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What did you do to your Z this week?
- Thread starter jonbills
- Start date
johnymd
Club Member
You will need to make sure that every single item you attach to the shell looks equally good though. Its a slippery slope/Finally, having been sent to the US in March, my carbs turned up from Z Therapy. A work of art.
uk66fastback
Club Member
Good work John. No, I'm not going own that slippery slope again! Cost me too much time and money on my last project. I am aware the carbs will stick out like a sore thumb in my engine bay but I can live with that until after a year or two, the shine goes off an they just look 'nice'.
I'll not hide the cost - it ain't cheap. Post to the US was £60 for a start.
Phone ringing here - will edit my post later with update as to costs ...
I'll not hide the cost - it ain't cheap. Post to the US was £60 for a start.
Phone ringing here - will edit my post later with update as to costs ...
Huw
Club Member
Not so much what I’ve done, but what I can now do.
Koni have reintroduced their adjustable shocks for the 280ZX, so ordered some pre-sale units from thezstore.com back in Feb. They are now available and mine finally have arrived from the US today.
Interestingly there is now the option to adjust the rear spring seat height as well as the damper stiffness. Can now set up my suspension as I want it. Happy days!
Koni have reintroduced their adjustable shocks for the 280ZX, so ordered some pre-sale units from thezstore.com back in Feb. They are now available and mine finally have arrived from the US today.
Interestingly there is now the option to adjust the rear spring seat height as well as the damper stiffness. Can now set up my suspension as I want it. Happy days!
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johnymd
Club Member
Looks like my stroker build is now making some progress as all the parts were collected by the engine builder last night. It's not going to be a quick build but I did say I would like it ready by the end of the year. Christmas time is always the time of year I aim for if I want to use the car next year. Many people aim for spring but then if you get a few delays your into the middle of the year then before you know it the season is over and you still haven't enjoyed your car. So Christmas it is. This should give me time to push on with the grey 260z.
uk66fastback
Club Member
Sorry for the delay on this ...
Here's what I paid for the ZTherapy work on my carbs. I had previously got a rebuild kit from them and installed it and they were kind enough to credit that against the work they did, so it was slightly cheaper than expected. On top of this was the shipping to the US, which was £60, inclusive of £1000 worth of insurance. The shipping back to the UK was $150 via DHL so a lot to be honest, and then the duty/VAT was another £160-odd, so the costs DO mount up. But I'm only doing this once for sure, so didn't mind spending the money to be honest. I had the Euro balance tube supplied (as Woody did) the manifolds polished and the water pipe between the two of them sealed up to simplify matters.
Here's what I paid for the ZTherapy work on my carbs. I had previously got a rebuild kit from them and installed it and they were kind enough to credit that against the work they did, so it was slightly cheaper than expected. On top of this was the shipping to the US, which was £60, inclusive of £1000 worth of insurance. The shipping back to the UK was $150 via DHL so a lot to be honest, and then the duty/VAT was another £160-odd, so the costs DO mount up. But I'm only doing this once for sure, so didn't mind spending the money to be honest. I had the Euro balance tube supplied (as Woody did) the manifolds polished and the water pipe between the two of them sealed up to simplify matters.
So say about £600 to send your carbs (only) for refurbishment? Then there would be duty/VaT giving a total of about £750.
Euro balance bar - could you just cut off the US casting lugs that aren't needed?
There must be a market here for reconditioning carbs. They are quite simple things.
Thanks for the breakdown and honesty.
Euro balance bar - could you just cut off the US casting lugs that aren't needed?
There must be a market here for reconditioning carbs. They are quite simple things.
Thanks for the breakdown and honesty.
RawlinSTR
Club Member
Rob, when I was looking into the ztherapy reconditioning of carbs I looked around on the Internet for places in the UK that do carb reconditioning, and asked for quotes to refurbish both Hitachi’s and SU’s.
Every single one told me they wouldn’t do Hitachi’s because of availability of parts.
For SU’s, I think I worked out the total cost to do a similar job to what ztherapy do would be £400 - £500 (including buying a set of used SU’s).
All of them also told me they had a long waiting list, but that’s also because they did refurbs for quite a few different carb manufacturers.
Ztherapy have got the monopoly on restoring Hitachi’s, but whilst it seems lucrative I wonder how many jobs they actually get a year...
In the end I bought a pair of already reconditioned HS6’s and cleaned up the manifolds/ balance bar myself:
That’s the best picture I’ve got unfortunately (build still in progress)!
Every single one told me they wouldn’t do Hitachi’s because of availability of parts.
For SU’s, I think I worked out the total cost to do a similar job to what ztherapy do would be £400 - £500 (including buying a set of used SU’s).
All of them also told me they had a long waiting list, but that’s also because they did refurbs for quite a few different carb manufacturers.
Ztherapy have got the monopoly on restoring Hitachi’s, but whilst it seems lucrative I wonder how many jobs they actually get a year...
In the end I bought a pair of already reconditioned HS6’s and cleaned up the manifolds/ balance bar myself:
That’s the best picture I’ve got unfortunately (build still in progress)!
It does seem an expensive route to getting decent carbs - shipping and taxes being a 'killer'.
uk66fastback
Club Member
I too phoned a guy in the UK about getting mine reconditioned. As said, he wasn't that keen when he found out what they were off. I think Simon has done a grand job with his and they look lovely and no doubt, work great, but I sent mine to the US for a variety of reasons - one of the main one being time v money - me being me, it'd be yet another job I'd start and would take forever to do. I took my interior out in October 2017 - it's still out and being recoloured. I didn't want this job to add to the list.
My daily has required some extensive work recently, full brake caliper overhaul on all corners and new sill work on one side - so another reason why the 240z has taken a back seat somewhat. So why not just send to the US, forget about them for a few months, get on with other stuff - I redid our front garden this year, new beds, resin down, rebuilt a garden wall etc - it's all time v money for me! And I don't have enough of either, but thought with these, I'll pay the money and get them done and I can store them in the garage and put them back on at my leisure and even when the nights have drawn in!
My daily has required some extensive work recently, full brake caliper overhaul on all corners and new sill work on one side - so another reason why the 240z has taken a back seat somewhat. So why not just send to the US, forget about them for a few months, get on with other stuff - I redid our front garden this year, new beds, resin down, rebuilt a garden wall etc - it's all time v money for me! And I don't have enough of either, but thought with these, I'll pay the money and get them done and I can store them in the garage and put them back on at my leisure and even when the nights have drawn in!
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Very clean. That pipe from the crankcase to the balance bar - how does that affect the running? I can see you may have some valve in there but surely the engine is just going to suck air from the crankcase. Isn't that like an air leak? The standard set-up is for gases to be drawn into the air filter and through the carbs. Servo operation?
uk66fastback
Club Member
This is what they do to them ... 'roller bearing throttle shafts' etc.
http://www.ztherapy.com/products/SUReman.htm
http://www.ztherapy.com/products/SUReman.htm
yellowz
Club Member
Naive question...... will any HS6's do?
toopy
Club Member
Rob, that set up is normal, its the rocker cover breather that vents into the back of the air filter housing, if fitted.
So it is. How does that work then - it's like having a hole in the inlet manifold?
Which brake drums did you get Gary? I think I need some too.
Was it consistently rich through the rpm range at Wot?
atomman
Club Member
I got the cast steel type from MSA in the US , there a bit heavier but ok , will get some of the repo Ally type when I get some spare cash.
Jet wise its running around 11.4 @ WOP with the F16 emulsion's so wont to drop it back a bit ,
I have got some F11's I'm going to try as well though , they have a few bigger holes at the top so should lean it up at higher RPM, the F16's have smaller holes ,
That's the theory anyways
toopy
Club Member
As i understand it, the PCV allows gases into the inlet manifold when there is high vacuum, so at idle and low speed running, as the vacuum decreases with revs the gases being sucked through slow and eventually stop. If the pressure in the inlet manifold exceeds that in the crank case the valve shuts off to prevent a reverse flow scenario.