal valances as well as the front valance. The cowl, inside and underneath. The complete interior floor pan and transmission tunnel, and inside both rocker panels. The complete hatch area including the tail light panel except for the spare tire well. Inside both doors, inside both rear fenders, TWO gas tank exteriors, the straps for both gas tanks. Inside the hatch, literally poured about 2/3 of a quart through it. A lot of this was done with brushes. Although the POR folks sell and recommend the "foam" ones, I found it just as cheap and actually easier to use those metal tube epoxy mixing brushes. You can get them in widths up to 1-1/2", and for most of the job this was sufficient. For areas where it would be a major pain to brush, I used the Air Blower Syphon. That literally allowed me to fully cover inside areas I could see and blow air towards, but would have had an impossible time trying to paint AND not get it all over my body. The Cowl area, all those support beams make it impossible to get your hand in and out of there. The space between the inner sheet metal and the exterior metal for the rear fenders as well as the area just underneath the quarter windows. An Air Blower is the attachment you use with your air compressor to release a stream of air. That stream can be used to blow dust, debris, etc. Now, the one I used had an extended nose tube, and at the end of the tube, there was an inlet connection for a vinyl hose which I then put into the POR paint. The Air stream would then vacuum (venturi) the paint up into the air stream where it would then be "atomized" or sprayed. The biggest advantage of doing it this way was TIME and coverage. Where it had taken me about 3 to 4 hours to do the interior of the doors by thinning out the POR with their solvent and then putting it into a touch up gun, it took me about 45 minutes to do both rear fender areas, inside both rocker panels via each of the access holes, the space below both quarter windows (again via the holes), and ALL of the cowl "bucket". The coverage was as good or better than two coats brushed on, or 3 coats of thinned spray. Anyhow, hope this helps.

That second "Choke" lever you are referring to is actually the Thnrottle as kmack pointed out. And I concur as well, never heard of choking one carburator and not the other and that would be the only reason to have separate levers / cables for the individual carbs. But then again, stranger things do happen. I think this is one for Alan HS30.

Tom: Unless you are uncomfortable or unable to do simple mechanical stuff, you could do the replacement of that mechanism. Have you researched Motorsports? or Victoria British? How about Z cars of Arizona? or anyone of several other Z places in the country that could / would have a lock mechanism. Don't go nuts trying to replace a spring. Just get the whole unit and avoid other hazzles down the road.

What you've described is EXACTLY what I did. I am just finishing geting the pictures downsized to fit on the server here and then I'll post them for others to see, along with a descriptive narrative to assist others. How long does it last? I just did it this summer, so I have no firm idea. I can tell you this, if you get any of the POR paint into a bolt hole or around a screw / nut etc, you HAVE to tap the threads, or you will NOT get the screw / bolt in. Trust me, been there and have a warehouse full of T-shirts to prove it. I literally had to retap every single piece of thread everywhere I applied POR. It WILL bend along with the metal underneath instead of cracking and peeling off. I put some on the metal gas tank straps and I had to bend those to fit around the tank. I also had to correct a bit of body work that had already been POR'ed and it held up to hammering with a pick and dolly. I shot it into the doors, the rocker panels, the fresh air vents, the cowl, the rear fenders, the space below the quarter windows after having sandblasted, Marine Cleaned, and Metal Prepped all according to their instructions. Maybe I went further than necessary, but I don't want to have to do it again. The only difficulty was in spraying it with a conventional spray gun. Even after thinning with their solvent, the material was WAY too thick. I finally got an air blower with a syphon hose and syphon sprayed it just like if I were pressure washing. THAT really helped get it on in a hurry. I even applied it to my rusty floor pans, with some rust through along with their Fiberglass Power Mesh and the floors are SOLID! Would I recommend the products to others? You bet. Is it easy to use? Fairly so, you do have to keep a good supply of gloves on hand, and I would recommend you get the VINYL and not the latex. Also get an organic particle respirator, just like if you were in a paint booth, and if you have a full body respirator, use it. Remember the stuff is an ISOCYANATE based product. Meaning it has CYANIDE in it. It isn't hazardous unless you choose to take a major whiff of it, and if you do, well that's just STUPID. If you get it on your skin and do not wipe it off ASAP, it will set. Once set on your skin the ONLY thing that will remove it is when you shed enough skin cells for it to wear / fall off. Also, it isn't cheap. But then again, I've seen what others have tried to emulate using rattle can primer and this product is NOWHERE in the same category. Bluntly put, in my opinion and I've restored probably 20 cars in my life, this product is far superior to many other products I've used over the years. And as a final note, I live in the Pacific Northwest where we might not get a lot of snow, but we get TONS of rain. Heck, we don't tan, we rust. (Last year the Oregonian published a headline that said 120 days straight with rain) So, for what it's worth, hope this helps you make your decision.

The fact that you are getting power "from time to time" is a prime indicator of a poor connection ready to short circuit on you. The power to the starter is taken directly from the battery via battery cables, however, the power to the starter SOLENOID is routed through the ignition switch and then to the starter solenoid via the fusible link. That same fusible link, that little white / red wire going from the harness to the starter, is also the easiest way to disconnect ALL and I mean ALL the car's circuitry from the battery. If that wire doesn't make good connection, you will have nothing but trouble. I'll try to post a picture here later, but that fusible link MAY appear intact, while in fact being fried inside, or if not fried, broken. That your instruments come on "from time to time" tells me that you do in fact have a broken wire that makes contact "sometimes". 2¢

You state that "Everything else lines up, and I know that the replacement roof is not causing the problem as it has no affect on the mounting position of the hinges". Look at the spacing on the sides, and compare this to the spacing at the top of the hatch. If these are even, i.e. equal, AND it is constant across the total gap, then you need to "fudge" it. You might also consider that the gap at the top of the hatch need not be the same width as the gap along the sides. Now, you can put shims on the hinges in a couple spots. One spot is where the hinge mounts to the body. This will cause the hinge to move back and hence cause the hatch to protrude further back on the body, i.e. stick out more. You can put shims on only ONE side to cause that side to protrude further while not pushing the other side out. Sometimes this is necessary to line up the back edge, however, don't go shim happy and discover that you now are kinking the hinges or striking the car fenders on one side or both with the hatch. The other spot where you can shim to adjust the hatch, is where the hinge mounts to the hatch itself. These shims move the hatch forward and closer to the roof. Again, you need to be careful here as too many and the hatch will bind on the body as you open it. I have seen where as many as 4 shims have been needed in order to make a hatch fit. Sometimes you even have to shim on both hinges and / or on opposite sides (i.e. hatch side on one side of the hatch and body side on the other side of the hatch, this essentially shifts the hatch at an angle). Aligning doors, hatches and hoods takes patience and it is where experience pays off. Wish I could simplify it more for you, but that's basically it. Feel free to PM or e-mail me if you have other questions. Enrique

I hope this post doesn't offend others, and if you are easily offfended or of a prudish nature, stop here and don't read further. I posted something similar to this on another site when the same 4x4 z came up for sale on e-bay. Modifications on vehicles are definitely beauty in the eye of the beholder, or as in the case of the two pictures above, horrendous to other people. Years ago, I met two transexual women. One of them was so incredibly beautiful, feminine and "believable" that the only way to ascertain that she had in fact been a man would have been to perform some sort of medical examination. I didn't chose to pursue it further, but she was an example of a "modification" that not only lived up to it's intent, but was an improvement over the original. The other woman was so obviously a man, (imagine Mike Tyson wearing a mini skirt and huge boobs!) as to make one wonder "Why?". No doubt that woman felt that she had achieved whatever inner peace she needed to have from the transformation. However, she was probably the only one to achieve any kind of "satisfaction" over it, as others, like I, were somewhat taken back over the "transformation". Those two pictures remind me of the second woman. How sad.