stevef1972z

Small stimulation for the economy, reduction of inventory backlogged by dealers and manufacturers, reduced emissions, and getting folks over the scare of big ticket buying again. Was the program for everyone? No. Was it a good thing? Depends what industry you are in. If you needed a newer vehicle and were getting rid of an older car or truck with limited trade in potential it was a good deal. But like TARP if it didnt impact most people directly they think it doesnt work or was a waste.

Well said Dan.

Cant wait to find out what all is in the Pile of Wonder you got there, few things I am looking for might be in there!

August in the St. Louis means hot. Finally got the car to the point where it can be driven without watching the temp guage closer than the road. Its a good feeling to have the whole car back together and running well. I would like to thank everyone for the help with the suggestions for the carbs, the brakes, floorboards and frame rail replacement and the cooling system ideas as well. The board here has great information when searched and assistance in the forums for additional help. Thanks guys, I appreciate the help getting things back in order on this little classic.

Glad you changed your mind, all projects will at one time or another have up and down moments and usually an engine change as well, so you just have something new on the list. Enjoy the car and the fun of the build with all the ups and downs it brings.

Do you loose the dash lights as well? I lost the rear lights and the lights for the plate, but lost the dash lights as well. Mine had wore through under the dash, a small short. I found the area by simply giggling the harness until I had lights. By giggling certain areas I was able to track the offending insulation free wire behind the radio. A quick snip, and peel and a hit with the sodering iron and some shrink fit and it was as good as new. Might be worth a try for you as well, maybe you can find it is a short and not the $100 plus switch. Good luck, electrical gremlins always are time consuming.

Looks good! I have the webers on my 72, and I will not switch them back until they start acting up and I have the time to get a good set of orginals with total rebuild. Great place to start with, you should have a lot of fun with that car. When I emptied mine out it had the "towel bars" with it, never knew what they were called! Enjoy!

Wow wonderful job. I have those same rims, wish I would have had the same level of restoration. Thanks for the inspiration!!

Somebody help this guy, I dont have the update on my 240 so I cant really help.

One propane canister, two scrappers, two four inch grinding wheels, three 4 inch abrasive wheels for the grinder, two abrasive wheels for the drill, three drill grinding stones conical (for those hard to reach places), 10 cut off wheels for air cut off tool, one hammer for the air nibbler (great tool), 3 cans brake clean, 30 inch sheet metal press, 8 sheet metal screws to hold in place (removed and hole welded), one 4x4ft sheet of 18ga, 1 and 1/3 spool of welding wire, assorted hand tools, two bottles of advil and a lot of sweat. Add in the time and you see why the shops charge so much for this job. I think if you total it all up I came out lower than having it all done, minus the time part, as I fabbed up everything myself versus buying replacements or farming the work out. If I had it to do over, I would have stripped the car down to a shell and worked it over, it was a lot of overhead work on my back on a creeper in a one car garage. This is a lot more work than hanging quarter panels or rockers. I am proud of the work, but at the same time I am really glad the major work is now done. I know a lot more about how these cars are made now! I am no joking about the help from the board without it I would have had a real mess on my hands!!! __________________

If it wasnt for GM I would not have my Zed! I got so angry at some of the comments of the GM CEO about having to stand in line at the airport like regular people that I sold my 1979 T-top Z28 and got the Zed. I went from a 450+ hp street strip SBC to an inline six! They will have to work long and hard to get my business back, right now, there is nothing on the lot that I would really like to buy. That is the biggest problem they have, they need to make something people want. Next time you are at a busy intersection at a stop light, count the Mustangs as they go by. just my $0.02

The temp sender should be on the Thermostat Housing, under the upper hose, that wire just hangs there, and the sender tip gets nasty quick, clean and check everything visually and retry. If not, you may have developed a short. When the core decided to retire, did it leak hard inside the car? If so, you may have gotten a few conections wet and need to clean them as well. My guage acted bizzare until I found a short that was causing the drop in and out of the guage, it was under and behind the heater controls and dash area, but it impacted the dash lights as well. Good luck and keep us updated.

Update...The flush system I bought wants 3 to 6 hours of run time before draining the first time. So I have been driving! Went out this morning and drove around quite a bit, mostly in town, with a few miles on the highway and back to in town driving. It was nice this morning, cloudy and only about 80* so not too bad. I was happy to see about a 20* drop in temps, if looking at the guage the warmest I saw was about half way through the letter M on temp so my guess is around 220* and that was after hitting the highway and sitting at a light, it dropped back a bit from that after the light changed and we were moving again. I will complete the flush per manufactures instructions, put in the new antifreeze and jug of Water Wetter and should be fine. Thermostat $8.00 Thermostat Gasket $1.20 Thermostat Housing and Gasket $35.00 Upper Rad Hose $8.00 Lower Rad Hose $11.00 Water Pump $29.85 Tube of RTV Black Anti Sieze Prestone Super Duty Flush Kit $5.99 Add in the time for disassembly and reassembly, cleaning etc. not too bad, and cheaper than a new rad! I think I will be fine for a few more miles.

Great progress! Keep it up

A compression test will tell you if your engine has good compression. An engine is essentially a self-powered air pump, so it needs good compression to run efficiently, cleanly and to start easily. As a rule, most engines should have no more than 10% difference between any of the cylinders. Low compression in one cylinder usually indicates a bad exhaust valve. Low compression in two adjacent cylinders typically means you have a bad head gasket. Low compression in all cylinders would tell you the rings and cylinders are worn and the engine needs to be overhauled. HOW TO CHECK COMPRESSION To check compression manually with a gauge, all the spark plugs must be removed. The ignition coil must then disabled or the high tension lead grounded. If the engine has a distributorless ignition, the ignition coils must be disabled to prevent them from firing. The throttle must also be held open. The engine is then cranked for a few seconds using a remote starter switch or a helper while a compression gauge is held in a spark plug hole. The maximum compression reading is noted, then the process is repeated for each of the remaining cylinders. The individual cylinder readings are then compared to see if the results are within specifications listed in the FSM I dont have it handy now. IS IT THE RINGS OR THE VALVES? If compression is low in one or more cylinders, you can isolate the problem to the valves or rings by squirting a little 30 weight motor oil into the cylinder through the spark plug hole and repeating the compression test. The oil temporarily seals the rings. If the compression readings are higher the second time around, it means the rings and/or cylinder is worn. No change in the compression readings would tell you the cylinder has a bad valve. Check the valve adjustment per the FSM and repeat the test. If it fails again, then it is time for the valve job. Good luck!

The new thermostat housing came in the mail today. It is resting comfortably under the hood now, and the RTV is drying. New thermostat is in place, upper and lower hoses have been replaced and the new water pump is nestled at the front of the engine. Inside the rad is a super flush kit that will need to be run about 10 or more miles through a few heat cycles to clean up the rest of the system. The fan clutch seems fine, and passes the cardboard test listed in the posts, so it was just cleaned up and put back on. I will update Friday or Sat after I get the flush through the system good, and see if I fall in the cool catagory.

Finally finished the Floors and Frame Rails all the way up to the T/C Boxes that were completely gone. Lots and lots of work, but the car is much more solid now. Drove it for a week and all it did was run scary hot. Waterpump, thermostat, overflow kit, full flush, and we will see if it helps. Pulled all the AC off the car and that helps a little as well. Will see how it goes after the thermostat housing comes in the mail.

I would second the flooding. Something is stuck open most likely after the cleaning. I would recheck the carbs, check the floats to make sure they are not stuck.

Swapped out the waterpump today, it was rather full of rust, and did not spin smoothly. New one is in, and the RTV is drying now. Ordered my thermostat housing and thermostat, so I will install them when they get here. I still cannot figure out why the thermostat bent, just doesnt seem right. Does anyone have the temperature sensor parts number, I would like to replace it as well since I figure it is the one that came with the car from Japan like the waterpump and the thermostat!

Thanks. I thought the housing would be harder to find. It was a panic post! Ebay, motorsports and I think the dealer still have access to them. It seems lots of folks dont use anti sieze when working on these parts. What still has me confused is why the thermostat shaft bent. I hate throwing parts in the car when I cant figure out why the old one failed. At three quarters and a bit more on the guage with a spread between numbers of 120 to 250 at three quarter it was running around 220* F and still climbing, that is way too hot for my tastes and it was in the very low 80's here that day, rare for this time of year. I want it running cooler so I watch the road more than the guages so I can enjoy it without fear. Rad is goig up to get tanked and rodded, new waterpump and it looks like a fan clutch rebuild as well. Looks like I am stuck waiting on shipping of the housing, so I will wait it out and work away.

Welcome! Nice group of cars. Good luck on all your projects!

First the back story: Bought the 1972 240Z one year ago this weekend. Blew a head gasket getting it home. Replaced the head gasket and drove the car a bit and discovered brake issues, fixed those and discovered that the frame rails at the T/C mount were rusted completely away, fixed those and frame rails and floor pans. Thought I was set to drive. Drove a bit, (3 miles) no problems, drove a little more (about 7 miles) and it started getting hot. Guage was more than three quarters pegged. Searched here and figured I needed to do some work as there are overheating issues with some of the cars. Starting simply and working my way up, I started with a new radiator cap and a flush and clean of the radiator and block. I also removed the AC condensor to add more airflow and added and overflow tank. No improvement. This morning, new thermostat was in the mix. Promptly went down, set down my coffee, and proceeded with very light pressure to break both bolts on the thermostat cover! Took the thermostat housing off of the engine, got it out where I could work on it, and after drilling pilot holes, and trying the easy outs, I managed to break the bolts both lower and even with the top of the thermostat housing. Cannot get them out of there, they are chemically bonded for life! Did get the cover off, and the shaft of the thermostat housing, where the stopper slides up and down was bent! By the condition of the bolts, I would say it had been in there for a very long time, and may be the problem with the overheating. I need two things from you all: 1) Why would the shaft of the thermostat itself bend, what is the failure of this part telling me, is there a larger problem? I have never seen this type of parts failure. 2) Does anyone have a thermostat housing, cover and housing would be good, or just the housing that bolts to the engine would work as well? Thank you all in advance.

Congrats and good luck

Fans for these cars in good shape are really hard to come by in good shape for the original, the plastic just degrades over time. Searching here you will find a good group of posting for swapping out the blower and fan from different cars that has a large following for upgrading the heating and cooling.

I am one for the lock washer, and locktight in combination with Arne's idea of a flat washer and the proper length bolt. After all of the work you have done in the area, I would also run a thread chaser through the threads to clean them up. Is anything else loosing up? Is there a vibration in the fan from a bad clutch that is making it loosen up? Does the belt dance around and vibrate when it is all replaced and working? How is the alignment, is the belt hitting the pulleys the way it needs to?