Chino 240Z

I'm not sure the gas is still good after sitting for 2 years in the tank? But if it ran on starting fluid it is a good sign that it will turn over. Besure to dump all the fluids and start fresh. Clean your plugs and anything else just so it will help it fire up when you go a cranking on it, hopefully it won't grind for to long. I do know, but if you have had fuel pouring out of carbs, the cylinders are probably to gas wet to fire. Also a fresh or full charged battery so you have full voltage for spark and the abuility for the starter to crank without dragging.

Yep, the air velocity tubes or air horns fit just fine. Just putting them on the old SU I had made a big difference, then they went on the ZTherapy carbs when they came. The intake manifolds are E31 and the cross piece is just stock too. All the smog or vac. lines have been removed and plugged. I have seen some nice after market cross pipes that are really clean looking. I'm still dialing in these new SU carbs, driving up the street and back is a way different situation than opening her up on the track full throttle for a long time going thru the gears, I have some more homework of tuning to do. I got back from a trip to WillowSprings and now trying to find time to retune it, but I'll have to put a silencer on the pipe to quiet it down inorder to open it up on a city street or freeway close by. Risky don't need a ticket.

So you got the car running? and you say the pistons don't down back down after you let off the throttle? If you use your finger and the raise and drop and go clunk then they should be okay. Besure that your butterfly valve is closing after you release the throttle. You only want them open a crack for the car the idle. If they are more the idle maybe so great that the vaccum is holding the piston up. Is the engine run fast? or just idling? You can pull off top of piston dome and remove piston, spring, and dome to clean with carb cleaner. Becareful when inserting piston back so you align the needle back into the nozzle hole gently. You don't want to bend it, or a bent needle that rubs the edge of the nozzle will keep the piston from dropping back down. You might want to check this too!

I agree with these checks. Gently remove cover and slowly lift out float. Check for gas in the float, is the float swollen? Should have fairly nice edge not fully rounded or ballooned up. After removing gas jet valve and carefully take apart and check for debris. Put back together and install float back onto cover. With cover upside down and level the float should be gently settled about 9/16" space between float and bottom of cover. Adjust by tweaking little lever that pushes the gas valve closed. Check for junk in bottom of bowl before you reassemble the cover. I think you should solve the gas overflowing problem before you go to the next step and that will be getting into the carb to check and set the main jet needle and nozzel, and to check, clean, and to quick test the piston to be sure it is operating ok and not hanging up. If you tear into the carbs only do one at a time incase you can't remember which part or screw went where. Good Luck

2Many, I understand and agree. I did make up some log sheets and tried to record tire temps, pressure, track temp, notes of adjustments that were made before and after a run. Somewhere this info. compiled will help my setups per track. I am using a Raytech Laser Mini Temp gun, do you know if this will give me the same results? The tires are Toyo RA1 225-50-R14, the max. temp I think I saw was 145* with 125* track temp @ 2:00pm. Another Turbo-240Z that shared our shade had Yokohama (street tread, I think) tires and I read 175* after one of his runs, OUCH-HOT. The next time out is December, Wed. 3rd @ Willow Springs, the big track. The temps will be way down then too, so we are preparing and talking about the things we want to try and how to get better results each time out. I showed my daughter how to help by taking the car & track readings, covering the tires in the direct sun, keeping the fan on the engine, preparing the car before and after a run and stuff like that. It's tuff being a one man show. So we are all learning what and how to do things to make everything go well. Mrs. Chino-240 Cindy can't wait to go out again!

Ya know every time I looked at it I wonder, and now that I was reading the temps across the tire somewhat different, I got that stooper of thought that I might put some positive camber back in. I saw a camber degree little tool angle, thingy in I/O Port, Racers Equip. or some catalog around here some where around here, for quick camber angle checks. I think I'll hunt that thing down. Thanks. I'll think of acouple more things on my mind I'd like to pick your brain for. craig

Thanks 2Many, Still learning what this car is suppose to feel like. I have a mechanic friend with some professional experience with the whole game. He has several cars, one is a 260 & a 510, I will add the camber question to the list I am putting together so I can go over it with him. The tire temp, was about 145* inside edge, 139* in the middle and about 136* on outside edge. All 4 tires had this type of reading. Except the lefts were hotter than the rights because turn 8 & 9 are 90-110mph turns just before you exit the track to the pits, so the holding side (left) builds the heat. Victor, I was out of their way in the turns but always gave them the point- by for them to go ahead and pass me a the straights, yep, they're fast! I was all over the rear of one ZO6 for 2 laps, I was learning the line more by the end of the day. I'm not out of the woods with my nes SU carb problems yet. Over 5000rpms, 5th gear over half throttle would fall, sputter, I am working with either too much or not enough fuel, (on the straights wide open). But it's getting better with each little tweak! Cindy at the wheel in this pic.

Still feeling yesterdays excitement at Willow Springs Inter. Raceway, open track racing group. Finally had some track time to do some debuggin and car setup at last! We were lucky in the afternoon, Borris Said showed up with his toys and did some impressive testing in the afternoon. Pic of a little pressure of a ZO6 on my tail. Craig

That's awsome! It's such a good feeling when you do find the problem and all the other things you did only made it run that much better when you did find that gremlin! Now don't you feel smarter, especially since you did it yourself? I do! Cool deal, Craig :classic:

Hi Daniel, Sounds like you are enjoying watching the cars! It is always neat to see how others play with their toys. Hey, that smart car, is it the smart City-Coupe' car? When my parents visited a couple of years ago they brought me back a very small mini 1:87 scale model car or toy called the smart City-Coupe'for my collection. It is sorta fat wedge shape with a flat back end, 2 door. Very small looking car, could that be the one you are using over there? Makes a Z car look BIG! Well have some fun for us too! Best Regards for Chino, California Craig & Cindy :classic:

Here's another picture maybe with a better view. Easy to make and easy to care for. As for Popcorn she left to check her own fuel bowl, always wanting something! :lick:

Okay here's the ugly part. It's just on old overflow container cramed into the corner with all the lines going to it and one coming from it to evacuate the fumes. I prefer the cool looking K&N filter vent idea, but on all my other cars they get messy and oily. This has been there for several years and has a few tablespoons of oil residue in the botton, I never empty it and is under the fender out of site, so its working good. As for the my dog Popcorn, she is always under my feet! Probably knows just about as much as I do about my cars. Good Luck, Craig

No don't plug it. Your car won't run with it plugged. It is a air vent and gas overflow port for the fuel bowls. Plugging it will not let the fuel exit the bottom of the bowl and thru the fuel line into the nozzle on the bottom of your carb. I run mine to a common oil / gas fumes vent- plastic- canister, then a vaccum line breaths it back into the cross pipe of my intake manifold. I do this because my Z only sees a race track and their requirements are they don't want open oil or gas breathers / filters since they can cause oil drips onto the track. Stock air boxes would have a port to plug a vent hose upto to take the gas fumes to dispose of them into the carbs. Your filter is custom so this is why you have no nipple for a hose.

Thanks Mike, ZTherapy doesn't sell any air tubes. Steve @ ZT gets his from TWM. I found them about 5 frog skins cheaper at MSA. MSA is less than 1 hour from me, so UPS ground is next day. Just putting those air horns on the original stock SUs made a big difference too! TWM has good tech. info on the site. Yea Victor, while everyone heads up to the Mts. to snow ski, I hit San Clemente, Salt Creek, San Onofre, or Old Mans to surf. Or Glamis to the sand dunes. The smog has really improved over the years. I love N. Calif., Virginia, Colorado, parts of New Mexico, but I'll be a wussy and stay in S. Calif. where everything is less than 1hr. 45 min. / beaches 45 min. / L.A. 45 min. / Baldy, Big Bear Ski 20 min. / California Speedway 2 hrs. / Willowsprings Int. Raceway 35 min. / Disneyland, Knotts What else could ya want? he he he 2ManyZs, are there ID marks on your camber plates? Ground Control sorta rings a bell, but once someone makes something good copies are the next thing to hit the market, ya know.

Ya know Victor I can't remember the mfg. of these cam plates? I got them from a guy in a Z shop in San Fransisco, I gotta dig around for the paper work. But they seem to have alot of adjustment in them, and they are now set with a little neg. camber, but I should probably have em checked again soon. Anyhow, Chino is still here. Just not many corn fields or dairies-cows around anymore. All industrial, cement, homes, and shopping centers. The past 5 years things have changed alot! The prison is still there and the land below that area is still not developed much yet. I live off from Pipeline and Chino Ave. area by Don Lugo High School, if ya know the area? There is the 71 Expressway that starts from the 57 fwy / 210 and flys thru the Chino / Chino Hills area and connects to the 91 fwy. This really helps traffic out in the area and makes things easy to get to around here. Chino is a good City. I'm grew up in Upland & Ontario and now in Chino to stay. Another pic with the filters put on and buttoned up for now. . .

One of my second rules is: I always give a couple hard tugs back and forth on the car before I lower & remove the floor jack, just in case? ya never know! Sounds like you got my kinda of luck, I just screw up things inside the house so in the garage I'm more careful because me wife would kill me if I messed up my (I mean, her) car. :stupid: (me) (her)

Not sure if your last adjustments were still running rich? Might or might not help? But while tuning my new ZT carbs last night I was running to wet and I had to drop the fuel level in the bowl alittle more than what was called out .55 or 9/16, probably another 1/8" on the front and about another 1/16" on the back to get the fuel level down to where I could play with the mixture nut. I think I was in those fuel bowls 8 to 10 times till I found a level I could live with. I had the .101 nozzles installed with SM needles and I am running alittle more fuel pressure than normal so that could be some of the reason why I am too rich. Any how I was amazed at the sesitivity the fuel level was before I could fine tune it with the mixture nuts. I was getting nowhere until I tried alittle different from the exact specs or normal setup. You may need to think this too? Oh BTW, did you use new gaskets both sides of the insulator if you removed your carbs? I didn't at first cause they looked perfect but still had a vacc. leak only at high rpms. Installed new gaskets like I was suppose to and that problem went away. A problem may be a couple of little misses or problems combined together and might look like only one problem? Does that make sense? oh well, keep digging. I still am not conviced my carbs a putting out their full potential but I know for sure they are on their way after last nights joy ride around the block, got the adreniline flowing! and the shakes once back in the garage before the police showed up. he he he Craig

Here's one more pic.