zcarnut

Too bad. A heat shield for the Webers is easy to make as it can be flat and there are threaded bolt holes in the bottom of each carb to secure it. Cameron, are you running your fuel return line through the fittings on the _bottom_ of each carb? I assume that Mikuni put them there so the fuel in the return line would remove some heat from the fuel in the bowl.

Sounds like the classic case of “fuel percolation” caused by heat soaking. After engine turn off cylinder head temperature will actually increase due to the lack of water circulation. Any fuel in the carb’s emulsion tubes expands and the fuel drips into the carb throat via the main jet. I had this problem with my triple Webers. The cure was to install a thick (0.125") plastic gasket as an insulator between the carbs and the aluminum intake manifold. Aluminum is a very good thermal conductor. Do you have such insulators on your Mikuni’s?

My rule of thumb is 120 psi minimum. The important thing is any cylinder(s) which is 25 psi or more different than the rest of the cylinders. Note: Be sure to open the throttle completely when measuring compression.

Do a compression test before you take it to the machine shop. I've disassembled two L-series engines that were "knocking" only to find a blown head gasket between adjacent cylinders! Very strange....

You can use a 3/16 inch flaring tool without concern. The Nissan brakes lines are 4.75mm which is less than .001 of an inch different than 3/16 inch. Metric flaring kits are available but not necessary.

Does anyone use the fittings on the _bottom_ of each carb? I assume that Mikuni put them them so you could route the return line through them, thus removing some heat from the fuel in the bowl.

If you are not concerned with getting over spray over the yard (or the neighbor’s belongings ) then I recommend leaving one entire side (the side facing the open garage door) of the booth completely open. Put the fan at the front of the booth so it blows filtered air (from the house interior) into the booth. The fan will not handle any paint fumes so it’s safer and the filters will not clog up. This also allows you to build a slightly cheaper booth. This is what I did and it worked OK. I took a photo of my booth and I will try to locate it for posting. I used wood because I can always find something to do with the leftovers. BTW, If you have a gas water heater in your garage, be sure to shut off the gas before painting.

See my signature....

Don't forget that most of the later model wiper motors require a separate control box that interfaces with the wiper motor and the column switch. Although the ZX and Honda wiper motor may "bolt in", I doubt that your existing Z wiring harness and column switch will "plug in" the corresponding control box. Prepare to do some re-wiring and hope you can get your column switch to activate the later wiper motor. Otherwise, you may have to change this as well and then you might as well use junkyard parts for everything.

Yeah, the solid axle rear suspension was only used in the station wagons.

1977 was the first production year of the 810. Speaking of 810 engine swaps, a friend of mine has installed a 280ZX turbo drivetrain in his. I’ve never seen a V8 swap, but the 810 would make a great “sleeper”. With the fuel tank mounted in the trunk and a centrally located spare tire well, dual exhausts are easy to install. The stock R180 diff can be upgraded to the R200 and CV axles can be adapted. The front 810 struts will accept the popular Toyota 4 piston calipers and you can even use vented rotors (I have the later V6 Maxima rotors on mine). Even the rear drum brakes can be changed over to the rear disc brake setup from a 280ZX. The only downsides of the 810 are the semi-trailing rear suspension setup (like on the ZX) and the 60/40 front-rear weight distribution.

Not as much as a same condition 280ZX. I have seen them priced from just a few hundred dollars to typically no more than $1800 for a very clean one. The station wagons are priced very cheaply (there was a running one on eBay for less than $100). Drive trains (based on the Z cars) can go forever but like Z's they do tend to suffer from body cancer. One problem is that NOS parts availability from Nissan is much worse than even an early Z car, especially body and interior trim items. I think I got the some of the last NOS front and rear glass. The dashes tend to crack and no one makes a cap for the 810's. If you get one to restore try to find some “parts cars” in your area. The two door 810 Hardtop's (which is what I have) were only offered for two years ('79 and '80) and are worth more. I recall seeing one in Hemmings that sold for $3500 a few years ago. I only paid $250 for mine but I have put three thousand + into it restoring it (and I’m still not quite done yet).

Yes, the 810 evolved into the Maxima. The 1980's vehicle's were called 810's but the 1981's were designated as the Maxima.

1980 Maxima 1 - 3.321 2 - 2.077 3 - 1.308 4 - 1.000 5 - 0.864 R - 3.382 1981 Maxima 1 - 3.321 2 - 2.077 3 - 1.308 4 - 1.000 5 - 0.752 R - 3.382

I reversed the position of a 240SX TPS by first removing it’s plastic cover (drill out the rivets heads) and then remove the plastic wiper that is engaged by the throttle shaft. I then drilled out the keyway in this plastic wiper, reversed it's orientation by 180 deg and formed a new keyway with JB Weld. I used some very thin masking tape on the throttle shaft to prevent the epoxy from adhering to it.

Using electric control the vacuum solenoids direct the vacuum (stored in the bottle) to the appropriate locations. On the early Z cars one of the solenoids is used to direct vacuum to the vacuum operated heater/AC vent control bellows. The other one is used to operate the fast idle valve that is needed when the AC is turned on. This compensates for the engine loading by the AC compressor. In practice only one of these solenoids is necessary–the fast idle solenoid. And those of us who have the triple carbs even eliminate this one as well. BTW, the later ZX cars (and most of the other Nissan vehicles) changed the vacuum bottle to a smaller one that is black plastic (less noticeable) and has the solenoids mounted on it. Maybe you should consider using one of these. Lastly, another problem with the early vacuum bottle is that the stock check valve that is needed to prevent the vacuum from leaking off back into the manifold is not longer available. You have to use an aftermarket one.

The stub axle shaft has two flat areas (opposite each other) at the tip of the axle where the threads are. The stub axle nut is peened or it’s top lip is bent over to conform with the flat areas on the stub axle shaft. The later ZX’s (and Maxima’s) used a standard lock nut with the plastic insert. If your nut is not peened then someone may have previously changed it to the later type lock nut.

The problem with removing the vacuum bottle is that the level of intake manifold varies with engine rpm and throttle position. At wide open throttle there is not enough vacuum to operate the heater air flow valves. That's why Nissan used the vacuum bottle. It's like having a "storage container" of vacuum. However, I removed the vacuum bottle on my 260Z show car, but I tapped into the brake booster with a "T" fitting on it's hose for a vacuum source for the heater valves.

Thank you for the nice feedback!

No, the later 260/280Z rack is not as "quick" as the 240Z rack, but the difference is very slight. (I will look up the actual ratio numbers for you later.)

It looks like the Mercedes engine has the same spacing between all the cylinders. Remember that the L6 has more spacing between cylinders 3 and 4 (to allow for the crankshaft thrust bearing) than the spacing between all the other cylinders.

I got the pics, Steve THANKS!! Now I can see what I need.... I'm sure I can kludge something up to replace the missing linkage parts. Later,

There's seems to be a reason for everything... I asked a brake engineer about this and he made me a nice little drawing showing a reaction force (when you brake) that is ultimately applied to the hub spindle (through the caliper mount). If the caliper is in the "front" of the rotor (nine o'clock position when viewing a left side wheel) then this reaction force on the spindle is in the downward direction. This adds to the load already on the spindle (due to the weight of the car at that wheel location). If the caliper is at the "rear" of the rotor (three o'clock position when viewing a left side wheel) then the reaction force is in the upward direction. This subtracts from the spindle load. Hence most vehicles have the caliper mounted on the "rear" side position. I would assume that mounting the caliper in the 12 o'clock or 6 o'clock position would be OK, but caliper bleeding would be a concern. However, where you mount the caliper has no effect on the clamping force applied to the rotor so braking performance is not an issue. Some automotive manufacturer claim that mounting the caliper in the "front" position helps to provide better airflow over the caliper as the caliper is not shielded by the strut assembly.

Hello all; I picked up a set of triple Mikuni's with the "shorty" Mukuni intake but the linkage parts that connect from the actuator rod on the intake to the firewall are missing. Does anyone have any pics of their Mikuni's showing some detail of this item(s)? I have installed several set of Webers with the Cannon intake on Z cars, but the throttle actuator rod on the Cannon intake lines up directly with the stock Z firewall linkage piece. So mating it to the Z throttle is very straightforward. With the Mikuni intake the actuator rod is about 2" closer to the cylinder head so it doesn't line up directly with the stock throttle piece on the firewall. I’m hesitant to move any parts on the firewall until I have seen how others have accomplished this. Thanks in advance!

Passing note: A NOS 240Z wiper motor on I saw on eBay sold for $331.00