2ManyZs

Not sure that there has ever been a breakdown with the actual production numbers of each interior color. If there is it would be interesting to see the actual numbers. Red and blue would probably be the rarest of the earlier interior colors. The vast majority were black, with tan being one of the next most popular colors. It is odd being a red interior and red exterior, most red interiors I have seen in person have been with the silver exterior and white exterior colors.

Complete front inner fender panels would be nice too, not only to repair the rust out above the frame rails, but for those cars that have been hit in the front. Also the structural member that runs along the top of the inner fender back to the firewall. Front strut towers would be a help too.......plenty of them have been patched in a lot of cars over the years....

Haven't seen the complete kit being sold in years. Used to be MSA and Impact Parts also sold the complete kits with carb linkage and all, however, MSA still sells just the manifold.

Or get in touch with Andy Russell as I recently talked to him and he said they were considering buying some of the molds for fiberglass parts. contact him at emailus@zcarsofarizona.com

If you are looking for new ones, try Too Intense Restorations as they have them on their web-site and recently had them up for auction on Ebay. Or try Andy Russell at emailus@zcarsofarizona.com MSA might still have new sets also.

Glad it worked. Before you put the drum back on take a flat file and go around the hub flange and make sure it is smooth and has no areas where it is swaged outward. Also clean up the inside of the drum where it fits over the flange with a file or sandpaper to make sure there is no corrosion, or else it will be hard to remove the next time. It is also a good idea to clean up the holes where the studs come through the drum of any corossion also. It should fit easily over the flange and you should be able to get it on and off with little effort once the brakes are backed off. If when you go to put the drum back on you can't seat it with just a slight tap with the palm of your hand, you need to do a little work to make sure it won't get stuck again...

Here's a link to another post that might give you a couple more ideas on how to get them off. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2003&highlight=Rear+brake+drums If you have a question, try using the search function. Nearly all questions about a Z have been discussed here at one time or another. Sounds to me like you have done nearly everything there is to try except for tapping around the hub where the drum is probably corroded fast. Aluminum against steel will always cause corrosion, so this is where they will bond together. Don't use too much heat on the aluminum drum or you may run the risk of cracking the drum and have to replace it instead of possibly just turning the drum when you get it off.

I don't have any books with the F-54 listed but all the rest of the L series can be bored .060 oversize with no problem. According to the book I have it is possible to go .080 oversize, but make sure you can get the right pistons and rings before you do it.... I think I would limit it to .060 and see how it goes. Besides, you might need a re-bore or a good honing in the future and if you were to go .080 over you might not be able to do it for a rebuild due to the amount of material taken out with a .080 overbore. .080 would be probably be nearly the limit you can go without major problems if it can be done in the first place. According to the L engine calculator a .060 will give you about 2850cc, and the .080 will give you about 2880cc. Of course the head selection and the pistons will also contribute to the overall displacement.

I first used Dri-Wash back in the late 80's. It does work, however it will not replace a good coat of wax once or twice a year. For detailing work or a quick clean-up it works well. I used it to clean up the race car at the track all the time. It also works quite well on windows, I found it superior to Rain-X. It doesn't leave the streaks when you use the wipers like I have found when using Rain-X. It is a bit expensive and hard to find in some areas until you find a dealer you can get it from.....

It will fit but you may have to change your mounts to the later style 73-early 74 mounts. I believe they will not mount to the 72 style mounts, the earlier style had a flat plate to bolt the bumper to and the later style had a more rounded mount. Good price on the bumper and you should be able to source the mounts from a parts car for very little if you need them.

Yikes, last time I saw a Bing carb was on an old snowmobile we had when I was a young'un. I think it was either on the 68 or 70 we had, didn't know they still existed...... Seems to me they were a pretty close copy of the Mikuni carbs they used on motorcycles, have no idea where you could find them anymore...

You can buy POR-15 products directly from them on their website at www.por15.com or by calling 1-800-457-6715.

I have not seen too many Z's that didn't have some kind of damage to the rails under the floor pan, either from road hazards or someone putting a jack under them (not wise) so yours isn't the only one. If the floor pans are still straight and the thickness of the rails hasn't been compromised either from the damage or rust you should be OK. The rails aren't as important structurally as a good set of floor pans, but, if they are rusted to the point where you have a lot of holes they perhaps should be replaced. Since by your previous post are going to have the chassis media blasted after you strip it, you probably ought to go ahead and replace them now. I believe you can still get them separately without buying a set of floor pans. They usually are included with a floor pan set, but if your floors are in good condition just replace the rails themselves. These rails usually rust out from the inside, water and garbage usually enters somewhere in the front of the frame rails, usually in the engine compartment or around the T/C rod mount, and a lot of times the drain holes don't drain out the moisture the way they should. If you are going to strip the car down to a bare shell and blast it, you might as well replace them now, no sense in having them detract from the rest of the job. Worse yet would be having to replce them in a year or so, if a hole were to develop and have to do the whole underside of the floors again.

Only time I have ever gotten the urge to get rid of my Z's is when I see a nice late 70's Aston Martin Vantage Volante 5 speed on Ebay. Then I think about how difficult and expensive maintaining it would be and the feeling soon passes. :cross-eye

Start at the fuse block, clean the fuse holders, replace the fuses, then go to the headlight wiring harness themselves. Check the plugs in the wiring harness in front of the radiator for any corrosion and loose connections. Check the wiring with a multimeter for the correct voltage. Check your ground wires in the engine compartment. Then if all else fails you will need to check your headlight switch itself. Take your time taking it apart and clean the contacts in the switch. Hopefully you might find your problem before you get to the switch. It sounds like a fuse or fuse block problem but one never knows.....

Well, so much for the scout motto huh??

Not much in the way of performance difference if any between the 3 and 4 screw SU's. The 4 screw usually are the preferred choice in that they hold the damper housing in better alignment. I guess it's a matter of personal choice and which carbs are in the best shape that you have.....

Stripping the interior of all panels, trim, sound deadener(that nasty tar like substance, and undercoating on the bottom) will take a lot of wieght out a a Z. Using a racing seat, removing heater core and A/C if allowed, using the smallest diameter roll cage tubing allowed (with plenty of reinforcing tubes and gussets), window glass removal if allowed, fiberglass fenders and perhaps other body panels if allowed. Engine wise it would entail removing any and all smog equipment and associated hardware. Replacing the stock gas tank with a fuel cell, the list could go on and on, it all depends on what rules you have to abide by. It would be possible you could get a Z under 2000lbs if you were allowed to use fiberglass body panels such as a hood, doors, fenders, hatch. That is just a start to what you could do with the right rules package, and a good sized budget:ermm:

I think EScanlon posted a reply a while back on some better products than ArmorAll to use on the vinyl and dash. If you are curious you could PM him as I did a search for the post and came up empty-handed....... ArmorAll might be better used on todays cars that have plastic dashes. Big difference in todays plastics and the vinyls of older cars.....

Don't know what the reserve is, but this early 71 might be worth a look.. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1871502662

One other idea to go along with all the rest. Get a tube of seam sealer and seal all the seams along the top of the frame rail flange where it is spot welded to the inner fender. A lot of water and dirt gets dwon into the small gaps along the top of the frame rail and causes the frame rails to rust form the inside out. Another place to seal is the top of the rocker panel where in behind the front fender, right below the drain tube form the windshield wiper "valley". Also you will probably find large gaps where the T/C rod pocket is mounted to the frame rail on both sides. Any water that enters there will travel the length of the floor pan support channel. Would be a good idea to seal up any holes or wherever the panels could be exposed to water contamination due to wavy spot weld flanges. A lot of the problems would never have reared their ugly heads if Nissan had seam welded the unibodies of the Z's instead of spot welding. Shame so many had to rust away because of it.....

A header and a good free flowing exhaust system would be one of the best mods to do to use what you have the most effectively. Going to cost more than 200 bucks, but will give you the most perforamance gain at the lowest cost. Especially if you use the Nitrous, you'll need to get the exhaust out or the shot of Nitrous is going to cause you problems. If you are running a stock ignition, that would be the first place to spend your money, as with nitrous you'll need the best spark possible to keep it from detonating. If you use a higher hp shot of nitrous, you'll need to upgrade the fuel system to supply more fuel to go with the nitrous. at 60 the stock should be OK, but be watching for lean conditions by keeping an eye on your plugs and be carful you don't get spark knock. Both can be fatal to pistons.

One thing to be careful of with older hubs is that they might have been run with bearings that were too loose and the bearing race will have worked loose in the hub. If you can set the race in by hand they will spin and cause all sorts of problems. They need to be tight enough to have to be set in with a bearing punch. Cracks are also another thing to look for, either in the hub itself or inside the bearing cavity. Overheating of the bearings can cause stress cracks to develop inside the cavity and the cause not only premature bearing failure, but also heat which can also affect the spindle. Be sure to check everything carefully after a good cleaning. I've got a new set of bearings out in the shop, will try to get you the numbers and such soon. Been a bit too busy lately..... You could check your inner tie rods ends also, the ones at the very end of the steering rack. That might be one of the areas that is causing some of your problem. That and the brake rotor/caliper would be the next step before a complete hub teardown....

FWIW, I have always bought my tie rod ends, ball joints, alternators, starters, and brake master cylinders from the local Advance Auto stores. They have never failed me and the prices are reasonable and the quality is just as good as most anywhere else. I would imagine that AutoZone would be nearly equal, but up until a couple years ago, Advance was all we had locally besides the little NAPA store that had to order nearly everything, when the Advance store usually had them in stock.

If the 510 diff is from a manual transmission model it it more than likely a 3:90. This is the most common ratio for 510 R-160 diffs. Not sure if there were any other ratios available in the 510's besides the 3:90's. If the original diff for your car is for a manual transmission, it will be a 3:36 and if it possibly came from an automatic it will be a 3:54. Since I am not sure where you are located I am giving you the US spec ratios for the R-180 diffs. Other ratios were available in the Z's that were delivered elsewhere in the world.