Captain Obvious

And jars of Vaseline. https://youtu.be/1yzKmekm80A?t=10

The arcade / museum in Manitou Springs. Lots of machines from decades gone by. Here's the results of Wal280z's grip test. No surprise: And here's my vote for the best pinball machine ever made. Bally's Fireball:

And a great time was had by all!! Here's a couple pics from my collection. Zup, CO, and wal280Z up on the mountain overlooking Colorado Springs. We're on the old Gold Camp Rd. This road used to be a railroad between Cripple Creek and Co. Springs. Since it wasn't used anymore, they took up the rails and turned it into a "road" sorta: There were a couple places along the old train route where it was easier to tunnel through the hills than go around them. Some of these tunnels have completely collapsed and are impassable, but some of them are still in use. Here's tunnel #1: We stopped for a break a little later in the day. This pic needs no explanation: Quick sightseeing stop at Helen Hunt Falls: Quick stop to see Starr Kempf's kinetic sculpture artwork: Bristol Brewing: Cog railway to the top of Pike's Peak: My crappy pics from the top of Pike's Peak don't do it justice at all, but here's what I got:

Thirds that.

Haha! Well that was inconclusive, so who knows? All we know at this point is that while the retaining straps are asymmetric, maybe even Datsun didn't care which way they went in. I mean, with so many people putting them in randomly over the years (because they never knew they were asymmetric), it clearly doesn't matter all that much. Thanks for the measurements!

Also forgot to ask... @CanTechZ, did you check the angles on the cross member as well? Do they reflect the same differences that exist on the retaining straps? If so, that would also help positively determine the correct direction for the straps. I have a cross member here that I could use to check, but I would have to spend some time just getting it clean enough to get good measurements. if yours is already clean enough?

Thanks for putting some quantitative numbers on my "they look different to me". So are you sure the clamps were in the right way before you took them off? In other words... Are you sure about that "56 degree end goes in front and the 50 degree end goes towards the rear"? Has your rack ever been off the cross member before? The rack I was messing with here when I noticed the difference had poly bushings in it, so I know some PO had been in there in the past. In other words... I have very little confidence that the straps were in the same position as when they first left the factory.

I haven't held those retaining straps against the rack since I took them off. If I get a chance today, I'll do that and snap some pics. Back when I first noticed the seeming asymmetry, I'm sure I tried that, but I don't remember how it turned out. And yes, they're rusty. Not "bottom of the sea boat anchor" rusty, but typical "fifty year old east coast car" rusty.

Doubtful but possible? The gusseting on the curves should make that relatively difficult. I think you could bend an ear down, but I'm seeing differences further up the radius.

The threadlock stuff is probably something like "90% strength after 24 hours, but could take up to a week to reach full strength". That's the typical ambiguous CYA cure statements they usually use. I think the CA based stuff requires steel ions and either moisture or lack of air to activate or something like that. There's a chance that the zinc plating on the hardware could slow it down some. In any event, I would be willing to give it a twist after it sat for 24 hours and see what happens. I also know that tight fitting threads would hold better. Some of the hardware store stuff is so sloppy that you're asking the threadlock to fill too large of a gap. Here's hoping you're good!

As far as I know, the bushings don't have a front or a back. Of course, the later years have a left and a right, but I've never seen any mention or heard any chatter about a front and a back. There's no mention in the FSM's that I could find. I was surprised to see what I (think I) saw. Makes me wonder if they really intended there to be an F/R and just didn't put that detail into the manuals. And it's not like I've ever heard anyone talk about problems there. "Yeah, I got some weird steering play that I can't figure out. I wonder if I got my retainer brackets on backwards." said nobody ever.

Since this topic is about steering racks... A little while ago I was messing with a donor steering rack and I noticed that the rack retaining straps appeared to be asymmetric. I've never ever seen any chatter about it, but it appears to me that these straps have a "front and a back"? The difference is subtle... I've included a sketch I whipped up to exaggerate and highlight the difference: The jury is still out on which way the straps should be installed, but here's what I found. I think the more gradual end goes towards the front of the car, but since I've never been in possession of a rack that hasn't been worked on in the past, I can't be sure: Thoughts from the collective? (This started on a different thread, but I thought it might be good to collect steering rack specific stuff here as well.)

Just another tricky day for you.

Here's some pics of the rack retaining straps that try to show the asymmetry I noticed. I've never ever seen any chatter about it, but it appears to me that these straps have a "front and a back"? The difference is subtle... I've included a sketch I whipped up to exaggerate and highlight the difference: The jury is still out on which way the straps should be installed, but here's what I found. I think the more gradual end goes towards the front of the car, but since I've never been in possession of a rack that hasn't been worked on in the past, I can't be sure: Thoughts from the collective?

Looking at the burrs and shiny spots on the end of the shell... Do you think they already cut down the length of a longer bushing? I also find it interesting that there's a mark on the outside diameter that reflects the location of the lube groove on the inside. I'm guessing that thing was cast bronze and the groove was cast in and not machined in?

I would try loctite red to glue wingnuts to the ends of two of the threaded rods. Makes quick and dirty "long length wing-bolts". Since they are just hand tightened, loctite red might be strong enough. If not something else like solder, braze, or weld if the loctite won't hold. Been a while since I looked at them in detail. but I think the originals are brazed. And for the receiving end, do what you had before... Stud threaded into the carbs and coupler on the other end to accept the newly created wing-bolts. Flat and rubber washers under the wingnuts. Cup washers optional.

As CanTechZ mentioned above, you need to put the air cleaner into the cover section before you slide the cover into place. The trick is that the M8 bolts that clamp everything together are "long wing bolts", not wingnuts onto a threaded shaft. That way, the bolts are not in the way when you slip the cover into place... They are kinda half hanging out of the cover portion. Slip the cover/air cleaner combination into place, and then twist the long wing bolts to hold tight. I thought someone fabricated their own version of those wing bolts? @zKars maybe? Seems like the crafty kind of thing he would do.

So what is the red megaphone thing at the rear corner of the valve cover? Remnants of an alarm system or something? I have no idea what that is:

Translation - "After she left the garage, I sat in the drivers seat, grabbed the steering wheel, and made 'vroom vroom' noises. It was fantastic."

I just took a look at a pair of (Hitachi version) SUs here, and the throttle opening cam starts to push on the throttle linkage at close to the same time the other linkage starts to move the nozzle down. So the answer seems to be... "Pretty much at the same time." Depending on where you have your nozzles set (how many turns down) and how you have the throttle opening linkage arm bent, you might get one a small amount ahead of the other, but not by much. I wasn't there when they designed it, but I suspect they were aiming at "the same time".

I looked through the FSMs a while ago and never found a complete diagram showing whole system including the tach. I whipped one up though using the 72 manual as a starting point. Doesn't show wire colors, but at least shows how things should be connected. Does this help at all? :

I found a razor knife in the cavity down under my windshield cowl panel. WOOOOO!!!!! $$$$$$$$

I'll check the next time I'm looking at a set of round tops. The amount of throttle increase is "adjustable"* but I thought the throttle increase is about the last thing that happens. Memory says (take that for what it's worth ) the nozzle has already started to drop before the idle increase kicks in. * By bending the linkage

I know you said the chain is already tight, but I'm thinking if you loosened the top of the curved (slack side) guide, it might give you enough slack to move the bottom end in and use the other hole.

That's not good. I heard about the flooding. Hope everything recedes and turns out OK. So definitely the first thing would be to check the choke cables to see if they are just too tight. And yes, I would leave a little margin there. In other words... You should be able to move the choke lever a little bit without the nozzles moving at all. I don't know if you need as much safety margin as what Patcon suggested, but if you've got the travel in the choke lever, then even that much doesn't hurt. Here's to hoping it's that simple.