2ManyZs

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.

The amount you bore the block is dependant on how out of round the cylinder bores are to begin with. Have someone check them with a micrometer and only take it as far as is needed to give you a good true bore. You may only need to go to 20 oversize. Don't go to 40 over just to get the extra little bit, if in the future something goes wrong and you need to bore it again it will not be possible. The more you take it out now will only hurt you in the future. Once the bores are at a certain size they can't be taken out any more due to the amount of material in the block that has already been taken out. The bore size is not as critical as the type of head, pistons, cam and related items when you decide to run the Dell Orto's, Webers, Mikuni's and the like. However bore size will make it necessary to adjust all the other components to compensate for the change in chamber volume, and compression ratio. Find out how much needs to be taken out to true the block and then match the rest of the components to work with that.

I guess you could try some of the aluminum wheel cleaner. If you don't want a polished finish most of these have a mild acid that will clean them up pretty good, and it's easy too. Just spray it on and hose it off. It will leave a somewhat whitish color to the aluminum though. I believe the fuel rail had some type of coating on it from the factory, perhaps some type of cadmium plating. It should come off using a cleaner. For the really tough parts you might try using a very fine scotch-brite pad.

The air pump was standard on all the Z's, not just CA models.

I just bought a set of the Eibach progressives from MSA less than two weeks ago, they are still available for the 240 at least, perhaps not the 260's. The stock spring rates were around 100-110 lbs/in so if the aftermarket springs are 10-20% stiffer you can figure 120-130lbs/in. There were slight differences between the 240's, 260's and the 280's spring rates because of the weight of the cars. I'd have to look it up to ge the correct spring rates. But this at least will give you an idea. For the street I would definately stay below 150lbs/in or your ride is going to be terribly stiff. Couple that with stiff strut cartridges (high compression/rebound) and you will have a "kidney buster".

Looks like "universal fit" weatherstripping to me. May have a thin metal strip in the rubber where it then pinch fits to the jamb. Notice it says trimming is necessary? May be better off spending a little more and getting something that does fit. You could probably buy this stuff at most any good automotive trim shop, probably save a buck or two at the same time.

Dog doesn't look too happy about someone playing "Tarzan" though. Good to see Mike may have gotten his hands dirty on this project, but I'm trying to figure why he had to jump up and down on top of the engine like that. Did it need a little persuasion maybe? Or did he just want to vent his anger at the engine for giving out?

Before you spend money on triples, you will need to address the rest of the engine to make the triples worth the trouble. You are going to have to upgrade the ignition, put on a header and a good free flowing exhaust, and get a better cam than the stock one. They will work on a bone stock engine, but you will not see any benefit from them till you modify the engine to use the carbs you decide on. Then when you decide on the engine mods, you may want to look into a rear gear change to use the powerband of the engine based on the modifications you made. Bolting on a set of triple carbs won't help much at all until you address the complete package.

The timing being off a little could also contribute to the backfiring. If you haven't done it yet, a complete tune-up would be a good place to start. Plugs, points, condensor, timing check, check your plug wires, cap and rotor. If this fails then go for the carb adjustments, and check the ABV.

Well, you could possibly service it yourself, but it might be better to have an A/C shop do it. R-12 is very expensive now, since the EPA doesn't want you to use it. If you take it to a shop they can recycle what is in there and add the amount that is needed. You would need the gauges (not too expensive) to service it and get the correct amount in the system. You should also evacuate the system to rid it of any moisture, which requires a special vacuum pump. Any time you service the A/C (evacuate the system) it is highly recommended you change the drier. Also, after charging the system, you should always check for any leaks which requires some special equipment. As long as everything seems to be in good working order, I would take it to a shop and have it done. Take a new drier with you when you do it, it might save you a little money. Of course, if you know someone who does home HVAC work, they would have all the equipment you would need. Might only cost you a six-pack that way.

If doors start popping open or the hood won't stay latched. Just kidding. In reality all unibody cars have some amount of flex in the chassis. Some just have more than others. If someone did a torsional rigidity test of the Z cars, especially the early ones, they would probably flex more than a new passenger car, even a Hyandai. In the 70's no one was worried about crash testing and safety like they are today with the crumple zones etc. One of the biggest reasons the early cars flex a bit more than they should is because they were built using what today is thought of as very thin sheetmetal for the basic chassis. That coupled with the fact that all the panels are spot welded together instead of being seam welded contributes to the chassis flexing. One trick a lot of racers have used is to strip the chassis down and seam weld key areas of the unibody. If you are missing rivets on the interior panels it is just magnifying what little flex there is. If you go under your car and find panel seams that are starting to separate then it's time to start worrying, until then, "enjoy the ride".

It just goes to show that for everything we have, there is always some SOB sitting in there basement or wherever trying to think up a way to screw it up for everyone else. If they are so smart to be able to think up these viruses and infect so many computers on the web, you would think they would be able to find a job and get a life so they would have something constructive to do with their time. Personally, I think instead of prosecuting these sorry pieces of s--t, they should just bring them to my place, I can think of ways to make them wish they never existed! Or put them out in public where passers-by can have a shot at them. Stones, sticks whatever. Bet there would be less repeat offenders in court if they went back to actually dispensing a little justice in this world, instead of the lawyers p****-footing around the law and haveing them receive nothing more than what amounts to a slap on the wrist.

OK, so much for my silly idea. Now for another one. Have you looked at the taillight bulbs? I have seen taillight bulbs blow a filament, and the filament breaks and crosses over to the other filament and causes all sorts of weird things to happen. I've seen a taillight short out all the lights on a trailer when I worked in a truck shop many years ago. Never hurts to look right? Only other thing I can think of is to check the ground wire that connects the headlight and turn signal switch and the ground wires on the wiring harness in the engine compartment. If it's not there then it probably will require some work and/or replacement of the switch at the stalk.

To tell the truth, I'm kinda curious as to what happened to the other engine aren't you? Are you planning to send it back as a core or are you going to take it apart and try to find out what the heck happened? Besides, if it didn't hurt the bottom end you have an L-28 to hop up for your 240 if you ever want to.

Well, if the right ones flashes OK then it probably is in the switch. Before you start tearing it apart check one thing first, check to see if your steering column cover panels have moved and are not allowing the stalk to completely activate the switch. It's happened to me before, so try it and see what happens. Try some spray contact cleaner into the switch before you start looking for another switch. They aren't cheap, unless you get lucky enough to find one used from the same year car. They have different plugs that connect to the wiring harness, so you will need to find one with the correct plugs. I know that there is a difference between 72 and 74, not sure how many are interchangeable.

200hp is possible out af an L-24 but it is going to cost a lot more than you may be willing to spend. Here in the US, Rebello engines is charging 4-5K for their racing engines with that kind of hp. You might get 20-35hp with head work, cam, carb and exhaust mods. The easiest and cheapest solution to getting near the 200hp range is doing these mods to an L-28 with the early carbs and intake.

There should be some type of check valve but am not sure if it is in the fuel damper or if it is separate from it. The fuel damper is on top of the electric fuel pump, it's purpose is to even out the pulses from the fuel pump to avoid high/low pressure spikes in the fuel rail. Since I no longer have my 75 service manual I can't say for sure where it is but am pretty sure there is a check valve back there somewhere. Have you tried it without the mechanical pump in place? Actually, it's not needed with the electric pump. Might not hurt to try it sometime just to see what it does. It is possible your electric pump is not working at 100% and is not pumping at the needed psi. Got another one you could try?

A fan shroud will help a tremendous amount. It will allow the fan to pull more air through the radiator especially when you are sitting still or in slow speed traffic. Timing that is too far advanced will also contribute to running a little hotter than normal. If all else fails you could try a 160 dgree thermostat. If my memory serves me correctly the hose that goes to the heater control valve should come off the Y in the rail along the side of the block. The return hose is the short one that goes to the back of the head. This might be part of the problem, I think you do have them backwards and are trying to force water against the flow. The line coming from the lower radiator hose is the line that feeds water to the block and should also feed the heater and the intake/carbs. Diluting the mix wouldn't hurt, just drain a little out and add a quart of water to it. The oil pressure drop probably was due to the low idle, but installing a new sending unit would add to a little insurance that everything is working right.