Mark Maras

Your cam appears to be fairly mild grind. Been looking back in older CZCC threads concerning SM needles. The consensus of opinion (curiously except Bruce Palmer) was that the SM's were too rich for a stock engine or a mild build. An interesting suggestion to lean rich mixture needles was to physically lower them (pull them out) .020" from the standard position. You might try that and see if the over-rich condition improves.

First things first. I still would like to know if the difference in color between #4 & #5 plugs is normally what you find when you pull the plugs and I'd still like to see the compression test readings. I know very little about the cam you selected and how "hot" it is but I'm beginning to believe that dealing with traffic and warm temperatures you may be better off with a cam closer to, if not, OEM and OEM needles. Keep in mind this is only one opinion. Other's may differ. The over-sized pistons will make little to no difference when it comes to the carbs. OEM Hitachi's work just fine on 2.8s. Taking a trip on the "WayBack Machine", this reminds of fooling around with small block Fords and Chevy's in the late 1960's. It was common to stuff a bigger cam into them and usually over carb them too. The result was similar to the symptoms you're experiencing. Lousy response at low RPMs. Loaded up plugs. Poor all around driveability on the street. Not saying that you won't get it running well, but the changes from stock aren't an asset at this point in time. Now back to # 4 & #5 plug colors. Is that normal?

Any more than light pressure on the glass after you think it's cut loose will end catastrophically. BTDT

Ditto to all of the above. I think driving in the rain is much worse. The water gets thrown up under the car. There are a lot more sheet metal seams and nooks and crannies that are exposed to moisture under the car than on top.

IMO, drive it normally before checking plug color. General opinion, that I've read, is the SM's are a bit richer a low RPM's.

Don't richen it up yet. Refresh my memory please. What needles are you running? Meanwhile, just drive it for a week, pull the plugs and send pics.

I agree with your diagnosis. The needle valve appears to be the problem.

The old one looks to be usable if it's massaged a bit. Maybe if the body shop didn't have to spend time on that piece they could repair the small rust spots by the windshield instead. It's worth a try.

Moog and Timken are good replacement brands. I would also add Spicer u-joints to the list.

I think it was Wheee that had a great solution (pun intended) for cleaning up sending units. Submerge the sending unit in undiluted CLR for 24 + hours. I had one that was so crusty that the float wouldn't move. That one took about 48 hrs. in CLR. The sending unit came out free of corrosion and the rheostat worked great.

Good advice. I'm surprised at the color variation in the plugs. Especially #5 and #4 since #6, #5, & #4 all run off the rear carb. @jalexquijano Is there always that much difference in #5 & #4 plugs?

Mark, The owner (Dean) of the 76 's phone # is 770 403 3887. I doubt the parts that Jai needs are build date critical.

Good question. @Redwing Jai, it would help if we had the vin # or build date from RedBird.

Just got a heads up from Jai. If all goes according to plan she and Greg (gwri8) are going to look at the donor car today. Anyone have suggestions about what extra small parts she should consider getting while she can, aside from the required body parts. Suggested items so far are the ECU, console that she mentioned was cracked, turn signal switch. This opportunity is too good to not include as many small parts as she can.

Excellent. I recently saw a 240 in Portland that looked pretty good rust-wise except a hole in the left quarter panel. I'm guessing the rust in only one place was caused from sitting with that side exposed to the elements over the decades. I've not used Tabco panels. I'm assuming that a good donor car panel may need less massaging to get it perfect but may be more difficult to source. Good luck.

Yeah, clean them again. You've already discovered how it will run with fouled plugs. New plugs would be better.

Carbon on the plugs acts like an insulator. What does it feel like when it's at 2 1/2 turns?

Replacement sheet metal panels are avail. at tabcoparts.com or a donor Z. How does the rest of the car look?

Especially if you can find a Z hoarder's parts stash that needs organization.

Haven't heard from him in a while but as I recall, @rossiz mounted his relays inside.

You might want to slip jack stands under it and check the torque on the pan bolts first. "Upper pan" was just a lame, vague description of the source of the leak. That guy missed his calling. He could have been a politician.

Single model year, limited supply. Might take a few extra years to catch up to 240's and 280's in value, but it will. Five years ago I don't think many of us would have believed anyone if they had told us what the 240 prices would be today.

The hatch , tail lights, and fuel lines all have seals that can allow exhaust to enter the cabin.

Are you sure the gas smell is coming from under the hood or could it be coming from the fuel lines tucked behind the rear panels? Does the amount of gas in the tank affect the gas smell? Fuel leakage under the hood is usually easy to see.

The lower compression on the first three may be from lack of oil in the cylinders. If you started the test with a dry number one cyl. , by the time you got to number six, oil was circulating and you likely had some oil pressure.