peterc

, now your talking. And room left over for the wife (at certain times of the month), the neighbor that constantly drives you nuts, and... well the possibilities are endless. And no musty smell when you let them out!

This year in Ottawa (Motto: 8 months of winter, 4 months of tough sledding) winter came early. A few things on my to-do list didn't get accomplished, including putting away the 83. Those of you with sharp eyesight will no doubt recogize that the Zed is the lump on the left. The car on the right is my daughter's Saturn. Wishing everyone all the best for the holidays. Peter

wow! You never cease to amaze me. Very ambitious project. One suggestion, the black plastic cover for the driver's seat adjustment lever, one of which I do not have. Cheers, Peter p.s. No time for a little guy to be sick, just before Christmas. Here's hoping for a speedy recovery.

Assuming the fluid level is ok then it sounds like the master clutch cylinder is shot. The internal seals are leaking so there isn't the pressure required to disengage the clutch. If you really need to move the car, put the shifter into the desired gear before you start the engine. Just don't try changing gears once the engine has started. Replacing the master cylinder is a pretty simple and relatively inexpensive job. Undo the hydralic fluid line going into the master cylinder, undo the two bolts holding it to the firewall and replace it with the new one. Reattach the hydralic line, bleed the line (the slave cylinder has a bleeder valve) and voila, you have a clutch again.

This may be of interest to those looking for a low VIN Z for restoration. Car looks pretty rough but has a crack free dash and quite an array of no longer obtainable Datsun body parts. Here's the link to the pics. http://www.divshare.com/download/1945882-503

Hey guys, Hope I'm not duplicating something that you already have, but being spiralbound it should be easier to scan. Geezer. Thats very kind of you. If you send me your address I will courier it to you tomorrow as I don't know if my scanner is up to the task. Peter

I have an original Nissan "FACTORY PARTS CATALOG - Datsun 240Z - 1970 -1973" (June 1974 revision) that was used by Datsun dealerships and is in pristine condition. It has the exploded diagrams of every part, Datsun part number, description, applicable dates and models and applicable superceded parts numbers. It is spiral bound but is 150 pages in length and I don't know if my home scanner is up to the task (some of the diagrams are quite detailed). Suggestions?

Its time to do a rebuild on my '83 ZX. From reading posts in various forums it seems the easiest and least expensive way to improve performance is via an over-bore. Cost to bore and deck (if required) the block here in Ottawa is approximately $250. Black Dragon sells a piston kit (pistons/rods/rings) for $250. Has anyone had any experience with these kits?

Most likely the problem is not the cable but the caliper. Either buy a caliper kit, or just replace it with a rebuilt.

Thanks for the input. But now I'm thinking along different lines. The "bog" has been getting progressively worse to the point that last night it became undrivable. Car starts and idles fine, but won't accelerate without bogging, even in neutral, and even when cold. Checked for "fireworks" last night but didn't see any signs of wires shorting out at the coil, distributor or plugs. Distrubutor and rotor look fine, and judging from my internal volt-meter (I pulled off a plug wire while my other hand was on the cam cover ) I'd say we're getting a full 50,000 volts to the plugs. So if we (temporarily at least) eliminate gas and electric as possible issues, that only leaves air. I'm now wondering if the problem is with the air-flow meter. I'm going to check for corroded connectors etc this morning, but if anyone has had issues with their air-flow meters before I'd sure like to hear from them. Do you experience a gradual deterioration of performance as I did, or do they just fail?

My '83 280ZX has begun acting very strangely. On start-up (cold) it runs normally, but as it warms up it starts to bog if you accelerate past 3,000 rpm. The hotter it gets, the worse the bog. Through trial and error I have found that if you turn off the key while driving, and turn it right back on again, the problem dissappears......til the next time, which could be 5 seconds later, or 15 minutes later. I think I've narrowed the problem down to either gas or electric (). Seriously, I was leaning towards a bad coil as the existing coil gets rather hot to the touch when the engine is warm. However, on installing a brand new coil the problem only got worse. The new coil got so hot it started to melt the insulation on the a/c lines. Now, it is possible that the replacement coil is not the proper replacement or is defective as well (they don't call the store crappy tire for nothing ), but that's a bit of a long shot. Funny thing is, as hot as the coil itself gets, the pos/neg leads going to the coil remain dead cold and show no signs of insulation damage from melting. Could it be a bad ground between the coil casing and the fender wall (are they even supposed to be grounded) or am I barking up the wrong tree altogether? As always, any and all suggestions gratefully accepted. p

Jeez..... I go away for a month and another flame war breaks out. Couldn't everyone just remember that words on paper (or monitor) do a really wizz-poor job of conveying the emotional intent of the writer's words. Writing styles, senses of humour, local idioms, etc. can all be easily misinterpreted. One of the greatest assets of the internet is that you can conduct a forum with participants from every continent on earth, as is the case with this one. If you prefer to limit yourself to forums with only local content about Z's from your locality only, so be it. However, in doing so you lose a wealth of information and assistance that belonging to an international forum offers. So just assume that people's responses are meant in good spirit and that they aren't in any way "dissing" you. First off, most of the time that's probably true. And the odd time that they really are flaming you, the fact that you don't rise to the bait will only wizz them off even more . So either way you win. Now, I want everyone that's posted to this thread to go to their rooms for five minutes and think about the consequences of their actions! And after you've done that, take your Z for a ride. Isn't that what this forum is really all about? p

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I'll take a closer look at the inlet screens (didn't realize what they were ), although they're definitely not blocked as you can blow through them quite easily. I'll also try priming the pumps first. Maybe I just wasn't letting them run long enough, though they seem to self-prime quite fast whenever you run out of gas.

There doesn't appear to be a screen per se, on the inlet side (or the outlet side for that matter). There is a little plastic knobby thing inside the inlet tube but it sure doesn't look like there's a screen there. Either way, the inlet tube is definitely not blocked in any way.

Since there seems to be a lot of electric fuel pump questions being bandied about, I thought I'd add mine to the mix. I have three (count'em, three) electric fuel pumps from various ZX's that all run (i.e. motors run fine when hooked up to to a battery), but don't/won't pump gas. (I figured I'd test them BEFORE installing them, to save myself some grief). Figuring that there must be some crud builtup inside the pumps, or maybe cracked or worn out o-rings, I dissassembled one. The pump itself is an extemely simple design, consisting of a rotor with 5 cylindrical "pellets" and two 2 o-rings. The o-rings looked fine and there was no varnish or crud inside and the check valve on the outtake nipple seemed to be working fine. I replaced the o-rings anyway and reassembled the pump, but again it spun freely but wouldn't pump. My first thought was that I hadn't tightened the screws back on properly and wasn't getting a good seal. So I replaced the original machine scews with new ones (allen-keyed) and carefully torqued them down, so I don't think that's the problem. Still no luck. Thinking that I'd re-assembled it incorrectly, I VERY carefully took apart the second one. It too looked fine. I re-assembled the first pump ensuring the all parts were put back exactly as per the second pump, but again, same results. Rapidly running out of possibilites, I then removed the casing itself. There are no other pump related parts in there, only the electric motor and the exit nipple (I'm assuming it's designed this way so the gasoline cools the motor as it's pumping). I used a 2 gallon gas can, the original nissan intake hose (goes from the tank to the inlet side of the pump, and it's in good condition BTW, no cracks or leaks), and then 2 feet of gas hose on the exit side of the pump going to another gas can. I've tried placing the gas can higher than the pump (as per in-car installation) and level with the pump to no avail. I've even tired reversing the polarity on the pump (i.e. hooked the neg. post of the pump to the positve post on the battery) and sticking the exit hose into the can of gas (desperate or what??). Nothing. I know the oil pump needs to be primed prior to installation but surely this can't be the case with the fuel pump or we'd be in a real mess every time we run out of gas. Anyone had any experience working with these pumps? Is there a special incantation the needs to be invoked prior to re-assembly? Considering how simple the design is, I can't believe I'm having so much trouble getting one to work.

Just finished replacing the universals on my half shafts, so I know what you're going through. The only way that I could persuade the b*****ds to come off was by heating them. I used one of those mini oxy/acetelene torches so the heat was hot, yet very precisely aimed. Without using heat, I'm sure that I'd have ruined the nuts. Good luck.

Ed, If you can't find a replacement rubber seal make one from an old inner tube (use the old one as a template). Cheers, Peter

Damn Enrique, is there anything that you don't know?? Just kidding. Great advise (as always when coming from you). The biggest problem I have with the original radio ('72 240z) is keeping it from drifting. Every so often you have to push in the preset button to get it back on station. I keep reminding myself that it's a 30+ year old car, but even back then they could make a radio that stayed on target. Then again, I usually drive with the radio off, and listen to the REAL music, that wonderfull inline six . Cheers, Peter

Not a Zed related plate name, but one that I like anyway as its simple and deviously funny. QQQQ When someone asks what the plate means, you just smile and say "four Q" ROFL Cheers, Peter

HHmmmm, funny how we all react differently to things. Personally while I found the first ad with the pigeon hilarious, I don't really care for this one. What's the difference? I dunno, maybe a couple of things. The first commercial is obviously a send-up. Hoods don't pop up, either randomly or on command, to whack out unsuspecting birds. So you know it's intended as a joke. And we talking about a pigeon, rats feathered cousins. And finally, apart from losing a few feathers the pigeon remains intact. It may just be stunned (unfortunatley ). The cat commercial on the other hand could have been real (remote controlled sunroofs, for the guy who has everything ). And we're talking about someone's pet, not a rodent. And worst of all, a decapitation!?!?!? You can even see the head fall off. Where did they make this commercial, in Saudi Arabia?? Black humour, like satire, is very subjective and as much as I love black humour I found this one more icky than funny. But kudos for them even making it, and here's hoping there's more in the series. Cheers, Peter

Great thread. I think most of us have had (or eventually will have) this problem happen to them. And once you've solved the problem using anti-sieze to prevent a future occurance is a no brainer. And Phil, if you can fit a nut onto the broken bolt welding it through the middle is truly a great idea. I'm almost looking forward to it happeneing again, just for the satisfaction of being able to wind that sucker out ROFL Cheers, Peter

I did a quick search of .com sites to see if Chrysler USA had something similar. But no luck. It's unusual that the Canadian subsiduary would attempt something that hadn't already been tried in the US first. I'll try not to shunt too many of the test vehicles and ruin any chances that Chysler may try something similar down southROFL . I'll let you know how it all turns out. Cheers, Peter UPDATE: Just did a quick check on the official website. Now they're saying that "selected vehicles will be driven by professional drivers only with Gold Medal Tour guests welcomed as passengers" . Oh well, I knew it was too good to be true. Guess they heard that my nick name is "Crash".

Hey guys, Thanks for the info. This was exactly what I wanted to know. Now, lets see if I can locate a dealer up here that sells SWEPCO 201. Cheers, Peter

Totally off topic I know, but thought you might get a hoot out of this. I just got a letter from Chrysler (I have no idea why) inviting me to participate in their Gold Medal Tour. Basicly they're setting up temporary race tracks and allowing fools like me to "push our vehicles to the limit and experience the power and capability each has to offer. Professional drivers will be on hand to educate you on each vehicle you are testing to ensure you get the best expereince out of each drive. This is truly a unique test-drive experience and best of all you're in control. You call the shots! Drive the vehicles you want, your way....". Man they sure don't know me very well ROFL . And not a bad line-up either. Among the cars offered are the Dodge Magnum, the Crossfire and the Viper! If you're located in Canada here's the website (don't tell them I told you), www.goldmedaltour.ca. I'm slated to do my drive on May 16, so I'll let everyone know how it turns out.

Hey all. My '83 ZX's (I know, I know ) 5 speed tranny is beginning to show its age. The synchros are getting a little balky especially when its cold outside. As the tranny fluid has never been changed in the last 20 years (to the best of my knowledge) I'm thinking new fluid might be in order. Any thoughts on whether I should just use straight gear oil (40 weight if I remember correctly) or has anyone used some new wonder fluid that will help "renew" those tired synchros without damaging the tranny. Thanks, Peter