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I agree. That advice page almost makes me wonder if it's supposed to be sarcastic.

I'm sure you already know this, but a heat shield could be fabricated really easily. A ceramic coated header with a heat shield would be the best combinaton; probably cooler than the factory setup.

Awesome! I'm enjoying the updates.

Both of the above suggestions are great ones. I've become a pretty big fan of Dupli-Color's wheel coating paint, as well . It's resistant to oil, gasoline, brake fluid, etc, and comes in a spray can. It looks great and seems to hold up nicely. I used the same color that I used on the M-bar on my air cleaners. Here's what they look like after a few coats of clear and sanding/buffing. In the end, it's still spray paint. For guys like me that don't have a spray gun, or even a compressor, it's probably one of the better choices I've found, though.

Quite the full garage you have! Post up your LeMons car. I forgot to add a pic of the newest addition. This thing is awesome. Everytime I think of something that needs attention, I add it to the list. Needless to say, the list grows faster than I work!

Bringing this thread to the top cause I didn't want to start a new garage thread when we already have a great one. Here's my one car. When you have a small garage, you learn quickly to use all available wall space.

That's an interesting project, Dave. The last time I was at the Pull-A-Part here in Birmingham, they had a Porsche 924 as well. I guessthat should tell us something...........

Thanks! It would have been a lot easier to weld if I would have took the brackets off. Kinda hard to get the gun in there at some angles.

Well, I was off today and got bored, so I decided to work on my rear bumper. I have some long term plans for it that include a lot of cutting and fab work, but this will satisfy me in the mean time. This is what it looked like before. This is what it looked like when I took the old cracked and aged rubber pieces off. Notice the gap measurement. Old rubber pieces and tie down hooks. Everything removed. So here's what I did. I took the screw out of the end of the shocks to let the gas out. If you're doing this mod, you can see them once you take your bumper off. I also drilled a hole in the bottom of the shock body to drain the fluid to compress them enough. Just a few drops of fluid came out of each one, though, but it aloowed me to move them in enough. Again, if you're doing this mod, the main body of the shocks tapers outwards about an inch or so from the end (rear) of the shocks. This is where you want to drill the hole. If you're creative with a drill, you can drill the hole with the shocks still moutned to the car like I did. I compressed the shocks to move the bumper much closer to the body. When I had them where I wanted them, I welded the inner part of the shock to the outer sleeve. Here's one of them welded and painted. That got me to this. I also had to shorten my exhaust tip, as it stuck out a good bit after the bumper was moved in. I also painted it black. I was going to paint the muffler too, but ran out of time. Finished pics of the bumper. It'll eventually be painted once I cut it down and make my own brackets in the future so I don't really mind the aged chrome on there for now. I definitely like the new look MUCH better than the old one.

Wow. That's quite the ambitious goal. Are you going to increase displacement?

Awesome! Very glad to hear the Z is back on the road. I've been following along. This is getting very interesting. Popcorn, anyone?

Yea, there is a gasket. I used a thin layer of RTV on both sides of mine and no leaks so far.

I forgot to add the bit about buying new bolts. The other guys have me covered here though. Definitely get the new bolt kit from MSA. It costs, what, 5 bucks?

I had the same thing happen to my 74. Whining noise and then coolant everywhere. It happened about a week after I installed my ZTherapy carbs, so, of course, my shiny new domes and all the other new parts got covered in coolant. The pump was around 6 months old and had less than 300 miles on it. It was a brand new Airtex brand pump with a lifetime warranty that I got from Advance Auto Parts. I got a new one under warranty, so we'll see how long this one lasts. Mine was leaking (pouring) out the front shaft seal. The weep hole was dry and unstained.

Beautiful! I can't wait to see a nice set of wheels mounted under those flares.

Well, I'm not gonna vote. I think you need to decide if you want a spoiler or not first, then decide what type. If you do truly want one, I would go with #5.

I remember seeing a picture of one a while back, but I forgot to save it to my pc. I was thinking this car was a 260 or 280 and had the window trim painted black too. I'm contemplating doing this to my car, but would like to see it beforehand. I could photoshop it, but I'd rather see it on a real car. If you have any other pictures of silver or white Z's with black window trim and/or bumpers, please post them up! -Grant

In due time, my friend. Yours sure is a lot shinier than mine under there!

Also, I thought I'd add this. If you're doing this project, be sure to let the car back down on its own feet (I put some blocks of wood under the tires so I could still get under it) before you tighten the clamps for the control arm bushings. I read this on here as well as in the FSM if I remember correctly. If you tighten them with the suspension at full droop, when the car is let back down, it will twist or tear the bushings.

Thanks! I wish I had the time and money to go through the entire suspension right now, but I gotta take baby steps.

No, you definitely don't have to. Once you remove the transverse link, the bar will come out the back easily. I needed to change the fluid anyway, plus I had a leak, so I wnet ahead and pulled the cover.

Got it finished up! Also, I figured out that once the new bushings and everything were installed, the plug has enough room to come out. Barely, but it works. I need some better pics, but you can probably get the idea. I drove it a couple miles and so far, it feels much better! No clunking when shifting or hitting bumps, and a more solid feel from the suspension. I like it. Also, there's not a noticeable increase in the amount of gear or road noise transferred to the cabin. I might notice it once I get to drive it some more, but I'm very happy with it so far.

Hmm, maybe I'm not shooting myself in the foot with this one. I noticed with the design of the new bushings, if they're really torqued down, the washers between the body and the top bushings and between the mounting nuts and the bottom bushings will touch and be solid against the inner sleeve of the new bushings. The inner sleeves are only about 3/32" shorter than the two bushings held together and uncompressed. I realize that polyurethane is hard stuff, but it still might be possible to compress them to the point that the inner sleeve is wedged between the washers. I suspect that if someone tightens them again at some point down the road, it would be even easier for this to happen. Maybe that's the case with yours? I would think that if that's the case, then it would definitely amplify the gear noise. Now, my front mount is a modified RT style mount that uses a poly GM transmission mount, and I didn't notice a significant increase in the gear noise. Maybe poly all the way around will not be a good combo. I dunno, but we'll see. Oh, and are you talking about the picture with the mustache bar in it as well? If so, thanks for clearing up the terminology.

We'll see, but it's gotta be quieter the clunking. I finally finished with the diff cover. It has a brushed finish; kinda hard to tell in the pic. I think it'll look great with the black hardware (just got done painting that). That's it for tonight. I'll finish it up tomorrow and have some finished pics.

Here's some progress. I'm still sanding on the diff cover. In the end, it will be worth it. It's gonna look great, but geeze, some of that factory paint is tough stuff.