hd240z

Anybody have a good set of 74 or 75 roof mounted retractable shoulder belts they want to part with? I would like to upgrade my 71 to the retractable style. If someone has other belt options which would not require major modifications let me know. I dont want to hack up the old Z any more than necessary.

The wires dont come off the light housing. There is a connector you remove from the wiring harness a foot or so before the light and the whole assembly can be removed from the car. (If I understand your question)

Before going to the trouble of pulling the transmission make sure the slave cylinder is providing the necessary stroke to release the clutch. Is all the air out of the hydraulics? Is it adjusted to the proper clearance (or less)? I believe the piston should be moving about 3/4" when you depress the pedal. Pulling the transmission may be difficult if the clutch is also rusted tight on the transmission input shaft. You may have to remove the boot from the release lever and spray the insides of the clutch with something like PB Blaster to loosen it up. edit: DOH, Forgot this was a 280 with no adustment. Good Luck

If its the Nissan 5 speed, the drive shaft should fit. If its the BW T5 from a turbo car it wont. More info can be found with a search. Good Luck

If the clutch disk is rusted to the flywheel, you might try to break it loose by putting the transmission in 4th gear, pushing the clutch in and rocking the car forward and back by hand. Rocking the car by hand will be less detrimental to the starter and other mechanical parts than trying to crank it in gear. You may end up tearing the clutch friction material off the disk which will require replacement anyway, but its worth a try. Good Luck

I would also guess a fuel delivery problem. A couple of more things to check would be for rust and/or dirt inside the gas tank plugging the fuel pick-up screen and the SU carb fuel inlet screens. If your gas tank has not been cleaned previously, you can pull the plug on the bottom and see what comes out. If its dirty you may have to remove the tank and have it cleaned and sealed inside. The SU carb inlet screens are located inside the fitting where the fuel lines attach. Good Luck

What happens when you put it into gear first then try to start the engine? Does it try to move the car or does it start ok but you cant shift into any other gear? What all was changed, clutch, release bearing, transmission, slave cylinder, master cylinder? The more info provided the better the answers will be.

I understand some replacement ball joints dont line up precisely with the mounting holes in the control arms. If that were the case it might be putting a bind on the bolts. I havnt personally seen that, but its one possible explanation. Sorry, I cant answer your questions on the metric bolt markings, but someone here on the forum likely knows the answers.

You might want to check the electrical resistance of each injector to see if one is shorted or much lower than the others. Im not real familiar with the Datsun FI systems, but I had a GM car that would shut down the ECM if one of the injectors shorted. It usually happened when the engine was fully warmed up but it would run fine when cool. Shorted injector wiring would cause the same symptoms. Good Luck

Change the plugs for now (NGKs) and budget for an overhaul or different engine.

Dave, I was thinking (and I know thats always dangerous) about the fuse in the 8 gage wire and what might result if "something" happened and blew the 60 amp fuse, then all the load would switch to the original wire and most likely burn it up. Would it make sense to install another fuse (40 amp?) in the original wire to protect it? I suppose it depends on the location of the problem, maybe the existing fuse panel or fuse link might protect the wire. I like your plan to add a volt meter to the dash. It would look nice the way you describe it.

Dave, I presume you disconnected the original alternator wire when you added the 8 gage wire. Is that right?

The distributor would be a good place to start checking. Pull the cap off and inspect the conditions inside. Make sure the rotor moves when you crank the starter. Check the point gap, it should be about 0.020" IIRC. When you say the coil has spark, how did you check that? By pulling the coil wire and cranking the engine or some other method?

A loose timing chain should not cause the ignition timing to vary since the distributor is driven directly from the crankshaft. I would take a close look at the distributor for wear on the bearings, etc. As Carl said the damper pulley could also be failing. Good Luck

The perfect tire will depend on your own driving style and preferences. Im running 215/60 BFGs on the original 14 inch slotted alloy wheels and stock suspension. I wouldnt say the car is "soft", if anything the shorter 60 series sidewalls makes the ride a little stiffer but handling is improved with the wider tread. Steering effort at low speeds is also a little harder with the larger tires if that matters to you. You can do a search on tires and get plenty of other experiences and opinions.

I believe all 240s came with "smog" (air) pumps from the factory, but it was usually one of the first things removed in a belief it would somehow improve performance. The only ones that stayed operational were from the emission testing areas. Some people just removed the drive belt thinking it would be simple to restore the function when necessary, but then exhaust gases would backup into the system and destroy the inside of all the valves and lock up the pump.

Its easier to throw in a different tranny, if you know the replacement is in good condition. You have to tear down the tranny in order to change the input shaft bearing or any of the bearings for that matter, so you might as well replace the blocking rings and do a complete overhaul once you have it apart. As Warren said you can probably tell if the input bearing is bad by rotating the shaft by hand once you pull the tranny. Good Luck

According to my precise? bathroom scale it weighs 12 lbs including the pulley, mounting brackets and two hoses. Since mine resides on a shelf it was easy to pull out and weigh

Here is a link to a couple of more possibilities that have come up in past discussions (Ignition switch problems and a relay addition) http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=27186&highlight=starter+relay Hope it helps

The group 24 batteries are be the best "fit" for the original hold down, but I use a group 26 battery since it is smaller and 8 lbs lighter. I still use the original hold down as it has enough vertical adjustment to work with the smaller battery. The positive terminal notch can be positioned in the same location as a 24 battery. You end up having a 2 inch gap on the other end of the hold down, but I have never had problem with it moving even during an autocross. I also pull the battery out of the car every time it goes into storage so lugging it around is a consideration in my case.

My clutch cylinder went out on me during a test drive a while back. I suddenly discovered the problem at a traffic light when the transmission wouldnt go into any gear because the clutch would not disengage. I was contemplating calling for a tow, but I was blocking traffic so I decided to shut down the engine, put the trany in 1st gear, then hit the starter. It took right off with a lurch thanks to the ignition upgrade and a good battery. I then proceeded to drive it home in 1st gear not wanting to experiment with clutch-less shifts right then. Fortunately it was only a mile or so and I didnt have to rev the engine too much get there. I was a little nervous approaching the driveway and trying to get the garage door opener to work so I could drive straight in, otherwise I was going to have to kill the ignition to stop on the sloped driveway. It all worked out ok but made for a memorable day :nervous:

Which plug are you referring to, the one to the wiper motor in the engine compartment or the switch plug inside the car? In either case a salvage yard might be your best option for the missing connector and wires to splice onto your cut wires. The splicing should be fairly easy since the wires are color coded.

Welcome to the club. Glad to hear you have your 260 is fixed up and running. Post some pictures when you can. You are right about lots of good info available here, just search or ask away.

You should not grease the needles for the reasons you mentioned. Also if they are adjusted correctly, they will not touch the sides of the nozzle.

The carbs will run lean during warm up unless the choke is set. I would swap to the standard NGK plugs now and see if your lean backfire doesnt go away. Your money would be better spent on switching to a newer 280Z electronic distributor with E12-80 module and a hotter coil. The swap is quite easy and it will provide a better overall ignition system.