Zed Head

That's why a shot of the piston tops would be helpful. But that shot of the head shows residual rust everywhere.

The distributor pulls out very easily. Things will make sense once you have the new one, or if you pull the old one before hand. Still curious about what the real issue is. If you're new to engines, it's easy to break or mis-adjust one thing while you're focusing on another. But we all get the urge to DIY. Get back with details if you want some specific advice.

Is that immediately after you unbolted it and pulled it or did it sit for a while? The cylinder sealing ring areas look rusty, like the head sat on the head gasket on the block for a while, unbolted. Should be somewhat shiny where it sealed correctly and dirty where it leaked. Do you have pictures of the head gasket and block? The head gasket itself usually tells a story.

I guess they are. Didn't know that. I like to confirm my suspicions before replacing parts. You didn't really do that, you might have been fine with a lash adjustment. No biggy, just personal preference. Don't throw the old parts away, the rocker arms can be reground. http://www.courtesyparts.com/oe-nissan/13257w0300

Quoi?

This atlanticz writeup shows how the distributor is designed to fit only one way. Since you're just doing a swap of identical distributors you only need to look at a few pictures. The rest doesn't matter. Once you get the new one installed, timing is easy. If you don't have a timing light, consider buying a dial-back light. You'll be able to quantify full centrifugal advance. http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributor/index.html Best to break your project in to its pieces - install new distributor, set initial timing, characterize new distributor, modify new distributor. Where'd you get the reman? Just looked back through your thread though, and see that you never reported the engine running after the initial ZX dist. swap. So, overall, it's not really clear where you're at. You might summarize what's happened since Post #1. You might be working on the wrong thing.

Do you run the engine with no air filters? Just wondering. It may not really matter, unless you have plans for the car.

All those two screws really do is hold the injector upright and keep it from blowing out if there's a backfire, and add a bit of pressure to the seal. Not very accurately placed, the thick rubber insulator rubber allows lots of misalignment. Just saying, if you get to a point where you see it's not perfect, it may not really matter. If you go with later model o-ring injectors in the future you don't even really need the holders and/or the screws.

Looks like one of those junkyard prowlers. Maybe found a window and made up a story? Could just be a factory window replacement from the 70's. Where's Chickenman? His eBay name makes me feel funny -

Thanks. I was serious, I didn't know what the m was for. Makes sense though. Part of the overall monitoring, profiling, and mind-control programs. I clicked. Isn't FricFrac associated with McKay? Or maybe he is McKay. Pretty sure they're connected though. People like FricFrac's stuff.

What is "m.facebook.com"? Is it a new Facebook thing? Never seen it. The new ransom-ware bug makes me nervous.

Full open throttle high RPM advance is determined by initial + total centrifugal. It's really a function of the distributor's parts. Your question raises a point though - there are many timing advance variations described in the service manuals for various cars but one-distributor-fits-all at the parts stores. You won't know what you have until get it and measure. If you have a stock factory distributor and everything works right and is lubed up and not rusted and/or worn and you like it, you could just swap over the E12-80 module. But a stock factory ZX distributor, or a reman, probably doesn't have the advance characteristics you really want for your performance engine. The vacuum advance canister can be swapped over if you like the old one better. But you'll need an idea of what's right for your engine. Probably best to just install the new one, get the engine running and set initial timing to the factory idle setting. Very easy to do with a timing light. Then measure full vacuum and full centrifugal advance. If you have a dial-back light, centrifugal is very easy. There are some tricks you can use to measure if you just have a basic light. Post up your numbers and let people advise you on what's best for that engine. Ignition timing is a whole separate world to play around in. The basic idea of setting timing is to run the engine at idle speed and turn the distributor (with a loose clamping bolt), to advance or retard timing until the marks line up where you want them, on the damper pulley and timing tab. Tighten the clamp and you're done.

Makes sense. Not many of us measure things that work, although we should. I'm not aware of what you would measure on the "match box" though. The modules are hard to diagnose without a tester. There is a test procedure in the FSM's for the other parts of the system.

"stroker" is irrelevant. Unless you only want to talk to guys who have one. The ZX distributors have other weaknesses though. Why do you think it's the module? The stator magnets seem to break a lot, and they actually sell a replacement bushing for the dizzy shaft.

Thanks for getting back. So basically, you didn't check valve lash, you just replaced those parts based on the ticking noise, and the appearance? Pictures would be neat if you still have the parts. And where did you get genuine Nissan rocker arms? My impression that they're NLA.

Did you adjust the valve lash before and found that they were still noisy? You didn't really show a reason to replace parts. Just good to know.

The problems seemed to be with fit. They wouldn't. MSA tries to address it in the text on the ad page but it's going to take a quite a while. It's this one, I believe - http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/10-2139 When madkaw says "performance" I don't think he means this one. That's the brand name.

MSA has several, even the stock type. Which they call a "pulley" for some reason. Still comes up when you put "damper" in the search box. http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/10-2139 http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/10-2138 http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/10-2144 http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/10-2140

I did something similar with a thick nylon washer and a shoulder bolt from the local ACE Hardware. It does have a slightly tighter spot in the middle of the range. If I recall, my roller broke but the backing cone-shaped guide piece was okay. So I didn't need the grommet, just the roller. One concern might the type of grease used on the plastic roller. Some plastics won't do well in a petroleum based grease, they'll swell and/or fall apart. Silicone might be the way to go there.

The ammeter's aren't accurate. Different alternators have different output curves. They're all much lower at idle though. That's the basic problem. A 60 amp and a 90 amp alternator can have the same output at low RPM. Added a picture of some GM alternator curves, same model but still different curves. You can waste a ton of time with reman alternators. Most people describe them as "crap". in general, after having several fail. On the plus side though, you are learning quite a bit output your charging system which will help you in the long run. One problem you can run in to is that while working on the charging system, the battery gets run down, then the system is using significant extra amps to recharge the battery. So the battery load maxes out the available current at idle. Starting with a fully charged battery can get you back on top.

With today's fuel and the fact that you live in a hot part of the country you'll probably experience some hot-start issues if you keep the stock system. A few of those and the "time capsule" nature of the car will become much less relevant. I like to experience the real problem myself, so maybe wait and see but be ready to work fast.

Don't forget the clutch magnet on the AC compressor. I had a reman alternator that had a similar problem at low RPM. It just didn't put out enough current. I couldn't use the wipers at idle without them getting stuck halfway across the windshield. Luckily for me, the quality of the reman was so low that it died after about eight months. I replaced it with an old Nissan original junkyard alternator and things improved dramatically. Cleaning up numerous electrical connections helped a bit more, and I don't even think about it anymore, except for when I realize that it's probably over 33 years old and won't last forever. I still have the replacement lifetime warranty reman in the box, waiting, but I took the pulley off of it to make a 90 amp Maxima alternator conversion. The short story is, the reman alts just aren't very good. Maybe ask for an exchange anyway, just to see if you get a better one.

Chromed? Seriously, post the link, let's see what you got.

There's a wire that should be doing that. Probably just needs to reconnect it. The meter confirms that the wire needs some work.

Don't forget heat. Even a little causes enough expansion to make a difference.