Arne

Here in the US, H was for L24, then R for L26, and back to H for L28. Don't ask me why they didn't chose a different letter for the L28.

I think you've done the obvious tricks, I'm afraid it's time to drop the transmission. Sorry...

The good news is that Libres fit these cars well, and clearance problems with them are rare. The bad news is that Libres are narrow, and not well suited for wide tires. The tire makers specs state that you can (officially) go as wide as a 215/60-14 on a 5.5" wide wheel. So (officially) either a 205/60 or 215/60 should fit.BUT... a previous owner put 205/60-14 on my car's 5.5" wheels, and although I'm not driving my car much right now (awaiting a engine swap) I can tell you that just from looking at them they are too wide for the wheels. The sidewalls are pinched in at the rims, which leads to poor tire wear, and sloppy handling. A 215/60 would be worse. I would normally recommend staying with a 195 or smaller width tire on 5.5" wheels, myself. But I also feel that 195/60-14 are much too small for a Z. (Others may disagree, but they are MUCH shorter than stock.) If I had a set of Libres myself (I wish!), I'd probably run 195/70-14 on them.

Sound like you have accurately identified the issue. You existing booster sounds like it is bad, and the replacement booster sounds like it is wrong (probably for a different year or maybe model).

Depending on the amount of wear in the tumblers, you should be able to get them re-keyed by a competent locksmith. If they are too badly worn for that, MSA lists a complete set keyed the same in their catalog - but hold on to your wallet, as I recall the kit is almost $600!

Toni, since I have seen your car (and it's wheels) in person, and also because I have almost 25 years of tire selling experience behind me (prior career), I can probably help. What is it that you want in new tires? Stock height? How wide?

I'm not sure when the lighted defogger switch entered the picture. My car (10/70) was still un-lit. The dash in your car must be a bit later than you think. Neither my 10/70 car, nor a 4/71 car I looked at yesterday have the hazard indent. If your car is 3/70, the harness you would need would have been in all cars from 1/70-9/70. So while the one in your car might not be original (assuming the 6/70 date interpretation is correct, which seems likely) it should be identical to the original.

For street driving, I would think the compression will help more than the larger valves. The valves will help mostly at high RPM, while the compression helps everywhere.

Eric, the factory part number of the dash harness assembly for 1/70 through 9/70 is 24013-E4601, and that assembly consists of two sub-harnesses labeled 24013-E4650 and E4651. The early '71 cars with manual transmission had number 24013-E4602, which consisted of two sub-harnesses with the same two part numbers as the earlier assembly. The differences between the 1/70-9/70 and the 10/70-12/70 are extremely minor. Since the two main sub-harnesses had the same numbers on the labels, there is almost no way to tell for certain if an assembly you find somewhere is really from a 1970 or an early '71. But since only the early '71s used those numbers (later '71s were different), and only for a short 3 month period, the odds are that any you find will probably be for the 1/70-9/70 cars. When I replaced mine, I strongly suspect that the one I found was actually from a '70, not an early '71. But it fit and worked in my early '71 just fine anyway.

It's possible the clutch disc has rusted itself to the flywheel.

I haven't driven my Z long enough to notice this, but the old MG would do this, the lever would get hot enough to be uncomfortable to touch. No exhaust leak on that car, either.

Could be either the shoes rusted to the drums, or the parking brake cable rusted inside the sheath. What you will need to do depends on which is the problem. Have some one pull and release the lever while you watch the cables at the rear of the wheels. If the cables move, the shoes are probably rusted to the drums. If the cables don't move, the cable is bad and will probably need to be replaced. But you could disconnect the cables at the wheels as a temporary measure to get rolling again. Unless -- maybe it has both problems!

I don't necessarily believe that the flat-tops are inherently bad. The problem is that no one has non-emissions parts (especially needles and springs) for them. If you had the ability to tune and set them up properly they'd probably work about as well as round tops. But still, the issue here is that nobody seems to ever bother rebuilding them, and so no one has the direct experience to help with your question. I'm certain that there is an answer, but finding someone who knows it will be difficult.

Yeah, I doubt there are many people here who have ever worked on the flat-tops, most of them get replaced instead. Can you post a picture of what you see in there? Perhaps we can give ideas then.

That would be me, among others as well. You didn't mention what carbs and manifolds you are swapping to. Knowing this will help us point you in the right direction.

The hood is down?

Z cars are very sensitive to tire balance and roundness. Go back to your tire shop and complain.

On the other hand, the reputation for high parts prices for BMWs is bogus, at least for normal maintenance stuff for the older cars. I drove a graymarket '81 323i as my daily driver for 5 years - maintenance and normal repair parts were actually very affordable. (Trim and such is another story. Hold on to your wallet.) In fact, my current family car is a '96 328i, and for the most part the affordability of parts is good there, too. I overhauled the entire cooling system (new water pump, radiator, hose, belts, t-stat and t-stat housing) for a total of $250. Try doing that on your Z. But then again, neither of the cars you mention will drive like the Z does. The CS is a relaxed touring car, not a sports car. And while I love early 911's, I'm not certain it would be satisfying in the same way as the Z.

Hard to call this off-topic. Godspeed, Carl...

Looks like I may have bad info. It now looks as if it might work.

The car those pictures are from (nwcubsman) is a '73, which came with the electric pump from the factory. My early '71 has the wires and connector, but it is unused and there is no fuse holder or clips on the side of the fusebox.

I'm pretty certain that the connectors for the '71 switch are not the same as for the '73. You may be able to get it to work if you re-wire things a little, though.

The Wheelskins are great, and add a considerable amount to the rim thickness. I've used them on OE wheels with much thinner rims than your 280Z, and like them a lot.

On a 5.5" wide Maxima wheel like those, and desiring to get the height close to stock for proper speedo calibration, go with 195/70-14, or 205/65-14 (if you can find something you like in that size).