Mark Maras

Hey Jim Congrats on a successful trip. I remember the hydroplaning problem. Driving along just fine & all of a sudden the steering wheel goes loose. Had a trip from Enumclaw to Portland one time in those conditions. The s-wheel was loose half the time. It will wear you out. PM me your address so we can get some goodies to you. It's berry season here. Take care Mark

Disconnect the flat linkage attached to the jet nozzle & see if that allows the nozzle to slide up & down smoothly.The linkage occasionally needs a bit of a twist to align perfectly with the bushing & screw. Slide the nozzle up & down with & without the jet needle in place & do the drop test on the piston to ensure the nozzle is aligned with the jet. Lube tho outside of the jet nozzle before reassembly.

I ran my SUs a little on the rich side with ATF & a mech. pump. The engine always ran strong with that combo. (everything stock) There were countless 6 grand shifts and a few "lost in the moment" 6 1/2 - 7 grand shifts. I could feel the power peak about 5500, but that wasn't lack of fuel. That said & remembering your goals, I'd just stay with the elec. pump. They are easy to diagnose & fairly reliable unless they are made by Lucas. The orig. with a regulator or a lower pressure quiet pump such as the RX7 pump. It is likely the elec. pump from a 74 260 would be a bolt in too. Mark

Geoff Have you thought about trying the new carb set-up on your old engine first? You could tune & balance them on a known engine then swap the whole set-up onto the new engine. A few tweaks to allow for the new build & it should run great. It would also be very interesting to compare the performance difference between the FI & the SUs on a known engine. Mark

Thanks for the tech article. The testing procedure is particularly interesting. I remember the elec. gremlins that arose from not replacing the ground wire on the valve cover of the small block Chevys. My dad always said "you can't have too many grounds" & proved it many times by bringing a circuit to life by adding a ground. Easier than finding the bad connection for him. Coolant as a ground circuit=corroded rad. fittings, timing covers, diesel engine blocks maybe even Subaru head gaskets. I think I'm going to run the tests on my Subie first.

Hey Buddy, Have a safe trip. As far as what else to bring, you probably already have it in the trailer. Good to be traveling with a friend, although I suspect your friend will have a lot of catching up to do. While you are waiting, you could send us pics or videos of your latest vista filled, "Italian tune-up" run for fun. I suspect there will be more than a few. BTW, does your friend carry bail money? PM me your new address. Kathy wants to be sure you get some of the next run of "juice". It will come in a Mason jar as usual. Take care Mark

Don't know if you're familiar with the Peanuts comic strip but Snoopy had a happy dance that is appropriate for this occasion. Congratulations.

I have been curious about the source of the pitting inside the t. cover for a while & your theory about the current path (or lack of it) thru the block may explain why. Some old covers are pitted & others not. Is it possible that without a "solid" ground thru any of the bolts & assuming that the coolant is acidic enough to act as an electrolyte, is it likely some of the current is flowing between the dissimilar metals, pitting the alum? It may also be the pitting is caused by galvanic action alone. Any thoughts?

AWAUDIO Although I don't know the why, the fuel line holders on my 71 were also squeezed together just enough that they were non-removable from the lines.

My early 71 has the flat top bolts w-flanges.

As far as the ignition switch goes, I'd remove it & take it to a locksmith. They have the knowledge & parts to repair it. Clutch-First check the clutch master cylinder on the firewall, (outboard of the brake master cylinder) for fluid. If there is none you will need to bleed the clutch hydraulic system of air. Any service manual has the procedure. If the reservoir is empty, before proceeding with the bleeding, on the end of the master & slave cyl. there is a rubber seal over the end of each cylinder. The slave cyl. is on the left side of the bell housing. Pull both of them back & look for moisture(brake fluid) under the seals & check them periodically while you're bleeding. It is the most common point of leakage. Report back please.

IMO, I would give Steve at Ztherapy a call. He will be able to sort out these issues & recommend the proper needles for your application. I suspect the horsepower will drop but you will have gained drive-ability. Frame the dyno-sheets & proudly hang them on the wall. P.S. Keep those old needles.

Mine is an early 74. RLS30-003060-9/73. As near as I can tell, I'm the 4th owner. 2nd & 3rd owners tore it apart, attempted to get it back together & gave up. I did notice a few unused threaded holes on the fender well that may have held the button. Personally, I'm glad it's gone. I really dislike the extraneous bull $h!t that manufacturers keep adding to a good product. Traditionally they keep going until they've ruined it. I have an early 71 & an early 74, Comparing the wire diagrams, three years is all it took Datsun to turn a quite simple electrical system into a mystifying maze of wires with little actual improvement.

Thanks for that concise explanation. It makes perfect sense now. Proof you can teach an old dog new tricks.

News to me too. How many years did they include it? Evidently my 74 was disarmed properly. No red button on mine & the seat belt switch is not working. Is the red button a remote start or something else like a reset button of some sort? Inquiring minds want to know.

My early 71 has a plastic tank. I thought they all had an evap. tank of some sort.

I'm with the Reverend on this one. Logically, to me, it would seem as if the reg. would go before the carbs. I don't doubt what you say, but I'd still like to know why it goes after the carbs. Anyone?

I'm reminded of a 510 story involving a party, a week long torrential downpour & friends in a local sports car club. Late one evening when the party was running dangerously low on "supplies". Eric, courageously volunteered to brave the storm & return to his house & pick up more "supplies" so the party could continue late into the night. It seems as though Jim's 510 was parked behind Eric's Audi Fox. Jim, who didn't want to go out in the storm, was in no shape to drive nor any shape to make any kind of wise decision throws Eric his keys. Eric, who is in no better shape than Jim grabs the keys & is gone. Taking full advantage of the opportunity, he is driving briskly when he comes to the crest of a small hill & in front of him is a flooded road. He stands on the wet brakes & comes to a stop with the car in the water. As he is sitting there collecting himself, the front of the car starts to drift to the left. Panic time. He throws the trans. into reverse but the car doesn't move except to drift a little farther. He opens the door, he jumps out, water goes in, he grabs the rear fenderwell & starts pulling. As he is pulling, the sinking car finally makes contact with the road. The car is still running & in reverse as the car is backing up he hops in, takes a detour home where he pulls the 510s belly plugs & then returns to the party to explain to a totaled Jim & give him the plugs. It seems there was a lot more to explain the next day when Jim's head cleared & he hopped in his car & found it soaked. Amazingly, Eric & Jim remained friends during & after the two week 510 dry-out.

If 15-20 mm is the end clearance, I'd push the prop. shaft all the way in, mark the housing, then pull the shaft out 15-20 mm and give it the shake test. If it goes away you need a longer shaft. If it remains, I'd look at the rear housing bushing. Hope this helps.

Thanks for sharing that great Datsun story. It looks like Blue & the Captain (& probably most of us) have many more. Please guys, Don't leave us in suspense.

What a great time we had today, Another artery clogging breakfast, the same cute coffee girl. (Geoff got her picture this time), lots of of Z talk, beautiful weather & a couple of Zs that drew in some people that joined the Z conversation in the parking lot. Geoff & Jim headed back to Seattle after to spend the rest of the day installing new valve seals in Jim's Z. All in all a great day for everyone. Mark

Mustache wax! I've heard of that. Let us all know how it works!

It looks great. You took the ugly duckling & transformed it into a swan. Good job. Give yourself a pat on the back. As far as the polishing goes, This is what I see coming & you probably have already considered-The cyl. head "(which used look just fine) now looks like a$$ next to the polished bits, Looks like a little more clean up is necessary."

I'll throw my hat in also. I think we all have a soft spot for the roadsters probably 510s too. Love to see some pics.

Intermittent problems are a major PITA. My first guess would be timing issues, but lets look at fuel first. A few questions please. When did the problem start? Did you tune it before or after the problem? Have you tried pulling the choke on during these episodes? If so, what effect did it have? The chokes can be used to rule out a lean condition. How is the idle during the episode? Does the engine rev. easily & smoothly under no load? A sign of lack of fuel volume. On the elec. side, try pulling the plug wires one at a time (insulate yourself) while idling & see what effect it has. A bad condenser, even if new, can be a nightmare to diagnose. They are cheap, put in another new one just to rule it out. Then I would go at it with a multi-meter & check actual voltage in the secondary system while it's running well(baseline) & again when it craps out & compare.