Stanley

Yeah, I've also got the one on the negative side, attached to the distributor. Found out about that a few years back when my points kept wearing out. Read somewhere that the condenser kept the points from frying (more to it than that, as described above in detail, but that's the bottom line). Installed a new Nissan tune-up set at that time,that included a condenser, and the points are still like new. The other condenser on the positive terminal supposedly acts like an open to DC (otherwise it would drain off the current for the ignition system) but shunts RFI/EMI to ground, protecting the coil and electronic equipment and preventing static on the AM radio. Don't know if it was stock on my '73, but looks like it's been there forever. If it's on the schematic I can't find it. Possibly the dealer installed it. BTW, I just edited post #13, changing "wired in series" to "wired in parallel" which seems right, or at least less wrong.

Been trying to adjust out the acceleration flat spot with new SM's. Seems OK (very nice at part throttle) but miss (burbling) at WOT transition from cruise. If I drop the jets enough to tune out the miss, then it's too rich everywhere else and would foul the plugs. Guess some polishing needed. It helped a lot with the N-27's, just needed a bit more. You have a lot more engine, so I doubt if "out of the box" SM's would help. More or thicker oil in the dashpots might do something, as far as making it harder to push up the pistons.

Not sure if we're all talking about the same condenser, but at least we're all talking about the same circuit. Don't take the following as informed commentary, just trying to learn something. So, about the condenser mounted on the inner fender, a few inches from the coil, and attached to the positive terminal: The current that runs that ends up firing the plugs comes through the ballast resister to the positive terminal on the coil. That condenser shares the current that comes through the resister (unless it could flow backward from the coil) and stores some and releases it to ground (the body) when it's ready. So it seems to be wired in parallel with the whole ignition system, from the coil positive on. So it might have two purposes: to suppress RFI, and to smooth out current through the system. If it was shorted or leaking, spark might be weak. No idea of effect if it wasn't hooked up. I see an RFI condenser for Chevys for sale for $35. Seems expensive, but would that work? https://www.opgi.com/catalina/1947452/?gclid=COXws9Pbj8UCFZIdgQodVrcANw

Why shaved flat instead of putting them in a drill bit and working them down round, as my modified N27's (for street only) were done? If it works, it's right, but I don't get it.

Interesting topic, especially since the condenser on the coil of my '73 looks about 100 years old and I'm wondering about it, and how to find the correct new one. Yesterday, while searching the electrical forum for answers to a different coil related question, I saw a post by Arne, that removing the coil condenser resulted in a performance problem (for his car). Others said it was for radio only. Since I don't know enough to ask a useful question, I spent some time online this morning looking it up. Don't think I know much more than I did before, but I found this, which at least seems to show that capacitance does make a difference.

Freaky needles, but 285 HP wow. Is this car driven on the street? Could you post the dyno sheets? Wondering about the AFR vs. power curves. Might be educational.

Why do you have a ballast resistor with a 3.0 ohm coil? Who did that? I don't know much electrical but while searching the electrical forum today, for a different topic, I read posts on a number of threads saying you're not supposed to do that. You might want to wait for a person with more ignition knowledge to back this up, but maybe you should try running it without that resistor.

Might put a Bosch #00013 coil. Now have 8-year old Crane PS-20 from MSA which I think is 1.5 ohm; the resistor came with it if I remember. The Bosch is 1.8 ohms, at least that's what it says on the label. So I guess I can't use the resistor I have now. I see online there's a Bosch 1.8 ohm resistor (#0227 901 014) that goes with it according to Ferrari site. I guess you have to buy the resistor separately. I'm using fairly new stock 240z euro distributor (points). Is this OK?

Easy to check relative gas height in bowls with straw from can of carb cleaner. When it's running good, pull hoses off vents and put straw down the vent. It will rest lightly on top of the float. Mark it at the vent fitting. Then do the other one. Then, when you're driving and it starts sputtering, put it in neutral, shut it off and coast to side of the road. Check them again. If one is down, and the fuel pressure is OK, might be a problem with that float or valve. A point on a float can touch the side of a bowl, restricting it's movement. Maybe hitting a bump could stick or unstick it. If so, a light touch with sandpaper on the side of the float will fix it. Doubt if that's it but it's possible.

Fuel pressure on the low side per FSM but ballpark. Should be OK for ordinary driving. If you have a fuel return line you can block it off; that will raise fuel pressure a little. You could see if it makes any difference, I doubt it though.

Finally got around to installing my new SM needles (thanks, Bruce). Previously had modded N-27's, that seemed to still need a little more polishing for top end. I usually just use the syncrometer to get them pulling the same amount of air, and then use road tests to adjust the mix. So I checked it with the old needles and both carbs were pulling the same. Checked where I had the mix nuts, the front was down 5 1/2 turns, and the rear was down 5 turns. Had made so many adjustments I had no idea where they were set. Seems like a lot but that's what it took for my setup. Cleaned up the domes, etc., put in the SM's. Set the mix 3 1/2 turns down, since the SM's are supposed to be richer. Checked it with syncrometer, both pulling the same. Tried push-pin test, seemed OK. Seemed a little rich, though, so leaned them to 3 1/4 turns down. Put the velocity stacks and K&N's back on and took a little drive to grocery store. Ran bad, felt lean. Made three stops, lowering the mix 1/8 turn each time. Still ran crappy. Was starting to think it was maybe too rich. Made another stop and lowered (richened) it another 1/4 turn. Then it started to run better. Richened it another 1/8 turn. Ran it to 4700 rpm (in first, due to speed limit / cops) and no miss at 4 1/2 turns down. So maybe OK. Not much of a test, but FWIW, seems like the SM's are a bit richer than my modded N27's, but not excessively rich, at least for my car. I like. Also made a little discovery (new to me, that is) about the dashpot oil. FSM says get the oil between the marks on the stick. Easier said than done; even with good light and a magnifying glass it was hard to see the oil level. Eventually I got them both about to the upper line. I was pushing up on the pistons and noticed one was harder to push up than the other. Then I noticed that after adding some oil to the weak one, it was harder to push up. By adding or removing a few drops at a time I was able to get the resistance of both pistons the same. Didn't know that. Still don't know what the best amount of resistance is, though. Need to do more tests.

Is there a special tool or a trick to remove and install the plastic rivets? Got my car back from the body shop yesterday but the rear plastic panel isn't attached, guess they gave up on it, though they did the other work well. Can't blame them, I also failed with the damn rivets previously, to the point of getting mad and destroying them with a wire cutter. Bought some from MSA, don't really know what to do with them though.

Your nozzles OK? Worn ones make it richer, sometimes much richer. One could be worn more than the other. Had to replace mine. Ztherapy has rebuilt if necessary. They also have various under and over sized nozzles; I was wondering about those.

To add to previous post, after pulling the choke, starting it, and pushing the choke lever back, if you can push one of the nozzles up with a finger, then it's sticking. Try Lithium spray grease on nozzle and choke linkage. Good to do that anyway.

Not bad considering how big and complicated they are. If they're shot, or you get rear-ended there's no choice. I paid $23 for a pair of reproduction lenses for my '63 Chevy panel, doesn't really compare though. Wonder where to buy just one of the lenses for one side. Couldn't find the lower left one that's slightly cracked. State Farm adjuster figured $450 for new taillights, but they're still OK for street, so I got a good used hood instead. Maybe someday, if they're still available. A lot of stuff that was available in 2008 is gone.

While my Z is in the shop, getting some body repairs, the other driver's insurance is providing me with a rental. Well, sort of providing; I have to pay $17 a day insurance, which adds up. Anyway, not really impressed. It's a 2015 Chevy Malibu. I opened the hood but couldn't tell if it was a 2.0 or 2.5 engine. It gets off the line OK, probably due to high tech stuff in the transmission. But my more or less stock '73 Z with AT would cream it zero to sixty or sixty to ninety without even trying. For that matter, I bet a '65 Chevy Malibu with AT and a six would cream it. Is that progress? Guess GM doesn't care. I'm sure there are a lot of great new cars, I've never owned anything newer than a '77. Rented quite a few, though. The only one I liked was a '94 Mitsubishi (Westbound on the 10, after crossing the bridge at Blythe and stopping for inspection, I was taking it slow, since that area is well patrolled. When I looked down at the speedometer, I saw (to my horror and pleasure) I was doing 115). But the rest were turkeys. It does kick the datto-san's arse in one respect though: the radio. Never knew there were that many stations. All I'm saying, if you buy a new car, take a real test drive.

I have the same radiator. MSA has a radiator shroud that works fine with the aluminum 3-row. You might have to drill a couple holes in the fiberglass bracket, takes about 5 minutes. Should keep it running cooler in stop and go traffic. However, The shroud doesn't play well with the AC pulley. I didn't have AC, just the damn pulley, which is now removed, plus the smog pump pulley. Two more pulleys than the car needed. I had to file off some of the fiberglass where it goes under the fan, to give it some clearance from the AC pulley. After filing it down, it seemed a little flimsy, so I beefed it up at that location with carbon fiber. Having the shroud makes it harder to change the water pump or fan clutch, but in my opinion it's worth it.

On my 240z the outlet on the head (for the hose to the heater) is 3/8" BSPT, and the one on the bottom of the thermostat housing is 1/4" BSPT. BSPT fasteners screw into BSPT holes way nicer than NPT or metric. NPT sort of works except for threaded BSPT fuel fittings, where they don't work at all. Interesting that the 280z has a threaded hose barb on the main water inlet, and there's a pipe that goes around the front of the engine, through the intake and over to the thermostat housing. Didn't know any of that. Is there a thermostat in that line? The 240z manifold heater goes around the back of the engine. Maybe you should keep that part hooked up per some of the HybridZ posts. I used tapered rubber plugs from ACE hardware with silicon caps from M-C clamped over them to bypass the heater. Never use Dorman rubber caps, they fall apart from the heat. Water Rooster!

Don't know about your car, but 240z has a "flow valve" on the left side of the engine. It has three inlet/outlets. One goes to the crankcase vent, one to the stock air cleaner, and one to the hard line that goes to the expansion tank. There's a procedure in the FSM to test it. My flow valve didn't work until I gave the insides a good blast with carb cleaner. You have a totally different setup I expect; maybe there's no way to clean the check valve. The steel lines can be cleaned by working a braided steel wire through them (attached to an electric drill) and then washing them out with alcohol or maybe fuel injector cleaner.

If you have the US emission spec. distributor, you can get the "Euro spec" non-emissionsdistributor for advance that comes on sooner. See FSM for the numbers. MSA used to sell them, I've seen them advertised recently in Japanese car mags, so available with difficulty. You could pertronix it. Cheaper than Mallory, dunno. It made a huge difference on my car, but I'm comparing it to the crappy emissions dual point that was stock on my '73. Still, I can't even get close to non-emission FSM initial timing. Well, I tried, and it picked up a lot of power (easily burning rubber even with the AT and sticky tires) but it pinged horrible. Just need way better gas. Also, IIRC, there's a thread somewhere on this site about where to send a dizzy for mods.

If the idle drops when you turn on the lights, that might suggest an electrical problem.

Dig it, had a bad feeling about that shop, not just the cash thing. It seemed kind of like a "pretend" body shop. One time when I went to see if they were done with the estimate, a pissed-off customer was there. Except for one time when they were painting, didn't see any work being done. There was a guy looking at a car. Finally he pushed it about ten feet. A few minutes later he pushed it back. Found an independent shop I like today, taking it there on Monday.

Maaco wants cash for the insurance work, about $4000. No cashiers check etc. Expected to just sign the insurance check (payable to me) over to them. No big deal, just seems odd.

EGT's would be nice, but there's also the white paper towel method, used it today. Safer if the car's not moving. Hold it near the exhaust pipe, if it's too rich it will get a bunch of sooty spots. Lean out the mix until it's not doing that. Tuning is a great game; there are so many variables, and so many definitions of "running perfect".

Update: It took a month for Maaco to come up with an estimate (State Farm wanted that first, before they sent their guy). They figured about 4500, not very detailed. State Farm estimator didn't get here until mid-January. He was a knowledgeable person, did an extremely detailed estimate. S.F. finally got the estimate and check to me in mid-February, about $4100. Not totaled, no salvage title. (Per the advice I got here, I told the estimator no Salvage title). Then I dawdled a while, since I had to work. So now, finally, ready to fix it. Maaco's OK with the 4100. If I hadn't been working lately I'd probably get minimal repairs done and pocket the rest. But since I have, I'll fix it. If I could find some nice 6 into 2 headers with 1 3/8" equal-length primaries I might spend part of the money on that instead, but I can't find any at this time. My hood is sort of shot (nothing to do with the accident). I can get a good second-hand hood so I'll have them do that at the same time. I'd also like them to tap out some of the tiny dents (maybe from where I and some other Bozos leaned on it) but maybe I can't afford that. Anyway thanks for the advice, it probably helped to have the Hagerty's print-outs for the estimator. Maybe I should have let triple A handle the whole thing.