Zedyone_kenobi

I am sorry no way in hell that car is worth 45000 dollars. I am actually at a loss as to how would one spend 60000 dollars on one of these cars. I mean I do not blame her for wanting more money, but 45000 dollars for an essentially mildly modded 280Z is just FANTASTIC money. She will never see 60000 dollars in her lifetime.

wow, that is awesome.. did you cover the floor? Did you use ventilation? that is just amazing!

Are there any pictures of this car and that insane woman!

I used the thinnest layer of RTV possible on that when I put it on as I was not sure what L6 engines like in this department. I am a pretty big advocate of letting gaskets do their job and seal. I was planning on putting the gasket on dry, but some have recommended using ultra copper. I have used ultra copper on V8 head gaskets before, but never on an intake or exhaust gasket. I am waiting on my 6 new super thick washers for the bottom of the manifold where it holds the exhaust and intake at the same time. I 2nd day aired them. I may as well make some improvements while I am at it. sorry for my slow progress. I am also trying to move my sick dad in with me, sell his house, and get his accounts in order. But nobody wants more closure on this than me!

The 6 point harness is the money buddy. But a poor mans way to hold your butt into your stock Datsun seat was given to me by Frank C. on this board. A nice roll of kitchen drawer liner, that rubberized bubbly stuff. I put in on my Datsun last time around Grandsport and it was AMAZING how stuck to the seat I was...

Will be installing the new gasket this week sometime. The felpro on bottom is far beefier than the MSA gasket on top. All surfaces are clean and I am currently running a thread straightener on all the nuts and studs. Also ordered a new set of thick washers as my set looks very tired.

double post... deleted

Well I admire your candid nature and we have all had young 'dumb' moments sometime in our past. I recall an incident with a concrete pole and a '78 Z28 that would fall perfectly into your category. however, keep the faith and do more diagnosing before you write off the motor. Definitely collect more data before you get your check writing hand ready. I have the itch to rebuild my Z engine as well, but I would rather enjoy driving her as long as she is healthy. Yours may just need a little TLC. We really need to know about the oil pressure...

You know they are getting too big for their britches! But I guess you cannot have every guy on the grounds in the big top. Those spaces are reserved for 60 something's and their 28 year old bleach blond trophy wives !!!!

I agree, but I was thinking if I wanted to take this down time to rebuild the head. I know my rings are top notch due to the compression test, but I would not be surprised if my valve guides were a little worn. Meh, forget I mentioned it.

Intake came off with complete ease. There is a bit of buildup on the top of the intake valves and a nice thin layer of soot in the exhaust runners nothing alarming on either side. But I was wondering if it would be advisable to scrub and clean it out. It will no doubt cause a bunch of junk to fall in the cylinders. Better to spray some sea foam while it's running instead? Any advice before I assemble it all back?

I agree Steve, I would bet you I do not have a significant leak. Since my idle is so steady and my vacuum at idle is fairly strong and steady. However, I have bought into the thought I have to have a marginal leak down stream of the carbs that is aggravated by the higher vacuum inside the manifold at part throttle as RPM climbs. All the clues point to this. I can still try that trick though... It cannot possibly hurt anything. Just to be crazy anal, i have ordered a set of new carb insulators from courtesy Nissan so every gasket in the intake system will be OEM new. I am using Fel Pro intake/exhaust gaskets, which I trust. For all I know I have a slightly cracked insulator...so I will replace them and inspect the old ones.

Barret Jackson is the biggest money making scam in the world. Literally raping people of their money for setting up a tent and hooking up a microphone. Brilliant simply brilliant. he has created the illusion of exclusivity...the biggest asset one can have in today's image over substance marketplace.

PIcking up my intake manifold gaskets today.. .should have them on this weekend or at least by monday.

I have to admit, I have a soft spot for a crincle red valve cover!

That looks stunning buddy! GREAT Work.

That will be interesting to watch. That car needs so much work, it will be cool to see how historical significance plays out versus parts car condition...

Everybody breath and take a break. I am going to install new intake gaskets next and report back in a week or two.

HAHA...I will pass on the flat tops, but hell, they may work better! Correct just aluminum... I have not held it there for a super long time, not sure. I seem to remember doing that test in 1st gear, and the problem went away if I held it steady, but I will have to double check.

EDIT: Captain, I will see what I can find out with a vacuum gage hooked up while running! I am going to have gages wire tied all over the place. The source of this is very tricky and nefarious. But I will find it! NO way this is going to beat me..

Okay, Captain, you first... I run a factory air cleaner with the valve cover and fuel bowl vent tubes connected to it normally. It is just so much easier to tune the SU's as much as I have with the air cleaner off. Normally all is hooked up as the factory intended. The car acts the same either way. I pulled a piston out and the amount of shank I have showing in my first carb is appropriate. It appears level with the bottom most surface of the piston, with a sliver of shoulder showing...Not the Venturi groove. The picture in the FSM provided above shows using a straight edge over the bottom of the piston, but it is hard to make out if the straight edge is over the bottom of the piston or over the bottom of the groove. I think whether it is flush with the groove or flush with the bottom of the piston could be made up for with a turn or two of the mixture knob, as beer man pete suggests. I think the jet extension might be a red herring. I have contacted Z therapy about this. I sent Bruce a long PM last week, but have not heard back from him. I was hoping he would find this thread! I think I really need to start thinking about pulling off the intake and put a new gasket in. I MUST eliminate the 'smart' vacuum leak as a possibility or we will never make any progress. I am going to order two intake kits. One for this trouble shooting and ONE for the mikunis or webers that I am going to replace these with!!!!!!

Well the thing is that no stock 240Z should not be getting enough fuel with SM needles installed. (Unless they are installed wrong,which by all accounts they should not be) I checked my fuel bowl level using the clear fuel tubing trick, and the fuel level is coming up to the right height as measured from the fuel bowl sealing surface on both carbs... I am interested in what Blue was saying about scooting the needles up a bit. The unmachined portion of my needles, if you look in the picture above this post, where the letters KD and SM are stamped sticks out quite a bit from the bottom of my piston. I used the trick in the SU video to install them , but maybe they need to be up more into the bore. That would make me run lean. But before I do any of that, I am going to do a few things. First, since the valve cover is already off, I am going to check the valve clearance against the cold valve specs... Second, I am going to install a new valve cover Third, I am going to get the car running and spray around all the intake gaskets to see if there is a leak fourth, I am going to richen up the mixture either by the nut, or by sinking the needles into my pistons more... Did my timing chain look lose to anybody ?

NO sir. Completely smog free

It seems I am at a point where I need to drink a beer and just take a breath today. Steve, I did just what you guys are saying, with cranking down the A/F until I had an idle around 11.0, but it still went lean then started popping. What would be great to know is manifold vacuum during engine run. I have a vacuum gage and I can hook it up with a long tube to my old Vac Advance port which is currently plugged, and see what happens to my manifold vacuum under part throttle and WOT. It is one piece of the puzzle we do not have. All I know is my vacuum is about 20 at idle.

Another piece of the puzzle maybe... The shiny link on the timing chain is by the number 3 on the cam sprocket. Which may mean the chain was already advanced as far as it can be to make up for slop. The thing is the chain still feels a bit lose. I will post a video of the chain on the car... http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdamico/6709111751/