2ManyZs

IMO the lines of the Z's lends itself nicely to a "top-chop", it's a shame Nissan never made one themselves, they could have sold twice the number of Z's, especially in CA and FL. There's only one other car that I think looks as good with a top as without, and that's the 365 Ferrari Daytona. Personally, I like the looks of the Daytona better without a top than in coupe form, just like the Cobra.

Mark is correct, there were no 5 speeds in 240's offered in the US models, they weren't offered here in the US as an option until late 76 or 77. If you didn't bleed the master cylinder first before doing the rear cylinders and front calipers this may be where the air is trapped. You may be pulling too much vacuum trying to bleed the brakes, or, if the seals in the master cylinder are not in good condition, you may actually be pulling air into the master with that much vacuum. Try bleeding the master cylinder first, then do the wheels the old fashioned way by hand, and see if it improves, if you still get air, your master cylinder is probably shot. The seals will detiorate in a very short time if the brake fluid gets moisture in it while the car was sitting. Also, putting new O-rings on the caps might possibly help too.... The drain plug on the block is under the intake/exhaust manifold. I wouldn't bother trying to get it out, as it will likely be siezed, or at least nearly impossible to remove due to its position. If you thought the drain plug on the trans was tough, try removing the drain plug on the block:cross-eye

You better get all the rest you can now, cuz you're gonna need it when you get started putting it back together...:devious: Notice why the frame rails rust out from the inside out? It's the welded in plate that makes the C channel into a box section. The moisture gets in between that and the inner fender and there it goes.....

The easy part is removing it..... now comes the fun part (?):cross-eye Hmm, that ended up being more than I thought, with your earlier description I thought it was mostly just the frame rail.:surprised

I noticed the clock, but I also notice it has the vented C-pillars and no hatch vents. I too would like to see the VIN number.... There wouldn't be many in the US that's for sure. I personally know of only 2 in my general area over the years, and one of them wasn't in much better shape than this one(it was also auctioned off on Ebay about 2 years ago).

Yeah, I'd like to have one, but this one might be a little more of a project than I need right now. No job=no money:disappoin Plus I have 2 projects in the garage now.... 2 things scare me about this one, no title(?), and, if the rust under the battery tray is any indication of the underside..:cross-eye

I don't know that I would drive it with the shield missing, for the same reasons you stated. Sounds to me like he wasn't paying attention or got in a hurry to get the job done. Or, did he have someone else doing the work and he didn't check the work? Let us know how you like the 810/Maxima flywheel and if it makes a significant difference, there's a few of us that wants to do the same swap in the future.

Question asked and answered 2 days ago...... http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?postid=76985#post76985

Hardly looks worth trying to restore..... :disappoin http://cgi.aol.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2465110065&ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:US:1

I was kinda wondering how come we were doing it again too Stephen... Maybe we'll come up with some forgotten tunes, with new members. Yeah, ZZTop is high on my list, so is Skynard, Jackson Browne (especially Running on Empty), Steve Miller, 38 Special,Huey Lewis, with a little Bonnie Raitt and Joe Cocker too...

Both problems sound like a sensor malfunction, either the water temp, thermotime switch, or air temp sensor. They both work in conjunction to control the injectors through the ECM. Vapor lock with FI is highly unlikely. I'd suggest reading through this troubleshooting manual before you do anything..... http://www.72hours.net/~zcar/

Can't blame it on the vehicle, it was the idiot behind the wheel that caused it. You're lucky in one way, it only got the hood, it could have been lower and got the bumper, headlight buckets, hood and buckled the fenders. Still sucks though. :disappoin Just like the shopping cart I found in the door of my pickup, left a nice little dent and scratch cuz someone was too damn lazy to push their damn cart into the rack.

Pulling the rear cover and looking at the ring gear teeth for grooves, chunks out of it, and turning it to check for excessive play will tell you quite a bit.

Cool.... Now I know why Jeff Werth said setting up an R-200 was a PITA compared to setting the R-180's.....

Mine are going to be painted red, just like you'd see on nearly any Porsche. I've never seen a "riced" out Porsche... maybe I should say yet...:cross-eye

That's the main reasons I was looking at the products Eastwoods has. They have 9 colors (including blue) and the kits are 40 bucks. The kits include a degreaser, 2 component color and activator, mixing jar and brush. The blue is part number 10272Z. The also have a new aerosol caliper paint that's only 10 bucks a can. Blue is part number 10482Z

Looks like a typical Ebay scam to me. 1. Does he offer documentation that the car was ever owned by BSR? 2. If it were a race car, it would more than likely have been raced in Showroom Stock, as any other class would have had so many modifications that it would be nearly impossible to remove them without leaving evidence. I see no evidence of any type, such as roll cage removal. It might have an engine built by a Z specialty shop, but that doesn't make it a BSR car. Anyone can put a BSR valve cover on their car and make all sorts of false claims. The engine bay looks too original to be anything other than a modified street car. No one in their right minds would put traction bars on an IRS car.:stupid: There's only one way to know the cars history, do a Carfax report on the VIN, contact BSR directly, and make him show proof of his claim.

:disappoin That's the worst part of the frame rails, they always rust from the inside out. If it makes you feel any better, I've sent two cars to the crusher over the years because of the rust that started in the frame rails.:dead: It's like the Energizer Bunny, it keeps going, and going, and going.....

Actually, at one time there were at least 4 companies with convertible kits for the Z's. Origin Designs Hollywood Motorsports (now sold by ZParts) Stramman Transformations As of now, there only a couple... Here's one, which at one time was the VR Engineering kit, which I believe was originally the Origin Designs kit. It's been kept alive luckily. http://www.reactionresearch.com/zspydergallery.html ZTherapy also has or had a video that shows how to do it yourself, along with plans for a full folding top. The old ZCar magazine did an article one the kits back in the summer of 95, as well as a how-to article by Bill Reagan. He built one from scratch and used the cut down hatch for a working trunklid, which most of the kits at that time didn't have. If you look in the gallery, under the username, paul dinnell you will see one of the nicest convertible Z's owned by one of our members. I will however caution you doing this with a V-8 car, as you will need to substantially strenghten the chassis after you cut off the roof to keep it from twisting into a pretzel under the torque of a V-8. I would have someone build a good roll bar, with plenty of reinforcement to the rocker areas, perhaps even a cross bar under the dash tied into the firewall and trans tunnel, and then to the strut towers front and rear. I would also have to consider building a stronger set of floor rails such as you can see on Pete Paraska's web-site. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/pparaska/ I've been toying with this idea for my wrecked car, but I wouldn't do it with a V-8 personally. Too much stress on the unibody as it is with a V-8, and without a roof, you'd need so much chassis strenghtening, it would end up making the car look like a race car with the top chopped off.

Not yet...... I'm planning on trying the caliper paint from Eastwoods, it's a little expensive, but, if you get what you pay for, I'd rather pay for it the first time. Not sure, but I think POR has caliper paints now, but if I remember right, they don't have as larger a selection of colors that Eastwoods offers.

I think I'd be tempted to either replace the whole floor pan, or at least a strip down the center where you will be welding the new rails on. It looks like the rust has weakened the floor pan for at least an inch on either side of the frame rail..... Maybe it will look a little better when you get it stripped off better on the underside... let's hope it doesn't get any worse.

If I had the money, the car would already have a new home....:devious: Not sure that I need any more parts though.... almost 20 years worth accumulated in my garage as it is....:cross-eye

If you still have the original gas tank, run it down as low as you dare, then pull the drain plug. If you get a lot of rust, scale and garbage out, I'd bet the pickup is getting blocked with garbage in the tank. When you rev it up to high rpm, you are drawing fuel and whatever gunk might be in the tank up to the pickup tube, then, it will stay there until you turn the car off. Since you don't say that the car runs erratically after you shut it off and let it sit a while, that would be one of the most likely problems. If you haven't done it already, block off the water line to the intake and see if that makes any difference.