Ed

I agree, Jack it up at the front crossmember, right in the middle of the car just in front of the oil pan. If you look there is what appears to be a small skid plate about a 5 inch square. The frame rails are not a good idea because it is basically a single layer of metal. If you were to jack it up by the frame rails your rails would end up looking like a piece of aluminium foil that went through the washing machine. Even when you put the jack stands under there place them where the metal is the thickest, right behind the T/C rod. Or put a piece of wood between the jack stand and the rail.

Even though it sounds like a good idea to clean your engine, you have to be careful. If your engine has alot of deposits from using cheap oils then you might have alot of build up. Then using a high detergent oil will break free these deposits. Then you have pieces of crud flowing around your engine taking a chance of siezing your oil pump or cloging oil passages.

Bill, your Mom won't have any problems, ATF is in actuallity 20wt oil with alot of detergents. If anything her engine will get a good cleaning :classic: .

Well put Mike.

I've noticed that everybody seems to offer a "showroom quality". What is it called when it's not "showroom quality"? junk?

hello! this hannah! edwins charming daughter! i just wanted to do this!...... i think that is soooooooooo COOL! bye bye 4 now! HannahLOL Sorry about this guys. My daughter helped herself.

I've tried Home Depot and Ace hardware. They only have NPT and it has the square head. We don't have a Lowe's up here. I did find the allen head type at a performance automotive but they are also NPT. The thread count is very close but it will strip if I force it in there.

Sorry Skyline guys. Not my fault.

Most A/C units installed into 240's are aftermarket and usually dealer options. Not all 240's had this option so if you find one with A/C your lucky. They are close to 30 years old and have the old piston type compressor (over by the fuel pump). I believe that when someone tells you that it only needs a recharge it's because it has a leak somewhere. Usually the hoses are the culprit because they are over 30 years old but you never know. Regardless of what you get if the hoses haven't been replaced in 30 years, it's time. You can "upgrade" your A/C system by getting a rotary compressor from a 81-83 280ZX. The mounting bracket bolts up to where the air pump goes. There are also rotary units out there that bolt up to the bracket that goes by the fuel pump. If you find a Z with air consider it a plus. If it works that would be a plus & bonus. Either way maintanance is required and the hoses are the first to go. To replace the hoses your looking at $400.00 US easy.

Thanks for the info, I'm trying to find a plug that will fit the thermostat housing on an early 240. It's close to a 1/4" plug but not quite. What I have found so far is all standard thread pattern.

Does anyone know where to get an internal-hex allen-type, steel NPT plug. I've searched at my local hardware and automotive stores but they only carry brass or galvanized plugs with a square head.

I've heard of this before by another member, maybe about 4-6 months ago. Try doing a search. I can't remember what the outcome was.

I'm sorry, I didn't mean to come of all jolty:classic: . I was just getting straight to the point. I too wish dfr867 would clarify this way we could help him. 26th, I wish I was sunburnt, except I'm cold & wet. Gotta love NY (not:tapemouth).

The Z has no chassis. It's a unibody design.

I'm asumming your fill plug is of the male kind not the female kind. Since you mentioned using vice grips. Have you tried a pipe wrench? Throw a cheater bar on that and the plug stands no chance.

You really won't get much more power removing your emission stuff. But you could remove almost all of it with out having any problems (most of the emission parts probably don't even work anymore). Start with getting some early SU's with the air box. When I did mine I first got the carbs, had the Ztherapy rebuild done, then I went a little overboard and customized the carbs a little bit for appearance. Once I got them to where I wanted I replaced the flat tops. Good luck.

yup:classic: I would also recommend getting the headers with the ceramic coating they look alot nicer, last longer and reduce the temperature under the hood.

I paid about $200 for the front bumper with the guards out of a place in LA. Sorry can't remember the name. But they were real helpfull they sent a driver out to my house and we exchanged bumpers. I gave him my old rusty banged up bumper and he gave me a nicely rechromed straight bumper. The rear bumper I had done up here and they charged me $300 for the five pieces. If you can get it done for $280 it sounds like a steal. Hopefully they do good work.

Good point, another option is to find a shell in better condition but that has a trashed interior. Then swap your interior into the new shell.

when was the last time we got luv and kissess?

I checked out your gallery and you have a pretty nice car. Definately worth the work. Luckily for you, you live in Southern Cal. you should be able to find a donor no problem. Keep an eye out in the autotrader for someone parting out a 240. Or you can visit a junkyard. I used to live in San Diego and there used to be dozens of old Z's sitting there. I would suggest to start stripping the front end first to get a good idea of how much rust there is and what you have to replace. Good luck. BTW is that dash crack free?

Welcome, to the club. Hmmm, not really sure of what your trying to do. But if your looking for more horsepower and don't really care about originality then forget boring the L24 and get a L28. Use the cam in it and you would have gained 15-20 hp easy.

You need to give us some more information. Was the engine rebuilt recently? Did anyone do any kind of work to it? Has it been sitting for a while? Give us some more details. For right now it sound like the timing could be off. And the smoke you see coming out of the intake is vaporized fuel.

First off let me welcome you to the club. I hope you keep in touch with us as from what it sounds like you have a pretty nice car. Now to your questions: Even though you have what appears to be quite alot of damage it is repairable. Most of the rust appears to be the frame rail. I would suggest (since you live in Southern California) to find a donor car. Go to the junk yard and find a Z that has that part of the frame intact. If you specify where you live, someone will be able to point you in the right direction. Zedd findings offers only the floor and the frame rail which only extends to where the floor meets the firewall. A donor car would offer the T/C bracket. If you pull the motor and all the other stuff that's in the way it should save you some money. My question is if the rust in this part is this bad how do the other parts of the car look? Like the drivers side? Or the rear hatch area? Oh yea, any body shop should have someone qualified to weld in the replacement body parts. Keep us informed.

I haven't heard anything good about the 4bbl set-up either. There was a member here that had this set-up and was very dissapointed with the dyno results. The stock carbs actually produced more HP. I think you would be happier getting rebuilt SU's with your header exhaust combo. And if you have money left over rebuild the top end.