Arne

The proper Appliance caps for those wheels will be hard to find, Randy. In the '80s I recall my customers having lots of rust problems with them after only a few years use. Finding a set today that aren't rusty is going to take an act of God. You may be forced to go with a different brand of cap in the same size.

With the proper tires (and assuming the car is not too radically lowered), yes. 255/50-16 are about the same height as the stock tires were, 225/45-16 are a bit shorter. Either should work fine, on most cars.

Try hunting on some vintage Toyota web sites. I recall selling lots of 92's to Supras and Celicas back in the day, not so many to Z's.

Ha! While I recall seeing that term in Humble's book, and I agree that the description of the color is accurate, as a long-time collector of vintage Lesney die-cast toys the term "Matchbox" brings to my mind things not at all related to Datsuns.

Hmm, Steve and Bruce keep inviting me to come visit the shop some weekend, and I never seem to have the time to do it. I might have to give it a shot soon, before Mike's car is finished.

Well, it's all personal, but I don't care for the color-matched rear panel. Somehow that hust seems wrong to me on a Z, especially with the stock chrome bumper. But it's your car, so if it's good for you, go for it. But it's sure looking good. I'm really looking forward to getting to the body/paint part on mine. There are lots of yellow Zs in Oregon (Mike's, beandip's, azcarbum's), but none in original 919 yellow, so mine will still be a bit unique. I can't wait.

OK, with that description I'm at least 90% certain that your problem is in the input shaft area. The input shaft has one large roller bearing just behind the front seal, and is supported at the front of the mainshaft on needle bearings. From your description, I'd lean toward the needle bearings as the source, but that's just a wild guess at this point.The other 10% possibility would be bad bearings on the countershaft (or layshaft, in a british car), as it also spins in neutral. In a Z, the countershaft is supported by a single roller bearing on each end of the shaft. Doesn't matter much either way though, as any of those will require a complete transmission tear-down.

Ahh, but I HAVE rebuilt transmissions before. First, I'm sorry I missed the earlier thread, might have been able to save you from buying the throwout bearing. A bad throwout bearing makes noise when it is in contact with the fingers of the pressure plate - i.e. it makes noise when the pedal is DEPRESSED, but is quiet when released. Just backwards from your description. Now. If the noise is quiet while in neutral, suspect the mainshaft. But if the noise is present at all times the clutch pedal is released (even in neutral), your problem is more likely in the input shaft. The mainshaft doesn't move while the car is stopped and in neutral, but the input shaft does (assuming the clutch pedal is released).

My first thought is that there is possibly some misalignment that is putting excessive stress on the bolts. Because this doesn't seem to be a common problem.

Speaking as someone with years of experience doing brakes on other poeple's cars, I'll dispute the idea that drums are more maintenance than discs. Done right, drum brakes on a 240/260/280Z will require virtually no maintenance over the life of the shoes. (Assuming - of course - that you use the parking brake regularly. You do, don't you?) And those shoes are likely to last far longer than the pads on a rear disc setup. The disc brake conversion uses calipers which have the parking brake ratchet inside the piston, which is great as long as all is good, but when it goes bad it can be catastrophic. Add the fact that for street driving there is almost no stopping advantage over the drums, and I don't see much reason to convert.

My first thought would be to not do all this to your matching-number block. For the kind of power you'd like to have eventually, I'd start with the late ZX F-54 block with the extra internal stiffening. Lacking that, there are lots of L-series blocks out available for free, or nearly. (Shoot, I don't know where you live, but I've got a surplus L24 block out of a '73 myself. And I'll have an F-54 block and crank available in a few weeks.) After all, if you end up building the bejeebers out of it and blow it up, you don't want to throw a rod through the side of your original block.

Awww, now I'm embarrassed agin. My website was originally conceived as an easy way to keep my Dad (in Klamath Falls) and my brother (in Corvallis) up to date. I didn't know if anyone else would be interested enough to follow along. It still amazes me when I look at the web server stats to see how many people from around the world visit - not just once, but repeatedly. It's made me a few new Z pen pals, too.

Mike, are you finding time to work on your car again? I sure hope so, I'd love to see it back on the road.

Carl's got a point, Tom. I'm swapping a '71 L24 into my car over Labor Day. It has been sitting for 2-3 years, but appears to still be fine. Not as long as yours, but still quite a while. I'll post back later on how it goes.

Welcome, Tom. The Oregon contingent here is mostly centered farther north (no surprise), but there are a fair number of us. Keep us posted on how it goes.

If the area is the same, so is the restriction - or lack there of. I can't see where this would have any noticeable effect at all.

Depending on how my engine swap over Labor Day weekend goes, my car MIGHT be road-worthy for the Mt. St. Helens run. Might have to give it a shot. Won't be pretty, but...

Several weeks now. Still gaining 3-5 minutes per week. I might have to try to slow it down some, but I'd likely go way too far, so I'll probably leave it as is.

What color will she be?

True, that would do it too.

Check for a bad ground in the rear body wiring.

Great write-up for the electronic clocks. Good job! Admins - can this thread maybe be moved into the Tech Articles area?

Nope. The '70 and early '71s are different. I've got both styles. Slight difference in the bulb function, and a different size connector plug. You'll need the ones from 1/71 or later for a '73.

The horn pad should still be available from the dealer. At least, Courtesy still has them. http://www.courtesyparts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=CP&Product_Code=240Z-HORN

Without seeing them in person and disassembling them to see what is wrong? No. You're either going to have to tear it apart to see what you can find, or pay someone to do so for you.