Mark Maras

What a great time we had today, Another artery clogging breakfast, the same cute coffee girl. (Geoff got her picture this time), lots of of Z talk, beautiful weather & a couple of Zs that drew in some people that joined the Z conversation in the parking lot. Geoff & Jim headed back to Seattle after to spend the rest of the day installing new valve seals in Jim's Z. All in all a great day for everyone. Mark

Mustache wax! I've heard of that. Let us all know how it works!

It looks great. You took the ugly duckling & transformed it into a swan. Good job. Give yourself a pat on the back. As far as the polishing goes, This is what I see coming & you probably have already considered-The cyl. head "(which used look just fine) now looks like a$$ next to the polished bits, Looks like a little more clean up is necessary."

I'll throw my hat in also. I think we all have a soft spot for the roadsters probably 510s too. Love to see some pics.

Intermittent problems are a major PITA. My first guess would be timing issues, but lets look at fuel first. A few questions please. When did the problem start? Did you tune it before or after the problem? Have you tried pulling the choke on during these episodes? If so, what effect did it have? The chokes can be used to rule out a lean condition. How is the idle during the episode? Does the engine rev. easily & smoothly under no load? A sign of lack of fuel volume. On the elec. side, try pulling the plug wires one at a time (insulate yourself) while idling & see what effect it has. A bad condenser, even if new, can be a nightmare to diagnose. They are cheap, put in another new one just to rule it out. Then I would go at it with a multi-meter & check actual voltage in the secondary system while it's running well(baseline) & again when it craps out & compare.

No, I haven't tried VW seats but the seats in my 97 Subie Outback are firm, very comfortable & have lots of adjustment. They also have manual height adjusters & heaters. I'm going to do some measuring in the near future to see if they will fit but I doubt there will be a size problem, the originals were not a a small seat. Mark

I've used a torch tip cleaner to coerce some clearance in the oiler holes. I was surprised how choked the holes really were.

It's beautiful now. Definitely was an ugly duckling. Can't wait to see it completed.

There has been a fair amount of discussion about replacement seats. Most seem to be changing to Miata seats, as I recall. Do a search here. I'm sure you'll find a lot more info than I can remember. Mark

I took a better look at the lenses,. The early 71 lenses are shorter than the ones in the early 260. The 260s meas. 3 5/16" x 15/16". The info on the lens is DOT SAE L2 IKI06024 JAPAN, the same # for both.

TomoHawk Woops, I sent he previous offer to the wrong person. Brain fade. If you think the lenses are the same as the early 71, PM me your address & they are yours. Mark

I've used 11g. fence ties cut to the proper length. alum. or galv. steel.

Jim I still have the rear lenses on "Hiro" my 71. Although the housings have different attachment points, than my 74, the lenses appear to be the same. Let me know & I will either bring them on the 18th or I can mail them to you sooner. Pay it forward. Mark

I can take a look at it for anyone that might be interested. Not much info. Mark

Nice bunch of parts. Certainly worth $300.00. I believe that choke assy. w/ "cruise control" is rare. My orig. 71 looks the same minus the cruise lever & linkage. Trim plate also included 2 slots. Are you sure there isn't anything there you might need on your trip East? Mark

I think we are all part of the problem. I love my 1/2" elec. impact gun from H.F. & a few other things I rarely use it but when I need them it's good to have them. If I was using them daily I'd buy a much better brand . Also, I believe we all bought Zs, even if used. which had to have a negative effect on Detroit. That said I always try to buy USA, except cars.

Great info. I've been curious about the gas blending for a long time & the effects on engines. After reading the links I'm concerned about my son's RX7. The negative effects on lubrication in a 2-cycle, as well as a 4- cycle, engine are worth looking into further. Thanks Mark

I feel the same when it comes to electronics. Take a look at the first gen. wiring diagram. It is simple & easily understood. I would think that it would be a good starting point if you want to get rid of the extraneous bull$hit wiring that kept increasing year after year. Probably would be easier to eliminate some of the unused wiring rather than going to a 1st gen harness although it wouldn't be that difficult to make your own. Throw in some relays for an update & you'll have a clean engine compartment except for the "grass". The more the better.

You're going to love them. As the Captain says, the simplicity of operation is a thing of beauty. Having sorted out your own fuel injection issues, it will be interesting to hear your comparison of the two fuel systems in the future. Should you find you are missing anything in the new set-up, let me know. Congrats on the great find. Mark

It will be interesting to see if there is difference between the two oils, assuming one is thicker than the other. As far as elev. is concerned, When driving up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, the engine developed a miss. Assuming it was mixture related, I gave the engine some choke to see if the miss went away. It only got worse, so I stopped & screwed both mixture screws in 1/2 turn. Problem solved temporarily. When I got back to a lower elev., I opened up the screws 1/2 turn. You may need to re-tune the carbs for the higher elev. depending on how rich the mixture is set. Mark

I'm going by memory here, When I got my 1st Z, a long time ago, I bought a couple of braided hoses from Nissan & I remember thinking at the time, the color was more of a dark charcoal color or a very dark gray, almost black. Judging the color is difficult because the hose doesn't reflect much light. I have seen a few rat-rod paint jobs in very flat black that could compare to the color of the hoses. You could say the color is black, but it comes across as a very dark charcoal. I also remember how fast they started to fade. Hope this feeble bit of info helps.

I ran Marvel Mystery Oil in mine the first couple of years & ATF for the next 20 years, year round. I never found a reason to change. That said, I haven't been able to figure out why some SUs have trouble using ATF. To anyone. Is it the internal clearances, tuning or something else that's making the difference? Mark

I had my fan clutch seize long ago. Most of them lose resistance though. I drove the car for a few days, in the summer, with no fan at all(yes it is possible)before I replaced the old one with a flex fan & 3" spacer. After getting rid of the steel fan, I noticed an increase in power with my butt dyno. I didn't have any problems with it at all. The only time a fan is even needed is when the car is not moving or moving very slowly. Mark

Duck tape a potentiometer to a tuning peg. Done. As you can probably imagine, I have gone L.B. on a couple of auto. transmissions long ago & speaking of rants, John Cleese, in Faulty Towers, does the best rant on a stalled car, an Austin I think, that likely has ever been done. Being familiar with harmonicas, perhaps a self tuning option on those too. One would hate to have their Bansee wail out of tune. Mark

Interesting how technology often surpasses the need. I suppose self-playing guitars along with self-piloting cars along with, insert your own here, will be pushed onto us even though it is of little use or more likely not even needed. Confession- I also feel this way about auto. transmissions but I'll refrain from going into a Louis Black rant on that subject. Mark