Miles

Looking from the bottom of the carb turning the wheel clockwise will richen the mixture. I turned mine all the way in full rich until the adjusting knob stopped and then backed it out in full turn increments. Mine seems to run best at 2.5 turns out from full rich. Check for air leaks in hoses and gaskets.

John Thanks for the part numbers. Miles

What is a good source and part numbers for 72 240Z right and left rear wheel cylinders? I have been to several parts stores in Sacramento and their wheel cylinders don't look anything like mine. Mine have a left and right side E brake/adjuster mechanism configuration and the hard pipe connects to the cylinder at an angle off of the forward facing end of the cylinder. Some of the replacement cylinders I have looked at have the hard pipe connecting to the center of the cylinder. The Nissan dealer has the wheel cylinders, but wants $80.00 each. The car was manufactured 5/72. My other 240Z was manufactured 9/72 and has the identical wheel cylinders. Thanks Miles

Davy Thanks for the info. I picked up a complete 72 240z driver's side strut assembly complete with traverse arm yesterday. Cleaned it up today. Have all of my rear brake parts except for the wheel cylinders. Local parts stores having difficulty matching my cylinders. I'm going to try MSA Monday. If someone knows a good part number for the left and right wheel cylinders let me know. My cylinders have the hard pipe that connects at an angle from the front and the adjuster ratchet mechanism on the bottom. My z was manufactured 5/72. Thanks Miles

In the process of replacing rear brakes on a 72 240Z with all new parts. It appears a previous owner mis-matched shoes and cyliders from different year Datsuns. Here is what I found -shoes on driver's side have a slot for an adjusting screw that sits above the brake cylinder between the cylinder and the hub. -Driver's side brake cylinder does not have the adjuster wheel built into it. The adjuster is a rod that runs between slots cut in the shoes. -Access to the driver's side adjuster is though a small slot in the backing plate. - The only shoes I could find to match the driver's side (with slots for adjuster) are for a 77 Z. These 77 shoes also fit the passenger side, but the adjuster slots are not used because the passenger side wheel cylinder has the adjuster built into it. - The passenger side wheel cylinder has the adusting wheel built into it. There is no adjustment slot in the backing plate. Adjustment is through a hole in the drum. _ The hard pipe connects to the passenger side wheel cylinder at an angle from the front (angle towrds the front of the car) of the wheel cylinder. The stock wheel cylinders I looked at all have the hard pipe connecting at a right angle in near the center of the wheel cylinder. UPDATE checked the Chilton manual more closely. Our 240Z driver's side has a strut and backing plate off of a 77-78 Z. The passenger side is a stock 72 240Z. I measured each strut from the bottom of the spring to the bottom of the strut tube. The 72 strut is 12 1/2 in. and the 77-78 strut is 13 3/4 in. long. The shorter 72 strut has spacer blocks wedged into the spring I assume in attempt to make the struts of equal length. This is a total PITA. Looks like I'll have to find a 72 240Z strut to replace the 77-78 strut and then rebuild the brakes back to stock on both sides. This has to be the Frankenstein of all brake set ups. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks Miles

Nion The Lokar kit came with the bracket. It was identical to the bracket on my previous Carter set up. Miles

Nion I used the 36 in. Lokar cable. The installed cable is 17 1/2 in. long from the fire wall to the connection on the carb. Add another 2 to 3 in. where the cable goes through the fire wall and connects to the gas pedel. I heated the gas pedel and bent it back about 10 to 15 degrees to get the travel right. I could have used the 24 cable, but wasn't sure how much the bends and a little slack in the cable would require so I went with the 36 in. Also, per JTR I cut about 1 1/2 in. off the bottom of the gas pedel so it would not catch on the carpet. However, at a stop sign, the pedel did get caught once on a mat and was full throttle. Gets your attention real fast. There is no longer a mat on the driver's side. You can see a pic of the cable on our photo site below. Miles

Pulled the diff mount apart today. Found that two washers were placed between the bottom of the solid mount and the cross member effectively raising the nose of the diff crunching it into the E brake lever arm. Miles

I just went through the stuck drum ritual. I tried all of the various tricks and techniques. The driver's side drum pulled off very easy. It was deeply scored inside. The passenger side drum would not come off. So after two days of frustration I took a 3/8 drill and drilled through the drum right around the hub. It came off after I made the full circle of holes around the hub.This drum is now history and will never frustrate anyone again. I then wire brushed both hubs to remove rust and scale. see your Haynes manual brake section as it mentions the hole in the drum. The hole in the drum is actually for inserting a screw driver to adjust/slacken the brakes. On my 72 240Z there is an adjuster hole on the back side of the backing plate on the driver's side and no hole in the backing plate on the passenger side. On the passenger side you have to adjust the brakes through the hole in the drum. There is a flat piece of metal (cog) that allows the adjuster to turn in only one direction each time you set the E brake. In order to slacken the adjuster wheel you have to reach in though the hole and push the flat piece of metal (cog) away from the adjuster. This was a PITA since I could not see the cog and had to fish around for it. Make sure the E brake is working as it adjusts your brakes each time you set the E brake. Otherwise you will have to adjust them through the holes provided in the drums/backing plates. UPDATE I discovered yesterday why my 72 Z has an adjuster hole on the back of the driver's side backing plate. The previous owner replaced the stock strut with a 77 Z strut/brakes. I am now replacing the 77 strut with the proper 72 strut. This was a potentially dangerous situation as the 77 strut is longer than the 72 strut and there is no provision for the E brake adjuster to work creating an asymetrical strut/brake set up. Lesson learned...you can't assume anything is right when you buy a 30 year old project car. Miles

I'll tighten up headers and try the oil treatment. I't will be a while before I can get back to this. Right now I am trying to resolve the differential yoke hitting the E brake lever arm in the tunnel. Just put in a solid front diff mount and the driveshaft yoke is now right against the E brake lever arm. One step forward and one back sometimes. Thanks Miles

we are experiencing the old problem of the differential yoke hitting the emergency brake lever arm on hard acceleration. So we installed a solid front differential mount and now the diff yoke is firmly against the emergency brake lever arm . What is weird is with the original rubber front mount the yoke hit the emergency brake only on hard acceleration. With the solid mount the yoke is jammed right into the emergency brake lever.Has anyone come up with a way to move the emergency brake lever arm away from the yoke? I was thinking that by using a longer linkage to the cable connection I could move the emergency brake lever towards the front of the car. Thanks Miles

Eric I did follow the artical, but that passenger side drum would not budge. I tried repeated heat, hammering and even dry ice to no avail. The driver's side drum was deeply grooved so I decided to just go ahead and do a 100% rebuild on the rear brakes including new drums. The stuck drum was also deeply scored as the previous owner evidently couldn't get the drum off either and let the shoes wear to the metal. When I am done all front and rear brake components will be new except for the hard pipes. Thanks Miles

Got the drum off. Don't do this if you have good drums...I drilled all the way around the hub with a 3/8 drill bit being careful not to score the hub. The drum finally pulled away after I drilled the last hole. Lots of rust on the hub. Found that the shoes were soaked with brake fluid and the adjuster was jammed. Original plan was to rebuild the front brakes first. At this point I think I'll just go ahead and rebuild the rear brakes. Learned some things about Z brakes. The cylinders and the stock shoes are different on the left and right side. The after market shoes (Raybestos) I bought are the same for both right and left sides. The seem to fit ok. I tried to buy stock Nissan shoes but none could be found locally. Once I get the rears rebuilt I would like to try the Ferodo "Green Stuff" shoes and Metal Master front pads. Anyone out there using the Ferodo shoes? Miles

Lone The engine was previously built. I read somewhere in the forum that there is an additive you put in the gas and in with the oil that is supposed to free up lifters and clean up deposits in the piston ring grooves. If someone knows of a good additive let me know. The Ford solinoid: just splice it into the wire going to the starter? Also, I like the idea of a cut out switch on the ignition wire to help cranking a hot engine with lots of advance. It would serve to frustrate the car theives too! Eventually, we are going install a new crate engine. Thanks Miles

Thanks for your input. Miles

I'll try the heat approach today. Thanks Miles

Just got the exhaust on the 350 sbc and now I am hearing a ticking noise from under the valve cover for the first time. Could this be a sticky lifter or something more serious? I cranked in a lot of advance on the 350 sbc which resulted in great throttle response. However, when the engine heats up it is hard to start. The starter labors to crank the engine. It will start if I hold the pedel to the floor, but it takes awhile. I retarded the timing and it starts ok when hot. How do dial in the advanced timing and not have the starting problem? Thanks Miles

Step one is to get the Jags That Run (JTR) manual. There is a JTR link on the Hybrid home page.It will cover most of the questions you have about transmission options. In our conversion we used an 89 Camaro world Class T5 five speed trans. The shifter comes up through the stock shifter hole and it is very smooth. You can see the shifter details on our photo page below. We are also using the R200 differential. We have just over $5000.00 in the car so far and have done everthing except the exhaust ourselves. Still have brakes, suspension and paint to do. Having a shop do the conversion would have cost big bucks. Miles

Denny I'll give it a try. Any safety issues? That passenger drum is close to the gas filler hose. Have you done this before? Miles

I had the same problems as you are (lean sag/backfiring). To richen the mixture turn the mixture adjusting wheel at the bottom of the each carb clockwise looking from bottom up or counter clockwise looking top down. Start with screwing the mixture in all the way until it stops on each carb and then back it out in full turn increments. Make each carb has the same number of turns. Mine runs best at three turns out (in lean direction). It no longer back fires, but I still have a slight lean sag on partial throttle. I suspect a hose is leaking and I know that the throttle shafts are warn on my 240Z. Mine no longer back fires and starts easy. I am going to live with with a lean sag at partial throttle until I do the V8 swap this summer. Also, there are some good carb tuning tips I received from other members in the L6 section of the forum. Look for my posts on backfiring. Miles

In the process installing new shoes on the 240Z. Driver's side drum came off easy. The passenger side drum is stuck as if it were welded to the hub. Any tips would be appreciated. Thanks Miles

We did the R200 diff swap into a 72 240z awhile back. I was checking the rear brakes recently ans noticed that the 78 280Z mustache bar we installed has a slight warp towards the back of the car so there is a 1/4 to 3/8 gap between the bar and the vertical transverse arm mount on the drivers side. On the passenger side the bar is flush against the passenger side traverse arm mount. The car we got the mustache bar from did not appear to have any rear end damage. Is the slight warp of the mustache bar on the driver's side normal? Second question: Is there any way to remove the mustache bar with out pulling the differential? Thanks Miles

I have been considering doing the Toyota brake swap using the MSA kit. Does MSA supply the small hard pipe that connects the caliper to the flex line? Also, has anyone else experienced the problem with the brake pedel going to the floor? Other people who have done the Toyota swap indicate they get about 0.5 in. of slack in pedel travel. Can that extra pedel travel be adjusted out some where in the master cylinder linkage? Thanks Miles

Kendall You might want to check with MSA about the headers. The MSA "shorty" block huggers look like Hooker headers to me. The MSA headers provide a nice clean fit and there is plenty of clearance between the header and the steering shaft. Per the JTR (Jags That Run) manual you could also machine a pair of ram horn style chevy headers. MSA: http://www.zcarparts.com/ Miles

Fairlady 327 Unfortunately, there is not enough room to mount a mechanical fuel pump. We are using an electric fuel pump wired to the elusive stock "green wire". I found that the green wire starts taped up at the gas tank and terminates in a taped bundle just behind and to the left of the 72 fuse box. I did not install the JTR oil pressure cut out switch for the fuel pump. I am going to use an inertial cut out switch that chops all power in the event of an accident. I would have prefered a mechanical fuel pump.