beandip

My '73 240 had a 180 in it and I swaped in a R-200 and used the 180 half shafts . They had the flanges , just be sure to keep the correct shafts on the correct side they are different lingth.

First thing, remove all the plugs. Use a socket on the crank pully and turn the engine over while holding your finger over the s plug hold . Y ou will feel when the piston comes up on the compression storke. Then remove the dist cap and where the rotor is now pointing this where #1 plugwire goes. adjust the rest of the wires to the fireing order. Start the engine and set the timing. Then ballance and adjust the carbs . Then check the timing after the carbs are set . To do all this right check the valves for correct adjustment and adjust as necassary , then the timing then the carbs then check the timing again . When you are tuning the engine to save yourself a hell of a lot of grief , work on one thing at a time ! This way when the engine is acting up you know what it is the thing you are working on. :sleepy:

I was borne and raised in So Cal and moved to Oregon 20 yrs ago . I dont miss it.

Vary nice job , you did good. Gary:classic:

Norm Simpers runs SUs and turns 107+ in 12.8 sec on street tires and 92 octane pump gas. Just passing on information. Tripples do look cool though .

As for the insurance I cannot help you. Now if only the fender is bad. this is a days job to remove and replace the fender if you have not done it before. Then you have the paint to consider. The insurence co. should cover all the repairs If things are what you stated.

I used to sell Rotella in 1955 . It was a great oil. Used in desels also.:classic:

This is a ballancing act , because if you encrease the compression then you do need higher octain fuel. The same is true if the timing is advanced . This one of the reasons emissions require retarted timing and low compression and our fuel is now low octain. Premium fuel used to be 110 octane and some engines had over 10 to 1 .that was in the late '60s. The '70 --'72 Z had rather high compression . From then on the compression was lowered to the 8s. This is one of the reasons raising the compression helps these engines make HP. That and they are all high geared . It may sound cool to have a car that will go 130MPH , but if the rear end was changed to a 370 or 390 the car comes alive at driving speed . Some thing to think about. My 1 1/2 c. Gary

I dont know about our early Zeds but my early Maxama had a tool bag with open end wrenches and a screw driver and a pair of pliers . Sorry I dont know the UK terms for these items. My '73 240 has decals on the doors showing the jack and chocks and how to store them. I dont know if this of any help or not. Gary:classic:

A while back , maby 2 yrs ago , I was surfing the web and looking up all sorts of things . I came accross an independant resurch site that had tested about 10 different brands . Some I had never heard of . Some I remember were Quaker State , Penzoil , Castrol with gtx , Kindel , Royal Purple . There were others but these were the ones that showed toward the top of the "pile" . They went in to the contents of the oils , both good and bad , the temp breakdown the amount of ash in the oil , the lubercating quality the different detergents , a whole battery of tests and compairing of products. The results was a suprise to me and the two that were at the top and both were almost the same was # 1 Quaker State 2. was Castrol GTX they were clearly at the top and 3. valvoline . They did test a blended sinthetic , honestly I dont remember how it rated. I do remember it was not at the top. I have been driving my own cars for over 49 years and for ablut 40 of them I have been using Quaker State and still do. This research site remember was INDEPENDANT. I know this will sturr up a hornets nest of posts form members . I am just passing on some informaton, by the way . During the years of driving some of it was on the drag strip so no all was on the streets. My 2c Gary

They are rubber. And the ones on ebay sold in 10 min. to buy it now. They have been NLA for a long time. Just need to go used , or ripair mine. Unless some old stock shows up . :classic:

try loosening the belt and see if it stops. Rub a bar of soap on the V porton of the belt , then start the engine . This is only a temp. fix but some times there is a glaze on the belt and or pullys. If you just replaced the alternator , check on the alignment of the pulleys . If you have the unit a little forward or back that it should be it will cause the belt to make noise plus it will not last vary long.

I started on my '73 a little over a year ago . An am now working on the body and the mulitude of little dings and a few small dents. The thing I have found here is the poor bondo work that was done in the past . Body filler will alow moisture to penetrate and if holes are drilled through the sheet metal and covered with filler , rust will start under the filler and spread untill the filler cracks and falls off. Just a hint for future repairs. Either lead or braze the holes closed , then filler. I am like you and want to do things right. I cut out a rust riddled passanger floor and fitted in a unit from Zedd Findings. I had it tig welded in and treated the bare metal with POR , after sandblasting twice . At present the Z is a rolling shell . All the glass is out , also the engine and trans. All the wireing is removed , the gas tank is out and has been treated with POR. The dash and all the interior is out . Most of the body work is done and soon I will be primering and sanding in prep. for paint. I hope to have her up and running by the 4th of July but I dont think I can do it by then. I went over all of this because I want you to see what you are looking at , to do it right. As 2many said your time table is vary short, and your cost of body and paint is on the light side if you want it right. You can have it painted for under a grand and the body worked on also. If you want a 20 20 car. That is it looks good at 20 ' going 20 MPH. A truly fine paint job if you do most of the removing of the chrome will run about $3000.00 or so. Plus body work.

I received the ISUZU gaskets and they are about 1/3 the size of the Zs . Not even close. Back to the drawing board. I am going to try and repair mine and also make my own. I will post what comes of the latter option. Thanks to every one and if you come up with a sorce from a different breed of car that will work , pass on the info. :classic:

Zman , A friend , that is also a member , builds Z engines for raceing and with headers he recommends the heavy duty gasket from Motorsport. He says they will last and last and they even have used the same one after removing the headers more than once and reinstalled .

I dont know what plastic parts you are talking about. As for the seat mountings . For one I used a saws all to do the removal of the old flooring. I did use a spot weld cutter on the spot welds on the trans tunnel and on the rocker rail. The new floor extends beyound the seat supports so I just cut away the bad sheet metal of the floor on each side of the support and ground off the spotwelds on a bench grinder . when the pan was reinstalled the seat mounts were welded in at the same time. Your seat mounting may look shakey , but after you clean them up you will most likely change your mind. They can be repaired if needed or you can find replacements at the Bone Yard. D Fever take a look at zeddfindings.com .:classic:

Chloe is the contact person for midwestz.com One thing you might do is to find a module in a bone yard . If not just to see if it is what is bad , but it wont hurt to have an extra . New they are not cheep. But Chloe has vary good prices if you must buy new.

When you buy the Z , come back and we can help.

Why are you bothering with the diff.? they are a dime a dozen. If you have the front cross member loose and mustash bar loose , unbolt the half shafts and the diff should be free. you must drop the front cross member to remove the diff..

Before you start cutting with a torch stop here . I just replaced the passinger foot well in my '73. What you need to do is evaluate the rest of the pan. Remember the flool pan is part of the frame , all is interconnected with a unabody construction. If the major portion of the pan is ok you can have patches tig welded in. If the rust has compromised the pan and it is thin and not sound , dont screw with it and replace it . Zedd Findings sells the best floor pans period . His are the ones on Motorspots . Charley Osborne is the owner of the co. and he is vary helpful. You don't want to cut away the sheet metal untill you have the replacement there so you know how much to cut. If you decide to go this route let me know and I will walk you through it . I have pictures I can send you of before during and after if needed. Do you have any help ? Another thing where are you ? I am in Oregon. Gary

What is the car ? Injected or not? what if anything have you done ? It helps to know what ignition that you are using , and so forth. We are willing to help but neend help from you. No spark , is the ignition switch good? Is there power to the coil ?

The best bang for your bucks would be to install a 390 differential, that is after you tune the engine which mostly is just adjustments. Just a word here , make vary sure the brakes are in good working condition and the car is safe before you start thinking of how fast it will go. I dont want to read about you killing some family because you were out of controll and couldent stop. I know you don't want to hear this but with these cars come responsibility. Good luck.

I just took a look at W kid's gallery picture . I think Allen's right some welding is in order big time before even thinking of speed. If the rest of the car looks anything like the picture , I am sorry .

I was wondering about using nitrus my self . I was talking to one of the men at the speed shop and from what he was saying a 75 shot would be safe . I think it would be a great kick in the butt , no pun intended.

I recently went to a club function and it was at a dyno day. They were putting there Zs on the dyno . One of the cars '79 running about 11 to 1 compression, head work headers and a hot cam the pulled 152Hp to the rear wheels on 100+ gas. and it was running strong. There was a supura there owned by one of the techs that were running the dyno his inline six on gas turned 740Hp and not on nitrus . He did it twice , the first run of the three when he punched it in fourth gear he broke the rearend loose so bad it went to red line . They put two big guys in the back for weight and then turned the 740s . This is a twin turbo and he has a nitrus setup but dident have a bottle in the car. As you said speed costs money , how fast do you want to spend.