Zed Head

Arcing, or discharging to ground, from the coil won't hurt it. You could make a T off of the center wire that runs to a switched ground. Close the switch and coil discharge just goes directly to ground. Open it and it passes to the distributor.

You're trying to defend the indefensible. You said you used a board as your flat surface. That's your error. And you haven't shown that you achieved any precision. You said they were good but didn't show anything. More detail about the process doesn't mean more accuracy. And you didn't even recognize the Starrett surface plate. People get confused on measurement principles all the time. I still do and I've studied them. Wanting to be an expert and actually being one aren't the same thing. Sorry. Looks like fun, but you're really just a guy with some tools and a nice project. Let's see how the engine does when it's done. No need to get defensive, just say "thanks" and carry on. Not trying to get in a pissing match. You're writing like you're an established expert but it really seems like you're just working out of Tom Monroe's book.

Have you seen that Fast N' Loud program where they used the cheap oil and the zinc additive? It cost them a motor. Made entertaining TV though. For all of the money you're spending on the engine parts, why take a chance? Use a high-quality proven oil with zinc already added, designed for breaking in these types of engines, I'd say. There's no magic blend you can make yourself that will be better. And it's not "synthetic" that matters, it's the zinc. To be clear. You haven't described your valve train pieces. That's where the problems happen. Cam lobes and rocker arms. Make sure that those are right, otherwise the oil used won't matter. People still wipe cam lobes with good oil, but bad parts.

Good luck. I'd put the car together and give it a drive before buying any engines. The little L6 can make plenty of power. The 280Z 2.8 liter engine is 1/3 bigger than what you had. If I read the pictures right, it's an automatic? You could add clutch pedal and gear to your to-dream list. You'll need that for whatever engine. I just spend a week encased in snowy roads here in Oregon so I understand the need to dream. I don't know how you guys survive (mentally) up there.

He might be suggesting what he showed in the picture. Starrett makes high precision measuring tools. http://www.starrett.com/ (Grammar note - Starrett uses "precision" imprecisely in their web page. Word nerd) Wood is compressible, and flexible, and absorbs moisture and other liquids. The moist side will expand, causing a bow. Pressure will bend it slightly. Even a piece of glass will bend. I think that if you swapped "flat enough" or very flat for "dead flat" you'd be okay. You still wouldn't "know" though. Unless you checked with some Starrett measuring tools.

Indeed.... Those are both expensive starting points, in general. But they make power. So your plan is to build a hot-rod Z? Drag-racing? The 5.3 alone gives a super power-to-weight ratio. The turbo would make it ridiculous. What's your plans?

One last chime - I have a 280Z with big bumpers so my measurement will be farther from the body than a 240Z.

Wait. My other answer was not "literal". The answer, where the tip ends, is 3/4". But wait...a re-read has me thinking that I can't give an answer. The "tip" by definition does not "exit". It's just the tip. I think the question assumes a round, square-cut end. So mine doesn't fit the question. Good luck!

You're right CO. Here's a direct, literal answer from me. - 1 7/8". That's a negative sign. Where the exit hole begins.

Is the connector different than the Z car connector? Not a T plug? Still not clear. Is it an adapter or is it a plug that needs to be wired up? Just trying to help out. You didn't really answer any questions. No offense. It's looking like a late Maxima alternator with a pulley swap, that doesn't use a T plug. @zcardepot.com

Z Car Depot should really have more wiring info on that page. I'm sure that they're missing sales because of non-clarity about one of the most confusing parts of the alternator swaps. You'd need one of Dave Irwin's (or MSA's) adapters for your 240Z, since yours came with an external regulator. @zcardepot.com

The questions are answered on the web page. No core charge. Cases cut to fit. Belt info supplied with the belt so that you can replace it in the future. He wires the Sense and Lamp wire directly to the charging wire. So you'll lose your Charge warning lamp (described on the page). It's basically a bare-bones primitive charging system, with high capacity. A person could probably wire it up to work correctly and still get the high capacity. He's both reducing and increasing the value of the product, one by losing the Charge lamp and adding the special belt, and the other by making it almost fool-proof to install. The belt is probably necessary for the same reason that manufacturers went to the multi-groove belts. It takes more torque to spin the little pulley when it's putting out the high amps.

Don't forget direction. I have one that curves slightly downward. It blows the dust off the road when I hit the gas. And think about bumper style, if you have one. I don't think that just length is going to be the full solution. (This post has some unintentional double entendres, I know...).

Did you seal the edges of the large vinyl/cardboard panel on the inside of the hatch? The hole for the hatch latch will suck fumes in to the hatch framework and then around the panel edges.

The tachometer circuit resistor is by the realy area/fuse box wiring. It's a lump inside the harness, with a female and male bullet connector. Dig it out and branch your pin 1 wire to ground through that resistor.

I've found in the past that the ECU is sensitive to the quality of the Pin 1 signal. I can't really say how, but I do know that I had two situations where the engine would not start when the tachometer was disconnected even though the path to Pin 1 was still intact. Reconnected the tachometer, which is on a branch of that circuit, and it was back to normal. The fact that you got the injectors to fire by grounding coil negative shows that the ECU "sees" what it should from the coil negative but it's not liking the signal. But I've also had an engine on a stand with no tachometer start and run using a separate EFI harness. In that case I ran a wire through the 2.3 kOhm resistor on the tach circuit to ground. My theory was that the ECU needs that constant high resistance coil ground circuit to operate right. You might try getting the tachometer circuit to normal, if it's not. Or even add a capacitor or a high resistance path to ground on the Pin 1 circuit. I've fixed a bad tachometer by adding a condenser. It's pseudo-voodoo 'cause I don't know why it works but it won't hurt.

Dude. Jai's not a dude. Those plugs are very fouled. I'd install new plugs, take it for a good drive, make sure it gets nice and warmed up, then pull them and see how dirty they are. Looks like it's running very rich though, unless you're burning oil. Does it use much oil? They really should never get that dirty unless there's a problem. A short test run on new plugs will give you a good clue though. tx is right about the leak. At least you know it's hose-based. Those are both low pressure hoses, one is 5/16" and I think that 3/8" works on the other. The 5/16" is a good fit, the other is a bit tight, if I remember right.

Three years man, three years...

Actually, that's a sign that the thermostat is not working correctly. You might not even have one. The thermostat is designed to stop coolant flow until the engine heats it up. Normal temperature is about 180 degrees F.

Couldn't get through it. Could you state the issue you're working on so certain key words will pop out of the pile? Not giving you a hard time. It is seriously unreadable. Or you could edit it in to paragraphs. Think I found it - " I fired up the car and noticed excessive exhaust noise coming from the engine. " and " alas, the noise persists". You need to add more detail about the noise.

Wow, that is almost a perfectly square, unbroken block of letters. It fills up all of my computer screen. Kind of neat to look at, but it also looks like about three meals on one plate. Could take time to consume before you get some feedback. Just an aside...

You can stick a piece of tape or plastic over the male part of the pin also to break contact.

Still unique to 75.

You know the 75 driveshaft flange and diff flange are unique to 1975, right? The bolt pattern and size. You can't swap a 75 driveshaft in to a 76-78 280Z.

Nissan stopped using the mustache bar in 1979, so whatever you got wouldn't be what we know as a "mustache" bar.. And the 1986 halfshafts are CV axles and won't fit your 72, bolt-wise or lengthwise (too long). If you got the stub axles from the hubs I think that those are only usable with an adapter. The 86 CV axles will still be too long. So all that's really "swappable" from and 86 300ZX is the diff, with no axles inside. You really need to find an old 280Z parts car to get what you need. Unless you want to buy aftermarket. Here's a pretty good old writeup. It takes some reads and re-reads to really get a feel for what matters and how to do it. In principle it's very simple,but there are a lot of things that look like they should fit, but don't. http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/R200.htm