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Thanks Carl and Doc.

Carl, I have a cheap freeze plug installer, but will keep yours in mind, thanks.

Doc, thanks man! I have a set of brass plugs on order.

Dale

Randy (Randalla) came over today to give me a hand pulling the motor out of the Z. Everything went pretty well getting it out. Need to order some new parts, do some cleaning and get things ready to go back in. Having some trouble getting the header and down pipe apart but will get it one way or another.

The car currently has the original 4spd trans. I have a 5spd that appears to be out of a 280zx (close ratio) that I'm considering putting it. Still on the fence, I like the way my Z drives right now for 1-4 gears but would like one more gear. Looks like the 5spd will have higher gear ratios in 1-3. Not sure how I will like that with my stock 3.34 rear diff. Don't really want to change the rear end too.

Anyway,
Thanks Randy for the help today. It's always fun working with you.

Dale

Thanks for the vittles Dale! Let me know when you have everything to drop the motor back in.

Will do, thanks Randy

Making progress on the motor. Also painted some of the front radiator support area black (last pic).
Measured the gear ratio of the 5 spd that I have and found the 1-4 gears are almost exactly the same as my 4 spd.
The 5th gear is 0.813, so I think I will like it pretty well. We'll see. Been a fun week.

Looking good Dale. You ready to drop the engine back in with the new 5-speed yet?

Thanks Randy!
Actually, been a long productive day. Got the engine/trans in with some help from my wonderful wife We thought we would give it a shot. It went pretty good. Exhaust gave us a little fit since we could not separate the header from tail pipe. Figured since we got the exhaust system out in one piece, we could get it back in, in one piece.

It was getting late so I just did a quick test drive around the block. All 5 gears work, but its a little noisier than the old 4 spd. We'll see how it goes with a few more miles, I don't know the history on this trans. Got home and no leaks anywhere. I still have a few small things to wrap up and get the hood back on. Been a busy but fun week. Ran into several issues, but got them all resolved I think.

So just my luck... I ordered a new ceramic coated header from MSA last week, they said they are on back order and didn't have an ETA for them. They said they have been on back order for a couple months. So, not wanting my car down that long, I decided to paint my old header and reuse it. I no sooner got the header and carbs all installed and the last bolt tight.... got a call from MSA saying the header came in and shipping out today.
So I'll have a brand new header to install at a later date.

Great job Dale...and Jody Seriously, nice work getting everything back together and getting the Z back on the road.

Dale, looking good! Talk to Chuck about how to quiet a noisy transmission, believe he uses a certain kind of tranny fluid that helps quiet things down.

Thanks Randy and Steve! I'll check with Chuck.

Next up, anyone have an extra clutch pedal they can spare?
I found in addition to needing a new clevis pin, the hole in the clutch pedal is way worn.
The hole is about twice as long as it is round. LOL.. Very sloppy.

EDIT... Welded up the oblong hole in pedal, will re-drill and should be good to go.

Dale