Pir0San

I think you can install a roll cage, or subframe supports to prevent body twist...I've seen it done to Z's before, but can't remember the site for the life of me.

Chris, remember that long post I wrote about how to change that all out? Well, that's because I've dropped my chain too many times to count!

it opens April 1st

I checked the chamber of commerce web site, and they sell tickets for $29.99 a piece as opposed to $47.99 a piece.

thanks for the help guys! I saw the prices and such on pgathrills.com, but no actual ticket prices like I was looking for. Thanks for the help anyways!

I'm thinking that this year for my girlfriend's birthday that I will take her to Paramount's Great America for the weekend. I'm doing some research, and I've already found good rates for hotels, such as the Best Western for $51 a night, but I'm having trouble finding prices for the park itself. Does anyone have any ideas how much it costs to visit the park? We'd be going on April 14th and 15th, if that helps any. I have been told that Safeway and Blockbuster usually sells discount tickets for the park, and I have also heard that Great America has a 2 for 1 deal if you buy the tickets at the gate. Thanks for the help!

whatever you do, if you're picky about the quality of audio you listen to, DO NOT buy an FM modulator. I've tried out a couple of them, and all of them gave me poor audio quality. Why not mount the original stereo under the heater box in it's stock location, and custom fab a newer stereo setup somewhere else? I've seen people with old Corvettes and Camaros where they would put a new stereo inside of the glovebox, that way it retains the stock look with modern luxuries? It'd be a pain in the arse if you want to change stations on the fly, but you could always just leave the glovebox open and control the stereo via remote.

See, I don't mind having extra parts at all, but since I'm 19 and living with my father, it doesn't always work out that way. So far, I have 2 four speed transmissions, an extra complete block (original w/scored rod and crankshaft) and two e88 heads. My dad's not too happy. Beandip, when you say blow a hole in the cylinder, do you mean due to the water problems, or my oil blow by? There are no more water problems after the new head, but ring problems arose instead.

My block I have now had a head on it that had a crack in it that would let water seep into the cylinder and then down into the crankcase. Water and oil would mix, but the motor never officially seized. Before I realized it was the head and not the block, I had gone outside to start the Z up, and the motor would "stick", so to speak. The starter, which is new, would engage with the teeth on the flywheel but the motor would not turn over. You would hear a thud noise, and nothing else would happen. I would turn the key off, and then tap it back over, and after doing this a couple of times, the motor would start. I'm assuming the water in the oil was keeping the motor from turning over, because the water would get between the bearings on the crankshaft and cause the motor to "stick" (I had spun a crankshaft bearing on another block that I had because of the water and oil leakage issue). I have since then bought a new rebuilt head, put it onto the block I have now (which had water and oil mixed in it, but was not driven at all after the motor stuck like described above) and no water and oil mixed. The motor runs now, but has bad oil blow-by at the rings, so the motor is in need of a rebuild. Since there was water in the oil, and the motor "stuck" but turned over afterwards, what are the chances that the crankshaft is scored? I ask this because I might have access to another complete block (sans head, etc.) and would rather use another block with a good crankshaft than have to pay $400 to get my crank reground. If my crank is good, then I would use the block I have currently as my rebuild. I haven't pulled the motor out of the car to see how it is because I still want the car to be able to drive down the road if needed.

Well said.

What I meant is that we don't have any rules about what color our houses are supposed to be, etc..., and I did say that there was rules about registration and such. My whole point is that most people are in violation of the "covenants", as hls30 said, reguardless if they know it or not. One of my neighbors has an RV that is constantly parked in the street. Sacramento Parking Enforcement (NOT neighborhood rules or codes, just City parking enforcement) laws state that a person is not allowed to park an RV in the street for more than a week (I believe, I could be wrong on times) but yet no one calls parking enforcement on him. The neighbors who I suspect called on my car are very rude people, and are like this to most everyone on the street who doesn't kiss their asses. As an example, the neighbor across the street egged and applesauced my car because I parked in front of her house ONE night. She doesn't like how loud my Z is (melted glasspack exhaust, I don't race around on my street though) and everytime she'd hear me start my car up in my driveway, she'd come out and bitch at me because she's a bitter old lady. My whole point is that there are "covenants" and laws in place. My neighborhood doesn't have any of these "covenants", but yet laws are in place for certain violations. One of my bitter neighbors called on my car, and not on anyone else in violation (and the guy with the RV isn't the only person), but I was singled out because she doesn't like me.

I agree, but when there are no restrictions or dumb rules about my neighborhood, then it's uncalled for. I can understand the whole tag thing, that's fine, but when a neighbor calls it on you out of spite, I think I have a right to be angry. My Z has a better looking paint job than most Z's I see around, and it was kept clean in front of my house. As I said, all I had was less than a month expired tags, and no engine in the car. No wires hanging down, no hanging exhaust, nothing. My neighbor just turned out to be a bitch.

I have a couple neighbors with sticks up their asses on my street. My Z was parked out front, without new tags (about a month expired), and I had no engine in it. One of my neighbors called the cops and tipped them about the lack of an engine in my car and the expired tags, so the cops came by and nailed me with a $250 "Vehicle Abatement" fine. They said that I abandoned the car, and said that the vehicle would be towed if I didn't get new tags and move the car out of the street since it had no engine. My father and I ended up pushing the Z into the driveway, and I paid the fine. My father has a '71 Porsche 914, and he hasn't registered the car since '91. It has been parked in the driveway ever since we moved to this house, and one of the neighbors tried to bitch about the Porsche at the same time they griped about my Z. I called 4 different enforcement agencies, and they all said that as long as the vehicle isn't an eyesore, that if it is parked on my property, it doesn't matter if it has registration or not. The car isn't an eyesore, it just needs a new paint job and a good cleaning, some new tires (it has wood blocks under the frame right now), so we didn't have to worry about the Porsche. I'd call your local enforcement, and see what they say about the situation.

what's the difference between the skyline head and the stock Z head?

Something I forgot to mention is that permatex should not be applied to the oil pan gasket, only to the front cover gasket and water pump gasket.

Thanks! I've actually been a member of Zdriver.com for a few years now, so I'm used to detailed posts. I figured that the more detailed the post, the easier it would be to do the work we were describing. I've done this more times than I can count, so I'm pretty knowledgeable when it comes to the dismantling of the L series motor. I'd be honored for it to be a tech writeup!

Ok, don't despair, I was in your boat once too. I agree with everything that Ed said, with the exception of the oil pan. I have been able to remove the oil pan with the engine still in the car, without really having to fight with it. As I said earlier, if you loosen all of the bolts and let it drop down from the motor, all you need to do is push it forward until it hits the crossmember, then pull the rear down while pulling the pan backwards, and it should clear the crossmember and transmission bellhousing with a little bit of work. It'll take you maybe 30 seconds of playing with it to drop it down correctly. So, after you remove the oil pan, you now need to tear off the front cover of the motor. I know Ed just went over it (and by no means am I discrediting what Ed said), I'll go over it again. You said you had a Haynes manual, right? If so, in the top right hand corner of the front cover, it should have the numbers 28012 (206), and should be for the 1970-78 Z cars. If you do not have this specific manual, I'd go buy one from your local auto parts store, which shouldn't set you back more than $25. So, to remove the front cover, you need to take the fan clutch off of the water pump (4 bolts that hold the fan onto the fan clutch, these are small bolts -10mm- so be careful not to lose them), loosen your alternator, take your belts off, and take the bolt out of the front of the motor that holds your alternator bracket on. After that, you need to unbolt the oil pump and distributor, and then unbolt all of the bolts that hold the front cover on. You also need to take off the crankshaft pulley on the front of the motor. This bolt is torqued down to 100ft/lbs, so you need to either allow the timing chain to bind so that the motor won't turn over, or you could be like me and use a pipe wrench to keep the pulley from spinning. I would tighten the pipe wrench on the pulley, and brace the pipe wrench against the frame on the Z. If you do it right, this will give you the leverage you need to break it free. If you can't figure out which ones are for the water pump and which ones are for the front cover, just unbolt them all and make sure to set all of these bolts aside so that you don't lose them. There is also a small 10mm bolt behind the oil pump that holds the front cover on, so make sure to unbolt that one as well. Chances are after you remove all of the bolts for the front cover and drop the oil pan, the front cover will still be stuck to the engine. You can either get a large screwdriver and try to break the front cover loose by using leverage against the block and the backside of the water pump housing, or you could even get a putty knife that can wedge between the front cover and the block. After that's all done, the front cover can be removed. It might help you to remove the hood in order to do all of this work (or at least it helped me), so I'd suggest that. At this time, if you've done all of the above, your back will probably be hurting, so I'd grab a gasket scraper if you have one, go have a seat in the shade, and scrape all of the old gasket off of the front cover. After your break, you need to go back and scrape all of the gasket off of the block as well. Now is the time that you are going to need your haynes manual, so if you have it, pull it out now. Flip to page 32, and take a look at diagram 42.12. If you look closely, on your crankshaft and on the picture in the book, there is a key on the crankshaft that holds the crankshaft pulley in place. This notch also needs to be pointing up (in relation to the motor). When it is pointing up, the motor will be at top dead center (TDC). Now take a look at the book again, and look at the diagram 42.14d (the lower left hand of page 32). If you look, there is an arrow pointing at a notch/punch mark on your crankshaft sprocket. This notch is important, because it will help you to set your valve timing. Now, take a look at figure 1.56 and figure 1.58. 1.56 shows how the chain should be set up on the motor. Your timing chain has two bright links in it (if you don't see them, then you need to clean your chain). One of the bright links needs to be on the punch on the crankshaft sprocket, and the other bright link needs to be on the number one punch mark on the camshaft sprocket, as described in figure 1.58. If you decided to replace your timing components (chain, tensioner, guides), you can set it at the 1 punch mark on your camshaft sprocket, but if you didn't (I'd recommend it if you haven't), then you need to compensate for stretch, which means instead of putting it on the 1 punch, you'd put it on 2. Here's a pic As you can see in the picture, the pink/red dots are the bright links on the chain, and they are set on the punch marks on both the crankshaft and camshaft sprocket. If your head is not at #1 tdc (where the cam lobes are pointing at 10 and 2 as seen here: ) then you need to set it as so. I think it's easier to do this with the head seperate from the block. I would set the head vertical, and have someone hold the head from spinning on it's back, and then set the camshaft that way. If you refer to the picture of the chain and head with the punchmarks above, it shows a seperate picture of how to set this. The camshaft sprocket should have the number 2 notch facing vertical, and should have the number 1 notch to the right of it, as seen in figure 1.58 in the Haynes manual. If you look through the hole in the camshaft sprocket (there should be 4 of them unless you have the sprocket as seen in the picture above) there should be a v notch on the sprocket itself and a dash on the camshaft locating plate. Set the notch as seen above, and your head is set up. Now, put the head gasket onto the motor, then set the head down on top of it and put in the 2 middle head bolts, but don't tighten them down fully, you just want it to set where it won't slide off. Make sure your head gasket is lined up with the head, and now set your chain on as seen in the picture above. One bright link needs to go on the punch on the cranshaft sprocket, and the other one needs to go on the number 1 punch mark on the camshaft sprocket. To do this, you might need to remove your chain guides in order to get the play you need to set the chain correctly. If when one of the punch marks is paired with a bright link and the other punch mark does not have a bright link on it, or anywhere close to it, you need to take the chain off and pair it with the opposite link until you get it right (one side of the bright links has more links in the chain than the other). After this is all set, you need to put your guides on, tighten them down, and then put your tensioner back into place. After this is all done, make sure all gasket faces are scraped thoroughly, apply Permatex (I use the black permatex) and reapply gaskets. After the gaskets are placed on both the motor and the front cover using permatex, put the front cover back onto the motor and bolt everything down. Don't torque the head down yet, otherwise you won't have the correct clearances to put the front cover back on. After the front cover is on, bolt the oil pan back on (with a new gasket, scrape all faces for the oil pan as well) and then torque the head down according to figure 1.61 on page 33. You need to torque the bolts down in 3 steps, the first torque setting is 29, 40, and then 60. After that's all said and done, you now need to put your oil pump back on. This is important, because if you get it wrong, the timing will be all fubared. If you look at page 22 in your Haynes manual, refer to figure 1.25, which shows how the oil pump and the distributor gear shaft should be set. There is a punch mark on the shaft, and a v shaped divot (so to speak) on the oil pump itself. These notches should be aligned, and then the shaft and oil pump should be slid back into the front cover of the motor. As I said before, make sure you do this right, because if you don't, your car won't run right, and you won't be able to adjust distributor advance correctly. After this is done, button everything up, put in fluids, attach lines, etc, and then the car should run. Good luck!

not out, but it does need to be loosened, and then it will give you enough clearance to do what you need. I would recommend taking the oil pan off though, because you're going to have to replace your oil pan gasket, it will break apart when you take the front cover off. I'd get a battery powered drill and a 10mm socket adaptor, and loosen all of the bolts you can with the drill, because it's a bitch to loosen them by hand. Then loosen all of the other bolts you couldn't reach with the drill by hand, and drop the oil pan down. After you get that down and get everything buttoned up under the front cover, put a new oil pan gasket on and bolt the pan back up. Too bad you don't live anywhere near me, I'd lend a hand if you needed it.

you have a later Z thermostat housing on your motor, and because it is a '74, this makes sense. The original 240Z thermostat housing just has the one temperature sending unit, which a wire connector is connected to. Those wires don't need to be hooked up, as far as I know. My temp gauge was being erratic as well, but I figured out that it was the connector in red that needed to be replaced. You can get the terminal connectors from radio shack, and then just crimp a new connector onto the wire, and it should fix your problem. If you are concerned about the gauge itself, have someone hold your temp sensor wire onto a body ground, and turn the key to the on position. If the needle shoots up all the way to hot, then you know your gauge and wiring are good, but if it doesn't move at all, I would suspect your wiring first.

you might want to see if it is leaking oil from the rear crankshaft oil seal. If you have oil in your transmission bellhousing, you have a leak.

you wouldn't be able to access it from the oil pan, and even if you did, you probably skipped a link when the tensioner sprung. This could potentially cause you to get your valve timing incorrect, which would cause your valves to hit your pistons, killing your motor. If it's torn down to no head already, the front cover comes off easy as pie. While you're fixing the tensioner, you may want to consider a new timing chain, guides, and new tensioner as well. Just an idea, I'd recommend tearing the front cover off, you might be able to get to it from the oil pan, but you don't want to do it wrong or kill it.

the installation instructions are garbage. Here's better instructions: http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/7072OEMToPertron.jpg With these instructions, I had the pertronix working in less than 10 minutes. If you need the instructions for actually installing the pertronix into the distributor, I don't have those, sorry

man, this sucks, my Z is going to be down again... I have another block, with pistons, but the block has a bad rod and crankshaft (I spun a rod bearing due to water leaking into the oil. In the worst case scenario, if my block I have in there now is damaged badly, could I take the rods off of the pistons for the block in the car and put them on the pistons from the block with the spun crankshaft, and replace the crankshaft from the one in the car? I'll have to take everything apart, load it all into the truck, and take it down to the machine shop for investigation.

how would I measure the wear on the bores and pistons? I have a feeler gauge, but I'm just unsure as to how to inspect the block for wear.

I did some more research into cost of engine rebuild parts from Autozone and Kragen's, and so far, I've come out with these prices: 1. Premium Ring Set (Chrome top ring): $66.99 (A/E Clevite, Kragen's) -or- 2. Regular Ring Set (Cast Iron top ring) $40.99 (Beck/Arnley, Kragen's) 3. Main Bearing Set: $30.59 (A/E Clevite, Autozone) 4. Rod Bearing Set: $32.94 (Autozone) My total with tax for the premium rings and other bearings would be $140.63, and the price for the regular rings and other bearings would be $112.62. I did some research into the difference between Chrome top ring and Cast Iron top ring, and this site came up http://www.hastingsmfg.com/Service%20Tips/ring_set_composition_recommendat.htm. They state that cast iron rings are good for an every day engine, but chrome rings are good for enviroments where the engine may be driven hard, or dusty enviroments and that of the like. I'd like to be able to take my car down to the track and not have to worry about hurting the engine, so would chrome be a better way to go?