Pir0San

it's a steering rack boot. Check Victoria British or Motorsport Auto, they sell them.

I believe one of the guys here painted his refrigerator using the technique, search for his post and he gives VERY detailed instructions on how to do it right.

Carol, I live in Sacramento myself, and there are a few good shops around here that do painting for a good price. I would contact Gunther's Collision, Gunther is a pretty good guy, and from what I understand from talking to him, he actually has worked on quite a few Z's in his day. If you need anything from a fellow Z fan, let me know!

I have one that I pulled from another Z. One of the attachment holes are snapped, but something else could be set up in place. Pay for shipping, and it's yours. I'll even take pics if you want.

rebuilding an engine isn't too hard to do. You just have to be careful and do everything right the first time. Parts are cheap, I'm looking at around $241 for all of my parts, but of course I'm reusing my crank, pistons, and rods. The $241 includes main bearings, rod bearings, piston rings, all gaskets, and freeze plugs. The machine work will probably be the most important, because if it is not done correctly, the engine will have low compression and burn oil. Make sure that you get the cylinders honed by the machine shop, don't try using a ball hone. The ball hones just follow the already made "grooves" in the cylinder walls, so therefore would not truly seat and seal the rings like new. If you choose to go with chrome rings over the standard iron, make sure that the machine shop is aware, and uses the correct honing technique for said rings. You may also want to have your crank micropolished as well, to get rid of any impurities or oil deposits on the crank. Make sure you also measure all clearances for wear, such as your "big end gap" (I believe it is called) on your crankshaft, piston ring clearances, and the gap between each of the end caps on the crank and the crank itself. As for redoing your head, expect a competent machine shop to charge somewhere around the $300 range for most machine work, and that usually doesn't include cost of valves and such. Good luck!

Ah, I see. I was looking at those spots exactly

are those spot welds next to the seat brackets on the floor? It almost appears as if the floors have been replaced.

So, I think I might finally dive in and do my engine rebuild. I'm going to utilize the numbers matching block and pistons,but use the crank and rods out of my spare engine. I am not sure if the engine I have in the car right now has the same bearing clearances as the stock block, so I was considering pulling the engine, taking the oil pan off, and comparing the rod and main bearings from the current engine against the numbers matching engine. Would there be a visible difference between oversize bearings and stock bearings? I've read in Wick Humble's book that he recommends using plastic gauge, but I have never used it. Anyone know how to use it and explain it to me? Also, if the original block didn't burn oil, and the rings were in good condition, do I have to get the block checked out for correct ring clearances, or should I not even worry about it? Thanks guys, I'm just about ready to take the plunge. By the way, does anyone in Sacramento, or even on this board, have a Colortune they want to sell for a good price?

Do the 78 280Z's use the same differential as the 81-83 280ZX's? I'm not concerned about the gearing, just the type and if a differential from an 81-83 can be a direct swap into a 78 280Z.

This is my second week of the semester here are Consumnes River College, and so far, I believe I'm the only guy with a 240Z! I could be wrong, but I have yet to see any other Z's in the parking lot, but I did see a few Z32's. I parked behind this half body kit modified civic today, it had the wide fenders in the rear, but none of the wide body bumpers, doors, nothing. It's like the arse end of the car was bloated.

When I swapped my head onto another block, I forgot to connect the pcv valve once. I was sitting there, car started, and I hear this really loud whistling that got worse with throttle. I couldn't find out what it was for the life of me, until I realized that the block didn't have the hose that goes from the crankcase breather onto the pcv valve. Took me a day to finally figure that one out!

Sorry, not hydraulic lifters, hydraulic rocker arms. Forget what I said earlier, you'd only have hydraulic rockers if it was a P90a. Chances are your head is a P90.

Probably a P90. P30 is a L24 block. Does it have hydraulic lifters?

The reason why you can't find the "Harmonic Balancer" is because I believe it is listed as a "Crankshaft pulley" instead. Check your Idle Air Control Valve, or your Cold Start Injector for your idle problem.

You'll have to excuse my lack of knowledge on this subject, but your car looks amazing. You can tell that there is something special about it, but what exactly about it makes it as legendary as it appears to be? I just want some more info, congrats on your new toy.

yep, Arne did. Thanks guys, I feel dumb now. It's strange that a string such as "steering wheel restoring" yields different results than "steering wheel restoration". Now I just can't wait for my wheel to get here!

Yeah, I tried "steering wheel restoration", but didn't see any of those. I guess I'm search handicapped. Thanks Arne!

Hey, I know there was a post around here about how to restore and refinish a 240Z steering wheel, but for the life of me I cannot find it. I was able to find this link but I could have swore that there was another thread with pics. I just bought another steering wheel from ebay, and wanted to refinish it.

Carl, thanks for the link! I checked it out, and realized that I do have rust in the rear doglegs. The pinholes I referred to were actually on the lip of the rear wheel wells. We'll just have to see now, wont we?

Check your U-Joints. They can make some horrendous clunking, and are fairly easy to check. Crawl under the car, grab both sides of the driveshaft or halfshaft, whichever you want to check, and try to twist and move it around. There should be little to no play in the U-Joint, and if there is any, then the U-Joint should probably be replaced. I need to redo the U-Joints on my Z, they are clunking pretty good when I shift quick, and I've actually had them get so bad that they felt like they were going to vibrate the car apart. Good luck!

Thanks guys! I guess POR-15 is going to be a must! I do what to protect my car, so a little bit more money should hurt anything.

It's nearing the time where I am going to start prep on the Z for body and paint work. I've collected all of the pieces I need to start on the project, I just need to get the radiator support panel straightened before I start bolting everything on and jumping head on into the project. So, while I'm preparing the Z for paint, I figure that the smart idea would be to fix the rust problems that my Z has. Luckily, since she's a California Z the only rust she has is under the battery tray, passenger side lower fender (next to door), driver's side floorboard, rear hatch area above right side taillight and then a little bit of bubbling on the rear doglegs, but it looks pretty minor, almost like pinholes that could be welded and ground flat. The floorboards are my concern, because I don't really know exactly how I should prep them. I am going to replace them with the kit from Zedd Findings, but what should I use to protect them from rust? I was considering using rattle can bed liner, but from reading here, it seems like that might not be the best idea. I also don't want to have to put the car on a rotisserie to coat the bottom of the floors, so I'd have to choose something that I could roll on from underneath (I know this was what you used Ed, so how well does it stick?) So, what should I use to protect the fresh metal?

I don't know anything about FI, but I'm guessing that most smog stuff must be retained for the car to run well, unless you change out to Megasquirt or that of the like.

machine work will be the cheap part, just make sure you find a reputable shop to do the work. The most expensive shop won't necessarily do the best job. I was quoted over $300 to prep my block for a rebuild by one shop, but I know of another shop that quite a few mechanics have recommended. They quoted me about $100 to micropolish the crank, hone the cylinders, and measure the crank for correct bearing clearances. I'm planning on rebuilding my original numbers matching engine (I have a post here somewhere about it), and I'm swapping in another crank and rods, but reusing the stock pistons, and replacing all bearings and rings. From what I understand, it's alright to swap the crank and rods, but you really don't want to swap pistons between blocks.

my Z, manufactured 8/72, has both retracting lap and shoulder belts, if that helps.