Mark Maras

Did you dbl, chk. to see if the timing marks were in fact aligned when #1 cylinder was on TDC, power stroke? There can a number of reasons for the marks not being aligned but this easy check will let you know. If they don't line up you can re-notch the pulley in the proper location. This could also explain why it won't advance more than 7 degrees.

Yeah, I wouldn't want to crash a Z. The results would not be pretty. That said, I have a big problem with "crumple zones". IMO in the name of "safety" they are making cars disposable. A better idea is to bolt the crumple zones to a stronger central chassis, much like a survival cell. If you crunch the car, simply unbolt the damage & replace it. I remember driving the cars from the 50s & 60s. You could still drive one home after the average accident & in my case even a roll-over. The roll-over went to the body shop for an easy repair. 1969 $750.00 Yes the cars were heavy then, but so are the cars of today. Make-em stronger not weaker. Mark in Portland.

Be sure & let us know what they find, with pics if possible. Enquiring minds want to know.

Personally, I like to solder & use heat shrink tube. My son used this method as well when he rewired his 81 RX7 after a major elec. fire cooked his dashboard & fused his wire harnesses about 2 feet in all directions from the fuse block. When he wrapped the harnesses with tape the repairs were barely noticeable. No unsightly lumps in the harness. BTW everything is still working great. Mark in Portland

Move your battery & check the frame rail, fire wall & rear of the wheel well. This is a common area for rust to hide. Your passenger rail makes me think there may be more rust. Mark in Portland

Ditto that. I would include wiping the wires down with solvent & a rag will bring out the true colors. I've misidentified colors on wires before they were cleaned.

Thumbs up for Daniel Stern. Now to get him interested in Z cars. He probably could afford a good one.

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