Mark Maras

"I recommend drinking the stuff" I found it interesting that the symptoms of ingesting too much zinc are identical to those of fume fever. If you've ever burned or welded anything covered in zinc (galvanized) without adequate ventilation, it doesn't take long for the symptoms to appear.

I'll bet they submerge it in alcohol to induce the amnesia. Works on humans too.

I would guess, he's about to get very busy. I can hear the wheels turning in the Captains' head or is it from the collective minds from the readers anywhere remotely near PA.

I agree with John. A good frame shop can assess the damage & determine if it's worth repairing. Years ago I loaned my Z to a good friend who promptly ran it head first into a curb when he didn't make a corner. The entire nose of the car was drooping a couple of inches & the insurance totaled it. Fortunately, a fellow sports car buff ran a body shop here in Portland & he repaired it. I drove the car another 15 years with no problems. Thanks Ted. Should you decide to repair it, will you have to fix your marriage too?

That's an excellent question. Unfortunately, I don't recall the documentary covering that aspect. They did show a car body panel that had substantial damage, repair itself in a sub zero temperature. I wonder if you dropped the temp. too far, you wouldn't end up with a flat sided flat topped vehicle resembling the Cube.

Soo glad I was wrong. Good job finding it. I likely would have started tearing things apart only to confirm nothing was wrong & have to keep searching.

I watched a documentary about these new alloys. Many different options are being investigated. Some will recover with heat or cold. I can imagine body shops having a drive-in freezer to straighten sheet metal or park your damaged ride until winter. Self healing crumple zones. I doubt we'll see this in cars anytime soon. Maybe NASCAR could lead the way. It would make interesting pit stops.

I soo hope I'm wrong but this sounds like an internal engine problem to me. Flywheels & starters tend to make more of a scraping sound which may or may not be intermittent. I wouldn't crank it with the starter until I pulled the valve cover & visually check out the valve train. Can't see anything wrong? Put a long plastic soda straw into each plug hole & carefully rotate the engine to TDC #1 cyl. compression stroke & check the cam timing. Watch the valves & straws while turning the engine & you may see the reason for the resistance.

If you can give a detailed description of what you don't like about your ride & what you did like about the other, I think the members can give you a lot of ideas that can improve your ride & everyone has an opinion or experience they want to share. There are many combinations of springs, shocks & sway bars & they are bolt-in.

First things first. I need to patch the battery size hole in the f. well before the b. tray goes in anyway. The damage is quite easy to imagine. Picture a hole below the battery that is about battery size & extends to about three inches from the frame rail. I can repair or replace the decrepit remains of the tray itself.

I'd like to see what you have. My 260 project is still in need of that part including the battery tray.

Hey Geoff I'm doing the "Snoopy happy feet dance" for you in Portland. Your description of a cold start is spot on. Sounds like you're very close to perfect. You're gonna love the carbs. Who knows, Maybe you can even convince Sarah that they aren't evil. Can't wait for the results from the butt-dyno run. So, is the new ignition sys. going to be installed, before or after the new build goes in? Great job. Mark

Agree with Site. Start with a the basics. You mentioned previously the plugs were wet. The question is, too much fuel, weak or mis-timed ignition or a combination of both? Have you tried pushing the nozzles up on the carbs? These can become stuck & stay in the choke position. If the mixture is already set rich, adding choke (dropped nozzles) can make it blubber. I kinda doubt it's cam timing. It seems if that was off the engine would still be firing on six cyl. It sounded like it was firing on one maybe two at the most.

What year is your car & what ignition system do you have? The more details you can include the better. I'd first check that each plug is firing. We'll take it from there.

Odd, I checked my 260, Sept 73 build date. If the connector, under the hood, comes out of the harness below the ID tag, mine has two yellow wires & is disconnected. The only three wire disconnected connectors are farther back & are not yellow FWIW.

Thanks, I'll add that to my list of descriptions.

I think they have finally taken crumple zone too far. This is wrong on so many levels. The least of which is using Datsun's good name on a p.o.s.

Please excuse my ignorance but what is the symptom of "lazy idle". I haven't heard the term used before now. It seems to be related to triples in this thread. The only triple setup I ever worked on was a 65 Pontiac GTO.

I submit this for your consideration. IT IS NOT A RECOMMENDATION. Harbor freight has a solar light rope. Charge is good for eight hours, it's eight feet long & it APPEARS to be sealed. It might be worth taking a look at to determine if it is safe to use in that explosive atmosphere. It is possible to negate the explosive atmosphere in the tank with liberal usage of dry ice. I watched a crew burn a hole in an underground gas tank that had been removed. They dumped a lot of dry ice in the top & waited until the CO2 gas was visibly coming out of the top of the tank. One guy fired up the torch & as I was rapidly retreating to a safe distance, he burned a walk-thru hole in it. I was amazed. This too is not a recommendation. Just thought it was on topic.

Don't panic yet. The first thing to do is set the rocker clearance. Then you can do a cylinder leak down test instead of a compression test. Out of place? Not to me. I once (back in the 70s) refreshed a 73 Z 4 speed in my apartment bedroom using a 4X8 sheet of plywood to (almost) protect the carpet. Trans. worked fine but the bedroom smelled like gear oil for a month.

Having driven a 70 MGB, (mirrors located forward) sure you can see something, just not enough to do you much good. In all fairness, if you drive one long enough, it is possible to "adapt" to them & actually use them. I remember it was my sore neck(from looking over my shoulders) that finally made me use them.

Siteunseen The balance tube is from an early 71.

I agree, scale is a PITA. Concerning this spring, I wouldn't heat it enough to form scale, just enough to keep it from breaking. Air quench HMMM, I'll have to try that.

The gentleman has that "I hate sanding" look on his face. I've seen it in the mirror a few times. Love the taxi sign on top. Uber vehicle?

I removed what was left of the panel in question on my project 260. After patching the body underneath I made a new one out of 16ga. galvanized sheet metal. It hasn't been installed yet but the plan is to raise the forward part of the panel so it slopes to the rear of the car. I've fitted it & it appears that it will work fine. The body, in that section, appears to have rusted from the bottom up. Much more work to be done at the rear of the car. spare tire well etc.