Mark Maras

Should you decide to rebuild it, along with syncros, replace all the bearings & then you still have to figure out what happened to the front yoke & tail shaft housing. These are not difficult trannys to work on. A little mechanical talent, A good FSM & desire is all it takes. I would drop in the 5-speed, get the car back on the road & then tear down the 4-speed if you need something else to work on. Mark in Portland

The best way that I know of is, secure the car on jack stands, tranny in neutral, hand brake off, crawl under the car, grab the rear of the drive shaft & push, pull, twist, then rotate it 1/4 turn & do it again etc. Then go to the front of the shaft & repeat the procedure. There should be no detectable movement other than rotational. While you're under there check out the axles the same way and take a sharp implement & stick the floorboards & check for rust. Check all four fenderwells & move the battery & check the frame rail,rear of the wheel well & the fire wall, Oh yeah, the rear sill plate under the hatch. The car sounds like a good find. The major item to check the car for is RUST. Usually where there are signs of a little rust there is more. Take your time & look it over well. Keep us posted. Send pics. Mark in Portland

If I'm imagining this right, the front driveshaft yoke is loose in the tailshaft housing of the tranny? Have you pulled the driveshaft yet and looked at the yoke to see if the outside is worn. Also was the tranny ever run low on oil causing a lack of lubrication? Regardless, It's time for your 5 speed and probably a front yoke. The only thing I found tricky about the 4 speeds is the shifter check balls. A good manual will get you past that point. The rest is easy. Mark in Portland

I faced the same gasket dilema on mine. I assembled the oil bar with no gaskets and started it up and watched it drool oil out the wrong places. Flow to the cam was OK but I'd rather have all the oil go to the valve train so I went with my old stand-by, a cereal box. Take the caps off the oil bar and press the inside of a small piece of the cardboard against the oily opening on the oil bar.The cardbord should have a pattern that can be cut out, A paper punch makes the holes look good. Sealed mine up and now I feel better. I'm sure there are better materials around but I always have had a ceral box on hand. I've never had one fail. Various previous uses; Fuel pump mounting, Thermostat housing, SU float bowl cover, GMC 671 blower to manifold. Put a little grease on them before installation. Mark in Portland

Well at least you now have a buzzer to remind you of the things that don't work.:-) Keep cleaning those connections and things will start coming to life as you go, Hopefully the next one will be a little more useful than a warning buzzer. Mark in Portland.

Yeah, that's what it needs. While you're at parts store you may want to find out if the new shorter belt is the proper part # for your year. If it's not, the PO may have changed harmonic balancers or even engines. The balancers in different years had different diameter sheaves. Mark in Portland

Take it to your local locksmith & let him take a look at it. The chances are good that he can repair it. Should you decide to replace it, you'll need to take it to him anyway to have it re-keyed. Virtually the same process as repairing the old one. Mark in Portland

I'm no expert but I'll give it a go. The fusible links are low voltage insulated cables that are there to protect the wire harness in case of severe overload. I've been fortunate over the years & never had trouble with one, but others have. Even after a dead short in the dash board wire harness of my son's 81 RX7 that started a fire, the fusible link was still good. ???? Like I said I'm no expert. Anyone want to correct or add to our limited knowledge? Mark in Portland

Very often just removing a replacing the spade terminals will improve the connection. A small piece of emery cloth is what I use. The female only has 3 places to make a connection. The flat surface and the edges of the rolled portion that touch the spade. Squeezing the female end is the correct way to tighten the connection. An afternoon spent cleaning all the connectors and grounds will revive the circuits that have high resistance & low voltage. Deoxit at Radio Shack is also a good choice for cleaning and preserving connectors and contacts. Then a dab of dielectric grease on them will keep them from corroding in the future. Mark in Portland

I doubt that he will get anywhere near that in Portland but who knows he may find a (insert your own description here) who will part with that kind of cash for this car. I doubt he will be very busy giving test rides though. Mark in Portland

Heat is resistance-poor connection. Sounds to me like you've found the problem. Clean everything, charge the battery. Test the battery with a volt meter, it should read about 12+ volts or so at rest and 13+volts running. The fact that you have good running voltage now, tells me that you opened the circuit when the engine shut off & closed the circuit & made a beter connection than it had before. Mark in Portland

I couldn't access your photo. We will need photos of all six or a description of each. Keep the plugs in order so we know which cylinder they came from. The reason being that each carb runs 3 cylinders. 1 plug will only tell us about 1 carb. Just when you thought the list couldn't get any longer, as long as the plugs are out a compression test would be a good idea too. Mark in Portland

Eurodat is correct. Fortunately the Ace in Portland carrys O-rings in both material. Go with the nitrile. It's always a good idea to do it right. No worrys later. Mark in Portland

We have a large ACE Hardware store in Portland that stocks a large selection of O-rings in different thicknesses and diameters. If I remember correctly. they're in the plumbing section. You might find them there. Mark in Portland

Easy check. Pull the distributor cap & the vacuum line that runs to the diaphram on the side of the distributor. Suck on the vacuum line & watch the base plate that the points are mounted on. It should rotate a few degrees as you apply vacuum & should return after the vacuum is released. I'd still like to know what color your plugs are. That will tell us if your air-fuel mixture is close. Mark In Portland

This still sounds like a possible combination of timing & mixture but Stanley is correct. Check for vacuum leaks. Easy to find with a piece of hose held to your ear. What color are your plugs. Also have you checked the other items on my rather lengthy list? Mark in Portland

More info needed. How loud is the backfire? Has it recently had a good tune-up? Plugs & wires, valve adjustment, timing, points, condensor , advance diaphram & base plate functioning, carbs tuned & float levels checked? What color are your sparkplugs? Whew, I think I got it all. Oh Yeah, Confirm that your carbs are round top SUs. My uneducated guess is, it's caused by either wrong timing or rich mixture or both but you have to rule out everything else to be sure. I vaguely remember my 71 stumbling at idle now & then but I don't remember it being a backfire or at least a loud one. How strong does your engine run from 700RPM-5000RPM? Any stumbling, low power, backfiring on or off the throttle? OK I'm done. I think. Mark in Portland

Nice find! Welcome to the club. Tell us more about it. Year, mileage, history if known, rust issues[if you aren't aware of rust issues in Zs, it's time to find out], any modifications, future plans & lots of pics, Not too much to ask but don't let it interupt your seat time. Enjoy your new toy. Mark in Portland

Mac's Radiator Shop here in Portland. They're not cheap, but they are good. I would trust a rebuild from them more than a replacement.

My son discovered that the car is on the way to Canada. This was the trucking firm that he talked to. No word on where it was from or a firm destination. Any of you Canadians in the club expecting a Z that you haven't told us about. My guess is it will end up somewhere in B.C. Mark in Portland

Welcome Shawn Prepare to meet your fate. Owning a Z is like the "Hotel California" most of us couldn't leave them if we wanted to. Your chances of findind a good "rust-free" 70-71 are probably good in Ariz. Keep us posted of your progress and good luck. Mark in Portland

Look at what I spotted on the way home from work today. This was sitting in a car lot. It appears to be a 72 or 73. This was as close as I could get. It looks, to be stock height or even a little higher. Probably tires. I couldn't see any visible rust from 150' away. The place was closed, left a note on the gate begging them to call me. I'm worried, the car lot is not a sales lot. It appears to be a holding yard that moves cars in and out every few days & open the gate only when car-haulers are coming and going. Tomorrow, my son is going to "camp-out" there and try to talk to someone. The chances of getting our hands on this are probably slim to none but we'll take those odds. No regrets if you give it your best shot and still come up short. That said, sleep is going to be tough tonight and work tomorrow is going to be even tougher. I'll give you all an up-date tomorrow. Mark in Portland

Key off.Pull your positive battery cable & with a volt meter see if you have current flowing between the cable & battery pole. Should be little to none. The little bit will be the clock or maybe a few more items on a later Z. A bad diode in the alternator can drain a battery with the key off.You can determine which circuit it is by pulling fuses one by one until you lose the current flow between the battery & cable. Mark in Portland

Back to combustion basics. Fuel, air, ignition source. A lack of voltage can effect any of these especially in a F.I. engine. If you think the battery is low, check it with a volt meter. it should be a little above 12volts with the engine off. Engine running voltage should rise to 13 + volts if the alternator is charging. While on the road, if you think the voltage is down, turn on everything electrical; lights, heater fan, etc. If voltage is already down, this will make the engine run worse. Mark in Portland

Nice to see that energy going to a deserving project. learn as you go. We all do it. Let us know how it went, ask questions & show us pics please. On a more serious note, not knowing your prior experience with cars, for at least the first six months of driving your Z, take it easy, you have a bit to learn about the behavior of these cars under many different conditions and an old car to limber up, Should you have the desire to go fast, what are the chances?, run to your nearest Z club that is involved in club racing and take a driving course. Fun! Fun! Fun! and you'll learn the car that much faster. That was the father of 3 & Z driver of 22 years in me talking. I got my Z at age 24, in 1973. Remembering myself at 19, neither the Z or myself would have had much of a chance of survival. Hope you and yours enjoy each other for years to come. Mark in Portland