My Datsun 240Z

[mgood]

Same Clutch master I put on mine.

[e-tek]

New is NICE!

[bartsscooterservice]

Yeah, ít works great now

But yesterday I was driving, and the car started sputtering again..

I just replaced the NGK plugs a few days ago for the ones that said in the manual.. BPR6ES.

Took the plugs out and looked like this ( compare with the picture of the B7ES previous page ):

Weird or what? It ran good again right away when I put the most basic B7ES plugs in. The 6's says made in France, the other one made in Japan, maybe that's it .

Edited April 10, 2013 by bartsscooterservice

[bartsscooterservice]

Okay, I got a few things to do. First of all my steering wheel is vibrating above 60 mph, and I got a wobble throughout the car at 30 mph.

The tires are pretty old from 2002, and they show a slight height difference on the surface when rotating on the balancing machine ( I don't know if this can cause a wobble ? ). Tires are good, but maybe I do need to put new ones?

I got the car on the bridge, and noticed a play ( only noticable when I put pressure left to right on the wheel with both hands ) in the front right wheel ( passenger side ). Best thing I can examine is that the inner wheel bearing is shot. The outher conical wheel bearing where loose on both sides, but still okay. I torqued them tight again, and that did seem to solve quite a bit vibration through the steering wheel, but still there.

I'm also noticing slight play ( when I pull hard up and down with my hand ), on the tie rods.

So I'll try to order a front wheel bearing kit and maybe tie rods to? What do you guys think? Can the old tires also cause problems, excessive stress to the steering column?

[240260280z]

Running rich.

[pressedsteel]

Bart - Just checking in on your progress today. For what it's worth, the car always ran rich when I had it as well. I would say I changed plugs every 1000 miles or so (that was like once a year) because I could never seem to set the carbs lean enough. Also had trouble with the choke not fully closing ... but I'm sure you remedied that already with the carb rebuild. Regarding the vibration over 70, I don't think it's the tires as I recall a minor shake as wel,l and that was on the prior set of tires. Good luck. Alan

[240260280z]

Could be incorrect carb needles.

[bartsscooterservice]

Bart - Just checking in on your progress today. For what it's worth, the car always ran rich when I had it as well. I would say I changed plugs every 1000 miles or so (that was like once a year) because I could never seem to set the carbs lean enough. Also had trouble with the choke not fully closing ... but I'm sure you remedied that already with the carb rebuild. Regarding the vibration over 70, I don't think it's the tires as I recall a minor shake as wel,l and that was on the prior set of tires. Good luck. Alan

Hey Alan,

Thanks for your feedback. The choke problem is solved,( the carbs needed cleaning badly ! ) but when I was working on the carbs I did notice about the needles, I think they where changed for richer ones, as I noticed alot of room around the nozzle. The basic plugs seem to hold fine now, it's just drinking some more fuel hehe.

The tires...it could be aswell something else What I notice is that around 30 mph, the whole car wobbles, like your on a bumpy road..maybe that's the best way to describe it. " a wiggle through the car " It goes through the whole car, but the steering wheel is steady, the steering wheel starts to shake above 60 mph ( which is horror on the motorway ). I checked engine mounts but they seem okay. I will try check more parts, like the driveshaft for play when I have some time.

@ Blue: yeah, it clearly running rich. What I find odd however, is that the heat range 7 plugs color nicely... and the 6 plugs turn all black and fail to ignite.

[bartsscooterservice]

Could be incorrect carb needles.

Could very well be.. I noticed alot of room around the nozzle when the needle was in closed position, and especially @ WOT.

[Bonzi Lon]

The shaking my car had went on for some time until the problem was found.

The ny-lock (self locking) nut at the top of the strut ( holding the shock rod to the insulator) had come loose and wobbled out the 'D' in the insulator and nearly wore the shock rod in half. It was found by raising & lowering of that corner & watching everything move, removing the little black cap showed the loose nut. Replaced shock and insulator, no more shake. Just a thought.

Bonzi Lon

[240260280z]

The car is designed for NGK plug heat of 6. Since you are using NGK's in your tests, an NGK 5 is hotter and an NGK 7 is colder. Typically 5's will be cleaner because they will burn off more residue. What you experienced seems to be opposite where the colder 7 was cleaner.

I think that some other factor may be at play. Maybe put a few 7's in with 6's to rule this out.

If you don't have an O2 wideband then try measurements by reading plugs after 5min of idle then after 5min of cruising a 60mph (cut ignition carefully at speed then coast to a stop...don't lock the steering wheel).

[bartsscooterservice]

The car is designed for NGK plug heat of 6. Since you are using NGK's in your tests, an NGK 5 is hotter and an NGK 7 is colder. Typically 5's will be cleaner because they will burn off more residue. What you experienced seems to be opposite where the colder 7 was cleaner.

I think that some other factor may be at play. Maybe put a few 7's in with 6's to rule this out.

If you don't have an O2 wideband then try measurements by reading plugs after 5min of idle then after 5min of cruising a 60mph (cut ignition carefully at speed then coast to a stop...don't lock the steering wheel).

I know about the heat range from plugs since I use it for my work also ( scooters ), and I would also think a 5 or 6 would burn cleaner, since it will get hotter. But somehow the 7's color nice, and the hotter ones fool. I do know it's running rich, since I see black fumes when flooring the pedal when car is on the driveway when engine is hot. I think the needles must have been changed somewhere along the way like you suggested for richer ones.

My main concern now is getting the vibrations out of the car