Mark Maras

It revs as quick as a Wankel and sounds a lot better. I'd love to hear it unleashed on a track.

Wow! I'm not sure why it got that kind of money but it got me to thinking, tomorrow I'm going to visit a fellow that has a 240 & a 260 that have been sitting in a dry barn for decades. I was looking for a few parts from his business but I may try to coax him into letting me look at the Zs too. He was willing to sell the 260 to me ten years ago but apparently he has done nothing to either one since then. Tomorrow is going to so much fun. I love looking at vintage tin.

. Your before cleaning looks like my after cleaning.

Agree, The owner & I are making arrangements to fire it up & give it a comp. test on the 21st. We'll see what happens then.

Update The owner says "nothing" is wrong with the 2.4 except an oil leak. He's replacing it with a 2.8. Engine comes complete with carbs, & exhaust manifold. Pretty much a drop in, plug it in & fire it up. OH no! I think I may be talking myself into buying it. The carb set-up alone is worth the price. The only thing stopping me, at least for now, is the thought of sleeping in the basement with all of my unappreciated parts. Anyway, I'm going to try to listen to it run & check the compression before he pulls it. More later. Mark

Craigs List, Portland Nov. 28, A running 2.4 is being pulled & sold. 55,000-odom. Includes the round tops & presumably more. I'm getting more info. I don't need this, I hope, but if anyone does, I'm just a few miles from it & offering my services as a P.I.F. middleman. I'll update the info when I receive it. Mark

If you haven't treated the gas yet the cough & die could still be fuel related.

I bought a welding spoon at H.F. $8.99 Nice tool. It has a slight radius to it. I was able to clamp it behind a short section of seam that suffered from "gaposis". It made that section soooo much easier to fill.

You don't say what the clearance was on #4 but I don't think a tight valve was causing your misfire. If that was the case the compression in that one would have been lower than the others. I don't think there is anything wrong with your OEM rockers. I do sometimes question the info you're getting from your mechanic. That said. congratulations. You're running on all six. Confirm the clearances for your cam You don't want to run it with the valves too tight. Enjoy

Ok, I'm convinced. Putting in my order for an Eastwood 135. The reviews, versatility & especially the price changed my mind. The very wise father of a friend of mine once told me, " Every new project should start with a new power tool". I'm looking forward to comparing flux-core & hard wire in the same conditions.

Yes, I agree. At the very least, I'd set fire to a small piece & watch the results. There is enough combustible material in the interior as is. I found out once reaching under a burning, dripping fuse block trying to get to a hood latch. Adding more, probably not a good idea.

They were both silver on my 71.

Hotrodding has become sooooo much more difficult than it used to be. I remember the days when fit was the only problem. Getting them running was a piece of cake.

Saw this on CL too. I was shocked that someone had cut the quarter panel out of her. If it's complete & relatively rust free, go for it. If you need a quarter panel, there is a wrecking yard south of Portland that has a few Zs. PM me for Info.

You're right. Old school mechanics would use a vacuum gauge first. It still may be the best diagnostic tool for the money.

I should have mentioned in my previous post that I don't have 220v avail. at the Z & I borrowed a friends' welder for the sheet metal welding. Hardway is right, you can't go wrong with a 220v with argon. It will give you many more options (flux core & alum. wire, CO2 or mixed gas) than a little flux core welder. My favorite 220v was a Miller that I used years ago.

A Z engine will run on 5 cylinders. #4 not firing didn't cause the stall. At this point, not enough info to diagnose that. Compression ratio figures, I don't remember if this engine is new or old but either engine would run fine with these #s. If the engine is new, the #s should be very close if not the same. However, the valves MUST be adjusted to specs before ANY troubleshooting including a compression test. If a mechanic has been doing this in the past, IMO, YOU should pull the valve cover & check the clearances. It's the only way to be sure & it's not difficult. #4-compression is good, & it is fed by the same fuel supply as #5 & #6. The only reason the cylinder is not firing, IMO, is little to no spark at the plug. The coil supplies elec. to all the plugs through the distributer. The pathway to the plugs is very simple. As the dist. turns, the rotor distributes the elec. to the contacts inside the cap. From there it goes into the plug wires & into the plugs. Fact, there are 5 cylinders firing. The problem has to be located somewhere from the dist. cap to the plug. A quick check with an ohm meter will tell you if have a bad plug wire. Compare it to the others. Other options already mentioned, timing light on #4 plug wire or just trade #4 wire with another one to see if the problem moves with the wire. You've replaced the plug, if the wire is good the only thing left is the cap. Rare, but I recently had one go bad on one cyl. Ohm meter check, inside to outside & double check the connections at the cap & plug.

Yeah, that is cool. At $3500.00 it could pay for itself in very little time.

May or may not be related to Zs, When my Subaru brakes start getting noisy, I can quiet them with a thorough cleaning using compressed air. Lot's of dust buildup. I don't ever remember a brake squeal problem in my original Z. I agree with Chickenman, new compounds seem to be prone to squealing.

I've had a great deal of experience with both types of wire. Flux core wire is my choice for welding on unclean or coated steel. ( paint, rust, galvanizing etc. The cleaner the steel is, the better the weld will be but when you do weld the crud, you won't have the porosity of a hard wire setup. I've been using E71T .030 fluxcore in a little 100amp Lincoln for replacing the floors and battery area in my 260. The nature of the welding (nothing continuous just a bunch of one second bursts.) on these Zs doesn't max out the duty cycle of even this small Lincoln. I wouldn't want to use it for anything much heavier than sheet metal but a small welder and flux core wire is my choice for this project. I did trade in my old small window hood for an auto darkening one. I found that when welding delicate seams, my accuracy was a lot better when I didn't have to lower my hood with the usual head nod.

Good compression. I doubt that you have much, if any, spark to #4. Check the dist. cap, rotor, #4 wire & the connections. Try swapping #4 plug & wire with # 3 or #5 & see if the problem moves to another cylinder.

Gwri8 Thanks for your effort. I think you're right about the gas. Hopefully RB is going to be reliable now. Is the potentiometer add-on the best method of leaning it out a bit? Temporarily, will keeping the revs up keep it clean enough to not foul plugs? In your opinion.

No doubt about it. At least she's letting him keep the other one. The one that is offered has a clean title & is fairly complete. I wonder why he considers it a parts car. It doesn't look that bad on the outside.

Second picture shows another one. Seller sounds motivated. Hmmm.

Zed Head I like that idea. Maybe start with a pre-fab roll bar and add on as needed. My old one bolted to the shock towers & the front of the rear wheel well. A good piece to start with.