2ManyZs

Holding on to a plug wire isn't too wise in my opinion, how do I know? I've been zapped a couple times by faulty plug wires and believe me it doesn't feel the greatest. From what you say I think I'd be looking at the coil or wiring to or from the coil. Never had any experience with the GM conversion so I'll leave that to someone who has done that.

Kinda thought the adapter would be a bit much. It might be OK if you already had a set of the wheels and wanted to use them. Take a look at www.americanracing.com on the second page of passenger car wheels they have one called the Vortec that is available in 14x6 or 15x7 in the correct pattern. They are 100 bucks or less manufacturers list price. Not a bad looking wheel for the price but don't know how they compare with what you wanted. Trying to find a decent looking wheel that fits and isn't too expensive is going to require some searching. Probably the best idea might be to go to a 15 inch wheel so you can have a little larger selection. Good Luck.

Well, don't know of any power rack kits. Most of the Z's are pretty hard to turn at slow speeds but a lot of times it has to do with the size tires and wheels you are using. Have you tried to lube the rack? There are two small plugs on the rack that you can remove and put a 1/8 inch ( I think) grease fitting into to put a little grease into the rack. Should be one on each end of the rack if I remember right. Just put a little in or you can blow out the seals on the inner tie rod ends.

Sorry, I should have been a little clearer on that. The pin I'm referring to is the wedge bolt that holds the pivot bolt. The bolt itself can be stubborn enough to remove and replace but the wedge bolt is sometimes the worst. When you put the pivot bolt back in it only goes in one way, so be sure to make a note of how it came out, it will only line up with the wedge bolt one way. The pivot bolt has to be aligned pretty close or you will have trouble re-inserting the wedge bolt. I had a lot of trouble with one of mine as the wedge bolt kept trying to turn and jam into the slot in the pivot bolt. I double nutted the end of the pivot bolt so I could align the slot for the wedge bolt a little easier. Be careful when you try to get the pivot pin wedge bolt out as it is a bit soft and it is easy to mushroom the end of it. BTW, I had my complete strut and control arm assembly off the car so if you are doing this while it is still on the car it might make things a little more difficult, not impossible, just that having it on the work bench did make it a lot easier to do the job. And this was the first time I had ever attempted to do the pivot bushings so it isn't like I have done this over and over. Just be careful when you are driving out the pivot bolt and the wedge bolt so as not to mess up the threads, and it won't hurt to clean up the pivot bolt with a little sandpaper or Scotchbrite pad to allow it to slide back in easier, along with a little bit of grease.

Yes, you can drill out the rubber holding the pin bushings in and knock them out with a hammer and punch. Actually they are a bit easier to do than the inner bushings since they are not "peened" over like the larger ones. The hardest part is getting the pin out. Lube them up good when you put the new ones in or you'll have another squeak to deal with. Your front end shimmy could be the tires (maybe one is out of balance or has some odd wear) but more likely it could be you need to check your wheel bearings. Front end alignment would give you a wandering or pull to one side or another. I would check the tires, bearings, and brake hardware and possibly the tension control rod bushings first then go towards the less likely causes. It could also be that the rack has too much play in it too, so as you can see there are quite a few things to check.

Good thing it wasn't just down the street from me! I have never owned a Z with less than 100k on it.

No. I'm not a master of understatement. Mine came out with little problem, I had mine done (both sides) in a couple hours, this included sandblasting, painting and reassembling the entire strut/ control arm assembly. Perhaps I just used a bigger "persuader"?? Of course before you use the larger persuader you might want to have new pins ready in case you swage the ends of the old pins out to the point they are not useable.

The aluminum flywheel sounds like a good idea but remember that most times they recommend a better clutch such as a Centerforce with a higher clamping force to get the most out of the flywheel. Not sure how a stock clutch would hold up, but it might allow too much slippage and not last very long. The cam choice is OK but a lot of how it will work will be in what head and carb set-up you use, and what pistons you are going to use. The cam might be a little too wild for stock SU's, you might need to think about Webers/Mikuni triples to get the most out of the cam. Another thing to think about would be how much vacuum you will be getting with this cam. I'm not an engine builder so I can't really give you a definate opinion on your ideas, I only base my opinions on what I have read. You might want to consult with someone like Rebello racing engines on your final choices. Your cam choice is going to affect many other areas so you need to talk to someone that knows what works as I have no experience with this cam. Piston choice, head, and induction system are going to be critical in how this works, so you may want to do some research on this from the pro's before you start gathering parts. My guess would be an E-31 head (or a P-79 or P-90) with the larger 280 valves and flat top pistons to come up with a final compression ratio in the 10 to 10.5 to 1 range, with a set of triple Mikuni's.

Well, I didn't know anyone made an adapter to fit the Honda wheels to a Z, but for the price ($210 a pair) I'd be tempted to abandon that idea. For what they cost you could almost buy a pair of wheels in the first place. Unless there is a style of wheel you just can't live without. Almost doubles the cost of a set of wheels.:eek: :sick:

Yes, I think you are experiencing the squeak because you didn't grease the outside of the bushings. When I put mine in I greased the inside and outside of the poly bushing, plus I put grease on the inside of the steel insert. Anywhere you have steel and poly in contact you have an area that may cause a squeak. I even greased the outside ends so that the bushings were completely covered inside and out. I haven't driven the car yet so I can't say for certain mine won't squeak but it won't be because I didn't try to grease them enough. Sorry. When you say you replaced the upper bushings in the rear I believe you mean the inner bushings, as there are no upper bushings. The lower bushings you referred to I believe are the outer bushings where the strut mounts to the control arm. You shouldn't have too much trouble by not replacing them. However it wouldn't be a bad idea to replace them soon, they aren't that hard to replace, the hardest part is getting the pin out but with a little work and patience you should be able to do that without too much trouble. What you may have gained by replacing one set may be cancelled out by not replacing the other, although one set is better than worn out bushings in both places. The front control arms can be be taken off without removing the strut. The hardest part of this job I found was to get the control arm back in with the new bushings. I ended up using a piece of all-thread rod with 2 large flat washers and 2 nuts. I used it as a spreader as the new bushings were a little too tight to get them into the mount. Once I spread it just a little it gave me the room needed to slide the control arm in. Do you mean a shimmy in the wheel? If it is, you may have worn tie rod ends or some other parts that was not noticeable before you replaced the bushings. In other words it was doing it before but it wasn't noticeable because the bushings were cancelling it out with the slop they had in them. I'd check the tie rod ends first, then go to the steering coupler in the steering column, then on to the wheel bearings and maybe even check your brakes. You could have a warped rotor or a seized piston in the caliper.

Well, glad to hear the "better half" if OK. As to what you could say when you return to the shop, well, guess that isn't fit to put on the site.:eek: I would calmly explain the situation first, then if they don't want to make good on the repair it might be time to go a little ballistic.

Well, Congratulations. Nice car. As far as the choke levers go it sounds like the previous owner didn't want to spend the money to replace the choke lever with the original. You should be able to get a replacement from Motorsport Auto or Victoria British. Get the cable for a 72 to match the carbs on the car. They aren't too hard to replace although you may find the center console might have been cracked or broken( perhaps that is why they chose not to replace the originals) but you should be able to find any part you need here or if you prefer to buy new MSA and VB offer them. BTW, few Z owners can live without one of these catalogs, go to their wb-sites in the web-links and request one. How do you work them? Easy, when the engine is cold, chokes full on until you have driven a mile or so and slowly ease them off. Z's are notoriously cold blooded, so if it spits and sputters just pull back on the chokes a bit till it runs smoothly. As far as the tires go, I'm not even sure what brand a Z came with when new. I guess it is up to you to buy what you like the looks of and what your budget allows.

Well it has been done. A lot depends on what you are going to use the car for. Daily driving only or are you going to race it once in a while. With a 280 block and 240 crank and rods you will be around 2600cc's but the powerband is going to be in the 4500-7000rpm range, which would require re-gearing to use it to the fullest extent. It will have a much narrower powerband than if you used a straight L-28 swap and the torque curve is going to be less linear than the L28. There is an article in the Nov/Dec 1997 issue of the old Z-car magazine about this swap. One thing the author did say is that below 3,000 rpm the engine was pretty weak so in stop and go traffic it is a bit hard to deal with. It would almost be the same as the new Honda S2000 where you have to run the car to the upper ends of the rpm range to use any of the available power. IMHO for a street driven car it would be better to use a straight L-28 swap and gain the torque down lower in the rpm range and you will also gain a bit in displacement.

If your dealer has a body shop they probably can get the paint, however, you would likely get a better price if you went directly to an automotive paint supplier. Find out where some of the local body shops buy their paint and go there yourself and cut out the middle man.

Tough question. No good answer either. First, a lot of the tire manufacturers are steering away from 14 inch tires so the choices are becoming more limited. Second, you need to decide which brand tire you want and which aspect ratio you would like to have. 50, 55, 60 ,65, 70 series?? You would almost need to find a tire size chart to decide which will fit your wheels and your need. With a 6 inch wide wheel you will probably want to stay with a tread width of 7 inches or slightly less. So, you probably will be looking at a tire size of 185 -205, but the deciding factor is which aspect ratio you decide on. A 185/50 and a 205/60 are going to be pretty close to the same width. Just remember the lower the aspect ratio the wider the tire will be, so a 195/70 will be narrower than a 195/50. So while I can't give a decisive answer I hope this helps. Also each tire manufacturer gives a recommended wheel width for their specific sizes so you would almost need to get with a tire dealer to find out exactly what sizes will fit and then choose a tire brand.

MSA has them for about $70.00 a pair with the 240 Z logo. If you don't already have one of their catalogs go to their web-site and get one. VB has floor mats but they don't show any with a logo. Check in the web-links here, MSA's link is there. You could also try zparts.com or strictlyz.com.

Well, I don't know how they sound but I have been planning on using a Flowmaster turbo muffler on mine when I get it ready to put on the road. grantman, aren't you going to keep your car? I thought you would have bought it back from the insurance company so you could part it out and use all the parts on your replacement Z. Sounds like you have already found your "new" ride.

I for one wish I had the funds to buy one of the "Z Store" cars. Why? Because I love my Z's and the one thing I never had a chance to do was to buy one brand new. I always wondered what it would be like to drive one off the lot with that "new car smell"! Too bad this car isn't one of the factory cars, it might be worth the asking price.

As long as your cooling system is in good condition you shouldn't have any problems. Radiator, fan clutch, water pump, thermostat should all be checked and if they are in good condition you won't have any overheating conditions while driving. If you have problems while sitting in traffic, you can add an electric fan to keep air flowing thru the radiator. One thing a lot of people forget is the fan shroud, if you don't have one you lose a lot of the efficiency of the stock fan. Without it and your stock fan won't draw enough air thru the radiator while you are sitting still. Of course, you could get a 3 or 4 row radiator to replace the stock 2 row core radiator to improve the efficiency of the radiator. The hood vents aren't really necessary but if you like the looks of them go ahead and put a set on. They certainly can't hurt anything, especially on a carburated car. They would allow some of the hot underhood air to escape, anytime you can remove the hot air you would be improving the air intake (the cooler the better)into the carbs and also allow the hot air to escape to prevent any chance of vapor lock. Just my two cents.......

Well, they might but I doubt it for a couple reason. I think the wheel stud size is different which would make the bolt circle just different enough the they would not fit on the Z pattern. Second, any wheel made for a front wheel drive application would have too much backspacing to be used on a Z. I guess you could try one on your Z if you could find a dealer that would be willing to let you test fit one. Sorry I can't give you a definate answer, I've never tried one and I don't have the info to make a comparison.

Well, it isn't really necessary when you are just changing the T/C bushings since the only thing that might change is your caster, which is technically non-adjustable from the factory. However, you may find a slight toe problem depending on how bad your stock T/C bushings are. You could end up with a little too much toe-in if the front end was a lined up when the T/C bushings were bad. I would at least have the toe-in checked soon, especially if you notice any difference in the way the car handles. Of course if you replace the tie rods when you do this then the point is moot.

Sorry, just couldn't resist that one.

4 lug, 4.50 inch bolt circle.

Hate to tell you this Mike, but if you didn't spend so much money to change your oil you wouldn't be in that predicament!

I believe they are 7/8 inch.