2ManyZs

The oil spray bar for the cam probably isn't causing a "knock", but it may have contributed to causing the knock. You will need to do two things. First find out what kind of oil pressure the engine is carrying at idle and when you rev it up to about 2,000rpm. If the stock oil pressure gauge can't give you a good reading, by a cheap mechanical gauge at the auto parts store and hook it up to get an accurate reading. Second, you need to find out where the "knock" is coming from. Is it down low in the block? Or does it sound like it is coming from the top of the engine in the head area. If you have a very long screwdriver, place it against the block and put your ear near the handle of it, it will act as a "stethascope" and you should be able to tell if it is high or low. If it is down low you may have a rod or main bearing about to go, if it is up high you may have a valve problem due to the spray bar being broken. Normally, if the spray bar just breaks apart, instead of spraying oil directly on the cam it will flood the head with oil. However, it may have caused a drop in oil pressure and caused a rod or main bearing to seize or spin. Either way, it would not be a good idea to drive the car until you find the exact cause of the noise. Check it out and let us know and we'll try to go from there.

If my car looked as good as yours Tom, I'd be pretty PO'd if people didn't notice it! BTW Dan, you must have really good hearing yet to hear the exhaust over the "noise" emanating from the 3,000 watt amps and 36 inch sub-woofers in those Hondas!

Now you know why driving a truck is no fun anymore! Double the number of people to avoid.

This is making me think your problem isn't the head gasket after all. 1. Bad antifreeze. ( Fish smell???) 2. Clogged radiator, reduced flow may be causing pump to cavitate. This may be why the lower hose wasn't as hot as the rest. Pump is not able to force the water thru the radiator like it should. 3. Bad pump. Did it do this before or after you flushed and re-filled with new antifreeze?

I think you forgot to attach the pic.

I for one wish Nissan had brought this car to the US, it would have sold out in no time. I'd rather spend the money to have one of the Skylines long before I'd spend a cent on the 350. This is IMO one of the biggest mistakes Nissan has made since they discontinued the 300ZX here in the States!

I'd use 18 or 20 gauge sheetmetal. If the hole is not too you could have it spot welded, but if it is bigger than a couple inches I think it would be stronger to butt weld it in place with a Mig. You could check the gauge of the panel when you cut out the rust. I know there are panels that are thicker than others on a Z. Not sure what gauge the inner fender is. Probably 18 but you should check and use the same to patch it.

I wouldn't put anything in it. If it is the headgasket you should be able to drive it 20 miles with no problem if you leave the radiator cap loose. That way it won't build up too much pressure and try to push any coolant out. Just leave it at the first detent and don't tighten it all the way. BTW, I happened to see this in one of the old service manuals I have and thought it might add a little here. Condition: Overflow loss, or poor circulation and overheating Possible cause: Coolant foaming due to insufficient corrosion inhibitor Correction: Flush and re-fill with new antifreeze. Something else to think about.

Well, 59ghia is right about how the head gasket leak can put air in the coolant system. Dan, all the carburated Z's had coolant to the carbs or the intake to help with the cold start hesitation and warm up issues. That being said, after I thought about it a while there are a couple other possibilities, they are a long shot, but still possible. 1. The radiator cap is not releasing the pressure build-up as the coolant gets hot and is forcing the air back into the system. This could cause the coolant to have a lot of bubbles in it. If the engine is not overheated and the radiator cap releases a lot of pressure when opened it is a possibility. I think the cap should be no more than an 13lb cap if I'm not mistaken, and I think the testing pressure is around 20-25lbs pressure. 2. It could be the water pump is cavitating and causing the coolant to froth, whether due to a bad impeller, or maybe the lower radiator hose is collapsing under load and causing the pump to be starved for coolant to pump. Thereby adding air pockets into the cooling system. 3. It may be the head gasket after all. It could be the head wasn't torqued down correctly and the gasket is blown (or about to). Or (let's hope not) the engine could have been overheated at one time or another and the head is warped just enough to let the compression blow the gasket. Usually if this happens you will see coolant running down the outside of the block, cause when the heads get warped they usually let a lot of coolant out, been there. Done that. :mad:

Ya, but my tools and garage are here! Another Z? You trying to have more than me??? And it is warmer down here!

Maybe she put a brick on the accelerator and jumped.

Well, bring it down here and I can do the compression test for you. Time? Probably 4-6 hours, I guess working by myself changing a head gasket will pretty much kill an afternoon, if no studs break or anything out of the ordinary. Cost?? How much you willing to pay?:eek: Just remember the old saying, you get what you pay for. And make sure they have the right tools or the timing chain is going to cause a lot more work and expense. Here I sat all week with no work, and I could have made some money.

It's pointing in the direction of a head gasket leak. Try having a pressure test done on the radiator and see if it is holding pressure. If it leaks down you know it's going somewhere. If it isn't leaking on the outside it's probably got a leak in the head gasket. :mad: Most any garage should be able to do a pressure test on the radiator, then if it indicates a leak try the compression test. Sorry, wish I could give you better news.

Is this what happens when the Z project takes up the parking space normally reserved for your wife's car??? Perhaps a Goody's is more fitting if this happens. Would this be considered "road rage"????

Well, if you can budget the 600 for the ZTherapy carbs they are definately worth it. They do much more than just polish and re-plate the housings and linkage. Every piece of the carb is as good as it was when it was brand new and in some cases it probably is better. They re-bush, re-plate and rebuild every part of the carb. If I ever get the body work on my 71 it's getting a set and I may have to get another set for my other 240. Consider what a new four barrel carb goes for now and I think you will see that ZTherapy carbs aren't really all that expensive considering the carbs are as good as new.

I doubt if anyone has ever taken a fender off an old Z without snapping at least one of those four bolts off, the water runs out of the drain for the front cowl area and runs right down the panle and into the front of the rocker panel and there is no drain there to get rid of it. You have two choices, you can drill them out and try to remove them (you may snap the nut loose trying this) and re-thread them in the next size up or you could just replace the whole rocker panel. Replacing it might be the best route to take, the is the possibility that there is more rust in the rocker under the door you haven't found yet (people like to pack them full of bondo) and replacing a rocker panel is not the most difficult job and replacement panels are fairly inexpensive. If you do replace them, be sure to drill a small (1/8 inch) hole between or near the bolts to drain out any water that may get in there in the future. A little seam sealer on the top flange of the panel is also a good idea to keep as much out as possible. As for the battery area, if the hole is away from the firewall you can cut it out and make a patch panel without too much trouble. The battery tray itself is another matter, you will probably need to find one out of a parts car that is in better shape than yours as I don't think there is anyone making replacements.

Try a product called RESTORE, I used it in an old 200sx I had and it did help to cut down on its oil useage, not a lot but enough to notice. It didn't cure the problem, but it didn't hurt. They have a can for 4 cylinder, 6 cylinder or 8 cylinder engines and you should put a can in with every oil change. The 200sx had over 160k on it when I bought it, and it was still going at 210K when I got rid of it. The engine had never been taken apart. But, if the rings and cylinder bores are that bad, the only true cure is a good honing, and new rings if it doesn't need to be bored. Like we said before, a compression check and leakdown test is the only truly accurate way to find out how bad (or good) condition the engine is in. And there still is the possibility this could be in the valve seals, if one or more is almost completely gone, it could be causing a lot of the smoke. Is the smoke heavier when you first start the engine and then lessens after it has be run a while?

While you have the door panel off, it's also a good idea to lube the window regulator pivots with some lithium grease. Also take a look at the plastic clips on the door latch assembly. They get brittle and break and the next thing you know you are trapped in your car with a door that won't open or worse, locked out. There are also adjustments on the rods so if you have to yank on the handle to get the door to open, try making some adjustments while you are in there and you won't have to worry about pulling the clips loose.

I still think the idea of a license plate frame is good, what better way to advertise the club but on the car itself at a show? This won't have to be stuck on a window and can be taken from one car to the next. Best of all it should be quite inexpensive to do.

Not that I know of, in fact the valve adjustment tool that MSA sells is in fact made by Snap-On, that may be why it's so expensive. It is a type of crowsfoot wrench but is made on one piece. Take a look at it if you have their catalog and you could try to catch a Mac Tools salesman or Craftsman may have one very similar that will be a bit cheaper. BTW, I have used just 2 plain open end wrenches to adjust valves, but they tend to get in each others way. Unless you have a cheap one you could put in a vise and bend just a little so they aren't interfering with each other all the time.

Well Royce, I'm not sure about the later 280's but my 75 has the holes in the quarters where the rubber bumper ends mount. The bumpr ends are a little different than the later 77-78's. I guess if you wanted to cut the flange off the bumper shock absorber where the bumper mounts you might be able to wiggle it through the hole without dropping the tank. You can access the mounting bolts without too much trouble, it's getting the shock to pull through the hole in the body where you will run into trouble. The gas tank is in the way to pull them straight back through the hole. I wouldn't cut into the shock itself, but if you cut off the mounting flange you might have enough room to slip it through. I think the passengers side will be the worst as the shock mount is close to the tank, on the drivers side it is close to the muffler so you will have a little more room on that side.

Well, for me it's classic rock no matter if I'm driving or working in the garage. Fleetwood Mac, Eagles, Bob Segar, 38 Special, anything from the 70's and 80's. Takes me back to when I was young and having fun, and brings back a few not so good memories too.

Should work, that is basically what the special tool is anyway. But it is a good idea to double check the lock nut with a wrench after you are done as sometimes you will find using this tool you don't get the locknut tight. You can't get the right leverage on the tool to tighten them as tight as they should be, they snug them down good to keep the adjustments, but it is better to be safe and double check it before you re-install the valve cover.

A wire feed Mig will work the best IMO for sheet metal such as body repairs. TIG will work, but the equipment is very expensive compared to Mig and TIG is better for aluminum and stainless steel. I have tried TIG in the past and it is not easy. A wire feed MIG can be had for under $500 if you get the one that has Argon or CO2 shielding gas. A gasless will work but IMO one with the shielding gas will give better results, less splatter and nicer welds. I have not tried a gasless MIG with the flux wire so I can only guess at this. You can buy timers for the MIG so that you will not overheat what you are working on and cause the panels to warp. It is always best to do the welding in very short increments to keep the heat from warping the surrounding panel. You can also by a heat shielding putty to surround the work area to minimize warping due to the heat. Brazing will work, but with the heat needed to braze, you may warp the panel. Brazing will not be as strong as a good MIG weld. Just my opinion, since I am a "shadetree" welder at best.

Have you replaced the steering rack bushings and steering coupler yet? If not, this could be a lot of the problem. Worn tie rods could be a culprit as well as the ball joints. Loose or worn wheel bearings could add to the problem too. If all these are in good condition the only thing left would be the steering rack itself. I'd start at the rack bushings and steering coupler first, then on to tie rods ends and ball joints etc. Might as well start with the cheaper parts and then on to the more expensive items until you find the shaking is cured.