Zed Head

Once this part is figured out it's on to carburetors! 😀

No, that is incorrect. You need a meter or a test light. It's an easy test.

Two rotations. Four cycles. It will either be right the first time the piston comes up or the second time.

If you get the valve cover off, and take all of the spark plugs out, you can put a wrench on the timing gear bolt to turn the engine over. Shine a bright light down the #1 plug hole and you'll see the top of the piston as it comes up. When you see it close to the top, look at the timing mark on the damper pulley and get it to zero. Look at the first two cam lobes at the front of the engine and make sure that they are pointed upward. That will be the compression stroke.

Fidanza has done a terrible job explaining what the green coating is and how it should be handled. They also refer to installation instructions on their web site but there are none to be found. They have videos on Facebook, but none on their Youtube channel. They're lucky that people like their product because their "media" presence is crap. They've created lots of confusion. This doesn't help you at all Wally. Make sure you get that throwout sleeve right though. Post the number of the kit you got, or a picture, and the parts that came with it. And the bearing/sleeve is just clipped on to the clutch fork, and the fork is clipped on to the pivot ball. They both just pull off by hand. Pull them out of your transmission and take a close look. they should be cleaned up anyway. https://www.facebook.com/FidanzaPerformance/videos/1583594301777341/ https://www.fidanza.com/ https://www.classiczcars.com/forums/topic/61251-is-my-clutch-seized-to-flywheel/

The "bearing" is actually the sleeve and a bearing. Two pieces. If you didn't get a tall pressure plate in your kit then the sleeve will not work right. You'll have to remove the transmission to fix it. The bearing is pressed in to the sleeve. If the bearing is worn or dry you will regret not replacing it.

One rotation puts the engine on the opposite cycle or stroke. It's a four cycle engine. Compression (up), combustion (down), exhaust (up), intake (down). There are two cycles per revolution. The reason the small side needs to point a certain way is so that you can get the rotor in the distributor to point at the #1 cylinder on the compression stroke so that the spark will light the fire. If it's pointed the other way the spark happens during the exhaust stroke, where nothing will happen. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four-stroke_engine

One side is smaller. That's why the distributor shaft can only install one way.

Borrowed this from ZCarDepot. Remans are sold without the bottom plate.

Wrong.

That distributor looks like a reman, or somebody did a really good job of cleaning it up. It seems like the plate on the bottom of the distributor might be upside down. If you install the distributor so that it looks like one of site's earlier pictures, that hole should be directly under the adjustment slot in the distributor plate. Take a picture of the bottom of the distributor and post it. After you confirm that piston #1 is on the compression stroke. Don't worry about the wires. Wires are easy. Honest. Get those mechanical parts right first.

Was there a screw in this hole that held the distributor down? Or was the distributor free-floating? It's still unclear how the distributor was rotated so far away from where it should have been, as site/cliff/unseen noted in an earlier post. You're making progress...

That is some nice detective work.

$41,000 not enough.

Here's another view. http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsun/Z-1969-1978/power-train/transmission-control/4-speed/from-sep-71

You should be able to grab that exposed rod by hand and just shove it back and forth to get in to gear, if the other two rods are in neutral. A simple test of the detents.

Can you move the exposed 1-2 shift rod to get in to 1st and 2nd? Edited, re-read your first post.

People should keep in mind that the vaccines are not 100% effective. They just reduce the chance of getting infected, and reduce the chance of suffering severe effects if you do get infected. I am now seeing people in the supermarket acting like they are bulletproof and the risk is completely gone. I still mask up in the supermarket. Just calculating the odds, roughly, and why take a chance for a few minutes of mask-wearing inside. When the case numbers are way down I'll leave the mask at home.

"Media" could use more definition. You can't mean all of it, right? How do you keep up with what's going on? Even the Weather Channel is "media". https://marketbusinessnews.com/financial-glossary/media-definition-meaning/ Generally, people should just remember that most of what we consider media these days exists for the purpose of making money. Not controlling the world, just controlling and manipulating people's impulses to spend money. Just keep spinning people up, over and over. Make 'em angry, ask for their money.

Use your meter and measure resistance across these two wires. It should be about 720 ohms.

No, it will still spark. The ignition module, pickup coil in the distributor, and ignition coil create the spark.

The oil pump driveshaft and distributor drive quill determine where the rotor will point. The distributor pedestal/base and the mounting plate under the distributor body determine where the distributor body (the vacuum canister and pickup coil) will sit. That's why putting the #1 plug wire on the distributor cap terminal often works when people get their parts mixed up and assembled incorrectly. Have you had the distributor out yet? Put the ignition timing mark on zero with #1 on the compression stroke and see if the half-moon looks like this picture. If it does then just getting a new and correct distributor might solve your problems. I borrowed this from a Chickenman post. @siteunseen has a good picture too.

So, as the engine wears the differential grows geater and the odds of a bypass event increase. But the clearances are greater so the crud will probably just slip through.

Kind of looks like it might have the wrong combination of plates and pedestals. And doesn't it look like a 280Z pickup inside? Might be a 280Z distributor on the wrong plate and pedestal. Should still be able to make it work. A 280ZX distributor is the other "Plug n Play" option but a lot more expensive. Make sure you get the pedestal with it.

Hey. What's a Hayhurst Fuel Rail? @cgsheen1