I bought my 73z about 4 months ago and have had no real troubles yet, and have done a lot of work to it. The other day i was driving uphill when i sputtered, I barely made it up the hill. I had very little gas and It hadent been ran in 3 days, so I thought I might have had water in the tank. I hobbled to the station, changed the fuel filter, put some gas in it, and put a bottle of Heet in the tank. Didnt work. I noticed when I got back to work that it was smoking a bit, and is running really rich. Took the air cleaner cover off and noticed that the gate on the carb nearest the cab is stuck almost shut, and couldnt move it. The other one is working fine. The choke cable seems to be working fine. Is there anyhting in there that could have broken and is in the way of the gate? also, is there a good book or manual that would give me some good advice. I have not yet done any work to the carbs. Please help...my baby is down!

 

I agree with Ronnie on this one. If at all possible dump the flat top carbs and get some earlier (70-72) round tops. You'll thank yourself for them. In the meantime I don't know of any books but maybe check out Ztherapy.com which is Scott Brunnings page. He is the guru of SU's (and the page saved the carbs on my '71). I have stripped mine apart and cleaned / reassembled them 3 times......the last time worked after looking at Scott's pics of how the are SUPPOSED to go together (I don't need no stinkin instructions...)
Better yet once you at at Scott's page get one of his video's. Haven't seen one myself but they get rave reviews all the time on the net