Sailor Bob

Ditto - very nice.

Try contact cement remover. Watch for the fumes though.

I would just stay away from it - these cars are tricky to asess with perfect pictures. Lots of nice cars around that will cost less overall and keep the fun to work ratio in much better balance. I could guarentee you will find much better for less $$ in the southwest and the shipping costs will be far outweighed by the advantage of starting with a solid body.

We have sun today, but I spent the best part of an hour with a snowblower clearing the driveway last night. Some parts had almost three feet of the white stuff Hoping the groundhog doesn't see his shadow this morning - if so I might get one of the Zs out by April. Looks nice Randy.

If I took revenge, I know it would come back to haunt me. One way or another Kharma (like a heat seeking missile) would nail me. I just try to protect my cars from idiot's through forethought - For the most part it is now second nature.

You can feel assured that it is just good sense to park away from other vehicles and cart corrals in parking lots. I always park far from store entrances and cart corrals - usually parking across two spaces. Experience has taught me that if it can happen - it will happen. A few exmples: 1: In 2000 I bought a new Black Ford Taurus - loaded with everything - beautiful paint (the paint sold me the car) I polished the &#036;^&#33;# out of it, but through parking lot nievity it got three dings in the firsty month. I lent it to my (then 75 year old) father for a day two months after and thinking he was doing me a favour befor returning it he put it through a brush car wash:cry:. The car was ruined for me - I kept it for 1 year after and traded it at a huge loss. 2: Last fall after getting the 73 licenced, I took it to Walmart and parked at the outer limit of the lot with only one car within 100 feet. I was only gone 10 minutes and when I returned the other car was gone and a cart was touching the front passenger fender. What are the odds? Anyway it hit on the guard trim and no damage. 3: Shortly after I finished the 77 (initial licence and cleanup) I rook my son to Dairy Queen for a spin in the sporty Z car and as earlier mentioned, I too parked the car so I could see it from my seat in the restaurant. Turned out to be better if I couldn't see it. It was like flies to s--t - with in seconds there were three young girls doing flips and acrobatic moves on the grass right beside the car - I was paniccing (but what can you say). They moved away with out incedent after 3 or 4 minutes. Then a young father with two <5 year olds shows up. One child in his arms with an ice cream and the other holding his hand. The guy goes to the car and leans over looking in the windows - the kid's (in arm) ice cream is dripping on the hood and the other boy follows with his Dad banging his free hand on the car leaving icecream hand prints all down the drivers side:angry:. Restraint was very tough, but I didn't want to embarass my son or look too uptight. But I learned. To my freinds I may now look a little parinoid or overcarefull, but parking in a safe place keeps the damage down to a minimum. Through it all I learned that no one gives a s--t about your 240/260/280Z except you and if you wish to preserve it - it's up to you to do so by whatever means are reasonable and effective. BTW - I also caught a guy dinging my car (Mazda 626) in a parking lot - I actually saw him do it and when confronted (I was in his face in seconds) he denied doing it:tapemouth. I took his licence plate number and name - long story short - after several phone calls I never got a penny and returned it two years later with the dent (fortunately not picked up by the leasor).

I bought my 77 for significantly less including shipping. Look around some more - there are better deals around.

My 73 is good on the left but low on the right. One ram left side as well.

Don't you think it would be better to just check the fuse first.

The ad says $1800 OBO - go low and maybe have both. Sounds like there are some interesting goodies on the ZX. If it was here I would make a lower offer and keep my other toys. ** befor doing anything take it for a drive and give it a good looking over - might be junk**

This one ? (GreenZZZ's photo)

Check the fuse box. Later models have these two items on one fuse - probably the same. Go into the search function and type "fusebox"

Mine is just gone to hibernation for the winter today. It's doing a five month 69er with the 280 which is backed into the right far corner of the shed and tarped.

Tip - Hydralics shops carry virtually all sizes of O rings (most anything an s30 might need). I got some for my steering knuckles at a local shop, they had a wall full of them.

Beautiful job/colour! I really like the wheels too?

Thanks for the tips Brad. I do the same - each time I take on a new job, I buy the associated tools, nothing pricey but enough that I don't have to rent. Are you satisfied with the results? I guess that wasn't the last entry:nervous:

Lowered the drivers seat in the 73 today - worked out nice. 3/4 of an inch really makes a difference. (too easy - don't bother) When the seat was out it was a good time to vacum. My find while cleaning out the dead bugs and loose seat packing was a shell casing. It's marked: 38 SPL R - P It was under a fold on the bottom of the diamond cover. Made me think for a while maybe there was something sinister happened that took this car out of service for so long. Could explain some oddities about the car. Or maybe the owner also owned a hand gun. Up here that is an odd thing, perhaps common in the US.

A last entry in this thread: I think I have a handle on it now - I believe through the several different cleansing attempts I may have achieved the goal I was originally seeking. The car does not seem to be emitting smoke when accelerating anymore. FYI - I used ATF, diesel detergent oil and lastly Wynn's (tune up in a can - advertises good for freeing stuck valves and rings) Separately in sequence with oil changing. Bought some seafoam but it seems now that it will not be required. The process took over three hundred painfully embarassing miles (done mostly outside of town - to avoid stares and potentially being hauled over) to get to the point that I believe the rings are freed and a solution may now be a set of valve stem seals. I say that because the heavy smoke is now all in deceleration, initial start up and the very beginning of acceleration (which I believe is just blowing out the smoke remaining in the exhaust pipe). There are a dozen threads on the matter that I have read over the past two weeks, one that gave me confidence was on "how to do a compression test" - In that it was pointed out the importance of having the throttle flaps opened to avoid drawing in air at less than atmophere. I did the rest correct but failed to open the throttle plates and still got 165 lbs per cylinder - factoring the testing error in, the compression is likely as good as new. This leaves me believing that the lower engine is in good order. I have the seals ordered - another winter job.

Good for you. Enjoy the experience.

Can't disagree with anyone here. They are all valid opinions (in my opinion ) I think the car needs a cleanup (inside, outside and underneath) to get a good idea where you stand. In the process of cleaning it you will get a really good idea of the actual state of the entire vehicle. That will help you decide if it is worth the time and $$$ investment.

It's a beauty - congrats on a great buy.

More - Just put another 70 miles on it with the detergent oil.... still smokin. S--T !! Thought I had it licked - wishfull thinking. Seemed better for a short while - nice clean oil?? Drove it to the local machine shop to discuss causes, options and $. Definately decision time - a rebuild is not cheap and if I rebuild should I even bother with this engine? Maybe time to look around for an l28 - the car will never be original anyway. Trouble is finding one down here - still a matter of $$. Anyway haven't given up on her yet, but I am starting to look around at options.

Three colors seems to work well IE: Solid body color (probably work with most) + black + chrome. I wonder if the different color wheels would look odd - as you said charcoal instead of black? I sent off a query this morning about carbon fibre spoilers made up here (Canada) - I'm not sure how I feel about them for the price - I would need to know that they were presentable befor I could even think about it seriously. There was a thread about it recently in which one of our members bought a unit from MSA (IIRC) and it would have had to be painted - If it needed to be painted I would just as soon go with glass. I always liked red, but can't spend $5+K to get there. Jeff - my question is answered - looks fine

I think it looks pretty good as is Jeff. I am thinking of a black spook, BRE spoiler and wheels for my 73.

What a difference an oil change makes... Like I said she's been sitting for a while and I changed the oil a couple of hours ago - I actually added a litre of some cheap stuff just to warm her up for the oil change. Used 15W40 diesel high detergent oil - mostly because it was detergent and cheap. The oil removed was black like crude in spite of the very limited use (slightly over 100 miles) and even with the added oil I only got about two and half to three litres back. Anyway when I started her - same old story, had to open the big door on the shed again, but after about two minutes it started to calm down. I took her for a spin and the difference was dramatic. I would say 90% less smoke and seemed to be only when gearing down and for a few seconds when at the lights. I am cautiously optomistic for now. More later when I finish this 100 miles.