Gary in NJ

Does 3757 sound about right?

Do not use a screw driver. Turn/twist the cap into the rod until it pops off. The screw driver could deform or crack the head of the cap.

I checked my speed-o last night. At 60 mph (indicated) I'm showing 2740 rpm. That tells me I have a 3.36 gear ratio in my differential (which makes sense because that's what came on the '72's). I'm not running an OEM tire size. So here's how I calculate actual rpm at 60 mph: oem - 175/78-14: 815 rev/mile (5280/(24.75 x 3.14/12)) x 3.36 = 2740 rpm now - 225/50-15: 846 rev/mile (5280/(23.86 x 3.14/12)) x 3.36 = 2840 rpm

Is the pulley wobbling, or is it crank run-out?

Silly, you put the steering wheel on the wrong side

How many miles a year do you put on your 240 that gas mileage is such a concern? Even if you could improve the figure by 5 mpg (say from 25 to 30 mpg), and you drive 10,000 miles a year, you're only gonna save 67 - about $200 a year. That's a lot of effort for such a little return. Even less a return if you drive less.

The rear wheels look a bit forward in the wheel well. Worth a good look from underneath.

you don't want to see this: I was replacing the thermostat housing, water temperature sensor and the thermostat cover. One of the bolts broke off in the head. That's always fun. Luckily about 3/8" of an inch was protruding. With a little penetrating oil (50:50 ATF:Acetone - works every time) and vice grips, I was able to extract it without drama. Dodged the bullet...this time.

It would crank away, but not fire. No crank; battery, battery cables or the starter. Also check the switch to make sure you are getting a ground closure at the solenoid when you engage the starter.

Good eye, its has a build date of 7/72. I guess that the water temp wire (yellow) and the tach wire (blue, I think) are touching. A couple of connectors and some heat shrink and this problem should be solved. If the wires look brittle, I'll just go ahead a replace 'em. Thanks for confirming my suspicion.

Sounds like the ballast resistor.

Wow Guy, that's not bad pricing at all. The block pricing is damn-near free!

The S30's are sports cars in the purest sense. The S130's were luxury-oriented "sporty" cars. When new they were viewed as softly sprung, overweight and over priced. It was the sports car that Buick never made. Heck, I barley recognize the S30's with the big bumpers as being S30's. But with proper attention they too can be made more 240-ish.

Sunday evening while I was doing some exploratory work on the water-temperature sensor I grounded the yellow wire to determine if the gauge or the sensor were defective. At first it appeared as though the gauge was the problem, but after trying a few different grounds, I was able to get a full scale reading on the gauge. I attributed the poor ground to the condition of the connector, which is corroded. Monday afternoon I decided to go out for a drive. The car wouldn't start, which is unusual since this engine starts easily. I figured I must have accidentally disconnected something near the distributor while looking for a good ground the night before. A quick check showed everything connected. Then I remembered that I had removed the harness that contains the yellow water-temp wire, and a wire to the distributor (the tach wire?), from the clip on the drivers side wheel well (the same clip also holds the wire from the coil to the cap). I pulled the wire from clip and moved it about a inch, then reinserted it back into the clip. The good news is the car started. The bad news is something kept it from starting. So there must be a few chafed wires somewhere in that harness. I'll have to remove the harness casing and look for damaged wires. What other wires are in that harness? Could the tach wire disable the ignition system? I tried to get that from the wiring diagram in the BE section of the FSM, but had little luck.

What kind of pricing for the head work?

Welcome Matt (that's funny): The line from the drivers-side wheel well is the flow-guide valve. It's not a vacuum line, but a vent for fuel vapor. The lines from the top of the float bowls are vents as well. I believe there are openings on the back-side of the filter element mounting plate that you can run these lines into. The problem with the open holes is that dirt can make its way past these holes and go directly into the carbs. For that reason, I'd install some sort of nipple for the vent lines on the back plate. For several reasons I'm not a big fan of the Longflo pods. There is the open back plate I mentioned above; and there is the lack of the air horns. The air horns are an important part of the carb design. Truth be told, the OEM air box is the best design for the SU carbs.

The stock tire (175/78-14) has an overall height of 24.75", or 6.48 ft/rev, or 815 rev/mile. Your tires have an overall height of 23.69", or 6.20 ft/rev, or 852 rev/mile. So your speedometer will indicate a higher speed by 4.5% (i.e 62.7mph indicated will be 60 mph). I seem to think that my '71 showed 3100 rpm @ 60mph. My '72 shows 2600 rpm @ 60.

As I was driving through town (a town of 2,000 - so it's a small town) this afternoon, heading towards some of my favorite twisty roads, I saw a blue 370Z coming the opposite direction. Being a motorcyclist, I figured I'd gave him "the waive". To my amazement, he understood why he got the waive and gave me a thumbs-up and a waive back. It was nearly 90 degrees out, so I was even amazed that his windows were open. That someone driving a modern spam-can understood the connection between his blue modern marvel, and my blue classic, truly made my day.

That makes sense. I'll install it dry.

I have a new temp-sensor to install. I have the housing, threaded retainer and, of course, the water temp sensor. I even have a new cap and thermostat (might as well replace 'em while I have it apart) and all new gaskets. I know to use pipe tape on the retainer, but do I need any sealant between the retainer and the sensor?

Nice looking engine. I'd love to feel the difference between a stock engine and a built engine like that.

Makes me think the distributor is off by one tooth.

A good running car is more important then a good looking car. The lubrication system in a car is a closed-loop system. Any external leak should be addressed. The leak around the valve cover is a very easy fix. Take the opportunity to have the valve lash checked while the cover is off. The rear seal is a more involved. I've never payed anyone to work on my 240Z, but a rear seal can be replaced in about two-hours by someone that has done it before, 3 to 4 by someone that hasn't. In that regard, $1,000 sounds excessive.

My cleaning, adjusting and lubing effort payed off. The throttle now moves with much less break-through force. It's now similar to my last Z. So now it's drivable, but after reading the attached threads, I'd like to get a little more improvement. Bruce, I already have the thick spacers. Will putting the bend in the throttle shaft have any effect? Bonzi Lon, is that the OEM throttle shaft, or did you have to get a longer unit?

Well, I just got in from the garage. I disassembled, cleaned and lubed all of the parts in the throttle linkage. The Tension Rod on the engine side of the firewall between the bell crank and Torsion Shaft was right on spec at 7-3/16". The interior Tension Rod between the throttle and bell crank was long, at 4-7/16 as measured center-to-center of the end caps. I removed the end to install a new throttle boot and reinstalled the end, setting to the FSM spec of 4-1/4". It all moves very smoothly, but it's dark and driving is different then just pumping the throttle. I'll take it on a coffee-run in the morning.