inline6

Worth a shot. Email sent.

Well, I was. I have both nozzles moving up and down without sticking now, but I managed to break the bent connecting rod (4) on the front carb. Somehow, with the screw not holding the (1) Connecting Plate A to the nozzle, the spring loaded mechanism for the choke jammed fully upwards, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I couldn't get it to pull down where it belonged. In a moment of frustration, I pulled on the linkage to bring it back down where it belongs, and sheared the connecting rod at the bottom, where there is a 90 degree bend. Anyone have a "parts" front carb, who could bare to part with (pun intended) the (4) connecting rod?

I measured my nozzle drop and got .370" for the back carburetor and .365" for the front. So, it seems I did a bit of exaggeration there! I tweaked the #1 bar a bit on the back carburetor and was able to achieve smooth up and down movement of the nozzle. I tested its movement repeatedly. That one is good! I am in the middle of doing the same thing to the bar on the front carburetor to get the front nozzle to stop sticking. Evidently, these bars have to be in quite a particular shape, or they allow a sideways force on the nozzle that can cause it to stick when it is extended out of the nozzle sleeve.

Ah, yeah right. The nozzle and the connecting plate A are the only parts that drop... not the idling mixture nut. So the stopper is not in play. The nozzles are new genuine Nissan units. Everything was/is clean. They only stick when they are pulled down "a long distance" by the choke cables. It is this distance that they drop that I keep thinking about. I am fairly certain that they are dropping as much as an inch or more. I have found it to be excessive - it isn't necessary to pull the choke lever fully to enrichen the mixture for starting. When I pull the choke lever fully, then the nozzles drop much further. With the choke lever pulled fully, the nozzles are possibly more out of the nozzle sleeve than in at that point. That is when they bind against the nozzle sleeve. As soon as I touch the bottom of either nozzle, it snaps upwards (the linkage is spring loaded) returning to the normal position. I will try to measure the amount of movement of the nozzle when pulling the choke lever and report back.

I've started driving the 240Z which I have been restoring since 2018. Many years ago, when I had SU's on my 12/70 240Z, the choke didn't work particularly well. I only needed to use the choke when it was actually cold out, like temperatures under 40, let's say. When I would operate the lever, the nozzles would drop. That would help the engine fire up, no problem. But, within a matter of a few seconds, the engine was "choking" on too rich a mixture, running really rough. I would, of course, push the choke cable towards the closed position. However, the engine would not run without me pressing the gas pedal - push the choke all the way in, it would die, leave it partially out, it would run very rough - way too rich. Fast forward about 30 years, and now I want to get the choke working properly on my newly restored 6/71 240Z. Referencing the factory workshop manual: "For the adjustment of the starting interlock opening, bend the connecting rod (4) as shown in Figure EF-45 with an appropriate tool such as radio pinchers to change its length." I have done this. When I did, the carburetors idle set screws had already been set properly, and the carbs synchronized. With the choke lever in the closed position, the lever that the connecting rod operates is not in contact with the throttle plate linkage. When the choke lever is pulled the connecting rod pulls on the lever, and the tab at the other end of the lever contacts the throttle plate linkage. To set the clearance of the throttle plate59 to .62 mm "throttle valve" to the carburetor body "throttle chamber" to the proper specification, ".59 to .62 mm (.0232 - .0271 in)", I flattened a piece of annealed wire with a hammer and the flat portion of my vise. I measured it with vernier calipers. When it was the right thickness, I used it as a custom feeler gauge. I inserted it in the carburetor port between the throttle plate and bore and adjusted the length of the connecting rod to set the gap. Now, when I pull on the choke lever, both linkages activate and open the throttle plates from their previous open location (as set by the idle set screws for proper idle when the chokes are not operating) to the correct specification. During operation of the choke lever, there is a finite amount of movement of the connecting rod and lever. As you pull the lever, there is some "dead area" where the lever moves, but where the linkage has not yet moved. Additionally, if I recall correctly, the choke lever requires a lot of movement from fully closed... to fully open, whereupon the connecting rod and linkage has then fully operated. To say it another way, when one pulls the choke lever to operate the choke, there is a small amount of movement where nothing in the choke linkage "has done anything", and then, as one pulls the choke lever more, the connecting rod engages the lever, and the lever engages the throttle plate linkage, causing the throttle plate to open further. So far, I have only been describing what happens to the connecting rod/lever/throttle plate when one operates the choke. However, there is another part which is important in the functionality of the system: the nozzle. As the choke lever is operated from closed to open, there is a point in that travel where the (1) "Connecting plate A engages. When it does, it pulls the jet nozzle downward. As explained in the workshop manual: Here is the problem I have right now with my car. When I pull the choke cable as far as it will go, the nozzles bind in the nozzle sleeves. Pushing choke lever forward, to disengage the starters is not sufficient to put the nozzles fully back into the nozzle sleeve. Instead, I have to tap on the bottoms of the nozzles with my fingers to get them to unstick and return. To address this problem, I am now focused on this: According to the workshop manual, that (2) stopper nut is supposed to be set so the idling adjust nuts can only be turned out 1/2 of a turn (from their operating position which is 2.2 turns down). One half a turn, is only .5 mm! If that was set properly on my car, that means the nozzles would only drop .5 mm when the choke lever is pulled. Can that be right? I have another question. This is something I can't find an answer for in the factory workshop manual. When securing the choke cables to the carburetor linkage with the set screw, do you push the choke lever as far forward as it will go? If you do that, there is some amount of "dead space" when pulling the choke lever before anything happens at the linkage. Does one pull the linkage up by hand until the lever contacts the throttle shaft and tighten the screw to affix the choke cable at that point instead? If done this way, there would be little to no dead space when pulling on the lever. Or, does one tighten the screw to affix the cable when the starter linkages are fully relaxed? And how do you ensure that both linkages activate the same amount?

Recently, I was lucky enough to win the auction for these battery covers parts:

I still have painting the bolts with yellow on my list as well. And interested to know what others have used. I noted that the original was gloss, not matte, as in this picture of a fastener for my anti-roll bar bracket: Perhaps this would be a good option, but want to see what others have used. https://www.amazon.com/Rust-Oleum-7747730-Performance-Protective-Sunburst/dp/B000I1CIUG?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&gQT=1&th=1

Looks like the answer is yes. I found this online: Georgia Code Section 40-2-41.1(b): So requirements are: You register like normal. $20/year. You get the current Georgia license plate. You keep the current Georgia license plate in the vehicle but need not display it from the rear. The historical license plate must be within 4 years of the model year, so if it's a 1985, then you can run a plate from 1981-1989.

Both sanding/polishing of the glass and installation in the door, dealing with alignment issues are things I did only months back. Getting scratches out of glass requires a lot of time and hard work. There are some tricks to follow for alignment. If I recall correctly, I found that getting the front sash aligned and secured first, while leaving the nuts on the back one loose was best. The back one wanted to be in a more horizontal orientation. I believe that one primarily sets how level the window is in the door - in relation to the top of the window frame. I was able to get the top edge of the window to align in parallel with the top part of the door frame. The front sash controls the fore and aft location of the window, but it also determines the path (angle of travel inside the door) the front of the window follows when going up and going down. For whatever reason, I found that I had to install a couple of thin washers between the sash and the metal inner door structure (on the left door only). That moved the front of the window outwards just a touch and fixed my alignment problems.

A peach! 😁 The tax for an old car like this one is $1 US dollar think. For the registration of the car on roads for a year, the amount is $20 US dollars. Thanks for the kind words about the restoration. I took it to a car event today, Caffeine and Octane, which is held at a large shopping mall parking lot on the first Sunday of every month. They claim to have 30,000+ attendees every month. Today, I was speaking with someone affiliated with the event, and he said they had over 60,000 people show up to one of these events a couple of years ago. The location is just a few miles away from my house, which is nice. I had some pleasant conversations with several people. Most who I talked with were a bit older than me, and they often mentioned having a 260Z or 240Z, or they had a friend that had one, while in college. Several used the phase "it brought back memories".

I worked on the car for a lot of hours today. I adjusted the brake pedal the proper way: I ran the bump stop all the way in, and threaded the rod into the clevis until I had the right measurement from the firewall/floor to the top surface of the pedal pad. That was 206 mm. Then I threaded the bump stop out until it moved the pedal down 3 mm. Net was 203 mm. Then I adjusted the clutch pedal the same way, setting it even with the brake pedal. I took the car for a short drive. The brakes and clutch work very nicely. When I got back, I put the car on the lift and check all around for leaks. The temperature sender nut needed to be tightened. I was getting some weeping there. The differential fill plug needed to be tightened - there was a drip there as well. The valve cover bolts also needed to be tightened. Some oil was making its way down the right side of the engine at the back corner. I also had a slight exhaust leak at one of the joints, so I tightened all the exhaust clamps. I had not tightened a couple of the clamp sufficiently. Lastly, I painted the tail light finishing panels and installed them. I used the BFM0360 Ford Dark Shadow grey (and matte clear). Comparing it to my NOS license light, the Dupli-color paint looks a bit lighter than the original color, but it is reasonably close.

Thanks Steve! I wondered why it wasn't in the factory workshop manual! Turns out, I hadn't hooked up the ground for the fan. Today, I drove the car around some more to "shake it down". The pads are bedding in, and I have good brakes now. It was nice to have a working fan and heat! Here is a fresh walk around video:

The "grocery getter today": Walking towards the car with my grocery haul, I laughed out loud as I gazed at the car. Though not quite as small as a Miata, the size of these things is quite laughable. Pictures of it by itself (purposely parked far away from others) don't reveal its compact size. But, put it next to nearly any modern vehicle and the small size becomes very apparent. My tire diameter is a little smaller than stock. So, even though I have a "red gear" speedometer drive to match the 4.11 rear end ratio, the speedometer appears to be off on the high side. I will check it vs. actual speed with my phone/GPS soon. For now, I am just trying to keep from being freaked out while I drive it around. For the first 15 or so miles, I have been pretty anxious, thinking of all the things that could go wrong. On the way back from the grocery store, I started to feel "at home again". The exhaust note is quite aggressive, and loud... and that is a good thing. 🙂 It has been 9 years since I have driven a 240Z, albeit the last one was my more "track focused" 240Z, which is an entirely different beast. I still have many things to finish up, some of which include: figuring out what to do about putting a speaker in the stock (rear, left) location. This is holding up putting the left side interior trim panels in place. decide whether to put the factory radio in the dash, or install a blue tooth compatible "Retrosound" unit. troubleshoot why interior fan is not functional install glove box door spray paint and install tail light finisher panels and rear license plate light spray paint and install front grill install steering wheel horn hub/garnish install luggage straps cut jute for the front floors install front right kick panel (I am still evaluating right door fit/alignment) Install storage compartment liners - glue to body Place jack and tire stops in storage compartment

I have installed the windshield - this time with the stainless trim! It's not fully in place as it should be - it sits about an 1/8 of an inch more toward the passenger side. However, that will auto correct when it sits in the hot sun for a bit. This third windshield seal was very flexible which made a big difference when installing the stainless trim pieces. And so far, this second windshield has not delaminated in the corners like the first one did. The other part I was waiting for was a replacement brake booster push rod. With its arrival last week, I was able to complete the rebuild of the brake booster and to get that installed in the car. Using a vacuum tool like this one - I was able to build vacuum to 500 mm Hg by connecting it to the hose from the booster and waiting the 15 seconds specified in the factory workshop manual to confirm it was within specification (did not lose 25 mm Hg or more in 15 seconds). With these two things completed (brake booster installed and windshield installed), I was ready to take the car for a brief test drive. The car now has 15 miles on it 😉 During that brief drive, I noted that the brakes are not 100% yet, and the exhaust was vibrating against the rear apron at idle. When I got back, I put the car back on the lift. I found a bit of brake fluid on the front right caliper, so I quickly cleaned that off and went around to all of the brake line fittings and ensured they were all tight. I will need to bleed the brakes again to ensure all air is out of the system. For the exhaust, I simply loosened the band clamp that holds the muffler to the tail pipe and moved the muffler forward 3/4". One of the things I was worried about was the differential. After all the trial and error with shimming and the custom work to rebuild it, I was worried I still didn't have the gears meshed properly and it would make a lot of noise. I am happy to report that I don't hear any noise coming from it. It is super quiet even. I am glad to have these two things that were holding me up out of the way!

Your new Z looks fantastic! I had a difficult choice of going with either orange or silver, which is the color my car was originally. I like the orange lot. Happy New Year!

I see that I haven't posted any updates in quite a while here. I have been waiting for a couple of items to arrive which held me up a bit. One of those was another windshield weather strip (the third). The second one, which I had on hand for many years, tore at one of the joints when I tried to install it on the new windshield (second one). I bought the third weather strip in an auction in Japan. It is a genuine Nissan one. It had a date on the part number sticker of December 11th, 2023 - (order is year, month, day): To install the windshield with less difficulty, I removed the dash from the car. I disliked having to do this, but I justified the action also because the factory clock was not working, and the cable operating the flap door which allows air to come from the cowl area into the passenger compartment was far too difficult to operate. Removing the dash assists with fixing these things. Regarding the clock, when powered, I saw some movement, but it seemed jammed. So, I took the clock apart. It was quite tricky to get it reassembled. I applied very light oil to all pins and hinges. I tested the motor, which functioned, but seemed to not operate smoothly - it had a resonance/vibration, and ultimately, I think the motor being worn out is the problem. In the spare parts I received with the car, there was another clock. I confirmed that it operates by hooking it up to a spare battery I have. So, I swapped front lenses (to use the one I had restored) and installed that clock in the dash. Some disassembly pics: One of the other jobs I crossed off my list in the last few weeks was making an exhaust hanger to complete the exhaust system installation. To make it look similar to the original, I referenced pictures I found online. For the metal, I used .120" thick (or so) sheet. I made a cardboard template. I bent the sheet in a 6" vise. I had to buy a pack of four of the rubber mounts. If you would like one, let me know. I cut a bolt and welded it to the bracket on the one side, and used a bolt and washers on the other side. Yesterday, I put the new windshield gasket on the windshield. While I bought brand new stainless windshield trim from Japan, I found that the curve on the left lower piece was not correct. Rather than modifying it, I used the original two lower pieces, which I thought I had lost. I sanded them with various grits of sandpaper for a few hours until they were polished. I could not find the top piece, however. So, I used the new one. Interestingly, the new pieces are a bit longer than the originals. I had to trim about 1/2" off of the top piece to make it fit. Right side and left side (before trimming): The weather strip corners need to be pulled upwards just a bit. Before I install the windshield, I will stretch the w/s more from the bottom and upwards on the sides, to raise these corners a bit, so everything fits properly.

Thanks for the info and pics. I found it odd that the parts book doesn't have the correct info for seat belts for my car. Here are pictures of my belts before I sent them off to have them redone: The original tags with lot numbers and date of manufacture were on two of the 6 belts. The buckle is the push button type. And the tab portion on the lap belt works with the "later" style shoulder belts.

I am trying to determine what hardware was originally used at each anchor point for the seat belts in my 6/71 car. I think the lap bolts just used a bolt, a serrated washer, and a paper washer as shown in these two pictures: I happen to have a couple of sets of "early" seat belts (one set is 10/70), and this hardware was at the shoulder belt anchor. From left to right, longer than usual bolt, thin (relatively) plastic washer with raised shoulder, thick (relative to the thin one) plastic washer with raised shoulder, black metal washer, black metal washer, red paper washer. This hardware seems to match perfectly the parts schematic: The belt anchor goes in between the two plastic washers like so: The shoulders butt up against each other, allowing the anchor to rotate easily even the bolt is torqued down tight in the car. The anchor for the 6/71 shoulder belt is a different part/design than the early belt. This hardware will not fit the 1971 shoulder belt, as the 1971 anchor is much smaller. It does not accommodate the large diameter of the plastic washers. Does anyone with a 2/71 through 1973 car have original hardware in their shoulder bolt location? Could you share details of what is there?

A new video is available to watch. Making a new ball for the front ball joint - wow!

If I recall correctly, I made one by buying 1/2" round, aluminum bar from Home Depot, cutting to length and using a hack saw and hand held belt sander to make the drive end. Probably 20 minutes of work to make it. Check the 1/2" dimension before buying it though - pulling that from memory.

Yes, thanks for the info. I really appreciate it. Like most things with these cars at this point in time, the cost can vary wildly from shop to shop, and it depends on the actual work performed, obviously. My car was about as rust free as you can find, but even so, I found rust damage I wouldn't want to leave unaddressed inside the rear most part of the rocker panels where the quarter panel folds over. For the car you are doing now, I'd recommend putting a scope inside there and checking that area out, if you don't already have plans to open that area up.

So... how will it work? You just hand them over the car with all sheet metal assembled and they take it from there? Are you given a ball park figure up front? Or, do they give you an hourly labor rate and then just update you as they go? I was trying to get my paint job (consisting of maybe 40 hours of labor plus spraying base and clear) done for less than $6k. Even though I put more than 2500 hours in, I failed miserably, as the price tag was more than $14k. I have several cars that need paint and am genuinely interested in the ball park figure you think you are looking at here.

I believe the plastic piece is a spacer that goes behind the fan switch in the center dash panel. I don't recognize the spring.

I glass beaded and primed (and painted) the inside of the cover and the back plate. Old parts aligned next to new parts, generally... I am not positive which way this replacement seal installs. It is different in design than the original one. It has a metal casing, whereas the old one did not. I think the new one installs with the black rubber backing (middle pic here) up facing upwards and with the spring retainer against it. The new one appears to be a press fit into the back plate. I will measure OD and see what the interference fit is.

So, you used both the black and the clear on the front side? And did you use the Alumiblast for the silver on the inside?