mshandor

Welcome Hagdog. I have an early 74 260Z and love it. I finished the restore in early December and drive it EVERY dry day. As for the flat-tops (aka boat anchors), I rebuilt mine and after a little tweaking, they run just fine. I get mid-20 MPG on the highway and there is ample power for cruising. Haven't been through a summer yet so we'll see if they are prone to the over-heating issues so many have posted about. Best of luck with the mods. I have included a bunch of pictures of my 260Z on my profile page, check em out.

Thx Captain but my slave cylinder is fine. My master is what is leaking "into" the car. I should have replaced the master when I replaced the slave but didn't. Twice I went to drive it and couldn't change gears. Checked the reservoir and it was empty but no fluid anywhere on the floor. Flashlight inspection near clutch pedal and found little drip from end of master cylinder inside car. Leaning towards buying a complete new master and not messing with the kit.

Just wondering if anyone has ever rebuilt an Datsun clutch master cylinder using a Black Diamond kit? Since the kit is only and $10 and a new one is $35, I was thinking about saving the $25 and rebuilding it. If anyone has ever rebuilt one with success, please let me know any tricks of the trade.

40F but sunny today in NC so of course I drove my Z. Had an older couple hovering around my car when I came out of Big Lots. They couldn't believe it was a 38 year old car. Got home and replaced a sidelight bulb and then added a leather steering wheel cover over the old vinyl wrap. Huh, kinda boring compared to picking up newly re-chromed bumpers.

Hey Z Car Experts, I have a few questions regarding my early 74 260Z suspension. 1. I am running 235/60R14's on 82 ZX 6-spoke wheels on my car. When I have a passenger inside, the passenger rear tire rubs on big dips in the road. This does not occur unless I have an extra 150lbs in the car. The driver side never rubs the fender driven solo or with passenger. I realize now (after buying the 235's) that I should have bought thinner tires. I replaced the tires with the same size that were on these 6 spoke wheels, but I think ZX's may have had more room for a wider tire than a standard Z. The suspension is stock on my car, no lowering springs have been installed. I have read articles on rolling the fender with a Eastman tool (http://www.eastwood.com/ew-fender-roller-w-instruction.html). Has anyone used a device like this? Better yet, does anyone know of another way of gaining a little more clearance for these wide 235mm tires? A local guy said install a spacer under the coil spring to push it up a little. Is that an viable solution? 2. Also, I just had an alignment performed on the car and this passenger rear location is off for camber and toe. This rear side of the car had been hit before I bought the car but not bad. The driver side rear location is good for camber and toe. The shop where I had the alignment done, said they were unaware of anyway to do camber and toe adjustments on the rear of my Z. The passenger rear is -1.3deg camber and +0.80deg of toe. Is that bad? I have found a camber adjustment kit sold through Motorsport for $119.95 (#23-417) and a wrench to make adjustments. Has anyone purchased this item? Finally, I had the alignment done because I am experiencing some wobble at 55 to 60mph. The alignment didn't seem to help this issue, it just moved the vibration from 65 to 70mph to a slower speed. I can accelerate through it and I wouldn't call it a "death wobble" like some have labeled it. However, could this rear camber/toe issue (not resolved yet) be causing this highway wobble? Thoughts/suggestions?

I hated hacking the entire rear off my early 74 260Z a few years ago for rust. I found a suitable parts car for both rear quarters but I had to use an new 280Z floor pan for the area under the rear bumper.

Captain, I did not find any tears in the power valves diaphragms or gaskets. They looked OK, just 38 years old. I cleaned everything up and replaced them and hope they last another 38 years. I'd like to send you a picture of the carb filters so you could see what I found but I don't know how to post a picture in the blog-o-sphere. Talk about CRUD!!!

Captain, you ARE the MAN! Found the cylindrical metal screens in my flat-top carbs and one of them was totally clogged. Removed them, cleaned them, and my Zepp is running like a scalded dog again. Wish I had posted this 10 days ago and avoided all of the other failed attempts. Thanks for all the other ideas guys.

Thanks Captain. Yesterday I had a hard time viewing fuel level through the float windows using a small mirror. That's really why I took the carbs completely off and re-verified the float set-up per the rebuild kit manual. I'll try wiping the windows and try again. Are you sure my flat-top carbs (model hmb 46W) have filter screens in them. I'm looking at the rebuild kit's exploded view and can't find a filter or screen? I'm assuming they would be directly inside the main fuel input fitting but is that where they are? Other work to eliminate fuel issues today that yielded no improvement: 1. Hooked up and hung a small lawnmower tank and fed both carbs (with gravity) from the lawnmower tank. It idled OK but when I gunned it, I still heard the "baughhh"instead of "brrrhhh". I couldn't drive it this way but pretty sure it would have no power. 2. Earlier today, I had drained the tank, removed electric fuel input hose (exit of tank) and blew air into it with the 19mm tank drain plug out and gas cap on. A few small flakes blew out of the tank but hopefully the screen is clean for awhile. I was concerned that I had a build-up on the metal screen inside the tank. Hooked back up the pump and drove it, No better. I am pretty convinced now the problem is after input to the carbs as you have mentioned. I will remove the fuel input fitting and look for a screen.

I need some suggestions of what to try next on my 74 260Z that starts fine but has little to NO power on the road. I have working on fixing the issue for 10 solid days and have ran out of ideas. Quick history - I finished restoring and finally started the car on Dec 14. The first drive was 12/23/11 and she did great. Drove her almost 400 miles over a few days without incident. Plenty of power and fun as hell to drive. Only twice in the first week did she kinda studder on take-off. Didn't think much of it until on New Year's day she almost stranded us 30 miles from home. Started making a different engine sound (a "bauhhhh" ipo a "brrrhhh") and sputtering real bad. Gimped home at 40mph and much slower going up hills but made it home. After 10 days of trying any and everything I think it could be, exactly same as it was. I need some new suggestions. She starts fine. Idles OK even though the RPM's fluctuate some. Just zero power. Here's what I've tried: Fuel: 1. New filter near mech FP, new filter near elec FP, neither were real dirty but replaced anyway. 2. Confirmed power to elec FP while running w/ test light wired into trunk, getting 12V. 3. Re-tore carbs apart. Yes they are flat-tops. Front carb bowl was kinda dirty with rust-colored debris. Rear was clean. Rechecked float heights and installed new diaphragms/gaskets on both power valves. I had put a new kit (needle/seat and other gaskets during restoration but failed to do power valves. 4. Removed fuel lines and blew them out. Checked with empty Mason jar that I'm getting plenty of gas when starting and running. I haven't hooked up a pressure gauge in-line yet as some have suggested. 5. Removed and cleaned all spark plugs. Front 3 were dirty and appeared to be wet or fuel fouled. Ran same after reinstallation of clean plugs. 6. Checked both sides of exhaust manifold after running awhile (ouch) and both sides were hot. 7 Disconnect charcoal cannister and cracked fuel cap for venting. Ran the exact same. 8. Ran with mech FP removed from series but ran about the same. Began thinking electrical at this point. Electrical: 1. Coil is a Crane PS20 and is seeing 12V while running. Replaced with the old coil and ran the same way. 2. I am going to check the air gaps in the dizzy today and run a test on vacuum advance that many posts mention but was hoping someone else had other ideas. Before we start a whole series of "boat-anchor" discussion about the flat-tops, I personally think its something else. She ran great for 400 miles first and the weather here is cool and not causing vapor-locking. I do not run coolant to the flat-tops per suggestions that overheating can occur. Anticipated thanks.