VaGuS510

I did a search for ignition switch and half a million things came up and many had nothing to do with my problem, I am lazy and hopefully you can make my life easier. My ignition switch is doing some werid stuff and I need to replace it. Can i buy just the switch componant of it without needing to have a "new" switch rekeyed to my current keys? If you are curious this is what's happening. The accessories randomly work or don't work. For instance, my windshield wipers might be working then they will stop, i can turn the key a tad to the start position and they will work for a little while then stop agian. All of the accessory problems respond to me turning the ignition a little, but they don't always respond to it. Anyways, thanks for the help.

Does the engine kind of jump in revs. My brother had a 1995 mustang GT and it had a strange problem, He hit around 3500rpms and then he is suddenly at 4000, the engine runs rough and the power disappers. He found out that the problem was in the valve springs. I can't remeber if a few where broken or if they were just not spaced right. The mechanic that did the work had some spacers machined to get the springs to work well. I think it had something to do with the cam that was in it. Maybe your car has an aftermarket cam in it and that could cause the rough idle and also could result in valve spring damage if the valve springs were not up to par with the cam. Just a thought. Hopfully your problem isn't this serious.

This Z was sitting in a lot up by lake Folsum on a back road, it was pretty secluded. As far as why I am replacing the bearings, I don't have a good enough reason not to. I can get two bearings for $30 and I have the money to spend, and i am going to have the bearing out anyways. Not only does the rear seem lower but the wheels seem to have a little negetive camber to them. Another possibility could be that the strut insulators themselves are sagging. I can feel that they have cracks in the rubber. I have driven it probably 100-200 miles without doing any suspension work, so maybe the insulators are kind of settling down, i don't know why the front wouldn't do the same though. I guess that I will figure it out when the time comes to tear into it.

All the car detailers are getting their nap.

I don't know what they look like yet, but i do know my Z sat for 12 years before I got it. It had 1993 stickers on it. It sat in West Sacromento, you should know, cold and riany in winter, hot as hell in the summer. That weather alone can deteriorate rubber. I have also read, in Carrol Smith's Engineer to Win, that springs should not sagor settle with age or even with milage, unless the spring is a piece of $h!t (made of crappy material or not heat treated properly). I guess i will see when i get it apart. BTW: i am replacing the bearing becase my car sat for 12 years. You should have seen the brakes the fluid wasn't fluid, the pistons were rusted in the calipers and the wheel cylinders were corroided so much that they couldn't seal at all (even after a rebuild).

I was eyeballing those wheels. In 50 years they will still be putting those wheels on classic cars and they will look better then ever.

I was told that the rear struts have a spacer in the strut mount where the fronts have the bearing that allows the strut to steer. I was also told that this spacer is rubber. If it is then mine is likely to be gone, or almost gone. Would it be possible to use the old bearings from the front as spacers for the rear? It doesn't seem that it would hurt anything and it would be easier,cheaper, and more reliable then buying new spacers. It just dawned on me that this could be the reason the the rear seems to ride about 1/2" to 1" lower then the front. What do you think?

Almost forgot, the prices are the cheapest i have found, and the shipping is free (and only takes about 2 days for San Fran Bay Area).

I am planning a suspension job on my Z and was planning on getting many parts from the local Kragen Auto parts. Well, I decided to jump on summit and see if they had anything for my 73 240z. I was amazed, they quite a few things for a Z. They have alot of universal items like oil filter relocation kits and spark plug wires and car covers but they also have very Z car spicific stuff, they have struts, brake rotors(drilled or vented), centerforce clutchs, ARP hardware, brake pads, gasket sets. I was really amazed, I never suspected they had so much for a 240z. Check it out here.

My brother is an auto body painter. I am learning more everyday from him but there is something that doesn't look right about that paint. Sure it is is glossy but that isn't all that makes a good paint job. Plus the paint doesn't seem to have much depth, i would have to see it in person to be conviced of its validity. Also, you are very limited with this paint. Look at new cars almost every new car isn't plain color, they have metallic or pearl. The best colors have either metalic or pearl or both. Anyways, for $3-4 you will be lucky to get a paint job that is any good. YOu may as well risk the $50. My brother just finished a 67 Mustang, Dark metalic with ghost racing stripes and a $25,000 price tag. How good was the job, $25,000. The guy that helped my brother paints hot rods and has had one featured in a magazine. He gave the job a 9 out of ten. This was before the car was wet sanded and rubbed. No way in hell I would do this but if my brother wasn't a painter, i would spend $50 before $3000

I think it is my tranny. I just remembered that after swapping in the engine and transmission i forgot to fill the tranny with fluid but it was only for about 2 miles. I never went over 25 mph because I was just cruising around the neighborhood while tuning the car. What do you think? Tranny?

Forgot, where can i get some strut mount insulators, mine are likely to be nothing more than dust. I can't find them on the partsamerica website. All they have is bearings.

Here is the deal. I have a whining in my car, it sounds like strait-cut gears. The engine and tranny are pretty tired so the tranny might be the problem. Other guess is the rear differential, or wheel bearings. The whining is only present when there is stress on the drive train. If i am accelerating, or tranny braking the whine is there, if i am cruising/decelerating slowly there is no whine. I don't suspect the wheel bearings because it isn't always noisy. So it is diff or tranny, right? What do you think?

Thanks, i always forget to search before asking questions. Sorry.

I have purchased a urathane bushing kit front and rear and steering rack, it has tie-rod ends and ball joints also. While i am doing this i am planing on replacing the struts, wheel bearings and seals. Is there anything else that i should replace. Do new struts come with boots? Is there a bearing at the top of the strut that should be replaced? I havn't done work on a 240z's suspension before so i don't know exactly what there is that will need replacing. This car sat for 13 years before i got it so i am expecting that most what could be replaced needs to be replaced. Thanks.

i also had a simular problem, it probably wasn't the same bolt though. I didn't do anything with it. I had no leaks or anything either. The only thing i may have done was use some RTV around the broken bolt. Good luck.

I have a 240z with a 77 280z engine and after i put this engine in to get it running I used a marine battery i had laying around, it worked good so why change a good thing? Anyways my starter has gone out, could this battery be too strong or was my ol' starter just on it's last thread? I have got a new starter and i don't want to screw it up. Thanks.

Rubber would probably suit you best but there is a place called Performance Suspension Technology (PST) sells what they call Polygraphite bushings. These are polyurathane bushings that are impregnated with graphite. The goal of this is to reduce friction. The biggest problem with urathane bushings is that the bushing doesn't twist like rubber does. Therefore the suspension will have to twist in it. This causes friction, squeeking and increases ride harshness. How well do they work? I don't know, i will tell you once I install mine. I just bought a front end kit they sell for the 240-280z. I also got the rear end kit and steering rack bushings. What attracted me most to PST was the fact that they had these kits. The front comes with control arm bushings, ball joints, and tie rod ends. The rear end kit and steering rack kits are just bushings. I will let you all know how these end up working once i put them on.

These guys from Sweden are awesome. This guy and Mull are both tackling some huge projects without any fear. Maybe there isn't anything better to do in Sweden.

i believe that there is a high temp powdercoating that is used on headers, while it isn't very pretty i have heard it works well. Powdercoat will only stick to the bare metal of the header and being a powder it should be able to be applied throughout the inside of the header. I have heard that you can touch these headers minutes after the engine ran because the metal doesn't get very hot. It would surely be cheaper then a stainless header. Stainless is expensive and not the easiest metal to work with. It is hard so cutting it isn't easy, gaps need to be small to make welding managable and any good fabricator would back purge the welds to keep the welds from oxidizing on the inside of the header. All of these things add to the cost of fabricating a stainless header, where mild steel is very easy to work.

My 2 cents. Often on older cars, like many Zs, a competant body man will do a skim coat of bondo over the whole car. This is esspecially true for cars that will be painted black. This is because over the lifetime of a car the body panels get fatiged and imperfections arise all over the body. You can see this on alot of old cars. If you look at the body at the right angle you can see waves in it. This is even the case on cars that haven't been repainted. Some cars, like ours, have quite thin sheetmetal so this can happen even more easily. My brother is working on a 40 ford 5-window coupe and it probably has bondo everywhere. My brother is planning on putting a skim coat on everything. You cant trust panels that old.

This is such a hard question to answer, but here is a few. Most Tirumphs (TR6, Spitfire, GT6) MGB-GT Datsun 510 & roadsters Alfa Romeo GTV & GTJ (later 60's) Lambo Muira (the first real supercar) 1973 Porsche Carrera 2.7 RS New boxsters BMW 507 (made in 1952 i believe) BMW Z8 (the modern 507) 1932 Ford 5-window coupe (chopped & channeled) 1966 Chevy Corvair Monza Porsche 944 Turbo Most Hot Rods 1955-1957 Buick Special 2Dr. Ferrari 275 GTB Skyline GTR R32,R33,R34 Thats all for now.

The fuel was boiling out thru the hose that i was using to adjust my float level. The problem is not that the i am running too rich. This is just the only solution i have found to the backfiring. At idle i can get the mixture to where it should be but it isn't drivable because it backfires with even the smalllest load. Even under very slow acceleration it will backfire. I only get around 10 mpg when the carbs are adjusted so that it will run. Thats the biggest problem. Thanks for replying.

I have looked around quite a bit to try and find my problem. I still can't figure out what is wrong. I have an L28 with a header, N42 head and belltop SU carbs. I was told there is a cam in the engine(but you know how that goes ). I believe I am currently running N55 needles. Which is probably part of my troubles. I am thinking of going with SM's. I set up a dual air fuel ratio gauge (each reads from a carb with my dual collector header). The only way to prevent backfire when the engine is under load is to richen the mixture up quite a bit. Another trouble is that I can't get the rear carburetor to lean out at idle. The choke isn't stuck. The only problem i can find is the gas getting too hot and boiling. This is definatly something i will fix very soon. But could this cause the "always rich" condition. I have tried to adjust the float many times. I recently got some clear tubing and adjusted the level 27mm below the gasket surface. I can't figure much out. I am hoping to get a Z-therapy rebuild kit as soon as i have the cash. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Let me know if you have any ideas.

If you like the classic Z looks but like the purr of an american V8 then i believe this one takes the bait. It is beautiful from bottom to the top and while it is beating a Yamaha R1. I think this is the best compromise between performance and beauty. I believe he recently put a wide body kit on it. Plus it is black which means the body work has to be at least twice as good. http://www.darius240z.com/gallery.php