iaconsultants

It could also be you need to re-stab your distributor, in many cars you can miss by a tooth or two and the car still runs but has a lot less or no power under load. This can also cause backfire issues through the card. Another possibility is check your distributor cap (hoping it is new) and see if you already caused heavy oxidation or some burn marks. You might be running to hot a spark for your distributor, wires, and plugs combination. They can even jump post to post if there is a bad wire and a hot spark. Mixied up wires tends to cause a rough idle. A bad wire causes a dead spot idle that can also be intermittent but will usually idle fine cold and when it gets warm will start acting up and loose a little power but generally does not cause a backfire through the carb but does cause a stumbling effect. Here is a long shot if you are running a power valve in the carb then you could have blown out the power valve with one backfire and then you will keep backfiring like you are. To check the power valve is easy just remove and apply a suction with your mouth on one side and see if it holds. If not you will need to replace it. My bet is that your distributor needs to be removed and then put it back in when the car is at TDC not BDC. I have seen it before and it is an easy miss. God luck. Robert

Hello there Quick240Z did you happen to make plans for that cross member? What transmissions will it work with and do you think it will also fit the 280Z (it appears that it should). Very beefy - I like it!. Robert

Is the smell like gasoline from a gas pump or does it have a slightly different smell to it. Or third does it have a distinct burned smell to it. The first smell I would say fuel rails or fuel lines. The last would most likely be an exhaust leak probably manifold. The middle one could be a bit more tricky - head gasket streched, intake manifold leak, etc. You might be able to detect some of it by looking for fuel stains along your engine or engine bay. You could also take a small rubber hose and put one end near your hear and move the other end around your engine (while its running) to see if you hear any sucking noises (yes you can by a car stehtascope which is better and a good tool to have). If you do that is where you have a leak and under boost it would blow out not suck in. Hope that helps Robert

I had both a 73 240Z and a 77 280Z that both had cruise control on them also. Both worked and looked the same. They where mounted along the driverside of the engine bay. You had to have a second speedo cable one went from the transmission to the cruise control unit and the second went from the cruise control to the speedo. I believe it had a small 4 pin electrical (its been 20 years so I am not sure on the connector right now). The blinker metal rod was replaced/ stripped of the knob end and this plastic piece slid over the end and the wires where tie wrapped with two or three tie wraps. Out cruise control came the throttle adjustment portion which had a flat slotted end on it. This was mounted to the same location as each of the stock throttle positions but I believe one was on the other side of the mounting area. either way it pulled from the same pivot location for both those cars. It is a veary simple unit and the speedo cables would need to be replaced every few years because they should have been mounted with a little angle to them because they would basically cause like a kink near the control unit and with the exhaust heat it would fail. I did find out it was a dealer add on with one of the cars because I had the original purchase order and it showed on there (77 280Z). I would like to find another one of these units and have tried but the dealers don't know what they where or how to get them and most Z's did not come with them. I just got lucky with 2 out of 14 Z's that I have had. They where basically all mechanical since they where running constantly as the transmission would spin and the electronic part was simply to turn it on or off and set cruise. If I remember right there was no resume on them. I hope that helps

Well in some ways you are told correct that you can not buy epoxy primer but you can buy the regular epoxy paint which in effect is useless without having the epoxy primer. Epoxy primer is a mixture of a epoxy yellow color pigment and a catalyst which is very toxic and therefore can not be sold to individuals. There are a few companies that do buy this stuff on a regular basis which are military contractors (Raytheon, Northrop, Boeing, etc. and some ship building companies). The paint works well for brake parts and wheel hubs (I used it myself and still have a small amount left for touch ups). The problem with this paint is that it is better to cure it with an oven than trying to air dry because the primer has to usually dry for about 48 hours and the desired color coat has to once again dry another 48 hours. With an oven you can be finished in about 4 to 6 hours. With a 12 hour wait between coats for cooling. Epoxy paint makes a very glossy paint coat which would supprise you based on how chalk looking the yellow primer coat will look. I liked it a lot for my brakes and I will probably use it for my steering rack but I would suggest not using it. Sorry if it sounds like talking out of both sides of my mouth but you should know some negative things about the epoxy paint. 1) it is like a glue that will get in places you don't want it and you have to chip it away or pick it out with a sharp object. 2) It can get chipped off fairly easily 3) It is atoxic chemical and you have to buy a licensed customer to buy it. 4) you will get runs and drips and you can not stop that unless you have all the special paint equipment, which you need a license for. 5) temperature range is up to around 300 degrees on a non-flexible or expansive surface which means sold steels not for radiator end caps because it will crack and chip off. 6) both the colored epoxy final coat and the primer have two parts that need to be mixed to work and must be mixed close to instructions. If you want to know more drop me a line. Also you can buy epoxy spray paint at home depot (I believe Lowes also) but they do not have primer so you will have to clean everything very well. Robert

That link is very interesting, I figured you guys would like this one also and they are running 9.5 psi boost a little more than what you are looking for but a very clean installation http://turbochargedpower.com/Corvette.htm

Just some information that you may want to know. 6 to 8 psi is not a lot of forced induction to run on an engine. In general you can run that much boost on a stock motor without it comming apart on you. The general rule has been keep the boost 10 or below on a stock type of engine with stock compression. When you run 12 pounds of boost and upwards you will need to start doing more things to your engine and the higher the boost goes the exponentially it goes up (intercoolers, water and/or meth injection, grooving the head and/or block, pistons, valves, rods, polishing chambers and the list goes on) I have done many different set-ups and if you are just hoping to put together a motor and placing a supercharger on it then sorry to say you are going to have a big learning event. You are lucky in a lot of ways because there are people in your area that have a great amount of knowledge on forced induction. The best guy to locate in the Dallas area would be a guy named Corky Bell, he has written a few books on the subject and you was the owner or Cartech Turbo Industries some years ago (I don't think it exists any more) Back when I talked to him a lot and created a straight six monster that had up to 30 psi of boost on it, which was in a 77 280Z. My suggestion is first read up on turbo charging and supercharging. Get a really good understanding on what it does and what the weak points are on your engine. I have just seen to many bad things with people trying this and not knowing what they are doing, like I said I have worked on and designed these systems for cars and am currently designing one now. Running higher compressions will not be a good idea, especially if you do not go all the way through the engine. I will see if I can find some pictures of some destroyed engines and cars that might let you understand better. I am in Dallas frequent so if you would like you can bounce some ideas off me and I will let you know some things you will need to do to make it more a daily driver.

I would love to hear the results of buying from these guys on EBAY. have been looking at their motors along with many others and I just wonder if they play games like some of the people I tried buying cars from EBAY. I bought one but won 5 and always something happened to the car when I said I would fly out and pick the car up and pay face to face with cash. I really hope that the engine purchase works well for you and please post how it turns out because these guys could end up getting a lot more business. I my self am looking for an LS6, auto trans (wifes choice), and all the accessories. I keep hoping to buy a wrecked car to pull it from but these guys in Bristol, PA might be worth a shot. Also, you might want to take a pole of to see how many others would like a similar deal from them and maybe they would cut a deal if a few wanted engines and would buy from them. I would be very interested my self if I could find the combination I am looking for. Just a thought and if you are convinced they are good to deal with, well this could work for many. Good luck Robert

My wife and I have a 78 Zbut it is still in LA, but should make the trip back here soon. We are on the hunt for a LS6 that we are going to drop in. I was thinking about doing the JTR mounts for the trans and then having some custom mounts built for the engine to keep it really low. Let me know if you guys are interested in a little extra business in welding and fitting. I will be glad to help out anywhere I can on my end. I know these old Z fairly darn well. Take care Robert

Before you go buying anything do this first. Pull the starter out of the car. Clamp it to a 2x4 so that you or a budy can handle it when it tries to start. Connect it back to your battery and all the other connections. Try starting it then. If the starter spins then your starter passed the first test. If not try using jumper cables from your battery to start it. If it starts running at that time that means your cables are bad. If still not try connecting to a battery that you know is good. If then it starts you know it is your battery. If it started in the first test where you strapped it to a 2x4 then you could try a burn test. get an old woden hammer handle or something wood that you can push with in that area. Start the starter running with jumper cables and try to stop it from spinning with the wood handle. I know this sounds strange but if it keeps running and smokes, or burns the wood handle then your starter is fine. If you have tested all this and it still does not crank over your engine, well sad to say but it will be a much more serious problem. If so drop me a line and I will walk you through some other tests and then you will know what is gone bad. I hope this helps. Robert

Its like the other's have said about it is what someone thinks it is worth. I have seen some rusted out falling apart V8 Z's go for between 3 and 7 thousand, which people actually paid for. One was Blue with white strips and the rus was so bad that it was the only thing holding the car together. I have also seen some really nice V8 z setups go for 1K to 22K. The one K was a steel for someone. The one thing that I have noticed is that each of the V8 Z's I have seen, I determined that there were things done that I really did not care for. It just turns out that doing it on your own will cost you more but you end up with what you want and not how most just piece it together because they were trying to save a few dollars. The best thing I can say is take your time determine what you want and how you want it and keep looking, because you will either find it our decide it is just better to do it yourself.

They are from a company that no longer is out there it was called Bob Sharp Racing. The front fenders are complete fiberglass and I wish they were still around and making them because they were very good quality and I never had any cracks in the Gel coat in the 7 or 8 years I had that car. Sorry I don't have good news except what company made them. I still have their old cataloge but that company is gone and another business has the number.

I also live in Texas (Houston area), if he is making the GTU-Z kit I would be very interested and I know of a possible two others. Also it depends on what he wants to charge for it. BUt if there is some kind of road trip pick up in the future and the GTU-Z kit is good to go (price also), then count me in and I'll do my part to chip in.

There use to ba a cage company back in the early to mid 80's that made what they called either "Hidden Cages" or "Invisiable Cages" or something like that. They where SCCA approved and a bit on the costly side at the time. They did a great job making cages, which I did see one in a old 240Z and there was a easy to remove door access set of bars for those ladies that do not like hoping over the bars. I can't remember much more about the cages but I do remember that the tubes where not round going across the roof line and done the rear pillars. They fit very nice and you had to look for them to see them. I know I dated myself with this one but I would like to find this type of cage again and based upon some of the comment in this thread it seems that some probably would get what they wanted from the same type of cage. Oh by the way the 240Z that I saw was Yellow and in College Station Texas and the cage was not owner made but was bought. It may have been made to his dimensions but its been a long time since I saw it and talked to the person. I'll try to search the internet for the cages and if they are still around I will post it. Hope this helps

Yes I was talking about the MSA Motorsports brake setup for the 280Z's. Just wanted others to know there are options to buying the 130 240Z brake cable and also making the conversion much easier.

Just a note you all, I just did a complete 4 disk heavy duty front disc brakes along with Motorsports rear brake conversion. They state that you need to use a 240Z emergency brake cable to replace the ones in the 280Z and I think the 260Z also. Well you don't need to replace the entire cable at all. You simply need to get the ends of the 240Z emergency brake cable. Next you make a small cut through to the brake cable catch area. Once that is done spread the metal apart a little, insert the 280Z brake cable end and use a pair of plyers or vice grips to squeeze the metal you seperated apart before. This works well and then you simply need to adjust the park brake adjustments on the cable "U" side and the park brake lever. It worked very well for me and I did not have to deal with spending 130 dollars for a 240Z brake cable or removing my 280Z cable from the tunnel area. I did have to remove the mounts for the cable behind the rearend but I just remounted the cable before the halfsahfts and out of the way. Hope this helps

I would also be interested in a set especially if we could get much stronger u-joint bearings pressed in to the ends with the flanges. Count me in if anyone is going to make a machining run.

I ad a 77 280z with more money in it than I care to remember. I twin turbo charged a 280Z motor with aluminum rods, aluminum flywheel, special ground and machined engine parts, Body kit, Fully adjustable suspension, Frame strengthening, Hidden and blended cage. The car was set for racing and would definitely do over 160 mark on an oval. I will see if I can find the slips of the oval track time runs, so that when you see the slips your mouth will drop. I did that about 15 years ago or so in Texas. Would I do it again, No way in hell. Way to much money in the car over 30K not including the car that was very clean. Driving at that speed, everything about the road seems very small. I did do a lot of ground effects to the car including under the car to get it there. Unless you have money to burn and a lot of talent with metal forming to reduce lift and drag, I would not go there. But yes it can be done and you will be able to break the tires loose in all 5 gears. These days to repeat what I did would probably be 60K or more and I had a lot of friends helping me out and saving money. Sorry if this is a downer but if you have never reached 160 or around 180 mph, you have no idea what things are like. 120 miles per hour is fun and can be easy to reach and fun. The difference between 20 mph to 120 mph is almost the difference you would feel doing about 160 to 180, this is based upon my experiences.

Nice start for the kit, but it is too bad that you are not going to complete it, while it is nice you are going to work on a V8Z. I just wanted to let you know that you are very correct in being concerned with buying on Ebay. I won 5 Z cars on Ebay and only have one of those and I saw that one before I bought it (I was in the town to see it). I found out that if you are intending to go pick up the car and bring the cash with you, the fake ones drop out fast. One said they wrecked the car while taking one last drive in it, another said the car was stolen (turned out to be true this case), another said that someone locally just bought it, and the funniest one was from a guy, that said he drives it like a grandmother, he said he threw a rod while driving it to his parents house and they live about 10 minutes away. Must have been speed freak tire smoking Grandma that he was referring to. In any case there are a variety of places to search for possible cars and Ebay is one but here are some others. http://www.zcar.com/classifieds http://www.collectorcartraderonline.com and do a search on yahoo for cars for “Datsun Z for sale†I also have one (Black 76 280Z) I am going to either sell or part out or something and you can see if it works for you, but the only bad part is that it is in Arcadia near LA but here is the link - http://iaconsultants.tripod.com The best thing I can suggest if you are looking for a car is find one near you that you can look at. If that is not possible and you think you found a car you might want see if you know someone that lives there and have them look at the car for you. Make sure they realize what you are needing when it comes to the condition of the car. Also, if the car is in LA or Houston, let me know and I will take some pictures and describe it the best I can and let you know if it is workable. Think about what you are going to do with the car like V8 conversion so the motor and trans do not need to be there or even work. If you are going to do flare work then you can except rust in areas that you are going to remove anyway. If you fine to your requirements you can probably find a really good deal and the owner will be glad to part with it easily. Well I hope this helps Robert

I have a 240Z that is upside down right now, I can try to take some pictures and place a ruler so you can get some ideas. Let me know and I will try to do this in the next few days since I will be out there working on taking that car apart the rest of the way and dump the remains. Robert

Some of my friends in the past bought some $44 dollar army Jeeps. The engine was filled completely with oil and they were in storage for over 15 years that we knew for sure. This has been a while ago. They bought 5 and basically made two work with all the parts. I know I had a block with Luberplate that was covered inside and out with that mess for about 3 years and we made it work with little effort. Robert

Some of my friends in the past bought some $44 dollar army Jeeps. The engine was filled completely with oil and they were in storage for over 15 years that we knew for sure. This has been a while ago. They bought 5 and basically made two work with all the parts. I know I had a block with Luberplate that was covered inside and out with that mess for about 3 years and we made it work with little effort. Robert

To let everyone know. I have used this type of product along with a variety of products that you have to mix and create the same foam as foam in a can. Here are some of the applications that I and others have used it on. Cars, boats, planes, and houses. I myself used it with a 280Z that I flared using fiberglass. The answer is it does not create additional rust. I did it back in the mid 80's and checked with the guy that bought the Z today and he said the car is still perfect with no rust. Even the area that was hit in an accident about two years ago he had fixed and they put foam in a can back in that area again. He did mention that based upon the policeman at the accident that the foam in the rear quarter area and sills helped reduce that impact he took in the accident. When I added the foam in the 80's it was to help fill in areas that always made the car sound so hollow when driving on cement cracked highways. The foam reduced the road noices and helped improve the sound of the stereo, especially the bass quality. Also for those of you that did not know that many of the trailer homes roofs are held in place with a mixed and sprayed on foam in a can chemical. This works to glue down the roof. I have gone to one of the plants and actually seen how they do the construction of these. Sorry to burst the rust bubble but the foam in the can will not add or cause it to rust. All-weld boats, I believe is the company makes AL and steel welded boats (like John boats). Guess what they use to fill in areas, you bet foam in a can (one big can, lol, actually they mix it too). I know it is hard to accept using this stuff because it seems like such a hack job, but it works and does a good job even for things that it was not made for. Hope this helps Robert

Well sorry to say if you lower a car and run 225/45/17's, then the tires will rub in both the front and the back. It will catch in the back on the inner lip at the top of the wheel wheel. It will rub in two places on the front fenders. the biggest rub will be in a turn while hitting a bump. It will rub near the front edge of your fender. Sorry but I know that will happen with 225/45/17's on a 78 280Z. Hope this helps. Robert

Hello there, I am just a little taller than you two. I am 6'8" tall and fit fine in the standard Z seats but my wife on the other hand is 5'3" (well maybe a little less). She says she only sees the wipers and the the road a bit further away. I was wondering if either the Miata or the CrX or any seats that fit have height adjustment to go above the stock Z seat height and a low of either the stock Z height or a little lower. Thanks for the help in advance. Robert