wingnutthehutt

Grumpy, I don't have time to read all this right now, the battery on my laptop is almost dead, but I have to say that what I've read so far has not only been saliva inducing, but very informative. I started looking out for threads that you've started lately, and I'm learning a lot. BTW, You're not related to Grumpy Jenkins are you?

Sorry for the late response. NeedforZ, the chassis is not the greatest, the drivers side frame rail is very warped, it looks like someone tried to jump it over a set of train tracks. The entire front end needs to be rebuilt as well and the floor pans are not the worst, but not great either. As far as selling it to a person for a thousand, I would LOVE to, but I don't think anyone would buy it for that. I'm going to take a whole bunch of pics I think and see if I can get someone interested. I would "sell" it to my dad, who lives in NV, but I really don't want to deal with the hassle of getting it to him in Vegas.

Hey Dan, did you know that your car is on the Reaction Research site?

Last week I paid the registration fees for the next year at my local AAA office and found out that my Z is due for a smog check at a Test Only station. So today I took my 76 280 over to the neighboring shop and had the guy run it on his smog dyno/machine. As I expected, it came up as a fail, running VERY rich what with the miss and lower end knock and all. This didn't please me at all. For those who want the skip the rambling historical account, skip to below the second line of asterisks. ********************* History: I traded the guy I got it from a PRS guitar (that's nice for you non-musical types) and he gave me an extra $400 cash on top of the car. I was under the assumption that it was non-opped and would only have to transfer it into my name. I decide six months later, after getting it running decent and slipping some sticky rubber on, to finally go and register it, as there was no date on the pink and I was in no rush to pay fees on something I did't drive. The demon behind the counter informs me, after handing me a sticker and reg sheet, that the total comes to $387.46. Apparently the car was never non-opped at all, and I am paying back fees for the past 4.5 years. The car has already been reactivated in the system, so I can't wait the extra six months it would have taken for it to fall off the radar completely. I pay the money, take my sticker, and leave. I never had to smog it for some reason. A month later, they finally deposit the check and it bounces, I get a nasty letter in the mail another two weeks later. I have no money but I do have my little red sticker, so screw 'em, they can wait a little longer til I have some cash. Two months go by, I've forgotten about the angry letter, and I get another one in the mail, this time from the state collections agency. In the end, it cost me $453 to register this car. Part of it my own fault, but a large part of it, not. The guy I got the car from was never on the paperwork and had moved to Oregon and the owner before him, who actually came to my house for thanksgiving I found out after the fact, is nowhere to be found either. ************* I knew that I couldn't get any money for this car from anyone who knows anything about Zs, and I also can't sell it in good consience to some unsuspecting kid. I'm looking into the Bureau of Automotive Repair's "Smog Check Consumer Assistance Program" which includes the Vehicle Retirement program. This means, if my car qualifies as a gross polluter and is not worth repairing, they will give me $1000 for it which is, the more I learn about Zs, a better price than I will get from anyone else. Especially since I have $400 sunk into the registration. Does ANYONE have any experience with this program? There are a couple clauses that bother me. 1-Must have failed it's smog check no later than 120 days after expiration of the current registration. 2-Must have been continuously registered in California for two years immediately preceding the current registration expiration date. The first one I'm pretty sure I qualify for, but the second makes me nervous. The vehicle was not non-opped, it WAS in california. Maybe I'm ok becuase registration was deliquent but still in California? The complete rules can be view as a PDF at http://www.smogcheck.ca.gov/ftp/pdfforms/cap_app.pdf Any thoughts are appreciated.

No, I didn't know it existed. I'm from Lodi, California. It's south of Sacramento about 30 miles.

Hope this isn't a repost, but I just came across this YZ Kit, it's locatedin Mid-Ohio. If I had the cash, as usual, it would be all mine. Somebody swoop it. http://www.classiczcars.com/classifieds/showproduct.php?product=1001

I would gladly put a 305 in my 280, at least it'll pass smog which is more than I can say for the L28. Doesn't a 305 have around 250 HP as well? That's not so bad.

I'll take a GRX3 thank you, sir. I think I'll put it in the boat I don't have. Thanks for posting these, 240Z Master.

I'm not THAT surprised, but at least that gives most of us a little room to breath. It is kinda messed up that they're doing racial profiling on cars. Cops love double standards though, I think it's why they become cops to begin with.

There's an Lt1 in the HZ classifieds right now for $1900 with everything you need minus a tranny. It's a pretty sweet deal, if you have the cash, grab it. Also, Paz8 has a good point. I found an 88 Corvette with major body damage on eBay for $1500 with complete perfect drivetrain. If I'd had the cash that day, I could have come out even with everything I needed being paid for by parting out the rest of the car.

ZForce: That is an Awesome story. I knew there had to be one out there somewhere. Did you file a complaint against the officer? Might be a good idea if you haven't already.

Yeah, no more rolling 30 thanks to turncoat Arnold. I guess he was more concerned about making money from Enron than keeping us happy. Yes, smog equipment in the last few years has helped, but most cars that are smog exempt are in a better state of tune than many non-exempt cars. You're right, I also feel that as long as it'll pass the sniffer what difference does it make. Persecuting gearheads just makes them angry, it doesn't stop them from racing. Does Infineon Raceway still do their Highschool Drag races? I know there were some tracks that even had cops show up to race against the kids a few years back.

Also, if you have to replace the computer with the one from the new motor, THAT computer will most likely have to be reprogrammed for the vehicle. We replaced the computer in a late 90s S10 last week and had to have it programmed to get the VIN numbers in the computer correct.

Since when is it illegal to adjust your timing? And how often do you see a gray haired guy driving a rice-racer? Puhlease people. California, it's not just Enron that hates us.

My immediate gut response to that is to puke.

Even though you may not be able to tell before you purchase a motor, try and get a two bolt main block. If you decide to use that block for big power later on, the block is a stronger. Some will argue that a 4 bolt main allows for less crank flex, but the block ends up flexing instead. Go two bolt, and then have it machined to accept four bolt angle caps. Again, years down the road.

The smell of eggs is the cat "firing" It's part of break in. You're lucky it smells like peppered eggs. My parents had a 92 BBC Suburban and with the cat it had from the factory it smelled like Rotten eggs.

Bad would be a nice way of putting it. If I ever see you on the road, I'm staying WAY behind you. Otherwise, DUDE, that would be soo cool. I love seeing unusual powerplants in ANY car. More power to ya if you can find a way to do it safely.

I've noticed something strange when I downshift my 76 280 recently. When the revs come down to about 2800 rpm, there is less drag on the engine for about 400 rpm, and then the same amount of engine braking re-engages. It does this in 1-3rd, I've never checked to see if it does it in fourth, but I'm pretty sure it will. Is this a ignition issue? I've been having ignition gremlins when it's cold lately. Or is it just normal for the car and I should just ignore it. I've never noticed it in any other car.

That is beautiful. We're not worthy, we're not worthy!

yeah, ditto, me too. It's back with a vengeance and I was thinking about selling this thing but that won't happen if it doesn't run right.

I have a buddy who wrecked his 360 Modena doing somewhere between 120-140 in Antioch CA on one of our twisty local roads. He survived, bought an Gallardo. I'm glad he didn't get the Enzo. Haha. You can find out about him by googling: "sergio vega" AND Ferrari.

I've always had a thing for those wheels. Definately going to look awesome wrapped in some rubber.

Chevron gas is full of cleaners which are good for your injection system, but not good for actual fuel mileage. I could get all technical here, but I'd have clue what I'm talking about. Essentially though, the brand name fuels that cost more are charging you for the additives which make your car run "better". Better to us and better to them are two different things. They mean run cleaner, and we mean with more power. I try to use mainly Arco gasoline, as they're the only brand name with no additives. But generally speaking, at least here on the West coast, the cheaper the gas, the better it is. As long as it's not literally watered down.

Gollum, yeah, you came off as a dick, but having seen your postings before, I figgered it was just the music snob in you coming out and didn't take it personal. I'm one too, I've moved on. Can we be friends? hahaha. The Steinberger came out in the 80s and was actually played by EVH for a little while. They look cool, and play alright, but strings are expensive and there's not too much variety. Yeah, Carvin is an awesome company. I went to their shop in Hollywood and was amazed at how beautiful their porducts really are. Innerware, yeah, it's 1000x easier to build an electric, or solid body guitar. Kudos to you for going the hard way and doing it with style. I'm redoing an older yamaha bass that was given to me and it's really brainless work. I also have a Carvin neck for an electric that I'm going to build someday, but once I have the body blank cut up, it's more like making Mac 'n' Cheese than Creme Brulee'