motorman7

Should be quite a few clubs involved. That is nice to see. Also, I hear the buffet is excellent! Nice way to finish up the drive.

The Empire Z 5th Annual Avocado Run will be taking place on March 6th, 2011. This will be a fun gathering of Z-car clubs driving through the Avocado Highway in Northern San Diego County. Cars from Empire Z, ZCSD, ZCCIV, Z32 and more will be in attendance. Last year there were over 75 Z's in the event. Details at: http://www.empirez.com/gallery/avocado_2011/avocado2011.htm See you there!

Thanks for the encouragement, and I honestly I feel the same way. I was talking with some people at the Cruisin' Grand show and they said they just get tired of the same old cars...it's nice to see something different. They were glad that I brought the Z's for a change of pace. I am all for American cars and have my favorites; Pantera's, AMX's, Chargers and Challengers to name a few. But the shows might be a little more interesting if they would be more accepting of the Imports. That I guess is my overall goal really, to get them to open the shows up. And or course, promote the Z and Z heritage. Keeping the Faith, Rich

Nice Car! Of course I love the color. Where in California are you located? Was guessing maybe South County of San Diego by the pics, but may be Nor Cal. Best regards, Rich

Continued my mission of crashing the party at the American Car show circuit in So Cal. Entered two of my Z's in the Escondido Cruisin' Grand car show. Amazingly another guy with a Z showed and we had 3 in a row. There were about 300 cars at the otherwise all US cars show. The response was great. Talked with a number of people who loved the cars and appreciated the stock Z cars I was approached early on by one of the event organizers. He thanked me for bringing my cars down and said they were a great addition to the show. He also appologized that there were no awards for foreign cars. I'm hoping that if I show up to enough of these that the foreign cars become more accepted. We'll see. It may all be in vain. Rich

Thanks for posting. Definitely will keep my eye on some of those parts.

I can make Phoenix. Not a bad drive from SD.

I like it! Nice work. Will be fun to start putting that back together. Rich

I need some of these too. Thanks for the post

I'll keep my eyes open in North County. Twice we've had stolen cars parked near our house, but they were Honda's. Hope it shows up as the car looks nice. Rich

It's even faster when I click on your Xenon Link. Sorry, just lazy. Boy, after reviewing that document makes me want to take up heart surgery

Me too. Would save me a search on Xenon especially since you started a thread here . Love my Flat tops! Drove the '73 about 30 miles to Z club meeting. After she warmed up was incredibly smooth.

I wonder why they don't start with the 1970 model year? I would have thought 1970-1972.

Washed the Z as it had about 3 months worth of dust on it and took it for a spin around the neighborhood. The car is very smooth and quiet. I am surprised that the original mufflers are still working well. Shocks are not bad either. The ride and noise (fairly quiet) are about the same as the '70. I am very happy with the ride. Turned on the radio, ran the antenna up and I got music-YES! I really am not sure what year car the stereo came out of but it has FM stereo. The word 'stereo' lights up in red when I am getting and FM stereo station. Very cool. Took one photo outside in the sun. Will send the Pic to Hagerty's along with a motor pic for insurance documentation.

Thanks everyone for all of the best wishes. I appreciate your support and thoughtfulness. Rich

It is a sad day in the life of HLS30-02614. Yesterday around 4:00 PM William Rodner, the original owner of HLS30-02614 passed away at the age of 88. He lived and long and good life and took phenomenal care of the car for 38 years. I will keep this short. I am forever grateful that my dad had the confidence in me to pass down to me one of his greatest joys to carry on the flame. I think of him every time I see the car and still call it dad’s car. My dad taught me how to work on cars and take care of them. He was a very kind, gentle and caring man. May he rest in peace.

You are correct, my bad...Roadster event in Solvang on April 30, 2011. Should have been more clear on my earlier comment: for me, the MSA show is 800 pound gorilla. Whenever they have the show is when I show up. Every other event revolves around that.

"Schedule confilcts" of Datsun/Nissan events? In my mind, other than the JCCS, there are no other "Events" for Z's in SoCal. Note: I consider an event to be a show with more than 100 cars.

Having tuned and running flat tops on my 73, and round tops on both my '70 and '71, I have several observations. When the engine is cold, the round tops run better and are more predictable. The flat tops are a bit more finicky than the round tops and like to let out a backfire or two before they are happy. Once the engine is warm, my flat tops are on par with the round tops. The round tops are much easier to work on and remove. The flat tops are a chore to remove due to the extra waterline that runs through them. In addition, the 4 nuts that secure them to the manifold are a bit harder to access due to the larger size of the flat top carb. The flat tops are really a cross between a standard carburetor (the float bowl section, 'Power valve' section) and the side draft carbs (Needle with vacuum chamber). To work on the float bowl, the flat top must be removed from the engine. Although, the nice thing about the flat tops is that there is a sight window on the side that allows you to check your float bowl level without removing tubes and taking measurements. Use a small mirror and you can check the levels very easily. Not so easy on the round tops. I read all three of the listed references and felt that the zparts article was the most fair. The author made one key point that is often overlooked and is critical; that being the Power Valve. It is the equivalent of the accelerator pump in a standard carb. If your accelerator pump in your standard carb is bad or disconnected, car runs lame. Same with the flat tops. As the zparts article said, this is often the trouble area with flat tops. The 'pump' instead of being a metal piston, like a normal carb is a thin membrane. Membrane tears, then carbs run bad. The fix is pretty easy, put in a new membrane. This can be done without removing the carb from the manifold -but may not be recommended. Also, the holes that the gas pumps through are small and can clog. Make sure these are clean. Anyway, since I have worked on both types of carbs and am running both types of carbs I felt that I could offer an unbiased opinion based on real life experience. Peace out

smog pump bracket missing (that's not a bad thing). Wire may be for condenser on original point distributor. Maybe you have electronic ign?

I couldn't find one for my '73, so I used some black cloth tape to make it look similar to my smog hoses. Not perfect, but it looks clean.

Continued work on the interior. Fixing two cracks in the center console with gorilla glue and some plastic strips on the inside for strength. Used some epoxy on the outsid to fill the cracks. Will paint with the black outdoor furniture paint as discussed in the console restoration thread. Took out the PO's Kenwood cassette player and installed my retro radio. Quite a chore to put this guy in. Was able to install the radio without completely disassembling the heater control panel. I did, however, undo all four panel screws and pulled it out about an inch. By removing the fuse box and lower U channel that support the console, I was able to squeeze it in. Looks great and powers up nicely. Now back to the console. Hopefully I can get that in this week.

Love it!..Makes me want to start another one, and I'm not even finished with my current one. Wish I had that kind of garage space, but I live in So Cal.

1967 1/2 , 2000 Roadsters are the prize of the roadster releases. Low production rate...and beautiful cars.