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Metric oil drain plugs. I forgot the size and thread pitch. They were easy to match up at the parts store, though. I guess the "correct" thing to use would have been IF (inverted flare) plugs, but the parts store didn't have 6 of those at the time.

Whoever is behind what, I am very pleased with your company so far. I was hesitant, to say the least, of dropping $730 on a set of carbs for a car I paid $500 for. But, to me, I bought more than a set of carbs. I bought driveability. I bought enjoyment. This is the first time that I've ever been truly able to enjoy my car since I've had it (almost a year.) So far, I've driven it about 50 miles or so, and haven't had a single hiccup yet. That's leaps and bounds ahead of the flat tops. I was even able to lay a couple of black marks on dry pavement today. With the flat-tops, it would sputter and die as soon as I popped the clutch and gave it the beans. Even on a light launch, it would sputter out. Nothing but flawlessness with these, though. The best part is I don't even have them fully tuned yet. Thanks again! -Grant

By the way, I forgot to mention that UPS didn't show up until 8 PM last night. The driver said I was his last stop. I probably could have predicted that.......

I hope I don't. After all, how much royalty could he demand for using a $.15 product?

Alright, here's some pics for ya. I haven't gotten the air cleaners quite completed yet, so no pics of those. Maybe next week. Big thanks to Ztherapy! These carbs cured everything. My 4,000 rpm+ stall is gone, my random "die and not want to be cranked again" problem is gone, and I no longer have to play with the throttle for 10 minutes to get the car to idle when it's cold. Heck, I barely hit the switch this morning before it fired up into a nice, pretty clean idle........................without once touching the choke lever. -Grant

Good idea!

IT'S ALIVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ....................only after I corrected a stupid mistake. I should have known I was gonna forget something. I put the carbs on, hooked everything up, turned the pump on, and checked for fuel leaks. Everything was looking great, so I tried to start it. Nothing. Wouldn't hit a lick. I verified that there was at least some residual fuel in the mouths of the carbs and that the chokes were working properly. That was fine. I sprayed a touch of starter fluid in there............still nothing. I went back in the garage to put the starter fluid back up and then I saw it........................my rotor...........laying on the workbench. Holy crap I was excited. I stuck it back in the distributor and she fired right off like a dream! It even idled pretty well without adjusting a thing. I've still got some tweaking to do and a dead battery to take care of. I had to jump start it and then I let it run for quite a while, but it still didn't have enough juice to turn it over again. Hopefully my alternator's still charging. If not, I guess the GM alternator swap will come a tad sooner. I'm gonna take my battery to work tomorrow and charge/test it as well. I haven't driven it yet, but I'm planning to in the morning. Anyway, I'm gonna post answers to some questions I had to maybe help you other guys out who are in the same boat. "I cleaned and wire brushed the out side of my manifolds (N36) and balance tube as well as cleaning all the hardware and painting the freeze plugs. Can anyone tell me what fittings and screw-in doo dads I'm going to need to keep?" I was originally going to run the distributor advance hose to the front manifold like the stock configuration was, but I decided to take Ztherapy's advice and use the nipple on the front carb. Seems to be working so far, although I haven't driven it yet. I'm sure it could work on either port, though. I also kept the PCV valve and brake booster fittings in the factory location. The stock PCV hose and everything worked out fine. "Also, will the center linkage and everything that comes with my 3 screws from Ztherapy bolt/slide into place on the 260Z balance tube?" The throttle linkage worked out easily. Everything from the center linkage between the carbs all the way to the firewall worked like it did with the flat-tops. The thin L26 carb insulators seem to be fine. No binding or issues there. The "tie rod" that goes from the balance tube linkage down to the carb linkage worked as well. The only thing I had to do was drill a couple of holes into my heat shield for the throttle return springs. Here's to hoping everything goes smoothly tomorrow! -Grant

Still waiting on the carbs! Urgh!!! It's 7:10 PM local time, and the truck hasn't been by today, and the tracking info still says out for delivery. I'm gonna be livid if they don't come tonight. :mad: Anyway, I got the manifolds and balance tube on and mostly hooked up. All I have to do now is hook up the linkage and the next step will be to install carbs that I don't have yet.

Ok, thanks! I should know here pretty soon. Whenever UPS decides to be kind to me.

Alright, I got my plugs installed and everything into my fugly balance tube. :laugh: The only holes that remain open are for the brake booster vacuum fitting and the PCV valve. I guess I'll reuse one of the press-fitted nipples on the front manifold (see the pic in the first post) for the distributor vacuum advance signal unless someone has a better idea. Also, judging from Weasel's pic (thanks again!), the 260Z connecting linkage that mounts through the bushings on the balance tube will work fine with the round tops. I was originally worried about this, but I'm pretty sure that will work out fine now. The only thing that slightly has my attention now is the carb insulators (spacers). I hope with the carbs being 1/4" to 3/8" closer to the manifolds that it doesn't cause a binding issue with the "tie rod" that connects the balnce tube linkage to the carb center linkage. Maybe not. Here's hoping. I'm also assuming that the 260Z PCV valve to crankcase hose will work fine as well. Hopefully no float bowl interference there. My carbs chould be here anytime now! -Grant

Hahaha, I know, right? I plan on making my own sheet metal balance tube eventually. Can anyone tell me if the thin carb spacers I have now will work for the round tops? They're about 1/3 the thickness of the ones shown in Weasel's pic above. Thanks a lot for the pic, Weasel. I'm off to the parts store to buy some brass plugs.

Yet another thread on my swap. I've done some searching, and haven't found clear cut answers to these questions. I was hoping some of you more experienced members could shed some light on this for me. Late '74 260Z with a 100% stock L26 (currently converting to Ztherapy round tops) My carbs will be here tomorrow, so I'm trying to button up some last minute things before they get here. First of all, I got rid of the coolant lines and hoses that ran through the original intake, carbs, and balance tube. Can someone verify that the way I have my coolant routed through the heater hoses and everything is correct? Reducer from 3/4" hose down to 5/8" going to the heater core. I still need to make a bracket to hold the hose close to the block there. There was originally a 3 outlet pipe screwed in here that routed coolant either to or from the carbs and intake. I have it plugged. I'm guessing this is ok? I cleaned and wire brushed the outside of my manifolds (N36) and balance tube as well as cleaned all the hardware and painted the freeze plugs. Can anyone tell me what fittings and screw-in doo dads I'm going to need to keep? Will the PCV valve stay located in the balance tube? What about the idle air adjustment screw and fitting directly above the PCV valve outlet that was factory on the L26? Also, will the center linkage and everything that comes with my 3 screws from Ztherapy bolt/slide into place on the 260Z balance tube? Will I need to retain the idle linkage adjustment bracket mounted to the stock EGR base that you can see painted black in this pic? I also painted my heat shield with high temp paint. Turned out very nicely. (pic sucks) Just a general shot to show where I'm at. :classic: Sorry for all the questions! They're kind of spread through my post, so I'll post them all together for ya. Thanks a ton if you can even answer one of them for me! Can someone verify that the way I have my coolant routed through the heater hoses and everything is correct? There was originally a 3 outlet pipe screwed into the t-stat housing that routed coolant either to or from the carbs and intake. I have it plugged. I'm guessing this is ok? I cleaned and wire brushed the out side of my manifolds (N36) and balance tube as well as cleaning all the hardware and painting the freeze plugs. Can anyone tell me what fittings and screw-in doo dads I'm going to need to keep? Will the PCV valve stay located in the balance tube? What about the idle air adjustment screw and fitting directly above the PCV valve outlet that was factory on the L26? Also, will the center linkage and everything that comes with my 3 screws from Ztherapy bolt/slide into place on the 260Z balance tube? Will I need to retain the idle linkage adjustment bracket and screw that is mounted to the side of the stock EGR base?

I haven't gotten my carbs in yet (be here tomorrow), but I've heard the L26 spacers will work. I hope. If not, I'll be making some out of lexan tomorrow.

Turns out, my "close to 1/2" NPT" estimation was pretty spot-on. I bought a 1/2" NPT plug at work today and it mic'ed the same as the factory fitting and worked perfectly. Anyone wanna confirm that I'm doing the right thing here?

Hmm, that's kind of it. I'm referring to the plug directly below and to the left of the bolt that is holding down your plug wire bracket there in that pic. The weird thing is mine is a lot larger diameter than that. Like, close to 1/2" NPT.

Any night shift help on this one? I'm working on it now.....

So, as most of you know, I am converting my L26 to Ztherapy round tops. I am bypassing the coolant passages through the intake manifolds and carbs, and have a question about that. I have taken off the coolant pipes/thermostat assembly on the back of the engine, and will run a single heater hose from the outlet assembly for the lower radiator hose straight to the heater core. Now, my question is about the intake side of the engine. There was a hose outlet assembly that screwed into the thermostat housing that had 3 hoses on it. All 3 of these hoses went to either the intake, balance pipe, or carbs. So my question is can I simply plug that outlet? If not, do I need to T a hose from there into one of the heater hoses or something for correct circulation or anything? Thanks! -Grant

Ah, same deal with mine. I guess I'll see how this one holds up first. As I recall (it's been 3+ months since I've driven it), it was really quiet at idle and slow acceleration, but got fairly loud when I floored it. I just haven't put it through a full test yet.

Zs-ondabrain: Is that a welded muffler? I have a cheap crimped Dynomax turbo on there now. I'm wondering if those two are basically the same. I haven't really heard this one at full throttle in the upper rpms yet because my flat-tops crapped out a while before then. Maybe I'll like it once I get it tuned in correctly. The main beef I have with it is it's extremely cheaply made.

Ugh, still got a lot of decisions to make about the engine swap. Zs-ondabrain's exhaust note is pretty persuasive.

I understand that guys, I'm not gonna put a fortune into the L26 or nothing. I just want some mild performance goodies to keep me smiling. How much would I be looking at to do a cam swap?

So, as I'm about to install my Ztherapy carbs on my 260Z in place of the original crap-tops, I find myself in a predicament. I expect a pretty noticeable performance and driveability increase. As you all know, the satisfaction of new modifications wears off after a short time which leaves you wanting more. Now, I fully intend on swapping an 8 of some kind in this car eventually, but I'd like to kick up the 6 in the meantime. I'd venture to guess that the next step would be a header and new exhaust. That's a fairly inexpensive project that kind of needs to be done anyway, considering my piping is fairly rusty. No leaks yet, though. Now, with this project, I want to replace my muffler with one that perfectly highlights that sexy Datsun exhaust note. When I drive by a car guy's house, I want him to say, "There goes an S30." I've seen some of MSA's exhaust systems use a Dynomax muffler. How do those sound? Would a cam be next? What would you suggest? Open to any and all suggestions.

I just read through this entire thread, and I must say, I'm very impressed. It's nice to see a car like this at a show where every minute detail has recieved appropriate attention. Congratulations to you, sir, you should be very proud of your work!

Subscribed! Can't wait for more updates. (Pictures..........I like them )

Nice car! I know the feeling.