Captain Obvious

Haha! Yes. Yes, it is.

I'm with ya! ribeye... new wheels... ribeye,,, new wheels.

Metal shops could make them but the font wouldn't match. Not sure if you would really care... A mismatched font is better than no tag at all, right? Here in Pennsylvania, you need a pencil tracing of the VIN number when you apply for a PA title for a vehicle formerly from another state. The most common location to obtain that tracing is from the dashboard VIN plate although you can use other locations if they work. And if you can't get a legible tracing anywhere, you can have the vehicle visually inspected by a certified PA State Inspection Mechanic to verify the VIN instead of using a tracing.

I'm no expert on popular forum lingo, but I believe ttt means "To the top". Used to refresh and bump threads to the top of the display.

Good for the environment. Doesn't affect performance. Only drawbacks are weight, complexity, and aesthetics.

That was what I was thinking.

Let me start... "I'm announcing a release date for the HellFire Classic of May 15th." Good thing you didn't announce which year. Hahaha!!

Granny, That's beautiful work, but you're right... You've got the same unprotected connection between the alternator and the battery. Obviously (that's me), everything will work fine under normal circumstances, but it's those unforeseen and unexpected faults that fuses and links help with. I've never looked in depth at any fuse or alternator upgrades until now, and because of that, I've not given the details very much scrutiny. But now, simply by chance, I've been planning some wiring changes on my own car so I have familiarized myself with that part of the system. Do I really really think it's necessary to put some protection in there? Only if something goes wrong.

Here's some pics of a pair of beat up knobs. Since color is affected so much by camera, lighting, and other inputs, I included a can of ubiquitous seasoning for color reference: Here on the bottom, you can see some of the red tint: And here's a close up of the tops where you can see the red clearly on the right and even a little on the non-glued portion of the right side knob: And here's a close-up of the right side top where it looks like the wood looks "plastic". Even if you scrape at the grain down inside the hole, it doesn't flake off like grain should. On the outside where it's weathered you can dig into the grain (especially on the really beat knob on the left), but I think that's more a factor of 40 years of sun weathering and use:

Good thing you're doing here. Just sent you a PM with some requests.

I have also noticed that the OEM knobs are very heavy for their size. As far as I can tell, they are real wood, but I think they impregnated the wood with a sealant or plastic of some sort. Wouldn't be surprised it they used the same process on the steering wheels. And like CanTechZ, the knobs I've messed with looked like they were ORIGINALLY reddish tint. They are all sorts of brown now, but I've chipped busted screw threads out of a couple now and where they were never exposed to light or skin oil, they had a reddish hue. I've got one now with the threads out. The outside looks like the one 71Nissan240Z posted, but the inside looks like CanTechZ's. I'll snap a pic or two if I get a chance.

Nice work. That's gotta be waaaay better than what you started with!

Haha!! I'm not looking for any promotion. That just means more responsibility for not enough pay. I like it right where I am. Good luck with the project and remember... If I'm ever in Barbados or Jamaica, you're on the hook for the tour!

Bummer. Off with her head! If we weren't so far apart, I'd be more than happy to give you a hand getting this thing into tip-top shape.

I took another look at some of the other wiring diagrams (75-78) and verified that there is never a direct connection between anything and the battery positive except for the starter. Everything else is connected through the a fusible link. Take a look at the 75 wiring diagram and trace the white wire coming off the starter solenoid. It goes one and only one place, and that's to a fusible link. I didn't look back beyond 75, but I did verify 75 through 78. Makes sense to me and I wouldn't change that. I've never looked into the "fuse upgrades" that others have done... Is it standard procedure to eliminate that function as part of the upgrade?

I wouldn't bother changing the wire sizes there. Is there some reason you think you're in need of thicker gauge there or just thinking that since you're in there anyway? I mean, it won't hurt, but I don't think it's necessary. Remember, just because your alternator is CAPABLE of putting out 80A, doesn't mean that it WILL. It will only do that if you're running 80A worth of load, and that will happen... well, probably never. Hopefully never! And speaking of which... I'm concerned with the way you've drawn the wiring connection between the alternator and the battery. In the original system, there was a fusible link between the alternator and the battery. I think that's a good idea. I'm much more familiar with the 77 system than the 75, but I took a quick look at the wiring diagram and I think the 75 has one between the two as well.

Yeah, I'm sure you've thrown off the whole sensitivity of screw movement vs. mixture change because the holes are busted through. I'm guessing they're much more sensitive than they used to be. A couple notes on the pic I posted... For a sense of scale, the tip of the idle mixture screw is maybe .020 and the hole is maybe .040? Also, you figured out that I didn't include the spring or sealing washers and O-ring on the mixture screw, right? Took 'em off for the photo. They're probably very similar to yours. Take a deep breath, get them set as well as you can, and (if you can't get over the internal knowing they're like that) keep your eyes open for a replacement set. What's a set like that cost ballpark?

Here's a pic of a (non-Weber) carb where I have cross sectioned the body to illustrate the idle passageway details. This is probably very similar to what you're dealing with inside:

Well, unfortunately, my suggestion would be to either live with it the way it is or get replacement carbs. The ones you have are "repairable", but not without extraordinary means. If you can adjust the screws so that it idles OK and the plugs look good, then that's about the best you can do at this point. I know it's eating at you just knowing the damage is in there, but unless you've got the machines to do it and your labor time is "free", it would cost way more to fix those than to replace them.

I've messed with similar idle circuits on other carbs (other than Webers) and they're touchy. There's so little flow at idle that the geometry really matters. I feel for ya. That's no fun.

Maybe the valve was sticking in the guide as well and if the rocker pushed next to the valve stem (instead of ON the valve stem), it might have released the keepers. In any event, I'm thinking that trying to get a look at the piston top would be a good idea.

Man! You've got the worst luck... It's like you just can't catch a break! I'm a little confused about what it was that caused this failure. You said the rocker adjuster was loose and walked it's way back down into the head until the rocker became so loose that the rocker wasn't retained enough anymore and fell out of position. That can explain how your car got off it's rocker, but what's your theory as to how the valve keeper split collets came out? I'm thinking that those split collet retainers should never come out as long as the valve stem is help in tension. Maybe the rocker flopping around in there hit the side of the washer on top and released the tension on the keepers?

Excellent. I don't expect any issues. The only difference I can see between the two systems is that the Z has the vacuum sources for the two solenoid valves in series, while the ZX has them in parallel. Shouldn't matter though since the only time the FICD is actuated is when the system is calling for A/C. Not sure why they put them in series in the first place. Glad you'll be looking into this.

Yes, that tube around the back of the block carried water that passed through the original manifold back to the water pump inlet. With your new manifold, I'm assuming there are no provisions for water heat? I'm no cooling system expert, but I think it's important to have a small amount of flow through the thermostat housing, even when the engine is cold. If that area is completely stagnant, then you run the risk of overheating because the thermostat won't be subjected to the hot water and could instead be sitting in a stagnant cold pool. I believe most thermostats have a small bypass hole built into them to allow for just this kind of issue, but I wouldn't completely block off all those path(s) without first confirming that is the case. Eventually heat will make it's way into that area through conduction and eddy currents, but if you don't ensure some flow somewhere prior to the thermostat getting hot enough to open, it may be too late by the time it does.

Yeah, I was mostly kidding on the crowd funding a traditional mold for the dash. At $100 a piece, it would take 500 of us to come up with the 50K tooling for a traditional mold. I mean, I'd definitely be in for a hundred bucks, but at that rate, I don't think it's possible. I'm surprised someone hasn't molded a fiberglass shell that can be backfilled with polyurethane foam and foamed into position on the existing metal skeleton. Or foamed into place on a skinned original dash ("skinned" as in "had the original black covering removed, but the remainder of the entrails remain).