Zed Head

Make sure you check the other odd things like the main wire from the coil to the distributor cap. Things that move when you raise the cap. Seems like there's a lot of crusty stuff floating around in there. The spark can jump anywhere along the path on top of the rotor. When you raise the cap you move the rotor away from places to jump to. I might try a piece of electrical tape on top of the metal as an insulator, just for an easy test. Overall though, a simple tune-up with new parts might be the way to go. The old pocket knife electrode scraping might not be good enough.

Might be carbon tracking. With the cap up it breaks the path to ground.

Have you had it apart? It's 38 years old. Check that the rotor head is firmly seated. Look at the top of the inside of the cap for wear marks. Make sure the shaft is tight and the disc spins smoothly. Maybe the cover is causing misalignment of the shaft.

I'd rather work through the cover. It's just an idea, no need to spend so much effort shooting it down. If you have one, take a picture and show how much room isn't there. I'd think the only people who really know what it looks like are those who've forgotten to put the plate on. If you have the parts, a picture will make the case.

Just get it running and drive it. It's an old beat-up 240Z now and it will be an old beat-up 240Z after you have some fun in it. Get good insurance before hitting the road. That will be the only money you should really spend on it. That's what insurance is for, reducing risk.

A mirror, a bright light, and a gap is all that's needed. Better than squeezing your eyeballs in to a spot to see through the fork boot hole.

Since you have the file you could modify it to make starter plates, for use on engines that don't have a transmission. I think that people have reported that the original plate is strong enough, bolted on alone, but bumping the thickness up might be good (edit - then you could thread the holes for the starter bolts instead of having to use a bolt and nut.). I made one from 3/16" steel a while ago. It was handy for spinning the engine on a Harbor Freight dolly, fogging for storage, checking oil flow, etc. Otherwise you have to have a transmission to bolt the starter to. Also I wonder about making it a two piece so that a person can have access to the inside of the bellhousing and front of the flywheel. Checking seals, and clutch fork operation, ring gear quality, and stuff like that.

That site is Not Secure also. Funny. And if you click on the link about the mailing list - 404 Not Found. Dinosaurs evolve!!!

And if you use Google to find zhome, you get the dead page also. I wonder if it works on a flip phone...

Interesting. That does work, but I still got "Forbidden" when I tried to Join. I wonder if this is a clue though, below. I don't get the http address. I get zhome.com and not secure. I typed it in directly also and it converts to the "not secure" mode. Just to add another, if you type in www.zhome.com like many do, you get the site that doesn't do 99% of what it's supposed to do. Finally, not sure where "modern" starts, pretty sure it worked within the last year. It sounds like what you're saying is that the browser producers have bypassed the site's protocols. Carl's site software has been obsoleted.

I edited my other post to clarify that I meant that my computer worked fine, but not the zhome site. I think that we need more detail in what people are reporting. If they only clicked one link and something happened they might be reporting that as "works". The point is that when you left-click on one of the sub-topics nothing happens. It's all about the left click button on a right-handed mouse. There's probably a setting somewhere in whatever software is being used by Carl that defines what happens when people click on certain buttons. I would go to that part of the settings area, or have your software guy do it. A setting has been changed, it's probably that simple. The sub-forums are there, the left button just doesn't work like it should. It might even be that the people who say it works fine have their mouse setup to automatically open a new tab or window. You can do that in your Settings menu with Windows. But I think that many of use have our mouses/mice/meese set up to just open the new page in the same tab. My mouse is set to open the new page in the same tab if I use the left button. Edit - not sure if my memory is 100% on this but I think that @heyitsrama is an IT kind of guy. Maybe he has a thought. Edit 2 - @Carl Beck in case he has assumed all is fine... People that don't know about the right click solution will just not use the site. Weird that Terrapin Z figured that out. Not obvious, to me anyway.

Windows 10 with Google Chrome here, all updated, works excellently, no issues at all (Edit - I meant my computer works not the zhome site). Some of the links on the top of the left side menu will drop the person down the left side menu, but only a few links in the lower portion of that left side menu do anything, like show a Forbidden page (How to Join...) . The Copyright link brings up a new left side image, but all of the menu options below it disappear. Basically you're claiming Copyright over something that can't be accessed and not allowing anybody to join the club. Clicking on the book cover on the right half brings up a Lulu page in a separate tab. Generally, it doesn't work un less you right click. Are you reporting what you saw yourself or what somebody told you? For the record, if you have the opportunity, the layout of your web site has always been a bit strange, with the split screen. Might as well get with the times and simplify it? Or just put a big message on the front page that says "right click".

@Carl Beck The site is up but none of the links on the left work. All are completely dead. https://www.zhome.com/

Another interesting site. You can see that therapeutic care is getting better. Less death. No measure of long-term health effects though. We might be creating a population of invalids. An aging population supported by a community of invalids. Great. https://www.mdmetrix.com/covid-19

Use "stroker" in your search terms and you'll find a bunch. This guy might actually be close to you.

I think that the score is "all time", but they only show the last 12 months of reviews. eBay is not really about protecting buyers, it's about making them feel comfortable buying. I generally avoid strongly opinionated people. Good luck to him though.

Looks like he's a member here. I thought the name looked familiar. https://www.classiczcars.com/profile/3084-theramz/

The point of isolating the political opinions to one thread is that any of us can then Ignore the topic. Everybody wins, the guys with opinions can duke it out and the rest of us don't have to see it.

https://health.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/covid-19-long-hauler-patients-search-for-answers-and-help/2020/10

You can see how somebody going by memory of working on a Z in the past might put them on the wrong nipples.

Hate to say it, but politics gets boring real fast. This cake is baked. Nobody's opinion is changing.

Anybody know how to work the site's levers to get images in a photo album to stop showing? I tried Ignore User but nothing happens. CRShowers pictures are nice but there's just too many.

I was wondering about what happened to this car. There's an update. Seems suspicious. I wonder if they were insured. https://gasmonkeygarage.com/gas-monkeys-280z-goes-up-in-flames/