Captain Obvious

I'm not sure I understand the problem... Is it that the body tube an the aftermarket antennas is too long to allow you to swing it into place?

Are you sure it was pizza and not Farmer Vincent's fritters. Oh wait... You said it was a movie that was NOT horrible. Nevermind.

Been a long time since I've looked at a carbed fuel rail... Are there insulating plastic bits to act as a thermal break between the head and the rail?

With a stock system, the orifice on the return line should bleed off all pressure in the rail as soon as the fuel pump stops pumping. I guess it's possible for the fuel in the rail to become superheated and then all of a sudden "burst" into a boil during engine off heat soak? Maybe that generates enough of a pressure impulse to force fuel past the needle valves before the orifice bleeds the pressure off? Maybe some liquid "hammering" as bubbles alternate with liquid trying to get through the orifice rapidly? The second reason (as Zkars suggested) is exactly what the needle valve is supposed to do... Regulate the fuel level in the bowl. And as for the third reason, I would be hard pressed to be convinced that the vent tube cannot dissipate vapor pressure quickly enough such that pressure would build up in the bowl. I'll offer up a fourth idea... My understanding of percolation is just like the old school coffee pot. You boil the liquid and the frothing emulsion of bubbles and liquid not only takes up more volume than plain liquid, but the frothing can also temporarily block off the vent tube hole with a slug of liquid making the jet hole in the venturi an equally attractive temporary exit during the boil.

I've got a speedo from a 78 that has both MPH and KPH on it. Would that be of any interest?

Chas, Looks great. Good luck with the project. I've never messed with any of that stuff, but if there's anything I can do to help, just let me know.

Nice work. You've got a welder and you're not afraid to use it!

Site, The roadrash is probably from hanging off the side of the cycle in those high speed turns in your youth. Glad you don't do that anymore! Remind me the next time we get together to tell you about my experiences with my drupes while on the track at speed on two wheels. Nick Mason as in Pink Floyd? I knew he's a car guy, but didn't know he had one of those. Good for him!

I think the 250GTO is one of the, if not THE, most beautiful automobiles to ever to grace the world. I would give my left nut for one of those. In fact, at my age, I think I would give both nuts for one of those...

Sorry. but I got pretty much nuthin. Second spring probably gets installed over a shaft with a slot in the middle, and as you mentioned, is used in a twisting/rotating application. First spring? No idea. Looks like a collapsed compression spring that is binding all the coils which is very unlikely. Not used for rotation or extension. Weird...

Wow. I'm impressed! If I sent you a print, would you make some simple sheet metal parts for me?

I was thinking the same thing.

Here are some pics of the steering rack springs. They're all compression springs with space between the coils. Friction shoe: Inner tie rod ends:

That first spring... There was a compression spring for the adjustable friction shoe that put pressure on the rack. But unless it is completely collapsed with the coils binding and touching, that isn't it. Can you take a pic showing one of the ends? I don't know about the second spring either. It looks a little bluish in color. Is it painted the body color of your Z?

The change from two lines to three is when they went away from the flow guide valve crankcase venting and adopted the more effective CARB charcoal canister. Documentation says 74. but from what I've heard, the scale tends to slide a little and not always be a hard cutoff at a year.

Hot switches are never good. Hopefully you caught the issue before you really smoked something. Get yourself some headlight relays quick, and hopefully you won't have to go deeper than that. You may need to have the switch disassembled and repaired too though.

It's a common issue for the ignition switch to burn up inside from the load of the starter solenoid, I would start there.

That's not a 79. It's a 77 or 78 280Z (not ZX). Are you selling whole or in parts?

Yeah, That's cool. I did the same thing with my 74. So when do I get to see it?

Haha! It's only funny because it's true. You would be quite welcome to anything come up with, but it could be a significant wait. Current projects in my shop are stainless brake booster guts (done awaiting reassembly) and some more shift knob stuff. I just finished a full set of LED dash bulbs and a PWM dimmer for the guy who bought all my research parts and helped with the testing and brightness studies. I've got a couple ECU's open on the operating table hooked up to life support just for fun and adventure. Those got pushed to the edge of the table to make room for the shift knob stuff... It's never ending. Sorry, I'm rambling. If only there was some money in some of this stuff!

How do I plan to address that? I have no idea. I didn't even know that was an issue until you mentioned it. I just bought these things because the price was so right and my originals are hard as rocks with little cracks in them. Crap. Off the top of my head... Either work up some fixture to bend the replacements. or take the new ones apart to harvest out the rubber bits and chuck the rest. Staple the new rubber into my old metal strips?

My only experience is with the Hitachi licensed varieties so I've never seen those others without the milled slot. Thanks for that pic of the others! So you really think yours are resting on those stops at idle? Are you sure you don't have any vacuum leaks? At idle, it's especially important to have every molecule of air going through the venturis instead of around them. An easy way to tell if you're on the stops is to remove the damper plungers and use a small screwdriver to push the pistons down while the engine is running. See if there is a change when you force the piston all the way to the bottom?

Haha! Seek help. I got my order today as well and everything seems to be mostly in order. Only issue I have is that I bought rubber squeegee window "dew wipes" and the little black plastic ends were laying loose in the bags. They just need to be glued back on. Not a big deal. Especially for the price.

How about you mount a pair of fuel injectors inside the stock air cleaner box aimed into the mouth of each carb? Remove the suction pistons and put the domes back on. Disconnect the original fuel line back at the tank and install an electric EFI pump back at the tank. One dead headed innocuous black fuel line running into the fuel filter to feed the injectors. Hey... Nobody said it was a GOOD idea...

Forgot something... This part about "The piston has to be held mechanically slightly off the bridge to allow SOME air to get through." I'm no SU expert, but I do not believe that to be true. I would propose that's what the milled slot down the center of the piston does. It provides a passageway across the bridge right at the needle even when the piston is all the way down.