Bruce Palmer

We rebuild the bases with new nozzles. If you like to send them to us we can probably get them out w/o destroying them and just charge you for a set of new nozzles. Call me at 503-587-9800 if that sound like a route you'd like to take. Cheers.....

... about the 4 bbl setup that said the carb sits 90 degrees from normal putting the primaries and secondaries side by side. The floats in this orientation, don't respond well to cornering forces. Also stated that the end 2 cylinders tend to run lean as the end 2 runners have a hard time getting even fuel distribution. I can guaranty ZTherapy's SU's will run like a scolded dog. Too many guys running them on their IT cars & just loving them.........

... ZTherapy and Steve said 3 & 4 screw linkages are the same and the flat top linkage is like and inch shorter. HTH

... and clean up and lube all the moving joints with a light lithium grease. You can try increasing spring tensions as well although this can, in some cases, pull a bind into things if you're fighting wear. I have seen worn throttle shaft bushings that actually bound up with a heavier spring attached. Leaking shafts and bushings can induce higher idle as well which can lower after restarting the engine because the shaft was able to reposition altering the air leakage....

.... A real gamey grade of Cheddar ought to plug up something. Nyuck nyuck. Hard to believe the lack of availability of metric studs. Tried and exhaust shop (manifold studs)? True parts houses are getting harder to find. But, anything in the way of chrome bubble wrap stuff, you bet!!!

... and would direct you to the BBS at www.autobodystore.com. Go down to Len Stuart's answer under "roof rust" for a pictoral on a solution to your hole question. Not the whole question, the hole question. You might also go to Len's Zero Rust page too, for info on a product that is safer to use than POR (no isocyanates) is about half the price and basically is a whole lot more user friendly........

... 1. There is nothing simpler than a set of SU's. Those that are constantly tinkering would be better off stuffing their hands in their pockets. There is a right way to do it and everybody else's way. 2. Many of the running conditions described here can be contributed to timeing issues, chain stretch, valve adjustment etc. etc. etc. If anyone wants to de-bug their Z of these issues, I highly recommend our ZTV-01 Tune Up video and the ZTV-09 JUST SU's video. Scott did a great job on these for content and for the price, they are dirt cheap. IMHO you can't beat an "ON" set of SU's for daily driving. If they are not "ON", they can be less than satisfying. Cheers.

.... remove fuse box, pull all fuses soak for about 10 minutes in vinegar right out of the bottle, wires connectors and all. You'll see the connectors brighten up in short order. Rinse everything well, blow it out with air and dry with a hair drier or let it air dry. Reload with new fuses and maybe a little dielectric grease on the contacts and watch for a marked improvement in circulation. Good Rx for 30 something year old Datsun arteries. Discard used vinegar safely. It will make your salad dressing taste funny. sorry.......

..... and I have learned this from too many professional mechanics (remember them?) who said and I quote, "90% of all electrical problem can be traced to a bad ground". Remember and heed that advise and approach all problems from that standpoint first and you'll be surprised how few components you'll have to change out trying to solve a problem that was ground related. That, and the vinegar bath for the fuse box has saved this old boy mucho grief!!!!

Car won't start? Crank it with the starter it will rev up? Release the key it dies? I see some minor inconsistencies. Check fuel supply as suggested and check spark to the plugs. Gotta have both for anything to happen. Thirty something year old wiring can do goofy stuff just for the heck of it. Especially ignition wiring through the ignition switch that has crystalized from carrying full starting voltage for too many years. Make sure all your coil connections are good, clean and tight. I'm liking that "you disturbed something" theory too, a lot. Also, when I assembled my last Datsun (a 510 wagon) there were some electrical gremlins in the system that drove me nuts. Dissasembling the fuse box and giving it a bath in vinegar solved all of them. Honest!! The acid after 10 minutes or so cleaned all the light corrosion off the contacts, reducing resistance to a point that all them little electrons could continue on their appointed rounds. Soak wires and connectors and all rinse well and blow out with compressed air and dry well with a hair drier. Even start with fresh fuses. Think of it as clogged arteries.....

.... the skills are lacking??? On the triples carb deal. If you aren't proficient with tuning multiple carb setups you can lay out copious $$ having someone who is, tune on them for you. "Tune on them" is the term. You don't just walk up and turn a screw driver and all's well. It can require much tuning to get a set of carbs (especially triples) dialed in to a particular engine. Our 260 conversion package complete with the JUST SUs video might be worth looking at. We supply everything needed to replace those flat top carbs. You keep the simplicity of the SU with the performance of the earlier pre-smogger carbs. You might also take a look at the descriptive information on the street racing suspension video. It would help you on your sway bar install..... It can be very rewarding to master projects like you're talking about. The early Z's aren't all that tough to master and the videos I mentioned can be a big help. Hit rewind and go again if you miss something the first time..... Cheers

Starting with a new to you set of carbs should include a disassembly and clenaing before you do anything. These carbs develop wear and gunk related problems over the years that need to be over come or you'll very likely end up chasing your tail trying to get them to run when they never will. The ZTherapy video and some of the books and write ups are excellent to follow and short of a couple of float bowl gaskets coming apart, disassembly isn't going to ruin much of anything. I'd say get 'em apart, cleaned up and back on the car before you really try to dial 'em in. Remember the throttle shafts and bushings in these 30 something year old beautys are the achilles heel to this day. If they are leaking air, the choice then is to come up with some that aren't leaking air. Tinkering and tuning leaking carbs isn't going to solve much..... I'd also suggest changing the fuel line from the float bowl to the nozzle if it's stiff, brittle or the big fat fuel line that can interfere with the choke linkage working properly. Also brittle line can break (can you say poof)....... Our JUST SUs certainly isn't hollywood quality but ol' Scott nailed 'er for content. There's about a ton and a half of info for $15 or $20 (2 tape version). Bruce Palmer sales@ztherapy.com Salem OR

Are you talkng about the interior linkage between the carbs on the euro set up. If so, we have them both (3 screw & 4 screw) hand built and plated for $50 and your old one. Steve builds these so they are quite time consuming to hand fit and silver solder etc. Again, another example of the stuff that's falling off the chart. Any of the other linkage is interchangeable....

Glad the operator error thing has cleared itself up...... Those nozzles are $30/pair with a $30 core charge so if you want to keep them see if you can round up a pair. Anybody out there with old fuel nozzles, don't throw them away. We need them to rebuild. We rebrass the bottom piece and send them scurrying off into the market place to live another life. Another of those items that are NLA and without recycling, we'd all have big funny holes in the bottom of our SUs. Just keep your eyes open and snag any you see. Steve also does custom nozzle sizes for particular needs like Craig's so let us know if you're in Colorado or your driving circumstances require more fuel or whatever......

Daniel, that budget statement probably makes my next $600 suggestion un-necesary then, huh? Your parts are going out today....

And I'm using "SU" interchangeably with Hitachi....... These carbs came new with bushings on the throttle shafts and that fit, leaked some air the day they were new. In the ensuing 30+ years they have not gotten any tighter, so this is the Achilles heel of these carbs to this day. Once you start leaking massive quants of air past the shafts, the carbs will run rich or lean and back and forth just based on the air leakage taken place past where the air and fuel are supposed to mix. Steve machines the carb bodies (after polishing) to accept double sealed roller bearings and hand fits these along with the shaft and butterfly. It is really interesting to watch this process that takes what was a fairly crude casting design from the manufacturer and turn it into a trouble free trouble free carb. Okay, the complete verbiage is on the web site that covers all the steps we go through on the carbs, but what I'd like to do is lay out for anyone who is looking at their carbs wondering what to do next with yours. For most new customers we get, I suggest they buy our JUST SUs video (the 2 tape version for $20 is better quality) and use the video as a teaching tool to go through your carbs, clean them up, check out the few components that are there, put them back together, run 'em and see what you've really got. Cleaning alone can solve a lot of running issues. If they run well, you just saved $600, if the shafts and bushings are worn out and the general condition is too far gone, then you know you are spending the money because it needs to be spent. Here we offer several ways to go too. The complete reman deal gets carbs ready to bolt on (w/3 yr warr), or you can buy just the machined bodies and swap your stuff over or add the Tune up kit that essentially has all the consummable "wear parts" that need to be renewed in a real rebuild. Our tune up kit should not be confused with the "rebuild kits" from the parts store. Kit contents are spelled out on the web site so I won't go into that here. This is the way we approach helping anybody get started with squaring away a set of 30 something year old SUs. If, by reading through this and gaining the feeling that it is maybe not an undaunting task, you can take the next step, then we've helped. SUs are not rocket science. They are really very simple in design and function and once the 3 or 4 things on them that need renewing and adjusting are right, they are hard to beat. I am a life time subscriber to the "KISS Thereom"....... Again, the JUST SUs video that Scott did is a real valuable training aid. It's not fancy from a production standpoint, but he drilled the content. Sorry this has run on so long but I go through this over and over and thought if by spelling it out here in writing, it will shorten anyone's learning curve, then it needed to be done.

.... and You are right this is not intended as a bash, only a statement about the process being improved through the talents of another craftsman. Gotta be real careful here...... Steve was able to, in about the first 3 days they had the company, redesign the machining involved in the installation of the double sealed roller bearings allowing tighter tolerances in assembly and tighter seal around the throttle shaft and butterfly. We were in Orange last year and this, but because of my other duties to Zero Rust, I fly down for the show and come home after. Steve and Pam were most definitely on the tour last year though..... Good excuse for a road trip for them. Don't know about next years scheduling with MSA and the national.

Hey y'all, First postings today in the carb section based on my work with ZTherapy. I think this is a great board and see much quality input from the members trying to help each other. My major endeavor is as marketing manager for a rust and corrosion control product and it keeps me in the restoration forums some and there are a couple of forums that I'd like to pass along as first rate. I'd recommend posting any questions you have concerning doing any of this work not only well, but safely, to either of these boards and think the quality of the help you'll get, can't be beat anywhere. The 2 sites are www.autobodystore.com and www.paintucation.com. Go check'em out, check the archives, do some searches, ask some questions, get to know the regulars, It will pay dividends......

... confused. Gavin, are you saying you have HS-6 1 3/4" SUs on a Z? Not saying it can't be done just never heard of it being done. Does the fuel line from the float bowl to the bottom of the body have a wire spring wrapped around the fuel line? Is there a little brass tag on one of the float bowl lid screws with an AUD # stamped into it? Just curious. After we do the machine work to install the roller bearings, one of the major quality differences between the Hitachi and the SU is pretty much negated so after having been "ZTherapied" they are both killer carbs. RE: 3 screw or 4, outside of 1 less screw and the water port on the later 3 screw carbs there isn't $.13 worth of difference between 'em.

... there are 38mm (1 1/2") round & flat top Hitachis that were found on the 1600 Roadsters, 1600sss 510 and the 1800sss 610. All very good carbs but easy to tell from the 44mm Z & 2 liter roadster variety because they only have a 2 bolt mounting flange to the manifold. There was also a setup made for the Datsun 1200.....

Hi guys, Bruce Palmer here. I'm the voice on the phone a ZTherapy and wanted to say hello and indicate to everyone we are going to try and set aside the time to get more involved here. We have even invited Mike to come to the shop to see what we do. You might want to take a miute and read the owners bio page to get a feel for who Steve and Pam are all about. To further highlight this discussion, Hitachi built the Datsun SU under license from SU in the UK and between you and me, we think they did a better job than SU did. Having been involved with ZTherapy since Steve and Pam bought the biz, I can also testify to the fact that ZTherapy is putting out a better product today than was available previously. That's all I'll say on that subject....... I personally have put about 400,000 miles on SUs so have a fair country knowledge of the product so run your questions by here any time and if I don't have the answer, Steve will. Cheers Bruce Palmer sales@ztherapy.com