kmack

If your car is a '73 model and you do have the electric pump mounted just in front of the gas tank, then you don't have much left to do to convert to all electric. First, make sure your electric pump is clean and working. The bottom section of the pump (at the very bottom while looking at it on the car) looks like a cap of sorts. Twist this cap off and pull the mesh screen filter out and make sure it's all clean. Then make sure the pump itself is working. It should hum slightly when working. If it's working, you're another step closer. Next pull the mechanical pump off the block. You'll need to either buy (from VB or MSA, etc.) a block-off plate or make your own and mount it in place of the mechanical pump. Attach all your fuel lines and your done! Start the car and enjoy the ride.

I'm gonna get me one of these! antirice.bmp

I bought my car in July of '93 pretty much as a shell. Got another 240 as a parts car (donor for engine and trans.). The work started right there and then. Did the apartment w/ car in storage unit thing for about a year and a half. Dropped the storage and then worked on the car out in the parking lot. Finally got a garage, then tore it all completely apart. Finally finished the car in June of 2002. Almost 9 years. Drove it for the first time on June 10th, got my first ticket in it on the 14th! :tapemouth Biggest set backs were (in order): School (= no money) apartment no money kid no money time no money But I'm glad I finished. I broke down a couple times and almost sold her, but it'll be a while before I ever think about selling the car now.

I know I don't usually ask too many questions, but every once in awhile I'm just clueless on a few things. This is one of those thingies... When I'm driving down the road at speed (60-70mph, sometimes more...), I've noticed that the car tends to wander a bit from side to side. Sometimes it does this rather abruptly and sharply. I'm trying to figure out what a possible cause and cure might be. So here's the skinny on my setup: Tires: 215/60r14 on front, 205/60r14 on back. Yes I have considered that this might be a possible cause for some of this. I will have new tires (all the same size, 205/60R14) on the car by the end of this month, or hopefully sooner. Suspension: new strut cartridges, stock springs, new swaybar bushings, new TC rod bushings, new ball joints, new tie rods, control arm bushings replaced w/ adjustable camber bushings, new steering rack bushings, new wheel bearings, hard plastic steering coupler, new alignment (done after the above was installed). There isn't any noticable "play" in the steering when the car is sitting. Ie: sitting in the driveway turning the steering wheel. I'm in a bit of quandry on this as I plan to start running the car in autoX's and time trials. Anybody have any ideas? TIA...

If it ran better after you changed the fuel filter, then it sounds like you have gunk/trash in the fuel tank. Next step might be dropping the tank and cleaning it out. You be needing to replace those vent lines on the gas tank anyway... There are a few threads around here about replacing those lines. A search should pick them up. Good luck.

Here's a cheaper method: Find a less picky inspection station. There was a smog pump and all associated plumbing on the '72 cars. Here's what I would do: Pull everything off the car that is associated with the smog/emission stuff. Don't leave anything visible that would draw attention to the fact that these items were removed. Make sure the smog pump mount is off the block, remove your air injection tubes from the exhaust manifold (assuming you're still running a stock manifold), and get rid of the anit-backfire valve. If the guy looking at the engine can see no signs of anything having been removed, then he has no reason to suspect anything was removed. Then ask around to find out were the more "relaxed" inspection stations are and go there. Here in San Antonio, they are all on the southside. Most won't even get into the car let alone look under the hood. When I got my car inspected, the guy asked me what the mileage was instead of looking for himself. Note: this is not to say that my vehicles are unsafe or are not up to vehicle standards in any way. In my opinion, the smo/emission systems on the early Z's did nothing. You can tune the SU's to meet the same emissions standards that the smog pump provided. So why keep it? I just like not having to go through the hassle of some guy telling me what should be on my car when he doesn't even know for sure himself. I mean that bracket hanging off the driver's side of my engine block with nothing attached could be from the A/C system I removed because it didn't work!:nervous:

I used a 500 Watt halogen work light and a putty knife when I pulled the undercoating off mine. But it also pulls the paint too! That's why I used the same setup to strip the paint off my car. No chemical mess, and you just sweep up the stuff on the floor when your done. (Or use the shop-vac)

Or: "If you can read this, you're faster than you look!" and (I have this one personally): "My child is Inmate of the Month at Florida State Prison"

Try encasing the entire car in shrink-wrap and pull a vacuum on the inside that way no air is left to attack the metal. Other than that, you could always completely strip the car down to the shell and have it dipped in a rust preventative treatment bath. You'd need to make sure it got all the way inside the interior body panels and was completely covered. Or you could just avoid rain, puddles, sprinklers, and forget washing the car....:stupid: Moisture is the killer of Z cars....

Also make sure the heater hoses coming in through the firewall are hooked up correctly. If they're not on right, then you won't get any flow to the heatercore; therefore, no heat. I had mine connected wrong at first, but have since got it corrected.

I don't know that any early 240's ever had a 2 levers for operating each individual choke, but the very early cars did have 2 levers; one operated the chokes and the other was a throttle control. To my knowledge there has always been one lever for the 2 chokes. Technically, there is one lever, and only one cable for both chokes. the end of the cable (or wire) runs from the rear choke arm up to the lever where it wraps around and continues back to the other choke arm. Interesting tid-bit.

The fusible link is the wire you see coming out of the harness going to the positive terminal of the starter. If the link is broken, then you will not get any power to the car what-so-ever. If you have power (ie. instrument lights, etc.), then the link is good and you have a problem somewhere else. I think I know why 2many told you the link comes from the battery.....he hasn't worked on a car (or at least a running car) for quite some time! (Sorry, 2many, I couldn't resist. )

I couldn't get onto this site..... I'd like to see if they have any of the other commercials, as my car is shown in one of them. Particularly the one showing the group of cars all parked next to each other that was taken at the National Convention Car Show.

A lot depends on what all needs to be fixed before the paint goes on. You say "that the undercarriage is very rusted." Do section of metal need to be replaced? If so, figure a "good" shop is going to charge $2000-4000 depending on the extent of damage. Doing it yourself is cheaper. As for the paint, figure on another $1000-2000 for a good quality paint job. That should also include sanding the car down to get rid of all the chips. For reference, when I painted my car, total coast for paint alone $550. That was a medium grade paint (not high dollar) and I did all the work myself.

There are supposed to be a set of bushings where the shifter goes into the transmission. The rattle is most likely those bushings going bad. Replace them and it'll go away. My shifter moves considerably and rattles like crazy at certain rpm's. But I chalk it up as a characteristic of an old car. I kind of think it's cool! :classic:

First, I'd try to get the motor running using a small gas can. Hook it up to the pump, but don't use any of the fuel lines along the frame rail. But before you do, pull the plugs and squirt a little oil into the cylinders. Enough to coat them real good. You might also want to change the oil in the block as it's probably gotten pretty gunked up. Pull the valve cover off and coat the cam and valves with oil. Once you get it all buttomed up, turn the starter over w/o the plugs in to prime the lubrication system with oil. Run the starter until you see oil pressure. Then throw the plugs back in, spray some carb cleaner into the carbs, a then see if she'll fire. I'd also do a good thorough check of the carbs after you verify that the engine will run. But getting the engine to run after so long of a time, is half the battle.

Ok, this is being carried over from another thread for those that might be interested. Some of us have been using it to make new avatars. The link is to a license plate maker program. It's pretty cool, check it out. License plate maker

I don't mind at all. In fact I've made over 20 different plates so far. I have one lined up for my car when the current plates come due, but I won't show it because I don't want someone to steal it. :tapemouth

Thanks, billcapp. I made it off this website: http://www.acme.com/licensemaker/

There should an identifying mark at the base of the needle. It'll be pretty small and you'll probably have to pull it out of the carb piston to see it.

Hey Britt Boyette, If you're looking for a rotisserie and you're good with a welder, email me and I'll send you a set of plans that I used to build mine. Or I can build you one and ship it to you.

I agree with Rick on using the pickle fork. I hammered on an old steering rack (that still had bad ball joints atteched) with a 20 lb sledge hammer for over an hour and they didn't budge. Took a pickle fork to them with a 5 lb sledge and they both came loose after 3 hits! Go figure....

Ed, I built a rotisserie for my car when I restored it. The stands mounted using the bumper mounts (in the rear) and the under-tray mounts on the frame rails (in the front). The stands were able to take the weight of the car minus doors, engine, transmission and glass. The suspension was still on the car when I first put it on the stands. It held up fine. I have pics up on my website.

The two gas tanks should be identical and swap easily. The only difference would be in the evaporation tank inside the car. the early ones were plastic while the later ones were metal.

Nate, My understanding is that somewhere between the 240's and 260/280's there was a shift in either how or where the horsepower readings were taken. Thus causing the misunderstanding that the later models actually made less power(or not as much). Or something like that......it's really late as I'm writing this and my brain my be malfunctioning....:stupid: