zKars

Quote "...240Z.... and is currently appreciating strongly...."

Thanks Blue for reminding us that shortening a spring has the (perhaps) undesirable effect of making it a stiffer spring as well. Since I've always had a hard time conceptually understanding why this is, so imagine others do as well, try thinking of it this way. Instead of a coil spring, think just of a long retanglar straight bar of steel. Perhaps you have a springy 36 inch ruler in your shop to try this with. Clamp one end to your bench with a c-clamp and let the other end extend off of the bench toward you. Press down on the end of the ruler. It takes a certain amount of force to push it an inch downward. Now press on the bar at a point half way along it's length instead of the very end. It is much harder to push down. You have in effect a shorter lever arm so you need more force to get the same deflection (at that position on the ruler, not at the end. Feel free to cut your ruler in half to confirm...). So we see that compressing a spring is just deforming the steel with a given force, and if you have more length of steel to push on, you have more leverage to do the deforming. Cut coils off and its harder to deform. To further cement the understanding that is not just a function of the material that the spring is made of that determines the lb/in rating, but the leverage you are excerting to deform it, imagine putting your ruler on edge in the above experiment and pushing down on that.... Its a combination of the material stiffness and its manufactured length that gives a particular lb/in rating.

The only technical innovation of the time was the proliferation of spandex apparently. One of my favorite inventions. Thank you Dupont or whoever...

The shear beauty of these things stripped bare still takes my breath away. Alone, vunerable, calling for attention.... Hang on, I might need to take a moment here... Excuse me.... .... ok.... I'm fine. Carry on...

Patience Grasshopper. Soon you will be able to snatch this spindle pin from my hand, and then, you will be ready....

Great stuff. Thanks Dave! Nice memories. But man, were people more gullible back then about what was acceptable levels of out right fakery and totally impossible stunts? There were about 150 obvious fake or really bad things that were just wrong with that whole sequence. Heck we could make a game our of counting the mistakes and fakes. Mind you we have Bachlorette and "America's got Talent" now, maybe nothing has improved after all....

Eurodat, I do not believe the required force is properly conveyed by the word "tap". Perhaps "bludgeon" is closer. Don't be afraid. You will not hurt anything unless you hammer directly on the metal hub or rotor, or use too small or too soft a piece of wood as the buffer. Support it as Eurodat has suggested, then HIT the wood resting across the hub center HARD and centered with a 2 lb or greater hammer until the halves begin to separate enough to get a good big cold chisel in the gap. Then use the chisel with the above hammer to wedge/separate the halves, working around the circumference. This way you will minimize the blows to the hub circle. These things can be quite "attached" if they've been married for 40 years....

DJ, The internal control your knob or slider is attached to, IS the temperature sensitive switch you are looking for. Vintage air warns of this freeze condition, and it just means your dash control thermostat is just set too cold (and your system is working too efficiently!). Just turn the "cool" knob or slider to the warmest (least cool) temp you need to get the cooling you desire. Too cold a setting will freeze the thing solid as you have discovered. Takes a bit of trial and error to get it right. Not exactly a hi-tech system.

You have a replacement carb, intake and likely exhaust manifold from an earlier Z than your 73. None of the EGR and smog stuff that came with your car are there anymore. No smog, anything, anywhere. Cut the wires of the broken sensor put it back in the housing to plug the hole, and move on to more important things.

As an interesting project, your idea to create a smarter choke light is great. Nothing worse (well, a few things...) than leaving your choke on too long. Wastes fuel, clogs up plugs, chokes small chidren on the sidewalks with the black cloud. But there are some places where computers don't belong. Coffee pots and Datsun's are just two...

Buy an "sand through the hour glass" style egg timer. Put velcro on both ends. Stick to dash on top of tach area. When you start your car and put the choke on, turn it over and stick other end to the dash. When the sand runs out, push your choke off.

there is a thread on hybridz about a 6 speed swap. Not simple or cheap, requires welding two bell housings and some mighty exact line-up...

Pull the domes and make sure that both jets are flush with the bridge with the adjusters all the way in, or at least both are the same and close to the top. Did you remove the needles from the piston? Back in the right place? You are definitely running rich.

Good to hear you got that solved. Now you'll lay awake nights wondering what changed that caused it...

Look at the engine and find the vacumm accuation device that has a hook/arm that touches the throttle linkage. There is a way to adjust it mechancially so it doesn't push as far. Other option is that something changed the vacuum and it now pushes farther than it did before, or it got bumped by accident.

Removing the hatch strut AND the bracket will give you the clearance you desire. Warmth (the panel, not you...) and patience are key here. Most panels get cracked at this stage, take your time. I'm assuming this is a panel you just took out and not a new one...

Ah yes. Kia is great stuff. Even new from kiaparts.com its only $46'ish a side. And its a proven solution, and trivial to install, though not perfectly stock in appearance of course. I've even used it on the hatch.

Have you tried 411.com? just type in the person's first and last name and the city, and get all matches. Free.

The road to success is full of detours. Some of the detours are paved in 75 durometer Buna-n.. Details details...

Now that I know some more trade names for the stuff... Thanks Chas! how about this for stock? McMaster-Carr "This economical grade of Buna-N offers good resistance to oils and solvents but is not as weather resistant as other rubbers. Also known as nitrile, acrylonitrile butadiene, and NBR."

Heck Summit racing has a wide variety of Holley Nitrophyl floats, again, an available source of raw materials. Haven't found anyone that sells Nitrophyl resin raw components to "cast your own"...

So close.... MossMotors.com - Restoration Parts And Accessories For British Cars Perhaps one could do a bit of cut/shape/glue of these to our old float armature? Its just a block of Nitrophyl, make it what you need to be.

I taking quite an interest in SU's lately. The more I learn the more I like, and more I yearn to improve the breed. Let me play with float ideas and I'll let you know what I find out. Get my PM Bruce?

Bruce, what is it about the existing floats that make them need to be replaced? Aren't they solid material? It is something to do with the metal frame? Are the float bodies deteriorated? Can't imagine ways to help unless we know the details. If its the resin that needs replacing, I was thinking about other ways to replace just that part. Precisely weighted ping pong balls? Styrofoam? Just need something with the same density, yes? I'm flush with ideas once I get going!

Sadly, I'm pretty sure there is very little you can do to make other people more aware of their surroundings, or to be better drivers. Even red flashing roof top lights and cattle prods are likely in-effective to wake some people up and make them pay attention. Even something is better than nothing though, I'de see if a thin strip of that stuff applied to that very thin chrome strip around the tail light trim panel would add enough reflective area to be effective. I just wouldn't want to stick big strips of that stuff all over the tail light panel or along the back edge of the hatch or something, it would look pretty tacky in the day time, wouldn't it?