stevef1972z

It is not too bovious. I didnt explain all that I have done to fix the situation. To try and see what the nature of the problem is, I have even adjusted the brakes down to the max. Full free wheelspin with no contact between shoes and drum. My reward was excessive pedal travel, poor braking and about 10 miles before the condition started again heating to the point of hearing, feeling and loss of coasting due to rear brake heat. I thought shoes as well, but the stamped part number is good, and is the one recommended for the car, as you can tell this is incredibly time consuming, and fustrating. I dont want to compound all of that by just throwing new parts at it that arent needed.

This problem, for now is the one that is stopping me (actually stopping me too much!) from getting to enjoy the car. 1972 Z stock setup, looks like pre september 1972 construction but not entirely sure of build date yet. When driving 4-6 miles the rear brakes heat up and expand until there is no ability to coast at all. Here is what has been done to the car so far: Rear brakes disassembled and cleaned, contact points cleaned and lubed, wheel cylinders disassembled, cleaned and rebuilt no interior pitting, shoes cleaned and checked for proper install, shoes have cut out for adjuster/ebrake to pass through the shoe. Pedal travel measures normal spec. Hand brake operates properly. No leakage, on any wheel. Brakes gravity bled, one man bled and two man bled. Rubber lines replaced at rear wheels. Adjusting mechanism is cleaned lubed and functions with finger pressure and makes good contact with the handbrake lever. I am seriously confused here! I am not one to go through and randomly replace parts just to get the car moving, the part needs to be proven faulty before it is just replaced that way I know what the problem really was and I am not going to end up in the same boat again.

Turned out that I was the problem and not the pump. Once I disassembled the fuel pump and cleaned everything up, it was the gasket and rtv that had the lever off of the eccentric. I have 4.2 psi now. I have not put in a Pertronix in this car yet, had the Flame Thower dizzy and pieces in my last one liked it. It is definetely on the list along with getting the headlights and fan blower to work.

Sorry to bother you all again, but the more I work on this car, the more I find. 1972 Z with Weber DVGs on it, the rest of the car is stock, and getting nicer every day. I replaced a blown head gasket and re assembled everything. The car is running, but sometimes seriously looses power, bogging down, and then picks up after putting in neutral and getting the rpms up to 3500 or so. Figure that is in the fuel or ignition system. New points, condensor and coil added, plug wires and coil wire are within resistance readings. Plugs good, clean and gapped to factory specs. Cap and rotar good. I did notice that the lever that activates the fuel pump is not in contact with the cam eccentric all of the time. It rides off of the eccentric but makes contact at the etreme of the eccentrics orbit and does pump fuel. Is it supposed to ride on the eccentric or off? I may not be getting the fuel pressure I need. Please advise. I cant make out or find anything in the service manual or the Haynes.

I believe now it was from the long period of sitting that the car had, nearly two years. I disassembled, cleaned, bled and reassembled, and so far so good.

Thank you gentlemen I appreciate it, looks like I have the dreaded DVGs! OK, I can deal with that, they are running very well and the car is not modified, so for a while I will let that problem rest till they give me problems.

Everything is back on and she runs like a sweing machine! I am very happy the head checked out fine. Got the little beastie back together and its not making milkshakes out of the oil and not smoking. Oil is clean and engine smooth. Now it has a new problem, the brakes in the rear are dragging. It does it after several miles, 2 or 3 miles and the brake light starts to flicker and it starts to drag the rear brakes. By the 4th mile the light is on full bore and there is little free wheeling...my guess is the parking brake pieces hanging up. Anything I should know about this?

Round top flat top, side draft, triples, I am confused. I have my new to me 1972 Z E83 intake and a set of 2 barel carbs that are square in nature. They are stamped Webers. The Webers I had on MGs were all side draft, these draft from the top. What are they? I have pics but couldnt get them to post.

Everything is back on and she runs like a sweing machine! I am very happy the head checked out fine. Got the little beastie back together and its not making milkshakes out of the oil and not smoking. Oil is clean and engine smooth. Now it has a new problem, the brakes in the rear are dragging. It does it after several miles, 2 or 3 miles and the brake light starts to flicker and it starts to drag the rear brakes. By the 4th mile the light is on full bore and there is little free wheeling...my guess is the parking brake pieces hanging up. Anything I should know about this?

Everything is getting re installed today. Got the manifolds and lines back on, and started on the AC brackets. Gasket sealer is drying, should have start up about an hour and a half after I get off work today. Hope it runs ok and no white smoke out the tailpipe! The little time I spent with the car last week was enjoyable before the headgasket let go. Really looking forward to learning about this car! and driving it for a change!

I had the block of wood as described in forums here and in the Haynes manual in place. It did hold everything tightly in place, apparently about an 1/8th in tightly! I put tension on the chain to keep it from slipping and then removed the wooden shim. with the shim removed, i was able to thin it down a bit more on the end that goes down between the chain sides. Once in place, I wiggled it down and let the wedge effect push the tensioner back into place. Removing the wedge slightly I had no problem getting the sprocket back on the cam. Tonight after work I will start replacing the rest of the components, I should (fingers crossed) be back on the road Saturday morning. One week since I bought the car and blew the headgasket on the way home. Keep your fingers crossed and thanks for the help.

Need help here rather badly. See engine and drivetrain post for the whole story. But the short part is, how hard is it to get the cam sprocket and timing chain back on the head if nothing moved during a head gasket swap? I cannot seem to get the parts to line up, there is about a 1/8th in. too short. I am guessing that I have made more work for myself because the timing chain tensioner somehow moved during the head removal. if so I have a problem and have to tear down the whole front of the engine. Am i missing something simple? the chain and sprocket line up properly, marks are correct I even maked three seperate locations with paint dots to make sure I realigned everything correctly, just cant get the sprocket to move high enough to line up on the cam for install. Help please

Head is off, and not too bad a job, looks like the timing chain stayed in place. Examination of the head does not look bad, head gasket was sorn completely away on number 6 and very worn on number two. So far so good, get the gaskets tomoroow evening and then start re assembly! Wish me luck!

OK intake and exhaust manifolds are off, and cleaned up. Working on getting the fuel pump and ac brackets off the passenger side of the engine, and it is ready to start taking off the head itself. Felpro gasket set ordered, due in Wed. Still very confused with the service manual and Haynes manual on how to get the timing chain through the head without slipping and not making a mess of things. I understand a slider between the chain runs to keep them seperated and prevent the tensioner from shooting out, but how to keep the chain from coming off the crank has me nervous. BTW how much does this head weigh? Dont want to kill myself getting it off. Also, anyone have a good plan on how to get all of the milkshake out of the engine. I was going with lots of back to back oil changes.

OK I will keep that in mind, looks like its going to be baptism by fire with this car. Is there any one brand of head gasket I should be looking for over another, something that has had better luck than with other brands?

OK guys serious newb here. I have had several other GT cars, 1970 Opel GT, 1974 and 1978 MG Midgets, a Sunbeam, and a bug eye Sprite. Now I have sold my 1979 T Top Camaro and bought a 1972 Z. Please read the engine topic for what happened when I brough it home (on a hook the last 14 miles).

So, I went and picked up my first 1972 240Z yesterday morning. Started fine at the car lot, idled nice, drove fine. It had been sitting for a while (18-24 months), so if figured something would happen on the way home. I had extra oil, water, tools galore. The first thirty miles were not too bad. Stoppped and put gas and carb cleaner in, wouldnt idle, found broken vacum lines and replaced them in the parking lot. I thought that was the problem for the trip. Was I wrong! Got on the highway for the last 17 miles home, cruZing nothing major going on, just pleased with myself and the little car. Next thing I see is white smoke in the rearview and a climbing temp gauage. Shut her down as soon as I could find an off ramp, never pegged out the temp imagine around 230 though. Pull the dipstick and yep, milkshake! I have a lot of stuff with the car, many new parts, and the body and interior are fantastic. Now I have some wrenches to turn. Is this a horrible job? The service manual and the Haynes say it can be done with the engine in the car but that the timing chain can be tricky. Any advice? Things I need to look out for? All help needed.

Z people I need some help. I have never owned a Z car before. In the past I have owned several British sports cars and American muscle but never a Z. The recent rise in fuel costs has me looking to get rid of my 450 hp 1979 Z28 T Top Camaro in favor of a 1972 240Z. I located a likely car, with excellent straight body, fair interior and what seems to be solid mechanical systems. The car starts and idles fine. Slight backfire when excellerating but it wasnt really warmed up much and had been sitting for about 6 months. Oil is clean, carbs are clean, and the underhood looks mostly unmolested. Floor pans are solid, no visible body bubble rust on an older paint job. The problems I have found are interior trim, headlights and dash lights that do not work (marker lights, brake and turn signals all work), near break through on the upper radiator hose from rubbing agaisnt the idler pulley for the single belt. Other than that, the wipers move very very slowly, but everything else checks out solid. Are there hidden areas that I should be looking? I know that floorboards and wheel arches are rust prone on any car but what about the Z? What should I look for under the hood? Clutch issues on these cars? Is the 4 speed a solid unit that I can trust? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading a long first post, I just dont want to buy a yellow 1972 4 speed lemon!