motorman7

Anthony, should be here most of weekend. Feel free to give me a call. Rich

Probably not the best thing to do, but I did send a short blast of air into my flat tops where the fuel line goes in after it sat for 3 years. It will spray gas out the intake end of the carb. Didn't seem to cause any damage. Make sure your choke cable is set right. Loosen the two screws that secure the choke cable at the carbs. Move the choke lever all the way forward. check that cables aren't bent or kinked and then re-tighten. This way the front and rear carbs pull evenly. Turn that big screw on the forward carb all the way closed then back it off half of a turn. This next item is critical! Make sure that the rubber tube that is just below the big forward carb screw and routes underneath to the rear carb is in very good condition. That means no leaks and no kinks. It is a balance tube and is very critical to smooth operation. Might want to check your float level thru the sight glass if you have a small mirror, although it is often hard to see. Make sure the carb needles inside your tuna cans are installed with the shoulder flush with the large piston. You may also want to open up the idle adjust screw a couple turns just for starting and re-adjust once you are warm. That should cover most of it. Also, I had a set of SM needles laying around so put those in my flat tops. Got those from Ztherapy for $30. They run very nicely. Rich

A few seconds of Glory....don't blink...Attached is the commercial my yellow Z was in for the San Diego County fair.

That is a bummer, the right bumper end does not look so good from your pictures. It seems like it is very hard to get good work done anymore. Best of luck there. I do like the paint color though :-)

That might be your problem right there. Petronix did not work well for me, though it has for others. My Petronix would miss above 4K RPM on my motor. Swapped it out for a 280zx dizzy and motor works wonderfully. I will stick with it.

They feel very nice. A bit stiffer than before, but it gives me a better feel for the road. The kids are totally nuts over them. They think they are the coolest things ever.

Thanks for posting the pics of our cars Jay. They do look good, although I still think mine is better I now am beginning to think we may have this Concours and Japanese car acceptance backwards, and I wonder if we are just not taking advantage of the opportunity here. The reality of the Muckenthaler Concours show is that their committee representative came looking for US at the MSA show, not us asking to be noticed by them. I also see that the Huntington Beach Concours and Palos Verdes Concours both have categories this year for our early Japanese sports cars. Maybe we are just not taking advantage of the opportunity to be noticed. Yes, we may not get the recognition of most of the Concours vehicles, but then again, most of our cars are not in the $100K or more range. In spite of our being put off to the side a bit, both Jay and I still had a good number of people interested in our cars and lot of good conversations. So maybe the opportunity is there to be had and we are letting it slip by. I know in the SoCal area there are good number of excellent Z's. I for one hope that we will continue to promote our cars and support events that will provide us the recognition and visibility. Just my two cents. Peace Out

Part 2 of pics

Jay and I went to the 2011 Muckenthaler show and were both entered in the 1978 and earlier Japanese sportscar division. The good new is that Jay and I got first and second place respectively. The bad news is that we were the only Japanese sports cars there. No Honda's, no Mazda's, no Toyota's. No other Datsun's. Oh well, nice to bring the Z's out for a little exposure. Actually, they were soaked by the rain for the first hour and then we got some beautiful sunshine. I forgot to take pics of the Z's - you've seen them enough times as it is. But I did take pics of some of the cool cars there. Here they are. Rich

I have a '73 with flat tops and yes mine came stock with both electrical and mechanical pumps. When I first purchased the car niether fuel pump worked, but the electrical did make noise. It also sat for 3-4 years. I tried running just the electrical, because it was making noise, but found that it was not pumping at all...just making noise. I went out and bought a new mechanical pump and by-passed the electrical pump and the car started right up. The car runs great without the electrical pump. I have been operating that way for several months now. I do have plans to install the electrical eventually but right now am running fine without it. I also blew out the lines with compressed air during the whole pump replacement process to make sure all the lines were clear. Hope that helps. Rich

Thanks for the feedback. It's really a pleasure to fix these cars up. It's therapy for me, plus gives me a lot of satisfaction. It keeps coming back to me how I told my wife I would fix this up and sell it when I first started the project, and she knew that I would not be able to sell. I have grown quite attached to it and love seeing it in my garage. Guess my wife knows me better than I know myself sometimes. Bonzi, yes, really happy and actually surprised at how nice they run after all I had heard. I think as long as all the tubing is solid and those side accelerator pumps are in good shape, they work well. The SU's are definitely less complex, but I like the looks of these in the motor. Also, still stripping my SPL311. That one will take a year I am sure. It should be quite nice when finished though. I love the lines. Thanks again for all the support, Rich

Got the Recarro's in my Yellow Z re-upholstered by a friend for fairly cheap, $200 each. The original cloth was pretty bad and lots of foam showing so had to do something. Matches the paint nicely. My son says I need to upgrade the sound system next. Will have to look into that eventually. Anyway, here are the seats (not screwed in yet, just shown in place). Rich

Thread update - Bruce at Z therapy might enjoy this: Since I've been driving the Silver Z a little bit more (getting seats re-done on Yellow Z), I decided to do a little toying around with the flat-tops. I balanced the choke cables, replaced the 38 year old balance(?) hose that was starting to go bad (that is a critical item for all flat tops owners), and put in some SM needles. Also removed the belt from the smog pump and corked the air galley so exhaust doesn't go back into the pump. What a difference. The car drives SWEET and perfect even when (California) cold. No coughs, no backfires. Good as new SU's any day. How's that saying go....once you go flat, you never go back....Just harassing the Flat-top haters. I'm a believer. Rich

Looks incredible! Thanks for posting the pics :classic:. The paint really shows of the nice curves of the body. Nicely Done! Rich

The suspense is killing me.....get on with the camera pics

You should be able to do that without removing the valve cover. If I am not mistaken, you should be able to stick your finger in the oil fill hole and feel the #1 cylinder exhaust lobe if it is timed correctly.

I've done that. Easy to fix though. No need to drain oil, just remove the oil pump and re-install shaft 180 degrees around. Pull distributor to get the correct angle.

Hi Micheal, Attached are the dimensions. Let me know if you need anything else. Thanks Again, Rich

I need the same under hood decals as well for my 73Z. Mine got painted over -Doh!

I’ve been driving the Silver Z to work the last couple days since the Yellow Z is getting the seats re-covered. After a couple days of adjusting, I have the flat-tops running pretty sweet. Initially I was too lean (I’m always shooting for the best gas mileage) and the car was hesitant off the line and under hard acceleration . Opened up the big ‘Playskool’ screw on the left of the front carb about a ¼ turn CCW and that did the trick. Car is running very sweet and every bit as good as the SU’s on my other Z’s. I still don’t think all the bad rap these carbs take is warranted. And, yes I’ve driven the last couple days in terrible I-5 traffic and hot weather. No vapor lock issues. No problems starting after stop. Still need to get the electric fuel pump near the tank operational. The pump works great, but for some reason no 12V power getting to it. Will look for the open in the next couple weeks. For now the electric pump is by-passed.

Here's a thread with some tips: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?35670-Timing-Chain-Install-with-Pics

Had a similar problem with my Yellow Z about a week ago and the battery is less than 6 months old. Turned out to be the small wire attaching to the solenoid was not making good contact with the solenoid tab. I crimped the contact a bit (female connector on wire) to make sure I got a good connection. Problem fixed. Had similar issue with fuel level connectors on silver Z. Just crimped the connector a bit so I got good contact and all works well. Corrosion sets up over time in these things. Rich

From the pics, The original hubcaps and rear trim color do look fairly close. Les' paint is lighter but also 41 years younger. A shameless excuse to show off my babies.

Odd, will have to take pics. My hubcaps are definitely gray but the grill and back seem more like a flat black color with rough texture. Would have to rule out sun exposure as rest of paint is great , but could be exhaust influence.

This does not seem to be correct. My original D hubcaps and tail lamp finisher and grill are un-restored and virtually untouched and they are no where near close in color or texture.