Carl Beck

I haven't used that product - Minwax Antique Maple Stain..... however looking at the overall color on the wheel at this point, I believe you will be happy with the result. I think it will accentuate the color... Stain only the bad side - if you want to see it before you do the entire wheel... Carl B.

Hi Roger: I'd say that the short answer is "Yes".... but I'd suggest that the steps go: 1. Strip the car to a bare shell. Media blast the entire body - if that is what you have decided to do. This has the advantage of making any previous body work visible 2. With a bare metal shell - clean it down and apply an epoxy primer. You want to do that as soon as possible after media blasting to prevent flash rust on the sheet-metal. Many shops clean the bare metal with Ospho, then actually rinse it off with water, and blow it dry. The Ospho will etch the bare metal, and protect it from the rinse water.. just blow it dry. Then apply the epoxy primer. All metal patching can then be done, then re-coat the metal where necessary with the epoxy primer. Then do any body work that needs fillers like bondo right over the top of the epoxy primer.. Here you want to work the metal such that only very thin coast of fillers are needed. 3. Yes - paint the engine compartment, door and deck jams, and the interior etc. 4. Assemble the car to the extent that you have the doors, hood, rear deck lid and fenders all properly lined up - - - 5. Apply the top coat of paint to the entire car. Professional shops with great painters, wonderful paint booths and lots of experience - can "Panel Paint" the parts then assemble... but using that method it is easy to have variations in the color, not to mention gaining nicks in the paint ... So Panel Painting is not a good choice for the do-it-yourself'ers. FWIW, Carl B.

Yes. The shear strength of the bolt/stud are far above weight of the engine/tranny. Just be sure you have about a half inch threaded into the block. I usually remove the original bolt/stud and use one about a half inch or more longer - just so I have room for the chain link and washers. FWIW Carl B.

You use the same bolts/studs that used to hold the Factory lifting lugs - just bolt the chain there, using large washers on top of the chain link. Bolt the two front and two rear chains on your Load Leveler together if you have too. So you will have one connection at the Left front of the engine and one at the right rear.

would be great if someone took a video camera along - so we could all enjoy the ride! FWIW, Carl B.

Perhaps DeskTop Screen's could all be put in one Directory or File...so they could be located and downloaded as a group. We've had a lot of really great images Posted throughout several Threads.. Just a thought.. FWIW, Carl B.

$550.00 is "reasonable" if it's an NOS part and not damaged. I also agree with ConchZ.. if yours is in pretty decent shape, and if you have a good facility near you - then the rechromed bumpers can look better than new. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Ben: Welcome to the group and the Classic Z Car world. Lots of helpful people here and I'm sure you will enjoy your experience with the 240-Z. 12 years with Ford... hummm... I may have to pick your brain. I have a 91 Super Coupe with 9K miles - and the Radio (Boise Sound System) and Odometer both stopped working at the same time. Really odd... but so far I haven't found anything that ties them together... Maybe an off-line discussion there... Post some pictures of your Z when you get a chance and fill in a little more details... mileage etc. That would give us a better over-all idea of the condition of the S.U.'s and the distributor... Should we guess that the original Flat Top's have been replaced with the earlier S.U.'s?? FWIW, Carl B.

Was high school in the "70's" or just last year? At any rate, glad to hear you finally got your Z, I'm sure you will enjoy owning it. If you have been here for a while, you already know that we want to see pictures!! and hear your "Z Car Story".... FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Zak: The hard line for the 73 is pre-formed, and it is made to fit the inlet on the 73 wheel cylinder. Off hand, I can't remember the routing of the hard line... I do know that some time ago the 70/72 rear wheel cylinders were NLA - and the only way to get replacements was to use the 73 wheel cylinders with the 73 hard lines. Seems to me that the last time I tried to order the hard lines one or the other side for 73 was NLA also... FWIW, Carl B.

The short answer is "Yes". If you are going to use a stain, you have to get the original top finish off. FWIW, Carl B.

Yes, you want the rubber warm. The Installer that did mine, used a spray bottle with soapy water as a lubricant. He also had a couple of nylon tools. One had a rounded point, and the other had a flat blade with rounded edges. Kind of reminded me of Tire Iron's only very small. Took him every bit of six minutes to put the metal trim in... Of course he has most likley done hundreds if not thousands over the years... I remember seeing the special tools advertised somewhere.. you might want to google it... FWIW, Carl B.

If the part numbers on the box - end with N3001 then they are for a 1973 Model Year car {10/72 forward}. To use them you would need to get the hard brake line for the 73 Model Year for the back of the drum... FWIW, Carl B.

With gas prices on the way UP - I'd Put $3,695.00 on the window. 22 is way too cheap for a small pick-up with 56K miles... FWIW, Carl B.

"Jewelry"..???? Agree - that is a great picture.. FWIW, Carl B.

Hello cc2. Welcome to the group. It is rare that a 240-Z stays in the same family for 36 years!! Glad to hear that you were able to retrieve it from Texas. V8 swaps into the early Z's are pretty popular, but for the most part they are Chevy based. So it will be interesting to see how the Mopar works out for you. Any plans to run Hill Climbs with it?... You are in the right part of the Country... Looking forward to seeing some pictures - good luck, FWIW, Carl B.

I completely agree with Steve. This 280Z is worth twice the asking price - as it sits. If it were anywhere close to me, I'd grab it in a heartbeat.... FWIW, Carl B.

See: http://ZHome.com/Classic/240ZFloorboards/ChrisFloorboards.htm This may help.. FWIW, Carl B.

Hi Chris: Yes - there were 10 cars done, for the average the paint work alone was around $4K to $5K for a single color. The Parnelli car and a couple others had paint jobs that ran $6K to $10K.. but that was three or more colors with lots of custom graphics etc. If you use the best materials, it's easy to spend $1,000.00 on materials alone. Then you have the costs of overhead for the environmentally friendly paint booths etc... As I recall the "House Of Color" supplied the paint for several of the cars. Apply several base, color and clear coats and you spend some serious time and money on the paint job. FWIW, Carl B.

$200.00 Or Best Offer....Good part to have as a spare if you can buy it right and if you are in the area.. FWIW. Carl B.

You are never done.. pull the fork back out.... Now you just have to get rid of that black undercoating over-spray on the lower radiator support. Or black out the radiator support area altogether... When you are really "done" - then it's time to get another one to work onROFL Looks Great.. Carl B.

I think it was a model car that blew up...

If you find that your odo matches your speedo - - ie that your speedo is OK. If the speedo is reading 59 at an actual 50... then you need an 15% decrease in the speed at which your speedo cable is turning - to make the speedo. indicate your true speed. 59 mph x 0.15 = 8.85 mph 59 mph - 8.85 mph = 50.15 mph The stock rear end for a 4 spd. 240-Z is 3.364:1 It calls for a speedo gear of 16 teeth (yellow) So IF THAT IS WHAT YOU HAVE - you would need a speedo gear with 15% more teeth. 16 teeth x 1.15 = 18.4 teeth - - So you need an 18 tooth speedo gear to correct the error. A 18 tooth speedo gear happens to be the speedo gear called for use with a 3.7:1 ratio rear-end. On The Other Hand: If your speedo was reading 60 mph when you were doing an actual 50... then you need a 17% decrease in the speed at which your speedo cable is turning - to make the speedo. indicate your true speed. 60 mph x 0.17 = 10.2 mph 60 mph - 10.2 = 49.8 mph 16 teeth x 1.17 = 18.72 teeth - So you need a 19 tooth speedo gear to correct the error. A 19 tooth speedo gear happens to be the speedo gear called for use with a 3.9:1 ratio rear-end. 3.364 rear gear calls for a speedo gear of 16 teeth (yellow) 3.7 rear gear calls for a speedo gear with 17 teeth (Blue) 3.900 rear gear calls for a speedo gear of 19 teeth (white) Take a friend to watch the GPS and do the recording - so your eyes can stay on the road. Run the car at 60 mph and 70 mph according to your GPS - then record what you speedo is indicating. That way you can more accurately dial in the % correction you really need. That is to say that difference between the 16 tooth, the 17 tooth gear and 18 tooth gear will be large enough to overcome rounding errors... and relative positions of the speedo indicator needle etc. Then simply get the correct speedo drive gear and put it in the transmission. The bonas is you will have a good idea of what rear gear you have as well. NOTE - pull the present speedo gear out and count the teeth FIRST....Make sure it is a 16 tooth gear - - You may simply have the wrong gear in there to begin with... so you may need to apply different correction factors... FWIW, Carl B.

You may have a floating ground. Can't hurt to try. I'd remove and clean the battery to body ground, making sure you have a bare metal contact between the two. - - and I'd add a good ground between the body and engine. good luck, Carl B.

Hi Martin: You can rebuilt the top end about three times before you need work on the bottom end - if the engine has had any care at all. If the rockers are worn - then you might as well plan on replacing everything with a new cam kit and be done with it. The cam to rocker interface will never be as quite as it should be with mix and match cam lobes and rockers.. Did you stop by Jaremko Nissan in the Valley? Paul and his son still race a roadster, and the Parts Manager used to own a 240Z - {don't know if he sold it or not}... at any rate they might be able to come up with something for you... If you do stop in, tell Paul I said hello... FWIW, Carl B.