Mark Maras

On my 71 the "clothespin" springs, at the base, are not hooked in the loop. They are hooked on the back side. I really don't know which is right. As far as I know the head has never been apart. Is that a collet or piece of one on the right rocker?

If you're going to use a Datsun engine Rebello(sp.) is the answer for a high H.P. Z engine although 400 hp may be optimistic. If your choice is non Datsun, HybridZ has a lot of info on other swaps. These cars like lightweight engines. I've thought seriously about a 13B too. If you need info on that swap, I know a fellow near Portland who has put rotaries in; Triumph Spitfire, Volkswagen Beetle, MGB & many more than I can remember. He also rebuilds rotaries for the Mazda dealers & Bonneville salt flats. PM me if you want to contact him. I think this would be an excellent choice.

Welcome. You've come to the right place. Your story reminds me of my mom & my 396 Chevelle. She asked to take it to the store, next thing I know she's back inside telling me to go get my car out of the street in front of our house. She got it out of the driveway but it scared her to death. So she parked it in the street. Then she's on my dad's case because he's the one that was supposed to force me to sell it. Long story short, he drove it & I still remember the GRIN on his face when he came back, & the hell he went through with her because he said I could keep the car. Thanks dad. You will recieve lots of help from this club. Great info & willing members.

I use auto-resetting circuit breakers when working on specific circuits on my cars. They replace the existing fuse & are avail. at NAPA.

If the cat won't go for it, you may want to try them with milk & sugar. it's a possiblity that the PO's kids dropped cereal down the defroster vents. I've found some interesting things that were lodged in the blower fan that had to have come from the vents.

A couple of questions; Are there any other symptoms, Shifting, high speed vibrations, noise in any other gear? What shaft did you have to press in? Describe the diff. float.

I've never heard of all the rings going at once except lack of oil. Pull the valve cover and turn the engine over with the starter & see if everything looks normal. Before you give up on this engine it's worth checking the valve lash one more time. The adjustment doesn't have to be very far off to raise hell with the compression. If you go with the 200K engine it would be a good idea to take a c-test on it too.

First check the fuel pressure. Pull the outlet line & crank the engine over. It should squirt a fuel a couple of inches, once for every engine revolution. Check the fuel filters in the banjo fittings on the f-bowl tops. Turn the mixture screws all the way up & count the turns. 2 1/2 is about normal. If these are considerably different it is an indication that the float level is wrong. A quick search of "Quick & dirty carb tuning" will get you the details you will need.The best info I've found is from ZCarTherapy. They have a DVD on just SU carbs that explains all you need to know.

My 71 had a single choke lever from the factory that operated both chokes. The missing lever was for a hand throttle (20th century cruise control) & was discontinued shortly after production.

I had this problem a few years back. After trying all the suggestions above with no success, I finally pushed the wheel studs back which allowed the drums to rock & allow more movement. I was able to pull the top of the drum out & with some leverage pull it off.The bottom shoe was the one that was stuck on both sides

Remove the bungies & use duct tape, Red Green comes to mind. You gotta admit, it would be fast & effective.

I had a vibration in my 71 that I could feel in the stick but I pretty much ignored it because I was trying to find the 800 lb. bumblebee that came around at 80 mph +. it was so loud it would drown out my AM radio. I went through the trans & linkage, then replaced all six u-joints. b-bee was still there. Next step was to take the drive shaft to have it balanced. as it turned out the shaft was bent ever so slightly.They retubed the drive shaft, put in Spicer u-joints, & gave me a lecture on why I should never buy anything but the best. I couldn't stop grinning at the difference. It not only eliminated the stick & the b-bee vibration, but a few more that I assumed were normal. Check the d-shaft balance & go from there.

The PO of my car used crushed rock & solvent. He reportedly rolled the tank around the yard for a couple of hours to clean it. I don't know how well the chain will work but I peeked into my tank after he cleaned it & it is shiny now. Good luck

Oil pump shaft & dizzy installed wrong, no cam oiler tube, valves adjusted in fractions of an inch not thousanths. I'm sure there is a lot more POs creativity that I haven't discovered yet.

Z Manna?

Hey Geoff It sounds as if you may have caught the dreaded "As long as I'm in here I might as well". Actually, I'm glad that you are able to move on to bigger & better things. Thanks for keeping us up on the latest successes.

That is, without a doubt, the best looking roadster I've ever seen. I drove a friends 2 litre occasionally back in the mid 70s. In comparison to a MGB, which was my wife's first car, the Datsun wins in all catagories. Don't get me wrong, an MGB, with the top down, is great fun but a Datsun takes the fun to a higher level. I've always had a roadster on my wish list along with a 510. Enjoy

Although I don't own a Pertronix set-up & know virtually nothing about it, I've repeatedly read about this little problem of leaving the key on & and frying it, I'll leave the question of why anyone would sell or buy this product, to anyone who would like to educate me. The thing I'm curious about is, does anyone know how long you can safely leave the key on? Everyone writing about the problem seems to have a vague idea of the time frame. I'd be afraid to buy one for that reason alone. I really am curious about the positives this system offers because Pertronix was one of the options for an upgrade.

Congratulations Geoff How many times did you pinch yourself just to make sure it wasn't a dream? Assuming your Z is now running great, as the burn-out would indicate, two questions remain #1 Is it going to be your daily driver? & #2 Will your daughter ever trust it or want to be seen in it again? Enjoy this next week, Temp. near 80 Wed. Perfect Z weather in the NW.

Hi Geoff, While you're under the car, disconnect the clutch slave cylinder spring & see if you can move the clutch release arm for & aft. I adjust mine so there is about 1/4"-3/8" of movement. This will ensure the release bearing separates from the p-plate. If the r-bearing has been pushing on the p-plate, pushing on the clutch may not change the noise. My first impression while "listening to the video" was serious valve train noise. Pull the valve cover take a look & a listen. I think you'll find it there. Then I listened for the whirring noise & heard it. I think you'll find it in the valve train but I'm going to listen to it a few more times to take a shot at that one. Give me a call if I can help. Meanwhile, Fawlty Towers, John Cleese screaming at his car. It will make you laugh. Guaranteed

If & when you are going to change them, I recommend Spicer u-joints if you're not going to use Nissan. Cheap u-joints can cause or aggravate driveshaft vibration. A fairly common problem on Zs. The local driveshaft shop I use insists on Spicer joints when balancing.

Sus get leaner as the fuel level drops. The fuel level is supposed to be just a little below the top of the jet which is determined by the float level. Easy to test the vapor lock theory, test drive it with the hood cracked open. My previous 71 Z & I shared 20+ years as a DD & despite not having insulated f. lines, only a heat shield, I didn't experience V. lock once.

I'm going to take a shot at this. If we start with the normally dark plugs, idle was set with a rich mixture. As the engine starts to run low on gas the mixture leans out & the idle goes up. No power under load is classic low fuel supply to the carbs. There is plenty of fuel in the filter up front seemingly the problem exists from the filter to and including the carbs. Check the f. lines, filters in the banjo fittings on the float bowl & fuel pressure & volume test. There may be a filter in front of the gas tank too.

Ouch, it hurts a little more when you remember the price of gas pre 1973. At least we can enjoy our miles of driving.

I know little of the complexties of FI, being an SU guy, but there are basic similarities. I doubt the problem is fuel ratio related. The only way any engine will run at higher RPMs is increased air supply. More fuel is needed to sustain the higher revs but it starts with the air supply. Something is controlling the butterfly and preventing it from closing. Most carbs have a dashpot,(vac. diaph.) that allows the revs to fall normally, until just above idle. Think of it as a rev cushion. Whatever is causing this problem is attached to the throttle shaft or linkage and is temp. related too. Just out of curiousity how do your plugs look? It is possible running a very lean A/F ratio that an increse in fuel will raise the revs.