BadDog

Yes, that is my car in my avatar... and well I've got the 70's wheels, I thought I'd go for the 70's louvers... I obviously don't want to bend the sheet metal though... maybe that happens because hinges aren't kept lubed? I guess I could test the holding power of the hatch strut by laying the louvers on the hatch and seeing if/how well it stays open... maybe I'll just end up putting them back on e-bay for a loss :-\ P.S. you're talking to a guy who put sidepipes on his black 280Z in the late 80's when he was 18 ;-)

I picked up some aluminum rear window louvers on ebay, but they're not the kind that mount underneath the window trim. It looks like they have to be screwed into the sheet metal, with the hinges going above the window, and little spring-bolt latches to the left and right below the window (they just came with some sheet metal screws). Anyone have any tips for installing these besided appliying POR15 inside the holes I'll need to drill?

Well I took a stab at this issue yesterday, so I thought I'd post a folow-up: I was able to drill a hole through the broken top bolt and remove it with one of those special screw-removal tools ($3.00) ... I was able to determine that the striker plate is 2 plates, with the door jamb "sandwiched" between the 2 plates. There are *no* nuts welded or otherwise attached to the plate inside the door jamb (at least not on my 4/73) , so there is only about 1/8th inch of cheap steel through which the bolts are threaded, so too much torque and you will strip the threads in the plate. I ended up re-tapping all 3 bolts holes (one at a time, so as not to loose the internal plate) with a 6(?) mm tap and using new bolts from the hardware store. They may not look that great, but they're functional :-) IMHO a better solution would be to weld some nuts to the back of the internal plate to reduce the risk of repeatedly stripping the plate threads and having to re-tap the plate, probably 1mm larger Its tricky to get to the plate if you're not Plastic Man though, and getting it back in place would probably be even trickier

Wow, when I read the first paragraph of your post, I had to look and make sure *I* didn't write it.... I had a '78 280Z when I was 18, and regretted getting rid of it ever since... and got a '73 240 last February! Mine's silver though :-) Good luck with her, and have fun!

thump-thump..... thump-thump.... its coming back to life!

Yeah, and now I can't remember if they were loose/turning when I stuck my arm waaaaaaay down in there... guess I'll have to wait until Spring to find out

Well when I looked at the problem in Nov. and took 1/2 the interior apart to see if I could get to the inside of the door jamb, I was able to shove 1/2 my arm in and *touch* the back/inside of the striker, but realized there was no way in heck to put those nuts back on if they were the non-adhered variety (short of cutting open the door jamb that is ) Again, that's why I wasn't brave enough to entirely remove the bolts: I didn't want to possible loose the nuts down in the body somewhere and not be able to reach in there and put new ones on I just want to be able to enjoy my Z this year before I do any major work to it... you couldn't tell at the big Syracuse show when I met you, but her clearcoat is non-existent (was probably a Maaco re-paint)... and I think I want/need a hotter-than-stock cam ;-)

Once again, 2ManyZs saves the day :-) Am I right in interpreting "captured nut built into the door jamb" as that they are not replaceable? And should I try to tap it with the correct size tap or go 1mm larger and a larger bolt? The metal on those bolts is so soft... oh yes now I remember how I lost the first one: it broke off in the nut I'll have to drill that one out, then tap it :-\

Well after putting on a new VB driver's side door weatherstrip last spring, all the slamming of the door and adjusting and readjusting the striker plate on the door jamb has resulted in there only being 1 bolt left that will actually tighten :-( Since that's not enough to hold the striker in place when closing the door, pretty soon I won't be able to use that door at all :-( I don't have a chassis manual and I've been afraid to remove the striker plate completely to have a look as I'm afraid I won't be able to re-attach it :-( Does anybody have an idea of how I can fix this? I'd like to figure out what to do before Spring :-)

Thanks!

hmmmm... I'll keep that in mind... $40 at a generic "tach repair shop"? I don't know if we have any of those around here... :-)

Like I said, I'm not sure if the engine is still revving while the tach is strying to catch up, or whether the tach accurately reflects the RPMs... it goes by so fast I suppose running through 2nd and 3rd gears would help to diagnose this, but I have to go about 20 miles from home until there's a non-rural highway

Well I re-gapped my plugs back down to .035 and it got rid of the audible popping and stumble at ~5,500... I still have a wierd phenomenon, not so much a problem: At about 4,500 to 5,000 RPM under WOT the tach kind of slows in it's pace, then speeds back up again after ~5,000 RPM. Since it happens so fast, it's hard to tell if tach is not keeping up with actual RPM's at that point, or if the ignition is really causing the engine to slow in it's acceleration, then surge again after ~5,000 RPM.... I think I'll just replace the points with something like the Pertronix kit before I worry much more about this. Could be a cam timing/valve clearance issue too, I haven't either since I bought the car in March

Hmmm i see... so is that something you can see with a dwell meter? I've been thinking about getting one of those points replacement kits anyway. Pertronix is usually the kit that people go with, right? Yes, it happens in first and second gears... I don't usually get much opportunity to wind out 3rd ;-) ***edit***Well, I *did* gap my plugs a tad on the wide side (.0375 or so?) but only because when I had them at .0325 or so they closed up on me

hmmm I've never heard of that one before... can you please elaborate a little?

I'm getting a little stumble right after 5,500 RPM (I can even hear the exhaust crackle). It then immediately smooths out and keeps revving, so I don't think it's for lack of fuel... My setup: stock '73 engine, round-top SU's, stock ignition, motorsport equal-length header. I'm running the timing a little advanced, about 9 or 10 BTDC... Any ideas of what to check?

Yeah, if I was thinking I would've ordered it coated :stupid: I asked around at local hot-rod shops, and nobody around here does it Oh well. I'm not too concerned about how it looks. I was more concerned that my engine was running too hot or lean or whatever... I'm running the timing a little advanced too, so I definitely want to be on the safe side and run a little rich I enrichened enough so that my idle went down from about 950 RPM to about 700. Any richer than that and my oil pressure guage goes to 0 when at a stop light

Well I opened up each mix knob about 3/4 turn (1/4 turn at a time) with very little change in idle speed. Since an engine is just a fancy air pump , I'll hypothesize that since the engine is able to exhale more freely now, it's also sucking in more air, so it needs more fuel. I didn't paint it myself, but probably should've. The paint was already coming off when I unpacked it

Actually, all 6 are turning white! I only noticed 1 or 2 because they were white the furthest down the tube.... I'll have to enrichen the mixture quite a bit!

Does anyone know why this is happening, and why it is only happening to 1 or 2 tubes and not all of them? BTW it's a MSA 6-into-1 equal-length-tubes header

Hey where were all you guys Saturday morning when I needed you? ROTFL I ended up using a thin bead of silicone just around the intake ports on the head side (local shop suggested that). I got everything back together, fixed my high idle (check my other HELP!! thread), and quasi-hung the tailpipe. Sounds good, now I've just got to get it to a muffler shop to hang the tailpipe correctly

Nevermind, I figured it out: When I reconnected the accelerator pedal's linkage to the carb linkage, I was holding the throttle open near the tune-up screw, while tightening down the screw on the shaft below the tune-up screw, so my screwdrive could be vertical. That little bit of extra torque made the linkage line up a little wrong, making my throttle open a tiny bit more than normal. When I loosened and re-tightened the screw with a shortie screwdriver and *not* holding the linkage open a tad, everything lined up just right :-) My exhaust really sound sgood and smooth now (I was running the MSA 2.5" aluminized Turbo exhaust system with the stock exhaust manifold). Just sitting still and blipping the throttle, I can tell that the throttle response is a *lot* better, even when the engine's cold! I think that annoying "percussion wave" will be gone too. The exhaust note sounds smooth an mellow, with some growl when you kick open the throttle. I can't wait 'til I can take it to the muffler shop to have them line everything up right in the tailpipe for me so it doesn't vibrate against anything...

Well I got my new header on and my intake back on, but now I can't get my idle to settle down. It's idling at like 3000 RPM, and I think the thottle shaft is somehow not closing all the way. When I took the intake off, the fast idle screw (tune-up screw) was pretty much flush against that metal plate, not there's about an 1/8th of an inch space, and I can't figure out why. I took the intake assembly off as 1 entire piece... I had it resting on some rolled up newspapers... anything on the underside that could've gotten bent that would do this?