This update starts with flying 4500 miles and a new Nissan air filter to replace the wrong one for flat top Hitachis that this car hasn't had since the 70's. The thicker filter is for the round top SU carbs and it actually extends to the box on both sides now. With the new hoses and block off cap for the backside of the airbox, the intake was now sealed up for the first time since Lee Majors was hitting on your stepmom at the Sizzler.
Now doesn't that feel good? Yes it does.
My buddies got this shot of me blasting down Hwy 53 from Oakwood to Braselton. Who has ever been happier to drive a 45 year old death trap?
This was the year of the Datsun at the Mitty. It was really refreshing to see so many legendary race cars and so many slapped together heaps having just as much fun. Datsuns have become "in" lately. Values climbing, publications talking about how timeless and beautiful they are.... I've always messed with them because they were cheap. They looked good enough but they always had a nice value to performance ratio that made so many ratty ones get loved. Now they're on a pedestal which is weird. Does that make me a hipster that I remember how these cars were virtually worthless and kind of liked it better when nobody cared about them? 
My first Datsun was a 74 260z with a 383 and a T5 in it. Didn't care about about matching numbers and 100 point restorations. Very few Datsun people did but by God there are way more of those people in the Datsun scene now. Luckily, the real enthusiasts out numbered the snobs 100 to 1 last weekend and that's why I go.
Anywho...the obligatory "legends shots":
Such a huge intercooler. Had to be 6 inches thick.
And now my favorite part, me and my buds camping out and playing in the infield. Besides the group of 8 or so we came up with, I also met up with GRM members friedgreencorrado and Matt B at our campsite for a little while as well. You never know what you'll see or who you'll run in to here and that really is why the Mitty is so great.
Robert- the previous owner of the green car. A good friend and also the dad of the owners of the grey 510 and red 240 in our group as well. He came up from Florida bringing his gulf shrimp and good stories as always.
Iggy replacing the broken throttle cable. When you drive a 40 year or Datsun, you happen to have 4 other throttle cables in the tool box at all times.
All of us in carpool mode:
We even did the parade laps with no parts falling off.
It's been 5 years since picking this car up and I have never really had time to do anything with it. The planned autocrosses, paint jobs, more speed parts....they just haven't happened yet. I got it running and then moved across the continent. So far, I just fly in once every 12-18 months and play with it for a little bit and then put it up and that's OK.
I decided I sort of don't want to bring it to Alaska since have my Land Cruiser and other toys up here that fit better. This car is that link to my past that I can get in it and just go have fun with lifelong GA friends just like we never really changed or got any older. I still have less than challenge money in this car and it's given me more smiles than any other car I've owned.
Until next time.
In reply to crankwalk :
Thanks for checking in. Car is right where it should be. I'd light sand it and shoot it with matte clear to preserve patina and halt the tin worm and enjoy it.
Ovid_and_Flem said:
In reply to crankwalk :
Thanks for checking in. Car is right where it should be. I'd light sand it and shoot it with matte clear to preserve patina and halt the tin worm and enjoy it.
It’s sanded and fluid filmed and hasn’t changed in 5 years so I’m ok with it for now.
Great story, thanks for sharing your joy (and pain) with us.
Triple Weber 40 DCOE's rebuild up next:
Love it. I haven't read through the whole thread, looks like that's next on the list for me - but I love the car and the look, and it will sound fantastic with the triples if nothing else.
As I'm putting together a list of what I need, the main thing is phenolic spacers. I was wondering why my throttle wasn't closing all the way and I realized I was missing these.
For Datsun folks running triples, 9-10mm seems like the thickness i'm going for (?) and also bakelite or aluminum for material?
Thanks
OR
In reply to crankwalk :
I have seen nylon as well, but I would look for the black phenolic ones. On a crossflow cylinder head aluminum would be OK, but there is too much radiant heat underneath your carbs. Plan on a heat shield too for a street car. Heat shield probably un-neccessary for track only car, I have not seen one. All Weber set ups are designed for the double O ring spacers. You only need enough dimension to clear the throttle linkage. The original function of these spacers was to dampen the vibration of a 4 cylinder engine to keep the float valves from flooding at specific RPM ranges. That reason is moot on your car, but all the designs use them. Given the choice between the rubber stud isolators and the metal "double lock washer" style, go with the metal ones. I have seen a lot of loose carbs on Alfas and Lotus from deteriorating stud isolators. When the instal is compete you should be able to flex the carbs relative to the manifold by about 1 degree up or down.
Today was the day for Weber overhaul x3. If you're looking in to doing this, I highly recommend Jethro Bronner's youtube channel. Alfa guy in South Africa and he's very thorough. His Alfa adventures are excellent even if you're not messing with carburetors.
His link:
Weber DCOE rebuild
I better leave this sticker on just in case:
Back together and I believe all that is left are adding the spacers and connecting the linkage.
My specs for these are:
Idle jets: 50F9
Main jets: 120- F11 emulsion tube
Air Corrector: 170
Pump jet: 40
28 MM Chokes with Choke Jets- 85F9
Needle Valve: 200
Float height set at 26mm
From what I've seen these are pretty close to what people are running in 2.4s. Hopefully the smaller chokes will give it good streetability though either way the goal is to make noise and have fun with it the few times I have with the car.
Finished the carb setup tonight. I went with the soft mounts from redline.
The linkage was a little tricky to get all three opening and closing in unison but it looks likes it's sorted.. I added a Z store fuel pressure gauge near the back carb but if I recall, my clicky clacky electric fuel pump is right at the recommended 3 psi to keep these happy. Also I'm going to run breather filters for the PCV and the valve cover since I won't have the stock hoses from the factory air box.
And now we wait for the next trip back which I'm thinking will be September of this year.
Welp, long story short I decided to mail the carbs to a Z guru local to the car in GA and the post office did a number on me. SOOOOO much bubble wrap and though the box arrived in one piece, I have to believe the box was thrown out of the plane. I had them insured but because I bought them used and didn't have a direct receipt from a store, they denied my claim. Of course I have sent copies of bank statements and a billion pictures before, during, and after they arrived but apparently they dont care. It's been a month of dealing with the post office and now it's being appealed. Not holding my breath but the show must go on.
Datsun Spirit heat shield arrived in one piece luckily:
New TWM intake and 2 1/2 inch velocity stacks from Redline:
Waiting for the shop to weld up the shortened throttle rod and we will be in business.
Current status:
It's been super frustrating dealing with USPS but the actual shop has been great. Near daily picture and status updates and now that we are "social distancing" due to the Coronavirus....though I live on a mountain in Alaska and practice this as a normal lifestyle.....it's pretty bitchin' to be modding my Z from my couch 4500 miles away.
Just a couple little details to sort and she'll be making noises.
Bummer about the shipping damage. What is the point of insurance if they won't pay when they break something?
jfryjfry said:
Bummer about the shipping damage. What is the point of insurance if they won't pay when they break something?
Right? I paid $150 to ship it from Alaska to Georgia with $900 in insurance. New these are $1800 for the whole setup so since I pieced it together over a long period of time and tried to keep costs lower, I insured it for $900 to cover what I have in it. I boxed everything up and wrapped everything like I didn't want it to be a year worth of work ruined. So overkill. Big box, lots of bubble wrap, selected Fragile/Breakable (which later I'm told doesn't matter with how they handle it. Why did they ask then?), insured it and sent it on it's way. Box arrives kind of beat up but from impacts. There was no sharp corner anywhere on the box anymore. I have so many pictures before (in this thread as well) that show he manifold wasn't cracked or damaged before hand etc.
I'm told at first I didn't package it well. By a clerk who didnt see the package but just decided to blame me. Then the post master in GA collected the broken manifold and saw the packaging and saw that wasn't the case. He filled out his form but wrote the tracking number wrong. I call after THREE weeks because I heard nothing and informed them he got the tracking number wrong and they basically said " Oh thanks for letting us know. Now that we are looking at this we are denying your claim because you dont have a receipt from a store showing you bought it"
So, I appealed, sent bank statements, paypal receipts for every nickel and dime I've spent on the setup that wasnt cash and frankly it's none of their business to collect all that information. I paid to insure it and without a receipt from a STORE, it has $0.00 value apparently and they aren't responsible. Not holding my breath.
I will FedEx Christmas cards from here on out to avoid using USPS after all this.
Bummer on the shipping snafu. I ship a lot of stuff and if its something critical, I will always pay more to go Fedex air and insure for an absurd amount, which prints out an extra paper that drivers have to sign.
Who is thsi Redline company you talk about? Do you have a website?
Slippery said:
Who is thsi Redline company you talk about? Do you have a website?
They are distributors through Weber.
http://www.redlineweber.com/
A lot of the linkage and replacement pieces actually came direct from Pierce Manifolds in Gilroy, CA. Very helpful to work with.
https://www.piercemanifolds.com/
Throttle rod linkage shortened and working:
A proper battery box after almost a decade of bungee cords:
I mentioned sometime in this thread years and years ago that I needed to ditch the pinched smog connection factory cast manifold and I couldn't put a set of triples on without handling this at the same time.
MSA 3-2 header:
Currently the car is running but is lean below 3k. The shop is doing some road tuning on it and should be wrapped up shortly. The Mitty is canceled and there are no deadlines but it's fun to get the updates as they come in.
JoeyM
Mod Squad
4/13/20 4:37 p.m.
Nice throttle linkage. I should make something that looks that nice. My setup is kludgey.
Here's a goofy problem. The flange on the TWM intake is thinner than the MSA header so the washer that holds them both together isn't uniform and doesn't bite down on the intake nearly enough.
enough so that a flat head screwdriver could slip in the bottom on the intake flange.
This solves the running lean question and why a little fuel was coming out the bottom side of the intake. The plan is to grind away just enough on the header to make it the same thickness and only at the parts where the washers go.
This is kind of a random issue because a TWM and a MSA header are a pretty tried and true setup. I don't know who is too thick or who is too thin so we will just move forward modifying it to make it fit.
The upside is those that have heard this car with the old cracked stock manifold for 7(!) years will be pleased to know I have no exhaust leaks and it sounds fantastic now. It really sounded comically bad before.
Crankwalk... “back in the day” we used washers that were 1/2 thickness for the intake and full thickness for the exhaust (grind away 1/2 of the washer). Trick was to position it correctly as you set the manifolds to the head.
Good luck with triples...
Gordon
ggarrard said:
Crankwalk... “back in the day” we used washers that were 1/2 thickness for the intake and full thickness for the exhaust (grind away 1/2 of the washer). Trick was to position it correctly as you set the manifolds to the head.
Good luck with triples...
Gordon
Yeah I think we might go with the half washer trick. I remember having step washers for the stock SUs but the "step" wasn't near as big as it would need for this header. You'd think header companies in the last 20 years or so would just adjust the thickness of their flange since this is a common issue apparently.
Here's my taper top to bottom on the intake:
I was lucky enough to find a set of new Datsun step washers just for this situation. They were from an unused L series race exhaust manifold and measure 2 mm thicker than what I need. Should be easy enough to take 2 mm off and get back to it.
Isn't this the most drawn out carburetor install of all time? I post this stuff up because maybe it will help somebody later down the road but I realize most people will find my washer dilemma very boring. Hopefully I'll have some exciting updates shortly.
In reply to crankwalk (Forum Supporter) :
It takes how long it takes. Great write up.
