Captain Obvious

Yeah, the JC Whitney catalog was like the Sears catalog was to the previous generation. Then came the internet for the car parts. Then came Harbor Freight for the cheap tools. Then came Amazon for everything else. The last order I place with JC Whitney was in 2014 and it was for KYB strut inserts for my 280Z. They had the best price I could find at the time. That order was on-line, but I remember the days of actually picking up the phone and calling them. I have fond memories of them as well. I didn't even have a VW, but I used to enjoy looking through all the pages and pages of bug parts anyway!

Huh. Well whadda you know? A local Z buddy of mine is (I think) planning to use his Z front cover on his ZX motor. Why? I believe the answer was "Because it's cleaner." Haha! I'm going to have to mention this to him...

What's old is new again. Carparts.com is JCWhitney. I ordered parts from some on-line entity way back when the internets started going commercial and I think it was carparts.com. I probably have some old yellowed receipt in a box in some file somewhere under the roof, but it's certainly not worth the time hunting for it. In any event, they fizzled and went dark. Probably competition from places like Rockauto doing the on-line thing better than they did. But in the middle of 2020 I got an email from JC saying they were re-launching the carparts.com thing: "JC Whitney has stayed in motion for more than a century, and we are constantly evolving to bring our customers quality auto parts at the best value. That’s why we’re excited to announce our first-ever line of accessories and overall relaunch on CarParts.com, where we’ll be able to provide you the same dedicated service, but upgraded with an even better shopping experience, along with the right parts to do the things you love—and to do them better! We’ll be moving over on July 16, 2020, and look forward to getting you set up in our new home. If you have a JC Whitney account, we’ll automatically create one for you on CarParts.com. Your JCW order history, address list, and My Garage details will still be available on CarParts.com after the change. Once migrated, you will receive a welcome email and we will automatically include you in our VIP Email List. For more information on account and email subscription transfers, orders in progress, warranties, and more, please visit the FAQ section on our history page." So what is old, is new again.

So I don't have any additional advice to make the install any easier, but I was thinking about your clutch problem a little more since we talked. I took a look at the exploded parts pics in the manual and I stick to the theory we discussed that there's something wrong with the valve that closes off the fluid reservoir when you push the pedal down. The valve is probably stuck open or the front seal is messed up. Either of those could occur maybe from leftover chips from the manufacturing process as ZH mentioned. In any event, good luck with the replacement and I hope your shoulder holds up! Try knocking on the outside of the master a couple times with a plastic screwdriver first... Maybe (longshot) if the front valve is just stuck, you might be able to knock it into temporary working position.

Agreed as well. There's no way I would swap the 77 spare tub into your 76 just because you've got a good 77 tank there. I've got a 77 and it has the smaller spare tire tub. I'd rather have a full size, full depth tub instead.

Ozzy says it's just a hand in the bush.

It's big, it's heavy, it's wood.

So any 78 that left the factory black was a Black Pearl? Or could you get black without it being a full "BP"?

Well it's going to take the rest of today to get THAT out of my head. Hold on.... Some old Aerosmith ought to do it... Although I did like the S.S. Sensible. Haha!!

Is there any way to be sure that it left the factory as a Black Pearl? Some sort of special stamping somewhere or something?

Nice overview on the experience history. I'm no mechanic either, but like you, I have found that attention to detail and cleanliness can go a long way towards success. And I'm glad to help. That beer will happen someday!

That part affects is the axial end play of the distributor shaft in the housing. If you switch over to a different piece (whether that is plastic or metal), you should check the end play and adjust the gap filling washers accordingly if necessary.

Yeah, the timing kits seem to be all over the place, but regardless of which one people use, there doesn't seem to be a lot of chatter about failures due to cheap or inferior versions. In other words... The timing kits all seem to be acceptable. That said, there are two things that I would really try to avoid. 1) Master links, and 2) cam gears without timing marks. I'd really prefer a continuous chain. What brand is that? As for the bright links, you can just do what you did and it's fine. Those timing links line up every 22 rotations of the crank (11 rotations of the cam), so you really only need them once: https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/62752-bright-links-on-timing-chain-line-up-every-11-rotations/ The timing gashes on the back of the cam gear are more of a nuisance. If everything you're putting in is new, you can/could/should be able to assume that there is no stretch and the timing is fine on hole #1, but it would be nice to have those marks. That's the Cloyes aftermarket cam gear, right? So how new are you to this hobby? You seem to be doing pretty good for someone new?

Yup. You still got it. And you're clearly a more comfortable man.

Yeah, I didn't even mention inspecting the threads on the head. So between sketchy heli-coils which probably led to uneven pressure, and the burrs on the rear journal, it's no surprise you had issues with alignment. Aren't PO's wonderful? So I bet you feel pretty good about it now that you have that cam spinning free, don't you? It's great when you find the real underlying issue(s) and fix it! Awesome!

LOL. Every pose anyone ever did is on the internets somewhere. But don't forget... Use the approved poses if you want to be a meme'r... Peace sign, bunny ears, fake wiener.

I have heard it said that "The original gasket (for the ZX) was made by NRZ Nippon Reinz". However, at some point Nissan changed sources because the last one I bought (from Nissan about a year ago) was made by Stone.

Excellent. And then not so excellent. I guess I'm a little relieved that sort of stuff doesn't happen to just me! So I'm unclear on the assembly lube you forgot. You don't need it between the towers and the head... You only need the assembly lube on the cam journals where they ride in the bearings. And you don't need to dismount the towers to put that lube on.

On that rearmost tower, I've seen situations where the cam journal was slightly narrower than the bearing in the tower. And that can result in a small lip in the tower bearing surface at the rear edge of the rearmost tower. Since the front/rear positioning of the entire cam is controlled by the hardware at the front of the cam, it's possible to insert the cam "too far" into the journals when doing a test fit. And if you do that, you can push the cam into and over that lip on the rearmost journal resulting in it being difficult to spin. I don't know if all of the heads work out this way, but in my limited experience I've seen that. So, the question is... Does the cam slip into the rear most journal almost all the way before it gets harder to turn? Or does the difficulty in turning it start as soon as you start to get that rearmost bearing engaged?

For me, that Memphis ZCON was the start of faces to a screen, but it has continued since then. I've hopped into a car with a Z guy I had never met before... In the middle of traffic. And after verifying that neither of us was carrying and axe, we went on a pub crawl. I've met for pancakes in Princeton with Z people I had never met before. I've met for project show-and-tell and food north of Toronto with Z people I had never met before. In Orlando, when you've seen enough of the Great Mouse and the other tourist attractions... I've met up with Z people there. I've even been invited to a meal at the parent's house of a Z guy who used to live close to me but now lives completely at the other end of the country. When traveling on completely non-Z related events, I've made stop-offs to see some friends and make new ones. I've met for coffee (and hopefully provide a short respite from the rigors and boredom of work travel) with Z people who find themselves in the area for a layover. I'm wondering if it's just the food and drink.....

Right. I should have mentioned that. But once they have seated, things should, or at least "COULD" be good. And something else I didn't mention... When you're tightening the bolts. the torque should shoot up real quick like. You shouldn't need to use the bolts to jack the towers down onto the head. It should go from nearly zero torque to turn the bolt head to significant torque in a very small amount of rotation. That's the sign that you had every thing clean, had no burrs, have the towers aligned on the dowels and seated properly with the plastic mallet tapping. if you find that you have to use a wrench and turn the bolt a significant amount* before the torque shoots up, you should stop... Take it apart again and find out why. * More than a half turn maybe?

And one more pic just to round out the collection... I'm always mentioning that the center linkage for the round-tops is longer than the linkage for the flat tops. Here's the two side-by-side so you can see the difference(s). I tried to line up the right ends for the pic:

And just so the flat-top guys don't feel out in the cold... Here's a pair of linkages for between the two flat-top carbs. Same scenario as above. One has had the throttle opener arm removed, but the washer is still present: It looks like it was done with a hacksaw or cutting disk. Again, I (probably) did this some time ago, but don't remember the details. Whoever did it was clever enough to place the saw slit on the underside where it wouldn't be noticeable when installed. I like to think I'm that clever. Here's a pic:

I took some pics. Here's are a pair of linkages for between the two round-top carbs. (Obviously) the top one has the throttle opener pivot, and the bottom one has had it removed: Shot from the end showing the throttle opener arm: And here you can see the file marks from where the pivot was removed from the other linkage. I (think I) did this, but it's been so long that the details have faded. In any event, here's the linkage with the pivot and brazed washer mechanically removed: