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Blood sweat and tears alone ... had to call it a day after one side but it went in. I actually bought some longer screws and installed the lower back one wile it was far way and while i tightened it I pushed the window in place. Then the same with upper front one. Then used the regular size on the other two sides to bring it closer. Once closed unscrew the longer one one by one and use the regular ones. Will test this again on the other side tomorrow. So far it has worked. But I had to put a lot of weight behind to actually align the first one as well.

Yes, what Mark said. Float levels are super important on SU carbs! And yes the dial on the bottom adjusts the mixture by lowering or raising the the nozzle (the black stem connected to the fuel line). Once you have them balanced at idle. You need to raise the idle to 1800 or so and adjust them at fast idle. Also there shouldn't be fuel coming out of the float bowl overflows. If there is, that's a problem. Too much fuel in the bowl will make it run rich Maybe @siteunseen will find you a good thread on carb adjustment. He's the local librarian! 😉

That down hill test is a great idea. @jalexquijano on my old oil burning engine - when coming downhill and off the gas, I found that at the bottom of the hill when I went back onto the power, a puff of blue smoke came out. This signifies leaking oil from the head generally. When we cracked the engine open, I found that a UK Specialist who had rebuilt the head for me, had cross threaded one of the head bolts and it wasn't fully down, letting in oil into (coincidentally) cyl 4 😄 and cyl 3. So that test had proven the oil was coming in from the head. Try it. It's easy and free to do!

Went to unload loads of parts to the bodyshop which he needs to continue. I was expecting some progress, but they had plenty of other cars to work on, so mine got pushed back a bit again. Nothing to worry about. They still managed to fine-tune a lot of details since my last visit: They finished the floorpan work and had to hammer it a bit so the original seat rail mounts would fit perfectly again: They also closed the hole that the previous bodyshop left in the tool-tray area behind the passenger seat, but it still needs some work. At least there's no gaping hole anymore. On the other side, th e adjusted the side sill so the door would fit flush again and finetuned some things here and there. On the outside they also opened some areas which will be replaced to see how it is underneath. you can clearly see some previous repair attemts (from before i owned it). you still can see the welding lead poking out there... Luckily the whole rear quarter and inner wheel well will be replaced. so happy that all this rust will be gone. Otherwise not much progress. at least i couldn't see a lot, because the car was surrounded by stuff, so i couldn't really get close. But no problem. I'll visit them again soon to see more progress. Oh and while unloading the parts into their storage area, i could catch a quick look at some of their other work in progress projects. This is only a fraction of the cool stuff you find there. Nice.

Reading the dialog of this extensive thread, the work that has been done with no progress, and the amount of time that has passed is super frustrating. I feel badly for you @jalexquijano. I am sure your frustration level is quite high. You have a nice car. It is terrible that you can't enjoy it. I am not convinced that anyone who has worked on the car so far has been able to help. I have no faith that the efforts that have been done to adjust carbs, adjust float levels (critical), assess ignition health and valve timing, etc...have been done correctly. Now, when I think about the same local resources taking his engine apart, I think to myself...how does anyone know that they know what they are doing with an L series engine? Have you done an exhaustive search for someone in Panama who has experience with these cars and the L series engine? Absent that, I would look for a great mechanic who is willing to read and learn about this car and the engine (factory service manual, online resources, etc). It feels like you and this collective forum have been attempting to tell the mechanics what to do. I would find a super smart mechanic that will read, assess the car, and tell you what needs to be done. Find someone who is also willing to engage here and ask questions. Just my thoughts. I truly hope you get this resolved and are able to enjoy your car. J

OMG... I didn't know that anyone else used this same Rube Goldberg technique as I did 13 years ago! With no car guys anywhere around, i had to single-hand virtually all of my assembly. Wierd creativity was sometime called for. 😉

Well, I can't imagine why a stock cam wouldn't work. It might not be the first choice but it would certainly work. I think more compression tests (wet, dry, plugs out, throttle wide open) are a good idea. Fresh #s may show something new. I'm curious if you have any theories as to why more plugs are fouling now when it was only #4 in the past. Be sure to try the downhill 4000 RPM throttle-off test. It may provide a clue if there's oil consumption.

@jalexquijano Last year, as I recall, we were dealing with #4 plug fouling. Now it appears the problem has spread to all but one cylinder. What has been done to the engine since then? Were all the valve seals changed? Next time you're out driving find a nice steep hill, drive down the hill with the engine at around 4000 RPMs, and take your foot off the throttle pedal. Watch in the rearview mirror for blue smoke. Tell us what you see.

Finally done with the body harness. In addition to deleting the wires for the speaker and antenna, added a provision for some kind of third/auxiliary brake light next to the license plate light wires, switched to a euro/JDM wiring configuration for the rear combination lights, and added wires for a 12V power supply. Also, I used fuzzy Tesa tape for most of it to reduce potential rattling and their chemical-proof tape near the fuel system, just in case.

Got the last window seal done today - passenger 1/4 glass & frame seals. Cleaned up & painted the bracket weld areas on the frame as with the DS

If the carbs are '72 3-screws, they will have different float heights between the two carbs, though the fuel height will be the same. There are a few ways of measuring. I posted some pics years ago on here where I cut clear water bottles and marked the proper heights on the plastic. I then set the top half of the float bowl onto the plastic so I could tell exactly when the floats closed the inlets. I found that to work better than trying to measure the float height with the top half inverted. I'll see if I can find my post later tonight and edit this post with the link. The fuel level tool is ideal, but they are unobtanium, so your choices are to measure the float, or measure the fuel level with a clear plastic bottle.

It appears you've got the carbs balanced. The mixture screws at the bottom of the carbs are the secondary mixture adjustment. The primary mixture adjustments are the float levels. I'd check those next. They don't have to be exact, just close.

Tonight @Patcon and I switched the car back to the fuel tank to test it, or tried to. I think we had issues getting the fuel pump to prime. More on that in a minute. Skipping ahead, I had already made up my mind to drop the tank and inspect it. When we did, we found rust, and lots of it. I guess my cleaning and rust prevention work didn't do the job. I'm glad I followed my instinct and looked. Even if the car had run, it would have eventually clogged the filter or failed in some other way. At this point I'm going to enlist help from a friend who can help me cut the tank open and get it properly cleaned out and welded back together. We'll get a close look at the pickup tube and baffles, repairing what needs it. What's the best coating to use afterwards? I plan to run ethanol-free gas, but can't necessarily guarantee it. Back to the testing: I had the tank hooked up when Charles arrived. When the pump ran, it wouldn't build pressure. We tried just running the pump and it got to 11psi. We started the engine and it sputtered and shut off. Our assumption was that the pickup in the tank was perforated or clogged (we put only 2-3 gallons in it). We switched back to the jug, just to confirm it would run again...BUT IT DIDN'T. It behaved exactly the same. After some head scratching we unhooked the pump discharge and dumped it into a bucket to test the pump. It flowed strong. We hooked it back to the car and it built proper fuel pressure. The car started right up. Clearly the pump needed help priming. But why? We were sucking out of tanks that were higher than the pump. In the case of the jug, it was lifting a foot or so to the neck of the jug, and then downhill to the pump. If the pump builds 35psi it should push air or fuel past the FPR. I can only speculate that the pump has too much clearance allowing air to backflow (at around 11psi). Does that mean the pump is bad? FWIW it is almost new, with maybe an hour on it. I'm curious to hear what you think.

I've said this years ago, and I'll say it again....I think its the crappy California Datsun engine and most likely the hot Cam that was installed in the head. I've rebuilt these L6 engines and its not rocket science, unless you're an idiot. Good luck.

I bought a case. Build date 03/23 😎

I did find that the smaller vent hose grommet was torn - so I sealed that for the time being Also, I had removed the bumper shock & bracket on the DS, that left 3 holes that fed directly into the muffler cavity. Filled them with sealed plugs

McGiver!!

I was going to mention it could have a weak spark at the plugs but then I saw that one plug does not appear to be fouled. Confusing. If those valve oil seals were not snapped into place properly then they could let oil buy I think. An experienced engine and head builder should chime in if not already.

Mine will hold more than 1.5bar pressure for a least 2 weeks. It took me a while to get it that far, but replacing the check valve on the fuel pump was my eureka moment.

The shape of the Z causes a low pressure are at the rear of the car, especially with the windows down. Any opening at the back of the car will introduce fumes, Power antenna drain, vent line grommets, taillight harness grommet, tail lights, hatch panel and latch, etc

I looked around a little bit and it seems like the manufacturers generally went to computer control of a simple fuel pump relay instead of integrating the timer. But it is a hot topic, so of course, people have filled the need. https://www.ebay.com/itm/174274213748?mkcid=16&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-127632-2357-0&ssspo=NmzUBVTDRzy&sssrc=2047675&ssuid=bBzFtXzvTQO&widget_ver=artemis&media=COPY This on Amazon, below. The words in search should find it. I don't like to copy their links they seem full of extra stuff. Could probably be made to work.

Yes. Its super frustrating as i bought this car from a dealer in Colorado. You get stuck in traffic and the plugs start to foul. Once you accelerate engine starts misfiring. Its a real pain.