Zed Head

Why did Nissan make all of those changes? They lost 1/8 gallon of tank capacity according to the Owners' Manual.

That makes more sense. Actually, I'm not sure the deck is sloped so much as raised. It's different though. Your car sounds like a normal 76 car, with the big tire well, and the gas tank that fits it.

How about a photo of the hatch area with the sloped shelf. Or even the spare tire. that would be the oddest 1976 car I've ever seen. Still a good car, no doubt, just very strange. The back shelf and spare tire change is a major major body modification by Nissan. Your car would have to be almost a prototype that slipped out the door. Super rare. Or that tag came from a different car. Still not a big deal, as long as you have clear paper work. It happens. See that recent Series1 or Series II thread.

Are you sure that 5 isn't a 6 and you really have a 77 model? Another 77 sign is the bumper rubber. 77 has the accordion shape, 76 is smooth. You can see the 77 bumper ends in this video. Don't even have to play it.

Yes, I think that xenonzcar is right also. Might even be the same files. I always post the link to nicoclub because the pdf files open automatically,and can be saved directly. Super easy. Xenon requires an unzipping program.

I had created a Suggestion, or a Bug report asking for the ability to post just the url, with a click required to go there. Not really a fan of the embed window taking up half of the page. Don't like it. Look at my two posts, there's a huge picture, and the words are easy to miss. It's too "in your face".

Chrome on Windows 7.

Cut and paste from the url box seems easiest. Right click, "copy", go to Reply window, "paste" (I use CTRL V to paste).

Copied the url directly from the url box at the top on youtube. How to make a short video too long -

Not a Blue bash - but the individual chapters in the 1977 Download FSM are actually 1976 chapters. Here's a link o the 1977 file. Unfortunately CZC doesn't have one at this time. http://www.nicoclub.com/FSM/280z/

The sloped decks came with a tiny spare tire and a can of fix-a-flat. To be sure we're all talking about the same thing. 76 should have a full size spare. A 76 with the sloped deck and tiny spare would be very odd. I'd suspect some weirdness on the paperwork and VIN plates if I saw one like that. OR, 1976 is the change year. Who knows. My 76 is 1/76 build. The 77 FSM shows a side gauge. I think though, that the 1977 FE chapter on the internet might actually be 1976. It's the same drawing number, Or Nissan never got the 77 FSM right. My mistake.

1977 was one of the "change" years. The Service Manual says that your car shouldn't have the access door or the gauge on the top. But 1978 does so maybe they switched early. Download the 1978 manual and open up the FE chapter to get an idea of where things are. Get the 77 manual also, for the other stuff. In the Downloads section, thanks to Blue. http://www.classiczcars.com/files/

Trust but verify applies, I think. Technically, it may be right. The word disingenuous applies here. It's an indirect form of lying. Post the link to the site so we can see who the liar is. Are those sheet metal screws? Watch your head.

I don't know if this will help or not. Different year voltmeters might have different colors. which voltmeter are you using?

Using the defogger wires was the plan, I think. It has a switch, and a relay and fuse. Hardest part is getting fan rotation right. If it spins backward for long you'll burn up the heater elements. I mounted my heater/fan on a piece of wood so I could remove it easily in the summer, but it did slide around some on the hard corners. I used the defogger circuit to run my fuel pump way back when my new AFM fuel pump contacts fouled. Used the old car length piece of wire that a PO had installed to run it back when he/she had their own problems. Great fun. Switched fused fuel pump power, with an indicator light.

People say that but I haven't a Z car owner do it yet. I think that you can repair breaks but the problem with the Z grids is that whole grid wears down. There's a company that makes a replacement grid. Last I saw that they had some new sizes that would work.

I think that I actually have a 76 that is steel, and a 78 that's aluminum. Either way, good luck with it. I'd use a file rather than a grinder, just for the precision. Manning's last chance. Got to root for the old man.

I ran something like that on my defrost circuit. The circuit has a 20 amp fuse. The Google says 12.5 amps at 150 watts / 12 volts. 10.9 at 13.8 volts. The most effective thing that I did for my back window fogging problem was to fix all of the cabin leaks and get everything dried out. I also used Rain-X on the outside of the back window. Sometimes it's the outside fogging that's the worst.

http://www.nissanpartsdeal.com/parts-list/1982-nissan-280zx/manual-transmission-transaxle-fitting.html http://www.ebay.com/itm/Datsun-240Z-260Z-280Z-280ZX-Speedometer-Pinion-Gear-Assembly-17-Teeth-NOS-RARE/281911519035?_trksid=p2047675.c100011.m1850&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D35220%26meid%3D73b6c4a5b3be48ba88030b8c78c06b1a%26pid%3D100011%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D6%26sd%3D272044749214 (iffy, the guy doesn't know about the different slots) http://www.partsbase.org/parts/nissan-3270778000/ (click the + sign and it will show other cars that use it)

You can spin the cog body/housing 180 degrees and grind a new slot to clamp it. It's common. If you don't have the housing pressed all the way in and clamped the teeth won't mesh. You might also eyeball the gear inside the trnsmission, they get damaged easily. Plastic also. That would be a bummer. Nissan and MSA call it the "sleeve". Weird that you have a bigger gear, the 21 tooth. that worked. Maybe there's a whole other option out there for using the Z sleeve in the ZX transmission, bigger gears. Is your sleeve steel or aluminum? I have 280Z sleeves that are steel, and ZX that are aluminum. Might be a clue. Have fun.

Maybe it's just the connection points then. Found some of your old posts on the subject. Good luck.

How about a link to the part you bought? Something. Can't tell what you've got, plus I wrote a whole thing only to find out you haven't even hooked up the cable. I'd search the web for it, but there's a football game on. Remove the cog housing clamp and spin the housing to see if it grabs.

Post some part numbers, or pictures, or something more descriptive. Can't tell what you have, besides number of teeth and diameter. Where'd you buy it, what are the part numbers, what was it spec'ed for, etc? I've had problems getting the speedometer cable to engage when reattaching it. Get it all put together and it doesn't work. There's enough room in the sheath to get it screwed on, but not engaged on both ends. I've found that pulling the cable partially out and fitting the end in to the slot, then pushing both back in and screwing the clamp on works best. The speedo end seems more forgiving. If you do it this way you can also twist the cable by hand to see if it the gears have meshed.

I can't remember the details but I think that the 240Z and the 280Z use different methods for powering the head lights. The dimmer system is different I believe. Dave Irwin wrote a few posts about how a 280Z relay setup would be more difficult than the 240Z setup, if I recall right. I think that he offered but didn't get a bunch of takers. I've looked at mine and I think that you would need three relays - one for power to the lights, and one each for the grounding of each filament, high beam and low beam. The extra difficulty, besides the fact that 280Z lights don't seem to be as bad as the 240Z lights might be the reason Dave and nobody else has put one together. Plus the fact that Dave Irwin has a 240Z, not a 280Z. I put a single relay on the power supply side for my 280Z, and find that the grounds in the dimmer switch don't really need any help. So, one relay in front of the fuse box takes the load off of the switch on the column, and the dimmer switch doesn't have much resistance to worry about. The running lights are a different story, I had to dig up in the harness to find the power supply wire to get a relay installed there. Those are the two contacts on the 280Z column that get hot and pitted, the running lights and the headlights. Anyway, if you search back through Dave Irwin posts and check the 280Z diagrams you might change your mind. Or decide to go for it.

Somebody here must need this. Looks like a decent price if it's not messed up. http://seattle.craigslist.org/skc/pts/5401558443.html