EScanlon

No Worries! I laughed, and I hope you did too! Merry Thanks Giving

Ok, from that "good" idle, accelerate. Give it a good "hammer down" style acceleration and tell us what she's doing. My bet, (Vacuum Advance Plate still shot) you get backfiring, stumbling and a VERY ROUGH and seemingly intermittent acceleration. Then when you release the gas, it seems to sputter, cough and not want to run for a few seconds before it "miraculously" seems to settle out. That the plugs are fouling may or may not be related to this. Trust me, if you keep adjusting EVERYTHING ELSE before you fix THIS problem, you're going to have another $500 OBO E-Bay Project Car Auction with a tagline that says "Several years ago, I had problems with this car and thereafter I couldn't get it to run at all. Makes a good project for someone who has a lot of knowledge on Z's...." but you will add "or is willing to listen to the people at the recognized source of Z information on the net that kept telling me NOT to muck everything else up while fixing ONE problem." Sorry to be blunt, but I've seen this song and dance played out to the same disastrous end too many times to want to see it again. Check the vacuum advance, then check the timing, then check...... notice nobody has said go muck with the richness of the mixture to try to get it to run. The car is currently in a RUNNING state, although out of proper adjustment. i.e. the engine starts, and continues to run, although it can't hold a smooth idle nor accelerate properly. That says it IS getting AIR and FUEL and SPARK (the engine IS running). You've already eliminated compression, so the next thing is TIMING i.e. FINE adjustment. You can eliminate the fouled plugs later AFTER it's running smoothly. 2¢ Enrique

Actually Daniel, without the passive (i.e. NOT generated) magnetic force of the magnets, you couldn't get an electric motor to run. Enrique

Actually, yes, but have to get Beandip to finish selecting what he needs for his car and then I just picked up another Z that may need some parts and then they'll go up for sale. In the meantime, I'm collecting as many $20 Bills I can get in hopes that Zhead240's wife will buy them for $50 Best Offer. EDIT MINE Ok, I can understand the rolleyes cause I can't for the life of me remember this one. Enrique

Will: Didn't mean to imply that YOU were being rude or harsh, but that the description was too harsh to make the subtle point you were making. I agree, if someone wants to sell a $100 bill for $200 OBO, I might just offer $10, although I know someone will beat me. Then again, if the contract is binding, as it is on e-Bay (supposedly), I'll be the winner. If it isn't, then I havent LOST anything, but I did stand a CHANCE to gain. Sometimes that's all you really want. After all, who other than Z owners, would buy something for a price, invest a chunk of change in it and then sell it for less than what' he wants for it...... ? We basically agree on our methods. Enrique

Good Idea Stephen! Hmm, and since it's "All In The Family", it could even be considered....O.E.M.. I'll have to check the bonyard. Enrique

You're right Carl, I meant in an uncontested situation. If I know that I'm the ONLY person interested in a car, and the guy is asking 2300, why would I give him 2500. In the situation you mentioned, the other neighbors offer was higher than yours and therefore "better". Are you still looking for a 5 and Dime? Enrique

Exactlly. This is a common misnomer, just as with the Road Runner and the Judge. Many people would go out and buy the decals and call their car one of those. Remember the old Trans-Am and Firebirds with the decals? I recall one guy who went out and bought the Firebird decals and put them on his Trans-Am thinking that he was "increasing" it's value. Usually, people did the reverse, they'd buy the Trans-Am set and put it on their Firebird and hope that people would think it was a Trans-Am. Besides, if it were a REAL Aircraft Edition, it would have the V-Style 2 Wing Spoiler on the back, reminiscent of the F-16 (or 18, or 15 or..) V-Tail. Enrique

I bought some of this, both in the shiny and the matte, and tried to use it to restore the choke console on my Series I console. Alas, it didn't live up to my expectations, possibly because I was using such a thin stripe of it. It is an excellent way of getting a nice chrome shine, but in my opinion it is too delicate for long term use on this part without some sort of protective shield on it. If you're building a static display item, then it will probably look and last, but if you use your car at all, I would expect the first road-trip would shred it. I'd like to propose something a little bit different that I'm going to look into. For those of you who are into R/C or L/C airplanes, you're familiar with a product called Mono-Kote. For everyone else: This is a tough plastic film, with adhesive on the back that has exceptional shine and color. It is applied onto the wings and fuselage to provide a very lightweight but somewhat strong (it CAN be punctured and shredded) "skin" on the airplane. This product has become available in a CHROME finish. My thoughts were to buy a roll of the Mono-Kote in Bright Chrome, cut appropriate widths and lengths from that roll and then apply onto the blue vinyl strip with the small detail iron that gets used to do stripes and other fillet cuts with the same material. The Mono-Kote does do a small amount of shrinkage, so form fitting it to the existing plastic would only be a matter of careful skill. Hopefully (and I haven't yet seen a roll) the "chrome" on the foil would be good enough and bright enough to "duplicate" the trim. 2¢ Enrique

With 3m worth of cable (118 1/8") you could get that almost to directly behind the driver's seat in the tool box area. Is that where the release handle is? I wonder if using a gas door cable from a minivan would allow you to put it near the hood one, or down on the floor like the newer gas doors. Enrique

EDIT DELETE How do you delete a post?

Although I agree with what you are saying, I think that it is a somewhat "harsh" way of explaining it. I think what he's saying is "I really want 7500 for it, but if you don't think it's worth 7500 then offer what you think it's worth to you and that offer that coimes CLOSEST to what I want, 7500 is what will get the car." I don't think he's thrown everything out the window, he still retains control of whether or not he sells the car. To think that a seller would negotiate DOWN an amount HIGHER than what they've already stated, or that a buyer would so willingly give MORE than what the seller is asking is ludicrous and naive. Ask your wife if she's willing to pay $1000 for a pair of jeans just because she could afford to pay that amount (WITHOUT some other "value" added i.e. designer label, custom tailored, uniqueness). That is, a plain old pair of jeans that everyone else would pay $25.00 for you're going to pay $1000. I don't think so, and if she says she would.....I have a couple of items I'd like to sell her. 2¢ (which she can give me a dollar for) Enrique

I'm glad you posted again, as the specific part that goes bad is UNDER that plate with the counter weights and springs. The counter weights and springs are the CENTRIFUGAL advance mechanism. (Someone correct me if I'm wrong.) This is what allows the mechanism to advance the timing of the distributor to allow for a given amount of timing advance as the engine is accelerating hard. Below that plate lies a little plastic plate that has a few ball bearings held in place in plastic cups. That little plastic plate is what allows both the centrifugal and the vacuum solenoid to rotate and return SMOOTHLY. When the ball bearings or the plastic plate go kablooey, both plates function erratically. i.e. they "lurch" forward and back. This is what gives you that erratic sometimes ok, sometimes not ignition. That plate falls apart after so many years, and so many Z's have had that problem that it's considered a typical problem. I don't know that you can repair it. They ARE still available, in my case my mechanic was able to obtain one readily and replaced it. I believe he said they were in the mid $20's. At this point, the disassembly of the distributor, I admit that I am getting out of my level of knowledge. Bambikiller, Beandip, 2ManyZ's, 1 Bravo 6, and Zedrally and others (omission by my limited thinking this A.M.) can no doubt give you better details as to how to reassemble etc. But I believe that you've found your culprit. Enrique

Am I the only one that's noticed the post time for the site is off by 3 hours? Anyhow, I'm off. Good Night and Happy Thanksgiving to all. Remember that sometimes that it's just as important to be thankful for what you do NOT have (illness, poverty, etc.) as what you DO have. Enrique

Exactly. By the time you add in your time AND the possibility of failure in the middle of the process, it is MUCH cheaper and quicker to pay a higher price. Hey, doesn't this sound like what we tell prospective buyers? Buy the BEST car you can afford, even if it's way more money than that "fixer-upper"? How many times have we seen bumpers that "could use re-chroming" sell for $100-200 dollars, while new ones go for $400, and then discover the guy paid $250 to get it stripped and re-chromed. The extra $50 (low Side) or saved money (high side) sometimes isn't enough to offset the effort. This isn't to say that there aren't bargains out there, but as more and more people get into the "hobby", those will get scarcer and pricier. Then again, there are people out there that CAN effect repairs and restorations cheaper than buying some of those NOS parts, but they are also in the minority. Enrique

Maybe old-guy read that Wall Street Journal piece and is hoping to cash in on it. Then again, maybe it's one of the buyers for "Overhauling", and if so, has any one of our members discovered his car missing? Or, it's actually Paris Hilton deciding to fund one of her boyfriend's hobby. Enrique

As far as the bills, you usually put it in front of you on the edge of the stage. The girl comes by and picks it up and will "personalize" her dance for you. If you're a "regular" she might offer various means of "tucking" the bill, as long as the bouncer, etc. are ...shall we say... "oblivious" to what's happening. As far as supply getting scarcer, it is. We all know that. Look at the prices that "European" tail lights were fetching a year ago, can you imagine what a new set would fetch now? There are many parts that are now selling at prices MUCH higher than we would have believed. The Heater Control Panel, the Series I Ash Tray / Fuse Cover, unblemished Dashes, tail-lights, reclining mechanism covers, are all parts that, for those who had the foresight to stock up, yielding great profits. In a way, we ALL want that to happen. As the desireability of a complete and unblemished car goes up, so does the price. Whether it's because you're investing (a stretch) or because you hope that you can recoup some of your expenses, we're all hoping to benefit from that rise in prices. As far as the exorbitant prices, it also boils down to "I'm not letting this one get away" fever. With the scarcity of the "D" hubcap in ANY condition, followed by the even scarcer unblemished, and then in NEW condition, I'm not surprised by the final bid. Enrique

Sure! As long as you remember that when they mean NO TOUCHING, they're referring to YOU reaching out. Last time I took a client out to the clubs (he was from Chile), when the girl bent over to let him get a good rear view, he jumped up and was about to plant a kiss....you know where. I reached up and yanked him down by his belt, and boy was he pissed. It wasn't until I pointed out the half ton bouncer headed our way that he realized I was only saving his hide. I took him to another club, where the girls were....shall we say, a bit more forward and got him all happy again. A year later, I went to Chile and he reciprocated with THEIR clubs. Believe me, the raunchiest we have here....is MILD down there. Before I get tons of PM's asking what/why/when/where etc., let's just say that the term Audience Participation took on a completely different meaning. As far as the auction, I too have had my share of price bumpers who do nothing but bump up the price I end up paying. Oh well, that's part of the "fun". Enrique

I had signatures turned off, it's all clear now. Enrique

You should come up to Portland Oregon. They're not required to use G-Strings, only have to maintain a 2 ft. distance, and if you tip well, the girl can "oops" closer. Whether you choose to "snipe" or bid in the first days of an auction, if you stick by your maximum price, you'll still win and lose some. And in both cases, you'll pay less than your maximum only if nobody else wishes to bid that high. Enrique

Taken from AuctionSniper.comThis is a valid point only IF you don't bid the true MAXIMUM amount you are willing to pay for the item. Unfortunately, too many of us (myself included) WANT that bargain. The proverbial Dollar for 50¢ item. The problem with that type of bidding is that someone might be willing to pay 51¢ and so on. Besides, the only way a snipe bid will win the item is if in fact your bid is higher than the one that's currently winning. Personally, I don't care for the snipe bid. I think that it takes much of the ...fun?... out of the auction process. But, at least from my experience if you stick by your MAXIMUM bid, you may find that someone elevates the price you pay, or they pay more than you're willing to. The angst of the snipe bid is that it is right at the last moment AND that, because of the way the bid increment works, they always take the item away from you by "only 50¢". 2¢ Enrique

Oh, no worries there. I wasn't referring to your repeating something I wrote as much as that Messenger (the original poster) hasn't yet posted whether or not he has checked that part. As we all know, there are many "minor" problems that can be erroneously interpreted as being something else, and then repairs attempted that can really bollix the whole car up. So, Messenger, as Carl has posted, you need to get at least 1/4" inch of MOVEMENT (if not more, I'm not sure). If you are NOT getting that movement, then it is very possible that the plate has returned to it's proper position SOMEWHAT, but not necessarily to it's proper position, and your timing is off. That's what the advance plate does, it literally adjusts your timing under heavy acceleration to allow the car to rev up. If it doesn't, then you'll experience everything you've listed. Voice of experience here. My car went from a joyful ride to a handicapped, coughing turtle in the middle of a ride. Took it to a specialist mechanic and although he also did a tune-up and valve adjust, he told me it was the advance plate that had gone out. 2¢ Enrique P.S.: I must be out of touch, but what does MOM stand for (no wise cracks guys)?

Hmmmm, I wonder where I've heard this before...... (reply #4)....... Enrique

That's what got me thinking about spraying the POR. I found an Air Nozzle Blower that had a brass tube mounted perpendicular to the tube (for a venturi) and a 6' length of clear tubing. With this setup I could shoot the unthinned POR into every nook and cranny I could stick the tip into. The thought of using a longer wand or nozzle tip was to make sure the POR made it into places that you couldn't shoot with the Air Nozzle into easily. Places such as the cabin side of the rocker metal supports (the ones with the holes at the sides of the floor panels), you can shoot through the rocker support to the EXTERIOR rocker panel metal, but to reverse the "blow" of the paint, you would need something with an angle wand and enough reach to allow you to shoot through and back onto the metal you are reaching through. (kind of like painting the outside of your house from the inside reaching through a window). I haven't yet tried to use a typical Air Nozzle Sprayer, because of the need to get ALL the POR out of the internal mechanisms. The air blower that I bought was only a few bucks, and other than the clear pick up hose needing to be replaced rather than being cleaned (thinner dissolves the hose), it's been working fine. The Air Nozzle Sprayer also has the clear hose, but it also has several metal parts that would have to be removed and cleaned. At 10+ dollars each, I've stuck to the Air Blower Sprayer. The "Ziebart" style nozzle / wand set up would be ideal, as long as you could clean them out or didn't mind buying a new one for every use. Enrique

Could you post the measurements of the item? Also the manufacturer's information please. I have been looking for something like this so that I can see if we can get one made up for the club. Enrique