Captain Obvious

Here's the pic I found where there were more bends. But these are valve in the center of the hole style. Older I believe?

Haha!! Good eyes! I saw that too and was trying to find some other pics to confirm, but I think we may have found "the tell". I found a pic where I noticed that missing extra bend, but they were on the ones with the valve stem hole in the center of the slot, and not the center of the spoke. It's conceivable that they changed the die and removed those bends when they went to the valve in the spoke location. So is the pic you posted from valve at hole, or valve at spoke?

And that paint is clearly wrong. Way too shiny. And if he clear coated original paint to "protect it" or something, someone ought to take his paint license away.

I was basing recommendations on the original claim that the float bowl levels were correct. If that's not the case, then of course all bets are off! I'm a big fan of the clear tube method of setting the bowl levels. I believe it to be more truthful and more reliable than the other methods (like the ten turn down method). Forget all the other tuning stuff until you get the bowl levels (close to) right. If your rear bowl is near dry, then it would make perfect sense that your rear carb sounds like a jet engine compared to the front, and it still won't run on that carb alone. Just to test other things, you could fill the rear bowl to the correct level and see how the piston lift test performs. The car should run maybe thirty seconds or so on the fuel in the bowls before they run so low the fuel can no longer be pulled in.

I call bullshite. He also has these center caps listed on ebay where he says they are “Very rare caps. N.o.s. Have not install. Stripped, Re-chrome and re-painted.” https://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-240Z-D-Series-I-Wheel-Covers-caps-Set-of-4-in-Very-Nice-Condition-Nos/122997240189?hash=item1ca334f17d:g:mfMAAOSwjodZ8-rq Out of curiosity... If they were truly never installed NOS, why would they need to be stripped and re-chromed. Maybe he doesn't know what N.O.S. really means? And about the numbers stamped on the backs, the numbers are in sequence. 0135, through 0138. And the parts in all three of those auctions were the exact same parts. Methinks someone is trying to capitalize on the expense of these items. Way too fishy all around. I'd be happy to be proven wrong, but I call "Bullshite."

Just want to make sure I understand... You mean that you increase the idle on the rear carb and the overall idle speed goes up. But even after doing that, if you disable the (FRONT) carb, it shuts down immediately? How much did you raise the idle? Maybe you just need to go a little more? Depends on how far out of balance the two of them are. Open the rear carb some more, and then close the front one to compensate and bring the idle back down to where you want it? What happens if you push on the linkage for each carb independently Does the engine speed come up about the same for each?

Thanks to you and the rest of your planning committee for your sacrifice. Someone's gotta do the dirty work.

Banjo filter is a good idea. Are both float bowl vent nipples hanging open to atmosphere?

End mill. You cut on the tip instead of the side. Poof. Flat bottom slot. Then you use a flat bottom key instead of Woodruff. Plenty of auto manufacturers do it.

Well good luck with the administration of the details. And I hope she doesn't try to deny responsibility for her actions. Out of curiosity, when the cop said he couldn't figure out who hit who... did you suggest that it would be impossible for you to drive your car sideways into the front of hers such that your driver's side door took that kind of isolated damage?

Off the top of my head, I would guess that the carbs airflow at idle isn't balanced and one carb is doing "more work" than the other at idle. Theory being...When you disable the one doing less work, it'll kill three weak cylinders and the engine will continue to run on the other three. But when you disable the carb that is doing MORE work, it'll kill the three strong cylinders and the three weak cylinders won't have enough power to continue to run, and the engine will die. What happens if you hold your hand over the mouth of each carb? Do you have "about the same" suction on each? Does the engine die with a hand over each carb?

Yes it was. And yes I am! Some twenty-something dropped a Bugs Bunny reference in conversation a week ago. I'm not sure he even knew what he was really talking about. The topic was what type of monster lives under a bed and after suggestions of troll and gnome, someone suggested gremlins. The 20-something remarked that gremlins were only on planes. I did suggest to him that you have to hit em juuuuuuust right and got a glassed over look, but I didn't research further.

Haha!! "Lookit here son, I say son, did ya see that hawk after those hens? He scared 'em! That Rhode Island Red turned white. Then blue. Rhode Island. Red, white, and blue. That's a joke, son. A flag waver. You're built too low. The fast ones go over your head. Ya got a hole in your glove. I keep pitchin' 'em and you keep missin' 'em. Ya gotta keep your eye on the ball. Eye. Ball. I almost had a gag, son. Joke, that is." — Author Unknown

Thanks Captain Obvious.

Maybe you didn't mix it thoroughly enough and it didn't cure completely?

You want info? Here's your man: @Derek

Well I know it won't make you feel that much better, but you're not the first one to do this. A local buddy of mine did the exact same thing to his pulley. Glad you didn't lose the chunk behind the front cover. That would have just added insult to injury. I've messed with lots of keys of various designs working on machinery in addition to cars. Most of them are snug (tight) enough that they don't fall out with gravity, or a magnet, but that's not always the case. I'm not sure a new key will be any tighter, but you'll find out when you get your replacement. So, to help make sure if doesn't happen again... First, put the pulley on with NO key, just to get a feel for how it goes on. You should be able to feel and hear it clank against the hard stop shoulder on the crank. Pinching the slinger and all that... I've heard some of the pulleys are so tight that you have to use the center bolt to actually jack the damper into place, and I'm not sure how I feel about that. Get a feel for how it SHOULD go on, and then make sure the key slips gracefully into the slot inside the damper. If the key won't go into the slot on the ID of the damper, then it'll rock out of position when you try to put the pulley into place. Just take it easy and remember, you're not the first!

Bummer. That's what happens when you torque the crank pulley nut down without having the key and damper all situated correctly before applying mucho force. The key is supposed to be able to rock in the slot and find it's proper "happy" location. But if you get it rocket too far before you start fitting parts together, it's possible to rock it backwards and get it cockked into a position where the force is normal (perpendicular) to the install direction, and as you found... You can crack the brittle damper. So I got a question.... Where is the chunk(s) of cast iron that snapped off the back of the damper? Is that stuff inside your front cover now?

Seconded. That really sucks. So did the cops show up and saddle her with responsibility for the accident in the form of a ticket. Failing to yield the right of way? Failing to follow traffic control markings? Something like that? That will help a lot when her insurance company cold shoulders you after she tells them it was your fault.

And I certainly hope you are planning to keep it dry, because if you don't, it's going to melt into rust like the rest of them. Think about it this way... You have years of un-realized pent up potential rust. You can see a tiny bit peeking out here and there, but if you let it get wet, it's going to come out with a vengeance to make up for lost time.

Wow. I'm impressed. I think that might be the cleanest all original 280 I've ever seen. With good pictures, I can usually find fault or untruths in sellers statements, but on that car, at least from the pics, I can't find any. I can't find any evidence to contradict the claim of original paint, and it has been kept in wonderful condition. Based on the cleanliness, I assume that it was rarely driven in crappy weather, and was always stored in a garage. Original paint, radiator and cap, master cylinder, windshield washer tubing, vacuum hoses, EGR is intact, original exhaust system, original frame rails, and the list goes on... Just look at that original yellow chromate! Only things "wrong" are the sunroof, it doesn't have A/C, and it's a four speed instead of the five. I'd trade you for mine in a heartbeat. Even with all the improvements I've done on mine. In a heartbeat! Congrats. My only regret is that you didn't pay more. I like to believe my car is worth more than that, and now I'm not so sure! Now change all the fluids, put in new fusible links, and install relays for the headlights and starter solenoid. Also check that the radiator mounting wings on the upper sides of the rad are still attached. I've seen them come off before, and yours look a little flakey.

I misunderstood then. I thought this was a mix of some that had the recess and some that did not. Mix of stock and aftermarket. As you were!

If the stock lash pads have a recessed area for the valve stem tip on the underside, then simply measuring the overall thickness is not a suitable measurement to compare against one that does not have a recess. The important part is the distance between the valve tip and the follower face. If there is a recess on the underside, you have to subtract the depth of the recess. So I don't know exactly how you're measuring the pads, but if you're just putting the two of them next to each other on the table and saying "one is thicker than the other", you may not getting the full story. I also don't know if you are including the height of the locator "wings" on the top of the pads either. The height of those side wings are not really important. You only care about the location of the grooved out face between those two wings. Kinda hard to describe with just words... If this doesn't make sense, let me know and I can whip up some sketches.

Great... Sounds like the helicoil was installed by the same guy who but my rebuilt starter together. Glad you found it before it was too late. So, since they claim the helicoil is a "normal repair", are they going to take that one back for refund? Or are you stuck with the cost?

Now there's a concept I've never seen mentioned anywhere ever before!!! Wonder how much market there would be for something like that! HAHA! One thing to keep in mind though, is that the resistor trick can only be used to supply additional fuel, not take any away. The leanest it's going to run is with the sensor connected directly with no extra auxiliary resistance. So if you're going to use a microprocessor to adjust a "resistor" based on O2 feedback, the first thing you'll have to do is adjust the original system so that it runs lean. That way, the processor can add in additional resistance to compensate. Yes, I think it could work. No, I'm not going to do it.