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We had our MARRS #1 race at Summit Point this weekend and went down Friday to bed in tires and brakes and to give the cars a general shakedown. I took my 72 240Z, John took his 72 240Z and Jeff took his 73 240Z. Friday went well until the third lap when I couldn't shift into fourth...or any gear and had to be towed back. The problem appeared to be with the clutch so I removed the exhaust, starter, clutch slave, driveshaft transmission and clutch. The flywheel was loose and the head of a flywheel bolt broke off was jamming the clutch. The flywheel wobble at 7400 RPM caused the metal from the flywheel to be transferred to back of the crank. I spent a couple hours or so slowly chipping off the metal. So much fun! I got everything back together and went out for the last session of the day. It was great for a few laps and then I felt a vibration and came in. We hooked up the trailer and loaded up the car to go home. But I'm not one to give up. I put the car on jack stands and removed everything again. The crank wasn't too bad this time. I grabbed a fresh flywheel and had Jeff and Steve (our crewman) work on it while I ate supper. We put the trans back in, bolted up the starter and driveshaft, hooked up the exhaust and bled the brakes. I didn't start it because I wanted the Loctite to set. Loaded up in the morning and headed to the track to qualify. Jeff Q'ed on the pole, I was 4th and John was 8th. The car seemed ok. We raced in the afternoon. The BMW starting 2nd damaged his car in another race so he was out. The Miata starting 3rd didn't show up so I got to start on outside pole next to Jeff. I got a good start but he was much faster and left the rest of us in his dust. I raced Mark Johnston in the 240SX all race long. We swapped positions a few times but I was ahead most of the time. I seemed to be stronger near the end and opened a small gap but on the last lap I hot traffic and he caught up. I had him beat coming out of the last turn. With about 100 yard to go I shifted into 4th and the throttle linkage popped off at the gas pedal. Mark flew by and beat me by .2 seconds. John had battery issued and DNF'ed Sunday was longer and less exciting. I started 3rd and finished 3rd. I followed Mark and Jeff for a lap but they were both much faster. John started 4th and after 2 laps I dropped him. His battery died a couple turns form the finish. Jeff won easily and I was 3rd. Here are some pics. Yellow is mine, blue is John's and white is Jeff's. The pic of the 4 of us is Steve, John, Jeff and me. Chuck

Replacing the clutch and exhaust system and took a few photos along the way. All has gone fairly smoothly. The flywheel teeth are a bit chewed up in one place. New ring gear ordered. Not sure what caused that but a new starter went on about 3 months ago. Not sure if the old starter drive did the damage or the new starter. The new starter began to make a hard rattle about two days ago....I am working to see if the two events are related....

Suspension back with Eibach Progressive springs and I am dry fitting my MK63 parts. I want to thank a member for his help with locating the needed parts for the caliper and rotor upgrade. I dry fitted the modified backing plates, calipers, and rotors tonight. It all goes together flawlessly. I like the way the modified backing plates fit to the MK63 calipers.

Looks nice....Mine won't tuck up that tight with the piping that came in the kit. And I have to use the offset pipe as the intake and the center pipe as the out pipe to make it fit at all. Had help breaking it down today and could not make it fit any better than the photo above. Motorsport told me the center pipe "HAD" to be the intake but when I called the manufacturer of the muffler Xlerator Big Max they said not so! It is the same blowing either way. The manufacturer also said the noise I hear could very well be a manufacturer defect.....so I will see if I can isolate the sound and get a video documenting to see if I can get a replacement....If not we will run this one for awhile and then get another....Good times!!!

Put this together today. New housing from Ron at zclocks.

My Z is in a friends garage, so I don't have anything handy. I do plan to go over and work on it this weekend though, so I will try to get some pics. Keep in mind, my car is a race car and function was far more important than looks when I routed the lines. For a street car, I would have done things differently.

I like the rear stabilizer idea, Kats. Thanks for all the pictures!

I worked as a Quality Control Technician in an OEM exhaust and muffler factory ( Arvin and later ArvinMeritor) and have seen mufflers not properly spot-welded and the internals coming undone, usually operator error or spot-welder improperly adjusted.

Hold the phone, I was backwards. The centered side should connect to the S pipe. The offset should be at the bottom of the rear side. Still angled 1 to 7 though. Sorry about that, it's confusing as hell.

My muffler slightly touched the underside of my car, rattled at idle only. The offset should be at the top of the muffler where the "S" pipe connects.

Not that you're familiar with Two Hearted or anything...

Nice work!

I have triple Webers on my car and by that measure I am partial to Weber as opposed to Mikuni. Having said that I know numerous Z owners with Mikunis who are quite happy with them. In my opinion however, the Webers along with repair parts and jetting options are much more readily available than the Mikunis, which tilts the balance in favor of Webers. Just my 2 cents. Hope that helps. Mike.

After a few degreasing wipe downs I shot some light coats of Rustoleum aluminum silver paint. This really helps keep the aluminum clean and from getting dark from dirt getting buried in the pores of the aluminum. I tried to mask off the valve train but no matter how clean I got the valve cover surface none of my masking tape would stick to it. As I let the paint dry on the head I started cleaning the top of the block. While I was at it I scraped off the carbon on the top of pistons #1 and #6. Probably won’t make a difference but it certainly can’t hurt. Then I went about cleaning out and chasing all the bolt holes with my tap. For anyone that is wondering it is a M10 X 1.5 bolt size. If you are doing this kind of work or anything similar to it, buy several packs of these long stem Q-tips. I found these on Ebay but also discovered Northern Tool carries a variety pack of them as well. They are priceless for doing detail cleaning and easily help clean out bolt holes. That is all for now. I recently received my new turbo head bolts and picked up a can of copper coat. Once I finish cleaning out the rest of the bolt holes I plan to reinstall the head and go through the torque sequence. I am taking my time with all of this work and trying to enjoy it as much as possible. I encourage anyone doing this type of work to do the same as there are plenty of small tasks to take care of in between the bigger milestones. Staying organized and being methodical is the best way to ensure success.