Zed Head

The 280Z's do have a dedicated ground wire. I thought all of the Z's did, but maybe not. People often don't check their ground circuits though. madkaw, how did the pump impeller look? Just curious. And did the Damper Doctor say what he thought he did wrong? Bad batch of silicone, didn't prime the metal,...? Kind of concerning. I wouldn't send him anything until I heard the story. Just me.

Channeling my inner English teacher - two possibilities were described, and you said "looks like exactly what happened". Literally, that means both things happened since you did not differentiate between the two. Did both things happen? What's a DRL?

One of my memorable Gene Wilder scenes is the one with Madeline Kahn in Young Frankenstein. I was young and it made me feel funny. Schwing. Edit - it might have been Blazing Saddles...

Can't believe I watched that whole thing! You have PVC, polyvinylchloride, on your mind. As opposed to PCV. I think that the Nissan remedy is probably a way to exchange one problem for another. The original setup, yours and mine, gums up the AAR and the throttle blade, causing high idle. The fix, plumbing the gases between AFM and TB, probably eventually gums up the AFM and the throttle body/blade. But it probably takes longer. Since you know all of this stuff, if your idle sticks high you'll immediately think about AAR or throttle blade. So the work involved in swapping AFM and PCV hoses doesn't really buy you much, you know what it is and how to fix it. If you were going to sell the car I could see it for their convenience. But it doesn't do much for you.

Almost forgot that I had gone through your search before, myself. Part #12. I was wrong above, it's not steel wool, it's more like a piece of gun barrel brush. Discontinued at Courtesy. Spelled with an "e" also. http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978/engine-280z/emission-control-device/12 http://www.courtesyparts.com/oe-nissan/15296n4200

It's essentially just a piece of steel wool, but more prickly and stiff. I replaced my PCV hose with a piece of water hose 60,000 miles ago. No arrestor and the hose is fine. I like to live on the edge though. I still have the old hose, hard as wood, with the arrestor inside it.

Funny how many translate the "lead" in to steel and what Humble references, in to the factory issued piece shown in the FSM. On the other hand, Humble seems to be the only person that actually knows about the parts, and he got his part numbers confounded with the early part numbers. He did a lot of writing about it. He has to have seen hundreds of the big L-shaped steel plates though, that bolt on to the bottom. Who knows. I just want to see one of the differential companion flanges with a rubber damping piece, like a harmonic damper. That would be cool. Seems like it might be a unicorn though.

Aaacck. No more prizes for RedBird with that thing in there. Since you had AC before all you really need is a good compressor, and system cleaning and purging, I think, assuming that your evaporator is intact. I think a good AC shop could replace the seals to work with modern lubricants and you might be fine. Post #8 looks promising, with capable Sam. I see that I'm basically repeating what everyone has already suggested. Old Datsun is often better than new.

What does "does not fit correctly" mean? It's installed, so it must fit a little bit. Just wondering.

Edit - here's a cheaper version - http://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-Datsun-Technical-Service-Bulletins-Manual-Nissan-/371690698878 The right part numbers might be in here - https://www.amazon.com/Datsun-Truck-Technical-Service-Bulletin/dp/B017PZ7GMM?SubscriptionId=19FZ002EVKGD47C50K82&tag=datsun280zparts.com-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B017PZ7GMM Maybe they just took that early R180 weight, that bolted on to the bottom, and bolted it to the top of the diff nose for the 280Z. Same part numbers. Odd that they used 7/16" bolts. I'm guessing that they used the two back unused holes of the R200 diff mounts and just strapped it on there. The companion flange must be a fine piece of engineering though.

The 2/3 scheme is probably the atlanticz scheme? I've posted on that relay before, it's the brake check warning light relay. I rewired mine to the fuel pump power circuit. If you don't want to mess with it, you could just unplug it, but the light won't work. The 11.92 volts instead of 12.5 might be because of the voltage drop from the relay, I think it's on what is used as the Sense wire. The only wire that you really need from the harness is the L wire. The S wire can be run separately to the battery or starter lug. The brake light relay power wire can be fixed separately. The key is that yellow wire to the relay only gets power when the engine is running. That's why I used the fuel pump power, plus the wire runs right next to the passenger seat, so easy to tap in to it The engine running is what actuates the relay to turn off the brake light. The 76 alt swap discussion discussion pops up periodically and sometimes gets out of hand. Good luck.

No, that's the standard factory issue damper plate. It's actually shown in the Rear Axle chapter of the FSM. Gary L is talking about a retrofit kit that Nissan produced,with a lead weight on top of the diff. (Don't know why he used atop, a bit archaic there Gary L...)

Read this thread, it might cover it. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/56054-afm-to-tb-boot-no-port/ The smog tech might have access to the recall bulletins. Check the hood for a sticker, it might have a number on it. If it does, post the number in the other thread so we can Google it Keep an eye on the temperature gauge. These engines like to blow head gaskets after overheating, due to head warpage. Hope yours didn't get that hot. The shop screwed up big time by not topping off the coolant after spilling some. They should have known better.

I want to see the companion flange with the rubber damper that comes with the kit. Humble posted a kit number but it seems to be for the earlier 240Z R180 kit, not the 1975 kit. 99991-20000

I think that I loosened the bolts to the other part of the mount, the bracket that actually bolts to the engine block. When I replaced the mounts with the engine in, and later when I replaced the engine. Leave them all loose, wiggle everything in to place, get them aligned, tighten them all back up. It was some extra nut and bolt turning, but it worked out well. That was with aftermarket mounts. Which did not need any filing or pin modification. OReilly purchase, very poor quality. 1976 car.

Just jumping in to point out that you're still not "quite right" in your level of descriptiveness. Kidding. But "doesn't really charge" doesn't really mean much. There are some basic measurements that will tell a story. The need to "rev up" is typical of a missing circuit.

Humble wrote about a half-page on it with lots of detail but never gave any Bulletin numbers. Haven't found any documents. Apparently it was an actual recall with repair kits distributed to the dealers, and stickers to place under the hood when done. My 76 had the old hose routing and no sticker.

A "short" will blow a fuse or fusible link or melt some wire insulation. If you didn't find any of that then you have an open circuit. Helps the thought process. I think that one fuse covers the lights you mentioned. You might dig deeper in to the fusebox and that fuse. The older Z's tend to melt fuse boxes and wiring around a few certain fuses. Search SteveJ's name and get on to his "Fiddlin with Z cars" site. I think he has some good info about it.

It could be your starter fluid access port.

I see, clear now. You might try cleaning up the corners and torquing them in damaged just to see. 33-40 ft-lbs is the number which really isn't huge. They might be fine except for the ugliness.

Here's an entertaining one from old Big Phil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnn84tyeWSc

I think that madkaw has gleaned your objective. You're trying to replace the hydraulic (oil) pivots with solid. Therefore, working with a P90 head. I thought you had a P79. Regardless, the common method involves timesert thread replacements. "timesert p90 hydraulic pivot" should pull somersetting up. Or lifter in place of pivot. There's a proven method.

Aaahhh...you fell in to the "lifter" trap. People have been mis-identifying the hydraulic pivots as lifters because they come from pushrod valve train world, where the common US-designed engine has hydraulic lifters. They're not lifters. I wouldn't use the words lifter or tappet at all when talking about these engines. Nissan calls it a pivot, and the adjustable ones they call "oil pivots": They don't move, therefore not lifters, Not lifting.

Actually, this one shows it as a rocker pivot too - http://www.partsfornissans.com/nissan/maxima/1323421000/1984-year/gl-trim/2-4l-l6-gas-engine/engine-cat/engine-scat I wrote a whole thing then realized I don't know what you mean by "tappet". It's not a word generally used with the L engines. You can pick a number from the diagram in that link.

Rockauto shows a cross-reference, for a different brand, for 1984 Maxima, which appears to where that part number comes from. Probably superceded the early numbers. Click on the part number and it will bring up all of the applications. http://www.partsfornissans.com/nissan/maxima/1323421000/1984-year/gl-trim/2-4l-l6-gas-engine/engine-cat/engine-scat http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/nissan,1984,maxima,2.4l+l6,1211241,engine,rocker+arm,5656