What did you do to your Z this week?

TimW

Club Member
I suffered the same for ages, until I finally got round to removing all the throttle linkage parts and cleaning, painting & greasing.
The bit that was pretty crappy was where it changes 90 degrees and connects to the manifold.
There is a plastic doughnut like washer/bearing that was gummed up with old grease and muck.
Don’t know if that alone was the main problem, but it doesn’t do it anymore.

Also check the smooth operation of the main throttle butterfly shaft between the carbs, I found mine was binding a tad!

Thanks Toopy, much improved after a clean up. Only occasional blipping needed on my outing yesterday. Everything else looks good, pistons fall with a nice clunk, seems to be the rear carb not always returning. Thanks, will check out the butterfly valve and post up findings.


£20. Although I didn't have any cash at the time so he didn't get paid :) I'll pay him for both when he puts it back in. Putting it back will be harder so more I'm sure!

Thanks Jon, good luck with the install.

Great day yesterday. Met up with Jake and Chris, went for a spot of lunch, some lovely country side and roads. Same feeling as most times, journeys in the Z end too quickly!..
 

status

Well-Known Forum User
I put two of my new wheels and tyres on the front,yet to test on road as not had time then get rears sorted with new tyres
 

richiep

Club Member
The red Zed lives! Started it for the first time yesterday after winter hibernation and the changes I've made to the intake, cold air system, etc. Unfortunately I had to buy a new battery as my attempt to start it at the weekend revealed the old one to be knackered. However, the new one highlighted how the old one had been on its last legs for years. The cranking was WAY better. On the battery, given the recent thread about battery choice, I picked up a Yuasa HSB030 from Halfords. Not the cheapest at £98, but an off-the-shelf option. 75Ah, 640A, with the correct pole orientation and the correct size. All the 069 and 072 batteries I had been looking into had the pole pieces the other way around, so that Yuasa was the most appropriate, easily available option.

Anyhow, she ran nicely although idle was high and I tracked this down to the new linkage. Some of the carbs were not quite closing, so I had to make some adjustments to the arms and adjustable links to get them firmly closed when off the throttle. Possibly also need to take a little slack out the throttle cable too. Will test again today and hopefully go for a short drive.

Unfortunately, my Compe steering wheel turns out to be a decorative piece - I backed out the garage and it promptly broke. The female splines in its centre have worn to the point that they can't hold. Something the Japanese seller on Yahoo Auctions neglected to mention... (they mentioned the other flaws, just not the most crucial one!). I'm going to replace it with one of the repros now available, and I already have a brand new horn pad for it anyway, so can save quite a bit off the price of buying one with pad included. In the interim, I swapped back over to Dixie's factory steering wheel that I restored last year.

Project Dixie: she's being collected on Thursday and taken to Enviro-Strip in Tamworth to undergo their full process - oven bake paint removal, de-rust, protective coating, weld-thru bodywork primer. In the meantime, I'm making enquiries and trying to get something sorted for the metalwork modifications and repairs and then paint.
 

IbanezDan51

Well-Known Forum User
The red Zed lives! Started it for the first time yesterday after winter hibernation and the changes I've made to the intake, cold air system, etc. Unfortunately I had to buy a new battery as my attempt to start it at the weekend revealed the old one to be knackered. However, the new one highlighted how the old one had been on its last legs for years. The cranking was WAY better. On the battery, given the recent thread about battery choice, I picked up a Yuasa HSB030 from Halfords. Not the cheapest at £98, but an off-the-shelf option. 75Ah, 640A, with the correct pole orientation and the correct size. All the 069 and 072 batteries I had been looking into had the pole pieces the other way around, so that Yuasa was the most appropriate, easily available option.

Anyhow, she ran nicely although idle was high and I tracked this down to the new linkage. Some of the carbs were not quite closing, so I had to make some adjustments to the arms and adjustable links to get them firmly closed when off the throttle. Possibly also need to take a little slack out the throttle cable too. Will test again today and hopefully go for a short drive.

Unfortunately, my Compe steering wheel turns out to be a decorative piece - I backed out the garage and it promptly broke. The female splines in its centre have worn to the point that they can't hold. Something the Japanese seller on Yahoo Auctions neglected to mention... (they mentioned the other flaws, just not the most crucial one!). I'm going to replace it with one of the repros now available, and I already have a brand new horn pad for it anyway, so can save quite a bit off the price of buying one with pad included. In the interim, I swapped back over to Dixie's factory steering wheel that I restored last year.

Project Dixie: she's being collected on Thursday and taken to Enviro-Strip in Tamworth to undergo their full process - oven bake paint removal, de-rust, protective coating, weld-thru bodywork primer. In the meantime, I'm making enquiries and trying to get something sorted for the metalwork modifications and repairs and then paint.


Why don't you have the centre machined out and a sleeve welded in with the correct splines cut? Cheaper than a repro?
 

richiep

Club Member
Why don't you have the centre machined out and a sleeve welded in with the correct splines cut? Cheaper than a repro?
That had occurred to me, but I’d need to look into it further to see if it’s genuinely worth the effort. I need to go to my local machinists this week so may take the wheel and see what they think.
 

richiep

Club Member
And off she went to Enviro-Strip yesterday:
O0Wbfwm.jpg

Oven strip, de-rust, protective coating, and weld-thru bodywork primer. When she gets back, I’ll hopefully get some local fabricators on the case for the mods and repairs, and then off for paint at the place that did my red car.

On the red car, I’ve had a couple of quick runs down the road and all seems good. I’ve got some new, special extended throttle levers for the Dell’Ortos to extend the travel required to open to full throttle, therefore increasing pedal travel with the new cable setup. I just want to make the pedal slightly less twitchy. Looking forward to getting a good run out to cane it and see how the airbox contributes.
 

toopy

Club Member
Jon, are you going to spray some underseal/wax on the inner wing area and especially across the top before the wing goes back on, don't think i'd be able to resist the urge to 'spray that S*^T every where' while access is so good?! :p
 

jonbills

Membership Secretary
Site Administrator
Jon, are you going to spray some underseal/wax on the inner wing area and especially across the top before the wing goes back on, don't think i'd be able to resist the urge to 'spray that S*^T every where' while access is so good?! :p
It actually already is, it's just all the dust disguises it. But I might do some more. Can't be too careful [emoji6]
 

atomman

Club Member
Took the Z out for a drive today in the glorious Welsh sunshine , The new Toyo's seem to give decent grip , Also played around with the ignition map on the 123 dizzy after going up a few sizes on the main jets and air corrections , may need to go up another size but good progress made DSC_1621.JPG
 

richiep

Club Member
Went to PAW Engineering today and picked up a little something Tony had made for me; I’ve had a set of NISMO valve spring retainers sitting around for ages that Pmac gave me for free as it was missing one retainer. Now it isn’t:
242Sqmp.jpg

9rK1o2z.jpg

Weighs in precisely at 10g as per the Nismo originals. Half hour’s work that topped up their bacon butty fund for the week!
 
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