Alan Pugh

I'm also trying to track these down as my car didn't have these installed either and the rust that is caused by these missing is huge. If I find them i'll let you know. Alan.

Ok, on the bottom of the front strut where it joins the control arm you will see the steering knucle that sits in between these two items and the tie rod is bolted to the steering knucle. To check the ball joint on the control arm grab the wheel at the 12 o'clock position and pull and push the wheel, you shouldn't feel any clunking or movement. To check the tie rod end ball joints grab the wheel at 3 & 9 o'clock and rock the wheel, you should feel no clunking or movement other than normal wheel movement. Also while your there check the rubber shock mount on the steering column just back from where the column joins the rack pinion. Let me know how you go. Alan.

Demon, What condition are the tyres in, check the side walls for damage. Also check all your ball joints, control arm and tie rod ends, if your not sure how to check these let us know. Alan.

Demon, How long have you had the car? Has it been stored for a long period of time before now? It does sound like you need new strut cartridges. To test the cartridges do the bounce test. Go to each corner of the car in turn and push dow three times quickly as hard as you can and let go, the car should stop moving. If it keeps bouncing it's a good indication you need to change them. Have you had the front wheels balanced to see if that gets rid of any of the vibration in the front end. If you can answer these questions we can help you further. Alan.

Jason, I've used paint stripper in the past to remove the bondo in my cars. It softens it to make it easier to get out and doesn't damage the metal under any further than it already is. Alan.

Is it the drivers side demister duct and plastic diffuser?

Yes it is your syncro for second gear. Alan.

DINK. In Aus it means double income no kids. I think Christa is after a rich one boys, Alan.

I have to agree with ZmeFly on this one. Sure the holley will be easier to tune, but you tend to starve #1& 6 cylinders of fuel. The SU's aren't that hard to tune to warrant a single down draught carbie on a performance engine. Just my opinion Alan.

No Carl you haven't missed anything, the picture of the wheel is off the Simmons web site. My three are definately 4 stud. Alan.

Alfa, Dandenong is a south eastern suburb of Melbourne and just happens to be where I work and can ship the box from there on one of the trucks going north. Alan.

If you can get the box to Dandenong I can get it to Queensland. Alan.

Cams are a tricky thing to understand when you get right into the nitty gritty of it all, and thats why we all go to companies that manufacture cams to get them, because they have done all the homework and trial and error. Every cam you buy or is fitted to a car as standard is a trade off in different areas. Variable valve timing is now standard in a lot of current day cars, which goes a long way toward solving problems with the valve timing, but the cam itself in these cars is still a trade off between driveability and performance. Unfortunately it's not as easy as retarding or advancing a cam in the engine to get the performance you need, there are a lot of other factors you must look at. Valve lead: The amount of time/rotation/degrees the valve opens B.T.D.C. Valve lag: The amount of time/rotation/degrees the valve stays open A.T.D.C. Valve overlap: The amount of time both valves for one cylinder are open at the same time. The list goes on into a whole lot of technical jargin. I believe the best way to pick a cam is to decide how you want to drive your car and how you want your car to drive, and then go and talk to the people you want to supply your cam and talk to them, but I guarentee you will end up trading off somthing to get something else. No point pulling up at the lights or being stuck in traffic and having to pull the kidney belt on. Somthing to think about. Alan.

This is the 260 2+2 plate, you will also notice the additional box in the bottom right hand corner of the plate. The 240 plate is US and the 260 plate is AUS. Alan.

These aren't my plates they have come off the internet but you can clearly see the difference between the 2. My plate matches the 260 2+2 plate exactly other than actual VIN# obviously. This is the 240 Alan.

Yes that is a possibility, but you would have to spin the crank at the same time as not all the oil galleries are open at the same time. Alan.

Get your measuring tape out and get a few measurements. Don't forget to check the splines on the output shaft. Alan.

Definately sounds like the uni joint, but as 240ZX says check the diff mount as well. Before you drive too much further get underneath and check the drive shaft. On the first occasion it happened to me it was the front joint that let go completely and because the driveshaft was still connected by the rear uni the front fell to the road, bounced straight back up again and thru the floor. Not a pretty sight, either were my pants when I $^!# myself. Alan.

Alan, As far as I am aware the Australian cars did not have the engine numbers on the VIN tag, I know my 260 hasn't. The only way to find out if the original engine is in the car would be the original bill of sale or if someone bothered to fill out the page in the owners hand book or you could try and trace the original registration papers. Allthough all this proves I suppose is that the original engine block is in the car, nothing more. Alan P.

I would be doing everything at the one time. As far as the cam is concerned when you fit it to the engine make sure you cover the lobes with molybond, and also cover the contact patch on each rocker arm with the same. This ensures that there is plenty of lubrication to the contact surfaces of cam and rocker during the initial dry cranking of the engine. To further reduce the risk of damage from non circulation of oil during initial start up, first crank the engine over with no spark plugs in, and keep an eye on the oil pressure guage . You won't get full pressure but it should give you at least 8 to 10 psi and get the oil moving thru all the galleries. This cranking over also gives you a chance to check fuel flow and spark before you start. Good luck. Alan.

Quite often when the pinion bearing in the diff goes the noise from this is transmitted thru the driveshaft and you swear the trans has blown up. Drain the oil out of the diff and check for metalic residue. If the bands in the trans are that bad that they sqeal at 50 it would not change properly thru any of the gears. Alan.

This has happened to me twice before. Mainly happens on sealed for life universal joints, (no grease nipple) but can happen to any uni joint. Is the squeak present only driving forward or in reverse as well? If it is only in one direction check all the uni joints but the drive shaft uni's are the usuall suspect. Hope this helps. Alan.