d240zx2

Could be air in the lines. Bled properly, new calipers should provide good braking. Start your bleeding process from the left-rear, then right-rear, right-front, then left-front. And make sure your master cylinder has been bled properly, too.

Have you pre-set your distributor timing for a starting point?

Oh, yeah.....

7psi is one-half atmosphere. I'd think you'd need at least one..... My original radiator does peachy-keen with a 15 psi cap. No problems at all.

That's typical of a catalytic converter being fed an overly rich mixture.

I missed getting registered at the Embassy Suites, but nailed a room at the Hilton Garden Inn. Will there also be registration there, or should I plan on hitting the Embassy Suites first?

Good to hear from you, Steve.

A wise choice, Ian. You'll find another, maybe not in your neck-o-de-woods, perhaps in AZ or CA, OR, or WA, maybe TX. There are a lot of Zs in these states. Canvass eBay and Craigslist. Find one with the least amount of rust (all old Zs have some rust) as that's the most expensive part of a Z to fix. Mechanicals are "easy," relatively speaking. Good luck in your search and use your eyes and camera to allow us here to help you find a decent car. We'll help all we can.

Looks pretty nice, Mark. I can vouch for the Toyota upgrade.... it REALLY stops the car nicely.

You really need to take snaps of various stuff as you take things apart, Free. I'm old, and pics sure do have the ability to stimulate dead memory cells, especially if there are a lot of similar parts/pieces.

If you really want a Z you can enjoy right now but still needs a bit-o-work, find zs-ondabrain posting here. He's got a dandy Z, reasonably priced but needs a bit of body work to make totally right. His would be a better deal, by leaps and bounds, than the apparent rust-bucket you have your heart set on. But hey, it's your money.

If you're able to do the work yourself, it will be an extensive project. If you've got beaux-coux cash, no problem. I'd suggest you look around, a lot. You don't always marry the first girl you kiss, and you shouldn't necessarily buy the first Z you see for sale. From the sounds of it, you could get a better car for the same or less money...

PS, does the ZX2 part of your name have any relation to The Ford Escort ZX2? I'm a closet fan of those. No. D for Datsun. 240Z for the car. x2 means second time I've owned it.

And the mosquitoes are big enough to stand flat-footed and f*** a turkey! In the late '70s I was working for Chrysler in Minneapolis. Got a fresh "field car" one afternoon, a Cordoba. Nice car. Drove it home from the dealer and parked it outside. The next morning I found it wouldn't even buzz the key... the battery had frozen solid. Down to -50 that night. I resigned the next August and came back to Texas. No mas frio!

Astoundingly beautiful, Steve. You should be proud!

I have a twice-pipes set-up on "Old Gold." 1 3/4 each pipe all the way back. It's loud if you mash the gas hard, soft and burbley if you just feather it out. Muffled with some sort of straight-through "glas-pak" hung mid-car, it's relatively quiet until you stand on it. I have had no complaints from the neighbors, no tickets for noise out on the town. However, when I get on it up into the higher rev ranges, I've been told it sounds like some sort of sports bike, only more masculine. I'm well pleased with the performance and sound of my set-up.

Wow! Now how pretty is THAT? Awesome job, Steve.

Hey, Steve. You will probably want someone familiar with Zs to do your appraisal. I suggest David Morreal (zcardave@comcast.net). He appraised mine a couple of years ago and didn't charge an arm OR a leg. Frank

Be mindful that if you blow out too much carbon, especially from the tops of your pistons, you'll be reducing your CR. ;-)

Probably more than the car.

Was it not a lesson well learned? I've come to the conclusion that women know stuff.

From ANY angle, just plain sexy....

I suspect your installation of a new exhaust system will not solve your fume problem. It may help, but doubt if you'll see any significant improvement. Check all of your rear rubber seals, i.e. hatch, taillights, etc. Replace them if they are the slightest bit brittle. That will probably help more than anything.

Your no-start-in-park issue sounds like a bad, ill-located neutral safety switch. As for the other, ????

A quick and mostly accurate belt tension test is to find the longest run of belt between two pulleys. In the center of that longest run, depress the belt. If you can deflect the belt more than 1/2 inch with moderate hand pressure, it is too loose and needs to be re-tensioned.