How to get 260Z to daily driver status?

[Captain Obvious]

I wouldn't worry much about some oil in the valve cover hose. It's part of the PCV system and it's gonna happen. However, with that in mind, you should add checking/replacing your PCV valve to the maintenance suggestions provided earlier.

Speaking of which... How much have you done with the car? Looked into any of the stuff mentioned earlier?

[porkbun]

I wouldn't worry much about some oil in the valve cover hose. It's part of the PCV system and it's gonna happen. However, with that in mind, you should add checking/replacing your PCV valve to the maintenance suggestions provided earlier.

Speaking of which... How much have you done with the car? Looked into any of the stuff mentioned earlier?

You can actually see the spill in the picture. The only reason I was asking was because all the other braided hoses are greyish and dry and this one is jet black and seems to be getting oilier everytime I check. I checked everything but the distributor cap and float bowl levels, and things were going well until those couple of donuts I did. My car wastes so much gas between the horrible smell of the gas and me having to keep the RPMS up at every stop. Itll be completely normal driving it until a few stoplights and signs into the trip and the car will try to die on me at a stop and hiccup when trying to accelerate from a stop.

Im not even sure where to start with replacing the vacuum hoses. All the hoses seem pretty baked and hard, so I think itll be better to just change every hose then to just locate the current problem(s), but are the hoses all the same size? Or will I have to measure out each hose that I replace?

[Captain Obvious]

The small hoses are 1/4 and 5/16. Between those two sizes you'll have all of the small stuff covered. The bigger stuff (the braided stuff) is more difficult. The hose on the top going to the valve cover is straight enough that you can easily find a replacement at the parts store. The problem is the braided stuff from the air cleaner to the carbs and between the two carbs. Of those, the one between the two carbs is the highest priority since it's at the highest vacuum and will such the most air if it has a leak.

I'm thinking that you should visit that guy who knows the SU's.

[rocketdog]

Been gone a while and just saw this tread...What a "barn" find! Like the car has been frozen in time. Definitely a lot of maintenance things to do as outlined by the forum. You'll never make it a driver till you do things methodicaly. What intrigued me was it is real close to my original 260 in all aspects except color. You manufacture date is 11/74, mine was 12/74. Your VIN 66522; mine 69276. O fcourse I've owned mine since new so know everything about her, but you've got a real classic there and hopefully some good bones to keep her on all fours.

[porkbun]

Looks like all my fuel lines have been replaced by some heavy duty hoses already and im pretty sure the only braided hose coming from the air cleaner is the valve cover hose. The only hose thats visible from the top of the engine that looks like it needs changing is the EGR hose which feels like play-doh. Im trying to make it until the weekend and ill take it to that mechanic, but my starter is trying to stop me. Im thinking about maybe trading it because I dont want to ruin a not-that-rusty, pretty low mileage Z by driving it in the NE winters

[Captain Obvious]

The 260 system is complicated. There are lots of tubes and wires and hoses and valves. It was the culmination of Datsun's efforts to provide good cold driveability, good fuel economy, and good performance all while meeting ever tightening emissions standards. That complexity works great when everything is perfect, but once it starts to fall off that razor's edge of performance, finding the problem(s) can be difficult. And that's where you are.

You've got a forty year old car with unknown history. It's got dry rotted brittle tubing, solenoids that are probably frozen in place, sensors that might not work, valves that should be shut that are leaking, valves that should be open that are clogged, vacuum leaks, a dirty fuel tank, carbs that probably need a rebuild or more, and a questionable ignition system.

Simply... The 260Z is not a car for the feint of heart. If you want it, you gotta want it bad. You have to be willing and capable enough to dive in yourself and learn how it works. Download a copy of the factory service manual and study it. Learn the terminology and where the components are. You've got to be able to point to something and call it by the same name that the manual calls it and have at least a basic understanding of what it's supposed to do. Without that level of knowledge and standardization of language, remote troubleshooting doesn't work.

I know the 260 system pretty well, but I'm not close to you. If you bring the car to me and leave it with me for a month along with a stack of $100's, I'll fix it. If that doesn't work for you, then you need to find someone else closer to you, or learn to do it yourself. I'll do what I can from a distance, but diagnosing problems based on vague description is very difficult, especially when you've got so many places that could be causing problems.

I'm not trying to scare you off. In fact, it's the opposite. I'm encouraging you to embrace ownership. Unless you're willing to pay for someone else to do it for you, you're going to have to learn a lot about the system yourself.

My bottom line suggestion would be to buy something else to use as your daily and work on the Z in your heated garage in the meantime. If you drive the Z through the winter in CT, there isn't going to be much left.

[porkbun]

Today after getting a good look at the engine bay in the daytime I noticed that the belt that was supposed to be on the smog/air pump had broken off which im pretty sure explains the horrible exhaust smell that I occasionally get complaints about. I got the engine to idle and pinched the EGR hose. Nothing happened at first, but a few seconds later, the RPMs started to drop and the car turned off as I was describing earlier.

When I bought the car I fully intended to learn all about its inner workings, but it seems my lack of time in the fall and the approaching winter is going to cut that time short . Two cars isnt an option for me and if I left it in the garage, it would be filled with spiders and chipmunks come spring time.

[Captain Obvious]

I don't know if you would be able to actually smell a difference if your air pump is working or not. I do know that there are plenty of other reasons for a 260 to have a horrible exhaust smell. But as a data point... From my experience, a well tuned and proper operating 260 doesn't have a horrible exhaust smell, even without an air pump installed.

As for the EGR tube, I'm not sure what you're talking about. The only tubes involved in the EGR that are soft enough to pinch are on the control side and pinching any of them could only result in the EGR becoming disabled (which usually improves performance, not degrades it).

if I left it in the garage, it would be filled with spiders and chipmunks come spring time.

Spiders and chipmunks are better than floors and rocker panels with rust holes in them.

To be honest? Dude, it's October. And you're in Connecticut. And this is your only car? You gotta do something quick.

[porkbun]

Guess I should start saving for rustproofing.

Im noticing most of the "issues" and "symptoms" I notice are one off instances or are bad descriptions of whats actually happening. The pinching was after high RPM acceleration and highway driving which is when the car is most likely to die if im not nursing the gas pedal. I couldnt recreate the situation after letting it warm up the next morning. After further inspection, the air pump has been capped off and it seems that I bought it as it is now.

While that hooning in that parking lot taught me a lot about the cars handling (and saved me a couple times after that), it seemed to take its toll on the car. Cars will keep their distance at a stoplight to avoid my Zs toxic fumes and Ive had people at school ask me if my car is diesel. In tunnels and near dividers on the highway, I can hear my acceleration stuttering through my exhaust. The exhaust will flow freely and then putter whenever my acceleration stutters.

[Stanley]

Captain O. mentioned checking (cleaning) the filter on the rear fuel pump. Did you do that? It's by the frame at the right rear wheel well. Use a channel lock to take off the filter. Doing donuts could stir up nearly 40 years of gunk & debris in the gas tank, clogging up the works. You can put a clear filter before the pump to diagnose a dirty tank - replace it with a metal filter later for safety.

If a few donuts blew out the clutch it was time for a new one anyway.

[porkbun]

Found a hidden part of my car this evening. It currently has clear filter on it, and I can see a large chunk of rust sitting at the bottom. Ran to autozone since they had one of the white filters in stock, but couldnt get the hose clamp screws off. The clamps are marinating in PB blaster right now and hopefully tomorrow Ill easily be able to pop off the old filter and install the new one. Ill be sure to get better pictures tomorrow when I get the old filter off.

Plastic filters are the only kind Ive seen for these cars. By metal filter, do you mean like the oil filter like filters?

[Stanley]

Just a steel fuel filter, about the size of a frozen orange juice can, with a 5/16 I think hose barb each end. About $6 or so. Probably made for a big V-8 but who cares, just so it's free-flowing enough. One of those big filters like a mallory competition would be cool but they're like $45 or so. If there's a stock electric pump back there it's got a removable filter too, in the body of the pump, the filters are available from msa, got one a few months ago.