Bruce Palmer

As a little follow up to the UP positioning of the nozzle. The ID of the nozzle is .100" (spot on guaranteed) that's the way we have them made. Base OD on most needles is like .098" .0985" .099" depending on the needle one has, so it makes sense that if you center where the free space ID to OD is minimum, any place above that when the piston moves up, CLEARANCES WILL ONLY INCREASE, right? There should be no way for a needle to rub on anything say in the half way up position without having done so on the way up. Okay, to maybe put too fine a point on it, I got time, If say you have a needle that is straight and it's rubbing the inside of the nozzle half way up, I'd advance the theory that in the down position the needle would be wedged so tight (cuz remember the needle is fatter the farther toward the dome it gets) you couldn't get the piston to move with out a major reposition of the dome..... I certainly must have a life around here somewhere......

Reminds me of a deal we had not long ago with a customer who bought our carbs, took his car to the local NISSAN dealer to have them installed by an old lind DATSUN mechanic. Turns out that guy was taking money under false pretenses from the dealer cus he didn't know his from a hot rock. Being the service oriented piece of work we are the customer was invited to trailer his car over here on a Saturday and Steve would make it all better. About 20 minutes of fiddling and the carbs were dialed in. Engine ran well at the two "set carb" RPMS. Nothing would do (while we're here) but to set the timing and check advance curve etc....... It had some kind of ersats electronic non NISSAN module lashup in the distributor from the PO and by golly, rev the engine and timing would jump quite a number of degress and not consistently either. Obviously with advance all over the map the engine didn't run well and he was sent home to confer with his real mechanic. Steve said touching the unit would alter the timing. He also said it could be nothing more than a loose wire. Bottom line --- customer got his distributor done, i think by the guys I've mentioned in Portland and at last report, he is happier than a dead pig in the sunshine. You guys drifting toward the electronic gremlin thing just got me to thinking.

Disclaimer: Before you get carried away adjusting float levels determine you, A) have the long and short standoffs on the 2 float bowl lids and If A is yes, do you have a long and a short needle and seat in the respective float bowls? There is only one length needle and seat available today so both should be set the same. That is all..... As you were.... nyuck nyuck

I doubt you'll find any water running through the balance tube.

Total bafflement!! Piston in the dome interference or something in the inner tube causing interference? Worse case send us the piston and dome. That three year warranty has got to be worth something don't you suppose?

Found out one thing going to the pool just now. With well sealed up floor pans, a 510 wagon will float for a ways. Nyuck nyuck For you guys east of us (and that would almost everybody) these fronts that have been whistling thru here of late, should be laying down some serious white sruff in those areas of the country that are prone to white stuff. Jay, Look forward to seeing you...

Call me when you can see a time to buzz up to the shop and meet Steve. Steve is typically around 7 days aweek building carbs playing cars, providing a place for the rest of us to go hide, etc. This'll be a veritable Datsun playground. Lottsa stuff, lottsa knowledge, lottsa support and you get to meet us which can only be considered a bonus, huh Arne? Monsoon continues today, better go check on the kids sump pump....

An example of a very nicely running carb'd ZX is available for road testing at the World Headquarters of ZTherapy in greater metro Salem..... Call if interested in taking a look or a test spin. Are you looking at the 280 because of motor size? There's also a 240 at the shop with a 2.8 w/ long overdrive 5 speed setup that needs a new home.

But no wire comes off of this piece that you are getting all cleaned out? Thinking back to that siuation where one circuit wasn't applying pressure, the pedal was rock hard and after I fixed the problem to where both fronts and rears were working again the pedal softened up to correct feeling.

Ziggy, 2.8 L series with the carb setup from the 240 should allow the use of the 240 harness, assuming it's not shot. Pretty much a bolt in bolt on deal. All the EFI stuff should generate some cash from guys who (because of availability of new) may be going in to horde mode.

As I recall the time it happened to me I was sailing down I-5 coming back from Seattle and it seemed to be low to mid 30s and if it were to have tried a little harder it could have rained or snowed or sleeted. I'm sure the temp or the air dropped some venturying thru the throats of those carbs thus forming the ice. VENTURYING?? is that even a word? Watch next year's dictionary......

Okay, does this thing you all continue to call a proportioning valve have a wire the comes off of it? I'm suggesting you still have air in the front circuit of your MC. That's why you aren't getting movement in the calipers..... Once I had a situation where when I put the brakes on I'd get a light come on on the dash. That's a "circuit fail" indicator light which comes from the thing everyone continues to call the proportioning valve. I pulled the new MC and opened it up and sure enough one of the seals had been installed with a pucker in it so it would not supply pressure to that system front or rear. If you end up pulling the MC and looking inside to see if you can see anything amiss, go ahead and flush the bore out really well. I've have found shavings and all manner of grit inside new units. Can only serve to shorten the life. Also as a general rule a complete flushing of a brake system annually will go a long way toward extending the life of brakes.

I'd say that when the misbehaving happens make a note of how chilly and moist it is. AND like I said jump out and take a peek in the throats of the carbs and see if you see any evidence of ice. Turn the engine off, it'll melt right away, so leave it running.

Steve, What's the humidity like right now. Sounds to me based on what you just said that the carbs are icing up. Things get cold and humid at the same time and the air rushing thru the mouth of the carbs will ice up reducing the size of the venturi and your mixture goes fat and the car runs like hell. You pull off the freeway to take a look, and turn the motor off and before you can get the hood up to see what's what the ice has melted and the motor sits there running fine laughing at you. Ask me how I know this. I'd say take the air cleaner off and drive around for a bit with the hood popped. Stop and quickly lift the hood and look for any evidence of ice in the throat of the carbs. This is the only thing that I can point to that would be not constantly going on.

Good guy to deal with. Has aircleaner stickers as well.

Oh, that teardrop trailer doesn't add anything to the "cute" factor either. On your info needs for the carbs, our JUST SUs dvd should be a big help. We hear from lots of guys that they prefer the dvd over manuals because it avtually shows whats going on. Just a thought.....

Leonard, Trade ya two sets of carbs for that 444. A friend here has a volvo Duet panel he wants to trick out for a wine delivery rig for his winery. It has that front end and a two door wagon body. Cuter'n a bug..... Let me know when you are ready to go..... Run those nozzles down a half turn and see if that lean pop gets better. If not try another half turn. Of course with stock Z needles they may just run like crap with all the other potential issues the carbs may have.....

I suppose you are way too far down the road to discuss how that cast iron manifold may have gotten "warped". Just beware of overpulling steel studs in aluminum heads trying to flatten our a header flange.

Have you shown this to a body man? From the picture it doesn't look that bad. Pulling it out and staightening it appears to be a lot less work than nailing on a new quarter. Idea: email that photo to len@autobodystore.com and ask his opinion. He's also in NJ which has nothing to do with it other than he's a really terrific body and paint guy. Also runs a fine forum for such stuff.

Very easy to tell if the nozzles are dropping. Have someone pull the choke lever and feel under the carbs to determine (I was going to say "see") if they come down and return to the up position when the lever is off. You can also remove the screw from the linkage to the nozzle and see if those bad boys move up and down easily. That would also facilitate taking them out and cleaning them and the tube they ride in of any old gas varnish that may be restricting their movement.....

I'd check for wear in the clevis, the pin itself and the down arm on the clutch pedal. After a couple of decades of work that interface is a little less than pristine. I've had to weld up and re-establish holes and replace the pin just for that very reason...... Not a whole lot different than door hinges.

It's not as involved as it looks. Use your existing manifold halves. Bolt the euro style balance tube to the manifold. Remove the mounting studs from the old manifold and replace them with the longer studs from the E88 manifold, then just swap everything else from the new setup over. You will need to come up with holes or something for the throttle return springs to hook to. The flat top aircleaner has a square mouth. The round top carbs have a round mouth. Either come up with a later aircleaner is you don't already have one or we sell a set of adapter plates to mount the later aircleaner. Our JUST SUs dvd would be a help in cleaning up and setting up the new round top carbs. S couple of float bowl lid gaskets and maybe the fuel llines if yours are hard and you should be able to get them to where you can see what kind of shape they are in.

Thanks for the thread. Reminds me we have a set of carbs to build for next year's event. Promised them out in December. That way we wont get in the way of the competitor's precrastination.........

ZTherapy disclaimer -- You need carbs!! Now that that is out of the way, there's not much I can add to what you already have in hand. I've stumbled across this herky jerky gas pedal thing off and on over the years and if memory serves, changing the pedal height helped more than anything plus just getting used to what was going on. How heavy is the spring that goes to the bellcrank on the firewall? Maybe shoot us a picture showing the piece the spring and the dogbone hooks too. If the orientation of that's not up and down, but over center that can cause what you're describing. Call me with a credit card and we'll get the springs heading your way...

That hose looks to come off of the thermostat housing and must be plugged or you'd be out of water in relatively short order. As far as the running issues go, those flat top carbs were not worth burying the day they were new and they haven't gotten any better over the ensuing 30 some odd years.. NISSAN replaced many sets of those when the cars were new just to keep their customer base from pitching a fit. A set of round top three screw Hitachis in good shape (which most aren't pushing 40 years old) should solve your problems. Shameless plug -- We can fix you up with a set of remanufactured carbs and all the goodies to swap over.