Zedyone_kenobi

Hello my fellow Z friends. Boy it has been way too long since we have caught up. I was always getting updates on Zs on BAT, those were amusing for a while. However, I had step away from BAT as it was becoming real distraction at work! I still have my 71 Z and my 68 Roadster. We bought a lake house almost 2 years ago, and our time and money have gone into a couple of boats, a 4 wheeler, and furniture. It was awesome to be on the water and enjoying life at a slower pace for a while. I got a promotion at work (well I got a new job, with 4x the work, but unfortunately, not more money). They made the Subsystem Manager for Propulsiton on the Artemis Crew module. It is more responsibility than I have ever had but it is good to be part of putting American Boots on the Moon again! 🙂 Okay Z cars. My poor Z went months without being driven. It had this nagging problem with the Mallory fuel pump I installed. It would just stop working if I did not turn it on once a week. I would have to take the impeller off and un-seize it and put it back together. I even went as far as to buy a new one and replace it thinking some how I wore it out. Low and behold, that was not the case. It stuck again. Each time this would lead to weeks of down time as I could not find time to work on it (as we were at the lake). This long down time had horrible ramifications to the Z. Turns out the pre-filter was shedding something into the impeller. It felt like oxidation of bare aluminum, but it was not really visible to the eye. But you could feel it. I cut my filter apart and it was powerery to the touch. This was one of those 200 dollar Holley cartridge filters as well. I was VERY disappointed to say the least. So I replaced it with another standard inline filter from JEGS and it has not done anything since. Sadly the damage was done. My car started to be nearly impossible to start and had zero performance off idle. It was like the accelerator circuit was completely non functional. I had to main issues. The junk from the filter made its way into the carbs. The needle and seats would stick open or closed. One would cause two cylinders to be non operational and the other would cause gas to sill out over my headers. I go tinto the routine of getting the car started and having ot use a rubber mallet to tap over the filter cover on teh webers to help unstick it. But it progressively got worse until the back carb needle and seat was permanently seized shut. MY 11 year old webers had met their match. I know what you are thinking though! Hey just replace needle and seats and all is well. As Vicinni said in 'The Princess Bride', YOU WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT WOULDNT YOU! All those times where the fuel pump would come on and the car would not run right or all the times I started the fuel pump just to keep it moving filling up the fuel bowls but never driving it, mean I had let the gas in the carb fill up and dry out about, oh 50 times. This had a devastating effect on my accelerator pump performance. As in it killed it. FEAR NOT though!!! This mean I got to completely take off my 11 year old Webers and finally rebuild them!! HUZZAH! What a great challenge. I took all three carbs apart. Down to the last screw. I scrubbed and cleaned. Everything was completely gunked up. Pistons in the accelerator pump were seized. Throttle shafts were slimy and would not fully return to closed. The crappy ethanol gas had done a number on these carbs. Fast forward 3 weeks. All the parts are separated and labeled into old fishing tackle bins. But scrubbing them was not going to be good enough to clean the bodies. Many many cans of carb cleaning spray later, parts still were not really clean. Internal passages were nearly impossible to get totally clean. So what else was there to do but buy a 2 gallon heated ultra sonic cleaner that I could fit an entire carb body into. I cleaned those first one by one. Then changed fluid to a brass cleaner and did all the internal bits one by one. Swapping fluid between each run. Things looks clean and felt clean. Okay lets get this done. NOT SO FAST said the carb gods. I did not want to ultra sonic clean carb with the throttle shaft bearings in place, so they had to come out. That meant I had to order new screws for the butterflies as those are peened when installed. Removing shafts from Webers is decidedly not a fun task. I ended up getting them all out after many many taps with a soft mallet and then escalating up to a very small sheet metal hammer. Two of the shafts were in fact bent. This may have been due to my tapping (Okay it probably was), and the threaded bit had mushroomed a tad from the tapping. New shafts were ordered and new screws to fit them. Now, getting butterflies reassembled back into a weber body perfectly is also NOT and easy task. IF they are even the tiniest bit off, they will not open or will be so tight you cannot acuate them. Worse yet, when you install them snug and tighten them a bit at a time, they can go from perfectly loose to frozen in a quarter turn. Long story not so long, I got the carbs back together after many volumes of foul language and adult beverages. Overall it took 3 months. When I put them back on the car and started it up it seemed okay. Idled fine. First drive and ALL the problems still persisted. Still no accelerator pump action (And I checked before I put them on that this was working). It was so bad, I could be driving at 30 mph in 3rd gear and floor it and the engine would go dead quiet and cease to run. You may think this is the end.... OH NO! In a fit of rage, I did what any rational Z person would do. I bought three BRAND NEW weber DCOE 40mm carbs and a new fancy inline filter to install AFTER my fuel pump. Yup, rage will make you spend money. I swapped out my chokes and my jets and low and behold the damn thing fired right up and ran like a champ. I removed my Hypojets from Keith Franke and installed regular weber jets as my transition from idle to mains was worse than it had been when things were running correctly. I think there is still some tiny passages clogged in there, so I am going to really clean the heck out of those in the sonic cleaner, that I had now bought for really no reason. May a well use it. (maybe cleaning gun brass or watches or something) So, after all that I had a Z that was running just about like I remember it should be running. Yeah! Except for one small thing. At idle I was at 11.5:1 AFR. It used to be 12.5:1 ish. Z's on triples like to run rich but not THAT rich. So about 2 weeks ago I decided to check all the tuning again and rebalance them taking my time. That has been interesting as a few more things have come up. Nothing major. I could very easily just stop messing around with it and drive it happily the way it is. But, what would be the fun in that 🙂 More to come....on the carb front. Humorous point. I also have had my Z long enough now to have worn out the clear plastic shifter bushings that I put in new back in 2012 when I installed my 5 speed. Seems like they should have lasted longer than that.

Remember, OSHA safety white socks... LOLOL...

Well done man! I have wanted to do make a return springs like this for a long time... Great job!

Here is my fuel rail. Man it has been a long time since I have revisited my favorite Z board. Miss you guys. Still have the Z and roadster. Z has been giving me grief, I need to write a whole new story on my self-inflicted wounds and catch up with you fine folks. SD

definitely a mopar. The Valve cover bolts are wrong for a chevy, as is the water pump location and bolt pattern.

I am about to go through this process again. Reason. Well I have not had to mess with my triple set up in over 10 years. Car starts and ran fine. Well up until a couple of month ago. Seems starting the car up and letting fuel dry out in the fuel bowl about a dozen or so times gunked it up pretty good. I lost all 6 of my accelerator pump jets and quick throttle inputs were, how you say, met with extreme hesitation. three carb kits later and a new 3 gallon ultra sonic heated cleaner and all three carbs were completely disassembled and cleaned and then sprayed with enough carb cleaner to destroy the ozone layer above houston. Now having said that. I set the plastic floats to 12mm when allowed to hang straight down resting on the ball in the needle and seat for a first try. I had fuel pouring out of my carbs barrels like an open hose. Now I am trying to get a handle on this. I need to find out if maybe my floats are perhaps becoming a bit fuel saturated? Not sure what exactly is going on. But I had all of the fuel levels 22mm from the top using the clear little plastic tube method established by KF. This is not because that is where I wanted them, but it was as close as I could get that damn tab to 25mm. I was thinking of building a setup like the one done above, then recalled this post! I had forgotten about the fantastic level of nerdtasticness this forum generates. Gosh I love all of you! By the way, centerline says the float level should be 29.5mm from the top of the float bowl.

That's right! Thanks for posting that Zed!!! See my memory is getting horrible.

I think the factory setting for a 240 is about 5 Degrees. But it has been a LONG time since I was stock 2.4 liter. My initial timing is about 12 degrees now with a max of 36, but I am running an MSD dizzy with an all mechanical advance due to triples. You are blessed with a factory stock car so lets get the settings back to stock. I think you should be at 5 degreed BDTC with no the Vac Advance plugged. Correct me guys on this if I am misspeaking. Lets get our friend back on track. If you are running 20 degrees on your stock car, it may be aiding your high idle.

What is your timing set at? Also your float level is important on SU's as well. If your timing is to advanced it will cause it to idle high. If your float level is too high on the SU's it will allow more gas into the venturi. Float level is critical on SU's.

That looks awesome! Congrats. Patience is always key to old cars. Make sure everything is done right moving forward no matter how slow it is, as you will never have to go back and redo anything.

I would have to go look and let you know.. off the top of my head I have no idea. Could have been for a mounting on a car for another country or an update that never was instituted. Old 240Z's that had mechanical fuel pumps had wiring installed for electric pumps. But they were never used here. Could be bracket for something that was meant to be used later in the model run. OR, it is a place where you should have bold and do not. Hard to say. I bet some of the wiser guys have answer.

I know what that is like buddy. I was so Z oriented for so long. Then I bought the Roadster and that consumed me as well. After my kids sports started the cars had to take a back seat for a while. We had some illnesses in the family and picked up a new puppy and things just kept snowballing. I am happy to start the Z rolling around again and get that beautiful hood some sunshine. Want to do some projects that have been lingering in my mind. Should probably put in a new clutch eventually, but the current one is still doing the job. Want to up my carbs to 45 DCOE's instead of 40's, but that is a big investment to JUST try it out. Life does get in the way of the Z's but eventually when the dust settles they just wait for us. That next amazing drive is just around the corner.

I am not planning on selling the engine. I am actually going to clean it and rebuild it maybe. It does not leak and never burned any oil. I wonder if I should just clean it and store it or if I should just take it apart (for fun mostly) and put new OEM rings and bearings and let it go to the next owner. I have the original A type 4 speed too, which also worked perfectly.

I have drawers full of grommets, turn signals, turn stalks, and other parts. I have three distributers. One Original, and one has a pertronix unit in it I think. I will have to get the numbers on them if you like.

good to know, was hoping to get some Z new guys who really need some help.

Will do. Will try to get them uploaded tonight. Stay tuned. My issue my parts are so random. Have some peculiar stuff.

Hello fellow Houston Texas area Z owners. I have cleared out my storage unit and I will be liquidating some of my excess Z and roadster parts. Keeping what I deem critical. I have a recently rebuilt type B 4 speed with about 2000 miles on it. I have a 1971 Z orange airbox I have a polished manifold for SU's I have a like new Cannon manifold for some Webers that I ran for a while and looks good. Have a 1971 Z radiator in good shape as well. Have many sets of spark plug wires and other odds and ins as well. I have a couple of distributers and ballast resisters. If any Houston area Z owners are in need of anything, Mostly engine related, but do not hesitate to hit me up. I also have the original engine/transmission from my 1971 Z that was in perfect working order when I pulled it. Those I may not sell. As I want them to go with the car. But anything is possible 🙂

For what it is worth, I have done a cold lash to the 008/010 dimensions on my engine. A year later I pulled the valve cover one afternoon and checked it, it was still beautifully set and had not moved. I trust the 008/010 method cold. I can take my time and really get a uniform feel. Also, the biggest challenge for me is to ensure the cam lobes are in the round section. Constantly bumping over the engine is a pain. Removing the plugs helps tremendously. But trying to remove the wires, valve cover and plugs and get your bump start trigger hooked up is hard to do with the engine at a uniform temp for the 12 valves. Go cold and take your time. I think it will be fine.

not in your area, but welcome. You have come to the right place for sure! More info here that is humanly imaginable.

I have missed you knuckleheads! I have so many projects I may try in the not too distant future. I am thinking of upgrading my 40mm DCOE to 45's. Want to see if they work as well as the 45's on the 2000 Roadster I am thinking of upgrading my cooling system again to a better Aluminum Radiator with electric fans vs the stock clutch fan (this one I am struggling with as there is NOTHING wrong with my stock cooling system) My clock that I had rebuilt and replaced from that Z clocks dude, all of a sudden stopped working, or is working intermittently. Kind of bummed me out. May have to put that back out and get it back to quartz perfection again.

That is a heck of a move buddy. Hope it is a move to increase your happiness and is good for you and your family.

I picked up my first Z a while ago, but my story is VERY much like yours! 71, 69k miles and was in generally good shape. I ended up doing just about every repair imaginable but you have a Brilliant starter! The fact that the thin sticker covering the hole to the right of the choke is still present is AMAZING.. Cannot wait to see you develop. This group is solid gold in terms of usefulness and kindness.

I have been absent from this wonderful board for a while and I miss talking the Z. Went down the roadster rabbit hole, then started collecting watches. Why the deviation? Well kids time has been the most important thing to me for a while. Corona messed up my timelimes for a lot of fun activities. Also the Z and Roadster have just not needed anything but an occasional drive to keep them in tip top condition. Both have been dead reliable for the past 3 years. But I felt I needed to get back on the board again to talk Z's again and connect with this excellent community I have been away from. This community which has been with me the whole way through the Z ownership experience. I thought about selling the Datsuns and moving on as they were not getting driven enough, but I felt that all long term relationships have ebbs and tides and keeping the Z and Roadster during this lull is the smart play. Hope everybody is doing well and enjoying their Z cars! Hope to contribute more again.

I had to rotate the spring holder on the rod to just fit between my distributer and my thermostat housing. I took a pic, but I need to post it here.... I will get that up today. I have been very pleased with my Harada.

LIke a bolt of lightning from a distant cloud! Zedyone is here! I will go take a few shots of what I did and get back to this thread. I have been running the Harada for years... I love the fact that it uses the stock linkage. I shall get back to this thread today!!! HUZZAH