Zvoiture

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!

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

"Profanity is a shallow mind trying desperately to express itself." steve(really %@#&ing shallow)77

What's your favorite way to strip a Z? steve77

There are some similarities to the Opel GT's...but the Z has some similarities to the Opel Gt and the Toyota 2000 has some similarities to the Opel Gt....quite a few personal GT cars from the era have some similarities with the Opel Gt....or is it the other way around? I wouldn't want one for the simple fact they have VW motors and transaxles in them. But I found the design interesting. steve77

Another link with some great looking cars...Malzoni's and Pumas and the Ompala...Where do I find a 4.1 straight 6??? http://paulspumapage.s5.com/custom2.html steve77

Someone just shared the existence of the Brasilian PUMA automobile with me. Had never heard of it... Interesting. some of these pix look dangerously like...well.... Can you spell Z roadster? Hoping someone else knows something about these cars. My main question is: Who designed them? Was there a famous or reputable designer who concepted them? I have read through a few of the 'history' pages and can't find any deep design roots other than who started building them and when. Here's a link with a bunch of other great links at the end: http://wj2d.100megsdns.com/home.html Anyone? steve77

Yeah, it's really harsh. Messes with paint pretty seriously. Doesn't take it off, but dulls the finish and puts on white spots. But for general salvage work? GEEEEZZZ. Turned a 5-speed SILVER in one light application. A diffy took two. Sprayed a front crossmember/rack once, hosed it off and the next morning it was RUSTY. That's how little grease was on it! I'm in love with this stuff! steve77

I never weighed it to begin with, but my 77 280 currently weighs 2450. I estimate I have shed 400 lbs. steve

God this stuff works great!!! WAYYYY better than Foaming Engine Brite or whatever. Just the aeresol cans of oven cleaner. Found it at a local grocery discounter for .99 cents a can. Spray it on, it foams up, let is sit and hose off. Greasy grime just falls off! steve77

The latest junker I bought has this big black box for a coil. Mallory Voltmaster Mark II model 28675. I visited some sites which sell Mallory and found this particular model and it says 'for points ignition systems only'. If anyone's interested, here's the address for the PDF (so I couldn't copy and paste the info here): http://www.mrgasket.com/pdf/CoilsM.pdf It says not to use on (a particular) HEI, but I assume it means not to use on ANY EI? Why is this? Not dealing witht he older cars too much, I didn't realize there were two different typse of coils. What would happen if I used this coil on a EI motor? steve77

Is there a way to 'revitalize' a battery? Two batteries came in with these last two Z's I bought. Both had the dots punched out showing a sold date of early 2002. Both cars have been parked for 6 months. Both are high-quality brands (wet cell). When you plug them into the charger, the needle just goes instantly to 0 and just stays there, which usually indicates a shot battery. Is there a way to bring these back to life somehow? Both are very clean and full of fluid and don't have any swollen sides or anything (and the weather here never gets near freezing either). Any hope? steve77

OK...so that's what Idid for now...I just pulled the long one that comes from the front and bent it into a quite sharp 90 and plugged it into the rear nipple. I put an angle relief on the 90 to keep it from kinking. Will run it this way for some tme and will be watching for any cooling irregularities. Thanks. steve77

Does the heater hose that runs from the front tee with the lower radiator hose into the heater core and back into the rear of the block serve any engine function? I am eliminating the heater and would prefer to just cap the front and rear inlet/outlets of this hose but want to make sure this hose does not perform a cooling function by moving coolant from the rear to the front of the motor (or visa-versa). steve77

If a person were installin fenders with flares or box flares or an IMSA kit or whatever.....What can safely be removed from the existing sheetmetal? I know the front is a simple unbolt/replace situation, but what about the rear? I don't want to just 'go over' the existing metal fender. To truly lighten, some of the existing material must have to come off... But what can be removed safely without damaging the structural integrity of the body system? I can't imagine the new fibreglas fender (blended in) will provide anywhere near the rigidity of the original. Can somebody clue me in? steve77