Jumping in with 2

[ajmcforester]

I forgot to mention you need a chemical called ZDDP in the oil otherwise you will damage the cam over time. Make sure Castral still puts it in, or better yet just get ZDDP additive. You will notice a lot of people use Valvoline racing oil for this reason it has some of the highest ZDDP mixed into the oil on the market. ZDDP is being taken out of oil for environmental reasons (it becomes wast in recycling of oil and makes it harder on recycling plants) and most cars now days don't need it.

[larry78247]

Hey Joey, your pretty cleaver. Isn't it nice working on this old school stuff. Get power to the coil and gas in the carbs and your ready to turn it over.

I'm still working on the last few rust spots. Look at what a small pinhole on the outside looks like on the inside.

Larry

[ArnieTX]

Thanks AJ- I'm watching my Z tuneup videos. I'll adjust my valves this weekend and do a complete tune up. I'll check out the additives at the local Napa and Oreilys.

Larry - As soon as I get this thing road worthy, I'll drive it over your way and bring you a beer. I want to pick your brain some more on the metal work.

Thanks guys!

[ArnieTX]

I pulled my plugs. The ones on the front carb were blackish , the 3 on the back were tan.

I verified spark was there.

I fired it up at turned the idle screws until the RPMS came up to ~900RPM. Before it idled at ~500. I tried to get that eldebrock sync tool thing to function but I screwed it in and out and it would only work if I gave it some throttle. I couldn't get it to register at idle no matter which way I screwed the center piece.

I reved the motor to ~4000K and it sounds pretty good. While I was messing with the sync tool and reving the motor standing over the carbs, I would see several sparks coming from behind the right side carb. And it also makes some strange noise in that area behind that little aluminum shield the carbs springs attach to. I'm guessing an exhaust leak. What else would cause little sparks when you rev it up a little? The motor was getting pretty warm so I shut it off. The temp gauge doesn't work. Car ran for about 10 minutes. Fuel pump is working great now sucking gas out of 5 gallon elevated tank.

I need step back and replace all my hoses before I go any further. As bad as I want to drive this thing I know the hoses on this car might go at anytime. And if I have an exhaust leak I need to fix that. I guess I need to take the intake off to see what's going on.

The car doesn't backfire anymore. That little pop through the carb was the first time I started it. It doesn't it do it anymore. The "whine" has also gone away. The tail pipe is about 12" from the wall of my shop so when I revved it up pretty good it spit a bunch of soot all over the wall. I don't see it smoking though. I may borrow my buddies compression gauge and check compression before I do anything else. Hoses are a must. Maybe they sell a kit somewhere.

Thanks

Edited March 10, 2010 by ArnieTX

[ajmcforester]

It's alive!!! Sounds like you got her going. I think you might want to get new gaskets for the exhaust it sounds like a leak to me too. If that fuel pump is working check the PSI it will tell you if both check valves are working these pumps will pump with one of two valves especially if the gas is higher than the pump I know; just ask NJ state patrol when I cam over the Ben Franklin Bridge with a gas can strapped to the hood.

When I bought my current Z I drove it home from Detroit Michigan when in Philly the fuel pump went so I hooked up the plastic gas can with a hose and connected it to the hood and then to the pump. When I came off the bridge I was pulled over I explained what happened to the officer and he was the whole time after the story, he let me go, because this made his day and can't wait to tell the others at the office about this.

[ArnieTX]

I checked my plug wire locations this evening for grins and found that #5 and #6 were rolled. It ran pretty good like that. I rolled them back and it still runs pretty good. Checked spark plug gaps. Plugs are Bosch. Front three are still darker, back three are clean. I rolled the plugs and will see what they look like in a few days.

I warmed the motor up and then pulled all the plugs to check compression. Throttle was wide open for this test, choke(only one cabled) was closed. I worked on my neighbors computer this evening and he let me borrow his compression guage. He also lent me some feeler gauges since I don't own any yet.

Cylinder - Compression:

1 - 165

2 - 164

3 - 165

4 - 166

5 - 164

6 - 166

Motor showing 138,000 (guess) I doubt it's 238,000. Factory manual says 163-178 lb/sq in so it looks ok. I'm happy it's consistant across all cylinders.

I have only one choke handle in the cab. It operates the carb on closest to the firewall. One of the other cars has a handle. I might yank it although it starts without the choke.

Sometime this weekend I'm going to adjust the valves, inspect and bleed the brake system, and bleed - fix the clutch. This is a lot of fun.

Later

Edited March 11, 2010 by ArnieTX

[ajmcforester]

A lot of old Z guys tell me to replace the rings every 120,000 miles, if you do that they state you won't haft to re-hone the block. I wouldn't do it right a way, but it something you might want to think about doing sometime in the future since the compression numbers are on the low end. I think finding the bugs for now is more important unless you end up taking the head off. Let me know when you do the rings I can sell them to you cheap I have well over 20 maybe even 50 sets (I'm still looking up part numbers on them so I know which set is for what bore and Z engine).

Try to stay away from Bosh plugs in Z cars I loved Bosh in my old 87 Ranger, but they just don't do as well as NGK in Z cars. You will have less problems with NGK plugs you don't need the expensive ones the base NGK works great. I'd have problems with the Bosh plugs burning out I had one plug that lasted 100 miles before replacement, with the NGK I just haft to regap them every 3-4 oil changes not bad. The Bosh never lasted an oil change

[Bonzi Lon]

Your single choke handle should operate the 2 choke cables.

Bonzi Lon

[larry78247]

Hey Joey, sounds like you have a carb that's too rich, causing black electrodes. I believe there are two adjustmants you can make, one is the butterflies and the other is on the bottom of the carb which effects the mixture. I think you get everything else, plugs, points, etc. changed and set, then you adjust the mixture screw on the bottom of the #1 carb until you get the RPM at the highest point and then tighten it a 1/4 turn to lean it out. Then you do the #2 carb the same way. It's been a long time since I tuned SU's, so I may be mixed up, maybe someone else can chime in here.

[ArnieTX]

Thanks Bonzi - The choke handle only moves one cable. I assumed the other slot wsa for the other side.

Larry - I haven't messed with the mixture screws yet. I'm going to buy a new set of plugs tomorrow when I go to town so I have a good baseline. These plugs were in the motor and I honestly don't remember how they looked before I got it running.

I bled the brakes tonight and have a solid pedal. The front rotors are a little rusty but the pads looked new. The clucth slave cylinder on the tranny is frozen. As a matter a fact, all three of them are frozen. I'll pick one up tomorrow along with new hoses for the engine.

I hope to take it for a spin around the neighborhood this weekend. Getting closer.

After that it will be time to take #3 apart and get it on a rotisserie. Larry - I may holler at you soon to come see yours again and take some measurements and record what materials you used to build it.

Thanks

[Bonzi Lon]

If you have two slots in the console, one is for a hand throttle, very early production, which should of been removed before sale at the dealership, safty reasons. However, I think you may have an early console. Someone here knows when they deleted the hand throttle slot. You have to lift, or remove, the console to get the the choke lever / cable assembly. A good cleaning and lube of the inner steel cable worked wonders for me. Leave the sheaths in place and pull out the cables.

Bonzi Lon

[ajmcforester]

If you have two slots in the console, one is for a hand throttle, very early production, which should of been removed before sale at the dealership, safty reasons. However, I think you may have an early console. Someone here knows when they deleted the hand throttle slot. You have to lift, or remove, the console to get the the choke lever / cable assembly. A good cleaning and lube of the inner steel cable worked wonders for me. Leave the sheaths in place and pull out the cables.

Bonzi Lon

Gibbs penetration oil works great to get it moving again, I'm in to mountain biking so I use cable lube on all my cables for bikes (this is hard to get a hold of bike shops use this on the cables and don't tell you so you think they did a much better job than you can, I put it on new cables and everything just moves smoother).

Gibbs is a lot like WD-40, but it does not attract the dirt, helps breakup the grimy greasy stuff on the engine and leaves a great protective covering on parts that when dry looks like the part is new with no coating. This stuff was designed for Harley motor cycle engines to lube joints and keep the engine looking good.