Zedyone_kenobi

Just an update. I talked to the fellow this week about my dizzy rebuild. He is getting it on his bench before the end of the week and he will tell me what the euro dizzy is up to. I am looking forward to dropping that baby in there and running some aggressive advance curves.

copy that, saw other threads with tin foil used. Very good idea.

will do, pics to follow. I thought it was rivets. I will double check. Yeah, the engine is not out. I have a couple of projects planned in the next two months that I want the engine in for.

I have no idea!! I just bought one can of sandable primer, one can of basecoat, and one can of clear... I am taking pictures as I go, I will post them when I have made more progress.

I have decided to on the first bit of 'body work' I have ever tried (not counting refinishing my air cleaner). I am going to try to paint the engine bay fenders of my Z. They have long been scratch up from the dealer installed A/C hoses and canisters, etc. Plus it will give me a chance to really clean up the battery tray area. So far, I have removed everything from the passenger wheel well area. I mean everything but the VIN tag, I am going to leave that there and carefully tape over it. I have wet sanded the bejebus out of most of the area and I am working my way down to the frame rail. I am debating if I am going to remove the fuel lines or use a long brush to clean around them. Not sure. I have tested a small area of the touch up paint I ordered from http://www.automotivetouchup.com/ and it appears to be the real deal. I have an extra front valance that I am testing everything out on as well so I can see it in the sunlight. I think the color is pretty darn close to my 15 year old respray. Close enough for an engine bay anyway. So my first newbie question. I have half a dozen or so holes drilled in my fender for old A/C plumbing grommets, and places where the voltage regular had to be moved due to the compressor. What is the best way to fill in screw holes. Options that come to mind are: Small Welds Brazing Body filler JB weld (sandable if they make it) If I come across as a complete beginner at painting things I am. I know enough that prep is everything. Sand, clean, degrease, clean, use tack cloth, clean. Clean clean clean. If I do that, then my chances are better for a good result. So for a while, I will spend my time cleaning and sanding.

okay okay OKAY... I admit it. I did forget about the mustang II and the Fox body. Mostly the fox body to be honest. I am so ashamed!!

Okay, this is just, um... BEAUTIFUL... yup, my bumperettes are coming off.. SOON!

So much win in that post right there. I have said it for years to mostly deaf ears. The retro thing, is using the nostalgia of customers to sell a car. If you think about it, what are they doing really. Buy designing a car that looked mostly like a an older model.. you are telling that buyer.. "remember when we did not totally suck" The other big problem with going retro, is after that, where do you go from there? Do you follow all the previous years designs. Is the 2014 Camaro going to look like the 1970 Z28? You cannot evolve a brand for 35 years slowly adjusting it to the market and changing it, and then go full retro. You just cannot pick back up after the retro fad is over. GM, and Dodge have designed themselves into a box. The mustang however, has gradually changed and never really strayed that far from the original. The vette has done quite well too. And the pinnacle of design evolution is the 911.

I still need to do this. I will probably get around to it when I drop the tranny AND we are done with 100 degree days.

Great job Slingblade! Looking forward to your continuing improvements.

Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

congrats!!! great job!

If the car is all original, why ruin it with a stroker or V8 conversion. There are so few original Z's left. It is your car and you can do what you want, but cars that are converted to V8's are never brought back to original and that means one less Z car to represent the brand. Why not build up the L24 in it?

There is so much not stock in that car it is hard to tell. The side panels front and rear bumper, the hood, the numerous scoops, the steering wheel. It could be any model year really from 1970-1977. the lack of turn signal in the grill would make me lean toward an earlier car but that can ALL be modded. My question to you if I should dare ask it, is why a swap. I mean a swapped LSX is about as common place as a honda civic. Leaving the L-series in there and building it up would be more original. Not so sound like a downer, but the L series is a great race proven platform to make very good power.

Well I just installed an Interstate MT-24 battery. Fits the OEM battery holder wonderfully. I am going to see how it responds to the car. It maintains right at 13 volts just sitting there. More power to my accessories and coil must be good thing. My alternator will not have to work so hard at night I am hoping. My old battery would not get above 12.1 volts ever. I am going to get some new fancy battery cables and then hook it all back up today.

I headed down to my local saturday night car show last evening and noticed something that I never noticed before. I installed the 60 amp alternator conversion from MSA and have been happy with the output I have been getting. Very happy actually. I did notice something peculiar. When I turn my lights on at idle, the car literally loses about 150 rpm. It feels like an AC compressor has turned on. Now I understand that with the headlight harness installed the lights draw directly from the battery. Is that alternator trying to charge the battery so hard that it becomes that hard to turn? I know alternators take HP to run, but never thought it would be that much. This all could be because my battery is on its last leg as well. I have tried to charge it numerous times, and it never gets to beyond 12.1 volts. I have tried a dedicated battery charger at 5 amps and 10 amps, and I have a tried a trickle charger at 0.75 amps. THe battery will get to 12.1 volts pretty quickly, but if I leave it a day , it always drops to 11.7 volts. Could the alternator be trying to charge a battery that will not take a charge and is working overtime to accomplish this. Well, this is my theory. Any other takers. I am going to buy a new battery today to see what happens. By the way, I am running an 8 year old optima that has say for numerous years with the previous owner.

I am just curious buddy. Since ANSA is still technically in business, it seems you could get in trouble for selling these in any kind of quantity using their name. Maybe you should call them ANZA just to keep yourself out of any legal issues. I know it is anal, but I have seen things like this happen in the Subaru world with replica parts.

mortensen, I will see if I can ask the fellows at advanced distributors to do just that. I can ask for any setting I want, and they will make it happen. If I keep the static timing at 17 degrees and make the centrifugal advance more like 17-19 versus 12, then that would put me into the mid thirties like you mention and I could run without a VA. By your opinion then you think that if I were fully advanced by 2500-2700 rpm it would be a sweet spot for my stock L24 with headers and exhaust. I was just going to let them refub it and put a new pertronix in, I had not thought about recurving it. Very interesting thoughts though.

I do not think it would be bad, but I am pretty sure that is the original vacuum advance, and I would wager that it is probably leaky. I do not see any reason a US vacuum advance would not work, but if the plate inside is limited to 11 degrees, then 11 degrees is all I am going to get. I will have to see. I need to clean it up a bit.

Well here it is, the euro distributor I got from a nice fellah in the UK. I am going to send it get rebuilt soon. Pics for those who are interested: I cannot help but notice the word LUCAS on the rotor.. that MUST be removed! One thing I am unsure of, is the euro dizzy has a different amount of vacuum advance than the US dizzy. (11° vs 18°) I suppose I can just use a US vacuum advance diaphram and let it pull until it stops.

I understand your frustration, but the fact that you did not install it yourself, and you said that you are not a mechanic, tells me you did not know you had 0 problems. Just about NO 35+ year old car has no problems. Did you know the condition of every single part under that engine bay? I bet not. In the process of taking off the entire driver side of the engine and putting it back together perhaps a hose that was badly degraded finally broke. That kind of thing happens all the time. I am not trying to make excuses for a stuck throttle, which should be a very easy fix, or for anything else. But there are two sides to the story. He could have communicated better to you perhaps. I am just saying that your attitude is why many mechanics will refuse to work on older cars. Lets say you had three wires and a hose that were so far degraded that when he took them off they failed. Now did he charge you for those hoses. Probably not. Did he even know that there were bad connections or broken hoses, maybe not. Now, if he would replace everything that looked faulty and charged you for it he would be a A-hole for doing work you did not authorize. I am partly on your side as I feel your pain, but I think that not all the fault is the mechanics. Anytime you take your car to a mechanic you are at their mercy. Perhaps this guy was not entirely on the level and his customer service could use some work. Granted that appears to be the case, but it is time to admit to yourself that you either need to learn more about the car you drive daily and get your hands dirty, or find a dedicated Z mechanic in your area. Your computer analogy is not the same. WE are talking a 35+ year old machine. So lets modify your story. I bring you in my 200MHz Pentium 2 machine that dates back to the early 90's. I ask you to install Windows 7 and leave. I do not ask you to upgrade everything that is old or out of date, just install windows seven. Naturally when I get my computer back I have issues with it and I blame you for it. Whose fault is it really. The answer is both yours and mine. I should have made sure my computer could handle the upgrade, and if not me, you should have told me I needed to fix many different things before it will work. It is still a weak analogy the way I wrote it, but it is closer to what happened. Comparing upgrading cars to a computer is not really the same thing. Cars can degrade and still work for a long time. Computers will usually let you know when something is broken (blue screen of death, etc). Cars have gaskets and rubber that degrade over time, cars corrode, rust, and deteriorate. That is all I can say. Your problems sound minor, and I wish you the best. I do sincerely wish you the best of luck.

Okay, here is the deal. And you are not going to like what I have to say. First, if the guy did not know about these cars he should have warned you, and possibly turned the work down. Okay I said the only thing you may agree with. Now the hard to hear part. Mechanics get asked to fix one thing on a car. Say install a new carburator. Well they get the carb on as promised, but the owner is pissed when the new carb does not run correctly. WHy? Burnt valve, vacuum leaks, poor timing, clogged filters, etc. The list goes on and on. What you have there is an older car that probably needed MANY things MUCH MORE than a header and exhaust. However, you asked the mechanic to install it and he did. I am sure he found many things that your car needed on the way, but he did not tell you that, and did not bill you for them. I know you think he is the enemy right now, and he may or may have not done shoddy work. The welds do not look terrible, and the muffler looks about right. The pictures that show the throttle linkage tell me that you need to give the engine some attention. Wires need inspection, hoses need replacement, etc. A high idle sounds like a vacuum leak to me perhaps. That may make you run lean and that would also raise your engines running temp. My advice is harsh but sound. Replace all your vacuum hoses one by one. Take your time and do it right. Clean up the wiring and route it better. Get a new fuel rail from one of the datsun parts suppliers. Fix the cars old parts and cease adding performance enhancements. I understand that the exhaust replacement was to get rid of your old rusty exhaust, but did you need a header for that? Second, put your heat shield back on. I run headers and I installed my stock heat shield after I replaced my gasket. Third. Take a deep breath. This shall pass. When you put your car into somebody else's hands, this often happens. Mechanics get a bad rap, but for the most part they are not bad people. He had to remove the entire side of the engine to install the part you asked him to. Not trivial. Check for vacuum leaks, install new hoses, make sure your throttle is not binding. Methodically check everything. You will learn quite a lot doing this. Write it down and keep a log. Take pictures of the parts. We will all do what we can to help.

but you see, that is what these kind fellows are trying to tell you. A large drop IS in fact going to ruin your car. You will destroy the underbody, the vital suspension and engine parts will rub and scratch. Your ride quality will be absolute junk. You will make the car unable to deal with bumps and hiccups in the road, and it will be near uncontrollable with too large a drop. Try to think about a 1 to 1.5" drop. That is very possible and still keep yours car current suspension geometry in tact. It will look lower and at the end of the day you will be able to still drive it and more importantly, WORK ON IT. Being able to drive it up ramps and get a jack under you 38 year old car is not just handy but a necessity. Too many young kids want the look without thinking about the consequences. We are all being kind and telling you to STOP. Lowering a car 3+ inches is just too much. I promise you, that you do not have the technical acumen to do this properly. Stay with tried and true matching sets of struts/springs. Look at tokiko/koni/eibach. Look at what others have used. At the end of the day function is more important than form.

Well I cannot argue with that!

Gotcha, then I better get to swapping so you will know. I think it will a few weeks. I need to send it off. Is there anyway I can measure shaft slop? It may not need to be rebuilt, and if not, I can just take my pertronix off my current one and put it on my euro one.