blitzkraig

So to save money, I'd like to change the cam out myself. I'm pretty good with engines, but I remember when I was ordering my cam from MSA the rep told me there was a peculiar thing about putting in cams on Zs that most people don't know to do and end up ruining it. I can't remember what it was, does this sound familiar? Thanks

Can I spin the oil pump itself with a drill to get some oil spread around? I remember me and a friend doing it on a ford 302 before we got it started. We used a socket that fit the oil pump shaft and an extension then spun it.

Oh and can I use carbuerator cleaner on the engine parts? I'm not having much luck with engine degreaser. Thanks

I'm getting into the nitty gritty of cleaning my engine while it's out of the 71. Thing is, I want to take the head off to do a better cleaning and paint job and I'm not sure if I should put in the new cam I purchased now, or later once I'm sure the engine will start easily. My reasoning here is because I'm changing the stock distributor to one from an 81-83 280zx, adding a new performance coil, and rebuilding the carbs. Since I've never gone this far with an engine and I removed and replaced the wiring harness I'm probably not going to get the thing started first try. Would repeated cranking ruin the new cam when I'm tracking down little problems here and there?

Hmmm....looks like an old thread but ok I'm Craig, 21. I'm about to finish college at UC Santa Cruz in the fall. I'm addicted to old cars, I have a 56 Ford pickup disassembled in my garage and waiting for attention after the 71 240z. I work at a local hotrod/custom shop, and I fully believe in building as much of the car yourself as you can. I really like painting cars, but unfortunately none of my employers have trusted me to do a paint job on a customer's car (we'll see what they say after I finish the Z). Not really sure where I'm going in life, just enjoying the ride

Like many others, I'm in the process of doing a thorough restoration of an early Z. Although my car was spared many of the nasty rust infections I want to be sure this thing won't have problems down the road. So I was thinking of starting this thread where people could list fixes to improve factory pitfalls on these cars (sorry if this was already done). I guess I'll just list some to start off. Seam Sealer: USE IT, the factory sure didn't use enough in the right places Jute padding: I don't know about the rest of you, but this factory brown bread insulation stuff gives me the heebie jeebies. Everytime a storm comes through and I track water into the cabin from getting in and out this stuff soaks up the water like a sponge and never fully dries. GET RID OF IT! Use some other sound/heat insulation Better drainage: I just read a post on rusted out rocker panels (where the front fender bolts), and a member suggested extending the drainage tube for the cowl all the way to under the car istead of behind the fender. Any other helpful rust tips? I'd appreciate it before I get to the final stages on my Z, and I'm sure so would many of the rest of us.

Ok, it's now going into the 5th month that my 71 has been off the road and I'm getting a little twitchy. Here's the lowdown. Stock tranny went out so I decided to stick in a 5 speed without changing other stuff (differential etc) and retain the same power. The T5 from an 82 Turbo fit the bill and right now I have it and my stock engine mocked up in position and ready to fabricate tranny mounts for it. My 2 major questions are 1: Will one of the aftermarket "ripper" shifters for Mustangs work with this setup so I won't have to chop up the center console (chopping is something I want to avoid at all costs)? If this doesn't work, can I bend a shifter to fit? 2: I heard before that a driveshaft from an 81-83 turbo automatic will fit right in with no modifications, T/F? Those are the major things I'm worried about right now. Is there any other little details I need to worry about in this swap like flywheel and clutch issues (I got the ones with the tranny), clutch line hook ups (can I use the little cylinder piece from the stock tranny?) and etc etc. Thanks for any and all help. I don't want my mtv, I WANT MY 240Z!:tapemouth

Alright somebody with a really bitchin Z needs to cruise by the filming for one of those types of movies and make it so the producer won't let the movie go without a nice 240 Z.

I think I'm going to drill the new holes in the crossmember by the JTR measurements. So once I do this, will I still need the spacers or will the rearrangement take care of everything? Thanks oops, someone else hit the submit button before I did:stupid:

I always just jamb a big philips head screw driver in the rubber line and tighten the hose clamp around it. No fumes, no leaks to worry about

Is all this for really aggressive driving? I'm putting the unadjustable tokicos in too along with urethane bushings and wondering if I should start messing with suspension like this? I drive hard, but not racing hard. The car is just a daily driver.

Anyone got just a Supertrapp tuneable muffler at the end? That's what I have planned for when I drop my engine back in with new headers, but I'm not sure if it will be too loud (even with the quietest adjustment) for daily driving.

Well it was a flat bed tow truck. Thing is the driver was worried about my front valance not clearing the steep incline to bring it on the truck, so we backed it up onto it. He had the straps around the rear control arms and winched the sucker up into position. I do remember two little hooks connected somewhere in the bvack but I tore those off in my first restoration. Didn't seem like they were fit for pulling the whole car.

Ok here's the story. About 3 months ago my 240's tranny decided to take a dump in a Kragens parking lot and I ended up getting it towed home. The tow truck driver couldn't figure out a place to put the two tow hooks on the back so he wrapped a strap around each rear control arm which seemed to do the trick. Now I've been tearing out the suspension to put in urethane bushings and it looks like that little towing incident bent the rear control arms. Not in a structuraly bad way (I don't think), but it bent the metal flanges a little. So after I spend all the time repainting my suspension I don't want to have anything like this to happen again should I get towed at some point (I hope never). Where are good structures to latch onto for towing this little beast? Thanks Craig http://people.ucsc.edu/~crearly/Z.htm

I'm hoping I'll have my dream Z done by the end of this summer thanks to the great shape I got it in! Anyway, I'm not big on engine performance upgrades since the Z feels so fast already. I'm mainly out for looks. Shaved emblems and door locks, smoothed gas door, and a deep deep blue candy paint job. Craig http://people.ucsc.edu/~crearly/Z.htm

Are those full on dashes or just caps??? $120 for a new dash sounds too good to be true for my 71! PS: First time post! woo hoo! Craig http://people.ucsc.edu/~crearly/Z.htm