Zed Head

I've seen those types of discussions, that's why I brought it up. Just wanted to be sure you knew what you were getting in to. Each simple extra operation required to get the crank in and working right adds a few more dollars to the overall cost. Then when it blows up you have to do it all over again.

Deeeewwwwwddd....are you really sure you want to follow this path? The cost/benefit ratio is huge. You really don't get a whole lot for the cost of that extra stroke. You'd probably get more benefit from paying to have a head ported by a guy who knows his stuff. Seems like it's wroth considering if the crank is cheap but paying big dollars for it doesn't add up. Your money though.

Can you update your location? Just to shrink the member map? Welcome back. Urethane on the back puts a strong side load on the rod tip as the suspension moves. Probably why the factory rubber has the odd mushroom shape, it serves a purpose. Many T/C rods have broken after fatiguing (my opinion, mine did) with urethane on the back. New rubber on both sides would probably give a fine ride. Many of us are probably going too far in replacing 30 year old rubber with urethane.

I forgot about the FSM recommendation to remove the spindle pin. You don't have to do that. Remove the control arm with the strut instead, leave the spindle pin intact. Four bolts.per side. Take the whole thing out, replace the struts, leave everything else alone. The flop it out method would probably work, except that your strut is over-extended. The other side might flop out while on the car though. It's been described.

BGM was probably on it then. I don't know how the extension stops work inside the shock but yours looks way over-extended. Might be damaged in other ways also. Should be okay to drive but don't catch any air. Copied a picture of what grannyknot was talking about. That's not good.

Are those pictures with the car on jacks or with weight sitting on the wheel? You can remove the strut without removing the spring. Disconnect the brake parts and the halfshaft. Described in the Rear Axle chapter of the FSM.

The reality of the way the hood opens on the Z's makes any fire-fighting effort risky. You have to lean over the gap/opening that will be created when you pop the latch from inside. Smoke will probably be coming out as you lean over. As soon as release the second latch and the hood rises more smoke and flame will be emitting across your upper body and in your face. Not a good scene, besides the fact that opening the hood allows more oxygen in to feed the flames. If you've known any burn victims you'll probably be like me and just spray the extinguisher in to any gaps/openings you can find. Behind the tires, through the radiator, wherever you can get a spray in. If fuel is leaking you can spray under the car to try and stop the back half from burning. It's a good discussion but when you go through the scenarios in your head, it seems like stand back and spray is the way to go. The main point is gloves, but if you're wearing polyester or a tank top or thin cotton you could easily get some serious flash burns or even have your clothes catch on fire. The best result of this discussion might be to just have a plan in your head. That includes "don't even try to open the hood from outside" if the smoke is heavy. Another thought might be "why would I have a fire"? I changed all of my old rubber fuel hoses after one sprung a tiny pin hole leak and shot gasoline across the sidewalk when I opened the hood, after I smelled gas while driving. I broke a sweat just looking at that thin stream of fuel squirting across my still-running engine. It was scary.

Just saw this part. If you're looking at the studs on the top, the rip has happened below, tearing the studs from the rest of the rubber, in the strut.fender well.

Looks like the rubber insulator at the top of the strut broke, letting the wheel drop. You can probably see the remains above the tire with a light. There's room to get your head in there now. The dropped wheel is causing the u-joints in the halfshaft to bind, that's where the bumpy rotation comes from.

The plate is clamped between the engine and transmission. Coatings tend to creep or flow over time. Better doublecheck transmission bolt tightness over time after installing. Generally, metal mating surfaces should not be painted. It it were mine, I'd scrape all of the coating off where the two surfaces mate. Besides that,why would you powdercoat a part that's buried from sight. Just seems odd. Oh well. Seems to fit the seller's MO though.

Removing the gas cap unseals the tank.

I'd be interested but I don't want to go through the hassle of removing the filler neck. I'd guess that many others are avoiding it also. I even spent time devising a way to add a narrow unleaded filler neck inside my existing filler neck so that I wouldn't have to remove it. Fuel tank work is a major pain.

Pretty sure it's in here. Didn't go through it but I remember discussing it.

The mousetrap springs put a small amount of pressure on the cam lobe circle, the part of the lobe that should have lash (a gap). But if you're seeing extensive wear the lash might have decreased to zero. This can happen when valve seats wear. The simple thing to do is to measure lash, using feeler gauges. That will tell you if you have a big problem. Always a good idea to check lash on a regular basis anyway. But, the gold coloration could just be oil residue left over because lash is correct and there is no wear to rub it off. As it should be. If it's oil residue you'll be able to polish it off easily.

The engine bay is also exposed from underneath. Behind the wheels for sure, everywhere if the splash pan is removed. I'd spray there first.

You could remove the gas cap and try air pressure at the outlet. 90 psi might pop the film off of the pickup end. Shouldn't hurt anything. A rubber tipped air nozzle should allow you to get full pressure in to the tube.

You're on mile #25 of the marathon. So close.

That's only 5 things. I'd do the simple ones first - radio harness, heater harness, A/T indicator. The tail lights are on the other side of the Hazard switch so things kind of re-expand on the other side of it. You can unplug the Hazard switch but you won't know if it's the switch or the lights. Or just do the Hazard switch first. Down to 5, almost there.

C-1, C-2, and C-3 are all on the Green-White wire circuit. Each one is a "branch". SteveJ's method of measuring current would save you fuses and get you to the solution quickest, probably. But, another way to narrow things down would be to unplug all three connectors, then turn the light switch on. If the fuse still blows, then you can ignore everything on 1, 2 and 3 and focus on the things not on those connectors. If it doesn't blow, plug each connector in, separately. Since current will be reduced with only one connector working, the fuse still may not blow. You have to blow several fuses plugging and unplugging connectors until you find one that always causes the fuse to blow. Your big dilemma is that you don't seem to have a dead short (low resistance) that blows a fuse a immediately. You apparently have a high resistance short circuit. It's flowing more current than it should but not enough to blow the fuse immediately. That makes your problem much more difficult to solve. If you even have a short. You might just have too many things on the circuit and dirty fuse connections. Dirty connections cause heat, which can be enough to melt a fuse. Keep track of what you do and what happens. Your observation about the dimmer switch was a good one, showing that you don't have a dead short (direct path to ground). Write those odd things down and you'll probably realize something.

Also, the back of the fuse and its connections at the fuse box have a tendency to corrode and get hot. Many 240Z's have a warped fuse cover over certain fuses. You might check the back of the fuse box.

I think that's a good analogy. Also why more fuses blow when it's really hot out. Take a look at this fragment of a diagram I copied. The GW wire that gets hot feeds many small lights. Any single one of which could be your short. It also shows why C-3 didn't turn everything off. I put a red dot next to each branch. I think that you were on the right track by unplugging things. You just need to keep unplugging until the problem goes away. Here's one diagram source, a GIF file from atlanticz - http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm I used the pdf version from here - http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/260z/1974/

But, it's in the ballpark of some people's used - http://www.datsunstore.com/oiler-7077-used-p-1429.html Feel like I should buy up those NOS parts and sell them for $150. easy money, but probably take ten years to break even. Here's the billet bar - http://www.datsunstore.com/oiler-7077-billet-aluminum-p-1428.html

Is that a Fairlady radio panel? Volume control on the right? Edit - I'm still not really clear on what "Fairlady" actually means. Pretty sure they're right-hand drive...

Good example though, of how Nissan kept modifying their wiring.

Looks nice. Still spendy, and it seems like the 280Z design is still available. Maybe that's why he put something on the page about drilled holes being better than stamped. Not really seeing it though, since the tiny oil orifice in the block (edited head) is what restricts flow. http://www.nissanpartsdeal.com/parts/nissan-tube-oil-cam~13100-e3004.html