madkaw

....because it could have been ugly! My daughter was home for the holidays and I try and take the oppurtunity to check on her 81 280zxt and make sure it's okay. I put some new speakers in the car for her Christmas present and I also had some maintenance items I wanted to take care of. Due to the extreme cold here in Indianapolis the 30 year old oil seals were starting to give out. The Crank pulley or front main seal started leaking and the power steering pump started spewing too. I happened to have an extra crank seal and I was actually able to order a shaft seal for the pump from Napa(6$). I never had messed with the PS pump before but thought it couldn't be too bad. I was actually guessing the seal was bad on the shaft since I hadn't taken it apart yet. Both jobs went pretty well and I was bale to replace the crank seal without disconnecting my condenser and moving it. The hardest part was getting the keyway to line up when reinstalling the pulley-I couldn'y really see it and had to feel my way around. I was really nervous about dropping it into the timing cover. The PS pump was a learning curve but not too bad, but I did booger up the first seal when i tapped it into place, so I had to order another one from Napa(last one they had). I was doing this job without removing the PS pump, because I didn't have a wrench big enough to hold the HP line nut to get the line off. I got in a hurry the first time installing the seal but came up with a better paln of attack the second time. Since I had to wait another day for the new PS pump seal I was putting my schedule in a bind. I told my daughter I would get the car to her that day that the seal came in, so I had to move effeciently to get everything done and checked out. The second seal went on great and I finished putting the car back together and test drove it-no noises, no leaks-i'm cool Well I hop in the car and drive it 50 miles to her school and drop it off and everyone is happy A busy day and I was done Z-ing and I would clean up the garage tomorrow. Tomorrow came and I cleaned up the aftermath on my work bench of the pile of tools rags and stuff. Then suddenly I locked up looking at my bench--------there sat a C-clip-a C-clip to hold the PS shaft in place--OH Sh%t, I said about a million times. I called my daughter right then and told her to not drive the car until I get down there. Then I had this scary image of being on the highway at 70mph when the shaft came out of the PS pump and how much damage that would have done I really got lucky this time-thankyou Z Gods __________________

Cool, at least I know a couple of things to look for. It keeps getting busier for her and she's starting to complain about not having her ZXT to drive around. I'm fixing an oil leak and will be taking it down there Saturday.

Thanks Bob. So a weak transmission and what's up with the wiring? How's school going?

All I know is that I worked at a F.B.O.(airport fixed base operator) for 12 years and ran 100ll in my 71 and it was the cure for my sticking valves and the car ran beautiful on it. Lead contact is very high even though it is called low-lead. The manager at my place wouldn't sell it it to anyone that didn't have a plane-maybe things are looser where your at.

Okay, so maybe the 93 190e I have been looking at might be looking a little better here. It has a few more miles, but it's also cheaper. Plus I have heard good things from you guys about these cars. Anything I should look for on the 190e? I think the owner said it had 175k miles.

Looking for a used car and have noticed some decent pricing on late 90's Audi's. Looking at a 98 Quattro A-8, but don't know much about them except for the fact they have really depreciated from original sticker-ouch! Going to look at one with 125k miles for 4000$. Looks really nice and is loaded. Are these garage queens or do they make a decent DD.

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=89111&highlight=toe+adjuster

Where do you find one?????????? I've been calling all morning and can't find anyone that carries them..

The cheapest thing to do is replace all your vaccuum lines associated with the heater. You will probably stumble across on ehtat is cracked that you didn't see before. About 5$ worht of hose is pretty cheap and easy. I am speaking from experience:mrgreen:

Well I know the gears are all there and working-albeit they work much better for speed if you manually regulate shift points. First gear shifts way to early. The car just doen't have any snap at all off the line-but don't have any other zx's to compare it too. Still, I would like to play with the timing a bit with this car if I can find an easy way to do it.

I wish it was that easy Mat, but it is down below. Makes me want to convert to that style.

I have searched on this site and a couple of others about adjusting the timing on a stock 81zxt. I do have the FSM downloaded and have read about checking the position of the CAS. The FSM talked about a bolt or screw that you turn to adjust the position of the pick-up-thus changing the timing. Well I have A/C and I can't even see it. I am asking for any pointers for doing this task(adjusting timing). I checked timing before and it was at 20BTC I believe, which is stock. The car seems sluggish of line(automatic), don't know if a couple of degrees advance would help that or just the nature of the beast. I hear no audible pinging and I always run premium(93). I believe the car is in tune, but have yet to put a wide band on the engine to see what's going on there. Also, It looks like the front main seal is leaking ,so it looks like I might be getting up to my elbows in this anyway. Again, any helpful hints would be appreciated.

I've been wanting one of those laser temperature guages just for this reason. I think it could be an excellent troubleshooting tool , especially in this scenerio. Can you explain the big difference in the #6 cylinder temperature compared to the others. Are you zeroing in the laser on the head where you would tap for the coolant on 5& 6 ?

The frame rails will come out with whatever section of floor you take out. They are welded to the floor, so if the floor is bad-more likely the rails are bad-so rip them out any way you want, sawzall, cut-off wheel. Now if you are talking about the SEAT RAILS, then you need to get a spot weld cutter, or just cut the floor around them and methodically remove the floor metal from them so you can reinstall later.

thankyou!

Yeh those clecos can be a lifesaver on abig job like this. You can order them from any on line speed shop(jegs) and they are cheap. You can mock up the hole job with these to test fit and remove them as you weld around them. Then like he said, weld the holes shot. The small ones are only 1/8" holes.

Hey guys I am wanting to get my daughter some replacement speakers for her 81zxt, but don't know what size they are and she has the car. Can someone tell me what size round speaker will fit in there so I can do some christmas shopping. Thanks

I'm doing a set for a customer now and it's a pretty big job-especially for a first timer. Replacement pans need a lot of persuasion to fit, even the good ones from Zed Findings. Plus the work is all back braking, knee scuffing, eye contaiminating, knuckle busting work that body shops don't make any money on. I will probably have 25 hours a side in on this car, but I don't move fast or slow, there is just that much work. If you haven't done this kind of work before(sheet metal fab and welding) this job will be a hand full. Look at the 2 panels side by side and see how much you have to form them. I think between 1000$ and 1500$ is a good estimate for panels that look at fit stock. The other good thing is that most of it gets covered up:)

DITTO- Bob you are not alone- My Current Money Pit... It doesn't even need a garage and is sure to take more of your money in the event it feels that you have yet to contribute your yearly 6.5million dollars.

Thanks Terry for the reply, I was a little worried about what kind of movement would be there.

I do have in the poly bushings and I am running the RT mount. As far as the vent goes, I took out the original and inserted a nylon hose so it would have some flexibility. I just need to figure out a place to stick the hose or find a filter for the end. My cross brace is welded lower then yours so you probably have more clearance then I do in that area.

Well I finally finished my latest(while I'm at it) project. Now the parts are painted and installed for good-I hope. Jon, I hope you see this because I need to ask you about the clearance between the moustache bar and the reinforced uprights. I put large washers between the diff and the moustache bar to space the diff forward away from the uprights now that the uprights have more material on them. Even with that, the breather off of the diff is right up against brace that connects the two uprights. How much movement can one expect from the moustache bar?

Here the latest. I recieved my heim joint set-up and welded a nut onto the bolts on the rear control arm. Jon, as you can see the bolts turned out to be very short. I might have actually got away with drilling and tapping the bolt since there was ample clearance between the cover and the threaded rod. I believe this will be plenty strong for what stress it will endure. I need to make slotted holes now in the uprights and make some nutplates.

Well here's my 81 zxt(actually it's my daughters-I bought it for her:wink:). I bought it for 1500$ and it has 91k miles on it. I have put more money and time then what I should have for a college car, but I wanted my daughter to have something cool to drive. I told her that if she ever earned a scholarship I would buy her a new car, but I think she rather I paint her Z and keep it going instead. I forgot to add that everything works on this car-down to the clock!

I think I have the uprights finished. I started making it too big looking for strength, but then I noticed the clearance on the moustache bar getting too tight, so I widdled'er done a bit. Now clearances look better. The diff vent lines right up (in the way)with the brace work, so I had to notch it(the brace) for room. I think I will run a rubber line in the vent hole so I can direct it around the brace. I need to elongate the holes for adjustment and make some of those handy nutplate pieces that BlueOvalZ made to make adjustments easy. I just ordered the heim joint today to finish out my plan to connect the control arms. I found a complete set up for about 50$ using .5" ends. Once I get the rod ends I can figure the length on the bolt to be welded to the control arm pivot bolt.