motorman7

Can you send me a link to his ebay store? Thanks.

I know, I know.....will have to get this bead blasted and the paint removed.....so many details.

No problem at all. It really helps to have a second set of eyes looking things over. With so many parts and all, it is easy to miss things. And yes, definitely a few more smog items on the US '73 and 74 Z's. Would be nice if there was a place to pick up some of these smog items new/NOS.

Got a 260 intake manifold off of eBay in today. It has several common parts that I am missing and seems to be in nice shape. Paint will need to be removed.

Thanks for the lead. This also looks promising and they are right down the road. http://www.olycoatings.com/dryfilm.html http://www.olycoatings.com/thermo.html I sent them an e-mail to get some more info.

Very cool, O-ring seals. I love it. For these carbs I am currently thinking that I will try and replicate the green material. For the needle alignment, I would think the one nub and three screws would get me pretty close...but probably not perfect, Depending on the screw and tab hole tolerance. Interesting that the bottom part of the one nub is missing. Sent from my C6902 using Classic Zcar Club mobile

Here's a better pic

Aaahhh, I see what you are saying about the cones. Yes, these are the two I plan on using. On the one carb, both of the plastic alignment nubs are on the base. On the other carb, one cone is stuck inthe vacuum chamber. EDIT: sorry about the bad pics. the vac chamber flange is hiding the base area where the cone is displaced. Thanks for the feedback on the shaft. I will clean both parts (shaft and bushings) up a bit and see how the fit is. I will have to try and find out what the green coating is, and yes, it does feel 'slippy'. It would be good if I could re-coat the area where the shaft contacts the bushing with the same green material or something similar.

Hi Snekers, The float pin can be removed by taking off the nut shown in the first picture below. I put an arrow on it. On the rear carb, the pin came out easy. The pin on the front carb was stuck, so I soaked it in Kroil for a day (which didn't help) and then ended up heating the housing lightly with a torch. That did the trick and the pin came out. Was very cautious with this as I did not want to damage the floats. The forward carb also was not as clean as the rear. In fact there was some blue-green colored goo in the area where the nozzle is. The second set of carbs is very different as you can see and has the floats on the base plate. I do not care for this design as much, but did want the zinc platable parts off of it. Also, the sight glass cover is a different shape. Interesting seeing the differences. Nice improvements on the -2 carbs. Both styles of the flat tops have bushings on the throttle spindle. As you can see in the pic, the bushing looks a bit oval (worn) so will need to look into getting a new one of these. Interesting seeing the green zinc chromate paint over the brass spindle rod. Not sure why they did that, corrosion preventative? The key to the re-build here will be all of those little parts. I made sure to collect every item from both sets. Will not send those to the plater as they may not make it back. I did a quick clean and polish of one of the vacuum chambers. They clean up well.

Yes, same here. Will post pics later today of forward carb disassembly. Just had to share this quickly: I usually talk with my wife about how the car work is coming along and what I am working on. I came in from the garage yesterday afternoon and she asked me how my "Flat Bread Carbs" were coming along. So, here is a nice picture of some 'Flat Bread Carbs'.......almost as nice as a good set of 'flat top carbs'. ?

I noted the throttle spindle seemed a bit loose in it's bushings. I will have to look into getting a new set of these. I may also be interested in the diaphragms if these to not hold a vacuum. Thanks for the comments.

Thanks for the heads up on this. Will make sure I keep the parts well organized so I don't inadvertently swap these items.

Hi Jim, I am really excited about working on these, believe it or not. Being a mechanical engineer by profession I really like all of the mechanisms, bushings, springs, etc. I have been actuating and cycling some of the mechanisms prior to disassembly just to nail down each function. I was actually pretty impressed with how smoothly the choke mechanism operated and how easy it was to remove the floats. Also, it was fairly clean inside, for the most part as you can see in the pics. It really helps to have the extra sets, that way I can be selective about the parts that I use for the primary set when the parts are re-zinced. I should have spares of most parts which will be nice. Also, having a completed carb will make the re-assembly go a bit faster. The key will be having everything organized and making sure all the parts operate well. For the Choke vacuum breakers, I am hoping that there are two good ones out of the four. I will hook up my vacuum pump and check them out here soon.

I cleaned the outside of the rear drums and painted them with high temp ceramic aluminum paint. They look pretty, but I am not sure that I like the finish. They seem a bit too glossy. I may change my mind and bead blast them and give them a high temp matte clear coat. And now what you all have been waiting for....I am venturing into the Flat Tops. I have three sets of the flat top carbs with two of them being mostly complete. The third set is missing the little diaphragm canisters, heat shields and linkage. The set on the left has the '2' stamped on the body and I am assuming those are the original carbs. They were also in the best condition. My plan here is to disassemble the best two sets and get all of the yellow zinc parts out to plating. I will keep the third, incomplete set, as a reference for when it's time to put everything back together. I have 4 rebuild kits. I will look through those when I start to put everything back together. Hopefully they are not too old and the rubber is all in good condition. I disassembled the rear carb and it looked to be in pretty nice shape. The trick with getting the phillips head screws out is to put the screwdriver in the screw head and tap the top of the screwdriver firmly with a hammer. That seems to loosen the screw and set the screwdriver deep in the head. All of the screw came out nicely using this method. I took lots of pics during disassembly to make sure this all goes back together correctly. Pics are below.

Just got the clock in from Ron at zclocks.com. This baby looks brand new! New quartz mechanism has been installed. Should be a lot more reliable than the old mech.

Got the Rotors and drums turned at the machine shop. Cleaned and re-packed hub bearings. Assembled passenger side hub and rotor to strut. Also attached the small brake lines. Started disassembly of the intake manifold parts and horn. Took lots of pics of these items for later reference.

That cast iron enamel looks nice! May have to pick some up.

Interesting. So looks like a matte grey paint on the steel. Probably to prevent corrosion. The matte grey kind of makes them look like aluminum.

I like the Duplicolor Brand. I get it from Pep Boys which has a nice paint selection. https://duplicolor.com/product/engine-enamel-with-ceramic

First I did an overall clean with paint thinner just to remove the grease and brake dust. Then wire wheeled each caliper side to remove all of the rust. Then high temp clear coat. I was able to get most of the rust off with the wire wheel. I had to use my drill with a small attachment to get into the crevices. The tricky thing (kind of dangerous really) is getting the pistons out to replace the internal seal. The first thing I did is use some Kroil on the piston edge to help loosen it. After letting it sit for a day, I used compressed air to force out the piston. On the slave side, there are two feed lines. I put my finger over one hole and used compressor air in the other to force the piston out. The important thing was to aim the piston at a 'backstop' because once it lets loose, it really flies. It is very tempting to watch the process, but I pretty much just turn my head away and pulse the compressed air till I hear the loud 'pop'. The master side is a bit more tricky. I had to plug the main feed line and the bleed line hole with threaded bolts, then repeat the process. After the pistons were out, I used lacquer thinner to clean off most of the gummy residue. For the residue that would not come off with the lacquer thinner, I lightly cleaned the area with 1000 grit sand paper.

Got one of the front calipers rebuilt (Before and After pic below, kind of), Funny thing, when you order front brake and rear brake shoes, you get 2 sets in each box. When you order a caliper rebuild kit, you only get a kit for one caliper. What's up with that? So, need to order another caliper rebuild kit. I will order those along with the new brake flex hose lines. I put the short brake line that is near the backing plate on. Those look pretty cool, so thought I would take a pic. Started cleaning up the fuel and brake lines. Will send those out to plate shortly. Taking the Brake drums and rotors to get turned tomorrow. Hopefully the brake drums will be OK. They have some deep grooves in them.

Cleaned up and re-built both rear brake cylinders. Installed the rear brake assembly with new brake shoes and springs for the passenger side rear strut. Also got the chrome in last week. They were pretty quick, taking just over two weeks. I think I will keep them wrapped up until I am ready to install.

Got the Steering Rack cleaned up, painted and lubed. Attached it to the front support with the new Energy bushings.

And, we have pics from the paint shop.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, will remove paint from the axle flange faces and spindle pin area. I saw that conversation on the Duffy thread (I think). I will however put a thin film of grease on the interface to help prevent rust on the mating surfaces. Interesting note: I worked space programs for 15 years and we used to use non-conductive thermal lube when mounting our electronic packages. It's sole purpose was to prevent corrosion set-up between the mating metal surfaces. The bolt torque was enough squeeze out the non-conductive lube between the metal surfaces so that you would get a good electrical connection, and the lube prevented corrosion. Go figure. I did not put in new wheel bearings. There was no play in the assembly and everything looked to be in good shape so I left it as is. And yes, it was great to meet and talk cars and flat tops in Atlanta! Hopefully we have many more opportunities in the future.