Zed Head

And don't forget to add some heat to the parts as you're pulling them. Typically has a huge effect.

I wasn't clear on what you were trying to remove. Looks like the adapter plate is in the way for my suggestion. How about a cheap Harbor Freight bearing splitter? Designed in two pieces to fit around the shaft. Doesn't have to do any splitting but would give you the "suitable plate" shape to pull on. Here's an example. I think that they make cheaper versions. Maybe you can borrow one at OReilly Auto. Might give you ideas on some sort of collar that can do the same job, also. https://www.harborfreight.com/large-bearing-separator-3979.html

I have a garage-load of 280Z parts. 1978 EFI harness and various relays. AFM hoses. A few AFMs. Some ECUs. Exhaust pipes, etc. Some R200s. Looking to reduce my hoard. If anyone has an obscure need, let me know and I'll try to figure out how to get it to you, for some small number, mostly to cover shipping and effort. I live in the Portland OR metro area, for the big stuff.

I have a vague memory of somebody describing a "puller" they devised using a long length of pipe, longer than the shaft. You stick the shaft down the pipe then drop the whole assembly on to a concrete floor, pipe end first. The inertia of the shaft pulls it free.

One advantage to rear discs might be that they'll be more consistent in pedal feel. I've noticed that I can tell when the adjuster in the back has moved to the next notch, with my drum brakes. But it's a lot of work for a small benefit. There's a whole range of pads out there to get more stop from the fronts. Not a lot of choice in the back though. That would be one more benefit. So, if you really want to put the effort in you could make a system that is more consistent and has more media choice. But, really, they're pretty good brakes. The front rotors are huge for the size of the car. I bought a pair at a wrecking yard and the girl at the counter tried to charge me for truck rotors.

Is there a letter stamped in to the back? Nissan ID'ed the cam profiles with a letter. Turbo profiles are generally different from NA, but the early turbo engines were pretty primitive. Nissan may not have used a unique cam profile. If you have the link to the eBay page we can inspect the pictures. It would be a straight swap, and would work even if the profile is different.

You have some nice parts. Not really clear what you're adjusting though. "Increased the levels" could mean almost anything. Air-fuel ratio is the amount of air over the amount of fuel. So 15 is leaner than 10. More air, less fuel for 15 than 10. Assuming that the parts are worth saving, you might consider getting some help. Even the stock turbo engines are prone to detonation. An L6 built for performance could probably blow itself up much much easier. You don't know what you have. It might not even be built for pump gas. If it was my money and time, I'd figure out as much as I could about what I had. Measure cylinder pressure, it is a clue about compression ratio. Look for ID marks on the camshaft. Figure out what type of turbo you're using. People blow up the Nissan L6 turbo engines on a regular basis.

It was still hanging from the plug wire? How did you not see it?

180 is normal for the Nissan L6. Your thermostat and radiator should be the controlling factor there, not your tune. Some people use exhaust gas temperature as a tuning aid. But not engine temperature. Actually, you should be waiting until the engine gets to operating temperature before doing any fine tuning, not watching it go up and down. Your injectors are almost 600 cc/min. That's way high. Most people shooting for high horsepower with their turbo engines use 440cc/min injectors. Supra injectors are common. Makes you wonder if the PO was building a drag strip car. Have you checked specs on the turbo? It might be overkill also. Cam specs? Compression ratio? Make sure the engine has a thermostat also. Race guys like to run without one, but their true purpose is to heat the engine up, then maintain that temperature. Could be why your engine temps don't stabilize. Not uncommon to pop the thermostat cover and find nothing in there.

An AFR of 18 is super lean. Coughing (unburnt fuel) would only come from a lean misfire. Your injectors should allow 525 HP. Doubt that your turbo'ed L6 is going to get there (no offense). Going too big on the injectors makes controlling idle AFR's difficult, because they squirt too much at the lowest controllable open durations. You could probably go to a smaller injector and get better tuning control. The stock 280ZX turbo injectors only flowed 25 lbs/hr (265 cc/min). Your choice is a bit exuberant. https://www.rceng.com/technical.aspx

One area that I seem to remember that could be a deal-killer is the shafts themselves. If I recall right, the needle bearings ride directly on the shaft. So if they die and get ground up they can damage the shaft. Eurodat probably knows for sure. I think that if you had a needle bearing problem the gear involved would rock or move perpendicular to the shaft. Might give everything a good wiggle while you're measuring clearances.

Have you determined the source of the grinding noise yet? If some major part is broken you might be planning to fix the unfixable.

I would disconnect the VR and the alternator and see if the short stays. Then count the horse teeth. Just kidding SteveJ... Obscure philosophy reference....

Try disconnecting the Pertronix unit. It could be shorted. Fits the initial "rev" symptom, I think.

Like site said, the links only line up occasionally. They are there for installation only. First time. Once the chain moves they're not useful anymore. It's very common for the old ZX distributors to have broken parts inside. Also very common for people to use the wrong pedestal/base when they swap to a ZX distributor. Take the distributor apart and you might find that it needs work. If it doesn't now it probably will later. They're not very durable.

The cam sprocket notch position, in your picture, relative to the groove, looks like the chain has some wear but not enough to adjust the sprocket. It looks okay. The cam timing has nothing to do with distributor shaft position. They are two totally separate timing operations. The drive quill, connected to the oil pump shaft, is what determines where the distributor's range of adjustment is. You have to relocate the oil pump drive shaft to change that. If you're only getting 8 degrees of advance mechanism movement there's something jammed up inside your distributor. The advance mechanism doesn't care where the starting point is. A typical distributor in good condition will move about 16 to 22 degrees from the starting point, just on centrifugal motion. So if you start at 15 you should easily see 30 degrees at above 3000 RPM. The upper limit varies, usually around 2500 - 3000 RPM. The vacuum advance is separate from the centrifugal advance. Seems like you might just have a bunch of small things to work on.

I think that you could put your coolant sensor on a switch and use it to generate the excess fuel. Whether or not the engine would restart is another problem though....

Is this you at 6:40? Kidding. Skynyrd's from Florida, I know. Y'all got a mystique down there though....

Not the greatest picture, and i can't remember which gear is which but do they look like these? One of them is 5th. Can't hurt, wherever they came from. Did you check the adapter plate bearings? Those are the ones that seem to get destroyed most often. @Dave WM

That's a good looking piece of pipe work and the price doesn't seem terrible. Nice thick flanges. Make sure to check the inner diameter of the premuffler so you don't add a restriction. It's odd but the factory premuffler is smaller diameter than the pipes connecting to it. Don't know why, don't know if it matters.

Do you mean 5/8" bolts in place of the proper pins? There was a whole thread about the 5/8" bolt on another forum. At the end of it, people were grinding notches in the bolt for the lock pin, essentially making a factory pin. It's good to know if the spindle pin supply dries up but there's no benefit to the 5/8" bolt over the pin. Use a torch on the casting and the pin will be easier to remove. The hole will expand.

I seem to recall seeing those. I can check my blown up 5 speed parts later.

I found a drawing in the 1976 FSM. The early FSM's don't have it. It's not very descriptive either, but it seems to show that it should be about 4-5 mm below the surface of the crankshaft flange. It's poor draftsmanship I think, the lines are misaligned. <Edit - actually, it seems to just show that the side of the bushing should be fully supported. The line is to where the rounded edge starts. Still, doubt that it's that critical. Just make sure the shaft isn't jammed.> But, it's probably not that critical, even though they specify a half mm range. You could look at the wear mark on the nose of the transmission shaft to see where it used to ride. If you have extra room on the nose of the shaft for the bushing it will work. You don't want to jam the transmission shaft though. I had one that wouldn't go in far enough and had to break it out with a chisel. The next one went in easy, but I got it from a different store.

You didn't mention the source below. If you liked what you had before, and you're not looking for a big project then just rebuilding it to factory specs would be the way to go. As soon as you start modifying, you end up on a trail of mods to make things work right with the last modification. http://www.zcarsource.com/piston-set-280zx-020-50mm-oversize-81-83-non-turbo-new_8_55194_50979.html

Just because... http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-41268025