A. G. Olphart

Problem could be too much fuel pressure... got a regulator?

You need a friend at the county court house... several possible angles. If this was a tax lien sale, you may be able to get the winning bidders name etc. from the people at the county who held the sale. The tax assessor's office may have a map which ties street addresses to parcel numbers; they may also have the new owners name and address for tax purposes. If not, perhaps they can give you a parcel number, and the registrar's office may be able to help you find who holds that parcel. Don't know if these terms hold nationwide, but you get the idea. Happy hunting.

If you mailed the cashier's check, might the Feds be brought in on the mail fraud aspect? Have you contacted the law? (I know, they just issue traffic tickets).

If you crank/start the engine with the cooler lines off at the radiator, they will tell you which is pressure. There may be some small advantage to hooking the pressure side to the top fitting; since the hot water enters from the top of the tank, the bottom of the radiator may be slightly cooler, but not by much in a cross flow radiator. I'd just hook them whichever way is easier.

Lessthan- Why not use adapters on your tranny cooler? As to the lack of hood space: Is it warm enough in your area that you could cut off the choke housing and affix a 90 degree adapter? Then run hose to a cold air intake/external filter?

Have you searched through the fuel delivery section in the "Engine Components" forum? I've never owned a FI car, so have no real expertise, however... everyone has opinions. You may be lucky enough that a simple filter change could do it (cheap to try), but a fuel pump or fuel injection system problem seems more likely. Is there a way to safely check fuel pump delivery volume? (FI pump pressures are high enough to splash gasoline everywhere if the pump is working properly and a line is just pulled off). Good luck...

As mentioned above, a slipping clutch first makes itself known in the highest gear under heavy load, when the most engine torque is being transferred. If/when a clutch goes away, it is sometimes possible to limp home in low gear as only minimal engine torque is needed to keep the car rolling... gear train torque multiplication again.

I took the stubs out of my R200 last week (to put on a set of 280 cv style half shafts); the passenger side had the longer splined shaft, and the driver's side was the shorter one.

Looks good! An excellent starting point.

Good deal Jake! You will certainly have a fun car; that is a given. Is it the early 260 (240 style), or late (280 style)? I don't travel as far as you, but make a lot of 2-3 day jaunts and a few of the 2-3 month variety. Got home again this evening and found your post. In keeping with your stated intent/goal of keeping it inexpensive, I like the 327 with the sportsmans and the 200-R4. If you plan on any highway driving the TH350 could get old real soon. Not a problem for a warmed 327 (except maybe gas mileage and noise levels). Here is a list of Z diff ratios... http://www.geocities.com/inlinestroker/ratio.html. So now you have lots of time to plan and come up with "While I'm at its" to raise the ante... by the way, how are the brakes?... does it have an R200?... paint and interior?... maybe a little suspension work? Again, welcome to the world of Z's.

Well Charlie, you hung in there... maybe there is still hope for my Z.

That, fellows, is a little modest. Jake is one of the stalwarts on the tranny forum at turbobuick.com: Definitely no newby, so don't let his post count fool you. Welcome, Jake... Good to see you posting here (don't know how I missed your earlier posts; must have zoned as to which board I was reading).

We did the same sort of thing (used a flexible boot between the air cleaner and cowl vent tunnel) on a 72 Chrysler due to underhood tenps in CA's central valley. It works OK, but it also sucks in a fair number of autumn leaves and other trash.

Hybrid Z's are Wild Rice!

Congratulations, Best Wishes... and please remember: Due to perspective, meeting her half way always involves going farther than you think.

Joel, it is Great to hear that you (and your cars) are OK. I hope the damage to your home isn't too extensive, and that you will be able to get things back to normal before too long. Best wishes...

Olie05- Mr. Coffey may correct me on this... but I think there is a technical rationale for having the tightly wound coils at the top: at the top, they act mostly as sprung weight. Would the difference be noticeable? I doubt it- it would take an extremely well calibrated buttometer.

The OZ 260's must really be different... AFIK we in the USA only had 260s in 1974. Early part of the year were 240 sized, later ones 280 sized. Each owner has to figure out what he has. If I were a betting type, I'd bet that yours is 280 sized... it would make little sense to keep building the slightly smaller chassis for some markets. (Smaller engines could easily be carried over to fit local tax/registration laws). So bet a roll cage, or check out early 240's and the 280 badged cars to verify your 260's size .

Brandon, it means that you shouldn't eat Jalapenos with your fingers! (Any other interpretations require younger, more fertile minds...) Edit: Cremmenga, it seems that the mind is blinder than the eye...

b- My engine build is too tame to really warrant the battle flag, but I like combining symbols/logos. Glad you found it interesting. Years ago I had a 289 Healey hybrid, and a jacket with the Ford blue oval nested in Healey wings on the back. Guess it must be a personal tradition.

Thanks, Grumpy, I needed that. Some day I will even get my Datsun 240Z- 240SX- 280ZX- 300ZX- Chevy- Oldsmobile- VW- Ford- aftermarket- custom machined- home fabricated car on the road. But first, I need a few more parts...

I have an ancient Peterson publishing book called 'Basic bodywork and painting' that I like very much... $2.00 at the news stand in the day. (Market coverage counts). I also have an old auto refinishing handbook from Dupont, and a couple similar things from Diztler/PPG. As all paints have changed drastically (for multitudinous reasons) I asked at my local auto paint store, and they have nothing similar available today... or they don't want to be bothered. They have a few binder punched sheets on the wall, but were out of the ones I was interested in (on 2 different visits). A DVD showing techniques could be priceless; some things are much more easily learned through observation. Poor applications/results could be shown, with demonstrations on how to avoid them. Just watching an expert is a beautiful thing... It looks so easy... but unless one understands all the pitfalls the expert is avoiding, beauty will remain his and not mine. For just hard info, I prefer a paper back... relatively cheap, I can highlight it, and I can leave it in the garage for easy reference. At this stage, I need to learn what paints and materials work the best (ease of application, durability and color retention), which are cost effective (hopefully not a mutually exclusive goal) and how those particular products are best applied. Due to legal wrangling, I doubt if a book of that nature could be published... so how do I pick it up?

Tim, does the bubble stuff have much in the way of sound deadening characteristics?

Thanks for the tip...

I think that it could be done, but not by me... I'm too disorganized. Your project requires a fully functional Z in one bay (no brake, suspension or body work needed, thank you!), the full JTR kit (does it have driveshaft and headers now?) and more planning than you can do between now and when it all goes down. In the next bay must reside a fully functional engine/transmission combination with all hoses, belts, cooler lines and any support electronics- with full schematics- (annotated as to cuts and splices needed to be grafted into your particular Z... did I mention Z schematics?). Special gas tank and/or fuel pump needed? Skills, tools, confidence and a pre scheduled appointment with the muffler shop, and you have a hybrid. But only if you can arrange ALL the details, and bribe Murphy to spend the month at home (my shop). Good luck!