FastWoman

Funny!

Obvious, check the Atlantic Z website for info on how to calibrate (or check the calibration of) the clockspring. There's a method involving beer cans full of water. :-)

Erm.... There's no bend in either my '78 or '81(ZX) AFM vanes. I'm certain because I inspected very carefully for exactly that. I'd be utterly astonished if the bend were intentional. The bend in my '75 was a different shape, BTW, because there were no stops. (See Blue's pic. That's a '75 AFM.) There was no mistaking that the bend in that AFM was from backfire, as the vane did not align with the housing. Both the stops and the backfire relief valve were attempts to solve the bending vane problem. Just tap it out. Nothing will explode, and all will be well. I promise.

Obvious, I THINK you can do that. The waffle side has what looks like blobby little rivets around its edge. Those are actually screws, blobbed over with some sort of tough cement. The cement will soften very slowly in carburetor cleaner or perhaps lacquer thinner. I've never gone any further than exposing the screws, but it looks like Blue has removed the waffle in his photo. I bet it took a lot of glue softening to get the parts separated. Once inside, I suspect you'll find the vane rotates on ball bearings and that the whole thing is pressed together. Good luck with that one! Seriously, put a stick (maybe a 1x2?) inside the throat of the thing, and eyeball it. I think I recall using a stick as an anvil and another stick on the otherside to tap out the vane, if that makes sense. It worked fine.

There's not THAT much difference between 89 and 91. The problem is almost certainly something else (unless you bought bad gas, of course). FAIW, I've been running my '78 on 91 octane since I've gotten it, but I've downgraded to 89 lately, owing to price. The verdict? It likes 89 better -- more pep.

Matt, the L-jet is primitive and borderline-scary, but to me it's a thing of beauty, once cleaned up. Eye of the beholder, I guess. (BTW, that's a ZX engine bay -- not as pretty as the 280Z bays, IMO.)

Obvious, if you reproduce mine, you need to know that the pipe ends with the elbow at the throttle body end. There is no little short tube beyond that. If you have a stub of a tube there, your hood clearance will be just a tad too tight. There's enough length to the elbow to insert into the short hose. Keep it all tight!

Obvious, yes, I made the pipe out of copper sweat tubing. I love the looks of an EFI engine (especially the '75 non-EGR), but I hate the looks of that dorky hose hanging over the middle of the intake. The pipe was my solution. Hood clearance is a bit tight (1/4"?), but that's the same as most of the engine. BTW, I soldered several layers of bronze screening into one of the fittings as a flame arrestor. mjr45, that's a stock heat shield in the '78. The '77/'78 model has a shield between the engine and the brakes (the one you're seeing), between the intake and exhaust manifolds (hidden), and surrounding the exhaust manifold (not visible because it's painted flat black).

Wowza! Here I was admiring your sparkly clean engine. I had no idea how it got that way and what the implications were!

Definitely a humungous backfire -- or several dozen of them. Here's the thing: Everytime the vane gets bent, the AFM meters leaner and leaner, causing worse backfires, etc. When I was in college and owned a '75 Z (which had the AFM without the backfire relief valve), I had a similarly bent vane. I was able to fit a block of wood up through the throat of the thing to use as an anvil, and then I was able to tap the vane flat with a hammer. It made a world of difference in how the engine ran. :-)

It might be possible to borrow one (with a big deposit) from a local auto parts store. I'll check into it.

Then the dye comes out as a gas? I thought it was in the oil.

Jan, I just picked up a Felpro (pretty sure) gasket from AutoZone. They had to order it in, but they had it for me within a day. I think it was this one: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Duralast-By-Felpro-Thermostat-Gasket/1978-Nissan-Datsun-280Z/_/N-ivfvlZ91sst?itemIdentifier=225055_188053_0_

That fast?! Wow. OK, Thanks! I'll definitely get some of the stuff.

Sounds like a plan, Andrew. Do you think a few trips around town would be enough for the dye to reveal the leak(s), or would I have to leave it in there for much longer than that?

3-diameter can side tap, $25 shipped, eBay. Thank gawd. I'll be taking your advice, Kurby. It only makes sense to find the leak before committing more R12. I still wonder how to determine how much oil I have in my system without pulling the compressor and draining it. Is that the only way?

Kurby, that's probably a better idea. Here's the thing: No sooner did I announce that I found 4 lb of R12 than my R12 can tap broke. :tapemouth:mad::tapemouth I can't understand how it happened. It's made from the very finest Taiwanese pot metal! Fortunately there were no R12 casualties. That said, my precious R12 is now worth about what Freeze 12 costs -- about $20 a can on ebay. Anyway, there are can taps on Ebay, so I guess I'll be ordering one. I had so hoped to have cold air today. Ah well...

..... and..... no sooner than I posted this and gone out to the garage to look in the FSM again, I FOUND 4 MORE LB OF R12!! Soooo... never mind. I swear, guys, I had spent the past few hours looking for any remaining cans.

Hi all, I have a moderate leak in my original R12 A/C (1978). It needs to be juiced up every year to cool. This year, again, it's only cooling just a bit. I exhausted the last can of my R12 hoard a couple of years ago, and last year's professional topping-off set me back $150. I think it's time to lose the R12, fix the leak, and recharge with Freeze-12. I see in the FSM that the system takes 1.5 - 2 lb of freon, fully charged. I believe my topping off amounted to about a pound of freon, so would this imply that I have about 1/2 to 1 lb of freon in the system? Would that amount of freon give me a marginal cooling? Then what to do with the R12? It's illegal to vent it. Will service centers reclaim my R12, and if so, would they actually want to charge me to take this precious substance from me? I understand Freeze-12 is compatible with the mineral oil used to lubricate an R12 system, but it not compatible with the R12. Thus my plan is to evacuate and recharge with the Freeze-12. With this in mind, how do I determine how much oil is in the system and how much oil to add, if any? Also, is there anything else I need to change out, other than the freon? Thanks for any advice! Sarah

^^^ What obvious said! The forward bolt threads into the timing chain cover, so the backside is soaked with oil. It will remove easily. The rearward bolt will probably be a mess because of corrosion from the leak. In the case of my own thermo housing bolt, there was a large blob of corrosion between the head and the housing that was too large to pass through the bolt hole. It actually jammed in the hole as I was trying to back it out. You may need to remove the forward bolt first, and only then back out the rearward bolt while simultaneously pulling the housing away from the head. Before reinstalling, you might want to clean up all the threads with a tap and dye. If you do this, be aware that the forward threaded hole surfaces just beneath the timing chain guide. If you force a tap through there, you'll quite likely bend the guide. That hole probably doesn't need cleaning anyway, but if it does, you can remove the valve cover to observe the tap as it surfaces from the hole (so that you don't go any farther and bend your guide). Just so you're aware, that very same slow leak made my life a living hell when I tried to remove the manifold bolts around cyl #1.

Like you, I hate sloppy throttle linkages; however, I've never had problems adjusting my Z's linkage to get the slop out. I'm surprised just how durable the linkages are, including the plastic parts that miraculously don't break when you pop them off of the balls. I'd just try adjusting out all the slack and lubing the thing up. If that doesn't work well enough, find a used part. If it's like mine, it won't be worn out.

The next step will be to lose the yellow/red tubing, replacing it with black tubing and stainless tubing for the longer spans -- when I get around to it.

What will you be driving to MI? When I moved from TX to OH, I pulled my Saturn on a flat bed U-Haul trailer behind the U-Haul truck. I think the one-way trailer rental was $125. My Saturn was about the same size and weight as a Z. A pickup or SUV could have also easily towed the trailer. You can (very tightly) tarp the car if rain is a problem.

Nail in the sidewall of a tire -- Mazda RX-7 -- 120 mph. Stuff happens. I'm not saying anything more.

Dunno, Black Gold, it looks pretty indestructable!