2ManyZs

ah, but the question remains, can she "dance"?

Hmm, guess I was right about the "Wearevers" from Napa. I thought maybe I was the only one crazy (or cheap) enough to try them. They are hard as a rock, don't fade out any worse than anything else I tried, and for about 40 (?) a set they are a lot cheaper than the Nismo (over $100 a set) I tried. hmsports, nice idea for the rear brakes. Most of the people here just ran a hose up the tunnel to catch air for the rear brakes. BTW, wheel choice is another factor in brake cooling as well, the more open the design of the wheel, the better cooling you can get for the brakes. Just something else to consider when you are getting ready to buy wheels. But be careful, there have been wheels that were open but not strong enough for racing that got the owners into a lot of trouble too. See what everyone else is running before you make your final choices.

Sounds like the dimmer may be all or part of the problem to start with. If the contacts in the dimmer are that bad they may not be supplying the needed power to the dash lights. I'd change it first since it is easier to get to and see what works and what doesn't after that.

I'll have to put my vote towards the Classic Z car club or just Classic Z club.

I believe Carbotech does have a street oriented pad available. I can't seem to find the new GRM magazine I just got but they have an ad in there and I believe they offer a choice of pads for racing and street. As far as which drum dissipates heat better, the aluminum may have a slight advantage, but it would only be a slight one. You still have to contend with the heat build-up in the cast iron insert. Aluminum should transfer the heat better than cast, but being a two piece drum it will only help but just so much.

Well, as far as I know most of the Z-racers in my area went to the Carbotech pads many years ago and still use them. I believe they call them the Panther Plus pads now. You will need to duct as much air as possible to the rotors and calipers as you can. I'm not sure if they are having their rotors heat treated or not, but the Carbotechs seem to be the most rotor friendly. Rear shoes are a bit of a mystery, you could try and see if Carbotech does the rear shoes too or maybe they will take your cores and do them. I used el-cheapo rear shoes from Napa for the last few years I raced back in the early 90's. The Nismo shoes are expensive and they only lasted a weekend or two on my 280 if I was lucky. The "Wearevers" from Napa lasted the longest, and were less than half the price of the Nismo shoes. I know Porterfield used to take cores for shoes and put their linings on them. I used the Porterfield R-4's on my car for a couple seasons and they ate up rotors like mad. Hmsports may have a better shoe or pad since he is still racing in IT. I've been "retired" since 94, so things probably have changed a lot since then.

Well, MSA does have a smaller billet water pump pulley, I recently bought one. That is the first I have ever seen advertised for a Z. As far as the other pulleys go, I have not seen anyone who offers one for the alternator or smog pump:sick: yet.

I wouldn't give up on the Z just yet, it might only be one u-joint. There are 6 total on a Z, but even then you are only talking about 100 dollars or less to repair. It could also just be the mustache bar bushings are shot, or the front diff mount could be bad or even that the rear is loose on the mustache bar. Don't give up yet! Anything that is wrong with the car we can walk you through the repairs as it needs them, you just have to save what money you can to make the repairs as your budget allows. What makes your Dad think a Chevy Caprice is going to be any better than the Z? They break down too!

It's a lot of work to put the vented rotors on a 240, is it worth the effort? I don't know. I haven't done it and have not seen all that many cars that have had it done. I have seen pics of the Z-32 front rotors on a 240, I would imagin this would require quite a bit of machining in the hub, rotor hat area, and would therefore end up being rather expensive. For a street car the stock rotors should be plenty with the 4 piston calipers and a decent set of pads, you shouldn't have to worry about overheating them on the street or even in an autocross. Road racing is where the problems show themselves. I'd have to disagree with the Porterfield brake pads though, especially the R-4's, they will eat up a rotor before you run out of pad. A better one to use might be the Carbotech's, they are a lot more "rotor friendly". I used the Porterfields when I raced, by the time one set of pads needed to be replaced, I had to turn the rotor once and after one turning there wasn't enough left to turn a second time. This was starting with brand new rotors.

I believe the POR-15 adheres better to bare mtal than it does to old paint. It probably would be a good idea to have the bottom(at least) blasted with some sort of media. Sandblasting or plastic media would probably be the best. I wouldn't worry too much about the interior panels unless you have rust, a decent coat of paint would work just as well and probably save a little time and money. The inside of the doors might benefit from a coat on the bottom of the doors but it is going to be a messy job to get it done right. Whatever you do make sure you don't get the POR-15 on your skin as it will take a long time to get it off. Use rubber gloves and an old long sleeved shirt if you plan on brushing it on in the hard to reach areas. Using the POR-15 along the rocker panels and any seams on the uni-body would probably do wonders to keep your car form any more rust problems, if you notice there are a lot of seams that have gaps in them. The biggest problem area is where the drain for the front cowl dumps all the water on top of the front edge of the rocker panel behind the front fender. Make sure you seal this seam up, or water will continue to accumulate in the rocker panel. While I'm on the subject of the fron cowl, it may be a good idea to do this area too, take the windshield wiper motor out and put a coat of POR-15 in there. The area under there has a tendancy to rust and any holes in there will dump water into the interior.

It is possible to have the rear shoes radius to match the drum better. If you notice when you change shoes typically only 1/2 to 2/3 of the shoe has been in contact with the drum. Many of the IT racers had theirs radiused to use more of the shoe. But then you build up more heat, so there you go with that problem again and trying to cool them. Just put Z-32 dics all the way around and you won't have any more brake problems. :eek: That is if you want to spend that kind of money. The biggest shortfall of the rear shoes is that they are a single piston design. If they had put on a dual piston design, where the top and bottom of the shoe moved outwards to meet the drum there would not be as much problem with not having as much contact area between the shoe and drum versus the shoe area. In racing it was always a fine line between burning up shoes and pads and not using up rotors and drums like crazy. One set of pads might have great braking abilities and eat up a set of rotors in a weekend. Drums were the same way, you either overheated and cracked the drums or you had shoes that just burned up and disintegrated. Drums, rotors, pads and shoes were almost as expensive to keep up with as tires when I was racing. Todays shoes and pads are much better than they were 10 years ago.

The biggest advantage the ZX rear discs have over the stock drum brakes on a 240 is their ability to dissipate heat. The total brake swept area is actually smaller with the discs when compared to the drums, but the drums will not dissipate the heat. The biggest enemy of the drum brakes is heat, once they get hot they will not cool as efficiently as the discs. Comparing the early 280ZX brakes to the later vented discs and the ZX brakes are a big loser. The biggest problem with the 240's is that they don't even have a vented front disc. Once you get the solid rotor hot it keeps the heat for a long time, and transfers it to the pads and then to the caliper and fluid. The rear drums don't transfer the heat to the fluid like the front discs do, but the shoes and drums will disintegrate from the heat instead.

I don't know if it's the miracle cure or not, but I can say it is not flexible. It probably would not stay on a panel that flexes. Considering how expensive it is, dipping would be outragiously expensive. Not only that but it would end up getting into places that would make it extremely hard to remove it to put the car back together. Getting it out of all the threaded body mounts etc would be difficult at best if not nearly impossible. Painting over the top of POR-15 requires special steps and a primer to get the top coat to adhere to POR-15. I personally have decided not to use it on the chassis of my car for that reason only, I've already sanded the entire underside once and don't relish the thought of having to do it again. Not only that but POR-15 doesn't adhere to painted surfaces as well as it does to bare metal. Since my car still has paint on the underside I don't want to re-do the entire chassis and take it to bare metal. I plan on using it only in places where it is necessary.

First thing you need to do is establish whether or not it's an electrical problem or a mechanical one. It could be either. Using the screwdriver method I described, find out if the injectors are firing or not when you rev it up. If not, it may be a problem in the air flow meter(mounted on the plate in front of the throttle body), either in the wiring harness itself or the potentiometer inside the AFM. If they are working it could be the fuel pump is the problem and not supplying the correct fuel pressure to the rail to supply the injectors. Best bet would be to check each and every wiring connector and make sure they are clean and securely connected. Then check for a fuel problem, may be the fuel filter is stopped up or the pump itself is not working properly. If you don't have one already, you should get a factory service manual from MSA, they are a bit expensive but they are worth the money when working on the Fuel Injected cars, there are a lot of tests described in them that you can do to find the problem rather easily with just a couple basic tools.

Dave, you aren't the only one. I check their on-line classifieds at least once a week or so, just so I don't miss anything. The best thing about the mag is that they have something for everyone. Parts, build-ups, long term project cars, it covers every budget and fantasy.

Since I just sold my 75 I don't have anyway to check to see what if anything the white wires are connected to. I remember seeing them at the ECU but can't remember where they went to. I let the service manual go with the car so don't have that for reference either. Seems to me they weren't connected to anything but I may be wrong. If you are certain 4 injectors are firing and two aren't, then I would guess the problem is in the wiring harness or connectors to those two injectors. Be very careful when you take them off the injectors as they become very brittle with age and will fall apart in your hands. I would almost bet the plugs on the injectors are the problem. Replacement plugs are available, you can get them from MSA if you need them, along with the wire clips for the plug-ins. If you don't have a Motorsport Auto catalog I would suggest getting one, they can be a life-saver for small things such as this. You might be able to find replacement plugs at the local Nissan dealer, but they may not have them in stock and the price may be higher. To check the injectors you can use a long screwdriver as a "stethoscope", put the blade on the metal retaining ring around the injector and put your ear to the handle, you should hear the injector "clicking" as it opens and closes. No noise, you have found the problem injector, then it will be a matter of checking the wiring connections. Hope that helps a little....

Probably the best way to get rid of light surface rust is sandpaper and a little "elbow grease". In other words, sand it, scuff the surface, use a self-etching primer on the bare metal, use a primer sealer over it and re-paint the area. Use sandpaper, wire brush to remove any scaling, scotch brite pads or anything abrasive to remove all the loose paint and rust. Media blasting is another alternative for larger areas. Then be sure to coat it so it doesn't rust again. Chemical strippers have their uses, but not on spot repairs and certainly not for anyone who has no experience working with them. If not used properly they can do more harm to the metal you are working on (not to mention yourself) and make the situation even worse.

I'd say 1900 is a pretty reasonable price for a decent running 260 if it has no hidden rust problems. Be sure to check it over thoroughly. If it is an early 260 with carbs it would be an even better deal for the price than if it were the 74 1/2 model with FI and the big bumpers. If it has carbs one of the easiest ways to improve the car is to swap out the flat top carbs for the earlier round tops and you will have a much more reliable car. Just be sure to check for any hidden rust problems, use a magnet to check for any bondo repairs in the body and be sure to check out under the battery tray and in the inner fender/frame rail area. If there are no hidden problems then 1900 is probably a very good price, especially in your area where cars tend to rust out a little faster than some of the other areas of the country.

For those of you who don't subscribe to Grassroots Motorsports magazine, the new issue (August 2002) just arrived in the mail. There is a great article and pics of a 1970 240Z on page 53. The car is beautiful, and the owner has put a 280ZX Turbo engine in it with many other well thought out modifications. Great story, great pics, and a lot of useful info for those of you who may be wondering about the how to do the swap. BTW, the magazine is one I heartily recommend for anyone who is as car crazy as I am. There is something in there for any type of auto enthusiast, from street cars to race cars, they cover it all. The classified ads in the back of the magazine have all sorts of nice cars for sale, and the advertisers in the magazine have anything you could possibly need for a project car, whether a street car or all-out race car. It can be purchased at most any good book store or you can subscribe for 19.95 per year for 8 issues. See their web-site at www.GrassrootsMotorsports.com

Now you have me wondering about the cover I have sitting in a box in the garage, never put it in the car since I took the car apart right after I bought it. :eek: Guess I'm going to have to take it out and check mine to see how bad it fits.:tapemouth

I'm not being a wise-a__ but you are going to have to pay whatever it takes to get a rust free car. They are not easy to come buy as all the cars have had a rust problem at one time or another in their life. It's almost impossible to find one that has absolutely no rust. You might find one for 500 bucks somewhere if you are lucky, and you might find to get one rust free will cost you 5 grand. Best advice I can give is to find one that has a decent price that you can live with, and one that has easily repairable rust problems if it has any. Replacing a rocker panel or even a rear quarter panel is easy when compared to replacing frame rails, floors, or under the battery tray. It's all a matter of what you can find in your area, every area of the country is going to have a different price scale depending on how many cars are available and their condition. Shop around and be patient, sooner or later one will show up that fits your needs and budget. Check out the local papers too, never know what you may find in there, and it's liable to be a lot cheaper from someone who has no appreciation for the Z and doesn't realize they are increasingly hard to find in good shape.

Unfortunately here in the US there were no 5 speeds available until 1977 in the 280Z. Any 5 speed from 77-83 will work, but the 77-78 had a little different overdrive than the later 79-83's. They will all work, but putting them in a 71 may require a little cutting or grinding to make the shifter fit. The shifter is a little further forward and you will need to make the hole in the tunnel a little larger, plus you may find it necessary to cut the console a little too. See the post in the tech articles for the ratios of the different transmissions. These are for the US models as far as I know, the ratios may have been different in other parts of the world. Guess if they had offered the 5 speeds in the US models sooner there wouldn't be so many ZX's sitting in scrap yards without transmissions.

I had a similar problem with my 75 but I still had the FI. Not sure if it could be the same thing since you say you have carbs, but it may be. There is a switch or diode (not sure what they call it) in the back of the tach, it controls the idle speed. Mine would not idle down between shifts or when stopping at a light. It would after a while sometimes, I just changed the tach and the problem was cured. I'm not sure if it is replaceable or if it is even in use if you have taken off the Fuel injection. I believe it signaled the ECU, so this may not be your problem. Only other thing I can think of would be the linkage binding somewhere, or perhaps one of the return springs has broken or is stretched.

Great looking car, and a lot of good history on the Z cars. Have been reading up on the rally racing thread for some time now. Keep up the good work. BTW, I like the mirrors on the fender if no one else does;)

MSA, Victoria British, StrictlyZ.com, ZTherapy all sell kits for the weatherstripping. I know you can also get each piece individually from MSA. Not sure about the others as I have only dealt with MSA for many years. Most all suppliers are selling the same weatherstripping, just depends on who has the best price. If you don't need the whole kit I would suggest MSA, as you can get one piece at a time as you need or can afford them. Their price on the whole kit is only a few dollars more than VB.