Si|v3r72

I just put on Bridgstone Potenza RE950. See them here: http://www.tirerack.com/tires/bridgestone/bs_re950.jsp This is a highly rated, high mileage tire with excellent dry and wet handling. They are extremely smooth and quiet at all speeds. I've only put about 500 miles on them so far but I am very happy with them.

R O F L (inside joke).

2ManyZ's, give someone else a chance to answer please. . j/k bro . The backfiring isn't really as loud as an M-80, but it is as loud as a firecracker. And yes the car still has all the smog equipment . As far as mixture goes, I did a "ZTherapy" tune of my carbs 2 weeks ago - I thought it went well but it was my virgin attempt. I was hoping to lean out my mixture enough to improve my mileage but it didn't really go up much. I figured on looking at the plugs (new NGK last fall) in another tank or so. Good ideas tho - I'll look into them. Danka.

Ever since I put the new exhaust system on (no resonator w/ flowmaster), every time I let off the gas the car backfires, sometimes loudly. If I'm careful not to stay on the clutch too long, I can accell through the gears with very little backfiring, but it's almost impossible to avoid when decelerating. What worries me is I've heard that backfiring can hurt your carbs and engine. A buddy of mine blew a cylinder in his 99 Ram pickup when it backfired. He showed me the piston today and the side of it was completely gone - SCARY! Am I putting my engine/carbs at risk by running the car like this? Anyway, I've been contemplating adding a resonator anyway. As is, the car is a tad too loud and I don't need to give the police a reason to pull me over. That, and I'm the only car I ever hear backfiring down the road.

Guys, the wierdest thing is happening to me when I drive my Z, something totally unexpected and I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with it. Everywhere I go, people look at me. Every time I stop at a red light, people are looking at me. When I park the car at the grocery store, people stop to talk to me about my car. I spent the day with my son today at a lacrosse tournament, and spent at least as much time talking about my car as watching him play lacrosse. I can't go to Burger King w/o having to talk to someone. And the gas station? Good lord. Car buffs come out of the woodwork when I pull up to the pump. Don't get me wrong - it's not that I don't want to talk to people or dislike them. Everyone is so friendly and they all have a story to tell about the Z their dad or neighbor used to have, or the Z they used to have that was eaten up with cancer, but damn it was a great car. It's just that in a relatively short period of time, I've gone from living in complete anonimity to being just short of celebrity status when I drive my Z. It's freakin' WIERD! Sometimes I feel like I'm driving down the road with spotlights on me, or like I'm in a big glass bubble car like the pope rides in, and everyone wants to wave to me. WIERD! I guess what's bugging me is I had no idea this would happen. Now I'm almost paranoid when I drive the Z. I guess I'm just going to have to get used to it. Let me finish by saying I hope this doesn't sound like I'm trying to brag on my car or something because I'm not. I'm just trying to relate to you, my Z brothers and sisters, how owning this car is changing my life. I think in the long run, it's going to be something wonderful that I hope will bring me happiness for many years to come.

ns Mike!

I have strange listening habits - my taste constantly changes - I find a new band I like and listen to them until I wear them out (currently Linkin Park), then I ALWAYS revert back to my staple, my baseline, my god - Frank Zappa. I have a 12 cd-changer in my Z and I'm guessing 8 out of the 12 cd's in there are Frank .

since we're on the subject of carbs.... I tuned my carbs with the ZTherapy video and the shop manual last week. The thing that confused me the most was the idle nut. I'm not sure I was turning it in the right direction (pretty sure, just not 100%). The ZTherapy video kind of skimmed over the actual tuning and mixture nut adjustment pretty quickly so I was a bit confused. My questiojn is, looking down at the top of the carb, when you turn the idle nut clockwise are you making the mixture richer or leaner? The book said to turn to the right to tighten, but it just seemed like it should have been the opposite to me.

Ok I've come to the realization that I fubared the reinstallation of the steering wheel. I've been insisting that the large spring should go behind the wheel (between the wheel and the column). The reason I insisted so is because I swear that's where it was when I took it apart originally, but now I guess it wasn't. I had such terrible problems with it yesterday (spring was still between the wheel and column) so I took it apart again and the large spring was completely mangled. Also the horn contact arm was mangled. Keep in mind I've been driving with the horn fuse pulled so I'm not honking my horn everywhere I go. So I pulled out the mangled spring, straightened the horn contact arm as best I could with needle nose plyers, and re-assembled the wheel - and voila! It works like a charm! Still no horn tho. I think my biggest problem at this point stems from the fact that when I bought the car the foam inside the horn pad was deteriorated to the point that the pad was falling off. So in order to keep it on, I epoxied it back on. So recently when I pulled it apart to refinish the wheel, I had to break the epoxy. So the horn pad doesn't fit onto the center of the wheel like it's supposed to, but it does stay. Anyway, I guess it's time to go looking for a new spring somewhere. Thanks for the help guys!

Last week I took off the steering wheel on my 240 and repainted it. All went well, or so I thought. Being the newb I am, I must have done something wrong putting it back on. I've tried several times to fix it. The problem is the horn sounds when it turns past a certain position, in both directions. Needless to say I've been driving around with the horn fuse pulled, but I don't want to drive w/o a horn. Also, it clicks terribly when I turn it and seems to get hung up on something. The spring between the wheel and the column is getting caught up in the mechanism in the column and it's actually bending. Not good. How do I get the spring set properly, and how do I get the horn to stop sounding?

Thanks Daniel. Great post! BTW one of the first things I had done when i got my car last summer was all new front brakes - loaded calipers, lines, and had the rotors turned. Still using drums in the rear but that is on the list to upgrade.

Hello everyone! My name is Tom Banez and I've been coming here for several months now. I'm 38 years old, married for 15 years, and have twin 11 year olds (Tyler and Hannah - yup, instant family). We live in Dover Delaware, USA. I'm originally from St. John's, new Brunswick, CA, but I've been in Delaware since I was 3 years old. We also have a 6 year old female boxer named Cleo (100 lbs!!!!), and a cat named Trixie. I'm a Civil Engineer with the state highway department and I design roads. My Z history is relatively brief I suppose. About 10 years ago I bought my fist Z, a black 1978 280Z for $1000. It wasn't in great shape, but it was a hell of a fun car and I fell in love with it. Well I got carried away one night and stranded it on a concrete island. Tore up the underbody pretty good. Luckily no one was hurt and I got out of it w/o penalty, except for a badly torn up underbody. At that point I decided it was time to get rid of it for something more family oriented - a 1993 Ford Explorer. Time passed and last year it was time for the wife to get a new car, so I traded the Explorer in (thank god) on a 2001 Toyota Highlander for her. That meant I was left with her old 1988 Mazda 626. Well, I decided since her car was going to be our "all purpose family vehicle", I was going to find myself the car I really wanted. I searched online for weeks - looking at early 70's Corvettes and Z's. I finally found my dream car on E-Bay, my 1972 240 (pics in members gallery). I bid on the car and won! My first and only E-Bay purchase! Needless to say, I've been consumed by this car - an instant love affair (don't tell my wife!). So now I find myself visiting here daily, learning everything I can about Z cars, and meeting all the great people who share my passion. Maybe someday I'll meet some of you in RL - looking forward to it!

It's possible that my linkage for my SU's are a bit gunked, causing me idle problems. Cleaning the linkage should be an easy enough affair, and I always say (in reference to working on cars) try the easiest solutions first. What should I use to clean the linkage? Is there some kind of spray I can buy or do I have to actually do it by hand? Also, what's the best lubricant for after I clean it?

I ordered the SU video from ZTherapy and the syncrotester from MSA. Is there anything else this newb needs to get my carbs right (assuming they're not far out)?

2manyZ's is getting warmer. What I'm really looking for here is what HU's will fit w/o cutting. I guess I wasn't clear. Read the top post and you'll see I've been to Crutchfield and searched for a compatible HU and got ZERO results. Does this mean there is no HU out there that will fit w/o me cutting? As for location, I currently have speakers mounted in the bottom front portion of the doors. Would this be the most desirable location for speakers? If that's the case my upgrade is going to be a snap (for speakers anyway).

Ok I've been thinking about getting the ZTherapy SU video for a while now. I would really like ot be able to tune my carbs by myself instead of having to depend on someone else for it. Good call, I'll get it ASAP.

I just put new rubber on my 14"x 5" slot mags 2 days ago - Bridgestone Potenza RE950 195/60/14. I went with 60's instead of 70's to lower the car a bit. I haven't had a chance to put them through their paces yet but I can tell you they are very quiet and have a reat ride. They feel better then my old Michelins! Go to www.tirerack.com and read the reviews. BTW if you search by tire size at TireRack, you'll find plenty of tires to choose from, and you can read user-reviews for each tire. Anything you find there, just ask your local dealer for his price, installed. You can figure on adding $20 or so per tire over the price at TireRack.

I've noticed some wierd idling behavior lately in my 240. If I start the car, let it get fully warmed up, let out the choke, and let the car idle, it idles right where it sohuld - 700-750 rpm. Bit after I drive the car, then idle, it idles at 1100 or so - it won't go any lower than 1000. Can someone explain why this is happening? Is it a problem? Should I adjust my idle speed based on idling after driving? The carbs could probably use a tune, but even as is, the car runs VERY well. One other thing that has concerned me since I bought the car was gas consumption - I average 15mpg. Thoughts and help are always appreciated.

sigh - I wasn't asking about speakers or speaker location. I want to know what HU's people are using in their 240's - specifically an in-dash cd player/receiver. I already have a 12 disk changer installed (FM modulated), but the HU is very old and needs to be updated. Yes I am going to replace the speakers too. What speakers I replace the old ones with will depend on the HU though, so that is where I am starting. But since I'm on the subject - what speaker location do you all use in the back of your Z? Do you use the stock location that points the speakers right at each other (and not towards the front) or do you use something like the box system that MSA sells. I figured the rear speakers pointing towards the front is obviously a better setup, and a box for them would be easy to build.