nkopp

It is sooooo close. When the car is cold, it will fire and purr for about a second or two. After that one time, it won't start again. It will get close, but it puffs whiteish smoke out of the carbs every few revolutions. I can come back the next day and it will fire up and purr again (once). Any ideas what could be causing that? Stuff I've checked: Spark - the fact that it runs so smoothly for that second or so makes me think it has a fine spark. This had been the most previous issue and I redid the distributor (new cap, rotor, and condenser). Fuel - Both SU carbs have fuel in the float chamber. I spun the bolt off the bottom of both and there's fuel in both. I am running off of a jerry can that's sitting on top of the car (with a return line back to the can). I can see fuel moving through the filter when the starter turns. Compression - Cold compression test is consistently at 130PSI on all cylinders. Battery - The battery turns the starter just fine. I've been connecting it to a trickle charger after I work on it. Timing - I've been twisting the distributor around and trying a few different positions, but none seem to make much difference. Choke - I have been leaving the choke on for all of these tests. Fuel/Air Mix - I had set the needles at 2.5 turns down, but the spark plugs were getting really sooty, so I gave them a twist in the direction of more lean. Thanks for any help!

Thanks! I ended up doing it in the drivers side. Passengers side would have required extending quite a few of the wires, which didn't sound like fun. Thanks for the help!

Where have others who have done a Painless harness located their fuse boxes? A few locations I'm considering (generally in order of preference): On the bulkhead generally behind the cigarette lighter. On the outer wall of the drivers side. In the location of the old fuse box (I don't have a center console, so am a little concerned about placing this in a way that it won't have to be redone). On the bulkhead behind the glovebox On the outer wall of the passengers side (though, I think this may be too far from the steering column to work). Any recommendations? Any other threads with this (I've searched and couldn't find any). Photos would be awesome if you have them. Thanks!

Ah 🤬

Whelp, I put it mostly back together today. Working on the timing cover and water pump tomorrow and hoping to refill with fluids with crossed fingers. Looking at cold valve adjustments and then re-wiring with a Painless kit after this. Which will (hopefully) lead to compression testing and fuel system. Any other stuff I should keep my eyes out for in these next steps? Thanks for everyone’s help here!

By slack, I just meant that with the cam sprocket on position 1 and the gold links lined up there and on the crank, there was some slack on the tensioned side. Meaning that the cam would fall behind the crank when it runs and the slack is pulled out. In position 2, it's very tight. I'll see if I can snag a photo of the tensioner later today to see what wear looks like. The hodgepodge of parts is definitely on my mind. I mean is should work, right? Only one way to find out?

I saw a video with one, yes. I don't have one, though. Worth grabbing it sounds like?

OK, it's been a busy couple of weeks but have been chipping away at this the last few weekends. On the engine numbers, the chassis was paired with L24-089xxx from the factory (March 1972), but currently is fitted with L24-138xxx (looks like late 1972 from the zhome registry). So not an L26, and looks like someone has modified it. I have everything as cleaned up as I can get it without getting out some kind of grinder. I blew air through all of the cooling jacket and got quite a bit of junk out. Is this going to be clean enough to put back together? Once I get her running, I'm thinking I can put in some EVAPO-RUST and a filter to clean it out a bit more. Seem reasonable? I did notice some damage on the head for cylinder 3. Is this something to be concerned about? I've been reading up on timing, and I think I have it where I need it. Cylinder 1 is TDC, the cams are at "bunny ears" and since I can see cylinder 6, I set it exactly between the exhaust and intake strokes. The gold links on my timing chain fit with a bit of slack in position 1 and I think I can force it into position 2 with a little elbow grease (and a rubber mallet). Haven't gotten into the distributor yet, but that seems straightforward enough. How does all this look? Last question, is whether I should spray the new gasket with copper spray. I have seen several people say to use it, but others say to listen to the instructions on the gasket itself, and this one says no sealant. I already chased the head bolts and have the torque numbers pulled up. Anything else I should think about? Thanks as always!

Had a chance to get into this again today. It’s an e88. Photo below, does it look like it’s been shaved? I did find, however that the engine number on the block does NOT match the warrantee booklet that was in the glove box issued to the original owner. It is still an L24 though. I thought I had seen a matching engine number elsewhere in the paperwork, but I don’t see it now. Will go back through the stack sometime this week to check. I also took some measurements. Bore is spot on at 83.0mm. But stroke seems too long at 81.2mm (Monroe book says it should be 73.7mm). I threw this all into Summit Racing’s calculator and got displacement of 2635cc and compression ratio of 8.66:1. I assumed 1mm for the gasket, 0mm for deck height, 44.7cc for the compression chamber (based on some googling), and 7cc for the valve relief (from the Monroe book, maybe they’re from a 260z?). I forgot to grab shots of the cam, will see what I can find later this week on that. Does any of this help clarify what I’m working with? A couple new questions: * I can’t get much more stuff off the surfaces. Any other tips on cleaning? Have been leaving a rag soaked in Goof Off pinned down with a magnet and that helps, but it’s slow going. * Any idea what’s going on with the photos below? It looks like some of these channels might be intentionally blocked up with something? Thanks again!

Umm…. That sounds bad. I’ll add calipers to the shopping list and brush up on some math. Most recent previous owner definitely was messing around with this, so who knows. Could be they gave up?

First off, wow! Thanks for all the comments and discussion! Sorry for the incomplete history too. The car was in California and Washington primarily and it's a 1972. Previous Owner took their turbo back and left me the SU carbs. I've cleaned them up and they should be ready to go after some tuning. I do have some additional info from the glove box that I can put together at some point. The someone who let the chain drop was me! My main reason for getting into the engine at all was to put a helicoil in for the long water pump bolt. That one and another were stripped and causing a big leak after I refilled (in addition to the small leak from the drain). I knew I was taking off the timing cover and figured as long as I was doing that, I might as well take off the head and see what I was dealing with. Seems like a good thing I did (though maybe I should have blocked the chain anyway)! Aside from taking off the timing cover and doing the helicoil, I spent some time today with Goof Off, parts cleaner, and compressed air. It's all pretty stubborn, but maybe you can see a little better what's going on with these pictures (I worked mainly on these two cylinders, so that's what I have pics of). Any other tips on getting this stuff off? Maybe there's a polishing pad of some kind? I was able to unclog most of the rusted out ports by sticking the air gun through the rust and then blasting it back in my face. I'm planning to go a little more methodically at that this week. Regarding the boil out, I'd really like to avoid taking the whole thing out. Is what I'm dealing with here beyond what a flush of some kind could help with? Thanks again, appreciate the help and patience. If not obvious, this is my first project and it's been great stumbling into the car community. Between a couple forums and the handful of neighbors telling me about their projects, this has been really fun!

Ah, its a 240Z L24. Will do on cleaning tomorrow and re-post. Thanks!

Yeah, not much on it's history. Previous owner had put a turbo on it is all I know, he said it ran though I didn't hear it. I attributed the studs to him, but don't know about the valves and pistons. It seems to have a mix of original parts, OEM replacement, and other aftermarket parts. I replaced some 280z components in the cooling system. Are there any visible issues on the pistons and valves? Or anything I should look for while I've got it apart? Looks like maybe the pistons are these? Just grabbed the book, thanks. Wasn't expecting to get into the engine on this pass, but one thing led to another. Was hoping to get it running and then come back around to look inside. Having the same issue myself... Should be fixed now, it seems like it uploaded a smaller version of that one somehow.

Hey all. Had a coolant leak and some work to do behind the timing belt (heli coil on the water pump bolts), so decided to take off the head gasket and take a look. car is new to me, so I figured it would be worth investigating anyway. Here are a couple of photos. Two questions: 1. How does this look? The second cylinder has some soot by the valves which matches deposits in the exhaust manifold as well. Four and five have more gunk on the block. 2. I was expecting the first cylinder to be up. Cylinder 4, though, is up instead. Have I messed up the timing? planning to clean off as much of the gunk as I can. Looks like quite a bit of rust from the coolant, in particular, anything else I should be looking at as I put things back together? Thanks, as always!

Perfecto. I found a brass NPT plug at ace and Amazon has the sealant same day. Cross that part off at least 🙂 thanks!