emccallum

This may sound crazy, but I have used the yellow 3M weatherstrip glue for gaskets. An old stock car engine builder showed me that a long time ago. That is all he uses. Works great to hold gaskets in place but work to remove later.

Thanks for the pics. That is just what I needed to know. The pic I posted was just one I got from online and it looks like someone "modified" that one. Mine actually look just like the pictures you posted. I turned it 90 degrees but didnt think try to get it in the notch. Makes sense now. It might be useful to glue the gasket to the lid. Thanks!!

Smoke is blue/white. Smells like an oil burner. After sitting not much smoke at first, then it gets worse as it runs. As you rev the smoke increases. Like its injecting oil into the cylinder, or sucking it in. When I lean out the carbs with the knob, it starts to fall off. Best running at 2 3/4 turns. Motor really runs very well. Valves might be a bit loose. Just smokes. Oil level is stable and oil looks good. It reminds me of an air cooled Porsche that has oil dripping into the heat exchangers. I wonder if my garage find exhaust might have been filled with oil or burning off old deposits? I would think that would all burn off pretty fast.

Complete engine overhaul. Stock build L24/e88. First start this weekend. 10w30 dino oil, engine fired up, held revs 1500-2k for about 30 min shut down and let cool. Noted a small amount of blue smoke. Restarted fine tuned timing, carbs etc. and blue smoke continued and got worse. Called engine guy. He thought the rings weren't seated. Said to run hotter 180-200 for an hour then shutdown, let cool. Lots of smoke. Engine seems to run well and no noises. Just smokes. Coolant is fine, engine runs with gauge right in the middle. Builder came by today checked plugs, compression and valve train. He isnt an SU guy, but really thinks the issue is too much fuel. Wet black plugs. Compression #'s were all 175-180. All immediately jumped to 90 at first rotation. Warm engine, throttle wide open, all plugs removed. Carbs are fresh from ztherapy. SM needles. I just dont see how they could dump that much fuel to cause the amount of smoke I am seeing. I am thinking valve guides. Is there any way the ATF fluid in the carbs could be getting sucked into the intake? I told the engine builder I would check out the carbs. The engine builder did the block and a machine shop did the head. Thinking the head is going to come off. Just wanted to get some input from the forum. Fun, fun. I often wonder what people who dont work on cars do with all their free time and money 🙂

Yes, the only way I was able to remove the lid was by loosening the float bowl from the carb. That gave me enough play to get the lid on/off. Kind of a pain, as that nut isnt very accessible. Hoping there was a secret trick if I have to do it again.

Thanks Mark. I tried the twist and I guess my twist wasn't quite right. I was concerned about compressing the float too much trying to get it in and screwing up the level.

What is the easiest way to remove the float to check the level on 3 screw carbs? There is a machined ledge that the cap hits after removing the four screws. I circled the area in red in the photo. I loosened the nut that holds the float chamber to the carb to give me enough room but I was just wondering if there is an easier way. Thanks

No just a minor pattern. Here is a close up of the Banzai headliner:

Measured the foam on my replacement headliner from Banzai. Its a bit over 1/2 inch. I measured another old one from a 280 and it was a little less than 1/2 inch. I would say 1/2 inch foam would be about right. FWIW, the one from the 280 did not have any holes. Picture of replacement headliner:

Between the decal and the sunroof, there was no way I could salvage this headliner! You may want to check a store like hobby lobby for foam. I bought a near perfect match for a bmw headliner there. I have had good luck with 3M headliner spray on adhesive.

end result 🙂

Carbs are due back from Ztherapy next week. I rigged up a temporary fuel supply as I dont want to install the tank until after the exterior bodywork and paint. This a temp tank for testing motorcycles I found online. I learned that water will in fact run out of the manifolds if you fill it up with water without the carbs in place 🙂 . Good thing I filled with distilled water for the initial start and testing. For now, I am going to keep the manifold water lines. I debated blocking them off or adding a bypass hardline, but I am going to go with stock and see how it works out. Old muffler/exhaust cleaned up and installed. Fit is very good. I fully expect the muffler to be toast, but I am not going to order one until I am certain. The header and pipes are very solid. Little by little it goes back together. Once I get it running, it is headed to a frame machine to double check it. I was having some issues with the front right fender/hood alignment and decided it may have had more contact than previously thought. Happy Easter!!

@CanTechZ , thank you so much! Just what I needed.

Any chance someone could measure the distance between the two muffler hanger frame mounts? My Inboard mount was broken off the frame. Of course, I forgot to reweld it prior to undercoating, and I cant recall the exact location as I did too good a job repairing the area 🙂 Picture attached that i got off the net with the needed measurement as a red line. Second picture of the piece I need to weld. If you have a good picture of how it is oriented that would be great. Many thanks.

I figured out the exhaust part, it is from a 79-83 zx. I must have grabbed it when I was robbing a zx of of parts.

Long story. I installed the rear diff on my 3/72 restoration. Later I found another new diff insulator on the shelf. The one I installed was Part #55415-E4102. Seemed to fit fine. I know now this insulator is from an early 240, and I must have had it in some old parts left over from another restoration. So I swapped the E4102 with the proper insulator, as I figure someone would likely need it in the future. As I scratched my head trying to figure out why both insulators seemed to fit fine, I started digging through some really old stuff looking for a diff crossmember to compare. I didnt find one, but I found this muffler part and I cant figure out where it is from. I thought it was the muffler hanger at the diff, but it just doesnt look right. I am thinking it might be from another car. I still dont understand the diff insulator. The one I ended up installing was 55415-N4301 which seems to supersede earlier ones, but not the the E4102. Maybe i just didnt realize the E4102 didnt fit, as I had not tightened the suspension completely, and its only about 35mm different. Muffler part: Early diff insulator

A little progress this weekend, but nothing significant. I am still waiting on my carbs to come back from Ztherapy. Hopefully in a week or so.

Yes, it had some debris fall out. If nothing else I can use the system as a template to have a new one built. I will probably give it a try and see what it sounds like.

In one of our storage sheds, I found an old 1974 (early) oem exhaust. It has been in the rafters since 1975 or so. My dad bought a new 260 and in short time, swapped the carbs and exhaust. I test fit it and it fits well. I need to source a chrome tip and a couple of hangers. I am thinking of painting the rear exhaust and resonator black, but I cant decide if I should just clean the pipes up as best I can, or hit them with some silver. Or should I keep the header pipe and scrap the rest? I think it would be neat to have an original exhaust, assuming the entire inside isnt completely trashed. Any thoughts?

You could try pushing/burning the rubber out and hacksaw the sleeve, then heat and press out the sleeve. That will usually get them moving. Time consuming and you dont want to cut into the control arm. I have resorted to that a time or two.

@Patcon you have a ton more projects than me! Thanks again for the help.

I was getting ready to post that I bought a gasket (a while back) and it fit fine.

Motor/trans installed yesterday. It sure takes a lot of tipping to get it to slide in. I had a good helper and got it in without scraping the hood latch or rad support.

Pretty pleased with most of the parts I have bought from zcardepot. The stuff I wasnt pleased with, they were responsive in returning or replacing them.

Well, they mailed back my VIN tag and it looked like they guy that drilled out the rivets was having a bad day. I ended up ordering a new one from a guy on ebay that makes them. Just Dashes agreed it was not acceptable and is reimbursing me for a new VIN tag. I really dont mind when people make mistakes, as I make plenty. It's how we handle it. Just Dashes made it right, I like that.