JimmyZ

When you say "I'm not going to try" it implies that you know it's bad for your pump to run dry or intermittently dry. I imagine "E" is different for each car by a small degree. If you have a drain plug on your tank you can always drain and see. Just add about a gallon, look at the guage and consider that a bare minimum. (pref more for FI) The angle the car is sitting at also has an effect on how much fuel is getting to the pickup tube. When my 71 has run out of gas if I'm on level ground it takes about a gallon poured in to get going again. It takes two gallons if it's on an incline. When I was younger I used to run out of gas but that ended in my mid twenties. My car is a '71 and has a different tank of course but here's a page I made for it. At the end of the page are some pics of the inside of the tank and the pickup tube. The baffles can hold fuel away from the pickup if you should corner hard. Keep that in mind if running low. http://warbuddies.homestead.com/gastank.html 2c Jim

HA! A dead thread! How did this one get revived? I saw the post before my first saying "last edited 2003". How did this post make it to the front page? I'll make this my last for this one. RIP old thread:)

Arne, I'll get some NGK's next set of plugs, I'm sure you're right. My original engine burned a enough oil to foul the plugs often. (rebuilt it after a couple years) I found that the Champs seemed to withstand more cycles of bead or sandblasting than other brands. (Don't understand how such cleaning can "kill" a plug but it does) Didn't try the NGK's that often but now I definitely will.

Wow! Alaska! Pretty cool. I've always wanted to visit and was thinking of moving there someday. Seems that carving out a living there is more difficult and Anchorage is supposedly called "Los Anchorage" by some. I hate the idea of moving al that way to just find myself in more of the same garbage that goes on in the 48. In your area I'm sure that's not the case though. Champion RJ12YC has always been my fav. (Think I got the # right) They are cheap and seem to be more foul resistant than others. Maybe it's just my superstition about the fouling aspect or perhaps they are just made to a better specification. I've tried Bosch platinum NGK etc and all in different heat ranges. The champs seem to be it. 2c Jim

Think I remember him saying that he killed that one. I'll verify. Beleive he drove it with a bad main cap and it finally let loose.

What's that? The pics/info of Norm's Z? I just found him with google a few weeks ago. After getting on this site I saw mention of him and thought it would be cool to catch up. He filled me in on his car's accomplishments/tragedys since I last saw him. He sent me a buttload of pics to fill in the missing years. He's a great guy and was/is a good friend. Can't wait to do some bodywork/painting next time he's down. It would be like we were in our early twenties again:) Like a lot of Z enthusiasts we spent time helping each other with car problems, talking about chics etc... Come to think of it the same stuff that goes on in the board here. To me the greatest thing about Norm's accomplishments were that they were put into reality by willpower. We are both men of limited means and have to rely on creative methods of attaining goals. I repect anyone who can scrape together something out of nothing.

Here's a pic of Norm' s headwork and just how crazy he is. Look at the tach! The bellhousing was blown when his clutch decided to explode. He kept all of his toes and both legs.

Perhaps there is another Norm that matched him in that area. The one I know moved from FL to NC 'bout 14 years ago. Norm Simpers is his name. He lives in North Carolina. Just talked to him yesterday. He was well known years ago for his 12.9 sec time with a N/A L series. (Old screenname was 12secdualSUdude on hybrid Z) He says that those days are gone and now he just picks on corvettes, mustangs and any other sucker in need of a good thrashing. I met him 15-16 years ago and used to race all over town with my '71 vs his '72. Even then he was faster because he "willed" his car so. He had a few external mods to his Z but would easily leave me due to his natural ability. He was/is very scientific about measuring times to X speed and knew when to shift and what speeds to race to when racing other cars. His mind is full of performance capabilities of other cars. He picks his "fights" well! Norm has always been a clutch dumpaholic and was bragging to me about stripes leading into his garage. His daughter eggs him to do it much to the chagrin of his neighbors.:tapemouth From a brief description he gave me his engine was a 2.9L bored 280 motor. He used Diesel crank and caps and had his SU's venturis bored at a machine shop. He screwed around with his headwork at home with only basic tools and had very well polished combustion chambers and valves. There was a lot of inuitive detail work he did on his heads. For track running he took off his exhaust and ran straight from the header. His 5 speed tranny was cobbled together from several trannys to get the best ratios for the track. He also used more durable shift forks from one style of 5 speed. The amazing thing about Norm is that he does everything extremely low budget while yielding high results. On his side is a gent who owns a JY with lots of Z's etc for him to pick parts from. 2c Jim

Nice...ROFLROFLROFL Being a Japanese car perhaps he wanted to catch the colors of the rising sun at each hour? Nice paint job but terrible taste and what a way to make a perfectly good car look like...

The Haynes manuals are OK. I did my first tranny rebuild using one. The troubleshooting sections in most manuals aren't the best but this forum easily picks up where they leave off. One day, if you can afford to get the FSMs (factory service manual(s)) for the car that would give you everything you needed to know and even some you didn't. Eventually you will evolve beyond the manuals and understand things more on an engineers level. It took me a while to reach this point on my own slow pace but now I'm building a plane and the motor from scratch. You may be aware that working on cars like these is a great way to expand yourself in many ways while making some good friends. A breaker bar with the right sized socket will turn the crank. If it's a manual shift you can always put it in gear and budge the car to turn things over. (I'm assuming you want to adjust the valves and need to turn the motor?) Early Z's are sooo easy to work on. It's a great car to learn from and the mechanical parts are much cheaper than modern car parts. Cya, Jim

Now for what I should have said first:) I assumed that the engine was actually cranking w/o asking.. Ask yourself, "Have I missed something simple like verifying that there's gas in the tank or that the battery is strong enough to crank things fast enough etc". I'm assuming you've done the obvious. Funny how sometimes it's something simple like no fuel which causes all the hubub. It might just take some cranking to prime the fuel system after having sat for so long. Try using the choke and spraying just a quick shot of starting fluid to see what happens before whipping out the tools. Hope this helps, Jim

Playing with carb float assembly.. Take a fuel line off a carb and four screws off it's float cover, remove and look at the inside of the float bowl. (Clean crud if any from inside of bowl) Be gentle with the float assembly and get a manual if it makes you feel better. It pretty simple to disassemble and check the needle. Work on this part over something soft like a towel so that.. A. You don't lose anything and B. You don't drop and damage the float. Just be gentle and use some needlenose pliers to remove the pin from the float Gently remove the needle from it's seat and chack for crud. They have spray carb cleaners but laquer thinner does a great job of cutting varnish. A quick soak and an old toothbrush and things are like new. Replace the needle, float etc and before installing float cover assembly to carb pour the bowl halfway full of gas. This keeps you from having to crank the engine forever to prime. It is also an excellent way to remedy a run out of fuel situation once the tank has been filled.

Sitting for a few years can do a few things to a Z's fuel system which would cause a no start. Starting with the most likely..The rubbers in the fuel pump may have rotted. The float needles in the carbs may have seized or varnished over/shut. The fuel return orifice in the rail may be clogged. The fuel itself may have become so stale that it won't easily run the car let alone start it. Unlikely that the fuel filter is clogged but remotely possible. Be careful when working with raw fuel. The burns you can receive from a flash might kill you if enough of you gets crisped. No kidding. Wait for any spilt fuel to evaporate completely before starting an engine or making any sparks etc. The easiest thing to do when testing the fuel is to unplug the fuel line exiting the pump and crank the motor. The moment the pump squirts some fuel STOP cranking. (Have a helper do the cranking and listen for your stop command) The pump, which after sitting this long probably needs replacing anyway as the rubbers are probably getting bad from varnish etc. It's quick and easy to disconnect the exit line from the rail and see if it's clogged. This allows you to skip the float covers/needles which should be done after the pump is verfied. next post..

Congratulations on the Z! (Belated 3+ years) You've picked an excellent car to learn on. It's probably fuel related but here's a quick way to test things. I'm writing these tests in the context of your situation. Get a spare spark plug and plug it into the coil wire or one of the s-plug wires and lay it on the valve cover or find a way to ground the body of the plug. Crank motor and see if there is spark. (Might need a helper to crank so you can watch spark gap) If no spark then you know where to look. Plugs, points,condenser, dist cap, coil... there are ways of inspecting testing these things listed in a Haynes manual. (You DO have one right?) If you do have spark and the engine sounds normal when cranking then fuel is the next suspect. By "engine sounds normal" I mean it cranks evenly and compression can be heard when cranking. This rules out any mechanical failures. Before testing for fuel related problems in this situation it would be nice to know if the motor will run if given something combustible. Verifying things in this manner erases doubt and allows complete focus on what hasn't been solved. Try spraying starting fluid in the intake before cranking. Don't spray a lot just a quick tap or two of the spray is all you need. If you spray too much and it backfires you'll have on heck of a fireball! Starting a lawnmower with liberal S-fluid removed my arm hair and some of my eyebrows once. Be careful. All you want to do is hear it run for a second or two. This verifies and allows you to proceed to the next steps. next post...

It might look like mine did. Here's what it took for me to fix it.. Completely doable but not much fun. There was too much rot near the inner fenderwell so it had to be cut away. Got the new frame rail from MSA. Prior to the fix the car was getting too squirrelly, especially in the rain.

Assuming it's the 240 you have.. There's a 3 or 4 pin (I think) harness near the pass door under the dash. Can't find my FSM but there's a picture of each harness that would help. The 4 pin harness at the tail lamp can also act up. Mine did. Try unplugging and replugging. (Check voltage at pins while you're at it.) Did you check the sockets for corrosion and voltage?

It took me about a year and a half to find my Z. Don't settle! You and the car will know when you've found each other. (That sounded kind of messed up eh?) You're going to put so much into the car. It might as well be a car that you truly like and not something you settled for. The 240's at a distance sound interesting. I found engines and trannies as cheap as $125 each so getting a Z car operational isn't hard. Actually getting the thing operational is the least of your worries. Getting it presentable is what you'll be spending time on. 2c, Jim

It really depends on how much of a purist you are. If you're the type that just likes to have a nice looking car for daily use then leave the doors on. It will be cheaper and the body man won't cuss as much when he tries refitting the freshly painted doors. If you're going to be making a show car or have something which you've poured a lot of sweat (ie total strip and repaint) into then maybe you want the degree of perfection that comes with painting in pieces. If you drive in an area where the car is likely to be in an accident then maybe the cheaper approach is better. At least this way you won't kill the person who bumped you.. You'll just hospitalize them. Your bodyman probably knows where your ideals are for the paint job and is doing the right thing. My Z was painted while assembled the first time. (17yrs ago or so) The second time I chose to paint in pieces because I was the one doing the painting and all of the labor/headaches were mine. My color is solid and not metallic. The reason I chose to paint in pieces was also because the car was completely disassembled. My bodyshop friend leaves the doors on, masks the interior and simply sprays the jambs by opening the doors. (In cases like yours) I'd rather cut the doors in first then assemble, mask and spray the outside. To each his own. Your bodyman is doing the right thing.. Giving you a beautiful car while not breaking the bank. 2c, Jim

I think you are limited to cutting a front clip off a JY car unfortunately. Let me guess.. It's your battery side which got devoured right? I had to fab a lot of sheet metal for mine since about half was gone. At least you can get the frame rails new. 2c

I've got a MIG, TIG, plasma cutter and 5' steel rule graduated in 100ths if you want to bring it up here. It would probably take 2-10 hours of welding depending on how bad the hoods frame is. I'm sure the frame has some rot too and not just the front. After laying tacks I'd like to see what kind of warpage an .020 tungsten makes when welding 1/8"-1/4" at a time. (Probably next to nil.) Of course I'd do warpage experiments on areas of the donor hood first of course. You could build a plywood tank and line it with plastic for your own electrolysis bath. Add washing soda and a little phosphoric and let it do it's thing for a few days. Electrodes could be made to fit inside the frame so that it gets cleaned too. Just can't have 'em touching anything metal. (Spacing insulators) All you'd owe me is an argon refill. Just offering, I know Sarasota is a long way from Mt Dora. Jim

Wow! Maybe he has a record for the longest lasting car fire. Quick call Guinness! If it is gas/carb fire... Seriously though, this is some scary sh*#. Please be careful and try to not get burned. I had second and third degree burns over half my body from just 1/2 cup of gas igniting twelve feet from me. They had to cut some skin off (No shots just Xacto'ed me and peeled) and pain meds didn't do squat. My lips almost fused together and my ears had gristle like a well done steak. The pain pierced my sleep and I had nightmares for a month while my body dealt with the tormentous pain. Thank God for Silvadene! I watched skin grow back quick with that stuff. Hopefully I've given you some glimpse into why I'm saying BE CAREFUL. Work outdoors when it's breezy and keep yourself upwind of any fumes. Wait for any spilt gasoline to completely evaporate before starting the engine...Blah blah I could go on forever with safety precautions. If the fire is indeed coming from your carbs you had better have a fire extingusher handy. Wear gloves and a long sleeve shirt before starting so that if you do have to fight the fire. You can get a few seconds more in before you have to back off. You might think you've put the fire out, get closer and have it flash on you... Another reason to wear some protection. Best yet, Get someone knowlegable to help determine and fix the problem with you. 2c Jim

Maybe I need to get my eyes checked but it looks like the blue hood is not as wide as the green one. I have heard complaints about some aftermaket hoods being off in length but didn't know that there was a width issue.

The screech may not be related to what caused the fire. Did you get under and see what was burned? Did you move the exhaust or put a hole in it? That would be my first guess. Darrel... You know you're going to burn in hell with replies like that! But damn you're funny!! ROFLROFL