and externally ealkign HG is very unsuual, is it ossible the mechanic si a nt much of a mechanic and the leak is one fo the thousan coolant lines beneathe the plenum or behind the motor?

generally when the HG's fail it's water int he coolant or water int he combustion or combustion int he exhaust, but a coolant passage leaking outside the motor well I've never heard of that happening on a Z, is it possible someone did headgaskets and got a damaged gasket?

and feel free to post some pic's of that 71 in the classic Z section

S30: "The Rusty Mistress" stripped bare and getting rebuilt from the ground up,
Z31: 315 whp 416 lbft, going back to the GRM $2009 challenge
Z32: now with sport 500's! For Sale

http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=433702

I ended up buying the 300zx and no the water isnt leaking externally, its leaking into the cylinders and steam is coming out the exhaust. It sounds like the previous owner shut it down quickly and didnt try to continue to drive the car. What are the odds that headgaskets alone would fix the problem. I checked out the factory service manual and it doesnt look like pulling the heads will be that tough. My thoughts are to pull the heads, check for flatness and install some good headgaskets...... maybe the cometic style. I have used those before on high compression applications.

if the car is a turbo you're better off pulling the engine to get the heads off, not sure how difficult it is to get the heads off the n/a in the car but it should also be easier to ppull the engine, then you can go over the motor and replace the rear main while you're at it

I like to take the trans otu the bottom, firts time it took me 8 hours to do get it all out, the secone time it took only 4 there is a steeo learnign curve, once oyu knwo what to do in what order it's a lot easier