Bruce Palmer

Certainly a good cleaning of the fuel nozzle and the housing it slides in is in order. Our Just SUs Video also covers unscrewing the linkage at the bottom and bending a little bind out of it...... The linkage can get bent and apply enough sideways pressure on the nozzle causing it to bind in the tube. Take it easy and evaluate as you go along. Pretty common sense stuff......

Jason Waalkes at jwaalkes(removethis)@canby.com and he'll be happy to hook you up with a commitee needing help. Someone needs to jump in right now and contact Jason about offering to do a poker run or something fun around the run down to Silver creek Falls...... Just a thought if they haven't already covered it..................... Anyway, I bet Jason would appreciate any offers of help...

Carl, If we don't get some rain soon and some snow in the mountains, we'll be washing our cars at the Canby meet with feather dusters. You and your southern California neighbors have gotten all our moisture this winter, and all that's going to do is make the grass grow on the hillsides, then they'll catch fire and around the barn you go......

SM's are a profile that fatten things up in the upper RPM ranges on the early Z car. They tended to, with the stock Hitachi needle, lean out up top.

How does "Datsun Driving Canby Fun" strike you for the Canby Meet?

The 3 screw carbs had provision for water from the intake manifold thru the insulator block to pre heat the carbs. Other than that there isn't a nickles worth of difference between the 3 and 4 screw carbs. The parts store kits have nothing of any consequence in them but they'll stab you like they do. I would suggest a set of SM needles for drivability issues and new fuel line from the float bowl to the nozzle. See many of these that are too old and brittle and about to become a major fire hazard. After you do whatever you are going to do, we buy cores..............

If you don't want to trust those old but bled brake hydraulic components, I would replace all the masters and slaves along with the rubber brake lines with new off the shelf product from a reputable parts house. And I would open all the new cylinders up and clean the trash from the manufacturing process out and reassemble them. A vinegar bath for the fuse box and as many electrical connectors will liven up the electron raceways in the vehicle too. The statement about just about everything you touch will need help is right on the mark. In a lot of instances, sitting can be harder on a vehicle than running. Oh, and PS: fix that fuel pump.

I continue to look for products that are both safe to work withfor the DIYers and effective on the job. This includes getting away from isocyanates in POR to methylene chloride in Aircraft Paint Stripper. To this end there is a water borne paint stripper by the name Removall on the market. Very nice product to work with does not burn skin and does not make goo mess the Aircraft does. I think Sherwin Williams handles the line and I can't recommend it highly enough......

While in the midst of discussing rust and corrosion control coatings, let me throw out a web site which discusses what many consider to be a superior, as well as safer for your health and easier to use alternative to POR. www.zerorust.com is the site. Also check out http://www.autobodystore.com/images/boattest.jpg for photos of a heads up test ZR to POR on the motor mounts onna salt water fishing boat. Make your own choices but be aware there are safer alternatives out there.

I think Andrew has it wired. The inside end screws on and has a lock nut and the end in the engine compartment is molded on. Can't imagine how much force you had to apply to bust that cup off. Anyway, ZTherapy can probably rustle you up a reasonably priced replacement from the "spares locker"........... Call me if you're interested. 503-587-9800 or email me at sales@ztherapy.com

Back in the olden days (when I was a lad) they talked about talking a rig out and blowing the carbon out of it. Sounds like that's where you're at today. When the car gets driven, does it get driven far enough to get fully warmed up, I mean fully warmed up? The exhaust needs to get hot enough to burn that accumulation of condensation out or you'll just make you neighborhood exhaust guy happy. It does sound like things are rich, and you might also want to take a look at a set of hotter plugs.

Your 3 screw carbs were the later members of the early carbs and should have hinged hanging floats. We do however see just about every permutation of parts coming in on the cores we get so believe me when I say nothing surprises us....... And then you have the situation where them little Hitachi assemblers were using whatever was in the parts box that day. They learned that from the British....... :laugh:

Stephen, Those flat top 38mm carbs on the 510 are then same as the round top 38mm 2 bolt mount Hitachis. The round top were SSS1600 510 JDM and the flat top were JSDM SSS1800 610. This is why they were so easy to tune. The flat top Z car carbs were the smoggers that got changed out in a lot of cases when the cars were new. We just had a guy here swap out his EFI because pieces to keep it running were NLA or not easy to find. His car runs really strong and he is having the time of his life. He thought this would be a good way to keep his car alive without worrying about a bunch of 30 year old wiring and plastic pieces going g-fritzen!!

Jason, Those brass free floaters were in the 1600 roadster and 510 38mm carbs and do tend to develop tiny hairline cracks allowing those bad boys to sink. Ask me how I know and how far out of state I was when it happened. Keep an eye on them. Take 'em out every so often and shake them to see if they are taking on gas.

Jason, You have free floating metal floats? We no longer use Grose Jets. Can't get them consequently can't supply them.

My guess would be a piece of grit holding the needle and seat open. When you have the lid off, take the final filter out behind the fuel inlet tube and see how much garboon is packed up in there and clean it out too............ We'll do the carb thing when you're ready. Damn another lost order. :disappoin :disappoin

I think you're money ahead to have a tranny gone thru like on the exchange deal sited above. These cars and the compnents are not getting any younger and the time comes to bite the bullet and start refreshing components so you know where you are. Now having said that who knows a good rear end set up guy?

Michael, You really do need to talk to Steve Epperly about this stuff especially the A-motor permutations. He knows how to get 46mm SU's on an A-motor and I'm not that current on that lash up so will probably not be of much help in helping you get it right. Steve did say that most of this stuff is near unobtanium here in the states as it was mainly JDM offerings only. He has some examples of manifolds and or complete sets, etc. but is not really excited to sell any 'cause he plays with A-motors in a couple of autocross cars here locally. Anyway, he said he would be happy to talk with you.

Michael, I am running 46s on my 2300 LZ motor in my 510 wagon. Bolted to an opened up 2 bolt manifold with custom center links. Steve also modifies the 2 bolt 4 cyl manifold to 4 bolt mount and we are even making 4 bolt 46mm heat shields for the 4 cylinder head........ Of course as the company sales guy I'll be the last to get one on my car, don't ya know..... Like the shoemakers kids kinda thing....... Anyway this stuff has been in the hopper for years so don't be afraid to ask.

There would be one really easy answer to this study and that would be to call and talk to Steve Epperly the owner of ZTherapy about what fits what and what doesn't. Steve has done about every SU (Hitachi or otherwise) swap in the western world and has built linkage for them as well. Call me at 503-587-9800 and I'll hook you up with Steve. Cheers.............

If you want to clear over the stickers. Go to your local Automotive paint jobber and pick up a can of U-pol clear in the gold aerosol can. It is a thrermo set clear that will no resoften under heat and should work well. Spray very light coats over the stickers so you don't reflow the ind on the stickers.

The next thing I'd do is try lowering the float in the rich carb. Bend the tang on the float lever "up" to lower the float level. Be careful removing the float bowl lid to not damage the gasket. Just a little adjustment at a time until you find the right level. Get the fuel level about a 1/16" below the top of the nozzle tube. You'll need to re-set the mixture on the fuel nozzle when you're done. The JUST SUs video for $15 is one of the best bang for the buck resources you'll ever find for your toys.

Historically body shops lose their hat a$$ and overcoat doing these jobs. Too many hidden suprises to cover in the average "give me a price" quote. Only way the shop can make out is "time and materials" and that can leave the custoomer bleeding on the ground. Body men make their money on collision "quick in quick out turn the $$$$ basis"

One of the best evaluations about the shortcomings of FWD looked at it this way. FWD requires the front 2 corners the carry the majority of the vehicle weight, do the majority of the braking, put the power to the ground, AND do the steering while the back 2 corners keep the back of the vehicle from dragging on the ground. They are also finding that in bulding performance vehicles, FWD can only handle so much power without being evil to drive. All the new high performance cars are going back to RWD. FWD cars are cheap to build and really fool bad drivers into thinking they have something going in the way of control. The buying public really got this FWD concept stuck in their ear big time.

For these kinds of problems there is a very well done informative video at www.paintucation.com called "Metal Prep and Rust Repair" that'll show all the steps taken to repair the problems you're liable to bump into. Even shows how to bolster the repairs with Zero Rust.