Pomorza

OK I own a 76 280z and have had this problem. The easiest way I found to check for leaks, other then to take it to a shop is this. Turn the car on (in your driveway with some sheets or something under it for leaks, preferably white). Wait for the car to reach operating temperature. With the car at operating temperature carefully observe your engine bay and look for leaks. Check the underside of the water pump, the radiator, the thermostat housing and all the hose connections. If you don't see any leaks turn off the car and watch your water pump. With the system still pressurized coolant will flow out of the weep hole if the pump is bad. As for the thermostat. While your replacing your water pump (and thus have no coolant in the engine) go ahead and replace the thermostat. Takes about ten minutes and its added security. It also wouldn't harm doing a full flush of your cooling system. An obstruction in the radiator or cooling system can cause a hole boat load of trouble. How over heated did your engine get? Jan

Will a ZX headlight bucket (the round thing that holds the light) work. There's a guy up the street parting out his ZX.. Jan

I'm pretty certain that my adjusters are pretty screwed. Anyone have any advise other than using large washers? Jan

Hello all So I've owned my Z for about three months now. In complete love with it but I'm having a bit of an issue with it. When I try to put the car into second gear I *sometimes* get a weird buzzing sound. Sounds really like something spinning or something. I also get this noise sometimes when I revv the engine with the clutch in all the way and the car in any gear (but 1st and 2nd as I'm slowing down). I've been told it could be the throw out bearing but a friend of mine that owns a Z. Not sure if the bad tranny mount has anything to do with it. Any advise is appreciated. Jan. P.S Forgot to mention what occurred on thursday. I usually don't do this but I happen to hold the clutch in at a light while I was sitting. Took about three minutes for the light to change. When I went to put it into gear all I heard was this buzzing sound. Wouldn't go into first or second. I let the clutch out and pressed it again and was on my way.

If the pump is really 33 years old, opting to buy a new one isn't really a bad idea. With the coolant out it will make the replacement very simple instead of having to drain it again a month or two down the road. I bought mine from here for $47 with shipping to my door and new bolts. If you plan on doing the water pump please spend the extra $5 on the new bolt kit they sell on MSA. Its just quick insurance so that you don't get stuck with a broken bolt or two in the block. Jan P.S Oh and if you let that online store know that you are a member of a z club (such as this one) you get a discount

I would first check the fuel pressure and make sure that it is where it should be. Secondly, make sure that while cleaning up everything you didn't happen to knock something off or disconnect something (I've done that), or you didn't get some of that cleaner on anything else fairly important. Varify that your timing is correct, could have been altered somehow when you were working on the car. Start there and see where it goes. Jan

Might as well post mine here. 1976 280z built 01/76 HLS30 288273

How does she die? Sputtering or just plain old flat out death. (as in just shuts off). Jan

Ok. So I'm slowly trying to get my Z working. Can someone please explain how to adjust the headlights. At the moment with the normal beams on the lights are pointed way to the left. With high beams they point straight ahead but still a bit to the left. I don't have regular headlights but the H4 conversion ones. Not exactly sure what kind as I bought them with the car. Any help would be great Jan

I'm going to have to agree with ktm here. Why replace something if its not broken. But if you wish to replace the water pump by all means go for it. But, please, please if you are going to buy a new pump replace the bolts with it. MSA sells them for like $4 or something. The bolts that hold the pump on are not very strong after the many years of expanding and contracting. The likeliness of you breaking one is fairly high and this will lead to more headaches then you really want. I've had the fun experience of having to pull a broken bolt out of the engine block. (as the P.O broke on of the water pump bolts) took me nearly two hours before I could get it loose. So please buy new bolts! Jan

Thanks guys. Exactly the answer I was looking for. I must agree with you that Dave that people in General are stupid. It tends to be worse now with all the technology such as phones and GPS's and all that people insist on using instead of paying attention to the road. I almost got hit last night on my way home by a lady who "forgot" that you have to yield on a red light. Nearly took me clean off the road. Again thanks Jan

JM2CW I didn't mean to be rude or insult Oliver and his rules. I just wanted to know what people's driving habits. I also didn't mean to say that Z motors aren't in a way performance. I've never owned a Z or any sports car what so ever. My other car, that I just gave to my big brother, was a 1996 Jeep Grand Cherokee that has 260k on it. (yup that's right 260k and still all original). So if I say dumb things by all means set me right.:stupid: Now I do shift at 3k or above unless the car is cold. But my question is more of my question has to do with what you do when you actually reach cruising speed. (say 35). Do you keep it in 3rd @~3,000 or do you shift to fourth and let it down to about 2k? (I have a 5 speed out of a 78) Jan

Actually that was exactly what I was looking for. I usually try to keep the RPM between 2k and 3k. I haven't been driving the car that much but I have found that below 2k it tends to loose a lot of its ump. As for the article. I was pretty skeptical of what it said. I'm not exactly a car guru but I've been around enough race cars and performance engines to know that what the Z has is not really a "performance" engines. Thank Jan

Hello all I've been a proud owner of a 1976 280z for all of three months. In that time I've done a lot of work to get the car in better mechanical shape as it had some "issues". Anyhow I've been doing some short driving around town, (mainly to school and back) and was wondering how you guys drive your Z's? Where do you shift on the RPM range and sorts..basic driving habits. This question come about due to http://www.zspecialties.com/. Read their "driving tips" section and though...oh that's something new. I usually try to shift to fourth gear as soon as possible to keep the RPM's low while cruising. Any advise would be great Jan

Actually had the same problem on my 280z. First check the radiator cap and the water pump like advised above. Secondly check the lower radiator hose where it meets the water inlet(outlet) above the radiator. On my Z this is prone to leak if the hose isn't really on there tight. Also check the hoses at the radiator as they can leak also if they are not on there very tightly. Jan

sblake01 I took my A/C belt off months ago as I don't use it at all. It was most definitely the water pump as I took it off and found the bearing burned. (I disassembled the pump...had some free time). There was also a stream of coolant coming from the weep hole on the old pump. Had a nice adventure putting the new one in. Jan

Issues I would like to discuss Ok so last weekend I replaced the waterpump on the Z. (read story above) Today I drove the car up to the store. On the way there I happen to be stuck behind an older gentleman in an Z06 (corvette) going 30 in a 45. Rather annoyed I downshifted to 3rd and pasted him. Upon releasing the throttle (~3k 45mph) I get a wiff of unburned gasoline. I've had this problem in the past but never really noticed it till today. Got to the store and went in. Was in there about ten minutes to grab some oil for my brothers ZJ. Came out, put stuff in car got in and started. The Z is having a hard time keeping steady idle. Give her gas and she somewhat recovers but when I let it go back down to idle it seems to struggle. I've had this before but worse as it would backfire or miss (not sure exactly) and took it to the mech. They replaced the temp sensor (the one that tell the ECU what the engine temp is) as it was bad. So what exactly is the problem here? Do I need to do a full tune up (rotor, cap wires and plugs) or is there something other than that? Has anyone had similar issues before. I run 91 Chevron gasoline if that give any help. Thanks Jan

Well I have no real reasoning behind it. I was just thinking that the heavier grade oil would be beneficial to the engine. The Z isn't burning any oil to my knowledge as the exhaust is clear and smells of fuel. I most likely leak about a quart or so of oil from the bad oil pan gasket I have. I really would like to start using VR1 as I'm thinking it would be nice for the motor. For what I can tell the car's been abused for the past couple of years by the PO. Jan

Hello. As its been roughly three months since my last oil change I'm planning on doing one here in the next week or two. I don't mean to start another "oil" thread but I'm wondering if I should use a heavier grade oil. At the moment I'm using Castrol GTX 10W40 with a Fram XG filter. I was debating going to 20W50 Valvoline VR1 oil as I've read on a number of threads that Z's like Zinc. What is your opinion on this change? I don't like synthetics as I change my oil way too often to be spending so much money on. (I do it every 3K or 3 months.. I guess that would be the old school way). I live in Tucson so the temp here rarely drops below 30 in the winter and in the summer it isn't unusual to have it hit 110+. Thanks Jan

OK here's a bit of a clarification. To begin with when I accelerate I can feel the entire transmission drop (literally) as I accelerate. By drop I mean as I accelerate the shifter falls down and away from my hand. This makes me believe that the transmission mount is bad and needs to be replaced. I've looked at it and it doesn't seem to be in good shape. I'm just wondering exactly how hard replacing a transmission mount is and where can one get one? As for the oil pan. I haven't looked at it since I bought it but I'm inclined to believe that torquing the bolts down wont fix the leaking as it seems fairly tight on there at the moment. As I don't have an engine lift would letting a shop do it be a better move on my part? Like to add a third question here. I've been having a pesky problem with my volt gauge being pegged out at engine speeds over idle. I had both the battery and the alternator tested twice (by different shops) and was told that they are fine. Do I have a bad gauge on my hands. At idle it sits at a nice 13.5 volts or so but the second I move at all the gauge just starts climbing, by 2k its at 16+ and just sits there. VR maybe. I did clean all the connections hoping this would help (the connections in the engine bay that is) but it didn't. Any ideas? Thanks Jan

Hello all Today I took the Z out for a short ride around town to get some things. Stopped at the local store to find that my car was low on coolant. Picked up a bottle of coolant and topped of the tank. While under there I noticed that the oil pan is leaking a fairly large amount of oil. Also noticed my tranny mount is going bad fairly quickly. (that was from driving) 1. Is there a way to replace the oil pan gasket without having to lift the engine or drop the cross member? 2. Has anyone replace a tranny mount that have pictures. I've been under the car I just need advise on where to start. Jan

Water Pump Adventure So this Saturday morning I decided hell I'm going to put the new pump in. Seems easy as pie should "take like an hour or two." Drain the fluid out into a bucket, (as its a week old so I reused it) pulled the shroud off took the fan off and started with the pump. To my amazement there were only FOUR bolts holding it on. "Hmm where did the fifth bolt go?" Well the PO of this car obviously missed that "replace the bolts when replacing pump" part of the instructions as the fifth bolt (below the dizzy) was broken at the head. GREAT! So called my friend's dad over (6'8" 300lb gentleman) who convinced the bolt to come out of the hole (using a vise grips). Got the old bolt out and put pump in. Works great, no more noise no more fluid coming out of everywhere. Did notice one thing though. The weep hole on the new pump is on the top. Not sure if this is some new design but its odd. (I'm positive the pump is on right...there really is only one way to put it on really). Anyone ever seen these? Secondly the fan clutch is...well a bit hard to turn. I took it off and clean with brake cleaner but I could not for the life of me find the bolts that hold it together. (as I've read you can replace the fluid in there and it work better). Sorry I didn't take any pictures as the whole "broken bolt" kind of took up most of my time. There was a lot of sludge on the engine which I clean a bit off with some brake cleaner. So the moral of this whole "adventure" is who ever Murphy was needs to get some award for his laws...as they seem to always get obeyed. (Murphy's Laws that is) Will have pictures of the skid plate up when I get to it. Jan

I'm sorry but that is such a waste of a beautiful car. Why would you do that? I understand it is someone's dream to build a car like that but really, it looks horrible. I almost cried. Jan

Skid Plate? I almost forgot that's what I started with on this project. Went from skid plate r&r to fixing the cooling system in one step. I'm thinking of getting a small sand plaster to do the project. At the moment I have about quarter of it down to metal. Not a bad start but really slow going. Thanks Jan

Water pump Hello all. This Wednesday my new water pump came in along with new bolts. Posted are pictures of the parts. I'm a bit new to Z's but do the water pump bolts look right. They're a bit...huge to me so please let me know. Jan