New thermostat

While the coolant was drained, I decided to install a new thermostat. Look at the old one I pulled out! I can't imagine what the rest of the cooling system looks like... That is for another day though.

Carb #1 rebuild

I started to pull carb #1 apart today to clean it and then rebuild it. 40 years of grease & gunk was quite a mess to clean up! I do plan on polishing the dome before I put it back together with the ZT performance rebuild kit.  The rebuild on the first carb went very well, these SU's are fairly simple to work on.

Initial disassembly

Dome, spring, piston, and N57 needle

Float and bowl top

Carb body and butterfly

Further disassembly

One rebuilt and cleaned, one to go

Carbs off the engine!

Just pulled off the carbs today getting ready to rebuild them

Carbs off the car, ready for rebuilding

Intake manafolds

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)