kenz240z

Is the white smoke billowy and sweet smelling? It could be a coolant leak. A blown head gasket, cracked block, cracked cylinder head, etc... could cause coolant to leak into one or more cylinders, which would cause white, billowy smoke. Another thing to check would be the oil. Start the engine and run it until it reaches operating temperature. Shut the engine off and check the oil. If it is frothy you've got a coolant leak.

You may also want to check the relationship between the starter and the flywheel to make sure you don't have any problems with the starter drive gear engaging the teeth on the flywheel. If the flywheel is closer to the starter than the flex plate was, the drive gear could grind on the flex plate teeth, and may have trouble engaging the flywheel. Or, it may start the car fine, but get locked up and fail to disengage the flywheel. Does anyone know if there is there a difference between starters on cars with a manual transmission and cars with the auto? I seem to recall that MSA lists different starters for each. If there is a difference between starters, and you keep the one you have, you may need to install a shim between the starter and the transmission bellhousing. You can make a shim from another engine backing plate, if you have one. Of course, it could be all backwards from what I've just mentioned. The flywheel could be further away from the starter... :paranoid:

When I repainted my Z I took the doors off the car, and left the hinges on the body. I cleaned the hinges with carb cleaner & a toothbrush to remove all of the old grease. I left them on the car when I repainted the body. The doors, hood & rear hatch were all painted off the car. Be sure to support the door when you remove it. It can be done by one person, but get a helper or two to make sure you don't drop it. Same goes for putting them back on. If you do it by yourself, use an engine hoist to support the weight of the door for removal & installation. Or, put some heavy duty hooks in the garage ceiling and "hang" the doors with wire or rope. You might consider adjusting the door alignment before taking the door off. Remove the kick panels and you'll have access to the bolts that hold the door hinges to the body. You'll definitely want a helper for this, it will save you a lot of time. This will allow you to set the gap between the door & the rear quarter & rocker panel, and also make sure the door has the proper height all around. Once everything is painted, take care not to nick the paint when putting the door back on. I would recommend taping all the door edges, and perhaps around the door opening on the body.

The SU's used on the Z cars don't have any fuel overflow outlets. If an inlet needle sticks open, the fuel level in the float bowl will rise, and will dump more fuel into the carb. There would be so much fuel going into the carb through the jet that the carb would start leaking fuel. A dangerous situation, as raw fuel would be dripping onto the engine. Also, the air/fuel mixture would be getting very, very rich and the engine would probably stop running. I don't know if enough pressure would ever build up to actually push fuel out through the vent hoses into the air cleaner. Keep in mind that the fuel level in the float bowl and the jet height in the carb are related. The two are connected by a rubber hose that runs from the bottom of the fuel bowl to the bottom of the jet. So, in normal operation the fuel level at the jet will be roughly the same as the fuel level in the float bowl. If you've every siphoned liquid out of a container, you'll understand what I'm talking about. As long as the outlet side of the siphon tube is below the level of the liquid in the container, the liquid will flow out of the siphon tube. In this case, the the liquid is fuel, the container is the float bowl, and the rubber hose & jet make up the siphon tube.

Hi Llama, Nice looking Z! Welcome to the club from Longmont, Colorado... Rocky Mountain "Hi!"

#1 is NOT a fuel overflow. The two hoses identified as #1 in the picture are vent hoses to provide atmospheric pressure to the fuel bowls of the carbs. On a stock setup these two hoses are connected to the backside of the air cleaner. Run them to the back of the Ram Flo's. #2 is the PCV valve. The PCV valve connects to the crankcase. There should be a pipe, about 1" in diameter, that protrudes from the block just under where the thermostat housing is. Try MSA, Victoria British or e-bay for the proper hose. #3 is the brake booster vacuum port. It should have a hose that connects to a check valve mounted on the firewall. A second hose connects the check valve to the brake booster. #4 looks like the vacuum line that connects to the distributor. Hope this helps!

240Zdragon72, I couldn't help myself. To my twisted little pea brain, X's in the eyes are associated with dead characters... Furthermore, my pea brain also associates flies with the aforementioned dead characters. Too many Ren & Stimpy cartoons!

Here's what I would do. Make sure it has a good battery. Change the oil. Check the coolant & top off if necessary. Check the condition of the distributor cap, rotor, points, plug wires, & plugs. Check all hoses & belts Replace anything that looks questionable. Before trying to start the engine, pull all the plugs. Squirt a fair amount of WD-40 in each cylinder. Pull the coil wire. Disconnect the fuel lines from the carbs and put a catch can under each. Turn the key and see if the engine will turn over, and also check to see that fuel is flowing from the disconnected carb lines. If everything looks good so far, then put the plugs back in and re-connect the carb fuel lines. Before re-connecting the coil wire, run it up to one of the mounting bolts for the left front strut. Put it close, leave a gap. Turn the key and verify that you see a spark jump the gap. If you see a spark, hook it back up to the distributor. Now, the engine should be able to turn over, you've got fuel flowing to the carbs, and you've got spark going to the plugs. Turn the key and see if it will start. It should at least try to start, it may take a moment if there is no fuel in the carb float bowls. If it starts, then be sure to change the oil before running the car for any extended period of time. The WD-40 you sprayed in the cylinders can thin the oil out a bit, best not to take chances. If it doesn't start, then you'll have to do a little trouble shooting to find out what is out of order. Could be the timing is off, the valves could need adjustment, the carbs, could be gummed up from sitting, the choke cable from choke lever in the car to the carbs could be out of adjustment, etc.... You'll want to check these things anyway once you get it running. Also, you should drain & refill the coolant. Hope this helps!

As Ed suggested, start with rebuilding the front suspension. I bought an Energy Suspension Hyperflex Urethane bushing set for my 73. It included all the front & rear bushings, including steering rack bushings, steering link bushing (between the steering column & the rod that goes to the steering rack), and the end links that go between the front transverse links & the sway bar. I also got new sway bar bushings & strut rack boots from Victoria British. I had the engine out of the car at the time, it greatly helped with doing the front end rebuild. It took me a few weeks to finish that project, as I spent a lot of time cleaning & repainting all the parts. I did the same thing with the rear suspension, cleaned & repainted everything. The spindle pins connecting the rear transverse links to the struts can be a pain. On one side I was able to remove the spindle pin easily. The other side was rusted in, and I had to have a suspension shop remove it. I replaced the rear differential mount while I was in there. Now I have a nice, firm ride, thanks to the rebuilt suspension. Steering is tight and very responsive, and I get a good feel for the road. It's a blast to drive my Z in the winding mountain roads near home!

If you are pulling the engine without the transmission you should be ok with using the engine hoist from the side. If you are going to pull the engine & transmission together you'll have to have the engine hoist in front of the car, so that you can pull it back as you lift the engine & transmission. An adjustable cradle, the kind that allows you to tilt the load, is a major help in this situation. It will keep the transmission from banging against the transmission tunnel & firewall as you lift everything out. If you are working in a garage, make sure you have enough ceiling clearance to lift the engine out. My garage is too short to fit the engine hoist in front of my Z and close the garage door. But, with the garage door open, there isn't enough clearance to lift the engine out of the car. By clearing a few things out of the way I was able to get my Z in the garage diagonally and close the garage door. I had enough room to put the hoist in front of the car and close the garage door. I couldn't pull the engine in the driveway because my driveway slopes down towards the street, and I didn't want to risk having the hoist roll towards the car & put the transmission through the windshield. Yikes! FWIW, I bought an engine hoist from the local Checker auto parts store, it fits under my Z without any trouble. My Z has new Tokico HP springs and the suspension is lowered about an inch.

Hey 240Zdragon72, is your Orange 72 drawing flies? Just wondered, it looks like it has X's in the eyes... ha, ha!

Even before I rebuilt the suspension on my Z, it never handled like a Buick or a wallowing hog. Who would think such a thing :stupid: ! It did have a harsh ride, though.. Every bump in the road was enough to rattle my teeth, it would jar the car so bad :hurt: . My Z still had the original springs, although they seem to have held up well. Even so, I replaced them with Tokico HP red springs. The strut inserts were in bad shape, they were replaced with Tokico HP blues (I got the springs & strut inserts as a package on e-bay). The bushings on the car were in pretty bad shape, one of the rear transverse link inner bushings was rather deteriorated. Also, none of the struts had bump stops. So, I replaced all the old bushings with new urethane bushings from Energy Suspension. Now, the completely rebuilt suspension gives a firm, comfortable ride . I didn't make before & after measurements of the ride height, but it seems about the same to my eye. Fortunately for me, my lower back pain only troubles me every 2-3 years. When it hits, I can't even stand up :dead: . I've literally had to crawl upstairs to get to bed, because of the pain associated with trying to stand up straight after sitting. The rest of the time it is merely a tolerable discomfort. The only other thing I can think of would be to replace the strapping in the seat. While the drivers seat in my Z is in good cosmetic shape, the seat bottom is kind of saggy . Another option would be to put in a different seat from another car, something with better lumbar support, etc... It might make a big difference in comfort when you drive your Z .

Hi Tom, I used vice-grips to remove them from my car when I rebuilt the rear suspension. I clamped the vice-grips to the clip where it bends. I was then able to wiggle the clip and pull it out. You're right, they are like the brake/clutch line clips, only smaller & thicker.

Eastwood sells several different paints that duplicate various plating, such as cadmium and zinc. They also have paint for alternator housings, carbs, etc... that is supposed to make them look new. I've used the cadmium paint, it consists of 3 different colors: red, green & gold. I used it on all the brake hard lines, fuel lines, hood prop, accelerator linkage, etc... and it turned out great. Not as good looking as re-plating, but a heck of a lot cheaper, & not that noticable to the untrained eye! For cleaning aluminum parts (intake, carbs, alternator, etc...) I have used steel wire brushes and also brass wire brushes. Harbor Freight sells the ones that are toothbrush sized, perfect for cleaning in tight spots.

sed grolsn merpl ahxuf? Hrepko pwogdux si wyacvug.

For the vinyl try Meguiar's vinyl cleaner. It should work well for cleaning up the plastic & vinyl interior pieces and will leave them smelling nice. Febreeze will make things smell nice, as Beandip suggested. It should work well on the carpets.

What Cremmenga says is true. I mean, think about it for a moment. In the State of Nebraska, Memorial Stadium (where the Huskers play - Go Big Red!), becomes the third largest population center for the whole State when the Huskers have a home game. There are just over 1 million people in the whole State. BTW, Cremmenga, good luck keeping the birds out of your grille... I used to have plenty of them in the grille of my '89 Ford Probe whenever I'd race up Hwy 2 towards Alliance, and I never went over 100 mph. Speaking of Alliance, anyone else ever been to Carhenge?

Yank the engine and drop in a small block V8... Personally, I'd put in a HP 327 with a Carter AFB and 2 1/2" dual exhaust...

Just put a switch in line with with hot lead to your stereo equipment, that way you can turn it off and prevent the drain on your battery.

Nothing a small block V8 won't fix...

A sports car is meant to give the driver the feel of the road... buy a big old Buick or Oldsmobile, one with a couch for the front seat, you won't feel a thing.

Dude, Get an air compressor and a paint gun, you can paint your Z any color you want. But first, do a little troubleshooting and figure out for yourself why your headlights don't work. It's not rocket science...

Hi, BuDavid, I think that is a wonderful idea. I wish more of us "Westerners" could embrace the idea of a unity of cultures. I know I do! And the Z car, what a wonderful example of a unity of cultures!

Hi, SFART, Welcome to the club!

Warm water, a drop of dish soap & a soft bristle tooth brush cleaned mine right up.