TheNeedForZ

If we only evaluate friction and weight, I would say the 4 banger save more gas. But I could be wrong, I am no engine theorist. The lighter rotating mass require lesser fuel to maintain idle speed when stopped at traffic lights. smaller engine, lesser bearing surface, lesser friction in engine, lesser friction loss. The lighter mass require lesser energy to get up to a certain vehicle speed as well. But all is not relevant because power and fuel economy cannot be had in the same setup---If a small engine is to have big power, then it probably uses a rich mixture.

Weapon of Mass Fornication?! Must Not Fall Into Wrong Hands!

David, I am sure by the time you read this you already got over it. I still want to say it though. From what I've gathered, You : Were abused as an infant but were saved Had great foster parents Have a good bond with your boy Received 8 year college education, degree in engineering Make 6 figure money Operate 3 companies Have several hobbies Probably are in good health Love children Like dogs Have good rapport with local police Have classic cars with good weight-to-power ratio Tune Q-Jets instead of cussing at it Not a lot of people in this world can have 3 or 4 of the above, let alone all of them. I am not saying those things came without effort, but you know what I mean. There are tons of people in this world who would LOVE to spend 17200$ to hire a hitman to wire a bomb in their truck so their bad spouse would vaporize with it...But it just happened for you. That money stealing wife of yours could very well be the last bad person you'll HAVE to deal with in your life. Be glad it's over. From now on, your life will be nothing but sunshine. You are the forgive and forget type, not the revenge type, I like that, though I believe that woman should be lawfully prosecuted to the fullest extend. "Living well is the best revenge" I think you are more than capable of living well, unless you don't know how to work your washing machine and run out of underwear.

These are some X-Box games that I have : Sega GT 2002 --- 432R, 240Z, 240ZG, 300ZX, 350Z Project Gotham Racing 2 --- 240Z, 350Z Auto Modelista --- 240Z, 300ZX, 350Z Need for Speed Underground 2 --- 350Z I've never seen 280ZX appear in any video game.

Thanks for your inputs. dr_hunt, PM sent

I was quoted $2600 CDN (about 1800$ US) for a complete sand blast, and they only do sand and walnut, no soda powder. That's a complete sand blast, inside and out, all the nooks and crannies. I didn't know if it were a fair price for that kind of work so I didn't went for it...I did not have the money either.

I too am very interested in smoothline fg parts, but they don't list their prices. Has anybody had luck getting a price quote from them?

The Q-jet on my car is like this : number : 17059206, and then 0869 CBF front vacuum break assembly is missing a duct that goes into choke thermostat housing is cut and not hooked up (I think hot air or whatever is supposed to enter the thermostat housing thru the duct and heat up the coils. The duct should go somewhere but I dunno where and neither 2 of my Q-jet books show how to set it up) The number suggests a 1979 Q-Jet in federal standard, made for an automatic transmission Chevy. Production date is 86th day of 1979. It could be the original carb for this engine since my engine/trans is a Chevy with TH350 3 speed automatic. I would like to know how to complete the setup, and where to get parts. Also if I replace the choke setup with divorced type, i.e. the coil mounted on the intake manifold, would that be better? Thanks in advance

I am not familiar with getting replacement carburetor parts. Any website/place where I can order replacement parts for Q-Jet? Thanks

The "ratsun" dr_hunt mentioned...watch the videos, yes it does wheelies. http://ratsun.com/ cheers

Thanks for the replies, to answer some of your questions.... The choke : After letting the engine ran for 5 minutes that day, I actually got out of the car to mess with the choke valve. The engine ran with a higher rev and a sharper sound if I flip open the choke valve. That probably means the engine no longer needs the choke and the choke is robbing power and stealing gas. The choke is mechanical...I don't recall seeing any electrical wires going into it. Maybe the choke is not opening because thermostat coil is not getting exhaust gas...I'll have to check again. Tony...the car starts fine now, I just got to figure out how to make the choke reset to full open. The car had start-up problem because one of the ex-owners intentionally stuck the choke open. "Once you master the ability to read and understand a Haynes book, you can do anything. (Especialy when your model car is mentioned as an afterthought in the appendix.) " Heheh...that basically speaks for all 280Z owners, the Haynes manual includes 280Z as a model but it only has info on 24Z & 260Z. Thanks again

I read your comments about firing order and choke, and went to check again. I followed the distributor cables and it was correctly installed. I did make sure the lines go back to their original places when I pulled the plugs last time, but who knows? I checked it anyway...nothing wrong there. Then there's the choke, I just read about chokes in the carburetor book yesterday and what it told me was that choke is really important for start-up. After finding no error in the firing order, the rest of my hope went into freeing up the choke valve. I pulled the piece of rubber tubing out of the choke control arm slot to free up the choke...I expected the choke valve to shut immediately once I freed its movement, it didn't, then I yank the throttle and the choke valve shut right off. With the choke on I went into the car and tried to start it without air filter and without pumping the gas pedal. Two tries and it fired right up. YES! I left it running for 5 minutes and then I turned it off, put air filter back on and tried again. It's like she wanted to start !!! When I finished working on the car the sky cleared up and the sun actually came out, it was beautiful, lol. One question about the choke though....when will it fully open? I left the car running for 5 minutes and noticed no change in its position...it stays slightly open. I thought the engine heat will open it up but it didn't. I thought the vacuum break will open it up....it didn't have any effect even when I was revving the engine. I've yet to actually drove the car on the road. Do I have to put the car in gear and drive it for the choke to open? If the choke is having trouble resetting itself to a fully open position, maybe that's why one of the ex-owners had the choke stuck open intentionally. Thanks for all your help, she's alright for now. All that much trouble from a tiny piece of rubber tubing.

Hi again, Today I tried to start the car again with the air filter removed. The car won't start despite [pumping gas prior to start] or [pressing the pedal while turning the key] (Last time the engine will run continuously as long as I [depress the gas pedal about 1/4~1/2 while starting] and then [keep a bit of pressure on the gas pedal]...see previous posts.) So today I was sitting in the driver's seat, cranking the engine trying to start....then I saw a bit of flame shooting out of the exposed Q-jet, I stopped immediately because I knew I didn't have a fire extinguisher handy. The flame is more like a flash in the pan, lasted very short(about 0.4 sec?) and it stopped as soon as I stopped my actions. I then went to examine the carb(not a smart thing to do when your carb was shooting flame 10 seconds ago, but I didn't care if I lose my eyebrow) , I pulled the throttle cable, primaries opened and steamy gasoline vapor came out of them. I looked past the throttle opening (into the manifold?) and there was liquid inside, I guess I flooded the damn thing again. But why is my carb shooting flames? ----------------------------------------- This is a brief timeline of incidents : Mid November : Ex-owner drove the car to train station to have the car delivered. 13 days later : Car delivered to my house on a truck, the delivery guy started the car and back the car into my driveway. THE VERY NEXT day : I can't start the car, battery was weak and then died from many starting attempts. May have flooded the engine. 10 days later : Removed spark plugs from all chambers to let the cylinders dry. Removed battery for overnight recharge at an autoshop. 3 days later : Re-installed spark plugs and battery. The car will start if I depress gas pedal while I turn the key, however the car will NOT stay running if I take my foot off the gas pedal. 10 days later (today) : Try to start the car again with the air cleaner removed. There were some brief moments when I hear the engine roar but it never did ran on its own. Then I saw flame coming out of the exposed carb and I stopped. Steamy gasoline vapor came out of the primaries after I yank the throttle cable. May have flooded engine again. -------------------------------------------- Some discoveries about the fuel system : 1. On the pump-to-carb duct there is a transparent plastic cup with a filter inside, you can see if there's fuel in it. Over a long period of time(like 10 days), the fuel level in the "transparent cup" recedes. Turning the engine will bring the fuel level up quickly(of course, the fuel pump pumps it up). I don't know if the receding fuel level has any bad effect on the carb because even with the cup empty, squirts of gasoline shooting into the carb can be seen and heard with every pedal pump. The fuel ducts seem to be good, not cracked because when I squeeze the plastic cup a bit I can always hear a tiny hiss coming from the carb. 2. The long rectangular valve on top of the primaries (is it the choke valve?) ....someone before me stuffed a section of tubing into the choke control arm slot to keep the choke open at all times. Since it's intentionally done for a certain reason unknown to me, I left it that way. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ What puzzles me the most : What puzzles me the most is the fact that the delivery guy, knowing nothing about the car, fired the car right up after 13 days of inactivity, backed into my driveway, got out of the car, and the car stayed running. On the very next day it won't start, then battery ran out of power . 10 days later I installed a completely recharged battery and the car will start but won't keep running unless I kept my foot on the gas. Another 10 days later the car won't start at all. I have not changed any settings at all, whether it's the carb or the car itself. Gents, I appreciate your help, I am in an embarrasing(I've only driven the car for 3 feet in reverse) dead lock here. The auto service shop I usually go to won't even deal with carburetor cars, and they refuse to come over to do diagnosis. I just received 2 books on Rochester carburetors(one by Doug Roe, and another from Haynes), I'll read as much as I can once finals exams are over. It's very frustrating, but I know many years later I'll look back at this and laugh, afterall, who's going to forget his first Q-jet diagnosis if it ended up with flame shooting out of his Q-jet?

For 300$ it's basically free. Be warned that there is always more rust than it seems.

Thanks all, I'll try the pedal pumping first since it's easiest to do, besides, I don't fully understand carburetors yet, let alone doing a complete takedown/rebuild.

UPDATE : The battery has been charged overnight at an auto shop. I've unplugged the spark plugs for 2~3 days for the chamber to dry. The condition of the spark plugs looks decent, even somewhat new. Then I installed everything back into the car. I followed the suggestion of the ex-owner to start the car while depressing the gas pedal a bit(I used 1/2~1/4 throttle). After a few tries the car will start and run on its own. If I didn't depress the gas pedal, the car will only turn-over but won't start. However, while the engine is running, if I let go of the gas pedal, the car will idle for a few seconds and then stop running suddenly but smoothly. The minimum amount of pressure that I needed to put on the gas pedal is very little, I'd say less than 1 lb, but that makes all the difference between engine keep running and not keep running. Any suggestions? BTW the car is a 383cid Chevy stroker, TH350 automatic trans, Quadrajet carb. Car has fuel. The car was started outside, pretty cool but not cold. The exhaust fume smelt like gasoline, but I suppose the mixture should be rich when starting, and trying to start was all I did. Could this be a carburetor setting problem? Thanks in advance

Weight and displacement of 1st gen Z cars are easy to remember 240Z about 2400 cc about 2400 lbs 260Z about 2600 cc about 2600 lbs 280Z about 2800 cc about 2800 lbs The weights are of the complete car, bumpers & etc all included 260Z&280Z have gas-oil cylinder assemblies for bumper shock absorbers. 280Zs have HEAVY bumpers. Lose the 4 pressure cylinders and use skinny bumpers and those later cars won't be that bad. But they are still heavier because the thicker skin. TNFZ

Thanks for the info, can it be applied to the entire car? Can the powder reach areas that were harder to reach with traditional paint spray guns? thnx

mtbrider586 What do the fuel cell and battery box/disconnect do? Are they part of the strengthening process or they simply help redistributing/reduce weight? I am quite interested in weight reduction as well, would like to hear more details. Thanks

Hi all Can someone kindly explain to me what "powdercoating" is? I heard it on TV that it is some sort of paint without solvent and is applied with a lot of heat? What are the pros and cons of powdercoating compared to paint or plating? Thanks

Mrtemp I live in Richmond area, south of Vancouver. You are absolutely right about it, best way to learn is to do it. mtbrider586 I am guessing the car has the stock pump, so mechanical pump? The car was shipped from east Canada to west shore, and the ex-owner drove the car to the rail station fine, the deliver guy started the car, backed it off the truck fine....probably my fault to let the battery die /cylinder flood. Starting tomorrow I will have time to look at the car, but I need to get a set of spark plug socket first.

Thanks for the support I'll let you guys know how things turn out.

Wow we have gun people here too Before I caught the car bug, I was a dedicated gun nut. I have both the SKS and Lee-Enfield, plus some others. You kinda make the choice depend on what you want to do. SKS will give you the kind of fun that everybody appreciates: wife, kids, friends....Basically you pick up the gun and blast it away. It's best used with reactive targets like rotten fruit or steel gong that rings. Our club hosts "pumpkin shoot" before Halloween, and the SKS really shine through, everybody expected the pumpkins to explode when shot with .50 cals or shotguns, but the SKS out-do them all. The pumpkins literally exploded into pieces. I guess it has something to do with the ammo, I used Norinco soft points(green steel shell with a softpoint tip on the bullet). Copper washed FMJ style ammo won't have the same effect. #4MK1 is the slow, quiet type, with milsurp ammo it won't be much more accurate, but with handloading it can do better. It takes some getting used to because the gun cocks on closing. Here in Canada you see a lot of Lee-Enfields, every old man has one. Heck, I am not old and I have one....Mine is all matching, minty condition, I just love looking at it. KP

Thanks, you guys are right about the battery charge. I dug out an auto care book published by Popular Mechanics and read about battery charging yesterday. Turns out if a battery has been dead, it is quite difficult to charge it up again. Will try a fresh battery later. I've only became interested in cars recently, few months ago, before that, I don't really know anything about cars, I dont' know much now neither. Now I read about car stuff everyday if not too occupied by college work. What I am reading now is a book by David Vizard, "How to build max performance small block chevy on a budget." Very good book, now I got the V8 it's even better. I also read tech magazines, and have several maintainence books, they usually help, but not always. I bet most of you liked cars since you're kids. I never liked cars much until one day I saw a 1st gen Z at a gas station.