theghosttanker

I have four different thermostat housings with all kinds of different sensors and tubes running off them. I don't remember which cars they came off. I want to hae the cleanest possible installation and I think I only need two sensors...one for my gauge and one for the megasquirt...which should I be using?

I'm putting together an l-28 (f-54 block) to put in my 73. I went to install the oil pan and the pickup tube and screen won't let it come back far enough on the motor. Now I'm kickin myself because I KNEW that there were fitment issues with oilpans when you do a swap, but I just forgot. And while I was forgetting, I threw away two oil pans and one pickup tube. I have two (identical) pickup tubes and one oil pan left, and I don't remember what motor the pan or tubes came off. Which pan and tube do I need to do the swap? Are all the tubes identical but the pans different, or what? I have another l-24 motor but it's in a car and I don't want to pull it right now.

I'm working a a megasquirt setup and will be eliminating the distributor. I made a block-off plate to cover the dizzy mount hole in the timing cover but I'm wondering about what I should do with the drive shaft coming up out of the oil pump. The dizzy used to support it...I would expect severe wear on the bushing in the timing cover if it was not supported. Should I cut it off as short as possible, or leave it long, or what?

Backroad driving is not nearly as hard on a car as autocrossing. You probably will be just fine but I like to find a big open empty parking lot and really abuse the car....extreme hard acceleration, turning, and braking sessions , to see if anything is gonna break. Last time I did this, I broke a motor mount and the fan then damaged the radiator. I was able to fix it in time for the actual event. Better to break it before than during.

The 73 and 74's had the most godawful smog carb setups on the face of the planet.

You can use coat-hangar wire looped around the teeth on the flywheel edge and tied to something strong to keep the flywheel from turning while you get the bolts out. Or use an impact wrench. I sure wouldn't try running on only 4 bolts! I've had clutches let go at high rpm's and it's brutal.

When the engine is cold, the fan should freewheel on the shaft, when the engine gets hot, it should get harder to spin. It has to be pretty hot though. A lot of people think the fan is bad even though the car overheated while driving on the highway. The fan clutch only should be engaging when the motor is starting to overheat in stop and start driving, eg in a traffic jam. if you overheated while cruising the fan isn't at fault. If you are only overheating during stop and start driving, then you can check to see if the fan is the cause by using duct tape or whatever to keep the fan from freewheeling. Then if the car no longer overheats, you know it's a bad fan clutch.

Sounds to me like a vein sensor is the same thing as the MAP (manifold absolute pressure) sensor in a megasquirt setup.

Well I used to work as a mechanic and had some Snap-On tools; the garage I worked at was just a block away from a Snap-On distributor warehouse so I could just go over and get a tool i needed. I had few Snap-On tools and then my whole tool set got stolen just as I was starting college. My insurance covered the theft but there was a big deductible, so I ended up buying a whole new complete Craftsman set, which i still have 20 years later. For a serious home mechanic, i think they are the best value out there. I have had to replace a few broken tools, and their screwdrivers suck, but I have always gotten great service from Sears and hassle-free replacement on a 20-y-o tool is sure a good deal. And in the Craftsman catalogue they list "high polish" wrenches which are more expensive than the base wrenches but which are still a lot cheaper than Snap-on and every bit as good.But I only use my impact driver a few times a year, and it's from Harbor freight. Snap-On tools can sure be pretty but the prices on them are just outrageous and the quality difference doesn't justify it in my mind. I pick my tool quality according to how often I will need the tool. I used my impact driver about five times doing a complete down-to-the-shell stripping of my 240, and it worked every time.

I'm looking for usable brake drums, preferably aluminum ones, as well as good used sets of Eibach springs and Illumina struts for my '73.

You can easily resurface your rockers yourself. Run your fingernail around the rounded surface face and you can feel at the edges the little ridge that's formed by the wipe pattern of the cam lobes. Just lay wet-dry sandpaper on a smooth flat surface and sand the faces until you have a smooth contour all around the curve. Move the rocker straight back and forth (not side to side) and rock it from the front to back of the surface face on each stroke until you have an even new sheen and a smooth curve all the way around. I now use a diamond sharpening stone instead of the paper but I've used paper for decades, just got the stone a few years ago.

If you are gonna work on old cars, besides a good penetrating oil, you need an impact screwdriver set. They'll get your stuck screws OUT. You don't need an expensive one, just a harbor freight set will do.

The 240 only has one strut. Rockauto.com sells new ones for 23 bucks.

I'm working on a stripped shell rustoration and am about to have the car blasted; then I will be priming with rust bullet in some areas and PPG epoxy primer in others. Then of course several layers of paint. What should I do with all the threaded bolt holes in the shell during the process? Will sandblasting damage them? I'm thinking about putting bolts in the holes during the blasting but them removing them before painting, then just running a tap through them before assembly. Any input?

I'm doing a frame off rustoration of a 240, and I want to get rid of the stock antenna. I kinda like the swept back stubby antenna on the back of my jetta but I don't know how it would look on a Z. I would really like to have NO antenna visible, and was thinking about running one around the perimeter of the windshield or hatch area, and burying it in the weatherstripping and sealing as I install the glass. Anybody have any suggestions or pictures of alternative antenna ideas?

Don't use fiberglass for any of the repairs....I've seen too many jobs crack or rust at the seams....replace metal with metal. Getting a car dipped and zinced used to be a common practice but I have not been able to find a company that still does it for many years now. The EPA really cracked down on them.

If your head is not badly warped, your block should be fine. They rarely warp. I have a steel ruler here that is NOT straight....you can put it on a flat surface and fit a thin feeler gauge under the middle. Just be aware that a cheap "straightedge" can deceive you when you are checking for warpage!

bsaically, these cars rust from the inside out. If you want to have a rustproof Z, the way to do it is to strip the car to the bare shell. Have it soda blasted and sandblasted to bare metal inside and out, and cut out and repair all rusted areas. Use Rust Bullet or Por-15 as a primer on all interior portions and the bottom, and an undercoat sprayer with a flexible wand probe attachment loaded with Por-15 to paint inside the frame rails, rocker panels, door shells,and all the other nooks and crannies. Use a good epoxy primer on the outside. paint the car with high quality paint compatible with the primer. Undercoat the car with truck bed liner spray. If you are careful and thorough, you can produce a shell that, if not exposed to pervasive salt spray, will remain rust free. This work is best done with the shell mounted on a giant rotisserie, which you can build yourself. Many folks here have gone through this total "frame up" procedure, the results are very successful.

I am about to start assembling my project, a completely stripped/blasted/rotisseried/repainted 240. I have never completely assembled the interior/dashboard/console assembly before. What is the easiest order of assembly...heater boxes, fans, dashboard, wiring, ducts, pedals etc etc? It looks to me like I may be able to put the heater box and control console and control cables together as one assembly and put it in all at once rather than trying to hook up the cables after I put it in. Is this true? I'm going to try to do a lot of this work while the car is still on the rotisserie; with the car turned 3/4 of the way over and the doors off you can just stand on the ground and work deep in the footwells at eye level. I figure it's the best time to hook up the pedals, brake booster, and clutch master, too. But is there any best order to do this work?

Derek, I really like the looks of your work but the various bugs are getting me confused. If I send you my dampener (the single pulley MSA performance type they are now selling) can you make up a hub that fits it without so much protrusion , and make and mount a trigger wheel to it for me?If I send you my sensor as well can you make the correct size mount for it? And have you found a source for longer-than- stock crankshaft bolts to make up the thickness differences? If you tell me yes to all three questions you can have my firstborn son. Or you could tell me how many dollars you would charge for the package! Thanks!

yeah I did forget to mention that they are above average in the "tricky to set up" category. Getting them to run right involves the proper choice of 6 different jets and tubes. 40 years experience on Chevvies = 0 years experience with these carbs. I had to get a manual and a flow meter specifically made for these carbs; without it you have very little chance indeed of getting them to run right. Also, that U-shaped canon adapter needs to have the casting bumps and flash cleaned out; in my experience they can have very different flow charracteristics. You can equal flow throught the carbs while the vacuum off each one is different...makes for tricky tuning for sure. However, now I have it right, I make slightly better power and significantly better mileage with these carbs, as well as accumulating less soot and less exhaust fumes. The only way you can fine-tune midrange mixture on an SU is to alter the needle profiles, on the Webers you can change jets. The only downside with this setup that I have is that they run horrible in cold weather until the motor is thoroughly warm; I'm pretty sure it's from fuel condensing and puddling in the bottom of the "U" of the canon adapters.

Believe it or not, a bad ignition coil can cause this problem. I spent many hours figuring out this problem on my car. The coil would get warm and quit, then after it cooled down the car would run again.

Those are Weber DGV downdraft carbs on Canon adapters. They were a common replacement for the horrible stock smog carb setup that came on your car. They work great on the 240 motor; I ran them for years and they were better than round top SU's when properly tuned, but on a 2.8 motor people don't seem to like them so much. They aren't worth much, 100-200 at most.

I lost my dashboard VIN tag...don't ask how. Is there any way to get a blank one from anywhere? Anybody have any suggestions?

I'm looking for them! Can e-mail me directly at theghosttanker@yahoo.com