I've been a casual car guy all my life. My nephew just inherited a 1973 240Z and called me to help him get it running. We've changed oil, filter, air filters, coolant, hoses, complete tune-up. It now fires up and idles, but we have two issues; 1. At first it was getting no gas to the carbs. We found out about the second, electric fuel pump by the gas tank and after temporarily bypassing it, the car started and idled fine. 2. The clutch is very soft and the transmission will not go into any gear. I could use some troubleshooting advise on the clutch and also on how to remove the filter from the electric fuel pump (since a late year addition, it's not mentioned in the shop manual).

Thanks,

Gary

Gary,

I am in Fairfax, where are you?

You need to bleed the clutch. It will tell you how in the service manual.

I'm not sure if you mean the fuel filter or teh fuel screen in the pump.

Fred

Assuming the elec fuel pump looks like the one in the attached pic, the bottom just twists off. Try hitting the joint with some penetrant to loosen things up and apply force with a strap wrench or a pair of channel locks if you don't care about the finish. You can also try tapping the base with a small hammer to break it free. I recommend removing the base while still mounted to the car and DO NOT recommend placing it in a vise.

Thanks for the tips and diagram guys. I am in Alexandria and my nephew (and the Z) are in DC. By the way, back in '71, I tried to test drive a Z, but they were so in demand in my hometown in Ohio that there were none in the showrooms. You had to put down a whopping $100 deposit (don't laugh, that was serious cash in '71) and give them four color choices. They'd call you when your name came up. They also arranged with a few previous purchasers to come in on weekends and paid them to give test drives to prospective customers. Never did get my Z. Maybe my nephew will let me drive his.

Gary

Fred -

We managed to remove the electric fuel pump, but couldn't figure out how to remove the filter for cleaning and inspection. With no direction in the manual, we didn't want to force things and break the pump.

Gary

I may have time this weekend to stop by.

Let me know if you are going to wrench this weekend.

Thanks Fred. I'll let you know if there's a plan.

Fred - My brother and nephew flushed and bled the clutch, but still have a soft peddle and can't engage any gear. Next steps?

Gary

It has to be either the clutch master cylinder or the slave.

They are both relatively cheap, I would replace both.

Thanks. The more we thought about it, the more we came to the same conclusion. and you're right - they're cheap. Napa had the slave in stock and the master available next day. Hope this does the trick. They've made room in the garage for the Z...all they need is a way to drive it in there before my nephew leaves for collage.

Let me know if they are working this weekend.

Fred

I had the same problems with the tranny in my 73, i replaced the slave cylinder an me an my dad took it out for a drive and loosened the synchros up, you just have to try to force it in gear, it shifts fine now

Thanks. They actually got it rolling in the alley, but need to check trans and dif fluid levels before hitting the road.