Patcon

It is a crying shame, but I am just too tall. I went and looked at a very nice 1968 roadster in Eden, NC the other day. Took it for a test drive, but the car is just too small for me. My head was above the roll bar and the top would probably be too low for me, and my knees are all folded up. I really like the old roadsters but I really don’t fit comfortably. If any one is interested the car is nice with 2.0L, Mikuni’s, large oil pan, stage II cam, 5 point harnesses, crane ign, good paint, well taken care of. He has owned it since like 77'. I put a link to the ebay ad I found it by. If you have trouble getting in touch with the owner PM me and I will get you in touch. He was very nice and Keith Hege met with me to look at the car also. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_rdcZ1QQitemZ180658299371QQruZhttpQ3aQ2fQ2fshopQ2eebayQ2ecomQ3a80Q2fiQ2ehtmlQ3fQ5ffromQ3dR40Q26Q5ftrksidQ3dp5197Q2em570Q2el1313Q26Q5fnkwQ3d180658299371Q26Q5fsacatQ3dSeeQ2dAllQ2dCategoriesQ26Q5ffviQ3d1 Oh well I guess I will have to make one of my rustier Z's into a roadster Charles

What do you mean when you say frame? 280z's are unibody cars and there is no seperate frame. The suspension,engine, etc is all hung off of the body. Can you be more specific? Charles

Tim, What kind of seats are those on page 7 of your album? Wrapped in plastic, black with side bolsters, are they for your Scarab? Also the rear fender flares, are they a Scarab stock item or something that got added later? They have the best transitions from the qtr to the flare that I have seen yet. Thanks, Charles

Blue, Did you get it fixed yet? Charles

Nigel, Are you currently molding the interior lens? Will you make the exterior lens in another mold and combine the 2 pieces? How would you mold a 240z taillight where the colors all meet in nice straight lines? Do you mold 2 of the 3 pieces and then put the 2 completed pieces in the last mold and let the third part bond to the first 2 while in the pressure pot? Charles

Will setting the SU's at an angle effect the operation of the float chambers or the float level??? Charles

I have a 60 gal Ingersol Rand 5 hp compressor, when it runs a lot I have some serious water in the lines. I have a Jet coalescing filter in the main line (3/4") about 20' from the air compressor. I am looking into solutions to dry the whole system and to dry the air specifically for painting one of my cars that is coming back from the media blaster. I could use any help or suggestions for what others have done and the results. It can be very humid here in the south and with high temperatures making dry air can be a challenge. Thanks, Charles

What did you use for resin? How did you go about making molds? How did you locate the correct colors? Details please, very interesting. I had considered a similar effort to make me a set of JDM 240z taillights. Thanks, Charles

I assume space is the problem and you want to remove the spacers for better clearance? I am pretty sure Travel n Man is right and they are to reduce heat transfer. Bruce Palmer is probably the resident expert on this. Charles

Blue, If your up for that just cut a section out for both bolts (maybe 2"x5" for each side), plasma cutter if you have it or die drinder, might need a 90 degree die grinder to get access. Get the bolts out the back side once it's out, then make backer plates for both areas. Put some holes in the bolt plates and around the perimeter of the hole (5/16" dia). Plug weld the backer plates into the boxes first, make holes for the suspension boltsa to pass into, then weld the plates with the bolts in against the backer plates. Weld all the joints solid and fill all the holes. Stronger than the orignal. You will have to take it easy with the heat. Wait a while between welds or cool with air or things will "oil can" on you. Even the thicker metal on our cars is not very thick and warps easily. Spent all day today fabbing up a new battery tray area, today. Slow work but stronger in the end. I think I would prefer this method over the tap and die work if the bolts won't drill. If you want, a die grinder and some 2" Roloc discs and the welds can be worked back down smooth. Will look like brand new... Charles

OK :mad:, that looks like fun not! It's too bad the car is not on a rotisserie but that does make more sense now that I see it. I agree they will have to be drilled out. Which could be a real chore from under the car on your back. I would also try not drill the whole bolt at once but step up. If it gets off center some times the tap will pull out the partial thread. The bolts are probably pretty hard from the factory, but the quenching may have worked against you. I don't think you have an easy fix Charles

Blue, Which bolts are we talking about? Are we talking about the two long studs that hang down for the mustache bar or some other bolts. I can't think of any other bolts in the rear supsension that can't be removed and replaced. The two mustache bolts that hang through the floor I thought were removeable from up top, but I am not sure. I probably wouldn't try to weld them back if I didn't half to. I weld some and I would be hard pressed to trust welded bolts in the suspension. Charles

Let's start with budget. How fast do you want to spend? From all my research stroker is going to cost more per HP, turbo is easier horse power to make. I agree with Blue ITB's would be fun but they are not terribly cheap either. So what is your budget for this build, $1000, $2000, $3000, $4000, $5000 or more? What are you thinking? Charles

European balance tubes are available. I believe Z therapy has them or something very similar if you want a cleaner look Charles

It depends how cold it gets where you are and whether the car is cold natured and if it will see cold weather at all. Plenty of people don't run heated manifolds. Also according to the Z therapy video you need to run some kind of air horn or you will lose a lot of power. The stock air cleaner evidently works as well as almost any other air horn or you could order after market air horns and filter them somehow. By the way that is a fabulous looking car, British car, British Green i believe, driving lights. Very nice... Charles

I have used Fedhill before too and it is very nice line. Because it is so soft sometimes it is hard to make your lines nice and straight, but that also seems to make it flair easier. I would have preferred to use the fedhill flairing tool. It is not cheap to buy but they have a rental plan... http://store.fedhillusa.com/flaringtools.aspx Thay were very helpfull and easy to deal with. Charles

Does anyone have any ideas on what gauge metal or does it need to be a certain type? Charles

One other option is to take Arnes advice but convert the head to solid lifter there are a number of threads at hybrid z about this because the hydraulic lifters are NLA and sometimes collapse when dirty or pushed too hard. The guys on HybridZ sometimes push the limits on these engines. If you do decide to convert the head the old lifters can probably be Ebayed. The P90 and P90a heads are good heads and flow pretty well. So that would be another way to get where you want to go. Charles

That sounds like it would work, but I was looking for a restoration type solution... Thanks, Charles

I don't know the proper name for the rubber coated strips of metal welded to the inner fenders that fold around the electrical harness and hold it in place. I had always thought they were some special metal, but I am beginning to believe they are light gauge steel coated with rubber. Well the problem is they like to break right at the bottom. Has anyone made any replacements or are they available any where? If not does anyone have any ideas for fabbing some up? On a side note they appear to be differnet in my 73' 240z versus the earlier cars. Thanks, Charles

Agreed, timing is everything. I will have to look around the big box stores. I have never seen swaging tools in our Depot or Lowe's. That's interesting. I am a contractor and know the stores pretty well... I might have gone that route if I knew they had them in stock, but didn't want to have to order a tool online and wait and shipping, etc. Charles

I found some that were similarly priced. Then buy some swages, but if you are going to do only one cable, then you only need two and you only need the swager twice. For $3.60 of cable and $.98 of tee nuts I replaced the cable with the tools I had at hand. Both ways should work fine, but if I wanted a cable that matched the factory exactly I would just buy a new reproduction. The point was to get a satisfactory result as economically as possible. Charles

Most of the swaging tools I have seen are expensive and you would have to find the right size swage. As well as buy a box of swages. I considered that but opted for a technique that fit the tools I already had or that many people would have access to. Thanks, Charles

Did anyone ever figure out how to install the upgrade into the 73 240z or 260z w/ intermittant wipers and retain the delay feature on the stalk? Either reworking the factory delay box or reworking the harness to retain the delay wiper control from the stalk. Thanks, Charles

Thanks, Arne I was hopeing to put enough key words into the title so a reasonable search would pick it up. There is a tremendous amount of good info on these forums, but finding it can be hard sometimes. I hope it helps... Charles