9rider

Thanks guys and gals for all the input. Most of the body-shop that i stopped by have extreme well reputation and work with all new and modern cars. Some of them are friends and they asked why I spend money on this piece of ****. Anyway, they said it is not just welding the frame rail in but it is more involve with the car body structure and alignment and such. They didn't want to wrist the body ( I'm really don't really know what they was talking about), so they would align it and then weld the frame. I still don't know how far will I go with this car-project. I don't know if I will put it to 500HP or just keep it stock but I know the frame rail is critical part and redo it will not a funny or easy job. So, 800 bucks seem reasonable to most of guys here, I will save up and do it after the Black Friday if still have any money left. I will keep you update and will take some pictures of the process.

Found that the sticking RPm because of my home made TPS cap. It didn't have enough clearance, somehow it shrunk down and stick with the flap of TPS. Car ran like horse, doing 80 at 3700 RPM ( 4 speeds). Stopped on the way back to Bishop to remove my rear wheel spacers I have all 4 spacers 1.25" installed couple months ago when I did the fender flare. It happened because I bought about 120 lbs of stuffs, put in the back, didn't notice anything until hitting curve and dip section of 395 that the rear end eating my tires from the stock fender . I didn't cut the stock fender up when installed the flare, i thought i will cut it before lower the car and get thing ready for paint. Anyway, it is a fun trip and getting a lot of comments comparing driving my buddy's Sti Subbie.

So I drove my car down to Los Angles area to get estimate in how much to weld in my frame rails. Most auto body shop ( El monte , City industry, Temple city.) give out quote for around $800 to 900. That is just to weld the frame in while I must strip all interior , fuel rails, cut the rusty frame parts, brush wire the welding area, ..ect.. Is that too much or is that normal? About my welding skill, I have a HF wire feed weld from Chicago Electric and it is really a spark box, I could weld my exhaust but it looked like crap ( no leak though) .So, I decide to give the welding part to some one professional since it will involve with the car's chassis and I don't want to make a hole through the floor panel. Any recommendation for welding shop around Los Angeles area? Thanks guys

Start reading by type in search : l28et swap; strip car; etc..etc.. For your question about what can you do to get ready, my question is: what can you do? Any mechanic background, welding, turning, swapping, etc..

I cranked about 3 times most when it hit 25F here in Bishop last couple weeks. Check your cold start valve ( injector) and cold start air by pass.

I made it down to LA. Stopped 2 times on the road to get gas. pumped $20 each time ( my meter hadn't fixed). Nothing happened beside gas pedal stick. I stopped at my first stop sign in LA area to see my RPM at 2000 , yes I could hear the engine rev up at 2000 ( the RPM meter doing it job). Pumped at the pedal couple times and saw RPM dropping down to 700~800 ( normal). Drove up to next stop light and it did exactly the same thing, 2500 RPM ... I think my TPS bad or one of the injector bad. I am getting so high right now from all the fume , for X safe , my wife passed out sleeping after nagging me the rest 2 hours , where the traffic get slow and we could smell all the gas from my unfinished exhaust pipe. Any suggestion about the sticking RPM?? Thanks guys

First reason I bought the car up here in Bishop , where I work , I don't really know anybody in the town. Second reason , Yeap, I want to show off my new ride to my buddies down south.

Bishop, CA to Los Angeles taking HW395. I will just sign up for AAA and save my trunk for some more stuffs instead of bunch of tools . Of course I will go over all the check list before I go. I will let you guy know if the Z hold up. Meanwhile , still fixing my fuel meter , it receives sending signal but go up and back down right away. About the weld part, well, the body shop up here want to charge me close to 1k to weld it and they want me to strip engine and transmission and all other stuffs out before welding. Thanks all.

I used to have AAA membership when I was working in metro area. I think they provide free 7 miles towing , I don't know how many miles for premium one. I will check. Thanks.

I will bring enough tool to do simple stuff. I just changed fuel pump 2 months ago using MSD. But a spare fuel pump won't hurt anything. I will do. Thanks guy.

I just changed all 4 tires . They are less than 300 miles on them. Change all brake pad and shoe and bleed out brake line too.

So I need to drive the Z 300 miles each way down south to get the frame rail welded. What should I prepare for a long trip? The car has never gone that far since I bought it. The longest trip was up to a local mountain , around 80 miles round trip. ( attitude 4300 - 6000 feet) . Car was seem lacking power at the top of summit ( + 6000 f) . I think it was because of the air too thin. I changed engine oil, tranny oil, rear diff oil. Tranny leaking from front from the oil seal ( I was lazy to change when swapped the trans) Coolant flush and changed. Car run very good around local. No over heat and oil pressure is normal. I am asking to prepare because the highway I am taking is pretty isolated. Every towns are about 100 miles apart. If it broken down in middle of nowhere then it will hurt my wallet to get it tow. Thanks guys.

I know a 240Z that for sale in my neighborhood ( thread : Should I buy another Z) . If you interest you can come up here and see. Bishop area, just take 395 all the way to Bishop. He asked for 3 K but I don't really intend to buy it so I didn't do a offer. Let me know. I am pretty sure he may let it go around 1500 - 1700.

Final with center piece and welting - I use left over from my fender flare installation. The chin piece gave about 2 inches extend to the ground. My car is stock shock.

Read FSM said 30PSI idle and 37PSI acceleration but found other in this forum said it should be 33PSI / 34PSI idle.

What year of your Z. What kind of engine? Have you check fuel pressure and TPS sensor?

Can anyone confirm if this one is 240 or 260 . Date built 5/1973 . The owner want 3 K for his Z.

Very sad to say that the car might end up in a chop shop. Of course they won't sell the car as a whole piece. I will pass words around.

Guess you like the sticker said " Built by me, not bought by Mommy" Quote from wrC 17 " I bought my car for 2.5k and have put more then that into it since March and it still looks like crap, but the sense of accomplishment is much greater when you can look at a car and see all the work you have done to it yourself .."

The cover inside your kitchen. Look around your kitchen to find any old plastic, PVC square container and cut mod then zip tie it. Save tons of time and money.

Did you check spark plug ? Ignition wire and firing sequence ?

Do you have it on your Z? I am thinking about fab a duck tail too but most duck tail I found are curve not horizontal straight as for the Z hatch.

This is the original lips from the CL. I didn't take picture before the cut. Flipped it side way and up side down. Cut a small pieces to make corner end. Used some JB plastic weld to glue together. Primed . Wet sanded. Final prefit..I still need to run some welting and adjustment. I don't know if I have the center piece will make it look better . How you guy think ? It don't look as bad in person tho, It was a pita to mount it with the air dam. I should had used silicone or the JB weld but I thought if it F up then I still can take it out easily so I used rivets. I will add some gigantic spacer to prevent the rivet head eating up my airdam. Also will add some aluminum bar support underneath .

I got the idea from one member of the forum about home-made chin lip spoiler. I have a REAR, yes , rear lip bumper from the acura CL 98. The piece goes to bottom end of the rear bumper. I saved this piece when replaced the cracked bumper for my wife's CL. It is actually 2 pieces , one short side and one long side. I flipped it up side down and the side went to front of the z. Sorry i didn't take the picture before working on it. Here is some mock up . Hope it can turn out well and will be a cheap way to add stance look to our Z while we are in tight budget. I will finish up this during weekend and keep you guys update. The CL , you can see the lip underneath of the rear bumper The mock up Z,still need some adjustment and fit.. . I did cut the long side to match with the short one and cut the leftover for the center piece and that about it , nothing more.

My wife also complain about the exhaust fume, I don't know how to get rid of it. It wasn't surprise to see the car had that many rusts since you live in Edmonton. I had been there couple times. Horrible road condition , especially during winter time coz you can't see pot hole on road. You should get a Jeep for winter driving and keep this one for summer. BTW, great project.