mdbrandy

Anybody know if the front crossmember from a '76 280Z will work on a 240Z? Thanks.

I'm 42, and live in Champaign, IL. Wife, three boys, one huge dog. I have HLS30-00215 (11/69) and currently have it down to the bare shell restoring it. I do engineering supercomputer simulation research at the University of Illinois (www.csar.uiuc.edu).

Thanks, Marty. I think you're right - I was just looking for people who might have done it - like you :classic: . My parts car was going to be a real car until I let it sit and rust out for 8 years. Now it is mechanically OK, but VERY rusty, and as a species that is not as desireable as the 240Z that I found this year, I'm going to canibalize it. I'm going to use the 5 speed, and some other stuff, like hopefully the knuckle arms on the 240Z. I'll keep the L28 and see if I can build a hot-rod 240 at some later time from another body shell or something.

Question for the experts: When I rebuild the front end on my very early 240Z (11/69), it is my understanding that the ball joints that fit the early knuckle arms are NLA, and that I have to either ream out the existing arms, or replace them to use available joints. Now, I have a '78 280Z parts car sitting here in the garage to use as I want - can I just take the arms from it and bolt them onto my 240Z struts? Is that all that is really required? Thanks!

I've been on the IZCC list since about 1997, but now I barely have time to read their digest, 'cause I'm always on this site!

There's another current thread (http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&postid=51424#post51424) where I posted a picture of a wheel cylinder with the lever on the car that might help you visualize what needs to be done to turn the adjusting wheel. It's a pain. I did it without drilling, but that sure would have made life easier!

Toward the center of the car at the bottom of the wheel. Here's a pic of the drivers side on mine. Note how the serrations on the wheel will "catch" on the bar at the bottom if the top of the wheel would turn toward you. Thus, it will "click" over the bar and adjust the brake if the top of the knurled wheel would turn away from you. So, to loosen the brake, use one screwdriver to push the lever arm down, and another to push the BOTTOM of the wheel AWAY from you, toward the center of the car. Hope that makes sense. Note that these are really early wheel cylinders too. There are some changes over the years, but hopefully a '71 will be similar. Good luck.

Thank, kmack. I'll probably buy a bearing puller and one or more brass punches - just because I can. New toys. When I tear the transmission down, I'll replace every bearing and seal I can. That's what I'm doing with the rest of the car. Every piece of rubber, every seal, every bearing, every u-joint that I can get a replacement for will be done. I'm looking to essentially have a "new" z-car when I'm done (or as close as I'm ever gonna get :classic: ). And I'll take MANY digital pictures, and maybe even video the teardown since I've never been inside a transmission. Thanks!

I think I've got all that except the bearing puller (I have a gear puller - would that work?) and a brass "drift punch". I tend to buy the tools I need to do a job if it will save me as much or more $$ than the tools cost, or if I might do it again sometime, since then I have the tools. Sounds like I'll spend a winter weekend taking apart a 5-speed and seeing what happens! Thanks.

Are there any special tools you need to rebuild a manual tranny? Pullers? Presses? Special circlip removers? Stuff like that? I'm pulling the 5-speed out of my 280 parts car this winter to use in my 240, and I'm going to rebuild it or have it rebuilt before using it. I'd love to do it myself, but I've never opened up a transmission (yet). I've got all the normal hand tools, power tools, etc. to do almost any "normal" mechanical work on my car. Thanks.

Bummer :mad: . Was it crushed, cracked, what? I'm especially interested since I just shipped my dashpad to EricB in Los Angeles, for forwarding to Australia! It apparently made it OK from me (Illinois) to LA, but that's only a small part of it's travel plans. I used UPS, though, instead of USPS, but UPS told me that they wouldn't insure it for more than $100 since it was being sent for restoration, and thus was not worth much anyway. Harrumph. At least it made it OK so far. Good luck getting anything out of any carrier it seems. They don't seem to give a s__t.

Nice ride! Makes me wish I wasn't keeping mine stock...maybe I'll have to get a later Z to mod after I finish #215!

Cowl Panel Receivers, part 34-1186 on page 105 of MSA's catalog for 2.44 each. Note that MSA's catalog is old, and the prices and availability are suspect. Call to find out. For Victoria British, they are part 59-134 on page 12 of the 2003 Spring/Summer Catalog for $2.95. I have found that VB's prices are more up to date. Trying to find things in these catalogs is an art form unto itself! Good luck!

That's good, because MSA does NOT have them anymore, and I haven't been able to find one to replace my torn up one :disappoin .

I believe that you're talking about the little tabs on the back of the cowl cover that fit into plastic receivers that fill holes under the windshield, right? You're looking for those black plastic receivers. If so, I believe you could get them either at MSA or from Victoria British. Or, try Chloe at midwestZ (Midwest Z [zcarparts@cox.net]). I don't think they're hard to find.

The fill hole is on the passenger (right side). There aren't that many holes, so it'd be hard to get it wrong :classic: . I believe that one of the best ways to fill a manual tranny is to put in enough lube so that it starts coming back out the hole. Then it's full. The 1970 factory manual lists the lube capacity of the 4-speeds to be 1.5 liters - around 6 pints. I would assume that the ZX tranny is as much or more, but I don't know that. Pictures of the ZX transmission that I've seen make them look a little bigger. And the plug on the bottom can be removed easily with a 1/2" ratchet/breaker bar as kmack suggests. FWIW. Good luck.

Try Paint Codes I think you're looking for 918 Orange (Mexican Orange: 60636F) .

Hissing sounds like a leak in the MasterVac Brake Booster. I believe there's a diaphram in there that could have ruptured. It's a big vacuum line too, and a leak that big would cause the engine to run badly. Don't know how that could effect the clutch, though. Any physical damage likely there around the clutch lines/masterVac/clutch master cylinder? Some sort of impact under the hood might have effected both.

I got the rockers and the lower dog legs from Victoria British. They ended up being "TABCO" panels, which is fairly typical I guess. I have no experience with other brands, so I don't know if any other are better. I ordered from VB, since they are MUCH closer to me than MSA (I live in Illinois, and VB is in Kansas). Shipping is somewhat less expensive from KS to here then from CA to here. However, VB charges shippping on a $$ basis, where MSA charges on a weight basis, so you have to be careful. I just ordered some brake lines from VB (MSA didn't have them), and VB charged me $25 to ship a 5 lb package! VB's policy is good for cheap, heavy things, where MSA's is good for expensive, light things. FWIW.

My 11/69, HLS30-00215 has the sun/star, but since I'm the 4th owner, and the PO seems to have a faulty memory on many things, it isn't necessarily original.

The original link is directly to the windows video file ( .wmv). Did you type in the site and then look for the video? Just clicking on the link worked for me, but if you aren't on Windows, you might have a problem.

Good suggestions so far. I'll try anything on my practice stuff. Any other ideas are welcome too. Thanks for the advice!

Bet tire sellers love these kind of events!:devious:

Well, some of the first rust-hole patching that I'm going to have to do on the beast will be small patches that are vertical. I was practicing today (off the car), and my horizontal welds are coming out pretty good, but I'm having problems with the vertical welds. I'm using a small Lincoln MIG with gas BTW. For thin sheet metal like our cars, is it better to run the bead top to bottom, or bottom to top? I was having the most problems trying a vertical weld with the pieces at 90 degrees to each other (an inside corner). It was like the gas was cooling the metal too fast or blowing the weld pool off, and it kept dripping and not penetrating. Do I need less gas pressure for vertical welding? Any advice would be appreciated. I'm going to keep practicing before working on the car... . Thanks.

Won't we all! :classic: