Patcon

Either unplug them from the manifold and put a rubber cap on the manifold port and a hose clamp; on a hose put a bolt in the hose with a hose clamp, golf tees work good in little hoses. Try to remove as many of the possible sources of leaks as possible. If that fixes the weak and erratic idle then add them back one at a time to isolate which one is the problem. Another trick for when the idle slows down after a while when you just let it sit and idle. Add a battery in parallel with the one in the car. Just use jumper cables to a known good battery. Not a battery in another car! See if the extra capacity helps the idle stay where it should.. C

Did you ever plug all the vacuum lines and idle the car. Don't spray the brake booster with starter fluid. Plug the vacuum lines to everything and eliminate possible vacuum leaks. Check the ignition system thoroughly... C

I am getting ready to start using the Copy-Cad system from Caswell. I have been on the Caswell plating forum for help getting the process lined out but their forum seems to be rarely used and many threads have no responses. I have also read through all the threads I found on the forum, I thought this thread could sort of be used to combine the working knowledge of the experienced platers (ajmcforester, motorman7, nix240z and any others) on here and I would add in where I could and my experiences as I go along. I spent a day with Steve (nix240z) with him showing me his process a couple of years ago and I am finally getting around to doing this. I have acquired the power supply and the chemicals came in this week. Some of my bigger questions are: How do you clean dirty hardware? Soak in solvents? Parts cleaner? Carb cleaner? How to you strip rust? Bead blaster? Acid? Vibrating polisher? Do you pickle or acid was to neutralize remainder of rust? Are you baking hardware for hydrogen embrittlement? Thanks, I look forward to some expert direction Charles

I have always wanted to add aux lighting on a z. I thought a smaller round light would look good, since the headlights are round and nothing about the car is squareish. Sort of like the rally cars but lower and tucked into the grill or airdam. Charles

That's a nice car. Don't car for the two tone paint. It will be interesting to see what it brings. At 10k now... C

So you are looking for a torque plate so you can provide it to the machinist? Not because you are using it at home... C

There is also a rubber part inside the large insulator at the top of the spring that will make noise if its left out (#50 on page 43). On the front there are bearings there, I believe. C

What I don't understand about some states, especially California. Why can't the FI be modified. You could probably get lower emissions with a more modern system than what is stock. They aught to exempt old cars that have cleaner emissions than stock. A good FI and a decent cat and many old 280's would burn nice and clean comparatively speaking... C

How does the yellow one "run strong" when the intake tubing is missing? C

When they rebuilt your suspension, did they torque the bushings loaded or unloaded? If they didn't torque it loaded that can affect the stance... C

They should be numbered. Are you can sometimes ID them by the size and location of the holes C

Mike That looks like a great drive. Charles

April Fools possibly???

Thanks for the info. I thought it looked like TIG. I have a MIG rig and have never tried TIG. Working in the front cowl area is no fun but the worked turned out well. Did you consider using the Tabco patch panels for the wheel arch and dogleg instead of fabricating from scratch? They are pretty close... Charles

Plug all of the vacuum ports you can. Any place on the manifold that uses vacuum. Distributor, emissions and the brake booster. Plug them all. See if the idle is more stable. You could have a bad booster, leaking dash pot on the distributor or some other concealed vacuum leak. Use rubber caps with clamps or put a bolt in the hose with a hose clamp. Dying when coming to a stop made me think of the brake booster... Charles

The roadster looks great. It's too bad I am so tall... C

I hate that! I understand wanting the car back too. My first concern would be it being exported for sale. As for theft deterrents, all of those are good ideas, but how do you know it wasn't towed away. Just back up to it close the rear lift and drive off, 20 seconds max. A Lojack in a really discrete place would have been money well spent. If the Z on Craigslist for $65k brings any kind of money our cars will become bigger targets. They are easy to get into and easy to steal. They are also fairly easy to renumber if you have a titled parts car. As time goes on we will probably need to be more careful. My condolences Charles

It's a nice looking car. I wonder if the vinyl interior and door panels are the originals or replacements. The door panels could be original and just have the wrinkles or not. The vinyl on the shock towers may not have been glued back on properly. As for the price I don't know that the car is worth 65k but I would think a documented low mileage car in very good shape that needs almost nothing would be in the 30's to low 40's. Charles

Not that I know of... Charles

I hope you have welding skills. I suspect the floors are being held in by the sound mats and there is probably more rust in the doors themselves. I always like seeing a car get rescued though. C

Mike W, Who was the ebay seller? So we can locate one of those later if needed... Charles

I like the "Goobaru" that's good. With that kind of rust in the rear I would expect plenty more somewhere else... Charles

Maybe someone with a similar displacement and a similar cam could tell you what their idle rpm's are and how stable it is. I would be surprised if it was a cam problem. I guess you could try to contact Schneider and see what they suggest for an idle rpm. Having to rely on mechanics to sort your antique car can be a problem, unless your have some money to spend. I wouldn't rule out ignition or electrical issues contributing to your problem. Charles

Look for vacuum leaks. A weak idle is sometimes cause by vacuum leaks. The technology is old but it does work. If you have serious idle fluctuations there is something wrong. Charles

How do you have to cook those to get them done all the way through? C