Pop N Wood

Your timing is off. The other stuff may need to be done, but you can't expect to replace your points and not have it off.

From your subject line, my first response would be "your sister". But that would be a callous, derogatory, stereotypical and totally untrue misrepresentation of our southern states. Hope I haven't offended anyone.

Hey. Thanks for the links! Need the same parts myself. BTW. Might be a good idea to put in new rubber hydraulic lines too. Not as critical as brake lines, but this way you will be good to go for the next 20 years.

Man. Truer words have never been spoken! Have to echo what jmortensen is telling you. Some times you can get to the struts by just disconnecting enough stuff to drop the top of the entire strut assembly. Whatever you do don't try to disconnect the control arm from the strut assembly (i.e. the spindle pin). Also be advised that some people have a near impossible time getting the strut cartridges out of the tubes. Once you have the gland nut off, be prepared to allow it to sit for a few days soaking in penetrating oil (if needed). If this happens, read some old posts of post another topic asking for advice. Also for the gland nut, Matco use to sell what I call Ford wrenches. An F shaped adjustable wrench (looks like a pipe wrench, but for nuts and bolts). Probably one of the most useful tools I own since it opens up to something like 3 or 4 inches. Or just hit a tool rental place and rent a 3 foot cresent wrench. And like said before, once you pull the suspension once, the second time will probably take 20 to 30 minutes.

Here I go again... Saw that one coming. Good advice as usual. But, a car the caliber of Phantom's deserve some world class brakes. Definitely can't hurt.

Grumpy always advised to pull a spark plug, put a cylinder at BDC, fill it with Marvel Mystery oil, then turn the crank then measure how much fluid comes out. I have never done it myself but seems like it should work.

Yeah, thats the link! Thanks guys.

If you thought you needed to replace the MC, then most certainly you still do. Probably had a bit of rust or debris in the MC that, for the moment, is no longer causing problems. Not everyone will agree with me, but I would replace the MC and flush all the brake fluid as a preventative measure. If you have a "dead cylinder" that fixed itself, then that might be the source of your overheating problems. Many people have claimed that improper timing can affect engine temps. Ignition gremlins, or maybe there is enough slop in your engine that cam timing is somehow being affected (which in turn affects the distributor timing)? And I would think (don't know) that having the clutch in place would affect how much slop you see in your crank. Sounds like the continuing joy of an old car to me.

That is an absolutely beautiful car. I asked my wife but unfortunately she said no. hard to believe it can be tagged with no speedo. Just a suggestion. You may want to repost this thread with a more descriptive subject line to draw more attention to what you are offering. I don't think this is drawing the attention it deserves.

There is an absolutely classic write up about early Z car aerodynamics that has been posted here several times. Unfortunately I can't find a link on my work machine. But it would be worth your time to do a search to find it. The article started at the front end of the Z and worked it's way back to the tail. Among it's more lucid conclusions were that 1) it is not just the air going under the car that is a problem, it is also all the air going through the huge radiator hole that causes front end lift. And 2) the smooth, uninteruppted shape of the back hatch works too much like a wing and causes rear end lift at speed. So the answer to your wing vs. front end spoiler questions are yes and yes. The Z can greatly benefit from both. For front air dams, do a search. Quite a number of good options. Probably the best is the plastic lawn edging that people use to get the front dam right down on the deck. If it scapes in a hard turn or on a speed bump, then you are out 10 bucks. In the rear, my choice is the BRE type rear spoiler. Fits the era and lines of a Z classically. I guess you could use a wing. I don't know which would be better from a performance point of view. But, IMO, wings look out of place on a classic Z car. Too much of a Honda wannabe look about them. But that is just personal preference. Go with whatever works best. BTW, the aerodynamics article I mentioned suggested contouring the body at the top of the hatch to break up the air flow before it slides down the back end of the car. Don't know if I have ever seen anyone do it that way.

That is why you always disconnect the ground wire first (and reattach it last).

That is why you always disconnect the ground wire first (and reattach it last).

Someone stole my wife's ebay account and sold an RX8 for $24K. Would you buy a used car from Poohmom? We contacted ebay and they contacted the buyers and cancelled the sale. Are stolen ebay accounts common?

Holy Batmobile, Robin! That thing looks totally riced out. Wonder if it has any neon?

Yeah, baby!

I was in the Navy stationed out of San Diego. We use to go up on deck as we sailed into SD from the open ocean. When we were still far enough out that we could still see the curvature of the earth, but long before we could see land, the first thing we would see of SD was this huge brown log floating over the horizon. The damn thing was even tapered on both ends. I was stationed in SD for 3 months before I realized it bordered mountains. Got up one morning after the rain and couldn't believe what I was seeing. By mid afternoon I couldn't see them anymore. So now I move to Maryland. Turns out the county I am in has some of the worst air quality in the nation. All of the power plants in the Ohio and the Pennsylvania flush down the Chesapeake bay and land on my house. BTW, Tim240z. Didn't you remove your EGR? But I think that picture is so bad because of the wildfires.

sounds like the guy is fishing. Price seems awfully high. Make absolutely certain you see it in person. One man's idea of "minor rust" depends heavily on whether he is buying or selling.

Got the 2004 JD Power new car reliability numbers off MSNBC this morning. Looks like all the domestic critics will need to rethink their arguments. Especially considering how Nissan did. Luxury models were the most reliable new cars, according to a survey that measured the number of problems per 100 cars reported in the first 90 days of ownership. Data are for the 2004 model year. Brand and Problems per 100 vehicles Lexus 87 Cadillac 93 Jaguar 98 Honda 99 Buick 100 Mercury 100 Hyundai 102 Infiniti 104 Toyota 104 Mercedes-Benz 106 Audi 109 BMW 109 Oldsmobile 110 Volvo 113 Acura 117 Chevrolet 119 INDUSTRY AVERAGE 119 Chrysler 120 Dodge 121 Lincoln 121 Pontiac 122 Subaru 123 GMC 127 Ford 130 Mitsubishi 130 Saab 133 Jeep 136 MINI 142 Land Rover 148 Saturn 149 Suzuki 149 Kia 153 Nissan 154 Mazda 157 Scion 158 Porsche 159 Volkswagen 164 HUMMER 173

The word "consistently" is the issue. I would have to say a big "NO" to that' date=' but it can be done. Only a true LSD or locker will always due it!![/quote'] I can. Ahh. A man of few words!

You guys are mixing apples and oranges. What does fixing rust have to do with a V8 conversion? That is something you want to do anyway, new engine or not. I know the torque of a V8 adds more stress making a solid body more important, but he guy was only asking for 250 ponies. The big thing that kills people cost wise is the "while I'm at it" syndrome. Bigger brakes, racing suspension, fuel injection, show car paint. All nice stuff but all unrelated to a V8 conversion. Some people already have all that on their in line Z's. Hell, some guys buy a house with a bigger garage to work on their cars. Does that mean you need to throw in the price of the house as part of the conversion? If you do like JTR said and get a mid 80's Camaro, V8 Caprice or Roadmaster and just swap the engine and stock tranny, then $1500, while probably not very common, is not that unbelievable. Maybe $2000 accounting for inflation since the JTR book was first written. But, like the guys are saying, costs have a way of creeping up if you don't establish a plan and stick to it.

Man! Hats off to those cops! Beautiful job! And they didn't Rodney King his dumb a!

My brother's house was in an episode of COPS.....

Well like I said, I don't like the enumeration approach. It is confusing. But I thought the idea of separating the 3 doors into two groups explained it about as well as I know how. Definitely better than the explanation I got when I first heard about this years ago. For what it is worth, I asked this question of a PhD friend of mine, and he practically called me a moron for saying it wasn’t 50-50. After I worked on him and he thought about it awhile he agreed it is 2/3 –1/3. He was still pissed that I annoyed him with it in the first place. This is all fun and games, but try doing something like this for real. I always try to get as many coworkers as possible to agree with me. That way if I am wrong I at least have allies.