Mark Maras

The height of the bellhousing with the trans on the floor, creeper, or whatever it's going to sit on when pushing and pulling from under the car. My first trans. removal on a Z, I dropped the trans, and realized the car was too low. No more blocks or stands to lift it farther and my only transportation was up on stands. I ended up pulling the bellhousing (series one) from the trans under the car and reassembling the two under the car.

PO of my 260 used 1/2"(no minus) clean crushed rock and phosphoric acid. Said it was a PITA but it turned out good. Too bad he left it that way. No coating. Some visible rust inside now.

I don't have a can to verify but I believe WD-40 has petroleum distillates in it. Not the best but at least you could wipe the WD-40 off the boot after installation. It's the hydrocarbons that deteriorate rubber. If you have any dielectric grease, disc brake grease or hi temp grease in your supplies, use that. They are all silicone grease.

Early 71 had a twist knob, no lock.

I see quality Zs in the 15K-25K all the time. Some of those are 280s. The excellent restoration and the early build date should make this one more valuable than those. I'd be surprised if you couldn't get at least 25K for it. Possibly a lot more if you find a buyer, with a fat wallet, (top 1%) that has been trying to find a good one. You might contact Jay Leno. This car is soooo good he may be interested in it. And what a great home to send it to. Buyers in other parts of the world are paying extraordinary (ridiculous?) prices for these cars. Europe, Australia and especially the Middle Eastern countries are the ones that come to mind.

Thanks for sharing. I've heard of this method but haven't tried it. I was very impressed when the tunnel tar came off in one piece. I'll definitely try it in the future.

The value, depends on what your goal is and the amount of rust. $1500.00 seems realistic to me if the car is relatively complete. The radio and console with the ashtray is worth half that price. Body looks a bit ugly but if it's structurally sound &1500.00 is a bargain.

S30's ("one of the Jims") advice is what I would do. Don't use regular grease on rubber. It will deteriorate the rubber over time. I use Syl-Glide. a silicone base grease. Avail. at most auto parts stores and WM.

Congratulations Cliff. Well done. Celebrating a victory is always the best part of the job. Was it as difficult as you imagined? Any scratches? What ZH said about the valve valve cover. The engine bay is beginning to look like a brightly painted circus wagon.

Welcome to the club. What year is your Z? There were some minor door changes over the years. How bad and where is it bent? If you replace it, do you need everything or just the shell?

It's amazing how much time one can spend on a panel trying to get it "just right". Good job. Some people would have just troweled on a bunch of Bondo and sculpted it.

The first time I tried it, I couldn't get the engine over the rad. support. No choice but to pull the wheels and put it on a jack. Next time was the most primitive. Hung the engine from the garage rafters with a 1 ton cable jack and rolled the car forward as I dropped the engine into the bay and forward a little bit more as it aligned with the trans. input shaft. Put a few bolts in the bellhousing, Then it went up on four jackstands to finish the job. My point is there is no wrong way to do it. Even if you run into problems there are many options available. When you boil it down either the engine has to go down and back or the car has to come up and forward. I like the sling for the trans rear. I've used a small floor jack on a creeper to support the rear when dropping and sliding the engine and trans. into position. Makes it easy to lift it into place and hold it.

I usually put the rear up on jack stands. Ramps should work well too. The front I put on a floor jack, no tires, raise it up and put it on jack stands when the engine is in place or when you need to crawl underneath. When the engine was close to the proper position, I jacked up the front of the car instead of lowering the engine all the way down

That would be my guess. Are you missing any heat shields? What changed during the build to cause vapor lock now and not before?

Possibly a little water in the gas?

No top damage. PO must have lived near Mt. Flatten and found the upsidaisium.

The car may have had flat top SUs on at one time but you don't want those even if they were original. They were a P.O.S. as far as tunability and driveability were concerned. Pull the air cleaner housing off and take a few pics as well as counting the screws in the dome. Looking forward to pics. Ztherapy.com has lots of info on the differences between the different models of SUs.. While you're there order the DVD. LET THE HAPPY DANCE CONTINUE.

Go buy a Lottery Ticket. It appears to me that you have the carbs you want and need. I can't quite tell from the pics. but they appear to be the early SUs. (Hitachis) The 4 screws refers to the number of screws that hold the dome down. You're good to go.

I don't think those missing screws were hidden. It's possible they fell out because they were never tightened properly.

Happy Birthday "One of the Jims." Looks like the guests want cake.

I'd put in a new set of plugs and see what difference it makes. I've had plugs misfire at high RPMs that "looked" good. New engine may be running clean but it isn't sealed up quite yet. Also check the resistance in the plug wires and connections. If that makes no difference, I'd finish the tuneup. That will need to be done to eliminate the usual culprits.

What is your build date? If it came into existence June 1972 or after, it probably had flat top SUs. (according to info at Ztherapy) That may explain the previous mechanic's decision to change the carbs. Very few "orig" Zs that had flat tops still run them. BTW, it was a good decision depending on what you ended up with. I'm still curious. TZ's carb set-up above looks to be correct for pre-June 72s back to mid 71 and as complete as most people want them. You'll notice the balance tube between the carbs has a few plugs and unused bolt holes. Virtually everything that is missing is non critical and was emissions related. Those are, I believe, the ones the Cap'n are describing. Probably a bit more coolant plumbing than the early 4-screw carbs but good carbs none the less. If you're going back to SUs I (we) highly recommend getting the DVD "Just SUs" from Ztherapy. You'll never trust your carbs to a mechanic again and you'll have more knowledge about SUs than most "experts". Anyone want to correct or add any additional info?

Wouldn't the "local Datsun guy with a good rep" have noticed that and done SOMETHING about it at the time? Seems like it would have been obvious.

Hi Kira I'm curious what is wrong with your SUs? I'm assuming they're 3 screw, round tops or do you have something else on it? DGV Webers?

Glad you had someone look at it. Always good to get another opinion. Chas to the rescue. Great advice, Specs. AND homemade tools. Perfect.