Arne

John, I've never used one on a Z, but I have used (and sold and installed) racks rebuilt and sold by TRW in the past. I had one in a '67 MGB (non-power rack very similar to a 240Z rack) that was fine until the car was in an accident, which bent it. I replaced it with another TRW rebuilt which was also fine. The TRW racks did not come with outer tie rod ends, but did have new inners and boots. But my experiences with these racks was over 10 years ago, and I'm not certain that TRW still does reman racks anymore. Have you seen the tech article about rack rebuilding on ZHome.com? http://zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/StrRack.htm

Probably worth more back East than it would be here out West, as it's easier to find un-rusted 240Zs out here. I bought a 60,000 mile '71 here in Oregon just a few months ago. Good, original rust-free cars out here are typically going for $8000-10,000 about now. For the East coast, I agree that if the engine compartment were cleaned up and the rust you mentioned is repaired (and assuming that's all the rust there is) that it should sell in the higher end of the price range. And my tip - cleaning the engine compartment is not only for value, but also for sales appeal. The engine compartment of mine is what convinced me to buy my car. http://www.classiczcars.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=22842&cat=500&ppuser=8596

Make certain that your pictures are well within the size restrictions for the site. No larger than 1024x768 pixels, and (in my experience) less than 512 kb.

I only have experience with the original L24 points dizzy and the ZX dizzy, so I can't advise specifically on the later 280Z unit. But if it were me, I'd try to use whatever support that the dizzy you are using came with. If you are going to use a dizzy from a 280Z, use the 280Z support. Same with the ZX. Keeping the dizzy and its support matched is the best way to ensure that you avoid future timing problems. As far as the oil pump shaft goes, it's not that hard to drop the pump and correct that. I had to do that on one of my cars to make it all work properly. The gasket you need is cheap, so correcting that now would be very worthwhile.

Nick, you'll find that there aren't many V8 swappers on this board, you'll get much more info from the guys at HybridZ.org.

Moog shows part number EV164 as fitting both sides. My car appears to have the same threads on both sides now, and my inners are factory original. The lock nuts turn in opposite directions to loosen, one side with the rotation and the other side against it. This is actually very common in my experience (several years of doing wheel alignments professionally), since the tie rods don't turn with the wheels, it doesn't matter whether they loosen in the same direction as the wheel rotation or not.

First question - if the engine was running good before, what was the reason for changing it? In my experience, attempting to "tune" an engine that doesn't need it right now is a great recipe for messing up a car. Thank goodness you had the foresight to note the 'before' settings so that you could restore them.But now for thoughts on what happened. Due to your description of the symptoms, especially the running hotter part, I'm wondering if your timing marks are correct. Has the timing cover ever been off to your knowledge? Are the timing cover and front pulley both either original, or from the same engine? I think my first recommendation would be to manually set the engine at TDC (looking at the piston through the spark plug hole, or the cam lobes, not the timing mark) and compare that to the timing marks to verify they are correct.

Riken wheels are no longer available new, so finding a used set is your best bet. Craigslist and eBay are probably your best bet.

I understand your feelings, Brendan, as I did the same thing here when I was new. But the reality is that you'll get more and better info on many of these often-discussed topics from a search than you will from a new thread.You see, unlike for many more modern cars, the reality is that there really isn't anything new on many of these topics to discuss. For example, no new suppliers have appeared on the market for L-series headers, all the current choices have been around for quite some time. So there isn't anything new to be gained by a new thread. In fact, by doing a new thread and depending solely upon the answers of the current members, you are missing out on a pile of data from prior members, members who don't post often, members who have sold their Zs, or even members who have died. A couple of searches will give you more info from a wider cross-section of people in a much shorter time. Other topics that are best served by searches include exhaust selection, SU carb adjustment, 5 speed transmission conversions and putting 240Z bumpers on a 280Z. In all cases, there are no new ideas to discuss, and far more info available by searching that you will get with a new thread.

Were they originally off a petrol TR-6? Or something similar?

Yeah, the auction makes it sound like he's a private party, and that the car is located in Virginia. The other ads (as well as the pictures) have the same car on a dealer lot in California. That is exactly why I posted the question here, in hopes that someone might have seen the car advertised somewhere else.

I reported it to eBay.

Lots of header threads here. You need to do a search for this info, rather than try to ask it all over again.

Anyone recognize the car in this auction? It has all the classic signs of a scam - new user, no VIN, pre-approved bidders only, yada yada yada. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-Z-Series-1971-DATSUN-240Z-COUPE_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ6187QQihZ014QQitemZ330066398225QQrdZ1

Yes, free is a good price. But since I'm too lazy to ship it some ones' going to have to come to Oregon to get it. Makes it more difficult to get rid of.I've actually got some free L24 parts (head, block, etc.) too.

Centerline wheels will custom build fairly affordably, if you can find a style you like. http://centerlinewheels.com

Re: the rears - 9.5" wide with -19 offset is 4.5" backside, which gives 6.0 "front-side" - about what I was figuring. For the fronts - that gives a 4.0" backside, which gives 5.5" "front-side". As long as the ZG-style flares you get are the same as these, this should work.

As someone who has ordered lots of custom-built wheels for customers over the years in my former life, I'd recommend installing the flares first so that accurate measurements can be taken. That way you have a much better chance at getting what you want (and what will fit). That said, here's my thinking: For 17s if it were me, I'd want to go no wider that say 8.0" or maybe 8.5" rims so that I still had a wide selection of tires to choose from. Those sizes of wheels will also be more affordable and have more styles to choose from. As a best guess (not having a set of ZG flares handy to look at), I think I'd want to have around 5.5-6.0" of "front-space" to fill the flares nicely, but still be streetable. On an 8.0 wheel that translates to a backspace of 3.0-3.5" which may be difficult to come by in off-the-shelf wheels. Another option would be to use more commonly available backspacing and add billet spacers to give the additional width. For example, maybe a 17x8.0 with 4" backspace and a 1" (25mm) spacer. (Subtract the spacer thickness from the backspace to get the effective backspace. In my example 4" - 1" = 3" backspace.) Well made spacers can be a good option if the wheel you'd like isn't available in the backspacing you need.

That's a good common sense solution. Unfortunately these days, common sense is not all that "common".

So to recap, I have a red one (which matches my car, very cool!); a7dz has an orange one (hey! that matches his car too); beandip has a yellow one (and what color is his car, do you suppose?)...The rest is left as an exercise for the student.

Connect the two wires from the ballast to each other.

Can we assume that this was not a problem until the Pertronix was installed? Also, I don't have one so I'm not sure about this - but I always assumed that you don't want to use the ballast resistor once you have installed Pertronix.

Sorry, Jerry. I too had a Heritage certificate for my '67 MGB, but that data is not available for our Datsuns. I've read various explanations as to why Datsun doesn't have it, and don't know which explanation (if any) are correct. But regardless of why, that info isn't available.

I got a red one!

Better to find the leak and repair it.