Arne

So far I've resisted this urge - mostly, anyway. But I am strangely drawn to do so. Like you, so far it's mostly been a set of hubcaps that I'll probably never use. But who knows what part(s) will call my name next...

First - not all P90a heads were hydraulic lifters. But if this one is, finding a non-turbo cam for hydraulic lifters is virtually impossible. The hydraulic lifters can be converted to solid, and then you can use a normal performance cam. P90a is a good head for flow, although it's not a really high compression head. If your F54 block has flat-top pistons (and it should, unless it was also from a turbo), the P90a/F54 combo should give around 8.5:1 compression. Not really very high, but eases your octane requirements for street use. I know several people around this forum who have F54/P79 combos who are very happy with them. The P79 is said to not flow as well in the exhaust, so if you can get a decent cam in the P90a it should work well.

Interesting thread, considering that I'm trying to sell my yellow 240Z right now. As others have mentioned, at least the seller is being honest and realistic about the car's condition. As for pricing - it appears to me that the seller has not yet learned that you can't sell a car for what you have in it. I've played with cars long enough to know that it just can't be done, not if you're buying good parts. Right now I've got almost $4000 into the yellow car, over $1500 of that in brand new good parts (with receipts). It runs and drives, and is ready for someone who can cut out the rust (MUCH less rust than the car in the auction) and paint it. And is it worth $4000? Not even close. I'm asking $3000, but will probably end up letting it go for $2500 or even less. Short version - a project car's worth is not directly related to the sum of its parts.

If I was keeping the yellow car, I'd want yours for myself. As it is, I don't want to spend more money on a car I'm trying to sell.

No, I don't think I saw anyone who had both Tokico strut inserts AND Tokico springs who had the ride height issue. The problem is only with the stock or factory Euro springs - neither of which were designed with gas-charged struts in mind. I think this thread is the one that has you concerned, but if you read through it all (rather long), no one who had the Tokico springs (or other modern lowering spring) has the problem. http://classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=21115

Yes and no. There are people like myself who would prefer to go with that rather than a header. But there may not be many of us, and those manifolds are heavy enough that shipping costs are non-trivial. So the market for them might not be all that great. I see them sell on eBay now and then, but the sale price isn't normally that high - it's the shipping costs that add up.

Good point. In fact, since the ST springs are designed with gas shocks in mind, using them with non-gas might lower the car more than you'd expect. Might drop it 1 1/2" or so with Konis.

I agree in principal, Mark. My red 240Z still has the stock manifold and I have no plans to change it.But when I made my plans to pull the oil-burning L28 out of my yellow 240Z and go back to a stock L24, I had to make a change - the round port L28 manifold wouldn't mate to the square-port E31 head. I really wanted to find a stock L24 exhaust manifold for it, but couldn't come up with one that was both affordable and not rusted and/or warped to junk. And since the parts car came with a header, the header is what I went with. Not altogether willingly, but that's where I ended up anyway. Anyway, I guess my point is that since jmark's car already has a rusty header on it, he probably doesn't have a stock manifold to put back on it. And finding a good one can be hard.

Ron has a good point, in that most of the stuff on the market today is designed to flow well on a modified L28 and will have tubes too large for those of us still running mostly stock L24s. After the issues I had with the old Hooker Super Comp header I have in the yellow car, and with some personal ideas about best flow, my own criteria for exhaust on a stock L24 would be a small tube header with a thick, machined one-piece flange. I'd mate that up to a custom-built 2" or 2 1/4" exhaust that has both a resonator and a high flow muffler. I really like how the Dyno-Max #17-741 fits in back, much like stock.

The Konis that are still available for the 240Z are not gas charged. So there shouldn't be any ride height issue. I don't know about the possible need to modify anything on them.

Do it the other way. Suck through the SUs into the turbo. British cars always sucked through the carbs with their superchargers. That way you don't need to pressure seal the carb bodies. All theoretical, of course.

BTDT. If the wiring is botched and melted, the simplest solution (and the one I did on my yellow car) is to replace the bad sections of the wiring. Wiring harnesses for 240Zs have three main sections - the engine compartment, dash and rear body. The rear section rarely has big issues, but the dash and engine harnesses do. If you decide to go this route, do yourself a BIG favor and try to find harness sections from the same year at least, and preferably as close to the same build date as possible.

Might depend on the year. None of my spare tire covers have been carpeted, but they were all '71 240Zs. All of the covers in my cars have been plain fiberboard. While I've never seen a carpeted cover, maybe the later 280Zs had them that way. Yes, they all had the luggage straps.

Yeah, the block engine serial number. Right side of the engine, on a flat boss at the top of the block, below number 5 spark plug. The first part will tell what type engine is there (L24, L26 or L28e) and the second is a serial number.I second the recommendation from beandip above to verify that you can legally take possession of this car, since it has no title. I know that not all states require titles for cars once they are past a certain age, but again as noted above, since we don't have a clue where you are located, we can't advise on that either.

Please post requests like these in the Classifieds, not the general forums.

The '83 L28 that was in my yellow 240Z when I bought it had the later 3-wire module on it. I thought the E12-80 was only correct for '79-80. Not sure that that would prevent it from starting, though.

Ouch! Bad weather sucks when you are a car enthusiast. It's been cold here in Western Oregon as well, but bone-dry. I've actually been driving my 240Z back and forth to work a fair amount these past couple of weeks. Sorry you can't do the same. Anyway, welcome! And yes, we'll all help you keep that gem in good order.

This is one reason that for parts like this, I never buy mail order or over the Internet. If I buy them locally, I can can take them back and show them in person what's wrong. Or better, I can take the old ones with me when I pick them up and compare them before I ever pay for them. Some stuff it's better to buy locally.

Keeping it was an easy decision. While I may be a relative Z newbie, I've been in the car restoration game plenty long enough to know that un-identified parts are NEVER disposed of. It's a bit of a problem, sometimes, explaining this to my wife...

Not rubber. More of a slightly glossy semi-hard vinyl. Seems very similar to the vinyl or hard rubber material used in old-style faucet washers. It is very hard to get good pictures of it, due to the black color and reflectivity. There are no identifying marks or numbers on it. The only mold lines are in the center groove. I'm guessing it was made in a four piece mold. (Top, bottom, and two groove halves.)

Surprise! I was cleaning and organizing parts to go with the yellow Series 1 when I sell it (very soon) today. And look what I found in a box of parts in the garage! I didn't know I had it. Remember that the yellow car was originally an automatic that I converted to a early 4 speed. I bought the shift lever off eBay, and I now recall that this grommet was loose on the lever. I had no clue what it was for, or even if it really was a 240Z part. But I did save it, and so now I have a spare.

I was considering the black side stripes for my yellow 240Z, when I got to that stage of the project. Now that I have my red one and the yellow car will be sold (soon), I haven't made any call on stripes for it. Could go black, white or none. But the point is that if I were to do this, I'd take the stripes to a local sign shop (the ones who apply vinyl signs, lettering and logos to vehicles) and pay them to do it right. Wouldn't cost much, I'm sure. And they know what they are doing - I don't. Sometimes it's worth paying the pros to do things.

First, remember that it was and is not really a scoop - it's a vent. And when it was installed properly it covered large holes in the hood to let hot air escape. Without those big holes, it's just an ugly doodad.

Actually, here in North America the grill for a '73 240Z was a different part number from the '70-72 240Z grill. I'm not sure what the difference is, it may be minor enough that it will work OK. But they are not the same.

Well said! That sums up my position as well. Nothing wrong with the later cars, they're just not the ones that I get excited about.