Zed Head

Have you popped the slave cylinder dust cover to check for fluid?

This is a big clue. More bleeding probably won't help. Something is getting hot. Could be fluid, could be seals, Not likely mechanical, there's not much to the pressure plate and disc.

Home Depot and Amazon are the biggest drug dealers in the world by that theory. Two giant American companies.

Sounds like you might have one of your hydraulic lines next to a heat source. The exhaust manifold or headers.

That's a new one. How about chimping? Which is worse...

Edit - actually I can't tell what you're measuring. I measure to the bolt head. Edit 2 - it looks though, like your fork is bottomed out on the hole it sits in. Can't go any farther. This is at rest, no foot on pedal.

It's kinda looking like you might have a ZX or Maxima engine, or head, in your 78 280Z. They use a cylinder head temperature sensor in place of the water temperature sensor. It does the same thing and has the same temperature profile. Those engines also had several extra temperature switches on the T-stat housing. Take a picture of your engine's serial number area, and the head ID area. You'll know more about what you're working with.

There are several threads out there about Pertronix quality diminishing over the years. New modules dying, while thirty and forty year old modules spark on.

Don't confuse from with function. If it doesn't leak then, technically, it's fixed. If you can get the hole properly aligned and threaded so a valve cover bolt works correctly, then, technically, the problems are solved. You could be heading down a worm hole trying to fix something that is only aesthetic.

I think that you might be measuring power at the injectors incorrectly. Looks like you're probing across the pins in each connector instead of from a single pin to a ground point. The fact that your tach doesn't move and it starts with fluid implies that the Pin 1 circuit from the coil to the ECU is broken. Check Pin 1 continuity to the coil Or you have a funky ignition system like a an MSD or Crane. They don't work well with the 280Z EFI.

Measure each end and you'll also get an idea of the tolerances for an individual head. If they're not tight within a head, they won't be tight across many heads.

What's the backstory on the car? I wonder how deep the PO got in to the engine.

I didn't say it was uncontrolled. I said the spec. was set wide. It' not economical to set a tight tolerance where it's not necessary.

I was just offering another way to look at the problem. You'd have to grind some welds and then reweld. It's not a high precision area, squishy rubber bushings fit in the pockets and there is not adjustability. Polyurethane bushings are probably stiff enough that you don't really need a pocket for them to ride in. Their purpose is to locate the wheel, fore and aft, and prevent it from moving under braking. Compression when stopping from forward motion, tension when stopping from backward motion. Opposite on the ZX's.

Everything I've seen suggests 108 mm as the number. Metric, of course. From a manufacturing perspective I don't think t's a high accuracy, precise dimension. Valve lash adjustment can take up quite a bit of error/range. Might be that a half mm either way was acceptable during manufacturing.,

The bracket itself might be dissassemblable. #15... http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsuns30/Datsun-Z-Index/Body-260Z-280Z/2-2/Floor-Panel-Spare-Tire-Cover

There is a bushing that goes around the rod, and the nut compresses the two washers against it and the step in the rod. The rubber bushings sit n between. The hole in the cups needs to be the size of the bushing. Do you not have the original rods? Part #23... http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsuns30/Datsun-Z-Index/Axle/Front-Suspension

You could also use an F grind internally oiled. I think that there's a also a K out there, from the ZX's. The specs are all similar, you could probably use any cam and not notice a big difference. The atlanticz table is close, but the FSM specs show some small differences. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/cam/index.htm

No offense intended camaro-guy, but Patcon answered your question exactly and even supplied a picture. Gotta read the responses. Good luck.

I stored mine standing on end. Takes up less space too.

The control cables are just pieces of stiff wire that often get bent if people try to force them when they stick. Once that happens they are shortened, plus they flex at the bend, and don't work correctly. They can be straightened and will work again if they are lubricated. You'll have to take things apart to know what the problem is.

Have you tried tightening the filter a bit more? You can do it by hand, just use two and give it an extra quarter turn. Not uncommon, it's a large gasket. I have to give mine an extra twist occasionally, on many of the cars I've owned.

The FSM shows that Nissan's desired accuracy was down to 0.03 mm, edit actually 0.02 mm, by their own description. The range shows that the yokes must have a very wide range of manufacturing tolerance if this wide range is needed to cover all of the yoke possibilities. The aftermarket u-joints have one size to fit inside that range.

I had one that would bind. The car had been in an accident and I guess that the races got damaged. I rebuilt it because it was sticking in its travel, but it didn't help. Use Nissan u-joints are probably tighter than new aftermarket u-joints. Don't assume that new is better. I replaced four of them, put the shafts in the car and drove it, then took them back apart and returned them to OReilly auto. They were brand new but sloppier than the ones I took out. Precision brand. Only one of the four Nissan joints was bad but I thought that replacing all four was the thing to do. Wasted three good Nissan joints. Nissan sells precision made circlips to get the cap tolerance as tight as possible. Your best option would be four new Nissan u-joints, but that will cost you about $320.

You might try adding balls and spacers with everything grease free, until things bind up. Might make something clear. Try it with none, and add a few at at a time until it sticks. Also consider a pneumatic lock. The air bubble at the bottom gets compressed because all of the grease is creating a seal.