Zvoiture

Well, I managed to get both fenders on and primed and the undercoating removed from the wells, the hood installed and primed, both doors installed and primed, the interior primed, and began puttying a little here and there. Rolled it out in the sunsine and let it BAKE all day long. This is starting off as a very productive weekend!!! At this rate I will be driving it by...um.... well.........Christmas? steev77

It is with great trepidation I post this, as I am quite a Francophile......but, it is pretty funny (sorry Fred). Google: type in: French military victories Hit: Feeling lucky. steve77

The Z Corral at the 2003 Monterey Historics is a reality! We made the deadine and sold enough passes to secure the parking area. BUT! There are 6 spaces left!!! And now that the lot is actually happening, EVERYONE will want to come. Here's the deal: We sold 35 TICKETS, but they represent only 29 CARS (some have two persons inside). That means we have 6 PARKING SPACES left for Z's. I know a quite a few of you have been sitting on the fence waiting to see if we could pull this thing off and now these last few passes will go instantly. For these last few spaces, you must purchase the regular grandstand ticket directly through Laguna Seca Raceway ($45). Once you have tickets, call or e-mail Mark Davey at 831-662-8253 (DAVEYMSJ@aol.com) and he will give you one of the Z Corral Parking Passes. Hurry!!!! (and remember: You MUST bring a Z) Steve McConnell, Director Central Coast Z Car Club 746 Via Bandolero Arroyo Grande, CA 93420 805-441-6856

Specifically: I have a 280 hood I want to put on this '73. I would like to strip the three-odd coats of paint off the vents. What should I use? steve77

Yeah, I have never seen square nuts either in that location--or any, for that matter. steve77

I don't care how bad you hate ZX's...these are a MUST HAVE. These are instant '79-83 OEM' class winners at whatever show you go to. Oh and despite the "rear jump seat' verbiage, these are not 2+2's.... steve77

Anyone have grand Z plans for the long weekend? I do. I figure, if I can get 8 hours total between now and Monday morning, I can strip the undercoating and re-install both front fenders and then prime the entire car. That is my goal. Any extra will be spent dropping the diffy and susp off this POS 73 in my garage so I can GET IT OUT OF HERE AND GET MY WIFE OFF MY CASE!!!!! (Keith, you are so lucky) Anyone else have Z plans? steve77

Well, from my experience the past couple of evenings...the torch ans stiff putty knife works pretty good on undercoating. Some places it is almost 1/2" thick!!! Unbelievable. Maybe my car can lose a few pounds just in undercoating!?! Oh, and disconnect your smoke alarms first..... steve77

Yes, I meant simply 'odd-number-of-MM-sized'.... As in: Tranny crossmember bolts: 17mm steve77

OK, let's find out who the real sickos are..... Where are the naturally occuring odd-sized bolts or nuts on a Z? (that's 7-9-11-13-15mm and so on...) steve77

Sir Mix-A-lot here...but I don't like big butts!!! steve77

Gawd, Kid, that is like a collection of shrunken-head dolls. I suppose SOMEONE has to deal in the macabre! Actually, Fred S.'s car...er....truck is very well prepared and an absolute showstopper. His is the burgundy one with the molded bumpers (first of the MSA pix). It is on a BroncoII frame. The engine compartment and interior are just impeccable. He has won many awards for the car. The front clip is on hydraulics and there are all kinds of goodies EVERYWHERE that scream "Attention to detail"!!! I think--but could be confused--it has won best modified 280 at the MSA show. steve77

Since everyone HERE has perfect taste in automobile design, I am curious what 1st gen Z owners think of the BMW M-Coupe? I think it is a gorgeous car, but most of my non-Z friends consider it an atrocious design. My wife calls it a 'pregnant guppy'. Am I alone? steve77

>>>>The early...bars and the Works-modified versions.... mounted at the location shown above, and also had two 'drop' bars ...- making them in essence a 'four-point' cage. These located into special brackets that were bolted into captives that had to be brazed into the floor. <<<< So... the car had to be modified to install the bar. It was not a straight bolt-in. The assumption is the dogleg hoop mounting nuts are on every car only because it would be dificult to 'nut' the bolts later? steve

I'm kinda with mack... when I have several hours to work on it, I put on a massive coat of stripper, let it do it's work and then roll it out into the driveway and hose it off. But, during the week, when I may only have an hour or so in the evening, I break out the torch and hit a few spots. My wallpaper scraper works really great too. What an awesome tool! Doesn't scrape the galvanising off either. I hope everyone is being honest... I hope people who have never stripped a car are not just clicking "beadblast" because it looks easy. SURE, we would all love to pay someone else to take the thing and strip it, but logistics, timing and budget get in the way! steve77

But..!

CAUTION: There is no Z content in this public service anouncement: Somebody just alerted me to a 'gallery comment' post which surmises a photo of a fine piece of rump was deleted from this site BY ME for lack of 'Z content'. Nothing could be further from the truth! I remember this photo (quite a while ago) and I remember it being removed, and I remember commenting after somebody asked why it had been removed, "Lack of Z content". It was merely a sarcastic guess! I can't remove anything! The only reason it says 'Moderator' after my name is because the club I am director of has a forum on this site. I don't have authority to touch ANYTHING else! I tried to remove some old classifieds of mine and couldn't do it! Just hadta set that straight! steve77

What I don't understand is why toe-in numbers were noted. Is 0 not desireable? That would be easy to fix--even with a "lowered car with a damaged crossmember". Is 1/8 the usual setting? Actually, since this is a car I am building for autocross (and I can't afford camber plates yet) meebee I could damage the right side of the X-member a little so I could get -1 on both sides???? Gotta find a curb to drive over..... steve77

Come ON! Answer the question!!!! DO I have to put #83 back on there to get a serious answer? geeeeeeeez...Pay attention!

'72 with new rebuilt 240 motor with cam (lopes a bit). Round-tops. 4-speed. Quite a few body issues...owner has been restoring the car, but has to sell it now. Daily driver. Several primer colours...Not much rust. Slotted mags. $900 or best offer. Call John 805-474-5630 Sorry, I have no pix. I am posting this for John. I have seen the car and I know it runs well daily, but can not vouch for much else. It is pretty rough.

Can some one tell me the relevance of this?.......... Enclosed in this '73 I am building was this huge stack of registration papers and service receipts. It was serviced by one of our local Z shops. Receipt dated 12/23/94 (in addition to brakes, t/c rod bushings, tires, etc.): "Front Wheel Alignment: $50. NOTE: Crossmember is damaged, and car has been lowered. Alignment is not within spec. Customer refused work at this time. Toe-in 1/8 Camber left -1 right -1/4 Caster 3 1/4" Can someone translate this into driveablility for me? Is this serious? I have the engine out and really can't see any major deformations of the Xmember. It has a couple dents like someone ran into a ditch (with a big rock!). What I want to know is: how will this effect how the car handles? Crossmembers are easy enough to replace.... steve77

My three-year-old comes down today and says, "I like the silver Z." Got me to thinking.....Why not just clear-coat it? hehe steve77

There was (from the top down): Burgundy grey primer Burgundy (Yes, it had been painted the same colour twice) grey primer factory orange factory primer Oh, and did I mention practically the entire car was skimmed in Bondo? Some of it OVER the other paint jobs. Learned a couple things about these cars: I alway thought there was only one leaded joint in the car. Didn't know the lower windshield area was leaded too. Always wondered why the cowl rusted. Seemed like a weird place--out in the middle of nowhere--to rust. IT'S THOSE TWO PIECES OF FOAM GLUED TO THE UNDERSIDE!!! What a stupid idea! Is that for soundproofing? Total rust trap. steve77

Not an entirely unselfish poll...look what I have been playing with in my garage this week..... NO! That is NOT a silver Z! steve77