gramercyjam

I am just finishing up that job. Good news is it only took a couple of weeks to do (pretty steady work during my spare time, I don't sleep much ). I'll post some pics of the finished work in a few days to inspire you. The bad news is the passenger side is so much stiffer than the drivers side now. So even though there is no rust, I'm going to do the drivers side too.

Wasn't there a place called Bonzi Motors or something similar that had repro stickers? Edit: here it is Banzai Motorworks

you should try to get the vacuum and centrifigual advance right so you get more total advance when you rev it up or performance will suffer. There is someone on the zcar list that seems to know a lot about this - Kim Blough of Idaho Z car. Maybe you can get his advice. Here is a link to an interesting discussion on distributor curves recurving dizzy

I don't think 8 is enough. 15 should be getting it close. Tuning by the seat of the pants, I wound up liking the performance best at around 18 BTDC at idle. That is close to what my Chilton's says it should be too.

Never ran the electric pump alone with the SU's, but I am using the stock electric pump alone to fuel triple weber 45's and it is more than adequate. I wouldn't think SU's would require more fuel volume or pressure. I agree that retaining the fuel return is the preferred configuration as it has an orfice that acts as the fuel pressure regulator.

My '73 had the factory looking install for the electric pump and wiring harness too. It must be pretty common.

Is that like this one here http://www.trick-tools.com/model_3_bender.htm ? It is hard to see the detail in your pics.

Running two 10 inch Mr Gasket electric pullers ordered from Jegs. Painless 185 degree thermostat, relay, circuit breaker and wiring. Took a saturday after noon to install. I have a 280Z inlet housing with the thermostat screwed into the heater hose connection. Why did I make the change? Simple, stock radiator fan chewed up my brand new radiator one cold and rainy autox day and I didn't want it to happen again. Very happy with the setup.

I always thought those benders crushed the tube. I guess not. Is that like the Harbor Freight bender?

On mine, yes. Can guarantee this is what you have. I am thinking the ignition power wire went to a connector on the ballast resistor, one tach wire went to the same connector, the other tach wire went to the positive side of the coil. There was no connection to the other side of the ballast resistor. So the coil power path looks like battery->ign switch->ballast resistor->tach->coil. Lots of stuff (too much stuff) between the battery and the coil.

I was thinking the ballast resistor too, but it might not be there anymore with an electronic ignition. When I went electronic, I left the ballast resistor there just for the junction for the two wires. the other end of the ballast resistor wasn't connected to anything.

No. I don't recall. They were all there by the coil though. Both of those wires don't hook to the same terminal of the coil. One of the wires does not even connect to the coil.

I haven't looked into on the on the 260, but on my 73 240Z the tach signal used a current loop and two wires in the area of the coil go to the tach. One of the wires by the coil goes to the tach, one comes back from the tach and is hooked to the coil. This might help you to figure it out.

On my 83 Turbo, when I ran out of gas, trying to get it started again was a bear. It would crank until the battery was nearly flat before the system was fully primed again.

Pull your plugs. Are they clean?

I got my screw jacks at northern tools a few years ago to do some house leveling, I ordered 20 of them and 6 came in by the time my better half put that project down (long story) so I have 6 of them now. But they have come in handy other ways. You probably don't need the 20 tonners. I'm dressing the edges now for welding - and the distinct odor of bondo is present. It seems the P.O. bondoed the engine bay, firewall, battery tray area, frame rails, the whole thing! No wonder the extent of it was not evident.

With the motor and tranny out, there isn't much there to support. I've got a couple of 6 ton jack stands supporting the rear cross member, two 20 ton screw jacks under the front cross member and 1 20 ton screw jack under the passenger side rocker pinch weld. I don't believe the car has moved a millimeter. Screw jacks are nice because you don't need to shim them like jack stands to get rid of any rocking or wobble of the car. The side-top channel that runs by the strut tower top is pretty strong too and it is helping the passenger side hold its shape the rest cut out.

Me too. The closer you look, the more you find. As you can see, it's going pretty quickly though. I only started pulling the motor yesterday afternoon and I rest more than I work!

Cut it out! Rust inside of frame rail Rust removed. Looking at pass side from engine compartment Looking at pass side thru the wheel well Oh, the HORROR!

Yes. This was a bummer. But I just need to _shift_ into a higher gear and take care of it. It is just steel, putty in my hands. I AM the master of steel (As well as Jim Beam right now). Actually, I was at 1889 lbs before I started fixin this rust crapola! Now I think I will be overweight, but not by too much. Thats OK too ... I have a 280Z crank and rods ready to go into the 240 block, so that might not be a bad thing either, I could turn out to be underweight. <> You gotta use your judgement about what is the truth and what is not. Everything is not black or white. As my mentors used to say, perception is reality (or course this is bullshit). Yes, my wife is a woman, so she gives me all the crap she can about my unproductive, expensive, manly car, etc. activities. But I love her, shes a good woman and the mother of my children. I give it right back to her and everything is cool (eventually). Hey, did I ever tell you guys about the time the Visa bill came in and there was a mysterious $1000 charge (according to her, I still say it was closer to $100), so she gets the number of the business on the bill and it turns out to be a "mens cabaret"? I camped out in the back yard for a week. That was OK. I deserved it.

The good frame rail steel measures .054" and I just happen to have a full sheet of steel in that thickness sitting in the shop. At least I could honestly answer my wife that this will cost $0 when she asked me how much this will cost. <>

Oh man. Just cut into the frame rails in front of the firewall - they are rusted from the inside out and thin as paper. Now this looks like battery acid caused it, not water. More fab work than I had bargained for but it has to be done.