Mike C

If you follow the guidlines in the JTR manual (I know, yours is a ZX, but it's still really good info.) and you get a COMPLETE running engine from a donor car newer than yours and you swap it in with ALL of it's emissions equipment you should have no trouble at a referee station.

Ouch! I had a custom driveshaft with slip joint and CV joint end for my Jimmy. It only cost $300 delivered to my front door. It shouldn't cost more than $200 to have a one pice shaft made.

Well, I used my repaired puller today and it whipped out the drivers side pin. On the passengers side, I pulled my welds apart TWICE. I'm running out of nuts... Sticks good to the parts store 5/8 nut, but I'm having trouble getting penetration on the Nissan nut. More power, Scotty! I made a pounding bolt out of two nuts and a bolt. Welded the NIssan nut to a 1/2" nut and threaded the bolt through that. I bent the hell out of it. Then used a stronger bolt and bent the bolt as well as the end of the strut pin. It still hasn't budged. I also welded another Nissan nut to a 1/2" nut to attach to me slide hammer. That too was ineffective. Tomorrow it gets the hot wrench!

My 72 used to read 1/4 when full and E when empty. I replaced the gauge and it works fine now.

It is a throttle stop, but not a limiter. It is designed to keep you from over extending the throttle assembly.

Like most things, it depends. Emissions go lower as combustion chamber temperature goes higher. Power goes up with higher chamber temperatures as well. However, detonation is more likely to occur with higher chamber temps, so compression ratio has to be lowered or ignition timing retarded, which both lower power output. Having a thermostat with a higher temperature actually keeps the water in the radiator longer so it goes back into the engine cooler to some degree, but to some extent that is equalizing. You should experiment with thermostats just like ignition timing and carb jetting to optimize what works best for your engine. I have 180's in most of mine which seems to be a good winter/summer compromise in that it stays cool in the summer but the heater works in the winter.

The gears are EXTREMELY hard and I would be surprised if they were damaged. Bearings are tough as well, but races can rust easily. Like Ross said, take it apart and clean it, that way you can do a closer inpection to see what your troubles are. The 4.09 in the front of my Jimmy looked like they were incased in vaseline the grease was so nasty. The bearings were trashed, but the gears were fine. Actually, the bearings probably would have been OK, but I used my OEM ones.

LOL, I too welded one of the strut pin nuts on a new nut to repair the puller. I think I will weld a pounding plate on another nut, that's a good idea. That way you can tighten it down on one side, pound it on the other, then tighten, then pound until you get decent movement. Should whip right out. Yea, right.

I read over everyone else's problems and figured I'd take it real easy with mine. Pulled all the threads out of the nut anyhow. Obviously we have found the weakest link I'm going to try and get a nut with more threads and a higher grade and see how that works out. Mine on the parts car are REALLY stuck, but its personal now, I want to get a set out without damaging them. Mine are not stuck in the rubber bushing, but the iron part of the strut assembly. I pulled the wedged pin out, cut a rubber plug for the bottom and filled it up with WD40 and am letting it sit for a couple of days 'til I can find a hardened nut. Or several, actually.

Probably, but be careful. Once you know how they work, you should be able to ID all the parts on yours and cross reference them to your Mikunis. I have the Weber/Del'Lorto book and they are VERY similar. All are good carbs.

Yup, 3 bolts. I broke two of them off on the 280 parts car yesterday. The flange STILL wouldn't come off. I used my Sawzall to cut the pipe just about 8" below the flange. I then hammered back and forth on the short piece remaining and it popped off on about the 4th hit.

You have a 44mm mikuni with 38mm chokes (and not "starting" choke). Mikuni/Solex are very similar to Webers and Del'Lortos. You can get books on the last two, I know, which will help a ton in knowing what all of the circuits do, which jets are which, and selecting choke and venturi sizes for your displacement. I have a set of 42mm Del'Lortos on my new motor, but I have not pulled them off to determine choke size. I'll do that after I get the OTHER parts car stripped an hauled off.

My last car had problems with something in the tank that would get sucked onto the pickup. Car would crap out. You could shut it off, shake it side to side, turn the fuel pump back on and it would be fine Got where I could finally do it by shutting the pump off, shaking the wheel side to side, and turning pump back on and never have to stop

Summit racing has Suspension Techniques bars and springs. $400 US for all. I would go with the Tokico non-adjustable struts if $ is tight, but I'm buying adjustable struts next time. Check out some of the other guys who sell coil over conversions. You could probably get parts from a Aussie supplier. (Do a search on google for 240Z turbo, guy down under named Simon, I believe, has a great site.)

I have a Lakewood explosion proof housing in my Camaro. McLeod makes one that has the Muncie/BW 4 speed pattern as well as the rotated T5 housing which gives you several trans options. Seems to be a fact of life on a motor that does 5500 rpm plus.

The guts or the R200 don't seem to be the problem. Look at 1fastz car, which runs 9's. He was destroying half-shafts on every pass.

Unless you want to do fuel injection and the costs in $ and labor, I would go with the ZZ engine. FYI, all new cars horsepower is measured at the flywheel as delivered. SAE net. This means with all of the accessories and exhaust as installed in the car. The old SAE gross ratings were at the flywheel, but without accessories and with a dyno exhaust. I believe on the ZZ engines, GM specifies what exhaust/carb combo was used for the power rating they advertise.

For years I have heard some are rebuildable and some are not. I'm pretty sure the 240's are, but I think the 280's are NOT. Hopefully SOMEBODY knows for sure...

AWESOME! I love it when a Z beats up on everyone else!

LOL! We got my wife a BMW 325is. Closesest thing to a Z your can still buy, (I don't count the new one as the cylinders aren't all in a row...) and it has been a great car. 95 by the way.

IMO, the 82-83 ZXT T5 is a very good choice for a car. Very similar gears to the 4 speed + OD. More gear may give more torque multiplication, but resulting wheelspin is easier to modulate and re-hook the car. I posed this question a couple of weeks ago and got no responses. In looking through my Chiltons book, they show bellhousings for the L series and V engines. The bellhousing for the V appears to have all of the bolts that the L has, plus a couple of more. The clearance bump for the starter is rotated since the V motor has it in a different spot. My guess is you can use the trans if you get an 82-83 bellhousing, but that still requires finding the 82-83 trans most likely.

All new Holleys have PV blowout. If it was my $, I'd go with a 4779C Holley. 750 double pumper with all metal parts and mechanical choke if you are looking for max power. If you want best driveability, go with the JET stage II street Q-jet or stage III designed for Stock and Super Stock racers. Quadrabogs meter part throttle better than any of the "high performance" carbs. With nearly 400hp, IMO you could benefit from a bigger carb.

I tried to find out what year your car was on your page but never saw it. My booster crapped out last year. First thing I did was buy a used one on Hybrid Z. It was for a '71. That was when I learned that even though 71 and 72 both had the little booster, the 72 had the larger pushrod but clevis with smaller pin. I finally ended up switching to the larger booster by redrilling the firewall. If you have a '72 that's what I would recommend. I found one rebuilt for $80 + core at a local parts store.

It requires a few special tools and is easier with more special tools. If you are rebuilding a diff with new bearings, just disassemble and put back the same. If you are replacing just the case (ie a peg leg for a limited slip) check the backlash with a dial indicator before disassembling, then install ring gear on new case, reinstall and use shims to set the backlash the same as originally. What gets hard is putting a new gear set in your housing. You need a special tool to measure the depth of the pinion from the axle centerline. Then backlash is set to spec. This job is also easier with a hydraulic press, impact hammer, bearing separator, and some miscellaneous pullers. Also access to a freezer and an oven. You can cool the case and heat the gear so they drop together. Otherwise, is a press fit and may damage by trying to use the bolts to snug it up. A 72 GM Overhaul manual (not a regular manual, but one that covers repair of subassemblies such as diffs, ac compressors, trans, etc.) is my source for GM diff setup #'s. Some can be translated based on diff design and size of fasteners. Rear axles are not impossible, but it helps to have done a few... It is possible to do it by trial and error and change shims until the wear pattern is right, but it's best to have the pinion depth exact.

Circa 1984 Jag used a Dana 44 center section in the XJS. Obtaining one of those will give you an unlimited number of aftermarket options with gears and differentials.