'73 Intake Manifold & vacuum

[visionary]

Baddog,

I glad the info helped. Five miles to smooth out is not unusual for a '73 with the smog system dsconnected. If your carbs are adjusted correctly and you choke system works well you can 'feather out' the choke lever while driving for a smoother transition until your engine is warmed up and your vacume systems stabilize. If you go down to your local import parts store and replace the flex tube from the exhast manifold to the air intake box your car will warm up faster. If you are going to keep the original air box I would suggest doing this as leaving the connection open does not allow the box to work as designed.

If you want to know the part #'s on the individual air cleaners from Borg Warner, I will post them for you. They are actually for volvos but fit perfectly(about$28).

The PCV valve attaches at the intake manifold from the crankcase vent hose.

You might also consider replacing the '73 intake manifold with a '72 which allows better flow for the carbs and subsequently better vacume stability.

good luck

Keith

[BadDog]

Could you give me those part #'s? My original air cleaner is so crapped up, I can only keep the car "original" by getting another stock air cleaner, which can wait... I'll go aftermarket if it'll help for the time being

[MrMoonshineMan]

the guy who had my z before me just put a short length of hose connecting those two nipple'd holes to the far left. is it doing anything bad or wrong to my car to have them connected like that? thanks.

[visionary]

Baddog,

The only box I could find for the individual air cleaners is a Beck Arnley worldparts box. These work well and should last you thought the summer. The part # is 042-8136 and, like I said before, I believe these are acutally for Volvo's.

You will also need four 3 1/4" bolts to fit though the air cleaners as the mounting bolts for the stock airbox are to long. Be sure to get some good lockwashers as well.

One other thing, you have to route your float bowl venting lines into the back of one of the air cleaners. Use a little common sense to secure the atachment.

MrMoonshineMan, connecting the two nipples will not do anything bad or is it wrong to do so but pluging the outlets with pipe plugs will insure that the line doesn't break or come off, etc. as these occurances would be bad and your distributor would receive the wrong amount of vacume advance pressure from the intake manifold...

Keith

[BadDog]

Funny thing: the last three times I've driven my car (since the initial post) she has run really well when cold, yet I've changed nothing! There's even been a 20-degree variance in outside temperature, and humidity changes, but the car keeps running well! Maybe the higher octane gas I've put in has finally pushed out whatever junk the PO was using. I may still get dual air cleaners, or a factory air cleaner that hasn't been tampered with so I can hook up the heat riser for more chilly mornings (which vacuum to use for the trap door?) ... but first I should really get the heater working, !

[visionary]

Bad dog,

First of all, I want to say that you have gotten yourself a very nice Z with a great deal of TLC before your purchase.

In contrast , My Z had 23 previous owners and was found in an impound lot in Los Angles.

So, go slow with any changes you make to your ride and be careful to consider all of the options available to you when making any choices.

I ALWAYS put premium gas in my Z. The changes in octane rating between 1972 and now require the 89 to 92 octane rating for these engines in todays market. Correct tuning, ie fresh plugs, points, condenser, wires, etc. are all very important components of a smooth running Z.

The point is your relationship with your Z will be very intimate, and the smallest inconsisitency will be noticable in your car.

Keith

[BadDog]

Well there's a small bit of rust I've got to take care of, but other than that the car's in pretty good shape... I think that may be more due to lack of use than TLC considering the K-Mart auto center receipts I found . Well who knows, maybe he *really* liked the mechanic there *every* nook and cranny of that poor car has pine needles in it!

Yesterday I put in a new MSA shift boot: horrible fit, too tight. Darn thing ripped in a few places while I was putting it in :-( I also ripped out the old AudioVox and put in a nice new Alpine head unit (perfect fit) and some Infinity 652i's I had kicking around. They sound good, but the rotateble tweeter sticks out too much for the panels (stock location). I'm tempted to cut them because one of them is cracked anyway, but I think I'm going to try MSA's 6x9 replacement real panel instead, partially because the 6.5's don't have enough bass in the Z for me (they had good bass in my old Impreza...)

The only other thing I can really complain about is the seats... the 280 seats in her have no support in the lumbar area, which means if I take the car to work, my back feels strained for about the next day and a half. I'm tempted to go aftermarket for comfort's sake, but I'd also like to get some "correct" 240 seats, then maybe add a little more foam padding in the correct area