=Enigma=

Dunno. I'm guessing the paint is applied to seal the porous aluminum. Without something, you'll end up with aluminum oxide build up in no time flat. It looks like white powder. All my unfinished aluminum parts end up that way after a few months unless I throw some clear coat at them or keep them waxed. Then again, I live 3 blocks from the ocean.

I'm in Santa Cruz, CA 78mi east of I-5 from Los Banos, but you'd be better off taking it to the Z-Store in San Jose, CA 95112 @ 81mi if you run into trouble, depending on what's wrong of course. I do have a few spare parts in, on and around my 73. Z Car Garage 140 Archer Street San Jose, CA 95112 Shop Phone: 408.452.0350 or 408.452.0300 Fax: 408.452.9227 (452-ZCAR) rob@zcargarage.com

The fuel return line is there to route excess fuel back to the tank, as well as to help prevent vapor lock and like conditions. By getting the tank reconditioned, and completing the fuel line circuits, some of your problems should go away. You should be able to get away with rubber all the way from back to front, but I would probably replace them with hard lines or SS lines at some point for safety. They came that way for a reason. Some of the later 73 240Z came with both a mechanical and an electrical fuel pump. On earlier versions with the flat top carbs, the electric fuel pump was added to help prevent vapor lock, which these cars suffered from due primarily to the flat top carbs. You should be ok without the elec. fuel pump since you no longer have the flat tops, however I'd rather have a quality elec. pump over a mechanical. I have both in mine and it looks like the elec pump was added at some point along the way, prior to the flat tops being replaced by round top SUs. As for the Holley carb, assuming they didn't go over 390 CFM, you should be ok, although I think that number is really more appropriate for an L28 that's been pumped up a bit. I believe the stock SU carbs were capable of moving around 250-275 CFM...Anyone? Note that this is all based on the knowledge posted on this board and others and not based on personal experience.

All the L24, L26 & L28 should be the same since you can swap valve covers among them all. Sounds like you got a very low quality part or it got shrunken somehow. Take it back and order one from Courtesy Nissan, MSA, Black Dragon, or just call your local Nissan dealer and order one.

I guess it all depends on why you bought the car, and what you enjoy most. Making a profit, or enjoying it while doing what is was designed for. You could always swap in a replacement motor and drive the wizz out of it without worrying about miles. I know there are other parts to consider, but most of them can be replaced acceptably or even temporarily.

Those spider gears are looking pretty nasty. Perhaps some moisture got in at some point and clouded up the lube, although at first glance it looks like baked on oil. I suspect that there would be other signs of overheaing as John suggested if overheating is the cause. As far as low fluid, I once had a diff vent get clogged on my 4runner, and fluid started getting pushed out at the outer axle seal and corrupted my brake shoes. This is due to expansion as the gears heat up. That pressure needs somewhere to go. The brakes aren't as issue on the Z obviously, however this could account for a loss of fluid. In the case of the Z, it would come out at the output flange seal or the input shaft seal. The fluid level is determined by filling it until the fluid starts to run out the upper fill plug. It should be just beneath this when on a level surface.

I really like the idea of an original car myself. This is the main reason I am planning on keeping mine mostly stock, save some performance and safety upgrades. The temptation is huge to go all out but so far, all I'm doing is refreshing the suspension and adding some wheels and tires. I plan on keeping the original paint as long as I can, although it's going to need a re-spray along the rocker panels and wheel well lips due to excessive rock chips. The P.O. must have lived in an area with a gravel road or something because the damage it pretty extensive. You can see some of it in my gallery but it's hard to see unless you're up close and personal. I was thinking of doing something like Enrique did but I'm not sure I like the two-tone look all that much.

I'm not sure this is quite the same because it just seems plan dumb to me, but I'll tell the story anyway. So.....It's late February 2007, and I'm all excited because I can finally start putting back together the car after tearing it apart back in November 2005. I have completed cleaning, stripping an re-painting all of the suspension parts, and finished plating enough of the fasteners to get started with assembling the major components. So I start assembly of the front strut. First thing I do is grease up the hub and inner bearing, install the inner bearing seal and place the hub on the spindle. Next I grease up the outer bearing and dust cap and install the bearing, washer, and castle nut. I then proceed to properly seat the bearings and torque the nut to the appropriate specs, and install the cotter pin and dust cap. This is where devil stepped in and crap started going wrong. Almost immediately after installing the dust cap, I realized that I had failed to install the brake baffle(shield). !@#$%^! :mad: So off comes he freshly painted dust cap, the new cotter pin, and entire hub assy, and on goes the dust shield. At this point I start the whole hub and bearing install process over again, and re-seat and torque the bearings to the proper spec. I get done and take a look at the completted assembly and.......Holy !@#$%%&!! I forgot to mount the disc to the hub!!!!!!! :dead: So I disassemble the hub assy again, install the brake disc, and put everything back together. So do I feel stupid...yes. :stupid: Did I learn any valuable lessons, yes. !!!!PLACE ALL PARTS FOR AN ASSEMBLY OUT ON A TABLE IN PLAIN VIEW AND VISUALIZE HOW THEY ALL PLAY TOGETHER BEFORE PROCEEDING WITH CAUTION!!!!! And lastly, don't be in hurry and let your excitement get the better of you. Since this happened, I have put the brakes on (no not the actual brakes) and went over all the pieces that have to be re-assembled, and documented everything to make sure 1) I have all that I need, and 2) that i understand the order in which they need to be re-assembled. I'm out... . . .

Oh man those stripes look WAY off. :eek: Were you pissed when you laid them out? I hope it's just the picture too....but it's doesn't look that way.

Good advice. The key here is PATIENCE.....:nervous:

I hate you guys posting all these great looking cars. Because of you, I had to go out and but a few of these to keep my die cast stealth aircraft company. I ended up ordering the white 1:24 1970 240Z by Franklin Mint, the green 1:18 1970 240Z by Yat Ming (wrong hubcaps and all), and the silver 1972 240Z 1:18 by SunStar.

That sucks man. Although I'd like to build my own engine for the experience, this is the very reason that I'm going to pay someone to do it for me. This way if something like this happens, I'll have someone to hold liable and make it right.

Just the right amount......:bandit: P.S. If you're gonna ask that question, the least you could do is tell us how much you spent on yours.

Wow! Those look great Bryan. If I needed these I'd definitely be grabbing a set from you.

If that offer was for the nearly stripped and damaged shell, take the money and run!!

Good on ya for saving it from the jaws of the crusher. Welcome aboard.

Thanks for the words of advice. It will be awhile before I have a chance to get to this but I'll certainly fill you in once I dive fit. I may even try a test fitting on the spare engine after I finish up with the current project. Hopefully by April15th........

Well I got the header and it's in pretty good shape, however the flange seems to be fairly warped. This might be by design and I'd love someone to comment, but I won't know until I go to mount it. This won't happen for a while. If I find that I need to have the flange planed or ground level, it shouldn't be too big a deal since it's so damn thick. The header will eventually make it way onto a 280ZX motor I grabbed a while back for a swap. I tracked down the seller (Peter somthing) to the zcar.com forum where he posted some info that I wish I had before bidding, but all in all I'm satisfied at this point. We'll see what happens when I go to mount it..... Here's a link to the info he posted on zcar.com: http://www.zcar.com/forums/read.php?f=1&i=630366&t=630349 According to Peter:

Permatex Form-A-Gasket or the like is the only way to go for this particular app. I've sworn by that stuff for years and never had it leak on me when applied properly.

I'd love to get together sometime to discuss Zs. I'm currently in the process of getting mine back on the road but should be done before the end of this month of things go my way. I'm in the finishng stages of a complete suspension rebuild, wheel & tire replacement, brake upgrade, and general clean-up. I'm hoping to be ready for the Blackhawk event and the MSA show in LA. BTW, Is that a signature from Mr. Katayama on the air cleaner that I see there?

Hey all Zs are welcome of course. We each have our preference but in the end, they're all related and worth saving. Personally, I'm glad people are extending the lives of the 280ZXs. It just means there will be more in the junkyard in 10 years when I need to upgrade or replace parts again on my 240Z. Thanks for the engine, ditsributor, trans, brakes, diff, and master cylinder...

hey I just noticed that you're in Santa Cruz as well. Perhaps we'll run into each other around town. Hopefully not in the literal sense.

Nothing to be ashamed of there. Just be glad you're dad is so damn cool and do something special for him in return when he least expects it. And whatever you do, don't disrespect him and the car by treating it like shiat, but I get the feeling that that's not going to be an issue with you based on your history. I'd love to hear about your first drive in the car and how you must have felt to finally be behind the wheel of "the car of your dreams". I think there are a lot of people here who can relate to that feeling, including myself. Congrats.

I think we might have just met one of "those" owners........

Welcome to the forum. I'd love to hear the story of the build up or at least how it came to be yours.