My new to me 74 260 Z auto had been in storage 15+ until now... I installed new plugs, dist cap, rotor, coil, wires, fuel filter, battery, and a new belt to get my new Z to finally come back to life. My spark is great at the coil, but is lacking at the plugs. It seems plugs 3,4, and 5 get better spark than 1 and 6. My timing is good and firing order is correct but she runs rough. If I let her idle and warm up, she idle up and down as the other cyclinders kick in... and then sometimes it just shuts off. Starting it back up with a few pumps on the gas or little choke and running again for a while. Both fuel pumps are working and plenty of fuel getting to carbs. HELP! Thanks!

Hey there and welcome to the club. Just one quick question. Did you drain all the old gas and put in fresh new gas? Also you mentioned choke so I'm assuming you have the early 260Z with carbs. Which carbs do you have? The flat tops or the round tops? O.K. so that was 3 questions.

did you apply dielectric grease to both ends of the connectors of the spark plug wires?

Hi thanks, when I bought the car there was no gas in the tank... I have check the fuel coming into both carbs and it flows steady for both carbs. I have round top carbs and manual choke. As for dielectric grease on my plug wires, NOPE. I am not familar with this grease you are talking about, e racer 1999...

thanks

^it's a grease that usually comes in a disposable container (much liek ketchup packets) that you put onto the connectors... but i don't think that would cause the problem you are having....

Hey Jason,

As everything's new, you'd expect everything would work as it should.

This might sound stupid, but do you think Neil's problem could be the Condenser (capacitor) breaking down under load ??. It's about the only thing Neil hasn't replaced.

Rick.

:devious: :devious:

Hi Rick, thanks for the help... I am on my second set of plugs. The first set of NGK are now toast, no spark. They lasted about 2 months of starting, idling, and a few short low speed drives down the road. ??? On a different note, does anyone have a starting point for my air/fuel mixture adjustments (the large flat head adjustment screws, 1 on the front carb and 1 between the carbs...???) Thanks

I have found that I am running out of gas sometimes after running (idling) for a while and then reving up the rpms... just as it starts to completely starve it's self, a quick shot of starter fluid into the carbs makes her diesel and then right back to normal... this warm weather in New England has made working on the car easier than normal, but sucks for skiing...

Hey Jason,

As everything's new, you'd expect everything would work as it should.

This might sound stupid, but do you think Neil's problem could be the Condenser (capacitor) breaking down under load ??. It's about the only thing Neil hasn't replaced.

Rick.

:devious: :devious:

sure seems the most probable, but there have been times when i replaced EVERYTHING and it didn't fix the problem

Hey Neil,

When, (not IF), you sort out the problem, come back and let us know HOW you fixed it please.

All too often help is requested and advice given, then we hear no more about it, leaving us in the dark

It REALLY would be appreciated mate.

Rick.

:devious: :devious:

Start the car at night in the dark, pop the hood and watch for sparks-sounds like your new plug wires are bad. If you see sparks under the hood, you probably found your problems-the cyls that aren't running strong are probably all in the same loom at some point and bleeding to each other.

Will

Thanks for the help... with the holiday time has been limited, but as soon as I get back on it I will let you know... spark is better now, but no fuel...

Neil

Ok guys here is the update on the 74 260z... after getting my spark issues solved, I then found I had a bad electric fuel pump. The electric pump works but does not supply enough fuel... so after bypassing the electric pump, I have all kinds of fuel now. So here I am with the Z running the best it has since buying it, and we are having an ICE storm here in NH, so test drive another day. Now it time to start working on my lights, no tail ...