Mark Maras

The Cap'n scores again. I checked for a bur on mine, not feeling one I measured 5/8" on the face side. Well just to make sure I just measured the backside. Sure enough, 13/16". No wonder the lugnuts got more difficult to install after twenty years.

Dug out one of my previously mentioned U.S. wheels. The holes measure 5/8" and have no taper at the top, just the indent for the washer. What is the hole size on your Shelby's and is there any taper at the top of the hole?

Most of the bolts in the video looked like they needed the threads chased too. I'll stick with my tap and die set.

Post a pic of the wheels. Back in the day the aluminum wheels often didn't use tapered lug nuts. The slotted U.S. aluminum wheels that were on my 71 used a straight lug nut that fits into a hole in the wheel.

Shelves and more shelves. If one has limited floor space, the only way to go is up.

Personally, I'd rather REFRESH a $300 - $400 trans from the wrecking yard than REBUILD a totaled one. Depending on the damage in the bad one (which is considerable) it may be cheaper and easier to refresh a different one. When you tear the old one down keep everything in order, (I've used wood dowels to keep all the parts in order and correct orientation) clean and inspect one part at a time. Lots of pics. Most of us are already trying to figure out what part of the trans went first and took out the rest. BTW, How much oil was in the trans when you drained it?

An interesting test would be attaching different magnets, as well as no magnet, to the same piece of sheet metal and weld near and far from them with the welder settings unchanged. I have used triangle magnets to hold plate steel 90` when tacking. I didn't notice a difference either.

Fascinating. I've never used magnets. I doubt that I ever will. Thanks.

Charles, what caused those frightful looking welds? I've not encountered one that looks like those. Too much heat? Wrong wire?

Did you clean the gas tank?

Looks like it was driven in the winter with chains. Broken ones.

@Zed Head I believe the white marks on his dampener are 10 degrees apart. In his pic the bottom white mark is TDC. Moving up, the next mark is 5 degrees and is not white. Moving up, the next mark is 10 degrees and is white, etc. The top white mark is 20 degrees.

That's not the style f. fan that I have. Mine has wide blades at the tips. Didn't get a chance to take a look at my old one today. I'll take measurements tomorrow.

We had a discussion about flex fans back in Sept. 2016. Not surprisingly the thread was titled "Flex Fans". @TomoHawk was thinking about buying one and @psdenno had run one for years. Do either one of you have the part # for the fan and spacer?

@jalexquijano Do you have a fan shroud? If not, that would be a good addition too.

Did that name come from Scottie after Jim tried to over rev the warp drive engines?

I don't have a pic at this time but I do remember that along with the flex fan there was also a 3" spacer that fits between the water pump and the fan to locate the fan about an inch or so from the rad. The spacer was supplied by the fan manufacturer. Later today I'll try to pry the hood open and get a pic and measurements for you.

There's a couple of things in the article that I find difficult to believe. The vented hood came before FI and the percolation problem was solved with the change to FI.

Imho, an auxiliary fan will help but the hot air needs to be vented, otherwise, the fan will just be moving around hot air. A combination of a fan and vents will work much better. The vents can be a late 280 hood or cutting louvers in the side access panels by the hood. Another idea for consideration is a flex fan. The vast majority of our members think flex fans suck, and that may be polite. My experience with one was good. I installed one on my 71 when the OEM fan clutch seized. One of the first things I noticed was it took longer for the temp. gauge to rise in traffic, which told me the fan was pulling more air at idle than my original metal seven bladed fan. I also liked the way the blades flattened out around 2000-2500 rpms. My original plan was to go back to the OEM fan set-up but the flex fan worked so well that I ran it for another 20 years. One of the things that still bothers me about the OEM fan clutch is everyone that I've ever spun by hand felt different. The resistance was never the same.

@jalexquijano Happy New Year Buddy. Glad you coerced the gauge back into working condition again. A word of caution. The problem will reoccur and too many thumps on the plastic faceplate will eventually crack it. V.O.E. Don't want to hijack the thread but how's your Z running these days?

Welcome. I'd look into the SU's. Pull the plugs and check the color. Verify that plugs 1 - 3 are the same color as 4 - 6. It sounds like the engine is running too lean. Check the float height on both carbs, oil level and check the balance.

and if it's less than 14.5, it"s a bad alternator.

Hmmm. I wonder if ABS (home printer) would work for this part?

Series 1 wheel chocks should be the solid ones.

16g.butt weld, I'd shoot for about 1/32" gap. You're correct in needing a good light. Everything (sheet metal, welding gun) has to be aligned perfectly when you pull the trigger. I've been welding for years but the precise sheet metal butt welds forced me to buy an auto darkening hood. I found that my old method of nodding my head to lower the old hood would throw off my aim just enough to miss the seam when I started welding.