racer88

Cool I brought my project 260 in from texas 3 years ago and now drive it every day now that it has warmed up

I have a early 260 with the small 240 bumpers a 280 short block with a large valve e31 head with a pair of 70 round tops. It is way more fun to drive then any car should be. Woohooo I have the best of all 3

I finally fixed a very annoying rattle in the doors. The little chrome buttons at the top of the door that the door lock knob goes thru had broken thus allowing the knobs to rattle> I went to the local parts supply and picked up a couple of 3/8"s x 1/2 inch rubber grommets, the type that electrical wires would pass thru. They fit the opening and the knob perfect. They look great as well as being functional Bob

I really like the look and sound of the su's but was getting frustrated, next step is I have an extra set of this carb spacers that I am gonna add between the intake and carbs, see how it likes that?

WoHooooo There may be hope for my su's yet. After struggling in the fall with various problem with my 4 screw su's. I had to run them rich so as to get rid of a surging at constant throttle and miss at wot then the car smelled of exhaust at idle and low speeds. When it was missing at wot if I just backed off on the throttle a little it would pick up and rev to 7000 ( I have a fairly modified 2.8). I looked at converting to injection or holley 4bbl and had discussing this with some of you. When I got the car it had dvg's on it. I converted it to 4screws that I rebuilt with zero play in the shafts. For air breathers i took the small elements fron the dgv's built flat bases and lids thinking that would be ok. The other day I took the car for the 1st ride of the year, on the way back I pulled over and removed the breathers and the car ran better. Yesterday i picked up some k&n filters of the same outside dimensions but 4" thick instead of the 1.25" thick like the dgv's. I also machined up some 3/4 inch thick raidiused air horns. Put it all together set the mixture with this new setup and went for a ride. The engine revved so fast I almost could not shift fast enough to keep up. No Smell no miss goes like a rocket to 7000. My guess it was a combination of not enough filter element and the new raidusd air horns. IT GOES LIKE A ROCKET. Bob

Z train It runs good, idles great, pulls like an engine twice it's size. just looking to get rid of the rich smell at idle and deceleration. It is not leaks in the body bad seals or poor exhaust that are causing this. i have totally rebuilt the car, it is plain and simple rich at idle. When i attemp to lean it out it then starts to miss at wide open throttle or surge at constant throttle. I am just not sure how much time I want to spend on grinding needles, playing with oil in the dash pots. I have been considering the su injectors from patton machine, but want to explore all options before I decide what to do. I have read all the posts about the 90 degree turn under the carb as being a bad thing. Just curious about peoples opinion on the factory injection system. By looking at the stock intake is it not i reality just a log style intake with runners coming off it at 90 degrees to the intake port with in fact the front two cyl. at more than 90 degrees. Just wondering why the down draft 90 might be worse than the horizontal 90. thanks for taking the time to respond. bob

Ozconnection I have considerable experiance tuning holley carbs on v8's. What manifold do you consider the best for spirited driving on the street and the odd track day, the clifford or the arizona. my engine is an l28 with e31 head with large valves and ported with 9.5 compression stage II cam, header and hei ignition. My current set up is 4 screw round tops. When they are rich enough to run at speed they are to rich at idle. I am looking at different options such as 4bbl conversion or a su tbi conversion that Tony has told me about. The weather is getting nice around here so i gotta make a decision soon. Any advice would be great thx Bob

the supposed "all stars" just proved you can take the Billy out of the hill but you cannot take the hill out of the billy ( no insult intended to my friends in the southern states) bob

There is no way the clowns with the white car could do that much structure and fabrication to support that stupid body in the time allowed. If you watch the time frame when it went into the paint both they must have had super fast dry paint cus the paint job alone would have taken to long. We need someone like Chip Foose to do his rendition of a zedd. bob

I am not sure how much overlap the cam has but a performance cam with lots of overlap will have lower cranking compression, but probably not as low as 90psi. The other thing that can affect cranking compression is cam timing. Just some things to think about Bob

Thanks Guys for all the help on this matter. My understanding of the operation of SU's is growing every day. Now all I need is for the temperature to grow every day. It is -8c today here. I am looking to gear up an O2 sensor and some sort of way to record real time data. If anyone has any ideas as to what hardware and software that they have used that would be great. I am going to go back and start again with the initial adjustments of my SU's including fuel pressure, float level, oil in the dash pots ,needle heights etc. When the weather warms up I can then drive it and know what the a/f is doing. I will post with my findings Bob

Leonv. It may be an adjustment issue. I can assure you there is no vacuum leak either at the throttle bushings, intake manifold or lines. i have totally dissasembled the carbs right down to removing the throttle shafts measuring bushing to shaft clearance the nozzles operate smoothly. In short the carbs are in perfict shape. I have set the needles flush with the bottom of the suction piston. I wonder if I pulled the needles slightly out of the suction piston would that tend to lean it out a bit. Because I assumed it was a lean misfire at wide open throttle i have been trying to richen it up to clear up this miss.

This engine is a 2.8 bottom with a e31 cylinder head with large valves and a mild porting job. Middle of the road cam, light flywheel, header with 2 1/2 stainless exhaust. ZX dizzy converted to a gm hei. my only complaint is the rich smell at idle and low speeds and the missing and sputtering at wide open throttle

I will take some pic's and post them. can you get a larger jet or would it be different needles that I would need?

Hi everyone The engine is almost new it has about 1,200 miles on it. It smells like rich exhaust. I have tried leaning it out but then it misses at higher speed and surges at steady cruising. There is no fuel (black) smoke coming out of the back the inside of the tail pipes look fairly clean. I'm not sure what needles are in my 4 screw round tops as they have no markings. I have tried adjusted my fuel pressure, my float level and the mixture nut. I can change the amount of smell but not get it to go away completely. Maybe I am being to fussy but I do not remember my chevelles and mustangs smelling that bad. maybe the fuel smelled sweeter back then without all the crap they put in it nowadays. I think I am going to install an O2 sensor in the exhaust to find out excatly what is happening.

I am not sure if this is the correct forum for this question, but here goes. My z has a very smelly exhaust. i have read all the forums about the exhaust smells. It does not have exhaust leaks The car has been totaly rebuilt right down to bare steel new seals gaskets etc. I get the smell in the car with the windows down at slow speeds and at a stop light, I understand the aero issues. I have a fairly warmed up 2.8 with round tops. I have tuned the carbs to what i consider a good tune. My question is do the early injection cars have the traditional smell or is it just the carb cars that have the smell. It smells when you stand next to the car as well when you drive it? I really love the car, but if i cannot do something about the smell I may have to give up and sell her. i have had many cars from the 60's and 70's. i have even considered building an aftermarket injection system and installing a high flow cat. Thanks in advance Bob Ps sorry to be so long winded

Highway star from deep purple has my vote. second choice is can't drive 55(cus up here in Canada 55kph is pretty Dam slow)

I am not sure if this is the right thread for this, but why do our cars smell that bad in the first place. Anybody got any ideas. My engine is a fresh rebuid, the carbs are perfect, the plugs look great and it still has a certain amount of smell??????? Bob

I too have exhaust smells in my z when I sit at a stop light with the windows down. I have done all the work that has been discussed on this forum, and the car has no smell inside with the windows up. My question is why do our cars smell so bad in the first place. Is it a common thing with SU carburated vehicles. I have been around old cars and hotrods all my life and have not had one that smells like my 260z. We all spend a lot of time on sealing up our drivers compartments. I wonder if anybody has thoughts, opinions or ideas how to reduce the smell at the source Bob

The green pearl 260 is on the road. After 2 years of work I have been driving my 260 for the last week. I have put on about 400 kilometers (240miles). The first day consisted of fine tuning the su's. I set them up according to all the advice on this site and they only needed minor tweaking to eliminate small backfiring and some surging at constant speed in high gear. I was really concerned about the su carbs, as all my life it was holley's that I worked with. Was I wrong, the car pulls hard, starts with a small amount of choke idles great and cruises smooth. I may have went a little stiff on the springs, it handles great but is a little stiff in the rears (145lb fronts and 170 in the rear). Kyb's all way round. So far the car is a blast to drive, it goes like hell, stops and handles great. I have some just painted pic's in the body and paint section but I will post some completed pic as soon as my I.T. person (wife) has a chance. Thanks to everyone who has answered my questions and offered advice Bob :)

Hi Guys I got it sorted out. The idle speed screw on the rear carb was adjusted to high and the front one was backed right off, so the engine was running on the rear carb only. As I tried to adjust up the front the idle went to high. I backed off the rear and then brought up both srews until the unysyn read the same and then procceded from there. It shows the importance of balancing the carbs. It ran ok out of balance but runs great in balance. Thanks Bob

Hi everyone. i just recieved my unisyn and have started tuning my engine in preperation for appraisal, insurance and hopefully driving next week. 280 short block E31 head ported with large valves, mild cam. header and SU's. I put kits in the carbs, have set the float level with clear tubing. That alone made a huge difference. I can reach in thru the window and the car starts right up and idles at 800 rpm. The throttle response seem crisp and instant. The problem is when I set the unisny on the rear carb and adjust it so the ball is in the middle then I put it on the front carb it does not move unless I turn in the front idle speed screw and the rpm goes up to 2000. I have tried the carb cleaner around the shafts and gaskets with no change in speed. I have checked the throttle shafts for play and they have zero side to side movement. Am I doing some thing wrong? I have searched this forum and other su sites with no luck. Any help would be great Bob :stupid:

Thanks everyone. It was a labour of love. I did all the body work and prep myself under the watchfull eye of my friend who painted it. He would not let me stop until it was right. I spent about 60 hours block sanding primer untill it was straight and 3 trips to the chyropractor to get my right elbow but back in shape . The paint including epoxy primer cost about $1400 and my friend ony charged me $450 to spray it including misc. shop supplies. I could not imagine how much it would cost if I had just dropped the car of at a body shop and said call me when it's done. I raced stock cars for 20 years and the fun of that, was building the cars as well as the 20 min behind the wheel. I feel the same about my newly chosen part of the car hobby. I hope to have it on the road in about a month and will post more picks then.

Back from the paint shop. only took 2 weeks to get the color and the clear on. It was only supposed to take 1 week, but the humidity set in and we had to work around the weather. As the colour was very translucent, it took 8 sprayable quarts of green and 2 sprayable quarts of black, which we then covered with a gallon and a half of clear. Hope I can get it all back together and drive it before the snow flies!

Yahooooooo..... finally after 2 years of engine, chassis, suspension and body work and changing my mind on the color 10 or 15 times my 260 went to the paint shop. I should have it back in a week to 10 days. Then the process of re-assembly begins. If all goes well I should be able to drive it by September. The final color choice is Snake skin green pearl from an 08 viper with a single black stipe down the middle starting out of the power bulge in the hood and ending at the lower valance at the back followed by 3-4 coats of clear. As soon as I get it back I will post some Pics Bob Morris:D