Zed Head

Post a picture! We love pictures. Make sure you include the "Made in China" stamp.

Check out the Economy bearings at Rockauto. $11 to my house. http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/nissan,1976,280z,2.8l+l6,1209226,transmission-manual,clutch+release+bearing,1968

I've been surprised at what those little ultrasonic cleaners will do. Sometimes they do a lot, sometimes they don't do anything. Vinegar as a derusting agent also. Is that rust, or just old brake fluid goop? If it's goop, maybe soak it in some carb cleaner. Might destroy the rubber though, if there's rubber in there. Or maybe use the same trick that's used for pilot bushings. Pack grease in to the other end, put a cylinder that fills the hole in to it, and hit it with a hammer. Create a burst of hydraulic pressure.

I've often thought that idiot sounds would be better. We have idiot sounds for the lights and the key in the ignition. A couple more sounds for temperature and charging, plus the lights to indicate which problem, and the odds of surviving it increase. How about a cylinder killer, like they use on the newer cars? Kills injection for half the cylinders to drop the heat load.

They do seem to be rising rapidly. https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1971-Datsun-240Z Not so for the 280Z's though. Maybe later... https://www.hagerty.com/apps/valuationtools/1976-Datsun-280Z

It should work great.

That is a lot of nice modernization. What's going on with the red light and the RPM?

You can get them at any auto parts store for about $25. BWD seems like they make decent parts. Or you can get AC Delco for about $55. Rockauto has a wide selection also. Don't forget the coil. If you want to use the whole GM setup, get the module and external coil for a 1977 Nova with the 6 cylinder engine. Or just get a good coil with about 0.6 to 1.0 ohm primary circuit resistance. The 1978 280Z coils are in that range and will fit the bracket better. You'd have to make a bracket for the GM coil. https://www.oreillyauto.com/shop/ignition---tune-up-16776/ignition-module-control-unit-ignitor-12521/1977/chevrolet/nova?q=igntion module https://www.oreillyauto.com/shop/ignition---tune-up-16776/ignition-coils-19690?q=coil

I've always thought of you as a 280ZX guy. That has to change now. #6920 is pretty low. Better leave the dust/patina on it in case you decide to sell.

Never mind. 2012 isn't that long ago.

Spray the carb with soapy water, blow in the port, and see where the bubbles happen. Or put a hose on the port so that you can get your ear in the right place to hear a hiss when you blow in it.

I did this same swap on my 76. Use the 1978 Engine Electrical chapter, Transistor Ignition Unit, as a guide for testing. Here's the proper pinout for the plug. "L" = blue.

You don't need to worry about the white wire, except to make sure it doesn't short out. It's looking, though, like you're jumping ahead of your problem. You need to confirm that the wires connected to your current module are correct. There's only five to wrry about. Green, red, blue, black with white stripe, and black.

Site's pictures are for the ZX distributor. Same idea for the single point reluctor though,which you have. You'll see the difference when you remove the distributor cap. You really do need to check the position of the rotor. It's easy and not uncommon for them to be a tooth off. If it's a tooth or two off then your plug wires might need to be off also. Might explain your intake flames. The fact that you got a flame means that you got a spark though so you know that things aren't terrible with your ignition system.

There are some basic tests that you can do to figure out where the problem is. Have you confirmed power to the coil?

I think that EuroDat addresses the single versus dual pickups in his writeup. But, you don't need to swap distributors, you can use the just one of the two pickup coils that's in your current distributor. You'll have a spare pickup coil already installed if you do it that way.

That was the thread. I forgot that it was part of a much bigger one. Never would have found it. Halo, are you just planning ahead with a spare, or having ignition problems? The GM HEI module swap is a better system, I think, with a new GM module, than using an old Nissan 7 pin module. Plus, the Nissan modules were "low energy" until 1978. And I think that after 1977 they were all 5 pin, so the -27 is probably have a low energy Nissan module. Use the GM module and appropriate coil, remove the ballast, and you'll be able to run a wider gap on your plugs and have a stronger spark.

There's a whole thread about this somewhere very recent. Search around, or maybe Eurodat remembers. We both posted in it. Same question, almost exactly, slightly different form.

So, $100,000 and $75,000, for Nissan USA sponsored "refurbishments". I'm a fan of provenance, and "time retention", or patina, myself. Still, seems like the Safari Gold car had its patina removed, but still got the higher price. It's still a resto-restomod. Valuation is a finicky beast. This auction is a contrast to the common discussions of correctness, which is nice. Thanks for clarifying.

Seems odd that they would go for exactly the same nice round big number. They have different histories. One has a 5 speed so is not "correct" and has had the factory-sponsored restoration monkeyed with. It's a resto-restomod. It's a neat story but just seems a little weird, unless somebody with so much money it barely matters just cast a blow-everybody-out-of-the-water bid. The details will be interesting if they come out.

So where, exactly, do these 240Z's fit in to the 240Z spectrum? People are excited but they look fairly unique, with lots of restoration funding behind them. Two factory-sponsored restorations if I read the earlier posts right, and one with a second "full" restoration. And is that $100,000 for both or each? Anybody notice that one of them is a 1996 model? Is that when the factory resto program was?

Looks like a nice work holder for the port grinding you're doing also. Have you tried the heater yet? Probably makes a nice pizza too.

A separate topic would be easier to find. This thread is on Page 6 and will probably keep growing. You could also put it on your web site and link to it. A link to a link. You might want to make a list of web sits you're involved with too, so that you can check back sooner than 11 months. Just saying, it's been a while. p.s. apparently 123 is closed until 1/14. so there may not be a response until then. @123ignitionusa

Where can we get that magic dust? I'm going out to the garage now with my leaf blower.

So, a plain old carb like most of us raised on domestic cars learned on? Still, if the throttle plates open the engine should gain RPM. If there was a blockage in the fuel supply it would go lean and pop or stall. So timing does seem like a possibility. Retarded probably. I learned about retarded timing back when I was just learning the "time by ear" method. My ear was bad and timing got way off. Turned a 400 CI Pontiac engine in to a gutless wonder.