Pop N Wood

You talk about the same way I do. One call to a personal injurty attorney will solve all of your headaches. I am not a big fan of trying to cash in after an auto accident but I guarantee you one call from a lawyer and they will sit up and beg howdy.

Too fast, too furious.

It is hard to believe that door sill is so far gone and there is no rust on the underside. Start hitting things hard with a screwdriver and see what holds up. You may have to replace more than you think. If you can find a car that doesn't need paint, the by all means start with that. You will easily drop over $2k and a bunch of time painting any car. Plus brand new paint can mean things like all new weatherstripping, refurbished decals, etc. Cost adds up. But are there really that many rust free Z's in the Virginia Beach area?

The diff will twist from engine torque. The mustache bar contains the movement in the rear while the front is stopped from twisting by the front diff mount. So the upper mount is not only compressed but heavily twisted. On decel it wil be pullled down and twisted in the opposite direction. Hard to believe both the upper and lower mounts are needed. But if you know people who have both then I guess the fact it is more quiet is good to know. If you can't ask someone who has the GM mount ( ), then I would suggest looking up the ES unit on summitracing.com and checking their cross referenced list of vehicles the unit fits. http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?part=ENS%2D3%2D1108G&view=32&N=700+ So go to Autozone and order a trans mount for a 1968 El Camino with a 307, or one of of the other 2 dozen vehicles on the list.

Those are vents to let air out of the car. The early Z's had little vents on the hatch just below the rear window Later Z's had them in the C pillars.

That's a pretty car. I really like the look of it. Should be a gas to drive. I don't know that I believe the sellers's statement that he only bought the car to have his mechanic look it over. Sounds pretty hokie. How long has the current owner had it and who was the one who had it painted, the current owner or the builder. I would try to figure out a better reason why the guy is selling it and whether he may be trying to unload it after he found something wrong. I tend to be a little wary of cars with fresh paint. Like blueovalz says it takes some time for problems to surface. That doesn't mean you don't buy the car, just that it is a little more difficult and risky to evaluate. For rust check out http://www.zhome.com and about half way down on the left side they list the Z rust areas. Poke at the frame rails with a screw driver to see if they are solid. Check out the doglegs for bondo'd over rust, either using a magnet or by tapping on it with your finger and listening for the dull thud of a plastic mass. Run your finger in the tail pipe and check for oil residue. Look in the radiator and see if you can see an oily sheen on the surface of the water. If you really want to check out the motor bring a pressure gauge and do a compression check of the motor. Get underneath and look for any cracked or rotted rubber in the suspension and steering boots. Wiggle the tie rods and check for worn parts. Check the U joints and front diff mount the same way. Look for play in the steering shaft U joints. I don't like the "oil and temp sensor need the datsun to ford adaptor". That means they have been driving the car without either one. Doesn't mean there is anything wrong, just not a good thing to see. Recalibrating the tach is a trivial thing.....once you get it out.... and most Z clocks only work intermittently. Do a web search and see if there are certain casting numbers you can look for to verify the GT40 heads. I am not a ford guy but aren't those suppose to be good heads? 4x4 brakes are a nice upgrade, if they use the vented rotor. If it is the 4x4 brakes with the stock solid rotor then there are those among us who think that is not so much an upgrade as just excess weight. But the big thing is you never mentioned a price. Unfortunately for the seller, what it cost to build is NOT what determines the price. Basic V8 Z's with no rust issues typically seem to sell for 5 grand or so. This one has a number of additional body mods and a clean look, so it might be worth more.

If you go to zgeezer's photo album he has a bunch of pictures of both tanks. It looks like the supply and return lines come out of the side of the 280 tank. They are the big tubes going straight from the side of the pot to the side of the tank. The other tubes must be vents of some type? I have no idea what that one coming through the right side of that baffle is for.

They are suppose to get 67 on the highway and 40 in town. They average something like 600+ miles to a tank of fuel. BIG draw back is 75 HP, 133 ft-lbs of torque. But for that type of mileage I would consider getting one for my kids. Plus if your house uses oil heat you have a readily available supply of low tax diesel. What's not to like?

I think that is the stuff Pete Paraska used to seal his tank, then had it come off in pieces causing him no end of grief. Be careful with it. Yeah, the best solution for a 240 is a 74-75 280 tank. But failing that larger pick ups are a step in the right direction. Since it is already open the access door and internal tank sounds like a good idea.

My butt will heal itself. But my motor cost $$$!!! Believe me I don't want anything to fail. I am telling you the Pep Boys unit is a quality piece. It will hold a fully assembled motor and transmission with no trouble at all. For days on end if need be. The unit itself weighs enough that I had to unbox it and take it out of the truck in pieces. I have every confidence in it. 540 pounds sounds like an absolute nightmare to move around and work with. At some point you are just adding unnecessary weight. I have seen engines pulled with a come-a-long connected to a 2x4 bridged across the garage rafters. hoot. At 540 pounds you may need to buy one of the Chinese units just to pick up your shop crane should it ever get knocked over!

http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=120450

67 MPG won't offset the cost difference?

That baffle simply isn't good enough for a fuel injected vehicle. Expose the pick up tube just once under full throttle and the engine will go lean risking damage. Carbs have fuel bowls which will tolerate a momentary loss of fuel pressure. Somewhere someone has posted a pic of the inside of a 280 tank. The 280 tank has that same baffle plus a circular fuel pot in the middle of the tank with the supply and return line plumbed into that. I am not sure what type of trap doors they have to allow the fuel into the fuel pot but not out. If you are fuel injected have them add something like that. If you are carbed, then just add a bigger inlet tube and call it a day.

Pep Boys has MUCH better deals on cherry pickers. http://pepboys.shoplocal.com/pepboys/default.aspx?action=detail&flashbrowse=y&storeid=2314647&rapid=386573&pagenumber=1&listingid=-2093549708&ref=%2fpepboys%2fdefault.aspx%3faction%3dbrowsepageflash%26storeid%3d2314647%26pagenumber%3d1%26rapid%3d386573%26prvid%3dPepBoys-070408 HF cherry pickers are actually kind of expensive compared to the Torin Big Red stuff at pep boys. The thing has worked flawlessly for me. Never leaks down and has enough control to lower the engine as slow as you like. HF also sells castors pretty cheap. Buy one more castor and make the 3 wheel unit a 4 wheel unit pretty easily. Save yourself fidy bucks.

That is a nice looking car. But the normal rules of buying a Z still apply Rust is your #1 concern. Goto http://www.zhome.com and about half way down there is a buying guide telling you what to look for in rust areas. Bring a magnet to check for bondo'd over rust. If it is truely rust free and with no obvious cracks in those flares, then $6400 is a good price. However, if it doesn't run then you will have an impossible time figuring out whether the engine and trans are any good or not. The other item is a non-overdrive transmission is typically not the best choice for a Z. Z's have low rear end ratios. That car will probably be turning a lot of RPM's at highway speeds. Not the end of the world but most guys with that type of set up don't like it. But if you can't drive it, you won't know. Offer him $2000 less if you can't actually drive it. Tell him that in so many words and maybe it will prompt him to fix the fuel problem. The strut bars look well done. Makes me think the rest of the conversion was done in a no-nonsense way. The engine looks like a scarab mount. Lots of opinions on here about that. About the only real drawback is you will need to mount it differently IF you decide to switch to a manual 5 or 6 speed trans. The car is well worth the $6400 if you add up how much it would cost to build one. But V8 Z's typically sell for about that or less, so offering him less is not unrealistic either.

Mini Cooper S model gets almost 40 MPG on the highway. Their turbo diesel version gets that in town and reportedly over 60 MPG on the highway.

You need a new MC

You always make such strong statements. Can you quantify your use of the word seriously?

How can he write you up for careless driving if he didn't see the accident? Take it to court and tell them you swerved to avoid a dog that ran into the road. Or did you already sign something? And no way can he tell you what towing company to use. Damnit man. Stand up for yourself.

Silicone grease is made specifically to lubricate and protect rubber items. It also helps them seal. The dielectric grease they sell for plug wire connections is just silicone grease. http://www.amazon.com/Loctite-Lubricant-Super-Lube-Synthetic/dp/B0000WU87S

Don't just look. Wire brush them. Check the other end of the battery cables also. Either connector can do it.

I have had that exact problem occur from dirty battery posts. "Looks clean" don't count. Take a wire brush to them. What do you have to lose?

For $40 why borrow? http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94168 I have the earlier version and it works perfectly.

My car don't run.

The boxes are sealed. As long as it is mounted right side up using rubber isloators it will be fine. It might get rain on it but no road splash like under the hood. I had a Jacobs ignition box mounted behind the grill just to the side of the radiator for over 15 years. Never had a problem. Must have been continually wet when driving in the rain.