tanny

Thanks Dave, I'll check that out. Has anyone tried using a heat gun to get clearcoat off? Thanks, Victor.

Speaking of flaking clearcoat on wheels: What is the best(easiest) way to get that off? Would a heat gun work? Also does anyone have any magic coating that has some staying power to recoat with, or is it better just to leave the wheel bare and polish it every so often? Thanks, Victor.

Really a nice clean looking engine and bay. Nice job. As for the LA area, I was born and grew up there and stayed until I was 30. Use to be able to go from surfing(Malibu) to skiing(Big Bear) in an hour and a half. Don't know how long that would take now with the traffic. Unfortunately you can now draw at least a 100 mile diameter circle centered in LA and it will be completely covered with either asphalt, concrete, and/or structures. Years ago(more than 35), it was one of the nicer cities in the US. But it at least still has the best climate in the world, IMO, so you can work on the Z outside year round. And the smog is actually much better now than it was in the 50's and 60's when I lived there. Getting off the topic here as usual. Enjoy the weather, Victor.

After 20 years of storage my z had quite a bit of a soft, wax like sediment built up, clogging the inlet to the thermostat housing and water pump was severely corroded. Would definitely have overheated if I hadn't first flushed the radiator and block and replaced the thermostat, all rubber hoses, and water pump. All suggestions above are necessary for a car stored that long. Good luck, Victor.

Looks really fancy. What kind of suspension do you have there? Looks like lots of adjustment available. Years ago(only about 30 years) I used to work at a biological station there in Chino with the Calif. Dept. of Fish & Game, pretty close to the prison. In fact the prisoners used to help us out on many of our projects. Good luck with the mods. Victor.

Too small for me. Victor

We land around the middle, thanks to my wife working for the US Forest Service. Had to take a disability from my trout hatchery manager job a couple years ago, so my income dropped by 2/3. Add to that my medical expenses, a daughter just starting college, and a son in high school and spare money is getting extremely rare. Don't even know what a savings account is. What's a 401K? But we live in a great area and eat well. Whenever I feel a smidgen of pity for our economic state, I remember seeing the kids living in cardboard boxes in the flavellas of Rio de Janeiro(sp?) and searching the garbage for food. I do realize how unbelievably spoiled I am and that I have 1000 times what I need to live. Victor.

The reverse light switch idea is something I would never have thought of. I'll give that a try. The clutch fluid is fine and the clutch slave is self adjusting. Thanks, Victor.

Any ideas on why I suddenly started experiencing alot of resistance when shifting into reverse? When I push the stick across through neutral toward reverse, it moves slowly and smoothly only with a lot of force. Then shifting back to reverse is normal. I haven't taken the console off yet. Thanks, Victor.

That must be why my dad spoke in such a high voice, especially on the rare meetings with my mom. Victor.

They smacked into it. Rounded off the corners of their skulls. Victor.

Is the bumping noise constant or only when you do something in particular? It doesn't happen just at night does it? Cause then it would be something that goes bump in the night.:sick: Victor.

It does sound like somehow it shorted on a positive electrical source to get hot enough to smoke, unless your exhaust runs really close to it or you were welding on something nearby. As for the "for off road use only", the Forest Service uses Zs with flaming clutch hoses to start controlled burns. Seriously, this is an interesting post and I hope you figure it out before the new hose goes on. Victor.

You mean remember to turn your lights OFF I assume. I bought a little headlight ON buzzer from NAPA auto parts for about $6 that buzzes when your headlights are on and you turn the ignition off. However, it doesn't work if you just have your running lights on. Maybe that's just a wiring adjustment that I didn't take time to investigate. The buzzer is very small and I mounted it just outside the fuse box. It comes with clips that install easily into the fuse box. Victor.

Thanks for the responses you guys, but I got some zx wheels from the junk yard and they worked alright. Thanks again, Victor.

The words "deserve" and "fair" I think were invented by Mary Poppins. It is assured that if you expect fairness in life you are going to end up a bitter and disillusioned person. Furthermore, the only person who might really care that life has been unfair to you is your mother, and I'm not being sarcastic. As for rich versus poor, it is in homo sapien's nature to be extremely selfish (read: become as affluent as possible to ensure maximum mating success and maximum survival of your children, thus guaranteeing survival of your genes) and to accumulate wealth at other people's expense. There always has been and always will be a battle for resources between the powerful and the less powerful. The trick is to find a balance where the innovative risk takers are rewarded well enough to continue to innovate and stay in business, while at the same time rewarding the workers well enough to where they don't want to destroy the innovator and take what he has by force The workers must have enough money to buy the very products they are producing. This is where unions serve a useful function: they help the less powerful pry some of the rewards away from the owner/CEO whom otherwise wouldn't voluntarily give them up. Without the ability to join together, workers have absolutely no bargaining power and must rely on the good intentions of the owner/CEO, which is of course absurdly wishful thinking. Just look at the pay and working conditions before workers were able to successfully form unions. It was criminal. If the worker were put into the CEO position, he would be equally as selfish, so there is nothing good or evil about a worker or a CEO, it simply is human nature to be selfish. The elitist notion that infers that workers have not been able to accumulate wealth because they don't work hard enough or are too stupid is the height of ignorance and stupidly narrow-minded thinking. It takes much more than just hard work to be able to be successful in a business. It takes various personality traits, growing up in a family that encourages education and a good work ethic, being in the right place at the right time, being lucky enough to have some helpful mentors (who can say they were able to be financially successful without a ton of help from other people?), and not least of all, blind luck. My father, who was an extremely successful entrepreneur, always said that no matter how hard you worked and prepared, if you didn't have that 10% luck (why 10% I have no idea) you will not make it. The fantasy that if you work hard you will succeed is just that. Hard work may increase your odds of being successful, but is certainly not a guarantee. Be careful of those words "deserve" and "fair", they might make your life disappointing. Victor.

#31 The suit or the person? Victor?

search this category: type in "towing".

I began with a tankfull of crud that had sat for twenty years in storage. As Daniel describes in a previous response, I put clean cracked gravel in my tank along with acetone and laquer thinner and rotated the tank all around by hand. The tank was silver shiny afterwards. Of course, after the fact, I got to thinking that it isn't very hard to create a spark by hitting rocks together or hitting rocks against metal. I think the rocks were in my head. I don't think I would try that method again. Word of warning from Victor.

Blul siht! Votcir.

Although a much smaller item, I had a similar screw job done on me on Ebay when I bid on a glove door including a "good" hinge as he described. What I received was a glove door that had about 1/2 inch of plastic left on one hinge and the rest were totally separated. I emailed the guy and told him what I received and that I would like a refund(wasn't much, maybe 15-20 dollars) and then sent a picture of it to him so he could verify that it was his(he said he marked it so he could tell). I was absolutely civil and did not accuse him of deliberately sending me a broken part, but I did tell him that I would have to give him a negative feedback if he was not going to make things right. He then sent me several threatening emails, telling me I was an asshole and that he was going to give me a negative review if I gave him one. So I gave him negative feedback, and he dreamed up something negative to put in my feedback. I wish they gave enough room in feedback to truly tell what someone is like to deal with. There are some real low budget mentalities on Ebay. Sorry you got burned, but these z engines are tough(mine had 100,000 miles when I bought it, but had sat for 20 years, so I decided right off to rebuild it without starting it. Bore, crank, pistons, and rods all measured well within stock tolerances and block deck was flat. No taper in bore. Honed it, new rings, new rod and crank bearings, polished crank, put in new timing set(didn't have to), oil pump, of course new gasket set,and did valve job. Runs great. So take heart. Victor.

Thanks, Victor.

Does anyone know if the Supra 14x7 aluminum wheels will fit the 240z without a spacer? If not, where can I find spacers? Thanks, Victor.

I need a 14x6 Minilite(1970's edition. The newer Minilites don't match) wheel or four stock steel wheels and/or hubcaps. Thanks, Victor.