clutchdust

Sure there is. I don't know jack about fiberglassing to steel. Hoping somebody here knows.

Sorry if this has been covered but I just haven't waded through 10 pages of responses. So what if I wanted to fiberglass them in?

I should probably ask anyone who responds to PM me so I know you've posted. zguy, can you e-mail me pics of both with what you want for each? E-mail me at clutch_dust *at* hotmail.com (insert @ where it belongs)

I feel your pain on the gas situation, bro. My car sat for some 14 years with a 1/4 tank of gas before I got hold of it. Like you, I thought very hard about just replacing the tank all together it was that bad. I had it cleaned FOUR times by shops here in town, not even counting the times I had it out and douched it myself. Just in the last couple weeks have I finally gotten it more or less cleaned out. I am using one of those clear glass strainers too, at least until this problem is fixed. At least it's easy to see when it gets clogged and easy to remove and clean it.

Thanks, I'll look into those. As for being careful, I got you beat and have the scar to prove it.

Looking good so far. Question for you. You welded in the "Bad Dog" frame rails, do those go over/replace the factory subframe connectors? I have some pretty serious rust issues in my floorpans right there where the subframes end in floorpan. Those appear to go the full length of the body so I'm wondering if I can just cut out the rotten floorpans and subframes in mine, weld in flat sheet for the floorpans and replace the original subframes with those. Also, what gauge sheetmetal did you use for the rear deck lid? I have to do the same thing on mine. Any tips? Still kind of new to the resto part of these cars so I'm just trying to come up with a plan of attack.

Hi all, I've been around for a little while but I'm just now getting this little '72 in condition to show (not like car show, just be seen in it) and drive. It's actually my g/f's car, but I have a '73 sitting in a field about 80 miles from here. It's been a long haul on it so far. The car came from Colorado back in the early 90's and sat in the same field for a number of years, about 14 before I took the project on. The Gas issues I had from that long a time were unbelievable. The fuel tank has been flushed four times by local shops not to mention the three or four times I've had the tank down and hosed it out myself. It's just now getting to where the funk is tapering off. The gas was such a problem that I ended up tossing the original motor. When I put fresh gas in the tank, it reconstituted the funk from the old gas, which in turn started to hang intake valves. I probably could have just pulled and rebuilt the head but a local guy was giving away a L26 so I took the good L24 block and put the L26 rotating assembly in it. The L26 block was just too worn and would have required boring, the L24 just needed a good hone. It's a little loose but within specs. I also ditched the SUs and put on an Arizona Z intake and MSA 3-2 header. The ignition is a pertronix with an old Accel coil I had from another project. I reringed the block, fresh bearings, oil pump, chain, tensioner and guides. I had a fit with the lights, specifically the tail/turn lights. Turns out the switch was the culprit and after more than one rebuild, I have it working reliably. Sadly, the car has cancer. Both floorpans need some attention with the driver's side being the worse. I also have this nasty spot just above the driver's rear wheel which I suspect was originally body damage but the rust is cracking through the Bondo. I found a 5-speed I popped in it but it needs rebuilt as 2nd gear synchro is less than stellar. It also leaks a pretty healthy amount of oil from the tail shaft, but these are relatively easy fixes. I want to "resto mod" the car so the body will stay fairly close to stock. Since I have so much rust over that wheel I will likely take the opportunity to blend in some subtle flairs but otherwise, the body is probably going to stay more or less the way it looks. Without further pontification on my part... Here's some bodywork that needs repair thanks to my neighbor's F250. Which sucks, but it's not like I don't have bodywork to do anyway. Here's the telltale sign of deeper problems. And I thought this was kind of a fun and different way to do the throttle. So far, about 200 miles, no problems with it. Funny how the sound is delayed in the video but the throttle is actually pretty snappy.

I need a hood to fit a '72. Don't care what year it's off as long as it's straight and rust free. Would REALLY like something in or around Vegas, but SoUtah/Arizona/SoCal, we can figure something out.

So now that you've shown it off, what's the plan? Resto? Mod? Sell? Part?

Hmmm, two years vs. six years. Brief story, I am only now getting mine reliable after it having sat for FOURTEEN years with gas in the tank. I dropped the tank and had a shop chemically clean it FOUR times, in addition to the times I dropped it and hosed it out myself. The crust in the tank was so bad that when I put fresh gas in it, it would reconstitute the gunk from the old gas. A result was this sticky, tar-like gas that coated the intake valves. It started sticking one valve open, then two and so on. It got so bad that I just decided to rebuild the engine all together. Even after that I have still been battling rust and particles in the gas. I have a strainer before my (electric) fuel pump and started out only getting <1 mile before the strainer would plug up. Now I'm up to about 10 miles before I lose fuel. So my amateurish advice, drop and clean the tank FIRST.

Wow, I just came back to the forum and look what you've gone and done! Great, now I have all these new ideas and even more work to do. Seriously, very, very nice work. The color choice wouldn't be mine, but the Mrs really likes it so we may paint hers that or something very similar. I would like to have a better idea of what you did to repair your floorpans and that rear deck lid as I have rust there as well. If you can spare the time, I would appreciate pics. Let me know and I'll forward you my e-mail.

I'm considering something very similar for my track car, but plan on using c4 calipers. They're dirt cheap and plenty big enough for such a light car. Plus they're closer in size to some factory rotor offerings. For a track car, or even a street car, I like the idea of being able to into just about any parts store in the country and having a good chance at finding what I need. The c4 brakes are still common enough and there are some really good pads available. Don't know if I'd be so hip on the wheels though. You're going to need some seriously fat flares to cover those things up. Not to mention having to change the hubs to accommodate the 5 lug pattern. But post up pics when you're done!

Looks good to me but I'm surprised these cars are getting that kind of value. I might consider selling mine! Any ideas how long it sat? I can tell you horror stories of about bad gas.

I will contribute my meager opinion and please, take it for nothing more that that. I'm no expert in Z-cars, I come here to learn from everyone else. However, I lived in Japan for a year courtesy of Uncle Scam. One thing I learned while living there is that the manufacturers just didn't put that much time or expense into chassis longevity. Part of the reason is that the climate is so humid that rust starts just about the day the car rolls off the assembly line. The other factor is Japanese regs preventing people from using the same engine in excess of 40,000 (maybe 60,000?) miles. The result is most people just replace the car at that point. The Japanese mentality has been that their automobiles are a wear item. The idea of collectibility is a much newer concept there. As such, until recently, the manufacturers just didn't put a lot of expense into anything to make it last past that 40k (or 60k) mark. To the manufacturer, what good is a pristine chassis if the motor has to be removed? The main reason we're seeing Japanese cars from the 80's and 90's in as good a shape as they are, and comparatively better shape now than earlier cars were at the same age, is because of the large portion they are now importing stateside. We expected them to last longer and now those manufacturers are building them to last longer. But now they build them all to last longer, not just the ones they import over here. My $.02. Your mileage may vary.

I'm in Vegas and would prefer to meet rather than ship so AZ, south UT or SoCal is good. Should say the shipping thing is mostly about the hood. I need a hood and left side head light bucket for my '72. Just need to be in good shape, don't care about color. Please e-mail me if you have items for sale. Substitute @ where appropriate: compressorguy*at*hotmail.com

I'm no expert but I can't see why it wouldn't. The interiors are just not that different. Let me know if it doesn't though, because I need a rollbar for my 240.

Alright, instead of staring a new thread I figure I'll just give this one a bump. So I "overhauled" the switch and now the switch works correctly. I also took the time to go through the turn signal switch and do the same, little fine (2000g) sandpaper to the contacts and a little dielectric grease. So the switches are fine, but now, when I turn on my turn signals, something is causing the turn signal bulb and the brake light bulb to flash alternately. I haven't really done any more wiring to this car, especially to the lights, so I don't know what the hell is up now. Anybody have similar experience? And found the problem? I guess it's time to break out the colored pens and the Haynes schematic again.

My spidy senses tell me there's more to what you're thinking. Besides, as I see it, the wire I'm talking about, the one you wired around is the supply voltage for the parking lights. I fear there may be smoke in your future. I get spark, and a sizable one at that, by jumping to that supply wire even when the switch is off. That's a short. I think my next step to confirm that suspicion will be to simply remove that wire and jumper straight from my headlight supply into that terminal. If I'm right, I should have a normally functioning switch. If I'm wrong, I will report so. [EDIT] As promised, I stand corrected. The blue and green wire is, indeed, the power wire to the parking lights. It appears that somewhere in that harness it simply loses it's 12v. Hopefully, it's not actually shorting out but I would expect blown fuses and smoke. When I traced it out from it's fuseblock source, I get 12v but lose that somewhere between the fuse and the terminal on the switch. I'll just do the jumper until I really feel like pulling the dash apart and finding out. NOTSURE, you're right.

Thanks guys. I'm in the ball park with you. Where I've been testing is that one in the picture on the lower left. If I jumper from the red/white to that one (green/yellow), I get my lights but there's enough of a spark that makes me believe I have some kind of short. Of course, it's almost impossible to trace that wire without pulling the dash apart. And I can't figure out in the cheesy Haynes wiring diagram where it actually terminates inside the car. I will hit all four terminals with a soldering iron but I currently don't believe any of them are loose. I will jumper if required but I would prefer to actually fix the problem and have things work as designed. Oh the joys of working on ~40 year old cars.

Did a search but the only thing I came up with different than what I've done is the rheostat under the dash. How do you remove that thing anyway? So here's what I have: Headlights Brake lights Flashers Here's what I don't have: Parking lights Turn signals Dash lights Here's what I've done: Pull the column switch apart and clean the contacts. I jumpered across the switch from the power on my headlight switch and I get everything ***BUT*** there is a pretty fair spark that accompanies that jumper so I think I'm done with that. At least I've confirmed that all the lights are, indeed, good. I have ohmed out the switch and I get what looks like a short on the blue/green wire when the switch is off and on both when the switch is turned on. Anybody else already been down this road???

yes, the car has been smacked at some undetermined point in its life. are there reproduction subframes/floorboards available, or is this a "fab as you go" kind of deal?

i searched and found a thread where a guy is making new subframes and floorboards. is that what i'm going to have to do? check out the damage below and tell me if there's a source for replacement floorboards/subframes. i have minor welding skills. i have other parts but these are the worst. looks like the whole drivers side just over the rear wheel has been caved in. that's rusting and i have some pretty bad rust on the rear hatch lid. i didn't get pictures of that but it's "push-your-thumb-through-it" bad.

thanks guys. i especially appreciate the comments on how clean it looks. and here i've been preparing to defend the ugliness of my engine bay. i was even going to put in a disclaimer about needing to clean up the engine bay. i haven't had any indication of a cable issue with it, unless by habit i hit the throttle on the carb. then the cable falls off the pulleys. as long as i use the lever on the firewall (or the gas pedal) i have yet to have a problem. of course, i don't even have 20 miles on it since getting this motor running so i'm still in the "validation" phase. now i just need to run a full length pipe and a steel fuel line across the engine bay and clean up the wiring and......

i put the arizona Z intake and 390 holley on my rebuild. i was trying to figure out how i was going to work the throttle. i could have done a simple sheathed cable but why when there's an opportunity to make it 'cool'. did i succeed? http://s536.photobucket.com/albums/ff330/clutchdust/?action=view&current=SS854326.flv [EDIT] if you want to give me some pointers on how to embed photobucket videos i'm all ears.

i've been looking around so if this has come up before, kindly link please. i have five notches on my balancer but they're not marked with any degrees or other indication. i'm also using a fixed timing indicator like what most of the SBC's use, where it has notches and is marked to indicate 0, 2, 4, 6* etc. problem is, i don't know which of the notches on the balancer matches the TDC on the crank, and the spacing is such that i believe they're too close for me to determine without pulling the head, afixing a degree wheel and going through the process. it would be far easier if one of you knew which notch indicated zero so i don't have to go through all of that. TIA