zKars

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?

OK, I can't take this any more. I'm going to have to sadly put this thread on "ignore". I can't make it to this one and its KILLING me. Why didn't you people tell me these things were so much fun? Why did I have to finally go last year and find out what I've been missing? How am I going to afford to get to all of the future conventions? How am I EVER going to be able to thank the organizers enough for what they do? I can't even dream of a way to turn it into a "business" trip as there isn't a lick of oil or gas any where NEAR Nashua NH. Unless I'm missing something. Someone, anyone with ANY oil/gas operating company, invite me down for a "meeting", please!!!! Maybe there's offshore oil we can find together, its perfectly safe, really! Lobsters love it. Oh fine then, everyone who IS going, just go and enjoy yourselves, and don't let Mad Mike talk to you, cause you never know... See you next year in SD!!!

That don't look like no SU float I ever seen.....

So you're at least 45, hence the number of ladies you can drive around with isn't likely your FIRST consideration, so its easy. Keep the one that makes you the happiest when you drive it. Simple. Just measure your smile.

Oh come on, a "special hand made item with Japanese Patina" is easily worth $200 bucks!

Six shooter, not all 73's had 4 wire tachs. There is thread a few years ago where I too made this statement but was put in my place with clear real examples of late 73's getting the 3 wire tachs. Not common, but they are out there. TinyZ, I'll send you an PM about the harness.

Whoa. No harness... As in none? anywhere? or just the engine bay? I, for one salute your bravery and willingness to take on a challenge. Ignore the nay sayers and carry on. Remember the harness offer....

Some poor guy struggling with metric to Imperial conversions. Hilarious! Just discussing this about other stuff in the 73 manual (trans capacities) in another thread. Ok, first person to find 10 errors in the 73 FSM gets a prize (TBA)

The good news is, fill until it hits the bottom of the fill hole. That's the "right" amount. The volumes listed are average expected capacities. If you're filling through another hole since you can't get the fill plug out, well then use the listed quatities. You are just witnessing documentation and the evolution of said documentation. I remember this was discussed in another thread where several variances in wording and quantities were hi-lighted between different FSM years. Some made it explicit to "fill until it runs on your shoe" while others just listed the capacities. I think everyone agreed that "full" is the right amount and now worry about an oz/decalitre/micro-pint here or there. Just checking the 76 FSM, the paragraph reads "1.6 liters ( 3 3/8 US pt) 2 7/8 imp Pt." so the 2 3/8" in the 73 manual is wrong. Actually the 73 manual in the text on bottom of page TM-11 says "1.6 litres (3 3/8 US gal 3/4 Imper. gal) "!! there is no "2" on the 3/4!!! Katayama would roll over on his couch if he saw that! Apparently they had other more pressing emergencies to deal with 73 than proof reading the documentation.... Like how to get those flat tops to return the emmisions specs they needed.....

TinyZ: First welcome to the Z obsession! Is your current wiring harness really in such bad shape that you feel you have to replace it all? The Factory Service manual for your 73 is available here. XenonS30 The "Body Electrical" (BE) section has the schematics and wiring connector layout diagrams you'll need. I have to say that the effort to understand the current wiring, so that it can be replaced with new, and then doing that replacement, tends to be far more difficult and time consuming than taking the understanding you gained in part one (understanding what you have now) and just fixing those parts of your harness that need it. We call this the "painless wiring syndrome".... There ain't no such thing as a "painless" wiring harness replacement. If your engine bay harness/dash harness is "that" bad, you might put an "want to buy" ad on here anyway. You might be surprised how affordable one can be if you ask. hint hint.... There also lots of electrical experts here that can help with specific questions. After looking at the wiring diagram in the FSM, do some research on how points distributor systems work. Just doesn't get any simpler. +12 ignition on the "+" coil side, and the points make and break a ground to the "-" side of the coil six times per dizzy revolution to make it spark. That's it.

There are literally 100's of us here and on hybrid and other forums who have performed these repairs without a robotic welder. Maybe we did something wrong! As to cost, we don't count the cost of our time, but if we did, it would be in the thousands of dollars even at minimum wage for any serious rust repair. Now depending on your budget, skills, time and access to welders, grinders etc, I can say with some confidence that it is much easier and cheaper to find a low-rust (there is no such thing as a "rust free" datsun....) car as your starting point. Even bringing it back from the dry west to your remote easterly location makes sense. There is nothing more time (and hence labor $$) intensive work as rust repair and body work. Generally speaking the only way its affordable is to do it yourself. Another hard learned lesson. The rust you see is 20-25% of the rust issues you have with that car. Frame rails, from rad support to rear subframe, floor pans, etc are all available as reproductions to buy. All you have to do is remove the old, weld in the new... Be honest with yourself also about the time to complete the project as well. Planning on driving it this year? Got a full time job? Going to school? Family? Virtually every parts car I get is the result of a project that went on for too long that was eventually abandoned. So my advise is much like what you heard actually. You have a LARGE rust repair challenge ahead of you, are you really prepared to take it on? That's what your friends and work comrades are really saying. Good luck with the project!

My guess is that the timing chain was not timed correctly between cam and crank. With crank key way at 12:00, check if the #1 cam gear mark is close to its oval mark on the plate behind the gear.

Holy cow folks, lets not forget that the fuel level is not an accurate indication of volume remaining. The tank is a not a big rectangle, the relation ship of cross sectional area to volume remaining at all levels is a complex function. Best you put a micro computer based circuit in there so you can properly input the necessary volumetric relationships. Which reminds me of a story...A farmer was convinced to allow an engineer to attempt to increase his dairy farm efficiency. After 12 months and $500,000 spent the farmer asked the engineer to explain what he had done and how the new system works. The Engineer said, "well, first we assumed a spherical cow..." I only care to know with any accuracy, when the tank is about 5 litres from empty....

It would seam (sewing joke, sorry) that one must have a sewing machine involved to do this properly. P240's ideas are sound and produce an excellent result. I've seen it. There is another approach. It involves a two prong approach. The first, to re-finish the hardware, involves first sand blasting the metal, to remove all corrosion (harmless to the webbing if done gently), then painting them. You have to pry the black material away the metal bits and mask and spray in there where you can't see, likely in stages. Stage two is to mask off the metal bits and SEM Black Vinyl dye the webbing black again. That stuff is rated for rug, leather, vinyl plastic, whatever. If you have to, wash and rince (and dry) the webbing first especially if you sand blasted. Now crazy people (reads any serious Z restorer), in an effort to use original materials, would laboriously remove the stitching by hand from the webbing, remove and re-plate the hardware, re-dye the webbing, then have it all sewn back together again by hand through the same needle holes used in the original stitching. The only trick here is finding the correct native cotton plants from Japan used to produce the cotton stitching thread, and the black indigo dyes, to do this right... Now where is that tongue-in-cheek icon when you need it....

Esprit, your link is "semi" wrong! Remove the semi-colon please! Oh and I will be lining up for the these strips when they become available. Thanks!

yes. ORB style. Has a washer seal.

Thread pitch on the drain plug is 8mm x 1.00mm.

Jeff, is what you are turning a flat plate or a round cylinder that is about 3/8" high? Sounds like the flat plate. There is supposed to be two parts/layers that are held together with a screw, guess you've lost that. There is a slot/hole to put a bolt/nut back on there so you have a reference Other than that, bubble gum, dab of JB weld, something anything that you can feel. Put a scratch/nick in it. paperclip, small cable tie, Ya! cable tie!, either style of adjustment knob, gives you a small permanent bump you can feel.

Jeff: Do you have the early knurled knob style or the flat plate scalloped edge style adjuster? The knurled knob has a little ball bearing embedded on the side that you can feel, and the scalloped one has a screw head on the underside that I use as a finger feeling reference. Turn them all the way in, note the rotation position of the ball/screw head relative to an imaginary clock face from the top, then spin away. As you turn past that starting position your brain will register that "aha! I've been here before" feeling.