=Enigma=

Here's a link to some info on Flat Tops. It's not much but it's about all I've seen on them, aside from the advice to ditch them. http://www.jetlink.net/~okayfine/su/tunacan.html

I remember seeing a few of these when I was a kid. I haven;t seen one in many many years.

According to Ztherapy, this is a bad thing to eliminate. If the needle valve in the float bowl becomes stuck open or leaks it can create a rich condition or even worse, such as leaking from the nozzle into the combustion chamber or air cleaner, resulting in a build up of fuel in the crankcase or possibly a fire if it makes it into the air cleaner, which could drip onto the hot exhaust manifold.

Google is yer friend. It says it's non-hardening which is usually what causes the yellowing. http://www.mfgsupply.com/m/c/VTC30..html?id=7AmTTard

There are always on eBay as well. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4587024542 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=4585031719

Apprently only ~1000 were made. http://zhome.com/History/ZZZapZ.htm

I was hoping to just bolt it on to the stock L24 for the improved quenching design and increased compression. I am not interested in enlarging the valves and modifying the original block. If and when I do move to an L28, I will consider installing larger valves. In that case i would probably use my 73' E88 head, shave it, and install larger valves. I believe I have the earlier E88 with small valves and a larger combustion chamber designed for a reduction in smog emissions. All stock at this point except for the round tops. Anyway, that is not in the plans.......for now. Thanks for all the info guys. I'm a learnin'!

Thanks. The air cleaner is missing and I was told it was covered with an old plastic bag but it sounded like the sun at that up so basically it has been more or less completely exposed to the elements. Fortunately, it's in an area that is fairly arid so it didn't get much rain. I'll definitely tear the assy off the block and have a look-see before plunking down the $$$$. My plan was to use the E31 as a replacement for the E88 smog head(bigger combustion chamber) on my 73'. If my research is correct, this should be a direct bolt on upping the compression from 8.76 to 9.13. I believe the E31 has round intake and square exhaust so it should be a direct bolt on?? Can anyone verify this?

Spoken like a true lover of driving......ATF what? .

I have a 73' 240Z and my rear towers look more like the taller ones in the white car. Of course my turn signals are below the bumper and I have short frame rails. Sound like some conflicting info or I read it wrong. See my sig for a link to pics.

I have a friend with an early L24 engine with an E31 head and SUs attached. The thing has been sitting out in the elements for years but looks pretty good from the outside. Any idea what the just the E31 head and SUs would be worth? I'm thinking of making him an offer.

I just got done watching the Ztherapy SU Video that came with my SU Tune-up Kit and it has a chapter on swapping out flat tops for round tops. Steve talks about linkage differences, vacuum lines, air box mods/replacement, etc. Sounded like the water passage issue was more about which year round tops you have since the earlier carbs don't have water passages. Rather, the water simply circulates through the manifold only. You can get the video by itself if you want but it comes with a couple of their product at no add'l charge. Definitely worth the money if you have SUs and want to work on them yourself. All the "goods" are in here.

Does anyone out there have a spare dizzy fixing(adjustment) plate for a 79-81 280ZX. I'm swapping out my 73' dizzy for a 79' but it didn't come with a fixing plate.

Maybe it's just the picture but something doesn't look right with that lower spring. Looks like there's only one way to put the shoes on, could it be that there's left and right side shoes or are they the same for both sides of tha car? I haven't gotten to the brakes on mine yet.

This shimming up of the rack with various materials seems to be a common thing. Mine was shimmed up by the PO with some split open garden hose. I will be replacing all the bushings with Energy Suspension bushings as part of my suspension refresh but haven't gotten to the rack yet. I hope I don't run into the same issue ..

Thanks for the math lesson camouflage!

When using the 23mm mark as suggested, where is this measured from? The top of the float bowl, as in the line between the float bowl cover and the bowl itself, or the top of the cover? I just ordered one of Bruces's rebuild kits so I'm going to be doing this myself in a week or so.

OMG!!! Check out this pair of NOS 240Z horns on eBay. Would you pay this much? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1,1&item=8011187966&sspagename=STRK%3AMEWA%3AIT

I once saw a video of a 747 landing at Japan's Kansia Int'l Airport doing just this with a full load of passnegers. That's gotta be pretty scary but the larger planes are designed to handle it. Serious skill involvered there to be able to hold the center line while crabbing it. Thanks for the vid.

I took the Ztherapy info to mean that the different size ears where contained on a single float bowl cover. It looks to me like you may have two different version carbs. And that's all I'm gonna say as a newbie who has yet to crack his own carbs.

Yeah, what's the deal? Why are we talking about him past tense? Has he passed away? Based on what I've read, that would be a great loss.

The Energy Suspension bushings have numbers molded right into the bushing. Very Handy. Oh and Thanks Steve Parmely for the pointer. Yes they are much cheaper on Summit. Bought me some too.

Those anti-sway bars look just like the ones I have. Unfortunately I don't know what kind mine are either but they look like the earlier Suspension Techniques bars with the welded on tabs. The PO added them way back in the day.

Is there a left and right front control arm or are they interchangeable. I can't tell the difference by looking at them with the bushings removed. They look identical but I want to make sure I'm not missing something. I lost track of which came from which side after cleaning them down to bare metal.

On my 73, the outer rubber trim strip is one piece, not two. It also looks like my vertical bumpers(push pads) are a little farther out. Same mount, goes to the body, but there may be a shock behind it. Dunno. Check the pics on my web site. Link below in my sig.