phil280zxt

Not only does the inspection light twist off but its got enough wire to move around the engine compartment and along the sides of the Z to illuminate late night tire changes.

Jersey, From what I've seen on the Kwiklift site, you can store it flat and park on it. check out the thrid picture down on the left. http://www.kwiklift.com/compare.htm Did you buy yours new or find it used somewhere???

Mike Rowe did a piece on noodling on Dirty Jobs last year....

I'm envious, I paid three times that to have my floor pans replaced ;( Congrats!!

Jersey, great deal, always enjoyed the looks of a silver Z. I couldn't help but notice the Kwiklift in your garage, how do you like it??

I have a 55 gallon reef tank.......

Uhaul does rent car carriers, as long as you have something to tow it with.

I installed an ACT Performance Street Disk in my 81 280zxt. Just barely got it broken before the car went into winter storage. NX2-HDSS is rated at 400 ft/lbs of torque. The engagement is very strong with no chatter. The engagement point point is within a few inches of the floor and does take a little while to get used to. Can't remember where I purchased it at the moment. Can't wait to take her out in a few months!!

Gollum, I need to actually do them justice by installing both sides and taking the pictures outside with the entire car in perspective. My Z is two tone, silver over blue. The black lens accent the dark tinting of the bumpers, t-tops and the quarter and hatch windows which are also tinted. I have already installed the smoked front turn signal and side markers. I agree with those that say stock is best and I certainly don't want my to take on a "ricer" image. But, what else can one do in the middle of winter but tinker with the Z while it's hybernating?

I'm looking for input on whether I should continue with my taillight swap. The upper taillight lens on the left is from Klearz. What do you think, left or right looks best?

I've always wondered where these folks find NOS parts these days???

Dave, how much boost are you running these days?? Hard to read the gauge in the video. It looks like 15 psi or so...

Dragonfly, thanks for the link. You've now put to rest my concern regarding use of a crow's foot wrench / TW combination for adjusting values. Roughly calculated, on a 40 ft pound torque requirement, a 1/2 inch crow's foot extension would increase the actual torque by only 1 foot/pound. Well within the 36 - 43 ft/pd suggested setting for the pivot nut.

I probably will be embarrassed for asking this question, but it's bothered me for some time now. When I adjust my valves I use a crow's foot open end wrench and my click style TW. This discussion has revived my concerns that I overtightened my values due to the added offset. What is the proper manner to torque the valve nuts?

I'd suggest visiting the area before hand to help make the decision if you haven't already done so. A nice weekend trip could help reduce alot of your fears.

For a detailed drawing, download the 82 280zx FSM at Carfiche.com. The distributor illustration is in section EL of the PDF file on page EL-30. If the 82 FSM lists 'TnA' to the right, wait until the top of the hour. It should be available then....I also sent the page to you via email.

I tend to agree with teamnissan about the scarceness of early Z's in the Northeast, but there are definitely more then 10 - 20. The classic car scene in Connecticut primarily revolves around american muscle cars and for that reason imports are usually looked down upon. Though you don't see many Z's driving around on a daily basis, I do get an occassional comment, mostly, that the person either owned a Z or had a childhood friend / relative that did. I think most period Z's that ventured into the northeast were claimed by rust along long time ago. May they rest in peace.

I kill myself for having thrown away my original turbo 3.54 diff when I did my tranny swap several years ago. I swapped in the 5 speed tranny, driveshaft and diff from a NA 280zx and didn't want to deal with swapping out the driveshaft flange at the time, so now I'm stuck with the 3.9. Not enough research at the time on my part I guess. First gear on a spirited 12 psi run doesn't last too long with a 3.9 LOL. I should have just stored it away...

We pay $275 a month for my 18 year old son's 2001 Jetta 1.8T. No tickets, warnings or accidents. His only crime, being a young driver. I can't imagine what the rate would be if he did get a ticket or worse yet, get into an accident. What's bothering me now is paying that amount every month while he is away at college. He comes home every 4 or 5 weeks and drives it for the weekend. I need to look into suspending it while he is away.....

Sure will Clive!! Since the event was at the private home of a club member, I was hesitant to post it on the web. In 2006 we only had 9 or so Z's show up. But this year brought over 50! It was interesting to see the cars passing on the street, including a few porsches, slow down to look things over.

Bob Sharp attended our last Connecticut Z Car Club meet this past October. He shared lots of racing stories with those of us lucky enough to be in attendance.... Here's a link to some pictures of the event. http://www.ctzcc.com/2007outing.html

The blacked out trim sets the white off very nicely too...beautiful Z..

I"m sure you're relieved to have found the cause Dave. I must say that you're investigative skills are second to none!! You've been lucky twice now, the first time to have made it through the event and now to have found the cause. The bolt could easily have fallen out and you never would have known what caused the bind up. I'd buy a few lottery tickets tonight!!

I'm glad you and the Z managed to survive that episode Dave!! Temporary loss of steering can definitely make you approach the next few turns with increased anxiety. I've owned two vechicles in which I have experienced similiar conditions. The first was a 1987 Pontiac 6000 SE. The steering racks in this model was known to develop a small leak that allowed the seals on the push rods to dry out. If you tried to turn right when the seal was dry, you could not turn the wheel for a few seconds. I had to replace the rack twice while I owned the car. The second was my wife's 1996 Dodge Caravan. Making a right turn on to a residential street, the steering locked up momentarily. Almost took out three parked cars. Turns out there was a Chrysler recall. The problem was that the drain hose on AC would drip water on the power steering pulley while turning right. This caused the belt to slip for a few seconds and essentially rendered the steering useless.

Wow, did you bring them into the garage with the Z? or were they already residents? If they were prior garage residents, your Z sure atracts them!!