zgeezer

I had read that early Z's as well as early Mazda's steering wheels were made out of wood that had been pressure treated with some form of plastic/epoxy material. I know that b/4 I left them outside the finish was very slick, hard, and cold to touch. I appreciate the posts and will proceed to refinish with fine sanding and clear. BTW, I saw a '71 Mazda RX-5 (Cosmo) in my favorite JY yesterday. They have a neat small diameter steering wheel very similar to early Ford "Banjo" wheels: three spokes, each spoke made up of 4 separate rods. Anyone know if Mazda & Z's share same steering wheel spline?

Does anyone have any information on how to refinish the "wood" 240Z steering wheels? Mine have been out in the open for too long and have developed a very rough finish that is somewhat "white". I can see the grain underneath and was considering sanding with a fine wet/dry sandpaper and then spraying with a clear coat. Will this work?

I'd vote for a dash panel. Wouldn't have to be a stock replacement, but accept all stock gauges and some others.

My brother has run a holley digital throttle body FI (900cfm) for the last three years on a 426 Ford Windsor in a early Falcon. The ecu controlls spark advance as well as fuel. Took about three weeks of road testing to get it programed, but he really likes it. Runs 10.80's @ 128 mph (really traction limited) at Sacramento Raceway.

Bang, Thanx for the info. Last year I went overboard with POR 15, primer, and a think thermo covering. Completely covered the bolt holes. Problem cleared up and 280Z double retractable belts are now in.

Thanks for the post. Mine was made in September and first sold in January '71. I can't imagine having two anchors and not the third. I'll look tonight.

I've lost two of my anchor points. I have an late '70 tub and I cannot locate all the seat belt anchor points. There are anchor points on the inside door sills behind and outside each seat. There are two other anchors located just above each 1/4 window. However, I can't locate the third anchor points that, in my 72 parts car are located on the transmission tunnel alongside and low on the inside of each seat. Does anyone know if early series I Zs used an unusual way to anchor the inside portion of the lap belt? I've sprayed a lot of POR 15 and primer on this tub, but not so much as to hide a 16mm bolt hole. What am I missing? Should I look again b/4 the beer?

Grumpyvette, Thanks for the post. I was looking at crane, but decided that after all this time, I'd better get this thing off the rotissiere and looking like a real car. Cam change and upgrade FI will follow. Thanks.

Has anyone out there had any experience with building a 400 block with 327 crank and long rods from a 300CI Ford six? Hot Rod did a piece a year or so ago one this combination and called it the 350 chevrolet should have built. They claimed 400+HP and over 400# torque. I've not seen or read about this combination since. However, I do have most of these parts in my backyard. Is it workable?

Sorry, I had a bit of a senior moment there and hit the "send" button a bit prematurely. I need some advice re: which head would work best with my combination. Thanks for any comments.

Five years ago, when I began this project, I "built" a 350 visual clone of a 300HP '70 Chevrolet.(California smog laws and all). The engine has flat top pistons, 30 over, a mild Competition Cams hydraulic lifter cam (Good for off idle to 5500, number "260" I think... over the years, I lost the cam tag.) I've acquired a '90 TPI unit and two addition set of iron heads: 1) double hump, 2.02/160 Chevrolet and 2) Dart iron eagles 72cc/215 runners. The heads on the engine are 76cc "square" chambers with 2.02/1.60. I'm committed to the FI. What would be the best choice of heads: stick with the square units, go chevrolet double hump, or jump to the iron eagles. Although I now have 2.5" rams horn exhaust, I'll go to some form of header as soon as the car is running. I'd like to go iron eagle, but every mechanic I've spoken to tells me that the ports are wayyyyyy too big, the FI will die b/4 4000 rpm and that the humps work best.

Run a search on this forum for rear disk brakes. There's a lot of material here. There are many, many, many different Nissan part combinations that work. It's often mix and match. The easiest combination appears to be a middle 80's rear wheel drive Maxima with disk brakes. Most have their caliper bracket welded on. A few are equipted with bolt on caliper brackets. Look for one of these and buy everything you can get: rotars, calipers, caliper bracket, dust shield, brake line, and emergency brake cable. These will bolt on 240's (I don't know about the others). Mount the calipers to the front of your struts and swap them left for right. Bolts right up. Some work to hook up emergency brake, but readily doable. I wish you luck.

In my never ending cruises through wrecking lots in search for a buck's performance for a dime, I've noticed my local lots are loaded with smaller turbos for 2.2 up through 3.0 liters. Several turbo Saabs, Volvos, Chryslers .... well you get the idea. I'd like to mount two of these on my CSB and blow directly into my TPI. Other than fabricating heavy gauge steel headers what are my options for mounting them. Has anyone attempted to make a log manifold out of heavy gauge square tubing? Is any firm currently producing cast manifolds to mount one or more turbos? I'm only looking for 5-9 pounds boost. Any comments will be appreciated. zgeezer

Freeze the tar and then use a wide chisel at an angle on the top and a hefty hammer. Large chunks will pop off leaving, as always small amounts to work on. How to freeze it? Up north park it outside for a week, ice sort of works, but is messy, Dry ice really works, but requires care, thick leather gloves, and a dry ice disposal plan other than tossing it into the garbage or flushing it down a toilet. Do not dispose of it by placing small amounts in 2 litre plastic coke bottle, adding 1 cup of H20, and screwing down the cap. This is irresponsible and creates extreme pressure that will within a minute or two rupture the plastic bottle and generally excite the neighbors, your dogs, and the local constabulary.

Pure Z I was looking for a '63 Falcon Sprint when I stumbled upon my Z. It was hard to see b/c of the lumber stacked on top and around it. The hood on top of the lumber pile got me. It looked straight and complete, although half the parts were in boxes. The aluminum "mag" wheels sold me and I ante'd up $300.00 cash..... at night... lit only by one driveway flood. Big mistake. I was able to drive it home down the mountain into San Bernardino. All six u-joints rattling away. At home, I determined it to be late '70 (assembled in '70) sold in '71 as a '71. Fairly low numbers, vents in the trunk. I solved the problem by attempting to restore the outside to '70 stock, including the interior and to go csb R7004, disk brakes and all. My goal is to have something that on first glance looks original, sounds quiet, and allows me to sneak through the grass looking for 5.0s, z28s, the occasional Porsche and still pass for an upright if not uptight citizen. zgeezer

Has anyone looked at Doug Thorley's tri-y headers? Their tech tells me that part # 327Y is a block hugger tri-y for sbc with full length collector that stops at the end of the block.

Headlights. They look as if they are off the 2001 Q45.

In the 50's latham superchargers came in two flavors: one with 2 carter side draft carbs and the other "competition" model mounted 4 side draft carters. In 1958 one of our club members ran a competition latham on a 283 csb in a Cameo Carrier (Any body remember those?). In comparison to McCulloghs (Now paxton) blow through bonnets, it was a trouble fee unit with no problems for the 2 years i was associated with the club. Very efficient for the time. Generally Macs would add 9-10 mph in the 1/4 and knock off 1 second on et. The latham knocked off slightly more 1 second, but was worth 12 mph. This was at Minden, NV and 4,000 feet. The Lathem was resurrected in the mid 80's (Hot Rod did a test on a carbed Camero). The second version had a totally redesigned volute (The intake portion) The second owneer of the company now lives in the Chatsworth area in California. I spoke to him about 9 months ago. He still has some parts and seemed to be willing to sell his dyno mule. I have about 80% of the pieces for a csb and am looking for the other 20%. Neat unit lots of WOW potential for street rod.

The last rear wheel drive Maxima (unk year) I looked at was equiped with what appeared to be an R180 with CV joints. Both rear half/shafts appeared to be longer than 280ZXT cv half-shafts.

What gear ratios are available in the R230's? Any thing approaching 3.31, which I now have in the R200. I'd sure like to pull less than 2000rpm @75mph or thereabouts. zgeezer

I've mounted up a complete 80 something Maxima rear brake bracket, calipers, and roter on my Z. The E-brake cable mounting "ears" now point forward at about a 45 degree angle. Not easy to route existing E-brake cable (awkward bend). Does any one know of any caliper that might fit and allow the E-brake cable to exit a a 90 degree angle? Previous posts seem to say that a vented 5 lug '92 Z would work. However, I wish to keep my wheels and the 4 lugs. Any ideas? Thanks

Thanks folks for all the information and sites. My keeper has limited my free ranging dreams by the carrot/club ploy. First, the club, "Don't continue F****** around, finish the body, paint the critter and drive it." Then the carrot, "Maybe you'd prefer to run a supercharger or build that 352 CI you've been bench racing around for the last two years." So, I've pulled out the 400 block I've been saving and have begged a straight 327 crank. This weekend I'll locate some long rods. I just don't know how an old Ford boy like myself got caught up with all these Chevy in laws. I've e-mailed the location of the SHO car to Randyl. Thanks

Ford vs Chevy. Always worth 4 or 5 hours and a case of beer. Today, a 351W has one major advantage over the CSB. It can be easily and economically stroked to 426/427 inches. A real chore with the Chevy. The Ford stroker accepts long rods without pushing the wrist pins into the rings. Check out the pricing for 426 ci Ford stroker in PAW. Been there, broke that.

Thanks for the information. I've looked into the SHO shop. They are rich on improving the breed, but a little lean on ripping out the heart and transplanting it. I have an opportunity to pick up a complete (but not running) V6SHO with manual 5 speed. The owner junked the car rather than pay $3,000.00 to replace timing belt (chains?) and ignition module. Seemed like a story to me, but maybe not. At any rate it would be a $750.00 crap shoot. I've looked at the 32V Navigator and Lincoln, but good grief, they're wiiiiiide and substantially heavier than either a 350 csb or 351W. Thanks for the quick reply.

I've pulled out the 350csb and 700R4, stripped the tub and am now rebuilding with much, much help from this site. At this point, building another generic csb does not excite me. I'm now looking at two Ford products: the SHO '88 and up v6 (3.0 with Yamaha heads)and the later third generation 32 valve DuraTech V8. Can anyone confirm whether or not these two East/West engines can be converted to run North/South. I hear the Aerostar van bell housing will convert the earlier V6, but what about the later V8. I'm looking for not too complex swap with real eye candy appeal. Any body with directions or answers? Thanks,