WarrenZ

Problem solved All is not what it seems when you are checking if the butterflies are fully closed using a mirror to look through the chokes and it feels like the linkage is fully home. The centre carby was not quite closing off. I loosened the nuts on the shaft that works the butterflies and all OK. Amazing what a slight gap can do. As you said z137, just one rogue carb. Thanks for the tips Warren

Finally got my triple Dellorto's and extractors bolted up to my 240. After some initial problems getting it started, 4 blocked pump jets and fouled plugs it finally fired up but immediately jumps to 4000 rpm idle. The butterflies are fully closed and the idle mixture screws are fully in. I cannot figure out where it is getting all the fuel and air from with the throttle basically closed. Has anyone else experienced this problem? The carbs were disassembled and professionally cleaned and new gaskets, o-rings etc installed during re-assembly. Have I put something back incorrectly? The carbs are DHLA 40G's Warren

Hello I am very close to bolting a set of 40mm Delortos on a Cannon manifold on to my L24 and I am not sure what I should do about the vacuum advance from the distributor. From my reading and looking at pictures there appears to be a mixed approach. Some have drilled the manifold and connected it there but my reading says this is not the best solution. Others have not connected the vacuum advance at all. I am running the standard distributor with Pertronix ignition. If I am going to drill and tap the manifold I would like to do it before I bolt them on so I am interested in opinions on what way I should go. Warren

Can't agree more. I have recently had my whole car painted and I removed all the glass and I am really happy with the result, plus found some small rust spots under the rear hatch rubber that I could fix now before they spread. I did install new rubbers in both front and rear windows but that was because they were 30+ years old. I also paid a professional to reinstall the front and rear glass as I had to have a new front windscreen due to a wiper collapse and major scratch. It will only be one day to remove them all and a weekend to put them back. Warren

Well done madkaw, persistence finally pays off. That's 2 sweetly running Z's. I wonder how Xray is doing? WarrenZ

Hi I appreciate your thoughts and nice to know you are thinking of us. We live in strange times, I am down in Melbourne about 1300 miles due south and we are in extended drought conditions, with water restrictions (can't even wash the car at home) and last week several days of over 40 c (105 F+) temperatures. Cheers Warren

Hi You don't say if has always been like this or only just started doing it. Has the gearbox been changed ? Perhaps it has the wrong speedo drive in it. Warren

Hi, My right hand drive 73 240 does not have this plug. In looking at the wiring diagram for the US model it could be related to the auto transmission, either the kickdown switch and solenoid or some sort of thermo switch. From what I can see the other side of the inline fuse for the fuel pump gets it power via the ignition switch (Black white wire) and is common with the power side (black white wire) of the 20amp "common fuse" in the fuse box. I would check if you have power at this point in the fuse box with the ignition switched on and if so you need to find that inline fuse as it is most likely blown. Warren

Hi It has most likely got a mechanical fuel pump, on right hand drive cars it is on the right hand side of the engine at the front. First thing I would check is whether you are getting a spark at the plugs. Take out one of the plugs, connect the plug lead to it and hold it near the block while you crank the engine. You should see the spark plug fire. If no spark, check points in distributor and see what they look like. You can also check if there is spark coming from the coil. Pull the centre lead out of the distributor and repeat the same process for checking the spark at the plugs. If there is no spark there you are back into the coil, ballast resistor and the wiring. If you have spark at the plugs it is more likely a fuel issue. Pull the fuel hose off to a carby and see if fuel is coming through (catch it in a can). See how you go with that. Warren

Problem now completely solved. JimmyZ - they are round top SU's (3 screws). I fitted new plug leads and new lead from coil to distributor, new rotor and brand new spark plugs. Rev's strongly all the way to 6000 before the tacho drops to zero (needed to move the red wire from the pertronix ignitor to the other side of the ballast resistor as per IZCC how to post) I am convinced it was mostly a points issue, but the rest of the ignition system was old and tired so probably was not helping. Xray and Madkaw - how are yours going ? Warren

Good point you make Mat M and I will check that. I did notice once that the level in the fuel filter (the new one is clear) was lower than I expected but it did not happen again. I will take it for a run and stop immediately after pulling max revs and check the fuel filter level. Maybe after each run it filled up as I idled into the garage. Although I did monitor the fuel filter level when revving in neutral in the garage and it was OK. It will all have to wait till after Xmas now as I am off to visit the family for Xmas and I get to drive my other Z (a 2004 red 350Z) 500 miles each way and get to stay at the beach. -eat your heart out in the northern hemisphere. I will give you an update later, thanks everyone for all the tips and have a happy Xmas. Cheers Warren

This sounds all very familiar, take a look at another current thread that might give you some clues http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=28875 Warren

Beandip, I have not checked that, thanks for the tip. Once I get my flowmeter back I will go over the carby's from start to finish. Warren

Problem almost solved - Whilst I was away my Pertronix ignition and coil were delivered from the US. So I fitted them along with a new distributor cap (as the other one was badly worn) and reset ignition timing (lack of distributor movement no longer an issue) and re-adjusted mixture on SU's to about 1.5 turns and it was better but not totally fixed. I then cleaned up another set of used plugs and it now revs strongly to about 5500 before it starts to pop a little, so almost there. But at least it is now OK to drive in normal traffic. One thing I did not mention before was that I inadvertently left the ignition switched on for 24 hours, which of course flattened the battery but maybe did not do the coil any good either. I was pretty sure it was spark related of some sort, so maybe a bit of all of the above. New plugs and leads to come to complete the total make over. Anyway thanks for all the advice. Warren

Seems the vacuum advance on the distributor is working. I decided to recheck the gap on the points whilst I was doing this and somehow they had slipped back to about 10 thou from the 20 thou that I set them at. Obviously not tight enough with the securing screws on the points, but screw heads are soft and I was trying not to destroy them. Reset and then checked timing and was > 20BTDC so reset to lowest setting I could get. Test drive was better below 3000 but still this rev limiter effect at 3000. I cannot get the timing less than about 20 BTDC as I have run out of distributor movement. So I guess i need to pull the distributor out and rotate one notch and reset timing to correct setting ! Seems to be this is the likely area of the problem but I have to go on a business trip for a few days so will get back to it later in the week. Warren

Nothing was done to motor during the restoration and it was started a moved around during the time and driven to the body shop a couple of times for quotes etc where it ran OK. When it came back from the paint shop it was running on 5 cylinders and I found 1 plug had died. I took for a short drive after replacing the plug and I think it was OK. Then once it was legally driveable I changed all the fluids and filters before driving on the road. The only thing I can line up with is that it was after that it started playing up, I did change the fuel filter, coincidence ? The filter is a Valvoline filter with a clear bowl and when revving it in the garage it has ample fuel in it. If it was a starvation problem I would have thought the plugs would not be black and sooty. Warren

Hi Xray, 2.5 turns makes a difference low down as it is more responsive and smoother but the same problem at 3000+ revs. The plugs are now all black, so it is getting too much fuel. The Haynes manual say 0.5 to 1 turn, so why does ZTherapy say 2.5 unless they are setting the refurbished carbs up with different jets. Cheers Warren

Hi Xray, I tried both 5ES and 6ES plugs with no difference. The difference I found before taking it off the road was the the 6ES plugs fouled quickly so went for the hotter 5ES plug. This happened when they stopped selling leaded fuel in Australia and you could only but 91 octane unleaded. I had the timing at 17 BDTC as I did not check the number stamped on the distributor I just read the book and went with 240 without pollution gear, either setting does not fix the problem. Damper oil is Castrol Everyday Oil which I have been using since 2001 and was OK before even though may not be 20SAE I will try 2.5 turns and let you know. Thanks Warren

Hi My 73 240 has been off the road for 2 years undergoing restoration, now painted and back together I cannot get it to run properly. It now idles smoothly and will rev to 4K sitting in the garage in neutral. If you trundle along without exceeding 2500 revs it drives OK but when you press the accelerator to the floor there is only a gradual acceleration and some hesitation and when it get to just over 3000 revs it just does not go much higher and the exhaust note becomes very flat. To me it seems like it is not running on all 6 cylinders. Before taking it off the road it ran strong all the way to the 6000+ revs Since putting the body back together I have:- Filled it with fresh 98 octane premium unleaded fuel Changed the fuel filter and checked inside the fuel pump Cleaned and reset the gap on the spark plugs (NGK BP 5ES) Changed the points and reset the gap and ignition timing. Distributor is a 65A so set timing to 10 BTDC Checked drop on piston inside SU carbs, found one would not fully lift due to broken spacer floating around inside, now OK Reset mixture, wound mixture screw up fully and then backed it off half a turn. Front 3 cylinders the plugs are a nice brown colour, the back 3 the plugs are black Since it will rev freely in neutral or with no load I don't suspect a spark problem I am thinking a fuel problem. Before it came off the road the back 3 plugs were always black and the front 3 brown but it revved out fine. I have just about run out of ideas. Has anyone got any suggestions. Cheers Warren

Finally got the Z back from the paint shop after a total respray. What was supposed to be 8 weeks turned into 14. Now the fun begins and hopefully all the pictures and plastic bags of bits with notes to remind me will pay off. Car is 73 240 and was originally silver metallic but had had a cheap respray in the 1990's by a PO. We could not get the original silver so it is painted in a Nissan Silver from 1985 which was a very close match for the colour that was on the car. Warren

Hi You can try Adelaide Zcars if you don't mind the fact he's in South Australia. I have not been there for a while but he had a few wrecks out the back. http://www.adelaidezcars.com.au/main.php?id=home WarrenZ

Hi Most of the parts available now in Australia are imported from the US or if someone is parting out a wreck. Original mirrors are very difficult to find. I am trying to source the original style mirrors for my 73 240. It seems you just need to keep an eye on e-bay or club classifieds. I was in Japan on business about 4 weeks ago and visited a Z shop in Yokohama thinking I could pick up some hard to get items. He pulled out the Motorsport Auto catelog, turns out he imports most of his stuff from the US and was out of stock of the parts I was looking for. So except for the RHD and Euro specific items you guys have it easy. Cheers Warren

I agree with e_racer1999. I had the exact same problem and once the gearbox was out and I spun the bearing in my hand it was pretty obvious that was my problem. Goodluck WarrenZ

Back in 2003 I drove my 73 240 on return trip Melbourne to Adelaide, 1200 miles. It never missed a beat, only problem was it was the middle of aussie summer and it was 90 F and no aircon. Man it was hot. Cheers Warren

Check out the e-bay seller by clicking on the name. Interesting mix Datsun 240Z (or close resemblance to one) and crystal glasses etc. May be it was only driven on to church on sunday's by lady owner ? Cheers Warren