Oiluj

William really knows Z-cars and does high quality work. He owns two S30's himself, one a V-8 conversion. For what I wanted done, I got estimates ranging from $5,500 to $7,500. William's estimate was $7,100. More than I planned to spend on the paint, but I think it will be worth it... It's not just a sand and shoot job. He removed the lead in the joints at the roof pillars, (all four coners), and bead welded the panels. This keeps the paint from cracking in these areas from body flex. (You see this on S30's that are driven hard). He's also stich welding the frame areas around the sway bar mounts as I'll be running larger-than-stock front and rear sway bars. The chassis is dissassembled, (doors, fenders, headlight scoops, hatch, etc), side trim rivet holes welded-over and surface rust removed and sealed. They also re-fit and match the lines, adding metal if required. He's also mounting and painting my engine bay, mirrors, front & rear spoilers. My guess is he will work with you on price if you want less work done. He uses high quality paint and guarantees his work. Z-Car Garage in San Jose sends their restoration work to William... I saw a silver 240Z chassis when I first went there that looked awesome. He currently has an almost completed 510 in the shop that's worth looking at as well. Hope that helps.

Are these cool or what? William at William's auto body made these to show different levels of contrast for the rally stripe. The smaller one is somewhat lighter, but the pics don't show it well. Base paint is a really nice metallic silver. William's Auto Body is "the" local Z car body guy in this area. He's very knowledgeable when it comes to Z's and is a pleasure to work with. Thanks to whoever it was referred me to him!

Rich, You might want to search some of the threads here, or perhaps one of the pundits on the board can comment better than I can. I've heard that the earlier E31 head yields better performance than the E88 head. As I understand it, the E31 heads are becoming pretty rare. Of course, Rebello can modify your current head to improve performance somewhat.

My engine is still at Rebello. I told Dave there was no "rush" since my chassis is still at the body shop and it will probably be 8 weeks before I'm ready to install the engine. Dave told me that with the stroke job, mild cam, modified E88 & up-sized carb needles I can expect 200+ hp at the output shaft. My main reason for doing this is for the increased torque that comes with the bigger bore as I'll be installing A/C. I got a higher capacity aluminum radiator to help keep the beast cool. I'll report when I get the engine back and installed in the car. You should call Dave to discuss what he can do with your E88 and what kind of improvement you can expect. My previous personal experience was rebuilding/repairing a stock L24's, so I'm really looking forward to seeing how much of an improvement my Rebello powerplant provides.

I agree that if larger vehicles carry more people, the math works. But where I live, my observation is that most of the time, those big SUV's carry only the driver and, (maybe), one passenger. In that case, even our old Z's look pretty good by comparison. When a viable alternative, public transit is the "best" green approach. Just my 2 cents.

My 72 has the original, unused spare tire. A small bag of lug nuts in a sealed plastic bag are attached to the spare with a plastic tie.

Wow! Tht's fast. I'm still weeks away from getting mine back from the body shop... Looks great. Looking forward to seeing pics of her fully assembled.

Arne, Thanks for the reply and you are absolutely correct, (as usual...) I'm familiar with the types of bulbs you describe from previous use in marine lighting conversions. As you indicated, the uni-directional lamps would be a poor choice in this application. I was thinking of the multi-directional lamps in the front signal/parking lamps. There are also bulbs w/ LED's encased in a molded lens supposed to help disperse the light, but I have no experience with these. I figured Dave has probably tried them all and could "shed-some-light", (bad pun), on my question...

One other thing. You mentioned in a differnt post that you have done tail light conversions. Can you post pics of one of these? For me, that upgrade provides more value and is probably worth the expense. Just my (cheap) two cents.

Dave, It looks great. But $210, (which I think is a fair price), is more than I am willing to spend on this particular upgrade. I would be more inclined to try using LED replacement bulbs at about $50. Have you done this and how do they work?

Don't like that look on a classic Z. But to each his own...

I completely agree with Joel. That's how it's "supposed" to work.

Just finished taking my tail lights apart. I have one extra tail light and wanted to switch the less pitted chrome strip to the better assembly. So here's a question for the pundits: What type of adhesive was used to asemble the lens to the body? (I like the fact that it can be removed by heating the joint in case I ever have to replace a lens...) Disassembly of the lights was much easier than I thought it would be. Just poured very hot tap water on joint betwen the lens and grey body. With a little gentle prying with a screwdriver, they came right apart. I did snap off the retainer in back on both trying to get it apart. Then removed the chrome strips from the lenses got two of the 6 push nuts off without breaking the plastic pin, but I figured I'd have to glue them back on anyway. Remaining adhesive was easliy removed from the lens with hot water and finger pressure. Adhesive left in the body channel was removed with hot water and a small screw driver.

I looked for over 6 months and saw a lot of rust buckets before before buying my 72' 240 in Arizona. The car was clean and rust free, but did require a repaint. Consider budgeting a few hundred dollars for a quick day trip to inspect a car outside your area. Be patient, have your money "in-hand" and be ready to pounce when the right car comes along. Good luck with your search!

You are well ahead of me... My chassis should be prime coated soon. I visited the car last week. No fenders, no hatch, and lots of sanded-down spots... At least there was nothing but a little surface rust! Will be really nice when I get her back!

I agree with Carl's comments above. The VZ has historical value that a owner-restored Z will not likely have. Of course, my Z won't be quite as nice as either the VZ or Filipe's, so what do I know...

Nice! Looks very "classic".

Not to my liking, but that's just one person's opinion. The underhood treatment is interesting though...

FWIW, I have a system that pressurizes the master vac using a spare tire. It works quite well for singlehanded bleeding. I drop the pressure tire to about 10 psi when I use it. Don't know the manufacturer as I've had it for years and all the writing is gone on the bottle. I'll have to fabricate a locking cover for the 240Z master cylinder so I can use it on the Z. (What I've had to do for almost every car I've used it on... Figure I'll use a cap from an 15 year old master cylinder I still have laying around from my last 240Z.

I'm about to by my A/C unit this month. I liked Vintage Air's servo damper controls, but decided to go with Hot Rod Air. I decided on Hot Rod Air because they offer a three slider control which may be adaptable to the OEM heater control bezel. We'll see how it works out in a couple months... Will keep you posted.

Congrats and welcome! As a relative nebie on the forum, I can tell you this is a great place. Lots of friendly advice.

Steve, That's the combo I'm planning to install. (Already have all the parts). Did you find the camber with this combo was not so far off as to affect tire wear?

My eyes! My Eyes! Aggghh! I'm hoping the damage to my retinas isn't permanent...

I'm a fan of White Post. After less than steller results with rebuilt brake parts on my MGA, I finally just sent the master and front calipers to White Post. The difference was amazing... the brakes felt and performed like new!