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I'm going to need to get some replacement floor pans as well. I have had at least three separate people tell me to go with KF Vintage. One was a contractor that had done previous classic car restorations, another was a vendor at the Carlisle Import & Performance Nationals, and another was a Z mechanic. Needless to say, that's who I will be going with when I finally pull the trigger and decide to replace my floors. Mine were filled in with old Maxwell House coffee cans and lots of filler by a previous owner that did not want to weld. I was planning on replacing my floors as this winter's project, but I may need to put it off due to the persistent Gov't shutdown. Not having a current and reliable source of income may stall my plans somewhat.

The needles are adjust correctly, one takes a straight edge along the piston to make sure the shoulder on the needles are correct. There is a lot of history here, had a very difficult time getting the needles and floats adjusted right in the bloat bowls, that took an enormous amount of time. I have a tach on the coil, next is to turn the nuts to go on the rich side, then rock back and forth to lean, looking for max rpms, at least thats what I understand. I've been running fuel out of a 5 gallon gas can, the excess goes back into the main tank, ran my gas can out of fuel. The fuel tank is somewhat rusty, need to find if it is usable or now.

I have a maxima rear disc conversion available you're interested...

Front Willwoods are an easy install. Fronts are where most of your stopping power is. I just put the fronts on all but one of my cars…..they will really put your head towards the windshield. I use my stock Master cylinder with no problem even with the Z with front and rear Willwoods. A hard pedal usually is caused by a lost reaction disk in my experience. Don’t know what else causes a hard pedal.

Installed new fuel hoses from ZTheraphy, they are more flexible than my other hoses from the hobby shop. Fuel may have been OK, but running new fuel anyway. With choke all the way on, nuts about 2.5 turns down, starts with ether. Then RPMs picked up and engine ran for the first time. As I reduce the choke to the point where the choke is off, the nozzles all to the top, engine coughs and dies. With the chokes on again, engine runs, very clearly the carbs have been set too lean. I'm thinking about setting the nuts about five turns down, that should richen it. Then run it with the chokes on and gradually back them off. I think if I keep trying that and can get it to run with no choke, I'm in the right direction. If I get that far, I can start adjusting the mixture, one carb at a time to where the idle RPMs peak. I would then go back and forth between carbs for peak RPMs, once I get it stable, then synch the carbs with the unisyn and set the idle RPMs. BTW, have not done any actual testing for vacuum leaks. If there is a leak that happened by itself, I might check the vac assisted brakes, it has a large rubber diaphragm that could be rotten. I'm 77, and have forgotten a lot about this stuff but it's coming back. I think I'm in the right direction, appreciate comments. Jim

Need a lot more info to help with this . Ignition set up ? Timing at WOT ? Still running vacuum advance ? What year head ? Was the camshaft degree’ed? Camshaft specs ? Engine compression ratio ?

This is the Jet Hot cast finish. Please excuse the slightly green cast which is the result of either lighting or camera user error. I like the color but more importantly it's extremely robust. After more than 25 years the exhaust manifold on my 280 still looks like it was just done. Hope this helps. Not a job one wants to do twice. PS This is the exhaust manifold from the Z used as the model for the Franklin Mint Z car

Thanks for the imput, I am going back and forth between the options. I know i'll have to do fabriation work to get the Z depot floors to fit, but I dont mind fab work. I just dont know if theres more of a pain getting seat rails mounted or other obstacles that will creat a conflict. I just got a 1977 280z as a project and the previous owner decided the best way to make his car look dfferent was to add about 200 pounds of bando so i feel you on that. gotta love a good project.