Bruce Palmer

www.zbarn.com in TN.

There is an excellent picture of a carb arrangement on the thread about idle speed picking up when the choke is pulled on. Shows the fuel rail I mentioned. Might want to capture that image for future reference. Is the internet cool or what?

Character building...... they call it character building..... Skin hanging, blood dripping, character building....

Car has 4 screw round top SU carbs ,as it should, so is there anything I should do to prepare them before even attempting to start the car? I would highly recommend you find a hard line fuel rail for your carbs and lose that loopy rubber line stuff. That's just a fire waiting to happen.

That's why they pay me the big bucks..... Nyuck nyuck You are welcome.

Olzed, That fault line is continuous from NZ north all the way to Alaska on the west side of the Pacific Ocean and down the west coast of Canada, the US all the way to the tip of South America. It's called the Ring of Fire. Do a search and it'll show you that there about a zillion four hundred million events a year along this fault system. That big deal in Indoneia is all part of the same system. We are all just floating along on top of some pretty agressive stuff. Everyday that goes by without the BIG ONE hitting where you are just means you are one day closer to the day when it will happen. Beware low miler import motors from Japan.....

Just saw some footage from one of the Portland stations shot on the northern Oregon coast at exactly when the Tsunami was expected to hit. Sure enough there are two extremely intelligent people out on the sand. Kinda makes ya wonder just how much wattage some folks are packing. That damage footage in Japan was terrifying.

Have you done a finger feel across the back of the block under the valve cover gasket? The amount and suddenness is just peculiar. A broken valve cover gasket would do both....

Engine oil pan bolts tightish. No cracks in the pan? The sudden aspect of it coming on and enough to leave a trail..... Oil level should be down significantly I'd think. I'd vote for the wash down and clean up and start by letting the car idle in the garage and watch how soon it starts and where it's coming from. If nothing after idling, then drive the car and park it and give everything a good once over.

C'mon you guys..... telling him to leave the nut on takes all the fun out of it. That's one dummy dummy dummy move that everyone needs to do at least once.... Love your smile.... Your dentist does nice work. Nyuck nyuck

I'll check and see if there aren't some 510 or roadster folks heading up from down your way.

Daryl, In order to get up to speed on the carbs we sell a DVD that'll tell you more than you ever wanted to know about SUs. ZTV09 is the part number

So it sounds like with that spacer left in from the flexplate, perhaps the teeth on the flywheel are contacting the bellhousing? Noise should stop once the ring gear teeth chew clear thru the bellhousing. Nyuck nyuck

225s are only 9 inches wide at the sidewalls. Less than that at the beads.

And this would be an excellent time to pull the plugs before turning over the engine. Sitting for that long the bearings are dry and cranking the engine over with out compression pressure on dry bearings wiil allow the oil pump to get oil up in the system before being put under load. It's one of those old "you can pay me now or pay me later deals?

Spinning over an engine with dry bearings with the plugs removed will take the strain off of dry bearings until you get oil circulating thru out the engine internals by spinning the engine over which in turn spins the oil pump. I just wasn't sure when some of this stuff was happening. Okay, now where exactly is this filter you mention? If it's after the fuel pump then it sounds like the pump is working and you can forget all that other stuff I mentioned. If the pump is working you should be able to fill the float bowls with fuel and from there it is all down hill. Gravity etc. etc. etc.

What was the status of the gas in the tank pior to your starting this project? How long sitting? Take the gas line loose on the inbound side of the fuel pump and see if the pump will pump known good fuel to the carbs. Pull the plugs and just have someone spin the engine over. If things have been sitting a long time this will get oil pressure up in the bearings at the same time without hurting things any more. Then if the pump is pumping you should be able to start the car once you put the plugs back in 'natch. Then you can start back toward the tank. Probably wouldn't hurt to douche some of that Great Basin alkili dirt off of things while you are under there.....

Again, what do we suppose has happened to cause the float levels to change? If you are basically happy with how the car runs which would be determined by the fuel nozzle settings in each carb, you should be able to pull the domes and pistons and look down in the fuel nozzles and see the static fuel level within a 1/16" of the top of the nozzle. If the gas is puddling up on top of the nozzles you'll be fat and if it's way down in the nozzle you'll be lean. I vote distributor.....

Total up what you paid for the car, everything you have put into it in the way of parts and all your labor hours at say $30 per hour...... Yeh, that oughta get you close. Nyuck nyuck

If I'm understanding the question it's all about the overdrive ratios. Later ZX 5 speeds are like 25% over drive where the earlier boxes are like 15%. so you'll get longer legs with the later box but your rear gears may be too low to pull the long overdrive. I run the long OD tranny in my wagon w/3.9s and a torquey 2300 so it pulls fine in combination. Another benefit is that first is a longer legged gear set so is more useable.

So this is a hot weather phenom right? Is your 260 heat shield in place? return springs are hooked to what?. Fuel rail lines wrapped as if they were supplying flat tops? Happens at idle too? leave your floats alone. Check those plugs after you run it some this spring (if it ever gets here) for color uniformity. Tap the offending float bowl with a screwdriver handle when it happens as you may have a needle and seat hanging shut.....

www.zbarn.com

Email me at ztherapy@msn.com and I'll hook you up with Greg. There's a club on the island too. VIDE Vancouver Island Datsun Enthusiasts. Stick with us, we'll get you up to speed.....

Well, frankly any manifold will work 3 screw, 4 screw, or flat top, matters not. Flat top balance tubes are uglier than home made sin but other than that I believe the flat top manifold manifold might even flow a little better than the earlier manifolds. That is based ONLY on looking into the intake runners on both manifolds. We are also seeing more guys wanting to disable the water thru the manifolds entirely. Just one less thing to go TU and leave one standing beside the road...... Do you know Greg McCauley on the island? He has Some Z stuff. I know he has a primo early air cleaner he'd like to sell.....

Which carbs are you going to be running? 3 screws have the provisions for water through the insulators into the carb bodies. How much cold weather driving do you plan on doing.