Zedyone_kenobi

I was hoping to keep the stock throttle rods in use. But I have noticed many go with the cables. Can you provide some information on what makes the stock linkage so hard to drive? Thanks again Mike. I am planning out my fuel system. This is almost as much fun as carb tuning. I really love building custom stuff!

Mike W What are your choke cables going to? It looks like you fabricated some sort of improvised choke. Can you enlighten me on that.

I found a carter pump I liked with bushings for vibration and sound insulation. It looks very much like the OEM electric pumps in the 260 or 280 Zs. It puts out 4-7 psi.

Well just ordered my 40mm DCOE's from MSA. Got the holley regulator, but still need to find a good quiet low pressure pump. Looking at several right now. Mr. Gasket, Mallory, Aeromotive, etc. I also plan to use the return line back to the tank as well. Does anybody sell a custom three carb fuel line for Datsuns.

I salute your ingenuity! That is called taking care of business right there! You could sell those!

We are all cheering for you Frank! And of course you know if there is any parts you may need, we can all lend a hand out of our private stashes!

I just had a 30 minute talk with Eiji, and he is a true character and a stand up guy. I have all the faith in the world he will do a great job for me. He seems very good at listening and taking what I truly want to heart. He said I should go with 40mm , and yes, LeonV, you read my mind. Get the Triples set up and running on this car, then move them over the L28 later. I will be ordering 40mm webers VERY soon. I welcome any jetting recommendations via PM soon. We will see once and for all if my SU's were the culprit. I am willing to bet with the webers my lean running issue is gone. I will get a low pressure fuel pump as well, and get that working. I will install a regulator so I can dial the pressure up or down for the SU's or the Webers. I will need to find a heat shield though. Let the fun begin!! I will still run a fuel pressure test on my current engine and a voltage the coil test while I am running. I am making electrical jumpers and a fuel line for these tests.

Good Luck Frank! I wish you the very best! I had to go to North Carolina to get my baby.

I am having an L28 long block built by Eiji. I think he has spec'ed me a N42 block with an N42 head. Nothing crazy. NO HP figure was mentioned, or asked for. As long as its free breathing, revs nicely, and has good idle quality I am happy. I will most likely put Weber 40mm or 45mm DCOE's on it, and a Mallory ignition. Part of me wants to go ahead and order the Weber set up now so I can try them on the L24. But I would wager that it would be silly to buy 40mm triples for a stock L24 and expect them to work on a high compression decent cammed L28. And I would imagine that 45mm DCOE's would be WAAAY to much for my L24. My plan is to slowly take my L24 apart on the side, and bring it back to life slowly. I want to keep the original engine available with the car.

UPDATE: I was unable to get any work done on the datsun Sunday. But I did place an order for a nice little L-series present from Datsun Spirit. Eiji said that should arrive in 2 months. The L24 in my car is living on borrowed time. So the way I see this, we have 2 months to figure this out.

No need captain. I ordered new insulators since then and new gaskets

I could not hear you, I was laminating my NRA card.. HAHA

I can try to see what I am getting while it is being driven, can't hurt. I am also going to try rig up more engine grounds

madkaw, your thoughts are always welcome and appreciated. As are everybodies. I have not checked the fuel pump volume solely based on the fact that at WOT, it does not do this. Keep in mind I replaced my fuel pump thinking that was the problem. Alas, it was not. My old fuel pump was a psi below allowable than this new one, but the problem is exactly the same. I am now putting out correct pressure. I admit I have not checked volume. But I have news! I ran a leak down test... Just performed my leak down test...Here is how. Ran the car for 30 minutes to get her up to temp. Pulled the plugs and valve cover. Hooked up my remote starter trigger spun the engine around until both cam lobes were up on number 1 reached in the car and yanked up the E-brake and put her in 4th gear Filled the cylinder with 90 psi. I did this same thing on each and every cylinder. Here are my results Cylinder #1.....90 psi input.....88 psi output Cylinder #2.....90 psi input.....86 psi output Cylinder #3.....90 psi input.....86 psi output Cylinder #4.....90 psi input.....87 psi output Cylinder #5.....90 psi input.....87 psi output Cylinder #6.....90 psi input.....88 psi output You could hear the air rushing through the engine, and you could hear it coming from the depths of the timing chain somewhere. It was just barely blowing past the rings I suppose. Nothing was seen with the radiator cap off, nothing was felt coming through the carbs or the exhaust. It would seem on the outside, I have a VERY healthy 71500 mile L24. Anybody want to loan me a set of SU's! HAAAH

Good advice, I will certainly look in to it!

And I whole heartedly swear to all of you who have been with me here for 16 pages that I SINCERELY APPRECIATE ALL OF YOUR HELP! I HAVE NEVER met a bunch of people on an automotive forum as classy as friendly and helpful as you all have been with me. I am truly blessed to have discovered this forum. I consider myself a pretty handy wrench. I really do understand the workings of engines for the most part. I have my areas where I am weak on, but for the most part, I get what everybody here is trying to help me with. But Captain, no offense, while I appreciate the advice, the 'experiments' have been going on for almost a year now, 4 months of it was in this THREAD! I am ready to change the game up a bit. I am still going to attack the problem, because I never quit. But instead of the surgical strikes I have been performing, I am going to go more with carpet bombing from a B-52. I will keep reporting back to you with what I find with my leak down test. If I had another set of SU's I would try them. If I had a points dizzy on hand I would probably try it. But I do not.

I think I am at a point were I want to pull the cylinder head off. I may do that today after I attempt a leak down test. I finally got a new compressor.

Well sort of. I Use the NGK BPR6ES that is listed on here, both the regular type (NGK BP6ES) and the resistor type (NGK BPR6ES). I have tried both of those at .035 and .045 gaps. I set my static timing at whatever I am going to run, depending on which distributor I have in the car at the time. One of them likes 11 deg BTDC initial, the other likes 17 deg BTDC. Then I slowly raise the rpm until the timing mark stops moving on the balancer. Then I use the lights adjustment buttons to see the rpm AND the advance at that point. Last time I did that I was fully advanced at 3100 rpm with 35 deg total advance. Yes, the vacuum advance was plugged.

I agree 100% with you on the cold adjustment, I may do mine again tomorrow stone cold, so at least I know they are even!

Thats easy for you to say!!!! You can scratch valve adjustment off the list. I really hate trying to do them hot. I would rather take my time and do them cold. NO difference by the way... poppety pop pop I repeated the carb spray test as well. Nothing. What is the best way to ground the block. I was thinking the bolt that holds the tranny to the block, and then hook that up to the firewall.

WEll I agree Beerman, but how many of us on here are running headers on a stock L24 with absolutely zero issues what so ever. On many cars I have worked on installing headers (many SBC) was a great power adder by itself. Yes, you could get more from rejetting, but it was not night and day. And certainly NOT the difference between running like crap, and running well. The E31 exhaust is very restrictive (Rebellos words) and the stock manifold is darn near as good as a header. Nobody is making crazy power with just a header on an L24. I have checked the valves already as well. I checked them warm, not hot or cold. I can certainly check them again. I will also check the block ground, and make some more grounds just for kicks.

Guys what we are facing here, I mean with all the KD needle talk, stiffer springs in the pistons, ignition not being strong enough (which just is NOT possible folks. I have two brand new rock solid rebuilt distributors, with 2 brand new coils, 3 sets of plug wires, 2 sets of NGKs, 3 sets of caps, 2 rotors, and verified my coil is getting 13+ volts all the time. My ignition is solid. It is NOT ignition) is treating a symptom rather than the cause. so this gets back to real issue. All these extreme fixes (aforementioned KD needles, stronger springs, 3.5 turns out, etc) are not what an essentially stock Z should need to run. The only thing I know for sure is my piston rings are in great shape via my compression test. I know my bearings are in good shape as I have completely normal oil pressure I have no insight to the health of my valves, guides, seals, or cam lobes. I truly believe that my problem in the cylinder head somewhere. I would be willing to try another set of SU's if I had some, but I am not about to buy another set from Z therapy. I still want to try to a leak down test of the cylinder to see if I have a burnt valve or head gasket leak somewhere, but I am not sure this would be the case when the car runs PERFECTLY if kept under 4500 rpm and it runs perfectly at WOT. Either way, I am running out of options on this one. Steve, I do not go from 12 to 16 on my AFR instantly. I start at 10:1 at idle and under normal constant speed driving I usually settle at 12:1. If I crack the throttle I go to 13, 14, 15, (still running and pulling fine) 16, then 16.5 and the popping happens. I do not get a single pop until I go higher than 16.5. I have priced a replacement E31 cylinder head from Zcarsource, and it will be 1400 dollars. If I do that, I may as well replace all the timing gear and water pump and oil pump. Add in gaskets and new head bolts and I am getting very close to 1700 dollars. If I am going to do all of that. I may as well pull the whole engine and rebuild it or buy a rebuilt one and rebuild mine at my convenience. I am sorry if I am getting frustrated. I am ready to throw in the towel. My once solid conviction to fix this is getting seriously tested. I have not enjoyed driving my Z in over a year now. It is becoming a VERY good looking symbol of annoyance. Sometimes you just have to start fresh, Rebello? Datsun Spirit? Yes, I am talking THAT fresh.

I tried to find stiffer SU springs Ztherapy said there is only 1 spring used for the Z He did not have any to sell me. I was on the hunt for springs but found none. Mine look like cad plated springs, so I have no idea what they are. I would order a complete set of springs if I knew where to order

I am willing to try the KD NEEDLES but where on earth would you get them? Another question is if SM needles are rich enough to feed an L28 why on earth can't my baby L24 get enough gas As with most complex systems with many variables it may just be a tolerance build up. Maybe not. Motorman it is good to here you enjoy this thread. I often wonder if people get tired of me and this problem. I will look for some KD needles

I can try that as well. It will have to wait for my next day off...Maybe Saturday. Leak down test is on hold until I can get a new air compressor. Mine went kaput