2ManyZs

You probably would be best with a higher volume pump than the stock one. If you can find someone close by that knows their "stuff", you can have the stock pump shimmed to give you the increased volume and pressure. If nothing else, MSA has the higher volume pumps avaliable for about 70 bucks. They offer 15-20% higher volume, so that should do the trick, and it is a new pump so you would not have to worry about it for a long time......I think the higher volume pumps they sell may actually be a pump designed for the ZX. My choice would be the new pump from MSA, cheap insurance.....

Most of the viscous type LSD's were in the later Z series, don't know that one is available for the earlier type diffs. If this is an R-180 with a LSD in it, 300 is a very fair price. The Nismo LSD's were in the 700+ neighborhood when new. That was just for the limited slip itself. If it is an R-180 it is just a simple bolt in job. If it is in an R-200 you'll need the rear suspension crossmember from a later 280 that came with the R-200, the mustache bar form the 280 and the front diff mount for the R-200.

Depends on what you mean by a high decibel level when you engage the clutch. Is the noise a squeel? If so, it sounds more like the throw-out bearing may be going bad..... Synthetics in an old engine are probably a waste of money, as they won't cure any wear problems in the engine. Synthetics like Red-Line MTL in the transmission might help a bit, as they may help with sticking synchronizers and improve the shifting to a point, but you should make sure the trans is not in need of any other repairs by checking the old fluid for metal shavings before you re-fill it with more expensive fluids... A synthetic diff lube may help control a heat problem, but only if the rear is in fairly good shape, same as the transmission, check the old fluid carefully. The synthetics do have a slightly lower viscosity than regular petroleum based oils, while giving the same protection.

If this one is going to end up being your "school, spare" motor the only thing I would do is have the crank checked for straightness, and if needed polish the journals. When you re-assemble it, be sure to "plastigauge" the bearings to make sure your tolerances are in spec. New rings and bearings, new oil pump, maybe a water pump and a gasket set would be about it. Perhaps you might want to go ahead and put a new timing chain and tensioner, just so it doesn't need to be done for a while and you should get a few years out of it. I'd spend more time on the head and valves since you could use it later on the "race" engine. You might end up needing a spare head more than a spare block (hopefully) so it might be better to go ahead and do one head now, and do the other one later when you do your second engine.

Me? Play with electricity? I still bear scars....... :stupid: :cross-eye

Me thinks it's on a thermostat Daniel, if it still runs after the car is shut off.......

No reason to spend big bucks on a back up motor, a buddy of mine ended up using the original engine as a back up for a race, got third place that weekend. The motor was the original one in the 73 (my first Z) that I sold him so he could go racing. It had over 150K on it. I would just do a bearing, ring and gasket set. I would however, at least do a "home" honing on the cylinders so you get a better seal on the new rings. If you spend money on new rings, you might as well at least get all your money's worth out of them.

Guess you could have just taken them into the machine shop and had them cleaned along with the block..... I've used Berkibile 2+2 Instant Gum Cutter, works pretty good. Get it most auto parts stores. That and a brush should clean them up pretty good. Ask the machine shop, there should be something you can use instead of an aerosol solvent that will work just as well, in fact they may even sell it themselves. Only thing that would prevent you from using the old pistons is the ring grooves, or large nicks in the piston tops. Check the ring side gap with the new rings, use a feeler gauge and check the gap on the top and bottom of the ring where it sits in the groove to see if the piston groove is within spec. Not sure the spec at the moment but it's probably around here somewhere......This is not the ring end gap, it's the ring gap on the top and bottom as the ring sits in the groove. Of course, the end gap is not critical until you are ready to put the pistons back into the block.

I guess if you said you were selling it to buy a 350Z you really would have been in for it!:devious: Hopefully you'll be kind enough to let her have a Cobra and not one of those "plain old Mustangs"....You'll get more "leverage" that way....

Doh, yeah, well, that will work too.... Just be a little careful banging those gears, shifter might not be quite as strong as it used to be, be hell trying to shift on the way home using you index finger jammed into the shift rail...:cross-eye :stupid:

Mudge, I was surfing around the racing forums today and found this. Looks to be something that might be interesting if you are in the market for an IR pyrometer...Get your name on his list and if they get orders for 100 of them in bulk, the price is 35 bucks. http://www.sccaforums.com/ubb/Forum4/HTML/000655.html

Yup, you gotta do a wee bit of trimming. Your 71 came with the early A model trans with the "monkey-motion" shifter linkage. The 72's and later came with the better B model transmission with the shifter mounted on the case itself. The A model shifter sat further back than the B models.

I have to admit, there is one 350 I would actually consider. Since it isn't available in the Us, they have no chance of ever selling me one unless they get their heads out of their rectal areas and offer it here. In Japan, and possibly other markets, they offer the Track model without the silly Navigation system, no leather interior and all the other "frills" the US model gets. If you are going to call it a Track model, then offer it as one! No frills, just a bare bones, no a/c, no electronic gee-gaws, pure sport model! I'll go buy a Z-32, and use the money I saved and build a REAL sports car before I buy something like the 350 so-called Track model! Or just add to my 240 collection!

This could be a good opportunity for someone that's looking for a Z car with a lot of parts to go along with it. Not running at the moment, but it looks like it might go fairly cheap. Reserve has been met at just over 2300! http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1874920563

Daniel, it could mean two things in respect to the rear brakes. Either the shoes are well worn and/or your brake adjuster wheels are not working on the rear cylinder....Having to manually adjust the rear brakes with the E-brake is not the solution to the problem, only an easy way to see if you need to check the brakes, easy to do while driving, but it won't solve the problem.... Sorry to misleading, it's only used as a means to see if the brakes work better after a manual "adjustment". If the pedal gets harder when you ratchet the E-brake up a notch or two while driving only indicates that you need to remove the drums and check your shoes and/or brake cylinders. When racing, and the fluid is getting hot and the pedal is getting soft, it will help bring the pedal back up some, but if you continue to run the car like that, it will burn up the rear shoes as they will be adjusted too tight.

Another big advantage of the IR type of temp sensors is that you could use them to take temps of the brake rotors (or brake drums)when you come off the track also to see if you need more brake ducting! No more temp paint! You could also use it to take temps on your headers as an "exhaust pyro" to get a good idea of mixture settings too. More than one good use for the newer style of pyrometers.:classic:

Well, if you can hear the motor running and the wiper arms are not seized, it almost sounds like the arm might have come off the motor. Guess the only way to know for sure is to pull the motor and linkage all the way out and see for sure. It all depends on where it came apart as to whether you can fix it easily or not.

As far as milling the intake/exhaust port side of the head, it probably isn't necessary. But, when you get your header, make sure there are no pieces of welding slag in the ports of the header, and using a large flat file, make sure the flanges around the port of the header are flat. If you do a search here, you should find a number of posts dealing with header gasket leaks. You might get away with re-using the gasket, but I would recommend getting another new one. No sense in finding out you have a leak because you re-used the old one to save a little money and have to tear it apart all over again. As far as the coolant passages et al, if you haven't already done it, try using a good block cleaner and flush it out again. If you don't use one of the caustic cleaners that you circulate throught the block and radiator you really will never know if the block is clean. A simple flush with straight water will never truly clean anything. I believe Prestone and a few others make a good flush kit that might make a bit of difference. Not very expensive and it's always worth a try. It might get some of the crud out on the first try, and if it does, you could always do it again to see how much better you can make it. All you do is dump out the antifreeze mix, re-fill with straight water, run the car till it gets hot, add the flush mix, run the car for 15-30 minutes and flush it out with plain water and then re-fill it with your antifreeze mix. Next idea is, have you tried a lower temp thermostat? If you can find a 160 degree thermostat, try it and see if it makes a difference.

How about one other choice? Like, "Only if I won the Lotto and had more money than I knew what to do with?":devious:

As you can see by Rick's settings at Gateway and my settings at Summit Point, every track will require a completely different set-up. At Summit Point on my 280 I ran 2-2.5 degrees negative in the front and only 1-1.5 negative in the rear. Can't remember which side was which, but it wasn't the same from one side to the other. I ran -2 on one side in the front while -2.5 on the other. It all depends on the track layout, which is why I suggest a tire pyrometer. I ran 0 toe in the front, and 1/4-1/8th toe out in the rear as I had a locked rear, which required a lot of help with turn in. Which leads us to another item that has a large effect on handling and suspension settings. A car with a locked or welded rear will need different settings than a car with a LSD or even an open stock rear. This may seem a bit confusing, but if you take your time and use the pyrometer you can get it right if you take your time and do small changes at a time.

Could have been heat, stress, or just plain old age or corrosion that cause it to crack like that. You could have it welded, but you will need to find someone that can weld cast iron. Cast is one of the hardest things to weld correctly. You might be better off either finding another manifold, should be quite a few up for grabs since so many people have already replaced them with headers. It would probably end up being much cheaper in the long run if you replaced it with another used manifold as the cracks are so large. The MSA headers are fairly good if you want to go that route, it's all up to you and how much you want to spend. I've used them in the past with good results. If you do get one, I would suggest going the extra expense of the Jet Hot coating as it not only will prevent it from corrosion, but it helps control the heat to a certain extent as well. Rust is one of the biggest enemies of a header as the tubes are fairly thin wall steel. Try hooking up a mechanical water temp gauge temporarily to get a more accurate reading on your engine temps if you are still relying on the stock electrical gauge. The stock gauges are notorious for not being very acurrate, the same as the oil pressure guage. You can pick up a cheap one at most any auto parts store and just run it through the firewall and lay it on the console while you drive it a bit, you might not have as bad a tamp problem as you think, considering all you have done previously to correct it.

I guess it all boils down to what you want and how much you want to spend. The 5 speed will cost nearly the same if you buy one from a scrap yard as a 4 speed would. It might be a bit more expensive to re-build the original than buying a good used transmission as the new parts are going to be a bit pricey, of course it all depends on what the transmission in your car really needs to begin with. The rear diff with a lower gear will cost as much if not more than a used 5 speed. If you want quicker acceleration, and still have a decent cruising RPM, you could find a decent R-180 differential with a 3.90 or 4.11 and use a 5 speed from a 280ZX (79-83) and have the best of both worlds, quicker acceleration and decent cruising gear for on the highway in 5th gear. If money is the biggest object, there's nothing wrong with just re-building or finding a good used 4 speed and leaving it as it is. Not really an answer I know, but the final answer is one only you can answer......

The 5 speeds that are available to fit in the 240 from the later 280's and 280ZX's have nearly the same gearing in the lower gears. They only offer the overdrive for cruising on the interstates. However, with the overdrive you can then change to a lower gear(higher numerically, stock is 3.36 and you could go to a 4.11 with no trouble) in the rear differential which will give you even better acceleration in the lower gears, and with the overdrive, the car will be able to cruise at a decent (read lower or closer to the stock) RPM on the interstates. The main benefits of a 5 speed only show up after you change the rear diff ratio. There are no dumb questions, but you might get an answer that doesn't make much sense sometimes...... You can see the gear ratios in the tech articles, as you can see the gear ratios didn't change much between the 4 speeds and 5 speeds, or at least not enough to make a very noticeable difference in say, 1st through 3rd gears. Actually, your ex was a bit off the mark with his answer, as with a 5 speed and the overdrive, it would have made the car have a higher top speed.....if you could hold it to the floor long enough that is....The main reason it was a bit quicker than his 944 is simple, the 240 weighs a quite a bit less with very little HP difference.

The best advice I can give is to purchase a tire pyrometer and set your camber according to your tire temps. You can now buy the hand held non-contact pyrometers for less than I paid for the "old-style"probe pyrometer. Just point it at the tire and you have your temps. It's one of the best investments you can make. There are so many variables in tire selection, track layout, tire pressures, wheel offsets and widths, spring and shock package that no two cars will ever run the same settings. Do a run, then check your tire temps in three places across the face of the tread. If the outside edge of the tire is hotter than the inside, then you need more negative camber. If the center of the tire is hotter than both the inside and outside, you need to run less pressure in the tire. Also your toe settings will have a small impact on the temps, so with a little tinkering you should come up with something that will give you the turn in, over/understeer you want while giving you good tire wear. I always ran with 0 toe in the front, but you can run either + or - 1/16th depending on your track. FWIW, you will normally run quite a bit of negative camber in the front, and probably only about half that in the rear.