rooster287

yes i know that but my stock 260z HAS an ignition module in the car. the dizzy is a points distributor coming from an early z

Hi, Hopefully someone can help me out with a question. I have a 260z automatic that will soon be getting a 2.8L engine and manual trans. As part of the deal i'm getting a new coil and the dizzy on the 2.8. According to the seller it's a points distributor that has a Pertronix conversion kit so no more points. I'm a little bit in over my head on this but can I bypass the stock ignition module completely in the Z to make it all work? I'm in the process of removing the interior so I can do the pedal conversion and i'd like to get rid of as much extraneous wiring as I can while i've got everything apart. Thanks!

WTB an early 240z exhaust manifold (pre-smog). would be willing to take a later version if all of the smog holes were open (bolts / tubes removed). Send me a PM or email me at rooster287@hotmail.com.

i have that part of a 74 260z. i'd take $20 plus shipping. pm me

how about $100 for the set? this would include door locks, ignition, glove box and rear hatch as well as two ignition keys and the spare key?

i have a pair for sale. PM me for a price and pics

i have a set from my 74 260z. Send me a PM if you are interested

thanks for the replies everyone. Yes, the tires are wearing improperly at the center of the car. The current suspension doesn't appear to have been changed for a LONG time. I can't tell if the steering knuckles are messed up or not as they are still in the car - at least they aren't noticably bent. I haven't checked the play on the lower control arm ball joints but i'm sure they should be replaced at some point. I did order a new energy suspension bushing kit last night and i'll look into the ball joints today. One issue with the car is the front cross member is tweaked somewhat (bent up in a few places). not sure if this was from a collision or a bottle jack used to hoist up the car with a v8. I have a used straight crossmember which will be it's replacement. I think what I'm going to do is drop the entire front end and disassemble it. i'll then rebuild it with the urethane parts on the new cross member. Again, my concern is spending a ton of time on the front end to find that it's bent at the frame rails. If the frame rails look straight could they still be bent somehow from a collision?

stock suspension as far as i can tell. 14x6 rims. definitely not lowered

Hi, My car has an odd problem in that when one wheel is pointed straight the other wheel is off center (turned in slightly). I've checked the number of threads showing on the rack on both sides which appear to be the same as well as the number of threads showing on both radius rods. What could cause the wheels to be so noticeably off center? I'm concerned that the car might have had a front end collision of some kind although both frame rails look extremely straight. thanks Brian

Tyson I know what you mean about going cheap; it usually doesn't pay off

Tyson - ok this is just getting wierd... John - i'll give you a call today. Brian

Hi, Does anyone have a recommendation for a shop in Southern California with experience replacing Z floor pans? Both of my pans are in need of replacement and I don't have the experience / tools to do it myself. thanks!

Trevor - thanks for the information. i'll check them out.

thanks for the feedback from everyone. I think i'm just going to go with the JTR setup - it hurts to take the fresh engine out of the car and reconfigure everything but in the long run it will work out better. thanks again

looking for "hood-side" latch hardware. i have the firewall latch in place buy my hood has no latch h/w at all

Wheelman - i've been considering it. The concern I have are the "hidden" costs; the little knick-knack items that I might need to go JTR versus running what I have right now. I've never had a part fabbed in my life so I don't have any idea what kind of cost would be invovled. More importantly, I don't know if it would even work or not.

My 74 Z was converted to a SBC 350 with the NordSkog kit from the mid-80s. This kit is simliar in style to the Scarab with the distributor forward of the firewall by about 4-5 inches. Currently the car has a TH350 which I want to change over to a WC T-5. I've read through a number of posts (as well as the JTR manual) stating that the shifter will come up through the tunnel too far forward of the console hole. Since the car is already running as is, i'm looking for options to "set back" the shifter by three to four inches to get it in the right place. I did read another posting about a guy who had a "set back plate" to make a Muncie four speed work on his Scarab car. I'm not sure what something like that looks like. Am I wrong in assuming that I can have a special shifter stick fabricated with an S-bend to permit it to come up in the right spot? The other option, of course, would be to pull the console completely but i'm trying to keep the interior reasonably stock looking. Any input would be appreciated! Thank you!

UPDATE: Well I decided to go back to basics this morning and simply replace the plugs. The original plugs were NGKs and they didn't look too bad. Funny thing was after checking the NGK website, they didn't appear to be the right plugs for the chevy. So this afternoon I went to my local Kragen and bought eight new Champion plugs. After getting home I pulled an old plug to compare to a new one. The new plug is almost 3/8" of an inch LONGER! Well, after replacing all of the plugs and reattaching my timing light, my idle finally settled down on the gun. The real proof was my first spin around the block! Wow no hesitation and no backfires. In any case, it appears that the simplest fix is all it took. I really appreciate all the suggestions that were posted.

thanks for all of the responses jt1 - i didn't list it in my original post but we did check the accelerator pump to verify it was squirting fuel. the more i think about this, the more i'm suspecting a problem with the distributor. last night after I posted i put my timining light on my 87 jeep 6 cylinder to see what the RPM reading was. It was steady at 730. It's an HEI distributor so there isn't any external coil. Is there an internal coil which can be replaced on an HEI? Also, could a problem with the distributor cause the RPM readings to fluctuate like crazy at idle? Also, i'm wondering if there could be a grounding problem? The car has had a lot of hacks electrically (previous owners) and there are wires everywhere. I've got a ground from the back of the engine to the firewall. I'd like to avoid buying another distributor to prove this one is working OK if I can. I'm also going to replace the two 3/8 vacuum lines going to the distributor and transmission with new hose. The existing hose looks OK but it's rock hard. We had to do this on the transmission hoses because they were spewing tranny fluid under pressure.

Hi, I'm having problems with my freshly rebuilt 350 in my 74 Z. While parked the car idles well and has good throttle response with no misses or backfires. As soon as I put the car into drive and attempt to accelerate, I get a nasty backfire through the carb and the car wants to stall. I have to feather the accelerator to get the car up to speed. At speed the engine feels like it has no power. The engine has a 270H cam, an edelbrock 1406 carb, edelbrock air gap manifold, edelbrock alum. heads, headers and an HEI distributor. We've checked the timing without vacuum at 8 deg advanced, readjusted all of the rocker arms and adjusted the carb mixture screws to 2 turns. We've also verified the wires are going to the correct cylinders and the distributor isn't turned 180 degrees. I've check the plugs and they seem to be on the rich side (black and sooty). The plugs haven't been changed since I rebuilt the motor so I don't have any idea how many miles are on them. One strange thing is happening when we try to get a read on the RPMs. I just bought a digital timing light and we connect it to the number one cylinder. The gun won't show a consistent RPM reading at idle; the number jumps around. I don't know if this is the root cause of the engine problems but i'm suspecting that there is something going on with the distributor. The distributor is only about three months old... Any help or suggestions would be great. thank you.

thanks Scarab that helped alot!

Scarab155, do you have a P/N for the Mr. Gasket? I checked Summit and they have several drop base models. I picked up a drop base cleaner (not Mr. Gasket) and I had problems fitting it on my Edelbrock 1406 carb (fuel fitting and electric choke). thanks!

UPDATE 2: So yesterday we threw caution to the wind, fixed our leaky transmission and started the car up. The engine fired right up and we immediately started breaking the motor in for about 25 minutes. Our timing light took a dump again so we couldn't set the timing but the car ran awesome! After shutting her down and checking the valve covers for oil we buttoned the engine back up and fired it again. The engine started right up again and had a nice subtle lope at idle )) (big grins here). I think we have a winner! I wanted to thank everyone who posted and i'll be uploading pics / video in a few days.