2ManyZs

This post really has caused a case of arachnaphobia hasn't it? Here's the female Black Widow, its poison is more potent than a rattlesnake, yet it injects such a small amount that it rarely causes any adverse effects with adults. Males are not poisonous. Glad I'm not a male black widow, the female eats the male after mating!! Yikes!:dead:

Bad thing about them is there are more than one variety. Here's a Brown Recluse. One of six poisonous spiders in the US and probably the worst IMO.

These are for 260-280's but should look good in a 240 as well. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1859785731

If anyone is interested: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=1860076826

Since it was OK before and after the episode, I would check all the wiring connections around the coil, distributor, and ballast resistor. You might have a loose or corroded connection, of course it could be a bad wire somewhere in that area that has been corroding and causing resistance in the wiring harness. Might be one has been pinched or crimped one too many times. Also, check the wiring inside the distributor to the condensor and points and make sure you have good connections there too. Wouldn't hurt to use a little dielectric grease after you clean all the connections with some contact cleaner or whatever you have available.

If the car has been stored for several years, I would say most of the reason for the clunking you are hearing is because of the deterioration of the rear suspension bushings. Not only the mustache bar bushings but also front differential mount. All the rears have some amount of backlash, but the bushings cause it to be more pronounced. I'd replace the bushings first, then see how it is after that. I think you will notice a big improvement. 3.36's in standard trans models and 3.54's in automatics. 240's and 260's had R-180's some of the late 260's and 75-76 280 had R-200's After 77 they jumped back and forth between the R-180 and R-200 for some reason. I think they even had a 3.90 available in one of the later years fo 280zx's. Not sure which years were which and I don't think I've seen a list anywhere that spells it out in detail.

It should fit, but you will probably need the straps for the later 280 tank as they held about a gallon more gas and their shape is just a bit different. I think the 240 straps may end up being too short.

Hmm, sounds like a case of arachnaphobia to me. FWIW, even if it was a black widow their bites are rarely if ever fatal to humans. Much better to be bitten by one of these than the Brown Recluse. Their bites seem harmless at first until the body starts to decompose right on the bone. Seeing a person who had been bitten by a brown recluse on National Geographic was enough to make anyone ill. :sick:

Sorry Mike, it is a great idea, just not for me. Got two e-mail adresses now, too many passords to remember, and spend far too much time on the computer now without having my own web-site to play with. :cross-eye

Try a seam sealer such as the one that Eastwoods sells. It is a pliable non-hardening sealer and you can put it on with a caulking gun. They also have a brush on sealer that is 19.99 a quart.

I painted mine with Eastwoods Semi Gloss Chassis Black. It has a high solids content so hopefully it will hold up well and the color looks pretty good to me. As far as the "cushion" under the straps, I don't think I have ever seen it advertised for sale anywhere. You might try Too Intense, Bonzai, or Classic Datsun, they may have a replacement of some type.

The hood in the pic is a stock hood for a 77-78 280Z here in the US. Since you guys didn't get the 280 as we did, it would seem logical to assume they were a factory 260 hood but as for what years they became available. I dunno. :stupid:

Gee, the things I miss while I am working. I'm still thinkin about it. If the guy can't e-mail me some pics of the car (more than what he has shown me so far) there is no way I am driving all the way to Pensacola, FL to look at a car that I may not want in the end. And I don't need your money for the car, but if I do buy it you may have to start buying some parts so I have room to work on it.:devious: This Internet thing is kinda cruel in a way, kinda like being in a town full of attractive single women, all these cars can be soooooo tempting.:disappoin :cross-eye

Definately use Olympic, they sponsor races at Summit Point!!

Looks like a round port head with a square port header to me. :stupid: The square ports are not perfectly square, more rectangular than square actually. I think the P-79 and the N-47 were two of the heads with round ports on both exhaust and intake, the rest were round intake, square exhaust. Not sure about the P-90 as I have never had one of them.

Actually, I believe it is more a choice of how you are planning on driving the car than what the engine clearances might be. Especially when you are comparing todays multi-viscosity oils with the straight grade of old. I've seen engines that were filled with 20w-50 run from their first oil change to over 160,000 using the same grade of oil with absolutely amazing results. So the choices between 10w-30, 20-50, 5-30 etc are really more a matter of preference, useage, and sometimes geographical location more than any other reason.

Yes, she does sound like a car guy's dream come true. That might be why she is getting a pitt bull! You should be able to get caliper re-build kits from Napa, Advance Auto or any good auto parts store locally. They might have to order them, but it might be cheaper than buying them off Ebay. If you need a rebuildable caliper I may have a few here. I have taken them apart without using an air compressor (I didn't always have the right tools either) but it is hard to explain how to do it. But it can be done. I agree with Rick, if he has taken the caliper itself apart, it may be better to find another one if the PO wasn't sure of what he was doing. You will find plenty of people here that can just about guide you through anything you may try to do with a Z car.

Ivan just gave me another idea. You could try to pull the door panel off, and try small adjustments to the upright linkage that goes to the door latch from the door handle. It is possible the linkage is not allowing the door latch to fully engage. They are small plactic sleeves on the ends of the rods and have been known to crack, lossen, and sometimes fall of completely. They are a major PITA to get your hand into with the window glass in the way. The lower horizontal one is much easier to access than the upright vertical ones at the rear of the door. If you can get your hand in there to them, you could try small adjustments first in one direction and then the other to see if it makes any difference. This would be the last item to check after all the others like the hinges etc since these are such a pain to get to. Forgot all about the adjustments possible on them until Ivan mentioned them. Been a long time since I did go in there, and if you do have to go in, you will see why. The door edges are usually very sharp, and the area is very hard to access unless you tiny little hands that bend in three different directions at once.:disappoin

Have you got any play or looseness in the door hinges? If the door hinges are getting sloppy that would make a lot of difference, the door isn't making the same arc everytime and is putting excess pressure on the striker plate to latch. That's my first guess. :cross-eye Have you tried a different striker plate? Do you have the star washers on the mounting bolts? Are the shims in place? Lots of questions, no real good answers there are there? Just a few of the things to check.

Sage advice? Have someone who has done it before, do it for you. That's probably the best piece of advice, not the answer you were looking for though. Before you take it apart, I would invest in two new spindle pins, tapered lock pins and of course bushings. That way if you have to ruin the pins that are in there when you try to remove them, you already have new ones in your hands. Motorsport Auto has them, not too expensive, but a lifesaver if the old ones are stubborn. Try using the Search this site function in the Main menu. Look for control arm spindle pins. Or look through the Help Me forum or suspension forum. There have been numerous memebers before you who have experienced trouble with these. Hope you have a good selection of tools handy. You may need them. If you have trouble you can PM me and I'll do what I can to help.

750lb model should work OK, I'd go with a 1000lb if you can find one. Complete engine is probably in the 450 plus range so if you do any torqueing on the engine while it's on the stand it may not be as sturdy as you would like. Be sure to get one with wide legs, or adjustable ones. The wider the better, some are so narrow that just moving it across the floor is almost impossible without tipping it all over.

Have you tried a search on the MD-DMV? Maybe their website might have the info. I know the VA-DMV web-site is pathetic, to say the least. You end up going to the DMV or calling them since they don't post any useful info on the web-site. I bought a parts car from a friend who lived in Bowie, maybe 10 years ago. The 76 at that time had to be emissions and safety inspected. It passed the emissions test OK, failed the safety test due to the rust monster, go figure.

FWIW, I ran Castrol 20-50 in my 280 ITS car for 4 years. Then the last year I ran Syntec. High volume pump, mechanical oil pressure gauge and an oil cooler. Never had any variations in oil pressure even at water temps of 200-220 degrees. Always steady at 60 psi. How many miles are on the bottom end?

Eek, 88 to 1? Well, I guess we can offer some consolation, look at the number of "East Coasties" compared to "West Coasties".