Zed Head

Somebody trying to sell all of their spare parts in one shot. Anybody know what this thing is? Some sort of "cold air intake"?

Finding a beat up 75-78 manual transmission 280Z might be the quickest way to get almost all of the parts you need. Then a beat up 5 speed 280ZX. Then a beat up 240Z. How much yard space do you have?

I think that time and a correct tune are probably the best for cleaning up carbon deposits without taking the engine apart. There are a bunch of before and after videos out there showing that Seafoam and the others don't do much. It will bake and flake off over time. Bake and flake. Gives you a reason to drive it hard. Cleaning the carbon off. Did you take some pictures with your borescope? How bad is it?

Both good possibilities. Seems like both of those are longer than a dime's diameter though. Not sure. Need a better picture and a better description. Metal, plastic, solid, rolled...

It's on the edge of being a 72 if it was built in 10/71. What does the title show? "Better off" depends on what your plans are. If you're going to flip it then there's a bunch of options. The resto-mods seem to be doing well. If you're going to keep it and drive it then whatever you want to do is best. A "Series 2" with Series 1 parts is still a Series 2. I don't think that anyone will think that you're "ruining" an early Z whatever you decide to do. You'll be saving a Z if you get it back on the road.

I'm really only aware because it's a common problem when people do the GM HEI swap. Watching the timing light flash is how you tell if you got it right, if you don't have a good writeup. If it's steady, it's right. If it jumps around and gives an unstable idle, it's wrong. N.G. as Nissan would say.

Here's my crusty 76 280Z. It's folded all the way, you can see where the roll over starts. That's the same spot you showed but from the inside. Is yours an early 260? I've seen rumors that Nissan changed the sheet metal on the "big bumper" cars and that's another reason that they're heavier.

I think that Nissan might be going positive. If I read their description right. Funny that they don't just tell you to switch the wires if you get the dashed line.

You'll spend a lot of effort just getting the pedals and clutch lines in, and the flywheel and clutch on the engine. The mods for a 6 speed will be mostly separate from the auto to manual swap. You could even start with a 4 speed, they're pretty easy to find and cheap, then swap in an extra gear or two later. What do you mean by a "240 conversion"?

That's a good one. An unsteady timing light is the sign. The timing jumps around because the trigger point is inconsistent. That timing light is looking more valuable.

Some questions are meant more for testing the thought process than getting the right answer. It might have been an impossible task from the beginning. She could have simplified one of the complications by chocking the wheels. Tried to find an old Gary Larson cartoon about cows and physics but found this one instead.

You can just leave the dial-back lights set to zero and they act as normal timing lights. Don't forget that the extra wire on the dual pickup distributors still generates voltage. Apparently it can be pretty high voltage too. Looking for a place to go. Might want to isolate the free end.

I screwed up in my post above, it would be Red and Brown that would give you the two in series connection. Green is common. Interesting that it ran with two pickup coil pulses to the module. Seems like you might get one strong spark, then a weak one because the coil has only 6 degrees to recharge. Might be enough time at idle though. You had a "dual point" setup. Do you have the vacuum advance hose connected? Those ball bearings can get rusted and sticky. Surprised that you haven't put a timing light on it yet, but timing by ear can be fun I guess.

Here's the diagram of the distributor dual pickup wires. Looks like if you connect the two outside wires, Green and Red, (Edit - I screwed up here. The out side wires would be Red and Brown)m to your module you could get double voltage pulses maybe. Not sure. The easy way to check that you have two correct wires might be to measure resistance. If you're on one pickup coil you'll see ~720 ohms. Green is the shared wire, red and brown are the independent wires.

Can you post a picture panned out? Is it a 240Z?

Rockauto has them. Your local auto parts store might too. Spend a little extra for quality. I have memories that there are bad ones out there. https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/nissan,1977,280z,2.8l+l6,1209248,electrical-switch+&+relay,oil+pressure+sender+/+switch,4588 https://www.oreillyauto.com/shop/b/lighting---electrical-16777/switches-16486/engine-switches-25047/oil-pressure-sensor-switch-12875/476acd2f2028/1977/nissan/280z?q=oil+sender

If it's safe to be under it, with good solid jack stands, just crawl under there and spin the wheels and see if you can locate the noise. You might have to lift the wheels up some by the control arms though because the u-joints will be at an extreme angle with the wheels hanging. Check the flanges on both ends of the halfshafts for loose nut and/or bolts. The noise sounds a little bit like loose parts. Might even be loose lug nuts, better check those too.

Are the diff axles firmly seated in the diff? Is the car lowered? Do you see any rub marks? You have u-joint halfshafts, but they usually clunk when shifting if they're loose. You're clicking noise doesn't really sound like a u-joint, but it's not clear how fast you were going when you made the recording. The screws can be removed and a Zerk fitting installed if you want to grease them up. Look for rust around the seals. If you see some the joint is shot.

Sticking advance mechanisms in the distributor? Vacuum or centrifugal. Air gap might be affected by RPM.

If it's rich the potentiometer isn't going to help. So did the weird behavior go away? Did anyone suggest the usual "check your FPR vacuum line for gasoline" test for a failed FPR? You're a newbie now....

The thing about the EFI cars is that have a pretty large filter before the rail already. The prefilter is mostly to save the fuel pump.

I thought the purpose of the filter was so that you wouldn't have to drop the tank? The filter is the peace of mind.

Interesting that it came with the 5 speed. The lein holder would just be the bank he borrowed the money from, right. Typical car loan. The bottom half is probably the "agreement to pay" with the buyer's signature, that the dealership keeps. Looks like Herbert was a government employee. Maybe military. GEICO insurance before they opened up to the general public.

Two completely independent posts on the exact same fix. Has to be good!

That vinyl covered cardboard finishing panel on the inside of the hatch needs to be sealed all around its perimeter. There's a gap around the latch mechanism that lets fumes get sucked in. The area at the back of the car is a high pressure zone compared to the inside of the car. Ironically, the problem gets worse when you open the windows because the air flowing by the windows pull air out, which gets replaced from the back end.