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The background looks like the Nevada desert - is that picture from the black rock desert where they do the burning man festival?

I paid $300 for my early '74 260z. The car had been sitting for who knows how long in a field, had to pump up the tires and put a battery in it but it started and drove onto the trailer. It is mostly rebuilt now and am just saving for a new engine and trans.

You need to remember that the situation in New Orleans is unique. One of the big differneces between this disaster and others is that many of the people that lived in NO were shipped to other areas and never went back. A lot of the houses in those pictures belong to people that are gone and do not intend to return. There is no one that has an intrest in seeing it rebuilt or to push the cleanup process along. In other areas, after a huricane they rebuild and live in their house again - or rebuild, sell and then move. I think (opinion time!!) a unique solution needs to be tried. The state needs to step up - buy everyone out - bulldoze everything and start over and then resell the property to people that want to live there.

Its not that bad. I like the overall shape and like the tail lights. The lambo doors are dumb and the interior is ugly. Still undecided about the concept camaro front end look.

She is supposed to be pushing - why am I sitting still?

These are definantly round tops. If I recall correctly the round tops came in two versions - I think the earlier ones had four screw holding the piston dome on, later ones had three screws. Mine have three screws. I thought they started the flat tops in 74 - "missed by that much".

Background: I have an early 74 260z with what I believe to be 73 round top carbs. They are the three screw stye. I ordered rebuild kits and they come with two needle valve housings, one is just about 1/8 inch longer than the other. In rebuilding the carbs I found that the front carb had the shorter valve and rear one had the longer valve. Is this correct or should they both be the same length??? Seems to me that they should be the same length as long as they floats are adjusted to the recomended 9/16" spacing. I did a search on the forums and found nothing and not reference was made in the rebuild kit instructions or in my cheesy manual.

Has anyone ever tried seasoning their exhaust manifold? You know, like you do with a dutch oven. Just spray it with some vegitable oil and let it cook to a nice petina instead of that ugly rust color. I read on a motorcycle forum that spraying your chromed engine with wd-40 will shine things up really nice - I think I might try seasoning my exhaust. It would smoke a little at first but then turn to a nice black and nothing would stick to it. any thoughts???

Thanks, I will give it a go.

When I took my rear end apart to rebuild it I decided it would be a good idea to take the exhaust pipe off to get it out of the way. In doing so, two of the three bolts that hold the exhaust pipe to the exhaust manifold broke. I have been reading on other threads about some ez out tool that everyone hates - I probably wont try that. Drilling and tapping seems to be the most successful method of broken bolt removal (with varying degrees of a good outcome) I asked a mechanic friend of mine about this and he suggested that I melt the screws out of the manifold with a torch. His point is that the screws will melt at a lower temperature than what the manifold will melt at. The screw will melt and drip out, leaving the manifold intact. Has anyone ever heard of doing this or actually tried it??? Seems like it may work, but I don't want to turn my manifold into a smoldering pool of goo. Any comments??

I tried to get the lighters from the supplier for my business and they are no longer made. I have the 2006 Zippo catalog and they are not in there. Sure would like to find some.

I just watched the Pinks episode for the first time and my impression is that I would never do business with any of the people from the Monte Carlo team. What a bunch of lying sacks.

I did mine with a stain and epoxy clear coat and I think it looks wonderful. I applied it almost a year ago and it is holding up well. Over all I like it very much and would do it again but there are a few issues with it. It is not as indistructable as they claim. I have several deep scratches in mine from dragging things around. I do put down thin pieces of plywood when using jack stands. No peeling though. I spilled stale gas on the floor and didn't clean it up right away and it left a kind of hazzy looking spot. It is very slippery when wet. On the good side it is very easy to clean up. Dust sweeps off easily and I occationally mop it and it looks fantastic afterwards. I also get a lot of good comments about it. I had some wood delivered to my house and put it in the garage - I thought the delivery guy would notice the Z car but all he noticed was the floor. Again, I like it and would do it again, I believe there are some pictures of my garage floor in the albums.

I bought my first z, a 71, in the early 80's. I had been looking for a 60's camaro but could not find one so I started expanding my options. I found a z car with some psyco paint job that I thought was neat but it got sold out from under me. The one I did buy belonged to a guy that had lost his job and was selling his toys off. Paid about $800 for it. It ran well but was crappy in every other way. Took it on several road trips and had a lot of good times in it. Didn't do much maintenance on it because I was always poor. Eventually I ended up parking it thinking that I would rebuild it someday. Never happened, ended up giving it away after trying to sell it with no success. They guy I gave it to gave it back to me a while ago and it is a worse piece of junk than ever. One of these days I will rebuild it........

my 260z has the rear suspension torn out of it with most of the pieces sitting in the parts washing tank. Urethane bushings are waiting patiently to be put in. Deciding if I should powder coat the suspension pieces or just paint them. Also cleaning up some of the underside of the car. I am amazed at how clean this car is for how old it is. There are a few scrapes on the underside of the floor pans and on the gas tank form somebody taking it four wheeling or whatever but still in very good shape. Thinking about doing coil overs while it is all apart but am afraid of the "while I'm at it" syndrome. Then on to the front suspension.

when you own more than one car for each day of the week - how do you decide which car to drive?

My garage is 30 x 36 and I could use more space. Go as bid as you can - space disapears real fast.

Makes me wonder what it would look like to graft the gto nose onto the subtle z fenders???

I don't think it makes the best looking 4x4. I've seen a lot of others, fiats, camaros, vegas, etc.. that look a lot better.

Haven't seen LeMans in years and don't remember it very well. Ronin????? Italian job was good and the newer version isn't half bad. Wasn't Wraith a spacy "get revenge on the people that killed you by racing them" type movie? How about Corvette Summer! (I don't know how to do the puke icon). Whenever I watch the Herbie movies now I just watch the racing scenes.

Fast and Furious movies are ok. The one I really liked, but can hardly remember because it has been so long since I've seen it, is Vanishing Point. I don't even remember the story line but when he smashes into the dozers as the end is something I always remember. I also like the beginning of Cannonball Run, another lame movie, when the HP is chasing the Lamborghini. Are there any really "good" car movies? Gone in 60 seconds - nice cars but lame. Bullit - supposed to be a classic but I don't remember seeing it. Smokey and the Bandit - funny but still pretty lame. Can't think of any more right now.

20 years ago when I was in high school I had a friend that had a '64 Rambler that I would help with and he would help me with my '48 Willys cj2a. Since then it has been the "loner" situation. Lately my brother has gotten into cars so I help him. I don't get a lot of help in return but that is normal in my family.

I like it. Nice shape and compact size. I have been trying to teach myself to play guitar for a while and am not progressing very well. I think I dabble in too many things to be good at any one thing. Any plans to produce anything like your guitar for sale?

Popular Mechanics did an article on several "GAS SAVERS" (including the Tornado) a few months ago and found that none of them worked. In fact they lowered gas milage in most cases. They even said that one of the devices they tested was "Dangerous" as it almost caused a fire. In the case of the Tornado --- turbulance = bad air flow = not good.

Page 42 of the catalog has a picture of a chopped z. Very nice. What is the conversion rate for the Yen?