Evan Purple240zt Posted April 20, 2008 Share Posted April 20, 2008 But I have found having two cars (one together and one apart) help you figure out how to put one back together : ) Ok, now for a cheap one, 70-78 headliner repair/replacement. Locate a local fabric store that deals in automotive materials (ie headliner material) and buy 2 square yards (cause one square yard is 5" too little). Buy 3M headliner adhesive (3M only, don't get cheap here). Remove old headliner for template, cut out a new one and install using instructions on 3M can. Approximate cost $35, do two cars at once approximate cost $40. Since there is enough glue for two cars easily. JOANNE fabrics actually stocks some headliner material, along with some really nice black vinyl. Evan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drdiabetezx66x Posted April 22, 2008 Share Posted April 22, 2008 JOANNE fabrics actually stocks some headliner material, along with some really nice black vinyl. Evan do they have foam backed vinyl? has anyone used a reasonably priced website for foam backed vinyl headliners? I found yourautotrim.com and they are selling it for $16.95 per yard (54" wide). Does that seem reasonable? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MatMan Posted April 23, 2008 Share Posted April 23, 2008 The plugs for the 77-78 bumper end caps work REALLY WELL for the floor pan drain holes. If you are running carbs, lawn mower throttle cable can be used instead of the choke cables. Not my idea, but black binder clips can be used to hold the shifter boot to the center console, and then the chrome levers removed. A 1/4" self-sticky rubber or felt "bumper" can be used on the glove-box lid to ensure the light turns off and doesn't drain your battery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZR8ED Posted April 28, 2008 Share Posted April 28, 2008 Some oldies but goodies. A NHL hockey puck makes a good replacment for your steering coupler. Less flex than stock, cheap too! I've had mine installed for 10yrs +. Early chevette heavy duty springs (not the progressive rate) I'll get a part number and edit this post. 80's 4 door with air. They fit perfectly in a Z. Cut for desired ride height. I recall 1.5 coils to get a nice reasonable drop from stock height. Nice balance on the track. I have driven several z's with these springs, and they were beautiful to drive on the track! Early 90's honda coilover kits fit 240's. You need different springs, but collars just slip right on. They DO NOT fit 280's as they have larger dia strut tubes. And for restoring a 240/260/280, a huge percentage of parts are interchangeable between years.. Very handy at picknpulls, so don't be afraid to look at other years of Z's for parts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MJLamberson Posted May 2, 2008 Author Share Posted May 2, 2008 Heres a good one some helpful tips for working on your daily driver.. make a list of every' date=' single, minimal task that needs to be done to swap the manual trans in. Pedal assembly, clutch master, clutch lines, center console swap, any potential wiring, every little thing you can think of. Divide those tasks into two types: The first type of task is what you CAN do, in a short period of time, without making the car un drivable. You can install the master cylinder and the hydraulics (dry) as well as the pedal assembly, at LEAST. I dont know what kind of wiring changes might be needed, but you can make pieces of wiring to do the splice/whatever. The second type of task is the actual transmission swap, the console change (i would think? this is your call, not mine, I can't see the parts) The sort of thing that you DO need to have the car parked somewhere, immobile, on jackstands, "swapping stuff out." By taking care of anything and everything that can be installed without sidelining the car on afternoons, evenings, light weekends, single days off, whatever.. you make the total time with the car SIDELINED much less. I can't take credit for this suggestion; I read a write-up on swapping late 80s SPFI onto an early 80s subaru motor, and the guy broke the tasks down in just that manner.. it made so much sense, I have thought about any potential swap in that light ever since. good luck; now it's time to start shopping for a five-speed!! Swapping a fivespeed in for a four speed is an hour long proposition, if you;ve done it once or twice. Three hours at the outside, and thats with stupid mistakes coming up left and right. peace shawn[/quote'] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JIM73240Z Posted May 12, 2008 Share Posted May 12, 2008 after getting my 2+2 running after 8 years of sitting on the side of the house, the door weather stripping was toast. i saw the post for kragen, which i thought was affiliated with schucks and checker, i looked for stipping. all they had was adheasive style weather stripping. i went over to the local auto body paint supply store. this place has everything from nuts and bolts to pin stripes and body moldings. they had the weather stripping called circle on side. (the circle of foam is on the side of the moulding, pretty cleaver of them huh). 2.22 / ft. i thought 16' would be enough for the 2 doors. no i did not measure it before i left. 13' was enough for a 2+2 door. i will need to adjust the door locks on it because it is fatter than the old stuff but at $26.00 vs $80.00, i will take it. just another place to look at. jimbo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3sev3n Posted July 29, 2008 Share Posted July 29, 2008 i like this thread i need more Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted July 30, 2008 Share Posted July 30, 2008 But I have found having two cars (one together and one apart) help you figure out how to put one back together : ) ... Buy 3M headliner adhesive (3M only, don't get cheap here). I was ALWAYS taught when doing brakes on a car, NEVER take the second side apart until the first side is finished. That way you can always look at the second side to see how to put the first side back together. This applies to ANYTHING on a car in pairs. Regarding the 3M adhesive stuff.. It is NOT cheap, and its for GOOD REASON! The 3M adhhesive he speaks of is one of the greatest glues yet coneived by man, and 8-10 bucks a can is a BARGAIN PRICE FOR IT! Just don't go too crazy applying it; remember the lessons you learned in kindergarten with the white glue and construction paper versus newsprint.. wrinkles... Heres a good one Word, I had already contributed to this thread without even knowing it! Clean rope can be threaded into a spark plug hole to stop a piston before TDC to allow you to either tighten or loosen a crankshaft pulley bolt or a flywheel bolt. A piece of old timing chain can be wire-tied together after wrapping it around the camshaft sprocket to use as a wrench to hold the sprocket stationary while you torque those bolts. Screwdriver stethoscope: stick the butt of a large screwdriver against one ear, hold the other ear shut, and touch the tip of the screwdriver to various points on the engine to loclaize a sound. Tubing can be used in the same way to fish around hunting for vacuum leaks, or to listen for flow through a fuel line or water line. Start you car before bleeding your brakes!!! it makes a WORLD of difference having the booster aid you in your pumping. Stock factory lugnuts for use with steel wheels have one tapered side, and one flat side. GREAT spares to throw in your toolbox; you can use them with either tapered-seat or flat-seat rims. Standard size aquarium tubing can be used to replace the windshield washer lines.. but that doesn't take an einstein to figure out. I have several old jack base plates from chevy OEM jacks.. they are blue, and its the type of ratcheting bar jack that lifts the frame rail from the side. I use the base plates as wheel chocks. And here is an interesting tidbit.. If you have a selection of small flathead screwdrivers, picks, and probes, you can ALMOST ALWAYS find the retaining clip that holds a wire terminal into a large plastic plug housing. Every manufcaturer is different, but there is usually just a simple spring pin that you have to find to pry back, and you can then pull the wire in question from the large plug to inspect it, clean it, or replace it. Unfortunately, it is fiendishly difficult to find replacement terminals from any source other than another plug from the same OEM manufacturer, so it would be butt-crimp time.. BUT, in a pinch, the ability to do this can be a lifesaver! I wish I could give more explicit directions, but every plug is slightly different.. it is more of a skill than a trick, but it CAN be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhp123166 Posted August 4, 2008 Share Posted August 4, 2008 Hello, I made front suspension triangulation bars using helicopter rods with titanium rod ends ($15.00 each aircraft surplus). I have the bolt in strut bar from MSA. With rudimentary metal work I fabricated mounts to go from the strut bar to the front of the fire wall (actually the metal where the hood latches to.) These worked so well I bought two more rods and did the same thing to go from the strut bar to the top of the sway bar at the rail. Total cost for rods and hardware; $70.00 tops... A few years back I wanted clear front signal markers, this was before MSA and whomever were offering them retail. I fabricated some out of other vehicles back up light covers which are clear. This worked okay, but I wanted a real replacement. At the pick a part one day, I discovered that the one piece housing from the back up lights of a 1980's era Ford Escort station wagon will fit right into the stock metal bracket of my Z. I just drilled holes in the back for the stock light bulb harness to fit in, mounted the housing and was in business. I think it I paid like $10.00 for the pair. I am probably restating the obvious but going to the parts yard should be like a weekly excursion to Mecca... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 I am probably restating the obvious but going to the parts yard should be like a weekly excursion to Mecca... Any chance of some pictures of that work mentioned in the front end? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhp123166 Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 I'll try to do it in the next day or so... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkach Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 I love this Thread ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomr240zap Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 the right size shower door roller/wheel works perfect for a replacement roller/bearing for the 240z window regulators and are available in the fasteners aisle of most good hardware stores. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted August 5, 2008 Share Posted August 5, 2008 the right size shower door roller/wheel works perfect for a replacement roller/bearing for the 240z window regulators and are available in the fasteners aisle of most good hardware stores. I LOVE IT!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amorfin Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 "Clean rope can be threaded into a spark plug hole to stop a piston before TDC to allow you to either tighten or loosen a crankshaft pulley bolt or a flywheel bolt." Exactly what kind of rope? Is there any danger of messing internal parts up? I would really appreciate it if you explain this a little further. I can't take the crank pulley bolt off my RB26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 "Clean rope can be threaded into a spark plug hole to stop a piston before TDC to allow you to either tighten or loosen a crankshaft pulley bolt or a flywheel bolt." Exactly what kind of rope? Is there any danger of messing internal parts up? I would really appreciate it if you explain this a little further. I can't take the crank pulley bolt off my RB26 The clean kind of rope. Only internal parts that might suffer damage are parts that are softer than rope. It IS as simple as it sounds... it WOULD be wise to make sure you are at TDC of the compression stroke for whichever cylinder you use, just to be certain that the valves are fully seated against the head.. otherwise, you MIGHT manage to pinch the rope against a partially open valve and bend it. If you find TDC for compression stroke, and only feed a little bit of rope in at a time until you get enough to stop the cylinder, you cannot hurt anything. If anyone has any argument to the above statement, PLEASE let me know; to the best of my knowledge, the "safety" of this method, when following the above caveats, is 100% for any reciprocating piston internal combustion engine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Challenger Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Does it work for a rotary... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daeron Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Does it work for a rotary... I knew someone was gonna be the wise man:ass: to ask that.... just because I spelled it out... all in good fun of course. I couldn't tell you for certain, but I would bet yes.. anyone with a SERIOUS answer care to make me delete my post? (in other words, no serious offense intended towards the response, mopar-man.. and honestly, if anyone posts a better answer than mine then this is superfluous, so I will probly delete it heh) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhp123166 Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Here are my cheap mod pictures ( I hope ) as attachments. It works, yay I learned a new trick!!!! Cell phone cam, thems the breaks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhp123166 Posted August 6, 2008 Share Posted August 6, 2008 Here are some pix of the rod mounts for the front suspension. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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