Captain Obvious

I wouldn't mind opening one of those up and poking around inside (if someone would send me one for autopsy). I don't have a need, but have always been curious about them.

Sorry, but I can't help you with your original question. I'm curious however... Why are you looking for a Z mechanic in KC when you're in Boston? I'm sure there are plenty of reasonable explanations for the situation, but just wondering.

Chas, Thanks for that closer-up pic of the spring. I think the pic I posted is of your car as well. I had "hoovered" some pics of cars when I was working on fuel line routing and piping, and you had posted a bunch that were quite helpful to figure out how things should be routed. Thanks!!

They brined the roads yesterday here in the Philadelphia area. Fun car driving season is officially over for me until the roads are clean in the spring. Bummer part for me is that it ended with a whimper. I was out with the Z a week or so ago and blew a coolant hose. Limped home and parked it. Didn't get to fixing it yet, so I even lost the last week of "drivability". Missed my chance for a last hurrah of the season. And it just started snowing here in the last five minutes. Sigh.

I feel so "big brothered!!" Decency police run amok.

Well therrrrsss your problem. Without crawling under my car for confirmation, I believe that rear mounted spring connects between the tab on the body (with the small hole in it) and the yoke that pulls on the cables. I took a quick look in the FSM and couldn't find a pic of it, but I did have this pic. Pic was intended to show hard line routings of fuel pump, etc, but if you squint a little and **** your head to the side a little like a confused dog, you can see a spring in there between the yoke and the body: So the question would be... Do you already have a corresponding small hole in the yoke?

Sorry... I said rag. I meant cork. I know it's a new radiator: http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/58783-overheating-after-modifications-what-am-i-overlooking/

I think there's already supposed to be a spring in the location you mentioned. That spring pulls the linkage to make sure the cables aren't under any tension when the brake is not engaged. But in order for that spring (that far back in the linkage) to prevent the handle from buzzing, you must have the system adjusted such that the handle is always "loaded", and I'm not sure I'm comfortable with that. In other words... I want my handle adjusted such that the first two clicks or so are simply "taking up slack". I don't want the first click to apply brakes. I want to make double dog sure that my brakes aren't dragging, and I'm willing to sacrifice a click or two for that Piece of Mind. My relatively weak topside spring is just enough to load the handle itself so it's held positively at the bottom of travel even when I have a little slack in the rest of the linkage.

Maybe there's a rag stuffed into the radiator connector nipple where the hose connects.

I didn't like my parking brake handle flopping around either so I added a spring. But I put mine topside. Details in this thread (which I just updated with replacement pics): http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/49952-parking-brake-handle-return-spring/

Refreshed thread with new pics. One of the things that's always bugged me was the lack of a return spring on the parking brake handle. The first couple clicks on my car were completely loose and floppy and the handle would rattle a little over bumps when driving because there was really nothing to hold the handle down. So I fixed it... I added a return spring. I messed around with a couple different options and here is the method I thought was the best option. Here's the parking brake assy from the top side. Looks completely normal from the top: But on the bottom side, I drilled a couple holes and made a spring to pull the handle down into the off position, Not a lot of force, but just enough to overcome stiction and the little spring in the warning lamp switch: Here's a couple close-ups of the spring: I gotta say that I really really like the modification. The handle stays down, doesn't rattle, and has much more of a positive feel to it when it reaches the OFF end of travel. It's unobtrusive and doesn't require any other changes to the car. It's all located on the dry clean side and I don't have to worry about the spring rusting or sticking... It's the little things that really increase the sense of driving pleasure!!

Wait... Have I been looking at it all wrong?? I'm thinking "I better hurry... I'm running out of time to do something stupid!"

I wasn't there to confirm the situation, but I have heard the same. I guess if you went back to the dealer a couple times and made a scene, I've heard some would put round tops on it to appease an unhappy customer. All that said, a true stock 73 should have flat tops, as should a 74. I can deal with an early 73 having a set of later design flat tops (since that update is documented in Nissan's literature), but I would start subtracting points for any round top on a 73 or 74 in a stock class. Flat Is Phat!! (I didn't make it up... I'm just promoting it.)

I suspect the different part numbers are because the early 73 cars used a slightly different design than by the time they got to the end of the 260 run. But with all the problems they had with the earliest designs (as discussed in that fuel system modification document) I believe dealers replaced a lot of them with the same design that are on the 260's.

I'm not really sure what you're asking here... If you are asking "if you manually open them by sticking a finger up into the valve to push the diaphragm up, does the valve close quickly when you remove your finger?" If that's the case, then the answer is "It will close as quickly as the air can get back into the chamber at the top of the actuating diaphragm." So, reaching a little and trying to guess what you're really asking... If there is nothing connected to the vacuum nipple and you push it open with a finger, I would expect it to close pretty fast. However, if you've got a piece of vacuum tubing connected to the EGR valve and that tubing leads to a closed off thermal vacuum valve or something, the EGR will close a lot slower. Does any of that make sense? Did I say that right?

Wow. That thing looks great. For three months of work and you've got something to that point already. That's fantastic. BTW - Those anti-squeal shims look just like all the ones I've ever seen. You've never seen that style before? That's the only style I've ever seen. All my hands on experience is with 260s and later. Maybe that's a later design?

The sound of one carb leaking.

The work you did on the throttle plate looks great. Well done! So you think the edge taper angle on the replacement was different than the original? Workmanship... Glad you went back to the original.

Haha!! Oh well. Can't blame me for trying!! I'm glad you're getting such good results. Hope it continues!

Yeah, really! Those things look great! Can I send you my parts too?!! If I brought a box to Zcon, would you have enough time to turn them around for me before I left?

I disagree with that 1000%. The only significant differences between what you have here and the 73-74 carbs is the integral float bowl and the inclusion of a REAL choke. Other than that, those 38mm flat tops are conceptually identical to the Z flat tops. So for all the folks who poo-poo the Z flat tops, but are drooling all over these things..... I got one word. "Hypocrite!"

Oh yeah there are. Maybe the earlier years are worse, but the 280's are not immune. On the other hand, maybe they're just not as bad because of the fuel injection being better than carbs?

Yuck. Sorry for your loss. Did the fire start in the engine compartment? Is that why the corners are pried up? To stick the extinguisher in there?

Story of my life. But we digress. Significantly.

Haha!! Nice! I see what you did there!