240ZX

Damn, its almost a shame to cover up those beauties with K&Ns!

Stephen, Nice pics for sure...thanks for sharing. By the way, is your front valence looking the way it is because of a....... bump and run manuever??? Damn back markers anyway!!!

Dude! Like you gotta back down on the herb intake. Are you talking about teeth like on a P40 Flying Tiger plane? I hope not. :tapemouth Just funnin you buddy!

Congrats on the purchase of your Z! The best place I know of for information on V8 conversions in Z cars is HYBRIDZ. The HYBRIDZ web site has an astounding amount of knowledgeble members as well as tons of information in their post archives. They are all about putting V8 (and other engines) in Z cars. It will be well worth your while!

Hi Vic, I once tried a K&N filter in my shorts, after a heavy dose of Mexican food, but blew the filter element right out......K&N filters are great but not impervious to really hot gas!!! If you know what I mean! Just kidding of course!

Looks just fine! Only improvement would be a trip to the chrome plater. I also intended to do what you did but went with the round K&Ns and the TWR velocity stack (sold by MSA). As Craig mentioned, the filter element on the round K&Ns is a little difficult to install, but if you slightly squeeze it into an oval, it will slip right over the two long outer plate mounting studs and velocity stacks.....won't effect the filter element, as long as you are careful not to poke a hole in it.

You know the purists are about to bombard you with insults Victor! I think it looks perfect.....looks just like it belongs there! I'm sure its good for at least 20 more horsepower...... I just had to throw that comment in Victor....it's that male affection thing you know? Bottom line....5 stars out of 5.

Ken, Welcome! I do not have the answer to your question however, on this site (and other Z sites as well) you can use the search function to surf through the archives. Pretty much every question for repair and or modification has been asked and done before, so as you can imagine, there are a load of answers. Hope this will help you in your sesarch for an answer....and again, welcome aboard!

Will is correct on his advise and I couldn't agree more. One other item of importance when welding.....remember that preparation and cleanliness is imperative for a good weld. Like Will says.....practice, practice, and more practice!!!

Yes, you can leave the tranny attached to the engine for install and or removal. The tranny has a circular lip type seal at the input and output shafts. There are also gasket type seals that are sandwiched between the sections of the tranny. Since you have it out, replace the lip seals anyway...they are cheap and easy to replace (that is if you know what to do).

As webdawg1 mentions, the use of a filter at the intake side of your fuel pump is a standard must do, no matter what condition your tank is in. For sure you will want to flush the tank numerous times to get ANY lingering stuff out! Regarding a better view to the inside of the tank, you can remove the round plate assembly that has the fuel level sender attached. You will have a better view of what the inside of your tank looks like. The sender plate assembly uses an O-ring to seal it. Get a new O-ring of proper size and lightly lube it with a silicone grease.....makes for easy reinstall and no leaks. One thing to remember, the pickup line in the bottom of the tank has no screen to stop derbis....so check and double check that all debris is out of the tank before putting it back in the car for use. Also, flush out all fuel lines going to carbs (or FI) and return lines going back to the tank, before attaching to the tank.

Doug, Another thing to check as well is the condition of your engine mounts. The drivers side (USA models) engine mount is more susceptible to failure, due to engine torque pulling it apart. If it has failed and allows the engine to rock to the right under acceleration.....it will add to your problem. Just something else to check!

Carl, you kill me! You took the words right out of my mouth!!! This Z was at the MSA show. Nice exicution on the mods. However, IMO, the front of the Z looks......well, less than desireable (politically correct description). Like Carl suggested, by a Toadz.....it will likely cost less.

Also, you will likely talk to God a few time during the exercise! If you are pulling the tranny out the bottom, just make sure the car is up high enough to get it out. And, be sure and be safe...use good sturdy jack stands on all four corners.

Word of caution when using a pipe wrench on the strut gland nut! Be carefull not to slip off the gland nut and ding the insert shaft......good way the F-up your day and the insert. :stupid:

As long as you have enough gear lube on hand, just fill the tranny until it comes out the fill plug hole...just like filling a differential. I believe the FSM provides transmission lube capacities.

Doug, This is a common issue on the old Zs. Some of the problem is worn parts and the bigger problem is in the adjustment of the throttle linkage. You are dealing with bell crank geometry issues! Basically, the farther a lever arm move off the 0 degree position (mid point of travel arch or when the lever arm is 90 degrees to the driven link), move force is required to move the lever arm. So what is happening is, that when you first apply pressure to the GO pedal the lever arm is way off the 0 degree position (requiring more pressure to move the pedal) and as the pedal is moving down the lever arm gets closer to the 0 degree position (it gets easier to push the pedal). Mind you, when you get to full throttle the same event occurs ( more pressure is required to move the pedal) but you will not really notice it as much. So, its a matter of looking at the position of the bell cranks on the throttle linkage and adjust them to minimize this effect. Any play in the linkage will not help the matter either. In my case, I had excessive play in the bushing that the rotating linkage (shaft running from the firewall to the carbs) rides in next to the firewall. When I fixed that the throttle was more positve. There are some old write-ups on this subject that provide a better description than I have provided. Wish I could remember which site it was on. Hope this helps some and good luck.

Carl is correct, but I never asked which one was causing the wear....but which one wears first! Ah, it's all in fun and slightly educational anyway. Carl, did I spell babbitt wrong?

Gotchya! Actually, the hardened steel will wear first. Why you may ask? What happens is that particals (particularly hardened steel particals and or any contaminent), produced from wearing become embedded in the surface of the softer bronze. Now what happens, as most may know, the embedded hardened steel particals now bear against hardened steel and will wear. The basic rule is that similar metal will wear faster against each other than dissimilar metals. This wear senerio is very typical of swash plates in a hydraulic pump. Carl main bearings and rod bearings bearing surfaces are babit, but if contaminents become embedded in the babit, it will wear little grooves in the crank...as many have experienced.

Nice ride there Patrick! Patients is a vertue. You must be feeling pretty fine after that catch?

Chris, you thinks correctly! :classic: He's probably diggin through the books as we speak...I mean type!

Here's one for you Dave! If you have two dissimilar metals, lets say bronze and hardened steel, bearing and wearing against each other while lubricated with oil, which one will show signs of wear first, or wear out first? :nervous:

Jason, Go to the search function on the blue tool bar and type in CAM OILER. There are a number of posts on this issue. However, if you have an internal oiling cam, you need to remove the external oiler and use block-off plates.....read posts for more details.

Keith, You have a couple of choices here. You can have the tappered hole, that the ball joint goes into, reamed to fit the later and larger units or as you mentioned, replace the steering knuckles with later models. Just a thought for you to ponder....you may consider the shorter steering knuckles if you do replace the older units. It definitely makes the car steer more like a real sports car....requires a bit less rotation of the steering wheel while cornering. As far as originality....thats your call.

The difference between the 4.11 & 4.44 is roughly 6 1/2 %. In my 240...I have the late model 5 spd with 4.11 LSD and 24" diameter tires. At 3000 rpm in 5th gear, I'm traveling at roughly 70 mph. On some of the tires shop sites, they provide the equations to calculate your speed, based on your set-up. But for an approximation....with 4.44 in my set-up at 3000 rpm, I would be going approximately 65 mph, instead of 70 mph with the 4.11s.