Mark Maras

Jim I still have the rear lenses on "Hiro" my 71. Although the housings have different attachment points, than my 74, the lenses appear to be the same. Let me know & I will either bring them on the 18th or I can mail them to you sooner. Pay it forward. Mark

I can take a look at it for anyone that might be interested. Not much info. Mark

Gee, What could possibly go wrong, go wrong, go wrong. He's a great candidate for the Possum Lodge.

Nice bunch of parts. Certainly worth $300.00. I believe that choke assy. w/ "cruise control" is rare. My orig. 71 looks the same minus the cruise lever & linkage. Trim plate also included 2 slots. Are you sure there isn't anything there you might need on your trip East? Mark

I think we are all part of the problem. I love my 1/2" elec. impact gun from H.F. & a few other things I rarely use it but when I need them it's good to have them. If I was using them daily I'd buy a much better brand . Also, I believe we all bought Zs, even if used. which had to have a negative effect on Detroit. That said I always try to buy USA, except cars.

Great info. I've been curious about the gas blending for a long time & the effects on engines. After reading the links I'm concerned about my son's RX7. The negative effects on lubrication in a 2-cycle, as well as a 4- cycle, engine are worth looking into further. Thanks Mark

I feel the same when it comes to electronics. Take a look at the first gen. wiring diagram. It is simple & easily understood. I would think that it would be a good starting point if you want to get rid of the extraneous bull$hit wiring that kept increasing year after year. Probably would be easier to eliminate some of the unused wiring rather than going to a 1st gen harness although it wouldn't be that difficult to make your own. Throw in some relays for an update & you'll have a clean engine compartment except for the "grass". The more the better.

You're going to love them. As the Captain says, the simplicity of operation is a thing of beauty. Having sorted out your own fuel injection issues, it will be interesting to hear your comparison of the two fuel systems in the future. Should you find you are missing anything in the new set-up, let me know. Congrats on the great find. Mark

It will be interesting to see if there is difference between the two oils, assuming one is thicker than the other. As far as elev. is concerned, When driving up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood, the engine developed a miss. Assuming it was mixture related, I gave the engine some choke to see if the miss went away. It only got worse, so I stopped & screwed both mixture screws in 1/2 turn. Problem solved temporarily. When I got back to a lower elev., I opened up the screws 1/2 turn. You may need to re-tune the carbs for the higher elev. depending on how rich the mixture is set. Mark

I'm going by memory here, When I got my 1st Z, a long time ago, I bought a couple of braided hoses from Nissan & I remember thinking at the time, the color was more of a dark charcoal color or a very dark gray, almost black. Judging the color is difficult because the hose doesn't reflect much light. I have seen a few rat-rod paint jobs in very flat black that could compare to the color of the hoses. You could say the color is black, but it comes across as a very dark charcoal. I also remember how fast they started to fade. Hope this feeble bit of info helps.

I ran Marvel Mystery Oil in mine the first couple of years & ATF for the next 20 years, year round. I never found a reason to change. That said, I haven't been able to figure out why some SUs have trouble using ATF. To anyone. Is it the internal clearances, tuning or something else that's making the difference? Mark

I had my fan clutch seize long ago. Most of them lose resistance though. I drove the car for a few days, in the summer, with no fan at all(yes it is possible)before I replaced the old one with a flex fan & 3" spacer. After getting rid of the steel fan, I noticed an increase in power with my butt dyno. I didn't have any problems with it at all. The only time a fan is even needed is when the car is not moving or moving very slowly. Mark

Duck tape a potentiometer to a tuning peg. Done. As you can probably imagine, I have gone L.B. on a couple of auto. transmissions long ago & speaking of rants, John Cleese, in Faulty Towers, does the best rant on a stalled car, an Austin I think, that likely has ever been done. Being familiar with harmonicas, perhaps a self tuning option on those too. One would hate to have their Bansee wail out of tune. Mark

Interesting how technology often surpasses the need. I suppose self-playing guitars along with self-piloting cars along with, insert your own here, will be pushed onto us even though it is of little use or more likely not even needed. Confession- I also feel this way about auto. transmissions but I'll refrain from going into a Louis Black rant on that subject. Mark

Your original lug bolts look like the ones that came with my 71. It had a set of slotted alum. US Wheels. I remember that they were a minor PITA due to the tight fit in the wheel & the extra length.

There is no way you'd get close to 4500 under load with the same amount of fuel that is used free revving to 4500. When my fuel filter partially plugged, the engine would easily free rev to the redline but under load all it could muster was 45 mph in 2nd, 3rd & 4th gear.

Ditto, Thanks.

If you drive a Z, there are 2 types of driving, normal & restrained. I think, after the "tune-up", you're supposed to resume restrained driving. Yeah right.

Gee, Looking at this news thru rose colored glasses, maybe they'll learn how to build good tires. Ex. In the 1950s anything that came out of Japan was cheap & guaranteed to break soon, & yet a mere 10-15 years later they surprised everyone with the quality, design & ingenuity in the products that came to our shores. Thanks Mr. K How long it will take China, is anyones best guess. Mark

It would be a fun car if all roads were straight.

Way back in the late sixties we used to remove one of the two springs on the weights for weekend drag racing. You can also source lighter springs or stretch the springs slightly. Pretty crude by todays' standards but you asked for old school. Mark

I don't recall an unstable idle with my SUs. Why the 1000 rpm idle as a target. I assume it has something to do with the cam. How hot is the engine when the idle drops? From what you've described, it sounds like it may be temperature related, Are you sure the engine was at full temp. when you set the idle?

Hi all Just got home from the cardio. breakfast & a great time with Jim (S30Driver) & Geoff ( RossiZ). Two beautiful Zs , two great people & the opportunity to talk shop. What fun. Thanks guys, let's do it again before Jim drives his Z to Arkansas. All are welcome. We'll let you know. Mark

Cam timing was my first thought also. We used to screw around with offset cam sprocket keys in V8s(drag racing). A few degrees can make a noticeable difference. Also I once installed a Toyota timing belt 1 tooth off. oops. Gotta love non interference engines.The engine had little bottom end power but at 3500 rpms & above it acted like it wanted to rev to 8000. I didn't try it. Check out the cam timing & eliminate that possibility.

Sometimes the free play can be difficult to detect. If you disconnect the pedal & slave cylinder springs, the free play becomes quite obvious.