TDHoward

Finally had some time to mess with the 260 yesterday! Little back story... GIVEN to me by an estate exectutor back in Feb. because they thought it was too far gone to be of any value. It's a June 74 build, early style 260. Body is very sunbaked and surface rusted, but still solid, interior was stripped and boxed and labeled by the PO. I agreed to drag it home because it had a fairly solid structure. Put my trolling motor battery on it, ran a hose from a can to the fuel pump, sprayed a bit of gas into the intakes and cranked her over. To my AMAZEMENT, she turned, then even MORE amazing caught. She sputtered, back fired a few times, Then she revv'ed, settled into a NICE idle and smoothed out. This Z has had the tuna cans replaced by the earlier SU style carbs. Apparently the PO had at some time replaced the coil, all ignition parts and plugs. I couldn't believe it! She lives. Now that I've heard her actually run, I'm STOKED! Just wanted to share the good news, hopefully as soon as the Spitfire is finished, I can get the Z into the garage and actually start some body work. Just wanted to share the good news.

you're confusing two different types, OFF, DIM and FLICKER and WARM,SMOKE, IGNITE. this beer is at room temp BTW.

Why don't the Brit's build computers? They couldn't figure out how to make 'em leak oil. :-) Bumper sticker seen on MGB, "all parts falling off this auto are of the finest British Quality" Quote attriubuted to Joe Lucas, "gentlemen do not motor about after dark." And of course, "Ran when parked!"

http://www.britishcarforum.com/bcforum/ubbthreads.php/forum_summary Send him to the link above. It's called simply British car forum. I've had a couple of LBCs, (little British Cars) and have found them to be robust, reliable and infinitly rebuildable. The technology is very simple and quite straightforward. Some say crude. Parts are VERY WELL supported and the TR6s are among the best of the breed. Watch for rust issues, like all 40+ year old cars. Doglegs, sills, battery boxes, frame rails etc. They use similar carb technology to the early Z's, the 73 May still have the SU's, or it may have Zenith Strombergs, both are constant depression carbs like your Z's. AMOF, the Z carbs are a licensed reproduction of the old SU's. Think antiquated Z with no top. As far as the Lucas electricals, Watch the "bullet" connectors, they can corrode and cause intermitent issues. When he starts replacing these connectors, and he will have to replace some, solder instead of crimp. The GROUNDS are crucial, they will do funny things if certain grounds go bad, because the Lucas systems usually only run 3 or 4 circuits. But it's usually simple fixes. LBC's are fun. There is a bit of displaced animosity in British circles toward the Z car, as the introduction of the Z kind of marked the beginning of the end for Triumph and MG, not to mention British leyland itself. The TR7 was Triumph's answer to the Z car, 5 years too late.

THANKS GUYS, GOOD INFO!!! Great thread. Dizzy is widely used in Brit cars too, Like my Spitfire. Now if you want to get into unusal names for things, visit a LBC (little British Car) site! Triumph and MG especially. They've actually had to make a glossary of British to American auto terminology! Bonnets, Boots and prop you know? (Hood, Trunk and drive shaft) The Brits didn't use a model year designation either, so I understand the importance of month and year of manufacture when it comes to stock equipment. Cool to know the info about "Factory Vs. Dealer installed options. "Hopefully this isn't a ambiguous term: rust" Nope! THAT term is universal! And I've got plenty of it!

The impression I get about the Hitachi Flat tops is they simply have a reputation that is probably undeserved. The "Boat Anchor" name has been given to the flattops by apparently those folks who buy into this bad carb belief. Kind of like the Chevy Corvair, the myths are generally perpetrated by those people just repeating stuff they've heard, without the benefit of experience.:stupid:

One I CAN answer. The dogleg is the area on the body just before the rear wheels immediately behind the door sills. Don't know why it's called that, I guess because it's crooked. Generally very prone to rust because of the enclosed layers of sheet steel. They can be dirt and water traps. my experience is a dogleg rusts from the inside out.

Sorta! There's been a rather steep learning curve for every thing I've pulled home. And I expect the Z to be similar. One thing I've already learned about my particular Z is the "tuna can" Hitachis have been replaced with the earlier round tops. The SU's on this Z are functionally the same ones used on my MGB. So my English should translate to Japanese. It's an early 74, which I like. The coil and ignition appear to be NEW. And MOST of the stuff for a fuelie were included with the car. So once again, I've pulled home a MUTT. Now to decide how I want to proceed.

New to the forum and fairly new to the technical aspects of Z cars. I owned one 25 years ago and I'm now about to hit my midlife crisis with another! However, some of the technical lingo used here I'm not quite understanding: whats a mustache bar? Whats a S30? Every car forum has it's own language, I'm just trying to catch up on it here. On the Corvair board I frequent you see and hear, rtfm, Read the F$$$*^& manual. ggg grins, GGG big grin. and little red plastic thingy which is an ancillary electrical connector GM placed under the hood. What are some of the more ambiguous terms that may be used here??

Just dragged home a 74 260Z. Everything listed below was dragged home, but left under its own power! It's going to need lotssa help. Not much frame rail rust, but REALLY bad paint, cancer around the hatch, missing various items. Not my first Z, about 25 years ago I owned a 72 240Z, which succumbed to rail rust. I didn't know then what I know now and think I can bring this 260 back from the brink. I don't do concours restos, I clean 'em up, get 'em driving and safe and maybe shoot on a little paint. Make 'em halfway nice then drive 'em like I stole 'em. The Z is next in line after my current project, a 71 Triumph Spitfire, which is almost complete. I've done a 73 VW superbeetle, a 73 MGB, I still miss these two and regret taking the offer I couldn't refuse! A 1965 Chevy Corvair, (A fun, reliable, safe car regardless of what you've heard), A 74 Volvo 240,( big, square, ugly, but elegantly simple!) and several Jeeps in various states of disrepair. I dig multiple carbs. in Unusual cars you just don't see everyday. I like wrenching on things OTHER than the big american V-8s. You'll most likely never see a Chevelle or Nova in my garage. I've always relied on good internet boards to enhance my knowledge and expand my education about the POS I'm working on right now. Hope to be an active member here!