Konish

Finally, seemingly achieved bliss with my DCOE 45 152s. I was just so darn happy, I had to post a video. Oh, and the finally piece of the puzzle to arrive at this wonderous place? 32mm chokes...that's right, 32mm. I know I've read where experts have stated that you'd never need anything less than 34mm chokes to make the carbs run right. While that may be true (as I didn't try the 34s), the 32s get rid of that wicked lean spot just off idle with the 152s (due to that specific model progression port design). The wideband still shows it, but it just drives so much better on the street. The 36mm chokes would *really* nose-dive and about kill the car unless I slipped the clutch to about 2000-2500 rpm and even then I had to feather the throttle and clutch so it wouldn't buck. 32s? Drive like a normal street car. Until I can get the 4th progression port added by a machinist, it'll have to do. If nothing else, don't believe that 32s won't work and while they may sacrifice top-end, it'll do for now. Here's the "but" part and what made tuning these so damned frustrating. I have an ignition related miss that causes the wideband to read in the 20s (AFR). I can also correlate that to the tach. I took apart my distributor (vacuum advance disabled) and I noticed that one of the teeth on the reluctor ring (rotor) is broken increasing the gap between the stator by quite a bit...say 3X the gap between the rest of them. I also suspect my coil is acting up when it gets warm. So, the plan is to replace the reluctor ring and the coil (not necessarily in that order depending on when I can get parts) to see if I can get the ignition to play nice. Oh, if you noticed the loud tapping...the valves are adjusted...and verified a few weeks later. I think it's the fuel pump arm as it sounds like the tapping is coming from the top of the timing cover. I will say the mic on my phone really makes this louder and higher in freq than it really is.

Bought some small stuff from David...square deal.

I searched... I'm finally biting the bullet and pulling my Webers to investigate a suspected intake mainfold leak. Truth be told, I'm not sure it is leaking but I have *every* symptom of a manifold leak and tried to solve the symptoms by other means hoping I wouldn't have to pull the mainfold. So, since it's a relatively simple and straight-forward job a new gasket is going in. However, I don't want to do this again, so I was going to use copper-based gasket sealer to make double sure with the new gasket that it'll all seal up nice (after making sure the manifold is square). Good idea...bad idea? If it is a bad idea, why exactly is that so? If not sealant then what would be the recommendation? I live in Japan so I don't have the availability of a wide variety of commonly used sealants, so I bought the permatex ultra copper high heat stuff on base....good to 700*F intermittent. R/ Dustin

Yes, I too have read in various places that 25mm from the top of the carb body is the optimal fuel level (which indeed does correspond to 2 mm below the main spillway). I used a thick plastic drinking straw that just fit inside the main jet stack socket. I used another thick plastic straw to make a shim that fit around the measuring straw and sat directly on top of the body (larger diameter than the main jet holder). The shim has just enough friction to allow the inner straw to slide down the socket with controlled pressure. Slowly push down on the edge of the straw (so you can see down inside it's length) and at the moment the straw makes contact, you'll see the surface tension break. Withdraw straw and measure against the shim. Or you can buy the $40 clear plastic rod on Ebay and it'll do the same thing.

Tony, Thanks. I know the holes in the plates is to balance air between bores on the same carb (prior to the intro of the external bleed screw on carbs like the 152s), but since I had a slight synch issue, I thought it might help eliminate the hanging throttle as well. However, after seeing 3 sets (1 brand new, 1 rebuilt and 1 refreshed...2 of those were mine) and about 100 videos of them in operation, I still think Webers have a harder time returning to full closed throttle when running. Both my sets close extremely positively when the car is off or the carbs are off the manifold. Linkages are all high quality pieces and adjusted correctly (no binding at all). I just observed my latest set closing relatively slower near the end of the arc with the helper spring removed. Now they did close all the way by themselves, but it for sure wasn't the positive "snap" they have when the motor is off. Obviously with the helper, they close quickly and positively. On my older set, with just the throttle arms, the carbs tend to want to "fall" open while running but still need a nudge to close. I had one incident where one of the linkage arms was still connected to the throttle lever while I was adjusting the something on the upper linkage. The link arm fell and with just the weight of that one link arm hanging off the throttle lever, it pulled the throttle open quite a bit...enough to make the motor race about 1000 rpm. No way could the weight of one linkage arm do that with the motor off or the carb off the manifold. I was shocked that it was so easy to open the throttles just with the car idling...but it was and is. I know the leading edge of the butterflies angles towards the direction of flow, but it also has the trailing edge that angles away from the direction of flow with the pivot point splitting the leading/trailing edge equally. I won't even try to argue fluid dynamics, but I've also seen a few videos with the same exact issue (car off, they close great, car running, the don't), so I can only go off observations.

Okay, I just bought and installed some DCOE 45 152s. I installed these to replace a set of old DCOE 40s I had. The 40s ran pretty good for the most part and the plan was to get some Mikuni triples. The deal for the 45s was pretty good and parts are easier to get, so I opted to try the Webers one more time. Trouble is, I cannot get my idle to settle down. Its +/- 100/150 rpm like a lean hunt. Average idle speed then would be really close to 1000rpm. Valves adjusted, carbs synched across all barrels and the following jets: Mains 145 Emm tubes F-11 A/C 185 Pumps 45 Needles 200 Aux Venturis 4.5 Chokes 36 Since I can't find starter fluid here in Japan, I used propane from a torch to check for vacuum leaks and there did not appear to be any. I tested how much my idle would come up by putting the propane right down the throats and it definitely picks up a couple hundred rpm. Anyway, I kept the torch in each area of the manifold (top and bottom...head to manifold and manifold to carbs) for 15 seconds or so and no idle increases noted. I adjusted the floats using the direct measurement from the main jet well to 25mm which instantly cured an almost undrivable lean condition despite the 55F9 idles. Idle stop screws are 1/2 turn past initial contact with the throttle levers. From the inspection port, the plates are *well* behind the first trans port (a known issue with the 152s which causes a just-off-idle lean spot). Idle mixture screws are 2 full turns from bottom...I've read that the 152s may need as much as 2.5 to 3 turns to idle correctly. I get 10 kg/h across the boards on the flow synch meter from barrel to barrel. I'm totally guessing here, but here are my thoughts: 1. My chokes are too big and it's not allowing sufficient velocity to build through the carb. The slower speed then draws the fuel from the idle mix port at uneven and poorly vaporized state(?) I know, I'm grasping at straws. 2. One thing I did note in diagnosing my problem is that one of the teeth on my reluctor ring on my 280zx distributor was broken (not the stator) increasing the gap between the broken tooth and the stator teeth. I will say the car has always run fine prior to these 152s. 3. Even though the bowls are set, I'm still suffering the effects of a weak mechanical fuel pump causing fuel starvation. This would make more sense if that car acted like it was starving at higher rpm which it doesn't seem to be...I mean it doesn't break up or ping excessively. Actually, the car feels pretty good at above 3000 rpm under load, but I do still get a lot of lean popping on deceleration or closed throttle. Also, I can make the car die in a very tight turn with the throttle closed. Before the float adjustment, the idle would increase a lot...say to 1500 rpm or higher, and then immediately die. It acted exactly like a small R/C motor right before the fuel runs out...runaway idle then dead. It's better now and it may or may not die (usually does), but I get a big drop in idle before it catches back up. Finally, it takes forever to warm up. I have a Innovate LM-2 hooked up but it has its own issues (see their forums) so I don't know what to believe as at idle it always reads 20.9 AFR (sometimes it bounces around and reads crazy numbers like in the hundreds etc). At 1/2 to WOT it reads anywhere form 10.5 to 13. Until I can get this thing on it's own power supply directly from the battery, I'm not sure I can trust it's readings right now. 4. A combo of all 3 issues above, but I'm guessing issue 3 is the most likely the problem. I mean it seems obvious the car is lean and acting crazy as hell, but it just ran *so* much better when I had the DCOE 40s (30 mm chokes) on there with the same mech pump. EDIT: The more I think about it, I'm thinking that this is a fuel volume problem. Even though the fuel level looks good at idle and the fuel pressure is good (via a reg), it simply cannot replace the fuel fast enough due to the idle jets being higher in the bowl (which is why the mains aren't as affected due to their lower position in the bowl). As I start to use the fuel under partial acceleration, the idles "run dry" and start to go really lean. I guess this all moot anyway as I have a Holley Red on the way so one or another I'll know in the future...still would love to hear opinions though. These are driving me nuts. R/ Dustin

Jacob, The color doesn't quite match per se. I say that because I'm not even sure what the original color is anymore. I have about 6 different shades of "butterscotch" from really orange to really brown in my car. Having said that, side-by-side, the color does not match exactly with the existing factory pieces in my car...the stuff in my car is slightly more orange but it's really, really close. However, since I'm painting all of my interior plastic pieces with the same paint, it *will* match. After that, I really doubt that anyone could say that the color wasn't factory. In fact, the spray color matches the color in the factory seats much better than the original stuff as well as some other minor trim items.

I got this set from Ebay after doing a search here. This was their caramel color if I remember right. I'm really happy for the $$$ spent and even though it isn't anywhere near a "high dollar" carpet kit it beats the beat-up old vinyl that it replaced, it fit reasonably well and the color was close enough to keep me happy! The rest of my interior is following closely behind this install...in another thread. R/ D

Fellas, Without having seen the $450+ set of the repop Butterscotch plastic, I didn't want to cough up the dough, so I thought I'd try my hand at doing a little interior resto. I wasn't as careful in all of the steps because as you know, they're pretty much hidden away in the back of the bus, so a perfect "experiment" for me. As you can see the seller had indicated he fabricated "covers" for the ragged holes that were cut for speakers. By "fabricated", he meant he quickly cut out pieces from other trim panels and glued them on with black RTV...gawd. So I pulled the ragged "covers" off and spliced in my speaker grills from my BS piece (the only good pieces left) I used some fiberglass cloth to hold in place...my first time with FG and it sucks Filled in with a little finish filler Easy to follow directions I layed down a layer of white Krylon plastic paint so my really expensive "Caramel Brown" Teroson Q-Color vinyl paint would cover better. Yeah, you can *just* see the outline of the spliced pieces, but again, these are so far back and down low, I can live with it. Then color I'll install the rest of it later this month which will really set off the new carpet kit I just installed...different thread. Hope y'all like it and I hope it inspires some Butterscotch guys to hang on to the color. R/ Dustin

Should have updated this. I sealed up any suspected vacuum leaks, readjusted the throttle linkage from the firewall (there was a bit of binding at the extreme end of the throw and now it's as smooth as butter), and bought some really nice heim and turnbuckle linkages. The binding contributed to about 85% of my high idle and the other 15% (which was the hardest to track) was for the slop in the worn out link arms that came with my carbs. I'm only talking hundredths of an inch (or less maybe) but it makes a HUGE difference in the car's air volume through the carbs and the idle speed. Everything is working 100% now but I still believe that the butterflies on DCOEs won't close all the way on their own under vacuum even with no linkage attached and the throttle arm is manipulated by hand. It's like a storm door in an a house that won't close all the way while the A/C is running. Turn the A/C off and the door shuts under it's own spring power easily. Even with everything running as perfectly as they are, I can tell there is a difference in the amount of force necessary to close them running vs stopped...it's not much but it's *just* enough to hold open the butterflies at a higher idle if there is slop in the linkage. With everything set, I can now get the car to idle sub 1000 rpm...say 800 or so, run smoothly (i.e. my tractor-like idle is gone) and the revs return to idle almost instantly. R/ Dustin

Car stuff cheap in Japan? I've lived here for the last 5 years (not concurrent...2 years the first time and 3 years currently and 3 more to go), and the stuff is *far* from cheap. Used parts? Maybe...depends on what you want, but aftermarket stuff is crazy expensive. If you still have contacts here, have them pick up an issue of G-Works magazine for you...it'll curl your toes. R/ D

Car stuff cheap in Japan? I've lived here for the last 5 years (not concurrent...2 years the first time and 3 years currently and 3 more to go), and the stuff is *far* from cheap. Used parts? Maybe...depends on what you want, but aftermarket stuff is crazy expensive. If you still have contacts here, have them pick up an issue of G-Works magazine for you...it'll curl your toes. R/ D

Hmmm...I bought the same exact console and he also has another listed on Ebay. I admit I was a little pissed that it wasn't a NOS piece and then went back to re-read his auction. Unfortunately, it only says "new" not NOS...and it was new. Admittedly, he should have listed it as a reproduction. As far as it being a poor re-pop, I have to disagree. I think you could beat an elephant to death with this thing and it'll hold together. Having said that it did need to be trimmed to fit the fuse cover and choke lever plate, but it turned out great. Compared to the genuine used console I bought, I liked the fact that the reproduction used the woven fiberglass cloth vs the blown strand cloth and it'll hold me weight when I lean on it without a sound...my original one and the used one I bought would make cracking noises. I was and still am a little pissed about a set of door arm rests I bought from him...kinda flimsy and cheap, but better than about 99% of the used stuff I've seen which is in the exact same shape as the ones that came with my car. Overall I gotta say though that I've had pretty good transactions with him. His shipping was always fair and he packaged the stuff up nicely. Finally lots of people will flat try and screw me on shipping because I have an FPO/AP address and for some reason they automatically jack up the shipping even though it's the same rates as domestic USPS pri mail...but George didn't and I got my stuff quickly...7-10 days which is blazing fast for out here.

Kris, I just installed a full Prothane kit over the last 2 weekends but I don't remember there being that much space between the bushings and still having that much spacer exposed on the ends. When you fit the arm into the top and bottom retaining "saddles" does it force the bushings themselves apart? Obviously this would leave a larger space between the bushings which will not matter as long as the shoulder of the urethane bushings are at least flush with the control arm flange and giant-ass bolt washer. Oh, and I couldn't get my steering rack bushing to fit...the internal diameter was *way* too small and would not fit all the way round the rack mounting points...which pissed me off to no end. Since I was working outside, was running out of daylight and patience I jut the old rubber ones back in. I also had to shave some of the face off one of the bushings on the internal spindle pin side on both LCAs just to get the strut mounted back in there...and even then it was TIGHT. Oh and the tie-rod end covers are pretty stiff and are not near as compliant as the OEM rubber covers. If I had it to do over again, I would have just bought new OEM covers since the urethane ones don't "add" anything to the stiffness factor and don't seem to cover as well. R/ Dustin EDIT: Oh, hey, I just noticed...where are the thick "starred" washers that go in between the flange on the LCA side and the washer on the bolt side? That might explain the gap...

Neat early car. Please, don't hack up the center console to install a 5 speed they are expensive to replace and hard to find good, genuine ones in presentable shape. If you do decide on a 5 speed (like I have installed) modify a Datsun truck shifter...do a search on google, there is a great write-up. Also, the fuse cover/cigarette lighter cover is $...if you can find one (hopefully its on the floorboard ). You can make one from a cardboard template, fiberglass and SEM texture paint. It won't look original, but it'll be close enough on a budget. Aside from the tunnel vinyl and door panels, looks like your car has the original Butterscotch interior installed (which explains the green paint) . BS pieces are harder to find and the reproductions all vary on the actual color (they are black pieces painted BS) and the BS door panels are NLA which is the BIG hurdle in my mind for BS interiors. If you don't decide on an entire black interior conversion you can get interior paint that closely matches but it'll never be concurs...but I'm guessing on a budget and a new motor swap you don't really care about that. I got a killer carpet set that was a caramel color for under $200 on Ebay and resprayed some black pieces and they looked pretty good. From having messed with getting BS or caramel or camel or sunset brown etc etc colors to match, I'd think you'd be *way* ahead of saving some cash by just making it all black. Good luck

I have 205/60-15s on my swastikas, but they have like +10 offset I think. I believe the Rewinds are 0 offset...however I think you'll be fine with 205s.

Well, I guess I don't know for sure if they close all the way, but I can see the throttle plates completely closing the rear-most progression port. Actually, I can get the plates to pass the last progression port but the motor won't run with them in that position (or *just* barely). Actually, with the stop screws removed I can't pull them any more closed and the stop screw tabs are not touching the carb bodies, so I don't think there is any interference. The bores are clean as a whistle. Pumps are clean, smooth and are operating correctly...I can actually hear them squirting fuel when the engine is off and I pump the throttle shafts. Obviously, when I first open and close the throttle, you can feel the gas in the pump chamber dampen the throttle a bit, but it bleeds off quickly and they close without any of the hesitation I feel when they are running. I've already had them off the manifold trying to diagnose this problem last month, and I was also visually able to verify that each squirter was working as well. Even though I know the pumps are operating correctly, I'll check their operation tomorrow. Still can't imagine why they would stick when the car was running and not while it's off? So strange...

Okay, just thinking about this during dinner. Could it be that as I close my throttle, and the progression ports come back online (throttle plate nearly closing over the holes), the fuel flowing from either the second or last port is creating a hydrostatic wedge? I suspect the car is running rich, but man, that'd be a lot of fuel to create such a condition...? I'm pretty sure the seal between the throttle plate and last p-port is air tight because I have been able to witness a little vapor coming out of each them when I was inspecting the position via the inspection cover...completely covered, no vapor...slightly open and I'll get a wisp. Finally, in a moment of desperation, I completely removed the throttle stop screws and actually got the smoothest idle I have yet to achieve and the throttle was snappy and the engine returned to idle immediately. I thought I had licked the problem but it didn't take long for them to hang at a pretty high idle. However, I did notice that even when the throttle was as closed as they could possibly be, I was still getting enough air flow to measure it on the synchrometer (say just under 2) and visually noticed a little light leaking into the bore prior to installation. I have read that a *comletely* closed butterfly (i.e. without throttle stop screws limiting the throttle position) would cause the air flow to stop completely. At any rate, the engine would barely run or die when the plates were closed without the limiting screws. Man, this is just so frustrating!

Fellas, As I suspected in a previous thread, my butterflies on my DCOE 40s won't close all the way when the engine is running unless I forcibly pull the linkage up by hand. I have 2 really stout helper springs already. Valves have been adjusted and the carbs can be synched within a hair of each other on the synchrometer. Just to be sure it wasn't the linkage arm binding, I disconnected the linkages and if I open each throttle individually, they exhibit the same issue. The throttle just hangs there and I have to yank them shut. The helper springs don't help as they are too linear and don't "yank" the plates shut. While the engine is running, I can induce the rpm to "hang"...sometimes quite high by slowly coming off the revs. If I pop the throttle open and let it snap shut, it'll come back to normal (although not all the time...say 80%). Also, if the rpm hangs, I can turn off the car, restart and it'll return to the normal 1000ish rpm. When the engine is off, they work perfectly...open smoothly and pause just long enough for the jet pumps to bleed down, and snap shut all the way to the throttle stops. What the heck is going on? I can see the throttle plates definitely covering the last progression hole fully through the inspection port. Oh, and I'm running a Cannon intake manifold with the balance tube cast into the entire runner and linkage. I suspect I'm going to have to drill some little holes in the throttle plates to relieve some of the vacuum in the bores(?)... Oh, and here's what I'm running: Mains 130 Emms F-11 A/C 170 Drains 40 Pumps 45 Idles 55F11 Starters 100F5 Chokes 30 (for my type of driving I was thinking about going to 28s if it'll help the dipping idle issue) Needle valves 175 R/ Dustin

The shifter is held in by a pin with a circlip. Pop circlip from one side, push out pin, remove lever. It may take a teeny, tiny bit of force to pop out of the cup on the trans. Go to autozone and get the HELP! series of brass bushings. Find one in the package that's close. I needed to turn down both the ID and OD of the brass bushing itself as it was too big to fit into the shift lever hole and the pin was too big to slide in. I don't have a lathe but I found a drill bit that was a tad smaller than the ID, wrapped it in E-tape, forced the bushing over the tape, turned on drill and used a jewlers file to reduce the OD. After that, I hammered it into the lever (with a plastic mallet) for a tight fit. I then reamed out the ID with a dremel cylinder type cutter until the pin slipped in. MUCH better than a 40 year-old plastic bushing

Awesome car. I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I *really* like the way the 2+2 cars look. They certainly remind me of a classic, 2-door saloon that leaned way more heavily on the sports car side...pretty stately looking if you ask me.

My earlier searches on the net for the rotors show different part numbers at several of the major Z parts suppliers. I appreciate the AutoZone info...not sure why their site never popped up on my search. Thanks!

Seriously, nobody here knows if there are indeed 3 different parts number for 280ZX distributor rotors?

Fellas, Alternator upgrade is in the cards and I also want to replace the cap, rotor and wires. Everywhere I look, sites list 3 different part numbers for the N/A 280zx...'79, '80-'82, and '83. Are the shafts really keyed differently on these year models? I did not convert my dist and the PO can't remember exactly what year car he pulled it from. Any tips that'll help me ID what I have, or is it as I'm guessing that they are all the same? R/ Dustin