BTF/PTM

MSA has the gas tank filler neck as an assembly, it looks like it comes with that metal ring and grommet. I just ordered all the tail and hatch seals from them, but not the fuel tank ones that are also at Banzai's site. I'd rather not order a whole new tank filler tube, but that may be my only (and safest) option. Thanks for the continued help, everyone

Using an old sock had occurred to me, but do you have any idea how hard it is to find a bright orange tube sock this time of year? I'll have to wait till Halloween rolls around to find one of those. I was thinking of slapping a couple layers of Gorilla Tape over the opening as a temporary fix, but I like the Dumm Dumm idea much better.

Are you talking about liquid gasket maker, or a type of material that can be cut into shapes and sealed in place? I've never had to make a gasket before, this is new to me.

I'm assuming there's a seal that should go between the fuel filler tube and the floor of the trunk, I can see daylight through there and I'm sure that's not helping my fume problem. Also, what's the smaller seal to the left of the tube? Hopefully they can be replaced, but if not, does anyone have experience in using gasket material or something else to make things work?

Even when mine acts up - which is pretty much constantly as I work out the biggest of the common z car bugs - I can't help but be proud of myself for having such a rare & timeless car parked in my garage

There is actually a distinct tick at idle once the engine's warmed up for a minute or so, and it's audible from a couple dozen feet from the car with the hood closed. I thought it was just a valve lifter that I just couldn't get adjusted properly, but I did all 12 again yesterday and I'm 100% positive they're all within tolerance. I figured maybe after that it was the distributor timing set a bit too far ahead, but maybe not. The tick does move with engine speed, hence I thought it was mechanical. It gets drowned out by the engine's other sounds before too high a speed, but it's definitely audible at lower speeds. *edit* and I've also just discovered that at least three very obvious seal points at the back half of the car have no seals at all, let alone worn seals, so I'll start there. Once again the forum guides me in the right direction. Thanks, everyone

I don't recall ticking sounds, but it could be becuz my head was leaned toward the open window so all I heard was wind. I'll do some experiments to check for that, thanks for the pointer I need to diagnose faulty turn signals anyway, so I guess it's a good time to learn how the tail lights come out and see if those seals are good or not. But do I have to use one of those horrible flashlights the CSI guys use, the ones with the one-square-inch-diameter light beam? It's gonna take days to search with one of those. Why don't they carry freaking MagLites like the rest of the planet? p.s. - I'm guessing a ticking caused by an exhaust leak wouldn't be nearly as apparent with the engine not under load, that is testing by just wapping the throttle in the driveway? Prolly has to be done with the engine under load, yea?

So I've solved my scary no brakes problem and now it's on to the scary gradual poisoning due to severe in-car fumes problem. Long story short, I suspect the very old, very corroded 6-2 tube header and it's mating 2-1 exhaust pipe are leaking because I seem to get stronger whifs of the fumes if I really put my foot down. I've already replaced the gaskets and bolts between the header and exhaust pipe. Could be the flange at the head, could be cracks in the tubes, etc. Has anyone had experience with verifying this type of problem? I feel like replacing the header and exhaust pipe would be a good starting point just to rule out the most obvious source of fumes, but any feedback would be greatly appreciated. And in case it helps, the fumes are bad enough that even driving with the driver-side window all the way down at freeway speeds I end up with itchy eyes and clothes that smell like an ash tray after a short time.

Thanks! Good to know I did things properly.

The prices for replacement factory rotors are all over the board, and I'm not sure where the threshold of "you get what you pay for" becomes significant. Napa has them for $64 each, MSA has them for $47 each, tons of websites have them from $29 up to $87 each. I'm not looking for anything slotted or otherwise, just regular OE rotors. Thanks, everyone.

I use a MityVac, it's the cheaper plastic-bodied one that comes with a set of adapter plugs. It took a while to figure out the best way to use it, but I bled my master cylinder and all four corners with no problems once I figured out the best tricks. 1) use five or six pumps of the vacuum mechanism, not the 10 to 12 stated in the user's manual. Too much vacuum causes the machine to tend to pull air through the fittings. 2) smear the bleed screw threads and the bleed nipple where the nylon tube connects with bearing grease to seal things up. Obviously don't let it get on friction surfaces. Works really well to prevent the machine from pulling air through the threads. 3) keep several sizes of nylon tubing handy, it really makes a difference to use almost undersize tubing that stretches around the bleed nipple and it may require more than one size if you get rebuilt calipers like I did and each one has a different bleed screw size. The MityVac and all the nylon tubing i bought totalled about $50, so it was a very good investment. One-man bleeding that's fairly clean. Works great for the clutch cylinder, too

So I found the stubby acorn nut I've been looking for at a local junk yard. It didn't come off its parent push rod easily, and I want to ask about whether I did things the right way or not before I attempt the same method on my own car when installing the part. It seems that the knurled part of the push rod does not actually separate from the push rod the way a set nut would. I had envisioned it (based on the FSM) being a set nut that you crack loose and then move the acorn nut as needed. I ended up simply grabbing the knurling as best I could and using a 7mm wrench to remove the acorn nut with mild resistance. Is this correct? I couldn't for the life of me get the knurled part to come away from the push rod, it just kept spinning as one piece and getting all gouged up as I tried. Hence I want to clarify before working on my own car. Thanks, everyone

So you have the 280zx master cylinder pistons feeding the warning light block backwards? I have a 280zx MC, too, but the lines are criss-crossed so the piston marked "F" still feeds the front of the warning light block. Are the pistons inside the MC the same such that you can just reverse the lines like that?

Thanks to Banzai Motorworks, I've now got a pair of genuine Nissan service manuals to work with. Pretty cool stuff The dedicated engine book is quite weathered and grit-marked, it has such a nice nostalgic smell and feel to it. It's the kind of thing that any wife would yank off the mantle so fast it would tear the pages, but that any of us could stare at and admire there for hours.

Don't worry, I'm not asking about what order in which to bleed calipers/drums. I'm pretty sure this hasn't been asked before, I've done quite a bit of research. I won't have all the parts I need by the weekend to complete the whole end-to-end job, but I wonder about whether I can start it. My questions are: 1) Is there any reason I cannot check/adjust the booster push rod and bleed both the master cylinder and the warning light splitter block this weekend and then get to the calipers/drum cylinders when I've got all the parts on hand? 2) Is there a preferred order of bleeding for the MC and the warning light splitter block? I plan on bleeding each part at each bleeder valve, but I don't plan on disconnecting hard lines. Does the MC have any preference of bleeding the front or rear line first? The 280zx MC (15/16 size, PO installed) is reversed from the 240z unit, I believe. Not sure if that means anything specific. For those who are wondering why I'm doing it, it's a continued venture of ruling out potential PO mistakes. It's taken weeks and deep pockets to shorten the list thus far of things that were done in a terrible rush with many corners cut. Thanks, everyone.

Just as a final comment, another local Nissan dealer had a fourth caliper bolt on hand so I went ahead and picked them up. Probably not necessary, but it gives me warm fuzzies so it's all ok. To anyone who reads this later they are definitely a special-purpose bolt and definitely shouldn't be replaced with a close hardware store equivalent. The bolts are about 2/3 smooth shank, most likely due to the above-mentioned caliper motion elimination. I also picked up a basic MityVac pump, so that should help make bleeding the system much easier. I got it at Cycle Gear, a national chain of motorcycle equipment stores. It's a simpler, plastic-bodied version of the original, but it's MityVac brand and cost me a whopping $39 bucks and will serve my hobby mechanic purposes just fine.

www.photobucket.com is your friend. I linked up hundreds of photos for the forum to look over while I was shopping for my z

I think so, too. I like mine, L28 running 3-screw SU carbs. Runs rich right now so once the brake work is done I'll meet up with a fellow forum member to tweek the carb tuning, but otherwise it's great fun to drive. Oh, and I talked to the owner of that red car up in Whittier. He sent me a ton of pictures while I was shopping around, very honest. The car wasn't running back when I was looking, so he's definitely made progress. The original color was light green, it's been repainted. He's worth talking to, he seemed like a straight shooter.

I agree with bringing the positive terminal out from under its "proper" location. I turned the battery around in its frame so the hot lead is facing into the engine bay. I've had both a Nissan place and a local z car specialist place tell me that the correct layout is with the hot lead under the fender, but that just doesn't seem safe to me.

The car is on a level concrete garage floor, 2 jack stands under the front frame rails just behind where they start to arc up toward the firewall and 2 jack stands under the outermost corners of the rear cross beam to which the differential front cross member bolts. I've got a piece of wood under each jack stand head, too, to help spread the weight of the "Y" shape of the stand heads. I don't think she's gonna move The local Nissan dealership wants $5.25 each for the caliper bolts and of course only three of them are on hand. I'll see how they look when they come out, if they're beat up I'll order new ones.

Also as a side question, but still related to the work, is it safe for someone to sit inside the car while it's up on four jack stands and pump the pedal? I've never bled brakes with a car completely up on stands before. I may end up investing in a MityVac if I can't find a helper.

Fair enough, thanks as usual for the feedback. I'll check with a local Nissan place tomorrow to see if they're available. If it costs $10 to put fresh factory-grade bolts in place I'll go ahead with it as a peace-of-mind thing.

Oh, and as a side note, that shade of blue is an awesome z car color

Leave it those colors, with those groovy (pun very much intended, long live the Disco lingo) wheels and ice-cream-topping-colored interior, and put a reciprocating red LED in the grille. You'll be the envy of every black Trans-Am that still manages to sputter & smolder to a start each morning.

mmm, all-aluminum V8