RPMS

Whoah! I didn't think about that! I'll check it this evening before I get home. You know, that sounds like something I'd do. The JTR bracket is sized generously, width-wise, I guess to accomodate really thick radiator cores like the Griffin and BeCool's out there. The camaro radiator just kinda gets lost in all that space. How did you choose to secure the bottom of the radiator? Thanks for the heads-up!

Okay, I see what's going on here. I put slotted holes in the radiator support tabs and fixed it in place using the front tow hook bolts. Now that it's installed I can see that with the height of the Camaro radiator, there's no way that puppy could sit on top of the rails. If it did, the radiator would be too high up for the hood to close. Thanks for your help, guys!

Okay, I'm just about at my wit's end here. I bought a Camaro radiator (Thanks again, Spotfitz!) and I have all the hoses necessary to install it. Problem is, when I finally found my JTR radiator support, the darn thing wouldn't fit! It measures 28 1/2" wide, and the frame rails are only 27 1/2" apart! It looks like it should drop down between the frame rails, but obviously it doesn't fit. To make matters worse, I've packed my JTR manual, and it's sitting in somewhere in our storage space a hundred miles away! Could someone please explain to me where I'm going wrong? This thing IS supposed to drop between the frame rails immediately behind the radiator support, isn't it? Thanks!

Apparently someone realized that auction was full of bogus information and cancelled it - the link doesn't work. Rats. I wanted to see what he was claiming.

The difference is in the A/C console. The 240 dashboard wasn't built with A/C in mind. The temperature control is usually located under the dash above the driver's right knee. In the 260 (the later years, at least) the A/C control is integrated into the slider controls. In other words, 240's offer you heat or vent, late 260's and 280's offer you heat or cold air.

It's sad that the dealerships turn their backs on their own products after only a few years. My mother always had her Maxima serviced at the dealership, but felt compelled to get another car when, after 10 years of faithful patronage, they told her they didn't want to service her car anymore. I can understand why they wouldn't want to touch the Chevy engine in your hot rod, but to refuse to service your A/C system is just plain stupidity.

There are just a few places to look, and I'll list them in *MY* order of importance. 1) Under the battery tray - leakage here can help rust through the frame rails with disasterous consequences. Could require major welding. 2) Along the framerails, all the way back - a frequent issue, not cheaply fixed unless you weld your own in. 3) Shock towers - usually pretty obvious if it's there. 4) Floorboards - mostly an easy fix, but I've seen the seat supports almost entirely rusted out. Almost all z's have some rust in the floors. 5) Spare tire well - leaky seals make water puddle in there. 6) Bottom of hatch near latch 7) Just forward of the rear wheelwells 8) The wheel arches - Even if your arches are completely gone, you can always add fender flares. 9) Bottom of doors 10) Just behind front wheelwells 11) Cowl That covers most of the common rust areas. Whoops - it looks like I implicated just about the entire car. Oh well - it can almost always be fixed, as long as there's something left to weld to. Good luck, and may you find your Z to be mostly rust-free!

Nullbound, Let me get this straight - Is your friend running the same setup you describe? 280 struts, 240 lowering springs, and 240 hats? If so, it looks like that might be an interesting solution to the problem of getting a higher spring rate without dumping the car on the ground. I like a low car, but I hate scraping asphalt on each and every driveway or speedbump.

I agree with Tim and Mat, but not completely. I think you should get a Z car soon, and learn it inside and out. You can wait to begin your conversion for a couple of years. The stock 240Z is an excellent car that is fun to drive, cheap to maintain, inexpensive to purchase, easy to fix, and (barring accidents) will appreciate in value. Gas mileage is probably close to what you're getting in your S-10, and you'll learn valuable skills by repairing it yourself. The only downside to trading out of the S10 is that you lose the cargo capacity of a truck. Even so, you'll be astonished at how much you can stuff into a Z! The conversion process isn't for the inexperienced or the faint of heart. You've got to be prepared to either dump LOTS of cash into it and have someone else do the work, or dump LOTS of effort into doing the swap yourself. It's really not that hard, but it is time consuming, and you'll probably find that you don't want to JUST swap the engine. You'll want better seats, then a better stereo, then coilovers, then new gauges.... It never ends. They aren't moneypits because they break a lot, but because there's so much you can do to them, and most of us have a hard time resisting! Gather all your information (insurance rates, purchase price, value of the car itself, etc.) and see if you can build a convincing argument for owning a Z car. I got my first one at age 23, and I wish I'd owned one sooner!

I doubt they would go through the trouble of re-creating the urethane bumpers in aluminum just to polish them when they could chrome the plastic (or whatever they do to put shiny stuff on plastic pieces) instead.

DON'T TEMPT ME! Right now I might just take 'boring and reliable' over "exciting and tempermental"! Just kidding, of course. (I think...)

It's starting to drive me nuts, and it doesn't present the board in a good light when the first thing a prospective member sees is a misspelling that's gone uncorrected for many months. Sorta makes us look like a bunch of hicks.

So the solution to my jacked-up rear end is to buy coilovers? I like the way you think!!!!

The isolator is indeed different, but not enough to singlehandedly account for the 2-3" my car was raised in back. I replaced the strut mounts (I think this is what you're talking about ) with the original 240 style mounts, and it didn't lower the car very much. YMMV.

Eric Neyerlin from Zparts.com doesn't seem to think that welding a patch panel into the roof is a good idea. Apparently the roof material is very thin and prone to warpage. I tend to believe him, since the roof skin is one large unreinforced span. What you might consider doing is either cutting a patch from the donor car approximately 1" larger than necessary and forming a recessed lip so it fits flush with the existing metal, sort of like a flanged plug. Then bond this plug in place and fill in the gap. The recommended method (or so I'm told) is to use the entire roof from the donor car. Maybe you can turn it into a convertible at the same time you fix your hybrid!

Of the two, I'd pick the California wing. But better than that, look up the low, fat rear wing used by the Lotus Esprit. THAT sort of wing would look even better, IMHO.

"that smell" is probably a combination of mildew in the ventilation system, old vinyl, and degradation of the foam rubber componenet in the seats and carpet backing. Yesterday I opened up a 280 that had been sitting in a junkyard, and I smelled the same thing! It's brand-specific, too. Old Mazdas have their own smell, which is similar to, yet different than Z's. I think you could tell what brand of old car you was sitting in, even if you were blindfolded! I wonder if someone who has completely gutted and replaced/repaired nearly everything in their Z's interior can smell the magic odor anymore?

Wow, that is so much more than cool! What did they do, fiberglass over an ABS dashpad? That looks great, I must admit. Wait a minute - it conforms so well over the dash cap - is it some sort of shrink-to-fit FoliaTec film? I'm confused...

In the past, folks have asked "Why not just chrome an entire car body?" Reasons listed why cars aren't chromed have been many, but here's an example of one I ran across - a Jaguar no less! Whaddya think??

Don't take zREX seriously, Dan. He's just having a little problem.

I know the rear suspension isn't a valid swap, because I tried it. My car looked like it had full hydraulics on it - WAAAAAY up there. Remember how kids in the 70's would jack up the rear end on their Novas? Same thing.

Is it just me, or do their GT Front and Rear bumpers look like carbon copies of MSA's AeroII pieces?

Oh, no, no, no... Steam cleaning involves shooting super-hot steam (remember that it's a gas, not a liquid at this point) that basically liquifies any sort of grease it touches. Small amounts of detergents added to the mix can leave an impressively clean surface. No, it won't take off paint, and I'm not sure that was what it was suggested for. Oh, by the way - 99.99% of cars aren't made of regular mild steel, not stainless like a DeLorean skin is. If you remove the paint it will indeed be pretty, but within 24 hours it will be rusty. NOT an improvement. Steam cleaning won't do much harm, unless you try to superclean an ancient, leaky engine or you hit the refrigerant lines and they overpressure and blow something out. Hold your horses, Kimosabe! Stay away from the stripper, because you won't be able to repaint your engine bay COMPLETELY with the engine in place. I'll bet you real money you'll end up leaving some stripper in there, which will cause the new paint to peel, or you'll strip a spot that you miss when you paint because the engine obstructs your view, and the bare metal will turn to rust. If it were ME and I felt compelled to paint it w/ the engine in place, I'd power wash the entire thing after spraying a high powered degreaser on it (My favorite is the purple Castrol "super clean' stuff). On my 20 year old BMW I squirted that stuff on, power washed it, and it was absolutely amazing. It looked brand new in there. Then I'd grab a Scotchbrite pad and scuff up any paint I could reach. The best basecoat your car will probably ever had came from the factory, and removing it with stripper is a bad idea. Scuff it up and use it for your basecoat. Then (and I can't believe I'm saying this) get a paint brush and go to town. If you try to spray it, your engine will look like a rebuilt caterpillar engine where they paint the wires and hoses, frame, and block the same color. It'll look crappy. You could always try bagging the entire engine, but I doubt you'll be able to do a very good job. I've seen some impressive work done with POR-15 and a handful of sponge-brushes. Frankly though, I wouldn't mess with it right now. You've got a nice car, and you're fixing to put pretty paint on it. Why screw it up jacking around with the engine compartment? Either do it right, or don't do it at all. If you can't remove the engine right now, wait until you can, then do the job the right way. You'll be glad you waited when you see the results. If you mess it up right now because you're impatient, you'll regret it every time you open the hood. Just my opinion - I could be wrong.

Hey, Mike! Where's your radiator support? I thought that was a stressed piece?