Marty Rogan

I started thinking about ignition too. One of our wiser members here once said "If you think you have an electrical problem, it's probably a fuel problem. And if you think it is a fuel problem, it's probably electrical". We were discussing that at the track. We concluded that if it was electrical, the car would have trouble at low RPM's. The car pulls like a train till about 5,500 and then starts to stumble. I'll have to check the dizzy shaft. With the tank done, I should be getting really clean fuel. I don't have a pressure gage in-line, so I can't tell what pressure I am getting. Marty

Here's an update on my continuing fuel problems. I got the car back from the shop Friday after the tank was boiled out and sealed. Just in time for a track day on Saturday. The problem has not totally gone away. The car still starts bogging and losing power at about 5500 RPM. I car shift and keep it going, but it certainly does not give its full potential. A couple of times it revved to 6K without problems, but not consistently. Even with the car running crappy, I came within 1/10 of a second of my best time ever at that track. So, it wasn't a total loss and I still had fun. It seems that I have solved part of the problem. Looks like I will need to tear into the carbs next. Marty

Really? That is good to hear. I know Too Intense has some kind of kit to re-cover a door. It uses the hard parts from your original door though. I don't really like the looks of them from Ebay pictures. Anybody seen them in person? I would prefer a straight replacement for the originals. Something to just clip on without having to hope you assemble them correctly. Marty

Pledge???????? Haven't heard that one. Are you using that instead of protectants, like Armorall, which is supposed to do more damage than good? Lately, I have been using good old petroleum jelly on the dash, console and other interior panels. It has a nice sheen and puts some of the natural oils back into the vinyl. I don't use it on the seats for obvious reasons, and would like to find something for that. Marty

I have a set of these in 225/50/15 on Panasports. I use them for high speed (on-track) autocross and HPDE's. So far I like them a lot. Very good traction and handling. I autocrossed in the rain with them once and they seemed to do pretty well. I am not sure how they would do for a daily driver in bad weather, but they are good for a dry, summer tire. They do have a pretty square shoulder on them. I have heard some people complain of chunking in that area. Well, that's my 2 cents, Marty

CDM has the exact orange made up in spray cans: http://www.classicdatsun.com/ They built cars for Nissan's Vintage Z Program. Marty

Ok. I swapped the wheels on the right side. The sound seems to have been reduced dramatically. I can't say that it is gone completely. It seems more like a very low rumble now. Maybe that is just normal totational noise? I was expecting it to shimmy on the highway, but it was perfectly smooth at 70 mph. I guess I will get that wheel balanced and have them check the belts on it. Marty

The first car I drove regularily was a 1964 Chevy Belair, four door. My parents bought it from my aunt and uncle for $800. They were older, and close family, so it was in really good shape. Not much to look at, but it had a 283 V-8, so it was fun to drive. My brother and I drove it for about 4+ years till I got T-boned 1/2 block from our house. My bro was pretty said, cause he really loved that car. Next we got a '70 Mustang, that I drove the wheels off all through college. It was amazing how much crap I could stuff into that thing to get to school! Well, that's my early car experience. I have said something like 17 cars since then. I have owned at least 3 cars at a time since 1980. Right now I have 2 Series I 240's. Marty

Thanks. I'll try swapping tires and go for a ride. Marty

This is on the right rear, so I don't get the shakes in the steering wheel. Good thought though. I do have a very slight vibration, so I'll have the balance checked. It definitely isn't a squeek. More like a thunk or thump. It's not U-joints, as that is a different sound and I have fixed those already. Marty

I suspect that I may have a wheel bearing going out on me. There is a noise coming from the right rear. It sounds like a flat spot on a tire. Doubt it is that because the tires are nearly new. It is kind of a thunk-thunk thunk sound. The noise speeds up with faster tire rotation. The car only has 78K original miles. I am a little surprised if it is a bad wheel bearing. I checked the brakes, which looked fine. I even had the drum turned in caseit was warped, but it didn't help. Anything else I can check to confirm a bad wheel bearing? Could it be something else? TIA, Marty

Well, I had a chance to look into this a little further on the weekend. I cut open the second fuel filter. I did find some chunks of rust. So, I guess there is rust in there that I couldn't see when I had the tank down last summer. I also took out and cleaned the bango fitting screens. Those did not look too bad at all. I think Ihave heard of people removing those. Not sure if that's a good idea. Afterall, is Nissan put them there, they must have had a good reason. I got a quote from a local radiator shop. They will boil it out, acid etch the interior and seal it with a product called "Red Coat Liner". Comes with a 3 year warranty on the liner. Cost $100-175 depending how bad the rust is. Another $70-80 for the installation labor. About $250 total, which doesn't seem too bad. I may do the install myself if I can find the time. Anybody ever hear of this product? I sure hope this ends this long and annoying problem! Thanks for all your input. I'll let you know if this does the trick. Marty

Sean, That's another good thought. I'll have to see if the exhaust manifold is leaking. It's all stock, so no headers to add extra heat. But if there is a leak, it could cause a hot spot near the carbs. Marty

I have recently replaced all of the fuel hoses, so there should be no clogging or kinking. I did not change any of the metal fuel lines. Have not touched the fuel bowls, needles or jets yet. I am only running the stock mech fuel pump, which I replaced with a new one when I bought the car just shy of 2 years and 5,000 miles ago. The tank looked clean when I replaced all of the fuel hoses back there. Is it possible that removing some of the vent lines have caused this? The Z was set up without all the extra vent likes for other countries, and I have not heard of them having problems like this. The track days I have been running this year have been pretty hot, around 90+. Track conditions do raise the under hood temps. But I also had this problem in October. On the other hand, driving it to work should not have raised the temps that much, and it was maybe in the 80's in the morning. ARRRRRRGH!!! This is really getting on my nerves! Anybody have other ideas? Marty

Ok, Thanks for the response. Marty

Do you have any pictures of this set up? What is holding up the fuel line going into the SU's? thanks, Marty

I am reviving my own old thread since the problem has not gone away, and in fact is getting worse!!!! Here are some details on the car and what has been done to it for a baseline. Car is an early '71, blt 1/71. The engine is the stock L24 with 78K original miles MSD coil and Pertronix installed Carbs were rebuilt by PO 10-15K miles ago (several years ago though) Eliminated the excess vent hoses in fuel tank, connected like non-U.S. spec cars. Under normal driving conditions it runs fine. It also starts easily and idles smoothly. The last track day the car ran good in the first session or two. The problem started showing up again, so I filled the tank, thinking that would solve the problem. It didn't. Now it starts bogging down badly any time it is under hard acceleration, even on the straights. After the track day, I changed the fuel filter. On cutting it open, I found a fair amount of crud in the screen at the top. Took it out and terrorized a local clover-leaf on the express way at about 55 mph several times and it had no problems at all. I thought that had solved the problem. I drove it to work yesterday, and one hard acceleration off an entrance ramp set it off. It lost power and started making a droning sound. Once I backed off a while it drove fine again. I have been thinking it may be a vapor lock problem? Would that explain why it only acts up under a heavy load? The early 71's really aren't known to have that problem though, like the 73 & 74's. What do you guys think? Marty

Here are a few thoughts on things to check out: 1) Make sure the Master Cylinder is competely bled. 2) If the MC has been replaced, make sure the reaction disk behind the MC push rod, inside the booster has not fallen inside the booster. 3) Make sure the calipers are installed on the correct sides. If the bleeder valve is on the bottom, you will never get the brakes bled completely. 4) Replace the rubber hoses at the front with braided hoses. It will give better feel to the brakes (takes out spongyness). 5) If in fact you are going to replace the calipers, I would replace them with the 4 piston type. Be prepared though, from my experieince with these, they are even harder to bleed correctly. They may not fit under your wheels either. Good luck, Marty

You will never have a better time to change the seals. As long as the engine is out, change ALL of the seals. That's what I did. Should be good for another 30 years. Marty

As stated before, they are black. Marty