Gary in NJ

I cleaned the engine of several years of flung oil from the past oil leak and detailed the engine bay. I reinstalled the alternator and retimed the engine using my newly painted timing marks. While I was at it I changed engine oil and oil filter. I ran the engine for 15 minutes to see if the oil leak returned. So far so good.

I was preparing to remove the harmonic balancer to replace the front oil seal. Although the engine was wet with oil, I took a look at the area around the HB and noticed it was dirty, but dry. I then rag-checked the area behind the HB and confirmed it was dry - not leaking. I cleaned the engine and ran it for 10 minutes. I noticed the engine was wet in the vicinity of the oil pump and alternator bracket. The pooling seemed to be most significant under/near where the alternator mount bolts to the engine block. I removed the alternator and the bracket and cleaned up the area with a rag. Just to be sure it wasn't the oil pump I put a torque wrench on the four bolts and checked them at 13 ft/lbs (the spec is 11 to 15). I got a click on all of them. The timing cover was a different story. I started checking the bolts that weren't suspected of leaking and found they could all use about a 1/4 turn. The one just above the wet zone took a full two turns. The one just below took almost a full turn. It would appear that the significant oil leak was the result of two loose bolts on the timing cover. That was a heck of a lot easier then replacing a front seal.

Set points (dwell @37 degrees), set timing (@5 degrees BTC), final-adjustment and balance of carbs, set low idle, set fast balance at 3000 rpm, installed a stock air box & filter, repaired vacuum leak on the balance tube and put all vacuum hoses back to correct position on air box. The flow-guide valve vacuum hose was missing as was the breather hose. Fuel filter was replaced. The engine tune-up is complete. Engine runs perfectly throughout entire rpm range. Drives well. When the harmonic balancer is off for front oil seal replacement, I will paint the timing marks to make future ignition timing easier. I removed the spare tire to clean the spare tire well. Upon inspection I discovered that the spare tire is an unused original Bridgestone RD-150. A collectors wet dream.

I began a full tune-up including adjustment of valve lash. Installed new spark plugs, points (lubed cam), condenser, cap, rotor and ignition wires. I also installed a drivers window crank clip. The intake valves were too tight, the exhaust valves were on spec or close. Three intake valves were at .003, one at .004 and one at .005. Three exhaust valves were on spec at .010 and the others were at .009. I suspect the rough running engine was a result of low rpm valve float on the three cylinders with .003" of intake valve lash. Due to the general lack of combustion in this engine, the spark plugs looked OK. Every little thing I do to this car brings it that much closer to being a perfect car. I can't explain the joy it brings me to work on this 40 year-old machine. It truly is a treat. First off, its great to use tools that I forgot I owned for several decades. But there is an honesty in the machinery. I give it something, and it gives me something back. I'm starting to really remember why I loved my first Z.

I disassembled, cleaned, inspected, rebuilt and performed the initial adjustment and balance of the SU Carbs. Greased/lubed door pins and all chassis pivot points. Checked dwell (28 degrees) - not even close. The floor mat is interfering with throttle movement. Upon disassembly of the carbs I discovered very dirty float bowls. The lower surface of both carbs had a coating of varnish and a lot of sand-like material. The floats were set too high; all the way at the top of the cover (should be 14mm from the top of the float to the bottom of the cover). That explains the rich mixture. The rear carb float was not in a level attitude. There was a lot of carbon on both the front and rear carb pistons & chambers. The piston on the rear carb had poor movement. I cut out a notch in driver floor mat to correct throttle movement. Doors now close nicely.

The car was delivered to my home on April 24th, 2010. 17 miles are shown on the odometer however the actual mileage is unknown (to me). Common sense says 300,017, but condition says less. The body of this car is damn-near perfect with no surface rust. There are some slight "waves" in pax door. Both doors are hard to close. The interior could use some attention. There is loose fitting trim and the plastic in the hatch area is not playing well together. Need to repair choke lever, driver window crank, pax window movement, throttle boot and the fan knob. Needs a friggin' arm rest. The car runs poorly. It appears to be running wizz-rich and is very rough running throughout entire rpm range. Needs a complete tune-up. The airbox is incorrect and contributing to the poor running engine (no air horns). Throttle only moves 1/4 travel. Leaks oil like the Exxon Valdez. Shifts through the gears fine. The car tracks straight and the alignment is correct. All systems work with the exception of the horn, stereo (cassette) and electric antenna.

The year was 1981. I was a freshman in college and my roommate John purchased a semi-ratty 1973 240Z. It was a nice car but I never gave the car much thought. Soon after purchasing this car my roommate allowed our third roommate to borrow the Z. Said third roommate had an accident with the Z. It was probably the best thing that ever happened to that car. Over the course of a few months John’s father (who owned his own auto repair business) repaired and restored the car. What John got back changed my view of the 240Z forever. I was in love with John’s 240Z and I knew that I had to have one. At the time nice examples were selling for $2,000 to $3,000 – way beyond what I could afford. At the time I was driving a rusted ’69 Camaro (250/3-speed manual) that cost me $400. About a year went by and I wanted a 240Z more then ever. During the summer of ‘83 I got a call from my roommate John. He told me that there was a 240Z for sale in his town that he “knew” had to be sold because the owner lost his license and his mother wanted the car gone. I drove down to his house and we went (uninvited) to look at the car. The car was rough. It was missing quite a few body parts from the front end. I noted they were stuffed in the back. Someone attempted to paint this car like a Bob Sharp racing Z, it was red below the belt-line and blue above. But the colors were all wrong because it was really maroon and sky-blue. On the positive side the interior was near perfect and it had a custom cabinet in the back that held speakers, reading lights, eq/power boost and a CB radio. It sounds hokey, but it was a cool cabinet. Without knowing if the car even started I approached the front door of the house and knocked on the door. “How much for the Z?” The young owner stepped outside and whispered “it’s not for sale”. From upstairs his mother screamed “it is for sale, sell it!” I drove away with a Series I ’71 240Z and a car-load of parts – all for $1,100. That evening each of those parts found their way back onto the car. In just a few weeks I had it running perfectly and looking good. I loved that car (but not the paint job). The front end wasn’t quite right, but all of its problems were concealed behind a front-end bra. This car has a full Ansa exhaust that just sang a beautiful song. In no time I “bonded” with this car and like may 20 year olds, the car became a big part of my life. Even in 1983, a 240 was unique and a real head turner. Given this cars extroverted appearance, it garnished its fair share of attention. As luck would have it, in February of ’84 I too suffered a “lucky” accident as someone hit my car and the front end was replaced, giving my car perfect bodywork. I begged the body shop to give me a quote to repaint the entire car (I so badly wanted my Z painted Porsche Guards Red like the 944’s of the day) but they said it was a project they’d rather not get involved in. They perfectly matched the maroon and sky-blue paint and off I drove with my Z. While the car was in the shop I had them add a large front air dam. As soon I got the car back I added clear headlight covers, driving lights and a rear window louver. That car was everything to me. On my first date with the woman that would become my wife, even she commented “this is a nice car” – and she could care less about such things. My red-on-blue 240Z is a fond early memory of our relationship. In the spring ’85 I was pulling into the parking lot of the residence hall and someone stopped me. “Nice car! How much?” I threw out a ridiculous figure of $3,500 and this stranger said “I’ll take it”. A few days later I had $3,500 in my hand, watching someone drive off with my pride and joy. I knew it was a mistake at the time. For years, maybe a decade, I mourned the loss of my Z. And everyone knew it. Whenever the subject of cool cars came up, I always found a way to mention my 240. In the early 90’s I purchased a 260Z and drove it for a few days, but it was a rat and I convinced the gentleman that I purchased it from to buy it back from me. I gave up the dream of owning a Z. The Z’s were and are still dear to my heart, but the dream was over. But not so for John. He became fairly successful and began his own personal car collection. One of his prize possessions is a well restored ’72 240Z that he has owned since 2005. He is the second owner of car that has spent the first 33-years of its life in California – the land of rust-free Z’s. Unfortunately for John, his priorities changed and he needed to shed some of his cars. Luckily for me, he thought of me when he thought of a good home for his 240. He called me and asked if I would “take custody” of his Z. Of course I said yes. Z dream is alive again

Full size spares are over rated, especially if you have nice wheels on the car. You're gonna change the spare as soon as possible so the car doesn't look like it has a spare on it. You could sand, prime and paint the space-saver, as well as the mounting bracket. A nice piece of rubber between the two (such as a cut-up tire tube) will keep it from rusting again.

I don't know if the side panels in the 280 are the same as the 240, but here's my setup, it might work for you. I fab'ed kick boxes that are installed just in front of the doors on the side panels. They attached directly to the interior panel. The box measures 6"x6"x1-3/4" and holds a 5-1/4" coax. It was made as follows: 6x6x1/4 hardboard, glued to: 6x6x3/4 MDF (with a 5-1/4" cutout), glued to: 6x6x3/4 MDF (with a 4-3/8" cutout), All covered in the finest black "rat fur". In all, two boxes took all of 30-45 minutes of actual work (not including drying time for the glue). With a 3" hole cut in the side panel, you can accommodate a 5-1/4 coax as deep as 2.5 inches (1-3/4 in the box and an additional 3/4" behind the side panel - leaving about 1/2 between the magnet and the fender). Back by the hatch, I installed a Bazooka powered bass tube. My Alpine head unit has a built-in crossover/HPF, so I don't have a lot of subsystems to make this all work. It's not the loudest system out there, but it does sound good.

You don't need to trim the cover. Turning it 90 degrees and giving a bit of a tilt, it comes right out.

Sounds like it was a stuck grosse valve. Good thing you caught and repaired that. That can be a fire hazard.

If your rear carb is fouling plugs, it's because your float height needs to be adjusted. It has little to due with the number of screws in the dome.

I'm resurrecting and old one here... I did a search last night on interior rivets and came across this thread. Gary, I liked your idea and decided to take a trip to the local Ace Hardware store. I had many parts in my hand, but left with these: The part on the top left is a #10 x 1 Trim Fastener. Below that is an o-ring and below that is a #8-10 drywall anchor (that happens to match my paint ) I used the o-ring to go between the fastener washer and the plastic, this way the washer wont cut through the plastic. Works like a charm. Thanks for the great tip Gary.

Indeed. To be clear, I'm not saying Bars doesn't work, it does. My only concern is creating a blockage where there wasn't. I have no experience with this happening, it is just a concern.

I'm kind of in this camp as well. What scares me about Bars and other sealant products are; what else are they sealing? I'm sure that the sealant doesn't only cling to the leaking problem, so by using these products you may fix one problem, but may create another.

Nice and straight. It's gonna be a stunner.

WiZeguy, Maybe. When I got this car it had so many issues; from the airpods, tight valves, misadjusted carbs, poor ignition - it's tough to tell what had the most impact. But if we were sitting around having a beer, I would suggest that the air horns on the stock airbox would provide superior airflow at lower speeds as the air horns help to accelerate the air (venturi effect via Mr. Bernulli). Since I spend 90% of the time between idle and 4000 rpm, that type of performance is what is most important. The pods might have an advantage at 5000 - 7000 rpms.

To the OP, glad you got it worked out. To epsark, 12-hour shifts makes you wanna type I guess The SU floats are solid. They should last a lifetime and a half - unless you use carb cleaner on them - then they swell. Setting/checking the floats should be an annual procedure. Reading your post it sounded like you had a high float, until you mentioned plugging one vent transferred the overflow to the other carb. Yes, you might have too much pressure on the fuel line - or the return is clogged.

Tough to say without seeing it. In the NE, rough cars fetch $3,000.

With the cover upside down and level (I hold mine in a vice on the inlet boss), measure 9/16" (or 14mm) from the underside of the cover to the top of the float. Make sure that the top of the float is parallel with the cover. Bend it into position if it's not. When taking the measurement, the valve should be closed (pin inserted) otherwise the mixture will be too lean. You'll need to replace the float gaskets. While you have the floats off, might as well remove the piston housing and give 'em a good cleaning.

They do look similar. Mine is now dry as a bone. The loose cover bolts were in fact my issue. I took the car out for a 1/2 hour ride last night. I looked under the car this morning - nice and dry. I got lucky (this time). Changing the front cover gasket is a royal pain. Actually, changing the gasket and sealing it (both sides) is easy - it's getting to that point that sucks.

You may not need to. The point I was making was without a known float height, the number of turns out on the knobs doesn't provide much information. A little backfiring under deceleration is usually the result a lean mixture. Go back and resync the carbs. Since you don't know your float height, don't bother with the chart in the FSM. Just adjust them for maximum rpm. After you have done that, resync/balance them.

Assuming that the engine was fully warmed up when you did your carb sync, time of day from one day to another shouldn't make that much difference (from "great" to "bad behavior"). Seasonal changes would make a difference. Was the backfiring under load or deceleration? It sounds like you may have the mixture set too lean. Before you started the sync, did you set your float heights (14mm from the top of the cover) or confirm that they were correct? The number of turns out on the nozzle adjustment is meaningless without he float height baseline.

Yokohama AVS ES700, P225/50VR-15. They're a little shorter then stock (23-7/8 v 24-3/4) resulting in a lower car and slight (4%) speedometer error. If you don't want the car lowered, 16 inch rims would be the correct size with 225/50's.

Not only does it look correct, it works correctly. I'm ready to frequent the local car shows now.