Weasel73240Z

Painting today!!! :classic: Should have the car back on Monday, will post more pics soon.

I'm thinking about replacing my carbs. I removed the original flat tops and de-smogged when I tore the car down. I was planning to use the set of round tops that I bought on eBay and rebuilt. I took them apart completely, rebuilt both and cleaned everything very well. The piston and needle assemblies move freely, and drop with a nice thud. I have the car back together (figured out my electrical problem - bad male terminal at the resistor), and close to running, but I think the carbs are a problem. The car runs (barely) very lean, then I adjust the float bowl or mixture screw, and its blowing gas back out of the carb. I don't like the way they're working, and I'm thinking it might make sense to go with a new set from ZTherapy. I've taken the work this far, and I don't think it makes sense to rely on 35 yr. old carbs, and it seems like new ones would be $700 well spent. My question is, are the ZTherapy round tops the best option for my motor and my driving plans, in the $700 - $800 price range. The car is a 73 240Z, original low miles L24. The head was removed and reconditioned, but not altered. Stock cam, MSA header. I'm not a racer at all, so dependability, and driveability at normal speeds is what I care most about. Although I'd like the car to have some jump off the line.

So I got spark finally! I got myself a multimeter (and learned to use it) and checked for continuity on every wire from the battery to the starter, to the ignition, to the tach, back to the resistor, to the coil, etc., changed all of the terminals to gold plated. I checked the coil and resistor (both within specs for resistance so I used them) re-gapped the points, gave everything one last good cleaning, sandpapered 'em all, etc., and good SPARK at all 6! Now that I have spark, I have to figure out how to get these carbs working properly. My first set of SU's so I have my fingers crossed. Seems like there isn't enough fuel to get it started right now. I have the "Just SU's" video from ZTherapy, I should probably watch that, huh? (Yeah stupid, :stupid: you should). I understand that these carbs need to run really rich until they warm up (is that correct). I guess I should start a new thread in the Carbs forum tomorrow. Thanks to everyone for the help, as usual.

The pics are key. I'm just getting to the end of my first Z, and I took tons of digital pics while I tore everything down. It was an absolute lifesaver. Now that I've done it once, I won't need to take pics again with my next Z, but for your first Z rebuild, I found it to be critical.

Everything (except the coil and resistor) was new. Points, plugs, wires, rotor, cap, condenser, all new. I think the new coil on Tuesday will do it.

After re-checking that all of the wiring was correct, I tried to get the coil to spark on the block, no go. I just ordered a new coil and resistor today. I replaced all the other ignition stuff, but I was going to re-use the original, 34 year old coil and resistor? Didn't make sense when I thought about it. You're right about some of the grounds on the firewall possibly not making adequate contact due to the new paint. I didn't remove any of the new paint, but I did ground a test light on the grounding screws in question and test a known hot 12v, to make sure they were grounded (the test light lit up so I figured the screw in the firewall was grounded). But since the wire was connected to the negative of the battery, it would have shown a ground even if the screw wasn't grounded. Those grounds are definitely worth checking tomorrow. Thanks again E.

Thanks E. I have a buddy coming over today with his test meters to check out some things. I am just about at a loss when it comes to anything but basic electrical stuff. What I do know is that everything is hooked up as it was before when the car ran. I took pictures of everything before I took it apart, and I had it all labeled. I re-checked the wiring against the original pics. So I'm sure it is wired up correctly. No spark I would understand, but spark sometimes just makes no sense to me. Any other ides that I should be checking out today?

As you can tell by my avatar, I got the motor and tranny back in this week, and tried starting today. It misfired a few times, but never actually ran. I think with some timing tweaks it will go just fine. I got very close, but I seem to have an issue in the ignition/coil/distributor region. I get really good, blue spark sometimes, and no spark other times. I'm using the original points ignition, and the car ran before I tore it down, so I believe all the parts are in good working order. I checked all of the connections at the coil, starter, resistor, distributor, battery tightened them all, replaced a few connections. Points spark good with the key in the on position. Theres a good pulse coming off of the negative pole to the points, when I turn the key. I don't know how to check if the main coil (to the dizzy cap) is firing correctly. But I occasionally get a good spark when I first turn the key, then after it fires 5 - 6 revolutions I seem to lose the spark. Other times I get no spark, no consistency. Any ideas? Could this relate to the resistor? Also, I have a EI module and dizzy out of a 78, should I install it? I hear it really simplifies things. OR should I try and get the original points system working before I make the upgrade. Thanks in advance for your help.

I priced a new windshield seal for my Z out of Black Dragon Auto, and they have 2. They have an OE version for $270, or a repro version for $40. Now I'm sure the OE is somehow better, but is it 675% better? The cost of the repro version seems to good to be true. Has anyone had a problem using the repro windshield seal from Black Dragon? Should I just spring for the OE version? The car will always be garaged, and only driven in nice weather, no Massachusetts winters.

I'm certainly no expert, but I just put round tops on my 73, and pretty much everything just bolted right up. I know you'll need the accelerator linkage from 70 - 72, your 73 won't work. I believe you need the earlier intake manifolds and balance tube also (hopefully you got them w/ the auction). My set of used round tops came with the intakes and balance tube so I never tried using the old ones. Now you can remove all that nasty smog control stuff thats choking your car (or do you have to pass emissions in NY?).

Thanks for the tip sakijo, sounds like a good one. One of the best things about finally smartening up, and removing the glass, was being able to confirm the condition of all the jambs and windshield channels before paint. Fortunately, everything looked perfect under the original weatherstrippings. I'm actually having the car painted at a local voc/tech school by one of my buddies kids. I was gonna do it myself, but there's just too much dust in my garage to do a proper job (especially with the 1 stage paint I'm using). Plus the paint is pretty scary stuff. I'm not sure what isocyanide is, but its in the paint, and I don't want it anywhere near my house. :sick: So I have to finish all the bodywork, prime the car, paint the jambs, put the engine and tranny back in, tape as much as I can, and trailer it over to the school the 1st week of April to get squirted. I'm taking next week off of work to get all of that done in time. The car should be painted and mostly put back together by the 3rd week of April. Hopefully driving around May 1st. I'll post some more pics soon, its really coming together nicely.

I've seen the old Nissan part, is that still available anywhere? I guess a permanent mount isn't realistic, since it has to be vented on top. Unless there's a way to baffle the vent...... I'll break out the CAD program and the , and see what I can come up with.

Does anyone make a fuel level indicator for the SU carbs that can be mounted where the drain screw goes, and be left in place permanently?

It goes w/o saying that here in Red Sox country, we NEVER see any S30's. Maybe an occasional ZX, but I haven't seen a pre-78 car on the road in about 10 years, maybe more. I don't think I've seen a pre-78 Z on the road in my hometown (population 60,000) in at least 15 - 20 years.

No offense taken, I assumed it was just ribbing in good fun, and I took it that way. I appreciate everyones honest opinion. I know that I came back with a long-winded response, but I write for a living, so I tend to be long-winded, . And now that I spent the morning removing the glass, I know it was the right thing to do. Thanks as always for the help.

After much internal debate, the quarter glass and windshield came out today. I realized that it wasn't much more work, and this might be a bad place to "value engineer" the work. That little birdy in my head kept telling me I should probably remove the glass, and you guys confirmed it for me. It just took me a day or two to realize it. I left the hatch glass in place, because it, and the weatherstripping are pristine, thats the one piece of glass that I'll tape off. Thanks as usual for the input.

Does anyone have pics of a 110 persimmon red car with and w/o side stripes? Thanks in advance for your help.

I appreciate all of your advice, except maybe the Earl Scheib comment, . I've painted a few cars in my day, and none of them looked like Earl Scheib or Maaco jobs. BTW, I went home, got a 13 MM socket, 12" extension and swivel, and had the mirror off in about 2 minutes, thanks BRE. I get what you guys are saying, that it would be best to remove all of the glass. But I'm not looking to build a show car, just a really nice weekend driver, life is too short to spend 5 years restoring a car, IMO. I have nothing but respect for you guys that do spend years meticulously rebuilding your cars from the ground up. When I bought the car, I told myself getting the car on the road would take about 6 months of work, and thats about what its gonna be. I'm looking to be on the road in 4 weeks, and I'm not willing to wait. Once this car is running, and I have my "Z fix", I'll find another (already have my eye on a local 72) and that one will be a slower restore. Its easy for you guys who actually have a Z to drive, to tell those of use who don't that we should take our time. And honestly, I know its good advice, but I can't wait any longer, and it won't be an Earli Scheib paintjob, thats for sure. I masked everything off in advance of all sanding, removed as much chrome as possible, and sanded very, very carefully. I'll then remove all of the masking tape that was on during sanding, wash the whole body with wax and grease remover, and re-tape for painting. It'll probably take me a whole weekend to prep and tape the car for paint, but thats a lot less time and money than taking out all of the glass, and replacing all of the rubber and weatherstripping that will get damaged. Sure, theres a chance of the paint "creeping" at the edges, but with adequate prep, I can avoid that. I understand that its a compromise to not remove the glass, but its a compromise I'm willing to accept to drive this car in the spring. I'll post pics when the car is painted, and we'll all decide whether I made the right call or not. There no making up for a crappy tape job, which zbane shows in those pictures. But if you do a proper tape job, that won't happen in my experience.

I'm painting the whole car over the original 110 Persimmon, and I'm doing all of the jambs first. I know that it would be best to remove all of the glass, but I want to drive this car this summer. I know, I'm impatient, but I've been waiting a long time for this car, and its going on the road in April, come hell or high water. Besides, all of the glass, rubber and weatherstripping is in excellent condition. In my past experience, once you start removing that stuff, it usually gets ruined.

I just bought an electronic ignition set-up that I think came out of a 77 or 78 280Z for my 240Z. I got the new dizzy, EI module, new rotor and new cap. My car ran before I tore it down, so the original points ignition still works. My question is, would you leave the points ignition in and get the car running again, then do the upgrade with the motor back in the car, or is it such a major improvement (and as simple as the seller described it) that I should go right to the EI now?

Thx for the tips guys.