Vacuum gauge installed

Just received my vacuum gauge from Northern Tools, its a Valley Instrument Grade B Back Mount 2in Dry Gauge-Vacuum #1220DSBVAC, 1/4" NPT male connection.  I installed it on the balance tube at an open port just in front of the brake booster vacuum hose.  Seems to fit perfectly and work as expected.  Currently I'm running right around -20, steady needle which is a good thing.

For info on reading vacuum gauges, check out http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/vacuum/

Ztherapy rebuild kit has arrived

Rebuild kit includes new nozzles, SM needles (leaner at idle, richer at speed), float bowl pins/jets, float bowl gaskets, fuel hose, seals/gaskets, and the Just SU's DVD

Polishing the Valve cover

I started cleaning up the valve cover by hand and then moved upto the bench grinder with a buffing wheel on it. Check out the hand vs tool results on the back side of the cover!

Before, 40 years of gunk all over

Left: polishing by hand, Right: bench grinder/buffer

Almost done, still need to use the dremel for the small areas

Carb rebuild kit ordered!

I just spoke to Bruce at zTherapy (www.ztherapy.com) and ordered a carbuerator rebuild kit for my 3-screw dometops.  He'll be including SM needles which he says will lean out the mixture at idle and richen it up at speed.  Apparently back in '73 this was one of the first major performance upgrades that racers of 240z's would make.  The OEM needles (which I have in there now) do the exact opposite richen at idle and lean at speed.  This upgrade should be good for performance and emmissions.  More to come once I receive the kit and begin pulling everything apart.

Clutch fork boot & hose

Well I'm back from a great vacation & now back to working on the car. While replacing the clutch hose I decided to replace the clutch fork boot which was deteriorated. After a quick bleed with help from my wife, the car was back together.

New boot at the top, old one on the bottom

Clutch fork, slave cylinder removed

New distributor

I just got my new used distributor in the mail today. After cleaning it up and. Regressing the breaker plate. The car does run better. Next onto the carburetors.

Pop Pop No More!

Thanks to the help of several people across the country (via the web), I've finally tracked down the cause of the backfiring (afterfiring) as well as the immense raw-fuel smell that lingers around the car.  It came down to the stupid little vacuum advance controller on the side of the distributor.  Unfortunately Nissan no longer manufactures the part and I'm having a hard time tracking one down.   Currently I'm looking into used distributors with 'ok' vacuum advances and talking to old Nissan dealers who may have a couple parts laying around.  As a last ditch effort, I did find the source of some Datsun 510 vacuum advances which I may be able to modify to properly fit (and function) with the 240z.  More to come!

17-Sept update:
I found a source in Mexico for similar vacuum advance controllers, specifically for the Datsun 510 pickup truck..  I may need to change the spring, but it should work as the dimensions and fittings appear to be the same.

Vacuum advance for Datsun 510 truck (22301 A3502)

In addition, I found a lightly used distributor from European Z's that was imported into the States by Bob Sharp Racing.  Apparently has a much quicker advance curve, and since I can't get rebuild distributors I figured it was worth the $40 to have spare parts.  Between these two, I should be able to get the timing correct, then its onto rebuilding the carb's.

Lightly used full distributor, D612-53 (22100 E3101)

Smelly Situation

Last night I began draining the fuel tank to prepare for my Dad and I to drop the tank and replace all of the 40+ year old vent hoses (many of which I know are rotten).  The should hopefully reduce the smell of gas in the car as well as when the car is parked in the garage.
The interesting thing is that Datsun (Nissan) decided to use every size of hose for the venting system.  Should be fun, I hope to get pictures up as the project progresses.

Gas tank with new hoses being hooked up

Old hoses starting to fall appart

My Dad & helper

Undercarriage where the tank will be remounted

27-Aug-2012 update:  I put 3 gallons of gas into the car and it started right up without any leaks. I now need to fill it up completely to test the rest of the vent hoses for leaks.

Here are some great pictures for reference that I've run across on the web:

Ohh ohhhh!

While changing the differential fluid I noticed a leak in the fuel return line. Time to start replacing the hoses

Oil Pan gasket replacement

In an effort to make the Z more road-worthy, I'm going to attack the source of the leaks underneath the car. Over the weekend I started with the oil pan gasket.  Many say that you cannot do this without pulling the engine out of the car, but it is possible with quite a bit of wiggling & shifting of the pan.

 

Once off the car I started cleaning off the remains of the old gasket.  40 years of gunk & grime took quite a while to clean up, but in the end it was worth it.  

I also came up with a trick to raise the cleaned pan and the new gasket all at the same time without it slipping around. I  simply put about 8 drywall anchors (the blue ones) through the holes in the pan and through the holes in the gasket.  After getting it in position & raising it up, the anchors popped out as I began putting the 25+ bolts back in.

Old gasket & gunk on the oil pan

More remnants of the gasket