Arne

Jon is right, for lots of reasons. First, reading plugs is tricky and not very accurate, especially these days with the myriad of different additives in today's fuel which pollutes the plug color. Besides, your pictures are to unfocused to glean much from, even if we could read plugs accurately. Best to use an O2 sensor, or at least an exhaust gas analyzer.

No, the bragging rights for the biker is, "Man, I got another guppy in a car to race me! Hahahahaha!!"

Not a chance. Even my 750cc touring bike with big saddlebags and electric windshield will do 0-60 faster than 98% of the four-wheelers on the road. If this kid was on a 600cc or larger sportbike he isn't going to get beat by a car. Not if he's really trying.

Oops! Very true. Sorry...

I think Tony is right. '79-85 RX7.

For max power, I think I'd start with a P90, since it has the most modern chamber design, with good squish if used with flat top pistons. Clean up the ports and cc the chambers, mill it down about .070" to increase the compression, shim the cam towers back up. Consider using the earlier valves with longer stems to keep the geometry close. Get a really good valve job on it, 3 angle at least, maybe 5 angle on the intakes. Just my opinion, based on knowledge gained from prior car projects. Don't know how well it'd actually work, but it should do well.

Personal opinion here, but I think that the vaunted E31 head is highly over-rated. Blasphemous, I know.The E31 needs bigger valves, so it requires custom work to get the most out of. Have a little port and/or chamber work done on a later head like a P79 or P90 and you've got a much better package.

You know, when I look at that first picture, I'm almost thinking that the seat did not start life as a two tone seat. It looks to me as though the two different types of vinyl have sun-aged totally differently - the centers getting much darker, and the bolsters bleaching out. Compare the center flap and the very back edge of the center panel. I blew up that area in the attached picture. Maybe they were normal butterscotch originally??

A bit less than I expected, about $500 for the set. The D hubcaps are much harder to come by than the later Z caps.

Hey!! Maybe we can find a bunch of these here in the NW painted to match our cars!!

The local BMW dealer has a red one on the lot, looks pretty good. Of course, unlike the original 240Z, a new Z4 Coupe is NOT a car that the masses can afford. That is the missing part in all this.Don't get me wrong, I'm a BMW owner and I like the Z4 coupe. But I'm too cheap to buy my BMWs new...

I did post them on the Classifieds, yes. Post is gone now, as are the hubcaps.

I do have that issue. The article is a whole whopping one page long. There is a single B&W picture from the left rear quarter, probably so that you can see the '5 speed' emblem on the hatch. (The car also has rear window louvers.) The article is pretty short and to the point. It says the 5 speed makes the car more economical, but doesn't make it quieter. It also outlines the other changes for '77 . Anyway, there's really not a lot to it. If you must possess absolutely everything 280Z, go ahead and pick it up. But it's not a must-have in my opinion.

Bumpers were a little bigger and heavier, emissions (carbs and such) were different, intermittent wipers weere added, seatbelts were improved, electric fuel pump was added... In short, other than the carbs and bumpers, most everything else was an improvement. IMO a '73 with round-tops is probably the best 240Z to use as a driver.

I'm certainly aware of that claim by Bryan Little, but I've never heard from anyone who has experienced that issue. I've tried mine on three different 240Zs, all the the 4-wire tach. Worked fine on them all. I also know of several other people running the ZX dizzy on 240Zs, with both 3-wire and 4-wire tachs. All of them work. So I'd have to say that it works in more cases than not.

Yeah, different name, same part. But as was mentioned above, don't buy one until you see if the dizzy you have coming has one already. A lot of them do. Was there a picture in the auction? Give us the link and we can look at it. As for the bushings, my advice would be that if the bushings on the one you get are bad, use it as a core for a rebuilt unit.

Opening in the top looks as if it might be for EGR. So I suspect the balance tube is from a 260Z. I was going to say a '73 240Z, but since beandip didn't recognize it... Edit - Didn't type fast enough...

I may still have that issue in my archives, that's about when I stopped sponging off my Dad and got my own subscription. Since I have never thrown out a copy, if I received that issue, it'll still be in my closet. (Much to my wife's dismay.) I'll look later tonight.

The ZX dizzy requires the ZX mounting tower as well. But with that, it's about as bolt-on as it gets. But check the one you get carefully, as many of these used ZX dizzies have worn bushings and/or bad vacuum advance units by now.

Hey, I resemble that remark...

No, later than late '71, as I have a late '71 (7/71 build) and neither the dash nor the console match mine. Must be '72 or '73.

A.J., I think part of the problem here is that I've never heard anyone talk about collapsing their Z's bumper shocks here. Collapsing the bumper shocks on a 2002, or 320i? Sure. But on a Z? Haven't heard about it. So I fear there isn't much knowledge on this here.

Lorea, welcome! I'm in Springfield, and as far as Zs go I'm much more familiar with carbs, but shoot me a PM (Private Message) and I'll see if I can help.

Well, in their defense, I'm pretty certain that McGard won't sell them just one kit of that part number. Not to a wholesale customer, at the cheap wholesale price. They probably come in a master carton of 10 kits or more. And frankly, gold tuner kits for 12x1.25 are not very dang popular, especially for those places which specialize in American iron. So I can certainly understand them not being willing to order a whole case of something that they are going to sit on forever once your single order has been filled. I'd be looking to get them from a wheel specialist who'll be more likely to be able to sell the rest from the case, or just bite the bullet and order them direct from McGard.

I agree with Carl on all counts. Especially the parts about '55 MPH shake' (neither of mine do this) and that 'eBay is a crap shoot'. (I can testify to that from personal experience as well.)