clutchdust

just wanted to post a pic of a couple of my other projects that keep me busy. two good reasons why i have made no progress on my Z in the last two years. jeez, i need more property! and more money would help too.

PirOsan, a tourqueplate is a plate made to bolt in place of the head when machinework is done. the purpose is to simulate the same pressure and distortion (torque) a block sees when the head is bolted on. the shape of the cylinder bores will change, even if it is minutely, once the head is bolted down. because of this, a torqueplate should be used anytime machinework is performed on the cylinder bores, regardless of whether it is boring or honing and regardless of what type of rings are used. this helps make sure the cylinders are as round as they can be once the engine is put together, not just as it sits on an engine stand. this is a very common proceedure for domestic engines and most shops that give a damn wouldn't perform machinework without it. problem will simply be finding a machine shop that has a torqueplate for the datsun engine. having the machine work done properly will help reduce or eliminate your oil control problems regardless of what style/brand of rings you decide to use.

for simplicity, tunability and availablity sake, this is what i have in mind. probably going with the arizona speed intake and a 390cfm holley. an MSA header should complement that nicely. once the intake and exhaust are up to the challenge, i'm just trying to figure out how to get more air charge into the chamber. you know, the fundementals of hotrodding, more air/fuel in, more power out.

hey ken, i don't think that's the case. i've done the vacuum hose in the venturi and used the balance meter and both are pulling very similar at idle. it almost seems like the damper is still opening too fast, even after switching to straight 30 weight. it's like the same problem i had before but not nearly as bad, just still there. i'll play with it some more this weekend and we'll see. got some plug wires to put on it too. i still have to clean up that crank pulley and mark those timing marks better. so there's plenty of things to keep me busy.

to get a little more juice out of a mostly stock block/head, is a cam change the only option? i do alot of SBC stuff and with that being an OHV configuration, i can play with cam lift and duration with different ratio rockers. i don't see any way to do something similar with these motors. there'd have to be a way to move the cam toward the rocker pivot or vice versa. at $500+ for a cam package, it would be nice to get something a little cheaper if your not looking for alot of cam.

hey ZeeOne, i just ran across an article in one of my magazines about how to tune a holley. if you'd like, i'll scan it and e-mail it to you. of course, it might be easier for me to pull my roundtops and mani off, send them to you and you can send me your mani and holley

is that front grill just expanded metal cut to fit???

i forgot to mention in yesterdays post that i cleaned the ATF from my dampers and put in 30 straight weight instead. i think i just need to bump my idle up a touch to get over that spot. problem is, i don't know what my idle currently is. like i said, since i installed the pertronix, the tach doesn't work. i will still recheck my float levels although i figure i'm pretty much there as the engine seems to run pretty well as long as the RPMs don't drop below 1200-1500.

hey ken, i took some of your advice this weekend and tweeked it some more. it's almost drivable! it's getting there anyway. i drove it around the block a few times to see what kind of issues i would have and a little sputtering and bucking but still ran pretty well. maybe you can help with this one though. i have noticed that to get the car rolling, i have to slip the clutch at about 1500-2000rpm. being a 4 speed that's not that big a deal. what the problem is though, is from idle, i have to roll into the throttle to bring the RPMs up. if i just "blip" the throttle, it'll bog, sometimes seem to backfire through the carbs. after i get it rolling though, things seem to be pretty good. still need to change the plug wires but that's about it for the ignition. BTW, since i put the pertronix in, the tach doesn't work. which wire is the tach feed?

E has it right. the cops are the good guys but unfortunately, unless they have an air tight case of some bad guy doing something especially henus(sp), they're not going to waste their time. i don't necessarily blame them, i wouldn't want to bust my a$$ only to watch someone come along and pi$$ away everything i did. the courts and lawyers are our problems. the unfortunate truth is, this is our solution:

to be able to pull the key out of the ignition while still in the accesory position? if so, is there a reason why? i have found no good reason for it other than to "load test" battery charge life. *grrrr*

your best bet would be to hit a few other boards that cover v8 iron. all the old muscle cars used holleys and there are thousands of fans of the carb. personally, i'm a rochester guy but since they never made a 4bbl small enough for a Z, i'll be going with a holley here shortly. there are many advantages to the 4bbl design over the twin 1bbl, but i'm sure that will open up a can of worms...

rick, you apparently are not familiar enough with US crime statistics. cops lifting fingerprints? not unless there's a dead body in the trunk. they're too busy writing speeding tickets (revenue enhancement) or popping drug gangs. in my part of the country, they estimate 3-4 cars a day are stolen in las vegas alone. cops just don't worry about it, hence, why it happens so much. we are on our own here.

speedy, yes, i have to use 3" wheel adaptors from VB&P. i've been running them now for 6 or 7 years, even about 50+ track events and never had a failure. are you a member of corvetteforum? ken, i'll see if i can dig up any more photos but i think that may be the only one i have. the car appears to be pretty straight and relatively rust free. there is one known cancerous spot on the right front fender. other than that, the car is whole. i have the carbs off and was in the middle of rebuilding them but as i eluded to in a previous thread, they may just go away along with the factory engine. after the last two Z's i've tried to bring back from the dead, i'm betting it will be easier to just pull a dead motor/tranny out and pop in one i know runs.

are you peaking at my other pics? actually, i have had no rubbing problems with these wheels but i haven't really thrown the car around either. i did have some very slight rubbing with my c4 wheels on, but that was really pitching the car around a bit. i have so many damn corvette wheels laying around, i'm trying to figure out if i can mount a set on my Z! (not to worry, doubt that's actually going to happen)

if i actually own a Z. when i first joined this forum, i was working on my g/f z car. since then, that car got sold. i bought one and then she got another one. yes, it's a long, convoluted story. but after much mystery, i thought i'd share with you mine: http://www.photohost.org/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/20083/size/big/sort/1/cat/500 mine is the one on the trailer, and currently is in about the same shape as you can imagine. the grey one is hers which is the one i'm working on now. almost road worthy. yeehaw!

ken, when i dropped the tank, i replaced all the hoses to the tank. the only thing that was left i did not replace was the boot from the filler neck. either way, i found the problem at a gas station a while back while filling the car. i could see it coming from the sending unit.

ken, thanks for the write-up. the admin should probably put that as a sticky for people just getting a car running. i have replaced the coil and installed a pertronix in place of the points unit. the plugs are new delco rapid fires and it does appear to be running rich. i have done just about everything you suggested except i was advised to use ATF in the pistons. maybe that's my problem??? that would explain why it appears to flood out under load going through the gears, but run fine when free-revving. i will change that this week. i have one of those cheezy carb balancers but it seems to work o.k. the problem doesn't seem to be getting the car to idle or rev o.k., untill i drive the damn thing. then it just wants to go haywire on me. i'll take a scotchbright pad to the pulley and shine up those marks a bit to see where i am. why do you advance so much over factory specs?

i pulled my fuel tank months ago and had it hottanked to get the crud out of it. the fuel sender was pulled in the process and after reinstalling it in the tank and the tank in the car, gas leaks when the level reaches the height of the sender. i reinstalled the same o-ring (maybe a bad idea?) and the retaining ring. i didn't see any indication of a problem prior to reinstalling but the gas leak is obvious i'm off track. any help?

ken, i'm half way there. i adjusted the valves per the haynes manual. i checked timing today but i'm a little fuzzy on the setting. all my SBC stuff had a graduated pointer that gave me individual degrees, like 12* before and 6* after TDC. the nissan doesn't appear to be that explicit. looks like a couple notches in the crank pulley and a pointer and your just either on a notch or in between them? there's no smog equipment on the car and the carbs were disassembled, soaked in solvent for a month and cleaned with a toothbrush before reassembly. with the aid of a friend who has alot more experience with the simple design of the SU (round tops), i got it running but fine tuning has been elusive. this car is my g/f car so i want to pull as much out of it as i can without getting really stupid. i've pretty much decided to go with the 390cfm holley 4 barrel on a common manifold and a header. this should perk up the stock motor fairly nicely and be a good foundation should i decide to bump compression and/or change the cam in the future. right now, getting the car to perform reliably is first and then getting not to suck gas so bad is second. i cannot believe how much gas i've gone through just trying to tune this damn thing! is this normal? i must have used 4 gallons in 20 minutes and the car never moved out of the driveway...

this one is a '72. i thought it might be fuel starvation problem as the car seemed to idle and free rev fine. then, when driving, it would stumble once in 3rd or 4th gear. 1st and 2nd would be fine but generally by the time i hit 3rd, it was done. i did notice that i could shift into neutral and just idle and after a few seconds it would respond again. i attributed this to weak fuel pump so i installed an aftermarket electric 5# unit with no decernable improvement. i know it's not the fuel line since i had the tank flushed and ran a 5/16" rubber fuel line (temporarily) to bypass the plugged steel line. i've also installed a pertronix kit but haven't gotten everything tuned back up to see how it runs now. ken, funny to see you and your location. these cars are actually from longmont. my g/f family moved from there back around '92.

while that may be, i've always been a chevy guy and putting my hands on chevy v-6 parts are going to be far easier and cheaper than the old nissan parts ever will be. not to mention the better weight and balance of a compact v-6. but all is not lost, there will be an L24 looking for a good home.

between my Z and my g/f's Z, we have enough interior parts to make one good one, which is fortunate since mine will be a club racer and hers will get restored. problem is, the hard plastic panels in both cars are super brittle from age and exposure. is there anything anybody knows about that can be applied to the plastic pieces to reinforce them? a couple panels from her car just crumbled when pulling them out.

just want to post a pic of my current project car. this is only my second foray into the Z car world. a brief history is in order: the car belonged to my honey's dad. she also had a Z (her first car) that she ended up having to sell a couple years ago for reliability, and monetary, reasons. she was very, very sad to let her Z go but after working on it for her, it was for the best. the car was cancerous and had subframe damage, the $hi+ to worth ratio was way upside down. for her birthday last year, i got with her dad and got her this car which had been sitting for 12+ years (he had been keeping it for sentimental reasons, and to pass on to either of his kids who wanted it. she did.) after that long, i had to pull the fuel tank and have it steamed to clean it, bought a new battery, disassembled and cleaned the gunk out of the carbs and fuelpump. i ran new fuel lines, drained the oil, changed the filter and replaced the radiator and water. all this and when it came time to start it, i got nothing. after some poking and proding, there was no other conclusion than the rings siezed (at least that was the best, worst case scenario). so off comes the head, and no, i didn't drop the cam chain. sure enough, #6 cylinder was rusted to the wall. apparently the unfortunate victim of a head gasket failure more than a decade in the past. luckily, here in nevada, we're pretty dry so almost all of the rust was strictly from the coolant leak. after soaking the piston with PB blaster for 3-4 hours, a few whaps with a 16oz hammer on a wood drift and she freed right up. i hit it lightly with a cylinder hone and very minimal pitting was left. so, back together everything went. another half day of fighting and tinkering and she actually ran! i set the timing and balance the carbs and let the car run for a good 1/2 hour. now it was time to take it out and run her through the gears, well, after the 15 year old tires were replaced. fresh tires and around the block we go, sort of. to shorten an already long story, the carbs were running super rich. i got them toned down a bit so that the car can run and actually drove it 15 miles from a friends shop where i was keeping it to my house in time for her birthday surprize last july. the car still has fuel issues and i'm looking for solutions but she's pretty straight. so no more waiting, here you go: i can tell you one thing for sure, after the battle i've had with this one and her previous Z, the L24 in mine will probably never run again. it will go the way of the dodo and a small v6 will find it's way in the engine bay. hey, that rhymes!

hey, this kind of relates to a subject close to my current project. i just lost an ebay auction for a similar type of intake. i have been fighting my round tops for six months, trying to get this thing to run correctly. i've pretty much made the decision to chuck the SU's in a box and go with a small holley. glad to hear that someone still has these intakes available. i will do a search for arizona Z. if all else fails, i'm going to fab an intake myself.