visionary

Baddog, I glad the info helped. Five miles to smooth out is not unusual for a '73 with the smog system dsconnected. If your carbs are adjusted correctly and you choke system works well you can 'feather out' the choke lever while driving for a smoother transition until your engine is warmed up and your vacume systems stabilize. If you go down to your local import parts store and replace the flex tube from the exhast manifold to the air intake box your car will warm up faster. If you are going to keep the original air box I would suggest doing this as leaving the connection open does not allow the box to work as designed. If you want to know the part #'s on the individual air cleaners from Borg Warner, I will post them for you. They are actually for volvos but fit perfectly(about$28). The PCV valve attaches at the intake manifold from the crankcase vent hose. You might also consider replacing the '73 intake manifold with a '72 which allows better flow for the carbs and subsequently better vacume stability. good luck Keith

Brandon, Car looks great. I like the seats and the fit is very consisitent with the interior. I think I will look around in the yards. By the way, I lived on Nob Hill and Buena Vista for many years while I worked downtown and in the media district in SOMA. I'll let you know... Keith

Mike, they do look good. This is an option I should explore. If you don't mind me asking, what is cost range? There are several good shops here, however I am not aware of cost and value parameters. Another thing, I noticed the weatherstrip on you doors is not as thick as the replacement rubber I got from MSA. Did you replace or is your weatherstrip original? thanks, Keith

I don't know, with a dark paint job, different hood, three point restraints, roll bar and a diplomatic passport hadcuffs and a gold card you could probably pick up a blond with big hair in it.... Keith

Jeff, Check out the Weatherstrip thread at the beginning of this forum. I have had full rubber replacement from MSA on my Driver door for a year and the door still won't close completly flush to the rear quarterpanel. Am thinking about trying some test strips on the other door that are"trimmed" so as to reduce the physical thickness of the replacement rubber... will update Keith

zz, let me know how that works. I am going to brainstorm this issue a little more to see if I can come to an acceptable solution. I think I will try a couple of small strips first now that the weather is warming up... Keith

Baddog, You have a '73 manifold with '72 or earlier SU carbs. The two holes you have circled on the front manifold are not holes per say. They are screw threads that mounted the idle speed hose crossover tube for the flattop hitachi's that are no longer there. There should be two identical thread holes on the rear manifold. If the cosmetics bother you, simply fill the threads with appropriate screws. The two nipples that are coming out of the manifold next to the thread holes were for vacume hoses connected to the Throttle opener control valve that was linked to the flattops to allow air-fuel mixture into the engine to minimize the unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust. These should always remain pluged. I would put pipe plugs with teflon tape on them to ensure you don't get a vacume leak. Any leak here will affect your vacume advance to the disrtibutor dramatically. The "hole" on the equalizer tube I cannot see very well, but if it isn't a mounting or thread hole plug it because as you can see, the vacume boost for your brake master cylinder comes from the equalizer tupe and good pressure here ensures your brake master cylinder booster doesn't fail. The breather tubes from your float bowls you can join with a "T" fitting and then send to the air cleaner or if you decide to run individual air cleaners you can run them into the appropriate one. Do not plug these as it will cause the float bowls to overflow and gas will run out of the front of your carbs. The "winter" setting on the stock air box is forward or closed on the intake baffle and the "summer" setting in rearward or open. I have elimiated all of these issues by using individual cleaners, putting a valve cover breather filter instead of the hose and disconnecting the hose to the flow guide valve from the carburetor. You also need to check the PCV valve from the crankcase breather hose.... good luck Keith

Baddog, I have to go to a meeting, but when I get back I will detail your manifold for you. I also have '72 SU carbs on my '73 and have disconnected all the smog, etc.. I also removed the "box" aircleaner and replaced with individual aircleaners. these cars are not cold running cars, especially after the smog system is removed or is in poor condition. It is a must for all of the holes in the manifold to be plugged for several reasons beyond engine performance... Be back soon.... Keith

Hey Baddog and anyone else who is interested: There is a Z shop in Lakewood Colorado ( a suburb of Denver) called Fortunate Wheelz. The owners name is Bob Bush,303.798.9822, and this guy is a brilliant Z mechanic with alot of parts. Baddog, he has a set of seats you may be interested in... tell him Keith with the Idaho Z sent you. Keith

I would like to see some photo's if you have some of the fiero seats. I could care less about the headrest speakers, I have a Kenwood system with rear 6x9 and front 5" speakers but would like a mod that has minimal fabrication.... Thanks, Keith

Let me count the ways... On the horn pad On the cam oiler tube On the vacume tube I modified with a flexible brake line from the intake manifold to my auto trans kickdown On the interior to fix may cracks on the inside of the panels during resoration On the console to rebuild many areas during resto To fill a couple of holes in my head... Keith

I have been using a Volvo filter on my '72 roundtops, which fit directly to the carb via bolts I got at the local hardware store. They work well but are paper filters and don't last that long at $28 for a set. These are about 3 or 4 inches deep and allow decent air flow but I think I would do better with a foam type filter because I have to keep my jets leaned out (1/2 to 3/4 turn) or I blow alot of black smoke. Does anyone out there run individual foam filters and if so what type are they? Who supplies them? Keith

I need to replace my seats and because I drive the car for distances, as there is no direct route to or from Idaho, I want to put something more comfortable with more support. I also would like to find a replacement out of a junk yard because of the cost. Any ideas or recommendations??? Keith

Over the last 10 months I have driven my '73 back and forth to Denver from Boise five times (900 miles each way) and had some problems with the charging system. A couple of things happened that might help you. On one trip the alternator diodes welded together causing the system to overcharge and boil my battery. I had the alternator rebuilt by the best electrical shop I could find in Denver and it has been no problem since ($100). It gives a positive reading of about 5 amps normally now. The ramifications were that I had to replace the battery, the VR and rewire at the harness because it damaged the connector and burned up wiring. So, check all of those areas as they are vulnerable to damage when overcharging occurs. On a return trip, somewhere in Wyoming, I started to get needle bounce on the meter and pulled over to look the system over. What I found was a wire at the harness connector had vibrated loose and had an intermitent connection and signal. After securing the wire it eliminated the "bounce". Good Luck Keith

If anyone has the answer to this question, I want to know. I bought my replacement stripping from motorsport and replaced all of the driver door rubber at the same time, i.e. body weatherstrip, underdoor weatherstrip, top front of door weatherstrip, inside door felt, window frame runner felt, etc.. The labels on the rubber was from Nissan, so they were all factory seals. I also bought the passenger doors rubber as well but haven't installed it yet because of these problematic issues. My driver door still does not close properly, after a full year. I have tried all of these adjustment tricks but have not been able to get the door to close so that the body and door align. The weatherstrip on the body keeps coming loose at the curve where the door and window assembly meet also. Has anyone tried cutting the weatherstrip to reduce the physical thickness of it and if so where did you make the cut?

I have a '73 which did have the flattops on it. Those carbs now reside in my shed as I don't have a boat. It is worth a try to tune the flattops while you save the money to but a replacement carb setup. Both the Haynes and Clymer manuals have tuning instructions and you can get rebuild kits for them at import parts suppliers. You should plan on replacing them however. I got a set of '72 round tops, which is the Hitachi HJG46W, from Scott at ZTherapy and have been extremely happy with them. I had a set of cores to send him and got away with about a $400 investment. The cost will depend on what he has available for you, but make no mistake about his rebuilds, they are the best you will find in the U.S.. He replaces the throtle linkage bushings with roller bearing and makes some other adjustments and mods that improve performance. The only caution is if you plan on SCCA racing, they will not pass tech, because of the mods. Check out his website and give him a call. When I got mine from him, he was in Mt. Home Idaho stationed at the airbase. He is very easy to deal with. Keith

If your oil psi is 30-45 then you have plenty of oil pressure in the engine. The oiler tube coming off will affect the cam lobes and possibly the rockers, valves and guides in the head. I have a '73 and have had problems with my oiler as well, however it was the front tube extention that has disconnected on mine. What I initially did was to have it brazed back to the cam journal mount but found that the braze didn't hold or seal well. I thought I would try some JP Weld instead and that has worked very well. You MUST remove the oiler from the cam journals first and thoroughly clean the entire oiler first. Then be very careful that you align the oiling holes correctly so they actually spill onto the cam lobes and don't allow the epoxy to clog an oiling hole. Mine were also clogged and I had to redrill the holes. If you do this be sure to rinse any metallic shavings that you may create before reintalling. My oiler looked like it had been made by a drunk production tech who was late for his tee time. As far as the nonspecific knock coming from your engine. First, run some octaine boost, the best you can buy, then do a compression check on all cyclinders next and drain your oil and strain it to look for and metal or metalic shavings. Then report back to the forum for interpretation of the numbers.

I have an interesting problem I can't seem to solve. Several weeks ago, I checked my timing and as usual check the spark on all the plug wires. The #3 and #4 cylinders were misfiring. I quickly purchased another set of blue thunder wires and rechecked. No difference. I then checked the timing spocket on the cam to see if the chain had streched and decided to adjust the spocket ot hole #2.. After adjusting the spocket I noticed that there was no chain guide bolted to the front of the block. That combined with an oil leak from the main seal convinced me that I should go ahead and pull the front cover and replace the chain, tensioner, guides, main seal, distributor and install a turbo oil pump. To make a long story short, #3 still misfires. Any suggestions? Keith

Gary, I know this sounds stupid but did you check the filiments in the bulbs???

Sundance, I have an areo kit on my '73. It includes the front dam, side skirts and rear valance. I bought my kit from motorpsort in Orange, Ca. All of the products I have gotten from them are good to excelent quality. The glass on mine is very thick and has withstood several unavoidable road hazards with only minor chips. I am considering front fenders as well and have gotten good reports on the fenders motorsports carries. Give them a call. Keith

Thanks for the info, I was going to replace the balancer with a non-a/c type, but I think I will wait until I can find out how they are balanced. If I can remove the extra pulley on my current balancer I will, logically there would be no need to re-balance the pulley.

My '73 had air conditioning sometime in it's previous life. By the time I took ownership most the condenser was gone, so I removed the rest of the components. My question is, can I replace the harmonic balancer/pully to a non-a/c type without having it balanced on the crankshft. In other words, are the balancer's internally or externally balanced. It is a rebuilt L-24.

Hey Timberwolf, I have been agonizing about tire sizes and profiles for my next set. Currently, I have 195x14" on 14"x6" rims. I like the goodrich radial TA and I think I will take your advice and stay with the 14" rim but do not know what the width limitations and/or optimal setup is. Any advice on rim width? Keith

This is a request for information concerning the removal of the intake manifold thermostatic value and abatement of the coolant flow through the intake manafold. I have disconected and discarded, for the most part, the emmisions systems connected to the fuel system. I was looking for tesitimonials on the removal of the thermostatic value and coolant flow through the intake manafold. My concern is low temperaature operation during the winter months connected with living in the northwest. Purportedly, the value is supposed to maintain a constant 150 degree temperature of the coolant through the manifold, however, I have noticed power loss at higher engine temperature operation and tend to regard this system as suspect in the optimal mixture flow at higher temperature operation. Any opinions or tesitmonials welcome... Keith

I was just shopping at http://web.ctsolutions.com/zeddfind and he has a '73 gas tank for $50. check it out