zKars

aha! Just not something I’ve seen very often. I only have two 280 hvac control setups, neither were AC unfortunately, so no vacuum switches....

ZX part I believe. I have pretty much nothing ZX, just 70-78 Z

If the other leads don’t pan out I have some block breather tubes, valve cover breather elbows, and maybe a S1 heat shield. All used, but all restorable. PM me.

I have a drawer full of jigs and things I’ve made over the years to make things “better” but I made one today that I’ve been wanting to build for some time. When installing new stock T/C bushings, you have to compress the rubber quite a bit to get the end of the rod threads to stick out far enough to allow you start the nut. I had previously modified a special welding vice grip, but it was a struggle at best. It is now in the metal recycle bin. Here is what I built. Some 5/8 threaded rod, few nuts, some 1/4 plate steel, piece of 5/8 ID pipe (garage door spring tubing). M6 threaded rod to keep the two halves aligned. Added that after using it to do the first one. This is the vice grip tool I modified before. The jaws are always in a V shape, never parallel.

Here is another way to share your knowledge. Post a couple of well posts, of cool tools you’ve made or bought that made your Datsun day go better. I’ll go first.

After you cut through the spindle pin (both sides) to remove the control arm from the strut, you can only push (either end) on the cut off surface of the pin that still remains in the strut. I drill a little 3/16 hole in the center, then apply the tip of the pointy tool on the air chisel and pull trigger. (maybe I cut the end off of a chisel and ground a point on the shaft, can’t remember)....

Other than pin lubricant, and insuring the pin slides in easily before attempting the re-install, the secret is a way to rotate the pin easily back and forth while you gently push the lock pin into place. It only fits correctly with the pin rotated "just so" making it very tempting to use too much hammer to get that pin to seat. I use a pair of thin M12x1.25 nuts that I lock together back to back on one end of the pin. Then I can put a vise grip on one of them and wiggle/rotate to my hearts content with one hand as I push the lock pin home. I find the pin is never "loose" by any stretch so it takes a bit of force to rotate and push/pull so having a firm nut/pair and vice grip gives you the torque to move it to just the right spot. Here is the result of the last pin pull last week. Yanked the threads right off of both ends of one pin, cut it off then used the air chisel on the middle bit. Popped right out. After that, didn't bother with the other (both of my spindle pin threaded rods now have pin threads stuck in them, humph....) just cut and air chiseled. Both pins where rusted solid into the steel bushings inside the stupid fancy poly bushings that were installed years ago without lube.... All the pin ends are still nicely bonded to the bushing tubes. All four. The lock pin area was clean as a whistle.

Thought I’d give you more paint chip anxiety Have you put the drip rail above the door openings back on yet? Maybe it wasn’t taken off for paint. If there is more than a thin amount of paint on the lip that the drip rail sits on, you will making gouges and chips when you pound that drip rail over that lip to put it back on. Just do it.

Great idea! And just what size heat gun did you use to shrink the shrink wrap?

Let me confuse this further. The picture I showed was of my spare dizzy, which is not identical identical apparently to the one from the car. I was not aware of all the little differences, but the one I can share right now is the numbers on the “original” one are painted on the side, not stamped on the body, and are hard to read. It is likely the same as what 606-52, though it is very hard to read. The “60” part is more less there. See the picture. This car is a UN Canadian car for sure, no air pump or injection tubing, clean balance tube, no evap tank, gas tank with single vent tube etc. I will see what number is punched on the sloted bar and let you know. But the overall issue is resolved I believe, it should have the single spring it has.

Thanks for posting the FSM description. Who knows why both springs. Most important part is as I paraphrase “weight with spring engages with long slot, no spring weight with short slot” so I put it back together again correctly.

Aha! un-balanced slots! Of course. One spring for sure. Dan, that third example clinches it. One spring!

So today I’m tearing down a points distributor to do a cleanup on a 5/70 Z. Single points. D612-52 I get it apart and there staring back at me is two advance weights and only one of them has a spring attached. Hmmmmm... Must be missing, broken, lost sometime in the past. No sign of bits laying around. Need to find a replacement spring. Go get a spare. Post Aug 71 points, but so what. Look inside, two springs, but they are much larger diameter and looked stretched out. Go look again, find that very last D612-52 that is identical to the one with one spring, open it up, and ..... One spring. No pieces laying around. Ok, is it me or are these things notorious for breaking advance springs? Surely they all came with two springs. Right? Maybe not? Out of balance with only one, doesn’t make sense to me. Check the Fiche, for the pre Aug 71 manual dizzy, the Qty column for weights is 2, but the QTY column for springs is 1... Holy cow batman, could it be? Now mind you I check the post Aug 71 manual dizzy and the spring Qty is also 1. The pictures up top for both are showing two springs Are two dizzy’s statistically significant enough sample to say they had only one? There should be pieces if one broke.... Any experience? I can’t remember discussing this before.

The heat shield under the EFI intake are 8x1.25. There are no M8x1.5 threads anywhere on a Z. The four SU heat shield bolts are M6x1.0. 3x0.5 4x0.7 5x0.8 6x1.0 8x1.25 10x1.5 on the block 10x1.25 any suspension 12x1.25 and a few 14mx1.5, M16x1.5,. 20x1.5, 22x1.5 for good measure A few oddball SAE. Seat belt bolts, ;hood bumpers, door lock buttons, blah blah blah And stupid tiny choke knob that are M2.5 or something silly

Never seen a rusty door handle area. Paint damage there from mounting contact is always permanently hidden, if it exists. Worst problem I’ve seen is door handles not fitting in the pocket well, causing the handle to touch and chip paint when actuated. Not sure what the issue was, possibly The rubber pads were missing or damaged causing the handle to sit too close to the body or something.

Given the number of Z’s I’ve driven in that have wind noise and weatherstrip leaks around the doors and window channel, it is no surprise to me that various owners have tried to “make it better” by adding additional weatherstrip of their own design to various areas. The stuff on your car and the one on this picture are not “Stock”.

Does your crank case vent tube look like #1 or #2 L28 style L24 style. Not sure if L26 came with #1 oe #2... I can see how #1 would be in the way of the heat shield

First I feel your pain. Tomorrow it will feel better. Have you tried a puller or are you just trying to whack it out? Second, the amount of stick out on that spindle pin looks wrong to me. Is the other side equally too far in? (At the neck down part)? The neck down part is usually closer to the end of control arm. Or have you got it moved that far but can’t get it farther? If you found it that way, then it was installed backwards, the lock slot in the middle is not in the middle.....

Torquing a fastener requires that you have clean threads (male and female) and correct lubrication of the threads and the clamping surface around the bolt head/washers according to the manufacturers (bolts) specifications if you are going to get ANY prayer of getting an accurate torque. You can remove a bolt and clean its threads, and grease it up, but how are going to do prep the head hole with the head on? Long story short, if you have a leaking head gasket, then sure, what’s the harm in trying a bolt re-torque first, but without some indication of problems, why in the world would you poke a bear? Ne-touche-pas!

I have a new mistress at the moment. She is very demanding of my time and attention. I’m sure you-all understand.... Peachy.... She has her warts, but beauty is skin deep I have to keep her eyes covered or I risk attack, like a trained hawk... yes, beer is involved. I shall continue the clip search.

I’ve had misfire issues where the tip of the spark plug was loose. The end where the plug wire goes. On some NGK plugs, the end cap threads on, and I have found many that were loose. Check yours and tighten thoroughly with pliers. Here is a screen grab showing plugs with and without the end cap and how they thread on

A Small carbide burr in a Dremel (the second from the right, ball shape) will be able to eat away at the extractor. Get real Dremel ones if you can, or from a trusted shop. Lots of cheap "carbide" crap out there. I threw all my extractors away. Never ever had one work for me. Drill the broken bolt out then re-tap or heli-coil. Yes it's tough to drill in the center.

I salute you. Mental faculties intact under those conditions is exceedingly rare. Even basic survival is to be commended.

It’s intent is to warm the carbs when the engine is cold, to improve drivability and reduce emissions. It was found with the issues around heat soak and vapor lock that they wanted to turn that hot water source off so they added a heat activated valve at the back of the last carb to turn the hot water off once the engine was fully warmed. No need to heat the carbs once the whole thing is all toasty. You can see the 73 version in your picture above just behind the red circle. The early Z’s had that line with no restriction. The common thing to do is just lose that coolant line altogether and, if you drive in cool weather, put up with maybe slightly poorer drivability until the car warms up. If you want to keep all the lines and such for nice correct appearance and ease of plumbing, then I’d plug the line internally at some hose connection and get the best of both worlds

Can’t see how the arm bar that came with that new hatch lock will work with the z hatch release. Look at my picture of the stock lock and arm bar, and imagine the location of that little bolt that’s threaded into the end of the stock arm, relative to the body of the lock. It is above the end of the lock. That bolt head is what touches the release thingy that unlocks the hatch when you push down on the lock body to release it. The new arm, and its long threaded bolt, are much much farther below the end of the lock body. It cannot rotate over into the open position and be located properly above the release arm on the latch. Unless you bend that new arm to resemble the stock one, I don’t think you have a workable solution