beandip

What type of ignition ? When he engine died and wouldn't start was there spark at the plugs? Was the fuel filter full? These things will give you a clue as to what is going on. Obviously , no spare check the ignition. If your filters are dirty change them. Gary

Welcome to the web site. I think you would be better suited on hybridZ though. They are much more into conversions like yours. Good luck with your project. Gary

I thought of that , but he said the shift linkage was loose and sloppy. this is why I said to look for missing or broken bushings. they are only plastic.

This is what I wanted to avoid and why I removed 2 1/2 coils from the front and 1 3/4 coils from the rear. the ride is good for street and the car corners vary well. Push hard on mountain roads she stays flat in the turns, I have KYB G-2 for struts I am no running 205/70-14 in the rear and 1.95/70-14 in the rear. the larger tire contacted the fender extension. She measures 25 3/4 both front and rear and the tires fill the the wheel well . About a 2'' gap above the tire.

First , before you do anything else. Check the linkage. There is supposed to be plastic or nylon bushings on the pivot points of the linkage. with out them the linkage is sloppy. The engine should be able to start in Park and neural But NOT in any gear. I recommend that you don't adjust anything until you install new bushings. Nissan still has them. One thing , there are two types , one for manual transmissions and another for automatic . If you have the club's C D on parts you are likely to find the correct ones by part number. Plus the parts guy at the dealer will be able to find what you need. Without part numbers many of the parts guys don't want to bother with this ''old stuff'' an will just tell you it is no longer available. But with the part number it makes it simple for him to find the parts. Sign of the times. Gary

I just did this a couple of days ago. I was able to carefully seperate the metal slightly and just work the glass carefully out. It is just tightly held in place with rubber. I used some soap and water and maybe this helped , but you just need to keep working the glass out. I am not sure it is worth the effort if you are planing on using the same metal. In my case I can only use the glass. So it had to be separated. If you only need to treat the rust , I think I would just do it attached to the glass and install it back in the door.

Zanthus , I know what that is like. My first drive was just to the end of the street and back , about 100 yds. She had been down almost 3 years. But just think how much better she will be when you have her done. I am looking forward to spring, if it ever gets here. Our Club has a Cruise planned for next Sat. the first of the year. So hang in there all it is worth the wait. Gary

jmead, Plasma boy, Ha ha there is a story about that name. The main problem at present it seems is the cost of the batteries. The battery pack for the white Zombie , the 1200 Datsun, runs about $64K not exactly chump change. Plus the cost to the environment is really big. According to John the future is in AC but the cost of components is vary expensive. This is why he is using DC. The controller seems to be the key , from what I gather . It is water cooled and it works just like a regular throttle. The amps it controls are huge. He had a melt down in the past , hence the name Plasma Boy. You can bet the major auto builders are watching , big time. I only hope he can make some big bucks with his innovation. Gary

Could be the float level is wrong. Set too high and flooding the Carb.

be sure he surface on the inside of the skin is clean and free form flaking and dirt. I used a product called B-Quiet ultimate , it is a foil backed material that comes is a roll 12'' wide, it is flexible and is a peal and stick. I simply just slid it into the door and up as far as I could and pressed it firmly to the door skin. In a couple of cases I used a screwdriver and or a wooden spoon to reach where my hand couldn't. One more thing that also helps, there is a crash stiffener that runs across the middle of he door. Originally there was a foam installed there between the skin and the stiffener. Mine was long gone , rotted away. I used silicone sealer and put a fairly large bead along the top of the stiffener to attach it to the door skin. This will also help to stop the resonance vibration. that causes the drum effect. Gary

Yes my present engine is a 280ZX . the part numbers for the 54 needles at Nissan are 16354-E8810 And my engine runs strong . all the best , Gary

I installed a 280 Z radiator in my '73 240 and it extends below the radiator support about 2''. It is a 3 core. My 240 rad was a 2 core and worked just fine in hot weather , but developed leak. the upper tank needed to be re-soldered. The rad shop wanted $125.00 just for that. I bought a perfectly good unit for $75.00 and it took about 45 min to install. Motorsport has 3 core units for the 240 and 280s

As a side note , John told me when he was first starting out with building this car , they used a Z 5 speed and a R-200 diff. They never had one failure on the trans but broke many rear ends. Now they are running direct drive. He needed to invent a controller to handle the Amps. needed to power this monster. The controller , named Zilla as in Godzilla, acts just like any foot throttle. The funny thing is watching him race another car. Like a full blown Vette . The little Datsun sits on the line silent while the vette is all smoke and noise and flames coming out of the exhaust and then all hell brakes loose and the 1200 shoots out in front by about 8 car lengths smoking the tires! Something to see. Gary

The Treasurer of our Z car club. His Brother has built a Datsun 1200 sedan, all electric. It puts down more than 400 ft lbs of torque to the ground. Turned the 1/4 at 114 mph and I didn't get the ET, but it was around 9 sec. Running street slicks and the car is street legal. Get this, 250 mile range on a single charge. The battery pack will fit in the spare tire tub on a Z . The engines , there are two that are siamesed, weigh around 300 lbs total and are smaller than a 4 banger. His name is John Wayland . He drives the car to the strip! John told me that after a run the turn around time to recharge is about 3 min. ! John was featured on the front page of the Wall street Journal a while back. He is a forklift electrician by trade. I would do this mod in a heart beat believe me if I had the bucks. By the way this was the first run with a new lithium-ion battery pack and it had upped his HP by about 100 HP. and shed about 700 lbs of weight. He knew he would be having traction problems and the tires didn't hook up until the 1/8 mile that is when the car really took off. Since that speed was reached , he couldn't make another run until a roll cage is installed and now the driver must wear a Fire suit. So I believe now he is tubing the rear to allow for larger tires also. So the technology is out there. Gary

Are you talking about round top SU carburetors ? Because there are no o rings. the vacuum piston that holds the needle needs to be able to float up and down according to the demands of the engine. I suggest that you buy a service manual , Clymers is a good one . they are out of print but look for one on eBay. I have loaned my library to a new Z driver so I can't give you the exact number on the manual . But it goes to '79 with a orange cover. Wick Humble wrote a great manual How to restore your Z car. Motor sport has them . Contact Ztherapy at Ztherapy.com they have a video on how to these carbs. Gary

You have a major problem here. You are likely going to need a new wiring harness. What someone has done , it appears , is bypassed burned out fusible links. Like eliminating circuit breakers in your house. There is like a short somewhere and in a attempt to get the Z going they just eliminated the fuse. Best of luck with this, but you might start asking around and see if you can come up with another complete harness. Try Kim Blough at Idaho Z Car. 208 466 0004 Smokyyaro@velocitus.net If you can make contact I am fairly sure he will have what is needed. All the best . Gary

The problem is not liners in the exhaust ports. I am running a F-54 engine out of a '82ZX with a mild cam and the head is milled so I have 9.5 compression. Not that high but higher than stock and I still can run any pump gas with out a problem. I have SUs and I have tried several different needles. From SMs way too rich to the point I was washing the oil off the cylinder walls and getting gasoline in the oil. 58s too lean and a few others. I finally settled in on F-54s as the best all around needle. I thought as you that because now she is running headers and a cam and a 280, I needed more fuel. I live close to sea level and I set the needles exactly as recommended in the manual, flush with the vacuum piston's top. If you are running lean as you describe you need to back out he mixture adjustments on the carbs. Your present carbs will supply all this engine can handle, and more, if tuned properly. Do a search on how to adjust SU carburetors , here on this web site. Buy a uni-sen to balance the air flow, you are lost with out one or it's equivalent. Gary

Absolutely, get the mechanical out of the way first. Body and paint is the last thing. I agree totally on the before mentioned book by Wick Humble. I think B-Dalton has them and Motorsport as well. By a can of Kroil from kanolabs.com it is the vary best penetrating oil there is. Sold only by Kano laboratories. I have nothing to do with the company , just my own use , I found it to be the best and it smells far better than PB Blaster. PB Blaster is my second choice but it smells the whole garage for days. Also buy a can of never seize for reassembly you will be glad you did. Stay away from W D-40 because it has silicone in it and any silicone will give you fits when you are preping for paint. Take lots of pictures of what you are doing . Some before, during and after. the before are for reassembly . Gary

if it matches the GPS you cant get it better than that. I checked my Wifes new Honda CRV and it is off a couple of miles per. I did the same with my Camry and it is a couple of miles per. fast also. Both are bone stock. Off only .3 in 10 miles to me is not bad for an old Z

Welcome to our little Club. You came to the right place for working on your Z or for information on almost anything. Have a look at the search section there is a ton of information there. Gary:rambo:

The only differences I know of with the flywheels , is on the 2 + 2s . They have a wider friction area and use a matching clutch and pressure plate.

I removed my evap tank years ago and have not had any problem. Do a search there has been several threads over the years on how to do this properly, Gary

If you do go with a 240 Z , I recommend the How To Restore Your Z by Wick Humble . Motorsport has them and I think B Dalton does also. As to your question comparing the 280 to the 240. the '70 & '71 240 are the lightest at around 2200 lbs. and after this were built with heaver gauge sheet metal and were required by the emissions standards to add modifications. Plus heavier bumpers and such. I have a '73 that I have installed 240Z bumpers , I prefer the look of the much smaller and trimmer bumper. My Z weighs 2400 lbs. at the curb with no driver. I did change to a 280 ZX engine with a small amount of modifications and I kept the SU carbs. This does not change the weight , but wakes up the performance. Rust is your main enemy weather a 240 or a 280. The later cars became much heavier with power steering and Air COD. and such things. Are more comfortable than the earlier Z, but the sports car feel is compromised. Keep in mind with either of these cars , there age. A word of caution . Being owned by a Z , you become infected with the virus and there is no cure !! Gary

With the snow and nasty weather and it is my Daughter's birthday , I am passing . However there is a group from North West Z and Datsuns NW are gathering in Jansens beach and heading north at 7;00

Go to datsungarage.com and click on performance tips and scroll down. you will find a ton of good info. There is a list of the different gears and the color and number to teeth I think you need the 18 tooth one if I remember right. Gary