triple carbs?????

[tibZ]

HELP!!!!

I am going to look at a 73 240z tomorrow. When I asked him if it had flattops on it he said it had triple carbs. Didn't think to ask what brand. Any experience out there with these? He said it runs really well and is in mint condition. Any tips would be appreciated... thanks!

[Carl Beck]

"Any Tips"

First and Foremost - you have to know what you plan to do with the car once you purchase it. You don't want a fix'er upper to turn into a Show Car. You don't want to pay a premium for a near perfect car - if your just going to race it on the weekends. Decide before hand what you are really looking for - and don't buy a car that doesn't really meet your needs. keep looking, keep looking, keep looking - and you will wind up with a far better car at a far better price.

1. The value of a Datsun 240-Z is 90% based on the condition of the sheetmetal in the uni-body. RUST is the biggest killer of old 240-Z's.... GET UNDER THE CAR and inspect it closely. Rust damage is very expensive to repair - keep looking until you find a good solid body. Go to California or the South Western States if you must.

2. Triple Carb.'s of any kind are rarely set up correctly for street use. I think I've driven about three Z's with good running triple's on the street in the past 33 years. If they need to be re-jetted, emulsion tubes changed, acc. pumps changed etc - you can easily spend $600.00 by the time your done swapping parts... If you are in the Norther States - see how the chokes are hooked up too;-)

See if the owner has the original SU's and intake manifold - always good to have.

3. If it's equipped with headers - look for leaks, rust etc...(another pain the neck)

4. The second weakest point on the 240-Z's is the wiring - inspect the wiring harnesses in the engine compartment and under the dash (behind the radio).. if it's been hacked to death - pass.

5. If you haven't inspected at least 10 240-Z's - in a methodical manor - take someone that has with you.

6. E-mail me at my address beck@becksystems.com and I'll send you a Word Formatted - check list to take with you. Closely inspect every item and record its condition. Don't stand around and chew the fat with owner - they will always try to distract you when you really get serious about inspecting every item on the car.

7. If you have a digital camera - take it with you and record clear images that you may want to look back at later...

good luck,

Carl

Carl Beck

Clearwater,FL USA

69,70,71,72, 72 & 73 BRE Z

[Carl Beck]

Oh... yes... If your State requires Emissions Inspections for a 1973 Model Year - it won't pass with the triple's.. In most places that's no longer a problem... in some places it IS.

regards,

Carl

[tibZ]

Can I assume the triples aren't very reliable? My initial intention was to find a nice stock Z strictly for cruising several times a week.

I know of all the trouble areas to look for problems, but here in the northeast, they are very hard to come by, and flying around the country looking for one is not in the budget. It's taken me a year to de-program my brain that it's allright to spend around 5K on a "toy" for myself.(Raised three boys so all my time and money was needed elsewhere.) The ones I do come across always seem to have a catch (triple carbs, rust, lowered, too much $$, etc...)

Thanks for the feedback Carl, the search continues.......

[240znz]

Saying that tripple cards are unreliable is not really true. You may have some setting up to do but once setup right they will provide you with some extra flow as long as you have done some addition mods.

If you are buying a car that is local to you then your problems should be small if any. If it is a car from a different sea level then you will need to paly around with jetting and aircorrection/emulsion tubes. The best for thing in that case is to seek help from someone who knows how to tune tripples. The best way to do this is on a dyno.

However, tripples only really come into thier own if other mods have been done, IMHO. Shoving 40mm throats on will give you more flow but without a cam and headers, you might just want to stick to the excellent original SU's. Many a Zed has gone very quick by use of the SU, so don't be too hastie to change.

There are sopme excellent pages on getting the most out of Zed without going to tripples. Keep surfing and check them out. The Datsun Garage is a good place to start.

GHood luck.

[dero]

zee not zed

[GTZZZ]

wannaZ,

I don't know of many Zcar fans from this area, I'm in Newport, RI.

I have a proposition for you. I have a set of round top SU carbs on my 71 Z recently rebuilt by ZTherapy. They work excellent, but I have always liked the look of the triple sidedraft carbs. If you end up purchasing the car with triples I'll offer to trade you my SU for the triples. Not just the carbs, everything you need, if you would rather have SU's.

I grew up in Yarmouth MA on the Cape, where in MA are you located?

[tibZ]

I passed on that one. It's probably closer to you than it is to me.

It's at a AAmco station in Norwood ,Ma. He's asking 6K. I'm heading north to NH tomorrow to look at a 78 if it's not raining.

I'm in Gloucester,north of Boston. Any pics of your 71?

[GTZZZ]

My old computer crashed a month ago and I haven't been able to get the pictures from it. Should have saved them to disk. I will be taking some more pictures soon and will post them in my gallery. I just took the car of the rode in may after driving it for about a year. It is a very unmolested original car purchased from Colorado. It needs some minor body work in the rear due to some one swiping the rear in may. They broke a taillight, bent the bumper, and scratched the paint. It will be a slow process fixing it, I getting married in September.

Anyways good luck on your search for a Zcar. I looked in the Northeast for a while with no luck. Most cars around here are rust buckets or the nice ones are very inflated in price.

If I see any in nice condition for sale I'll let you know.