Hey Marc ~ please disregard what I said a few Posts earlier, about the 71A and 71B 4spd requiring interior modification; I was wrong. Either transmission will fit the same center console.

It's the 5-speed which requires interior mod, since the shifter comes up in a slightly different place than the 4-spd. Sorry ~ regret the error.

Frank

Thanks Frank. Now I only owe you 99 beers and not 100.

So.....Colin (cfg240z) provided me with a very useful link that describes the steps that I should take to try and get this car started. Now I am starting to get a good handle on what I am up against.........

Here is the link:

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/show ... =Awakening

Fortunately I already had a membership to the site. For those of you that do not here is what was recommended:

"Awakening a Sleeping Beauty:
Prior To Start-up:
1. As mentioned, I'd drain the gas tank and see what comes out. If it's full of rusty partials - drop the tank and have it boiled out (some radiator repair shops off that service). Plan on replacing the old rubber fuel lines as well as the vapor recovery lines that run into the passenger compartment. You will more than likely have to do this anyway - as the vapor recovery lines leak gasoline vapor into the passenger compartment - and it will give you headaches and drive you out of the car. Do it now and be done with it. It's not fun, takes some time - but you'll be glad you did it all at once....

2. As mentioned, replace all the fuel lines in the engine compartment.

3. No doubt you need to check the carb's for operation - the vacuum slides get stuck... pull them apart and clean them... The flat tops look odd - but they are pretty much the same as the earlier SU's.. as far a basic operation goes..

4. Might as well replace the upper and lower radiator hoses - you'll have to do that anyway - do it now before you loose the fresh coolant you put in later.

5. Pull the spark plugs and poor a couple ounces of ATF in the cylinders... let it sit over night.. poor a little more in the next day... then - see if you can rotate the crank pulley by hand... if you have a large Strap Wrench it helps... of course you'll remove the old fan belt first - as you have already bought a new one... (when you bought the new hoses, oil, filter, coolant)... If you can't rock the crank back and forth by hand - put the car in low gear and push the car forward/backward (air the tires up and it's easier to hand push!). The idea here is to break the cylinder rings loose, and get some oil between them and cylinder walls. The ATF is very high detergent and very thin... Once you break the cylinders loose by rocking the car - poor a bit more ATF in the cylinders and see if you can now rock the engine back and forth by hand...

6 - Now drain the old oil - replace with fresh oil and new filter...

8. Install new NGK BP6ES spark plugs

9. Install new starting battery... and make sure that the oil battery cables are in good shape and very clean at the terminals..

10. Remove the valve cover - and poor some clean oil over the cam lobes and rocker arm pads..replace the valve cover - (just check to be sure all the rockers are on/in-place..)

11. pull the wire from the coil - and crank the engine over rapidly - you should at least see the oil pressure gauge move... at least a little to indicate your getting oil pressure... replace the coil wire and crank it over - it will take a few seconds to get fuel though the new lines and into the carb.'s... USE THE CHOKE! (you almost always have to choke the old Z's to get them started when the engine is cold).

12. Might I suggest oiling the cam and rockers before trying to turn the motor over with a wrench. Who knows how long the valve train had to drain off the oil.

13. Also, I would turn the engine over a few times prior to installing the plugs. Just in case there was an abundance of fluid in the combustion chambers. This could save you some bent rods.

If it doesn't start - then you can start checking for Fuel at the Carb.'s - and Spark at the plugs etc..."


Phew, well luckily I am an engineer by trade so I will just follow each step, step by step.

Best,
Marc

Sounds like good advice. There was one all-important step they failed to mention, tho ~ make sure you have brakes before you start the car!

Just like in pilot training, where you learn to LAND before you learn to take off, I suggest ensuring you can STOP before trying to make it GO.

I envy you Marc ~ you have a wonderful summer of discovery ahead of you.

Frank

Sounds like a good plan! I will be in the bx this weekend trenching on my Zs so if you get bored you can stop by. Hopefully we get warm soon so we can go through your Z because driving season is pretty much here.

BTW ~ those vapor recovery lines mentioned in paragraph #1 are a BEAR. In case you don't know what or where they are (as I didn't until I started pulling things apart):

Behind the passenger seat, hidden behind the plastic wall panel above the rear wheel, is a kidney-shaped tank about the size of a squashed basketball. It could be made of steel or plastic, depending on the year of manufacture. There are something like SIX hoses attached to it, of various sizes. Most of these are braided 3/4" heavy rubber "fire hoses" and others are smaller. They run from the gastank to the "kidney" tank, from the 'kidney' tank to the engine, and some just run btwn the tank and the adjacent filler tube.

Removing the plastic panel to check the tank requires you to break off the little plastic "rivet" doolies which hold the panel on. These are one-time-use rivets which cost $3 each, WHEN your Nissan dealer can find them. Each panel overlaps the next, so in order to remove one panel, you usually have to remove another. Prepare to replace about 6-10 rivets ($30) before you start, even if everything goes right.

THEN, you should know that two of those hoses which join the kidney tank to the gas tank, disappear thru holes in the cargo deck and connect to spouts on TOP of the fuel tank. The connections are nearly impossible to access without dropping the fuel tank.

When working on the parts car I decided these hoses (which were in perfect condition after 38 years) were too hard to remove from the fuel tank properly, so I cut them. Only later did I price them and learn that one of them was $99 and the other was more than $100.

I guess my bottom line would be, "If you ain't sure it's broke........"

Thanks Frank. That is VERY helpful info. Looking through the list myself, I agree that until I am dizzy, coughing and vomiting on gas fumes in the cabin, I will focus on getting the car started first....

Hey Frank,

I got to see Clive's Zs today and I now have a new plan. I am going to go with a LS1 engine, camaro trans, custom suspension, custom brakes, bolt in roll cage and a Q45 rear end. I am not going to even bother to start my current engine...

Just kidding...

I am going to keep my current car stock. I will save all the hot rodding mods for the next Z...

Clive's new Z is going to be CRAZY!!!!

Marc

Man, you GOT me!

I could feel my BP rise! Honest! Good one!


Clive's EVIL_Z was already a screamer. I can't imagine what it will be like when he gets it "finished"

Sometimes late at night, just before bedtime, I search out some of his YouTube videos and play them over and over. I keep hoping they will give me dreams of Watkins Glen, but it never works. I'm always stuck in downtown traffic in a Yugo.

So, I was able get hands on and froggy with the car today.

The first thing I have to say is that I take back any bad things I said about the P.O. The car is in excellent shape! The cylinder head is an E88 and so is the manifold. The block is an L24. The dash and engine bay numbers match. I pulled the carpets and couldn't find any rust, ditto for the spare tire storage space and the car in general. Yes, I consider myself to be VERY lucky.

Check out the pics:























I also got it started! Here is a video clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k85Fa52idm0

I drained the fuel tank and the fuel was clear and still smelled like gas. I got some new gas. I pulled the cylinder head, applied some ATF, pulled the spark plugs, applied some more ATF. I got a new battery. I put everything back together, then I set the choke about half way. I had to try for a few minutes but eventually it fired up and ran strong. The brakes need a little bit of love but they work.

I didn't think the car would start because the spark plugs were oily and black. That being said it was obvious that the car was in great shape. I placed an order with MSA for new spark plugs, filters, coil wires, etc but it hasn't arrived yet so I figured that I would try to start the car for the heck of it. Bingo!

Thanks to everyone who chipped in with helpful words of advice. Now I am going to replace the belts, plugs, filters, etc...

Yee Haw!

That motor sounds great, sounds like a Z...... Very cool Marc.. Tom

_________________
Now on my 15th/update/16th Zcar, Z's4vr....

YeeHAW! The Man has a ride for the summer! And with any luck at all, the A/C even works!

And the body looks pretty solid, too. You lucked out, plain and simple. I guess that's what California cars look like. Our member Ron bought one from out there too, and it looks that solid.

A good pressure wash of the engine will make you love the car more. Put a plastic sandwich bag over the distributor and secure it with a rubber band and hose away! All you have in there is desert dust, I don't see any real oil leaks.

Oh ~ I hope you meant to say you pulled the cam cover, not the head?

So now we can be sure to see you throughout this summer at all our meetings and events! We should even get to meet your new kidlet at our October picnic!

That's great news, Marc. Really happy for you.

The body looks to be in good shape . The only thing you may want to do is loosen the lower fender bolt and clean off the top of the rocker panel . Debrs can sit on top of it causing the lower fender to rot from the inside like on my Z . Or worse the top of the rocker ! I had an inch or so of pine needles,sand and whatever sitting there .The cowl drains dump everthing right down there where it dosen't wash off . Jim.

Yep, I meant the cam cover Frank. And I am sure that I will be psyched after I wash the engine bay!

I have no idea how these cars are supposed to run...what is your take on the black and oily spark plugs? Is that a pretty typical thing in these cars? Also should I always have the choke open half way or is there an adjustment that I should make?

Thanks for the suggestion Jim, I wouldn't have thought of that one!

See you guys soon,
Marc

I'm certainly NOT an SU mechanic, and there are members in here who can tweak them far better than I can (Bryan Little, for one). But I have had my hands on them a lot over the years, so I can give you a small bit of info (if not advice). There is no way for me to fully describe how to tune and balance a pair of SUs in this space.

The SUs are the true heart of the L series engines. How they are tuned, and the right heat range spark plugs, determines the whole performance of the car under all conditions.

Over the years, I have basically gotten away with only making three adjustments on my SUs ~ fast idle speed, airflow, and mixture. My car always ran better when I set the fast idle up to about 750rpm, rather than the recommended 650rpm. That's just my car ~ yours has A/C and air injection and will probably be different. The throttle speed screws on each carb set this speed.

The airflow btwn the carbs has to be measured by a UniSyn (or similar airflow meter) and must be kept as close as possible to the same flow for both carbs. On the underside of the SUs there's a turnable nut which regulates mixture strength, called the Jet adjusting nut or Mixture Control screw. Adjustments to that must be very small, and gradual. The basic setting is "three turns unscrewed from the seated position", and fine adjustments are made from there, in quarter-turn increments. But since your car is running well already, I would leave this alone.

Recommended spark plugs for the L series are either NGKs or NeponDensu. Under no conditions should you use Champion plugs. Ask anyone who ever tried to start his Z in the rain using them!

My manuals prescribe NGK BP6ES plugs. My particular car always ran better on BP5ES, for some reason. What does yours have in it now?

I have to leave the computer NOW but will edit this with more info later.

*(BACK, after a busy day):

Listening to your engine run, I don't feel you need to play with the carbs. The wet plugs are of some concern, but you have to determine what they're wet from. Does it smell like gasoline? Oil? I light wet plugs to determine what they have on them. (Common sense safety rules apply). If they burn off clean and fast, or evaporate before I light them, it's fuel. If they smoke it's oil.

If it's fuel, you want to check a number of things. Proper ignition timing is important and should be established first. Compression numbers are not critical, but each cylinder should be in the general range of the others. Smoke coming out the back would require discussion. Occasional backfires while "blipping" the engine signal raw fuel being pumped out of the cylinders without being burned, igniting when it hits the hot exhaust system.

My own car always (even in the '70s) ran best with a tiny touch of choke, even when warm. I paid for that in fuel mileage and sooty plugs, but gas was cheap and I worked on the car every weekend anyway. The engine simply acted happier with a richer mixture. If your plugs are wet, not sooty, you have to determine why they stop firing the air/fuel mixture 100% of the time. I've known cars which took a long time to stop turning after the key was cut off ~ the plugs no longer fired, but the turning engine continued to pull air/fuel into the cylinders, wetting the plugs. One sign of this will be that only SOME of the plugs are wet when you pull them immediately after cutting the engine.

Also, an incorrect spark gap can cause the plugs to be picky ~ only firing under "ideal" conditions. As the engine slows and stops, the plugs might not "like" the final seconds of running, and not fire all the fuel, leaving some of them wet when you pull them.

Ask Paul to comment on this, too. He teaches it every day at school and his hands-on experience with sooooo many Z cars will give him insight which is broader than my own.

There are MANY members in this Club who are better mechanics than I am ~ I just have more time to talk on the Website than they do!:lol:

Frank