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"That's all folks!" The last set of clips just sold on Ebay. I appreciate everyone that purchased a set and look forward to meeting up with those that will be picking up their sets at ZCON. This has been a team effort for sure and I thank everyone who was a part of it. They say it takes a village to raise a child, it certainly takes a community to keep these old cars on the road. If a large enough need presents itself I would consider doing another run but I feel this first run took care of a lot of folks that were needing them.

First off I searched and couldn't find this exact situation. I did the swap from the old 40A/ext. reg. and it was very easy but now I have no battery charge. Of course I never bothered checking the charge state with the old alt/reg installed. I used the diode plug for the old regulator wiring that MSA sells and followed the instructions for the install of the new alternator. The alternator is a rebuilt 1982 ZX unit from Advance Auto. I also replaced the frayed fusable link for the wire from the harness to the starter/battery so that's good. All tests were while the car is running. 11.8v across the battery. 11.8v at the fusbale link to harness connection to ground. 17.2v from B terminal on the alternator to ground. After running the car for more than 20 minutes and turning it off about 2 times, it won't start without a charge first. Do you think I have a bad wire somewhere between terminal B and the fusable link harness?

thanks - pm sent.

You can try zcarsource.com. Sometimes they are out of stock but show available on their web-page, but worth a call for sure. Finding one at a junkyard would be nice too. http://www.zcarsource.com/thermostat-housing-top-240z-260z-280z_8_77847.html

I never got a chance to go out drinking, I met with the captain during my lunch hour. I keep tossing around the idea of a front bumper, but not at the top of my priority list. Btw, I was close to keeping a patina look, this was on the way to the body shop, I almost told them to just clear coat the car the way it was, but ultimately chose white, to try and keep it classy

That looks really good. I'm assuming you have some good long blocks for that line. At this point you should put on a guide coat and see how things are coming. It's hard to pick up detail with all the fill lines and general blotchiness.

It's not air, it's exhaust gas. Essentially inert, the oxygen has been burned up. You shouldn't need to adjust any air-fuel ratio components. Might just be coincidental. Did it run perfectly before the EGR system removal? Has it had a tuneup recently, including lash adjustment?

Outstanding work Jeff. Thanks for your diligence and innovation. Looking forward to seeing you in Austin. Jim

You are now an official pillar of the Z community! Thanks!

Easy peasy on a lathe. Just make sure you have a catch pan under it.

OK, you might want to check that: My ’70 Mustang's fully rollerized stroked Cleveland lifts its valves .576” for 284° duration, squeezing to 10.3:1 compression and sucks its nourishment thru a 770 cfm Holly 4 barrel all culminating to a healthy 520 horses and 535 lbs of torque pushing a 3300 lb Mach 1 via a 5 speed that launches to 60 in just under 5 seconds, having a .63 OD that actually could push the car to 194 mph (body can’t handle it, though) …….. all which pretty much blows any Z engine out the window. I know that hurts, but that's why I work on classic Mustangs. Plus – no smog! …but yes, its mileage sucks!

No, I was lucky. Mine was more of an immediate failure. No misfires. From what I could tell the worm gear cracked at the keyway ( from vibrations ) spun on crank and engine stopped with 5 feet of flame shooting out of tailpipe. Spindle gear was damaged, but not nearly as bad as your's. Plus the bypass valve in oil filter block was removed and plugged, so all oil was filtered in one pass. Edit: We did end up replacing crank though. Found no evidence of damage to bearings but I still pulled the entire engine apart and cleaned all oil passages. Pissed me off though, because it was a $1,200 knife edged Tilton crank. That was $1,200 in 1980 dollars... With the amount of damage to that gear, I think I'd play it safe and pull EVERYTHING apart. Check and clean all oil galleries in block and head. Pull the oil pump apart. If you start finding any chips in oil galleries or bearings, throw out the oil cooler and oil cooler hoses. Oil coolers cannot be cleaned of all metal chips unless they are very carefully cleaned in an Ultrasonic blaster. Oil lines will get chips embedded in hose lining and cannot be completely removed by flushing with solvent or other means. You will always have some chips remaining, and they will come loose at the most inappropriate times. Now aluminium gears eating themselves up is not too bad. It's relatively soft and may get ground to a fine particulate. But you still have to pull everything apart and check. Valve train parts like Tappets and are the absolute worst for engine damage. Those are very hard chips, and usually shatter into many, many small pieces. You blow up valve train parts and you have to do major forensics to engine. Usually takes out everything... and I mean everything. Including dry sump pumps. Oil coolers and all the oil cooler lines are trash and even the Dry sump reservoir has to come out for cleaning.

And secure the Crank Bolt with High Strength Red Loctite or Stud Lock. Same with Flywheel bolts ( alternator bolts, driveshaft bolts, caliper mounting bolts and just about every danged thing on the car!! ) . Red loctite is a Racers best friend. Although Red- Green may argue....

Mrs. Dash

taken with a dash cam no doubt.... Sorry...

The car has always been unhappy on cool down lap, as the heat soak from the manifolds often causes it to stall. So Dale from Coastline Automotive fabricated me a new heat shield. So this is what Bob Sharp did with the 240Z back in the day So I suppose that makes it a period correct part We got an alumium one folded up and HPC coated (thanks high performance coatings Akld) Coated the underside with heat resistant material (the headers are already wrapped in cloth) And the finished result Took all to the track and she ran perfectly (well almost it seems the engine may be a getting a bit tired after 30+ hours racing - so next job ......) well actually next job is a few gauges - will post that shortly when finished.

And more paint shop pictures. Looks like we are going down to bare metal on the hood. Looks like the hood has been orange, yellow and red in a previous life.

There is really a lot going on with the car now. We are in full production. The body is at the paint shop, the dash is at 'Just Dashes', and I just got the block and head back from the machine shop. The head was leaked checked and the rubber seals were checked. It was in perfect shape and the block only needed to be honed. They did a mild clean on the block also. No significant scratches in cylinder 1 which had the cracked ring. That worked out well. After I got the block and head home, I wire wheeled the block and wiped it down with phosphoric acid and then lacquer thinner. After that I painted the block. The paint was from California Datsun and looks to be the same color as the previous blend from CDM. I think the only difference is this paint appears to be a bit glossier, but I think that will be fine. I also got the freeze plugs in and the crank, crank bearings and rear seal. Before and after pics are below.

I still have them. How about $1,000? Tonight I'll look and see what jets and emulsion tube sizes they have.

Thanks Charles! I'm gonna have to man up and sale on ebay. Always a buyer, never been much of a seller. I'm too honest to be a salesman.

The fuse cover over the AC fan motor fuse was distorted (lightly melted). I replaced the cover and used the correct 20amp fuse. I installed a reman alternator a few months back after the orig unit shorted thru the diode pack, taking out the fuse link with in and killing the entire electrical system. With the reman alt in place everything works BUT with the lights and fan (AC) on at idle (800-1000 rpm) the voltage at the alternator is 12.5v and the amp meter shows a slight discharge. If I get above 1500 it will just keep up. I am pretty sure its not the regulator as I have jumped the field coil to the bat term (idle speed only to avoid over voltage) and I get the same voltage results, so I presume the reg is working (with rpm it limits to about 14.2v). I pulled the reman out and took it to 3 diff auto parts store to test, it "passed" and I assume that is under load. Thinking back to the melted fuse cover and the fact that the prob really only presents with the blower motor on makes me wonder if there could be an excessive amp draw, not enough to blow the 20 amp fuse but enough to get hot and perhaps draw down the voltage while at idle. I have no idea what the correct running current should be on the fan motor, but I am guessing the fuse is rated at twice the normal current, if that is the case then I would expect the max current thru the fuse at about 10 amps. I don't have an amp meter that goes over that (I have an old simpson 260 and a more modern digital but 10a is the max IIRC). so with that in mind I will try measuring the resistance of the fuse and check for a voltage drop across it, use ohms law to calc the current. The fuse may be to low a resistance to get a good reading on, if that happens I will look for a length of wire that I can get at least a .1 ohm reading on and use that.

The alternator output does not go directly to the ammeter. The whole car, minus the battery, is connected to the alternator output. The ammeter is in series with the battery, minus the starter. Your comment that the ammeter does not move when turning on a load ( headlights, etc.) BUT the load operates might be telling. Is this while the engine is running or stopped? The smoke that occurred and then stopped could be due to the smoking component burning out. Considering your comments, the ammeter comes to mind. There is only one fusible link in the early cars. If you can start the engine, operate the lights, horn, etc. then the link is ok.

I thought about this as well and I agree. If it exists...