Phacade

Ugh! Ugh! [mental picture of child with hands up toward top of refrigerator to cookie jar]. Timberwolf want.

Nice ride. How does the mill look under the hood?

Is that your car? It looks sweet! As far as max tire size, ask five people and you'll get 10 answers. I have run as large as P245 wide (P245/50/15). I have seen as large as P295 on a Z that was tubbed out. I heard a rumour that a guy in the Dallas Z club was running P325 on his Z (he had gotten a 'turtle' conversion that is popular among those with no style of thier own, you know; the one where the tires stick out about a foot outside the fenders). The height of the tire depends on the rim size you are running. I run a standard 14" rim, therefore I run a 60 rated tire. Total size for me is P215/60/14. Now if I went to a 15" rim, I would run a 50 rated tire to compensate; ie P215/50/15. Those guys running 17 or 18" rims have to go with a 20 or 30 rated tire. The larger the rim, the lower the tire height has to be to compensate.

I have one of these at the house and have often heard them referred to as 'Libra' wheels.

They appear to be Panasports wheels, probably 15" or 16" but no more. I like the European taillights.

Mucho thanks will check this this evening.

I popped the hood and could not really tell much, although I can hear it best inside the car, mostly while it is running.

Yeah a few guys on www.zcar.com told me the same thing. I'll check that. Is it difficult to change out?

Just looking for a little help here with my '75 280Z. I was coming home yesterday and on the last turn before my house, I pressed the brake. My petal starts going down slowly but down further than it has before and makes an audible hiss when pressed. I checked the fluid and both fluid conisters on the master cylinder were half full. I topped off and (I know silly but had no choice) drove to work this morning. It stops. Kinda. But takes me 4 times the distance to stop and makes a hiss whenever pressed. Master cylinder? Master Vac? Line? Help.

Just looking for a little help here with my '75 280Z. I was coming home yesterday and on the last turn before my house, I pressed the brake. My petal starts going down slowly but down further than it has before and makes an audible hiss when pressed. I checked the fluid and both fluid conisters on the master cylinder were half full. I topped off and (I know silly but had no choice) drove to work this morning. It stops. Kinda. But takes me 4 times the distance to stop and makes a hiss whenever pressed. Master cylinder? Master Vac? Line? Help.

You do not have to touch the wiring. Leave it. You could swap the block out and then slap your head back on it and then put all the injection and wiring back where you found it. Will work fine. I swapped a F54 block with a P79 head into my '73 240Z and had absolutly no problems. Changed very little of the wiring. Of course I went to electronic ignition so you will not have to do that. Basically all you have to worry about is the mechanics of this. Believe it or not, its basically a big jigsaw puzzle. I recomend a few good books like the 'how to rebuild your OHC datsun engine. I can't remember the author's name. Remember: new seals, rings, pumps, and pre-lube is a must!

Here is the problem. Well not actually a problem just a pain. To change your pistons you of course need to rmove the head which means you need to remove the front end of the engine (ie water pump, dist, etc). Now you need to remove the oil pan from under the still mounted block. Possible I am told while still bolted but I have not tried it. Assuming you are able to remove the pan then you need to remove the rods from the crankshaft (because you are not going to be able to remove the pistons from the top). Once the rods are unbolted you can remove them from the top. Installation is reverse. The pain is that it will take you twice as long while still in the car. If you are going this far IMHO I would go ahead and jerk the block and either have the block work done to it or at this point drop a F54 block in. They are the same size deminsionally and no wiring modification is necessary.

Dunno. Personally I think that if you are going to go with all this trouble that a transplant is just the sme amount of effort if not less than leaving the lower end of your engine in the car. Two motor mounts, two transmission bolts, crossmember, drivelive and a bunch of wires and hose is all that is keeping you from getting a cherrypicker and rebuilding a GREAT Z engine. My dad always used to say that if its worth doing, its worth dong right. Then again in retrospect, I am really not sure Dad said that. Good advice anyway.

1. Maybe 2. Maybe 3. While the old school of racing seemed to believe that higher compression = more horsepower this really is not necessarily the truth. It COULD mean more power, maybe a little more torque. If you wanted to run flattop pistons, why not just go for a F54 block out of a '81-'83 280ZX. You can slap your N42 head on top with no mods and have the same setup pretty much. Carbs or EFI at this point are your call.

IMHO, yes. I have done a lot of reading and it would seem that the P90 is a really great flowing head. If you do take it off, do you plan on selling it?

Even though I have had this for quite some time I decided to go ahead and show it here. I no longer have the wheels I had it, my grandmother bought some old Cragers and made me feel guilty so I put them on my Z and put the nice gold Enkei wheels on my 240Z before it sold. Don't get me wrong, the Cragers are nice. I have this silly habit of naming my cars, my 240Z was Sun-Hou-Tzu (Chinese for the Iron Monkey God). My 280Z is named Miyamoto after Miyamoto Musashi; ronin warrior old feudal Japan. It runs but not like I would like it to. Body look decent and Interior is okay. I have big plans including a F54 block, P90 head, EFI in place. Stay tuned for updates.

You are crazy, that is, if you let others discourage you from you want to do. It sounds like you have thought this out and made some good choices on your block and head. Personally I prefer the P79 head that was mounted on the F54 block for non turbo applications. Again, personal preferance. It does sound like, however, that your Z will be running like a strapping ape.

I had a similiar problem once with my 240Z (before the rebuild). I could not figure it out and had alot of suggestions made as to what could be wrong and things to try (and I hope to God that you never try some of the half-assed things that were suggested to me). One of the better theories was I had a carbon build-up in my intake manifold. It was suggested I run some ATF through my then Webber carbs to clear it up. Not a good idea IMHO. Sure it COULD remove carbon but more than likely it will throw it all in your head and clog up the entire system. On a lighter note, it is quite interesting to see all the smoke this will produce from your tailpipe, I felt like I was at a Greatful Dead concert. And yes, my L24 was mostly shot before but this completly ruined it. Only thing left to do was give the original engine a decent burial. Of course after all the above was said and done I found out my dist was toast, my coil was not much better and my wires were cracked and frayed in several spots. Probably the issue to begin with.

This is mostly fluff and not meant to be taken seriously. So my wife said I should do something to make my Z stand out. I assurred her it did this already and in fact I often catch people checking me out. In all likelihood they are checking the CAR out but I digress. She mentioned that it needed a backseat in order to carry the baby in it. She wanted to be able to go see a movie in it so making it into a convertable would be nice. She like a few, if not all the styling options in Mororsports latest catalog and wanted to add a few fins. She stated the headlights were not very visable and thought there should be another set of lights up front. Lastly she thought it would look good pink. 'Honey' I said, 'Why don't we just buy a '59 Cadillac and a pair of fuzzy dice?'

AN option, although I am not certain I like it and there fore have not gone through with it. In addition to mounting the MSA box with a couple of 6X9's and a nice head unit was to either mount them in front of the rear storage bins much like the 280ZX comes stock (although this requires cutting). The rear storage bins cintinue to be functional. I have heard some mounting (and building a custom enclosure) for either 6X9 or 4X6 that installs directly into the rear storage bins, effectivly making them no longer storeage bins. Believe it or not I have even seen a stand-alone pole mounted JVC 6X9 with tweeter fixed to the rear strut or either side. Looks like bug antennae. Then there is always the cutting and installing in the door, removing the dash and installing there, or custom kick panels in the corners or the floorboards. Or heck with it and install it all and have it sounding like a '88 Buick regail that vibrates every time the bass hits. (Yuck)

I thought for certain they were rear parts. Well I am glad they worked out for you. I liked your idea of a parts swap. I talked with a few guys down at Surfside the other day about something like this. We shall see.

I can only assume you are referring to Alfadog, short for Alphadog or the Alpha-male of the pack.

Yeas, that is literally around the corner from me. If you want to call I can be there within 5 minutes of when you call. I about 2 blocks from there. If you like we can either go back to my house and you could look and see if you need anything else or I could just bring the ends with me and let you on your way. Whatever is easier. I will be home tionight about 3-4pm or so.

Personally I do not like the way a 2+2 looks. A side note, have you noticed that the early Z's have a triangle rear window on the coupe and a rounded rear window on the 2+2 while the 280ZX had a rounded rear window on the coupe and a triangle rear window on the 2+2? But seriously, not knocking anyone who has one. The Z has always been a symbol, at least in my mind. To make it into a 2+2 seems like a bit of a compromise; a jack of all trades excelling at none if you will. Now I am not saying they cannot perform, I have been smoked by more than one 2+2. To me, it just looks funny both inside and out. The 280ZX 2+2 looks a little better but not much. After that I never cared for the 300ZX so I really won't comment on them. :sick: IMHO the Z is a great 2-seater, nimble, fast and great looking. The 2+2 might be a good option for the die-hard Z lover that must have a back seat, however if I absolutly needed a back seat; I'd use my wife's car.

Where is it spitting sparks from??