Pomorza

Hello all This past afternoon I found that the rear of my Z oddly smelled of raw fuel. While doing laundry at my brother's place I jacked the rear of the car up to find a nice line of fuel coming from the sending unit (the round thing on the right side of the tank right above the centerline). I'm assuming that the O-ring that sits inside has probably been nicely eaten by all the ethanol in the fuel, are these hard to replace? Do I have to drop the tank or can I finagle the thing out with the tank still in the car? Thanks Jan

Tomohawk Thanks for clear up. I always invisioned that fuses and fusible links were pretty much the same. I don't have a problem with my fusible links (they're all new) but just felt like getting an opinion if the option I showed was visible. Clearly it isn't. Thanks Jan

Ladies and Gents This morning I was looking up a few electrical things about the Z and stubled upon this. Has anyone done this? I don't mind using the stock set up I just find that this looks a bit nicer and makes it easier to figure out if the fusible links are the problem. Any suggestions,commnets etc welcomed Thanks Jan

When I replaced the manifold gasket I put a straight edge to the manifold (Really long one) and it all seemed rather straight. Now on that note, this was before I did a bunch of hill climbs where my manifold glowed red afterword - I'm assuming this isn't a good thing to do to these. Thanks Jan

Zed head, I reread my orginial post and did indeed realize that the answer you guys gave were quite good. Thanks for that. As for the leaks. I did see white smoke (from the seafoam) creep out of the number #1 exhaust until the fan turn on at which point it was pretty hard to tell anything. Secondly, I have isolated the sound (using a screwdriver) and that's where the ticking noise is coming from. I'm going to check again with an actual stethescope a bit later this week. I expected this to happen. When I was replacing the gasket (about a year ago) the #1 stud (the one under the thermostat housing) snapped and broke off in the head. I drilled it out (using a smaller bit) and retapped the whole with a M12 (or m10 whichever the studs are) and it worked well. I replaced all the studs (all of which came out fine - minus the first as explained). When retightening them I figured that I shouldn't tighten it too tight as it may break again. I will do the vacuum test when I return from my trip. Thanks for all the help Jan

I poured some seafoam into the Z's engine to see if I can find the exhuast leak. There is a very very small leak coming from the front of the manifold. I can clearly hear the "tick" coming from this area (the #1 exhaust). I don't know why everyone here keeps suggesting a head gasket. While I agree they do make said sound I can't see it being this. I don't have oil in the coolant or coolant int he oil. I don't have any smoke at all neither at start up or accel/decel. I pulled the plugs today (as I replaced them after running the seafoam). All were pretty consistent, #5 and #6 were a bit on the lean side. #1 was a bit hot (reddish hue). Thanks for the info Jan

Wouldn't there be other signs of a head gasket failure? Poor performance, coolant burning etc? I'll pull the plugs next weekend and take a look. Thanks Jan

Ladies and gents About two weeks ago my car developed a rather nasty exhuast leak (pretty bad actually, nice TICK noise when you start it and pretty much there the whole time). At first it would go away on its on when the motor got warm but now its just there, all the time. Today I tightened everybolt on the manifold, other then the last two (going towards the engine) they were all pretty tight. I also tightened the manifold to pipe bolts. Leak is till there without avail. I've come to the conclusion that I may have blown my gasket out and no amount of tightening will help. So here's a couple of questions. First off, would driving on a bad gasket cause any major damage. I won't have time until after Christmas - 26th or so - to do this. I won't be driving it for more then a few days (I leave to see family on the 20th and I'm renting a car (see previous message(s) about this)? I've heard (and seen) burnt and broken valves from bad gaskets but these were from years of neglect. Secondly, do you guys agree with my theory on the blown (or bad, burnt etc.) gasket? Thirdly, is there anything I can do so this doesn't happen again. This gasket itsn't more then a year old (I replaced it along with the exhaust June of 2011 (so last year roughly, which was a pain in the arse as the bolt under the tstat was broken and we had to drill/tap it) and it now is bad. Finally, do these things need to be torqued to the specs given in the FSM (which I think is like 22 lb/ft) or can I just tighten the crap out of them until they are overly snug. Thanks for the read. Jan

I learned long ago JB weld does NOT go on internal components of the car. So engines,trans, and especially DIFFS are not JB weld places. EVER

Oh don't worry I have a spare, I got it about a while ago I just haven't had the time to put the damn thing in. (and to be honest I haven't really felt like disassmebling have the car to fix one thing, in retrospect I should have done it) Thanks for the offer though guys Jan

Well ladies and gents The inevidable has happened. This afternoon I was driving the Z to my brothers place and long and behold I started smelling coolant. I arrived at my brothers to find that the waterpump had sprung a leak (er more like a gyser) where it mates to the front cover. I pulled the pump off and found that the silicone I had used to fill in the part of my cover that was eaten away (by electrolysis I'm supposing) had broken free. I was able to flush it out of the block with some water (luckily) but I'm going to have to replace my front cover. Since I have finals (college) and work this whole week I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to rent a car to drive to San Fransisco. It sadens me deeply but in the long run I'm sure its for the best. I was thinking of siliconing the hell out of the front cover again (which is what I ended up doing anyway so I can get to school and work, its holding, for now) but I don't really want it to giveway haflway to Cali in the middle of the desert. While fixing a front cover on the side of the road sounds like a great time I don't think an engine lift will fit. That and I don't cars driving by at 80mph will make the whole area all that clean. (I'm sure all L motors love some dirt in the gears right? ). Thanks for all the suggests and I hope that in the future (when I get a new front cover in the Z) that I'll be able to make that trip again. I'm sure its going to be awesome. Thanks all Jan

That was the plan to begin with, I'm going to go down till I hit the 1, if I'm going to drive to SF I might as well see the Pacific right? I don't know if going through the dead center of LA is a good idea (if anyone knows let me know, but I'm guessing not). Thanks Jan

Well I've decided that I'm going to take the Z. I've spent way too much time and money on this lovely car not to take it on the road. I can only think of two possible (<insert Murphy here>) things going wrong and that is either the front cover leaking coolant (mine is eaten away and well I siliconed the hell out of it, I have a spare so I'm taking that with me) or the dizzy dying again. (or the heater core exploding, that could always happen) I'm taking it in next week for a 96 point insepction and to fill the fluids again. Unless they find something absurdly wrong with the Z, I'm pretty positive I'm taking her to Cali. I'll post some pics and we'll go from there. If all else fails I'm sure I could replace parts on the side of the road. Here's the list of things I plan on taking - quart of oil - coolant - brake fluid (everything is new but...murphy) - my entire cobalt ratchet set, screw drivers, pliers, silcone and really any other tool I can fit - spare front cover (and waterpump gasket) - Spare belt (though mine is relatively new, hose clamps in case the heater decides to die) - Computer (for tuning and monitoring the temps) - Camera (for pictures) - crap loads of food and water - a jack (the stock one is nice but I like to be safe) I sadly don't have a radio in my Z - not like I would listen to it anyway - the Z sounds great. If anyone can think of anything else let me know. Jan

Mates, I took the Z out for a nice cruise on I-10 today to go shopping (and well its saturday and I was bored). This is what I noticed. The all but one dial (the orange tenths of a mile one) has no problem turning, in fact they turn fine. It seems that the tenths of a mile dial seems to get stuck occassionally (yes occassionaly now) between 9 and 0. I pay attention and just move the reset a bit and its fine. Other times it goes just fine (i'm sure doing 75 helped). Thanks Jan

Everything is gear driven yes, I made sure everything was nice an lubed and everythig worked well. I didn't do the drill trick but I figured since everything was nice and slippery it would move nicely. Clearly I was wrong. I'll pull it out one of these days again and try to fix it. Thanks all Jan

Well that went as well as putting a sqaure peg into a round hole.. Pulled the gauge out with no problem. Opened it up and cleaned the entire inside and lubed the odometer (trip) with some oil (not sure if that was a good idea). Decided to install new lightbulbs, two stores later cool got new light bulbs. Went to attach the trip reset (extremely small screw) only to have it fall and disappear into the abyss of the interior. Took me nearly an hour to find a 2M screw (Yes, its a 2M, I tried everything from 4M down..non fit). Reinstalled everything. Trip odometer reach 9 and froze.. ARG:mad: Reset it with the trip reset (which runs smooth as a whistle now and it reach 9 and froze again. I ended up just driving home and grabbing a beeer. Any ideas? Thanks Jan

Well I guess this got a bit harder as I have a full dash cap. I'll pull the thing off (not that difficult as its a POS to be honest). Would pulling the tach make life easier, I'm 5'4 so I'm not exactly the largest person

Ladies and Gents I require pulling out the speedometer in my 280z as the trip odometer (and thus the normal odometer) is stuck. By stuck I mean I can 0 it out but it will hi 9 and then stop and not move anymore. How difficult is said removal of the speedo? Anyone have any pictures? Thanks all Jan

Update, sort of I took the Z out for a nice long drive today - about an hour - to get the tune (I have tuneable injection) nice and see how she performs. I noticed a really interesting thing. For the first 15 to 20 minutes or so the Z just doesn't really sound all that great. The idle is bit boucny (jumps about 80-100 rpms up). There's no hesitaion or anything the idle is just a bit off for a bit. But after a few nice long pulls up to 5k and nice cruising it all evened out. The idle sounds amazing and sits around 1000 (I like it there, it makes it sound glorious). Anyone else experience this or is my Z just tempermental? I know I have a rather annoying exhaut leak (which only seems to be there when the car is cold) but could that really lead to the idle being so meh? On an unrelated note, everyone I know is telling me to rent a car; parents, friends, people I talk to. I know she's an old car but why do people think she's going to die halfway down the road? Thanks all Jan

I'm going to go a step further and blame it on pure laziness.

HA you're funny. Finding a lass that's as interested in cars (and engineering) as I am has become rather challenge more then anything. TomoHawk I don't understand people these days, what ever happened to slowing down and smelling the flowers. Everyone is always in such a hurry, like their house is on fire. I rarely ever do over about 70 in the Z, there's no reason. That and once you actually understand at 75 mph you're doing 110 feet per second (yes 110 feet in ONE (1) second) you realize that maybe you should slow down a bit and take you're time. Its a road trip anyway. Last time I took a road trip it took me neary 26 hours to drive to LA from Tucson. I kept stopping and checking out stops on the way and enjoying myself. And clearly I have to take 1000's of pictures, its the only way to travel . Anyhow Thanks all Jan

Holy Crap I know who's Z that was, what a small world. I've driven it once it was a really nice drive. He had some issues with it in the past that were fixed and man is that car nice. I would have bought it from him but I'm rocking my own Z right now. Thanks Jan

Did you recently get this Z? I swear I've seen/driven in that Z before

Carl, I've had a fire extinquisher in my car ever since I got it. All proper sports cars should have them, not only for you incase a rubber hose goes but in case you run into someone in need of one, I'm sure there are other antiques out there that can light fire, or even modern cars (note Ford exploder...er I mean explorer). As for the common failures you mentioned. The heater hoses, radiator hoses, and most of the fuel lines are new. The dizzy (81zx one) and the ignition module are both new but with my luck (see older posts) this could give out any time. I have AAA card in my wallet in case. My heater is sadly sprug a weeping leak (and I mean weeping, it drips about three of four drops per couple of days) but knowing my luck it will blow half-way there. I'm thinking renting a car maybe a better options but I would rather drive her there. Thanks guys Jan

Hello all This December I'm planning on driving from my Tucson home to visit a friend of mine in San Fransisco. I'm not worried that my Z won't make it there but I'd like to prepare her for the long trip. (From google maps I'm getting that its 950 miles each way excluding day trips and such). Other then checking ALL fluids, brakes, tires and plugs is there anything I should do to prepare? Thanks all Jan