Zed Head

Sorry, I don't know what the Datsun decoder is. Most states have a lost title process at their DMV. I would call your local DMV office and explain the situation. If it's in your father's name and you're his son, there's probably a simple estate transfer procedure. I'm sure that your situation is common. Sorry to hear about your father. Good luck.

No idea what you're trying to do. Trace it down where, and for what purpose? "Not identified" where? Most DMV softwares don't know what to do with a 280Z VIN.

Did you replace all of these things after the problem occurred? Or is this just a list of new parts? And did you replace the actual ignition relay (passenger foot well) or the fuel injection relay (above hood release handle)? And are they new parts or used parts? The click from the passenger foot well is probably the ignition relay. The ignition relays are in a bad spot for moisture. Are the battery connections clean and tight? A loose or dirty connection will open up when current heats it. Same with a fusible link connection. Check those. When you turn the key to On, more current flows. It also flows through a different portion of the ignition relay. I just realized though that I don't understand Nissan's schematic for the ignition relay at all. I assume that four triangles are showing two relays. Anyway, a separate circuit for Acc and On. Finally, after "everything goes out", does everything come back when you move the key back to Acc? You could jump the circuits at the plug if you wanted to check them. Good luck.,

The thing about electrical connectors is that we tend to assume that if the plastic fits, the metal parts are touching and electricity can flow. All I'm saying is make sure that electricity can actually pass through the injector coil. I have a bunch of alligator clips, and wire, and stripped solid core wire that I've crushed in to probes, so that I can be certain of things like this. How many times have we wiggled the plastic on a connector and seen it affect the actual electrical contacts? This is all just to know if the it's really bad. If he has a pile of spare injectors and one works, he could just throw it in and run it. I tend to take my broken stuff apart to know why it's broken. When I'm done it's usually more broken. Sometimes it ends up fixed though.

I was talking about 26th-Z's #15 post. I don't know that we'd learn much on our cars doing that.

Thanks. Reading back through the posts it looks like it would have value to a true Z car aficionado due to its uniqueness. I don't think that the OP is realizing that the people here have the most expertise in the area of anyone else he could find. He's stuck on what the documents show, but doesn't understand the idiosyncrasies of the early Datsun manufacturing. It's most valuable to the people who know these things, so no use arguing about it. Best to stick head up under dash and get more data. Actually, with today's technology you just have to stick a camera phone up there.

How common is it in Europe? If location on the globe is that important, seems like there'd be a big push to import Fairlady Z's to the States. In short - what's it worth, with the cut fender wells? I'm trying to figure out if this is something special, or just an old Datsun. Is it the "1973 240Z" of Europe? Nice but nothing special. Is it rare everywhere or just rare in the States?

A little extra for SteveJ's post - the unleaded filler tubes are smaller than the early leaded gas filler tubes. 78 is unleaded, 76 is leaded.

I adjust mine cold, then remeasure hot. Lash gets looser when the engine heats up so if you make a mistake too tight when cold, the odds of burning a valve are lower. Plus most of them will still be in spec. so you end up spending less time over a hot engine. Actually, mine have always stayed in spec. on the hot measurement. The principles of materials and thermal expansion suggest that they should all change to the same degree. Nissan probably got rid of the cold spec. because it caused confusion in the shop (how cold is cold?) and tuneups are usually done within a few hours. Otherwise a tune-up would be a leave-it-overnight job. Just talking... On why the lash isn't what you thought it was - when you tighten the locknut you actually change the lash, pulling the pivot up against the threads of its hole. Plus, it's easy to get a little bit off of the base circle of the cam lobe.

Only posting as a fan of rigor and method. Did you actually try "all" of the other connectors? You've shown, according to your other posts with the 9 volt battery, that the bad injector will open electrically. The solenoid will take current and produce a magnetic field and the pintle will move. But you haven't confirmed that the current available at the connector on the car is making it through the injector coil. If it was mine, and I had your results, I'd run two jumpers from the engine electrical connector, measure voltage at each and then make sure that each pin in the injector got that voltage. I would have done that right after it opened using the 9 volt battery. Once you know that the current available at the car won't open the injector there's no need to swap it around. You already know the injector "works" but won't work on your car.

The guys with the hoses will just bend/break the lid open. One other problem with the lockable caps is that they're tall. They won't fit under the lid. Probably have to do some body work to make a truly functional lockable cap. I've spent some time pondering mine. I've already converted it to leaded fuel only style, so that the nozzle won't fall out when filling, but also thought about gas thieves. Not many options. She might get a "diesel fuel only" sticker just to throw off any gas thieves.

Actually, the screwdriver test will also show a bad electrical connection, the two pins on the injector, maybe. The OP's is doing and thinking about a lot of stuff, and the fact that the injector worked electrically, off of the car, might have been overlooked. If the spare injector connector worked it might be worthwhile to clean up the injector pins or even replace that connector, or bend the pins so that better contact is made. It could just be an electrical contact issue. The stock EFI connectors are known to be of poor quality after 30 years of heat. The spare connector might have made better contact than the old corroded ones on the engine now. " Took bad injector off, and used the 9v method to get it opening/spraying off the car with spare injector connector. i did this to my "spare" used injectors too. Off the car, they all clicked and were not clogged. "

Would somebody buy this to restore or collect? And do the flares really look like "light modification"? If the body is intact underneath, maybe, but I'd guess it's been cut. Not a 240Z guy, don't know what people look for, just curious. It's sounding more like a fairly run-of-the-mill Fairlady 240Z, isn't it?

I've had the thought that the extra resistance is more for the ECU circuitry than the injectors. The injector solenoids are covered in fuel. 2.5 ohms gives 4.8 amps at 12 volts. A few clicks using a 12 volt battery doesn't seem too damaging. I've done it with some and they seemed fine afterward. No smoke. Aren't the resistors 6 ohms? 12 / (6+2.5) = 1.4 vs. 9/2.5 = 3.6 at the asymptote. So, maybe not enough current to open up a gummy or rusted injector. You might just let some fuel blow through the "bad" injector to see if it will clear up. Nissan used tan and light green for it's NA injectors, and purplish brown for turbo. Black is aftermarket. The codes will be hard to see, molded or stamped in to the plastic plug portion. FJ707, A11...., 280 150... are examples.

The workings of the 280ZX distributor are definitely more mysterious than the 280Z's. But they do call it a magnet in the manual. I guess the real question is "does the magnet need to be intact to work at full function?". Apparently, they still work when broken, but how well?

Who flared the rear wheel wells? Don't forget the engine serial number.

Looks like your "gas gushing out" problem is back, the problem that disappeared miraculously. You probably have a stuck or shorted injector, maybe a shorted/bad ECU. Actually, flooding is one of the signs of a bad ECU. Along with no-start. I had a bad ECU and it did both. People have fixed the problem temporarily by tapping/beating on the side of the ECU and/or wiggling the ECU connector.

You're measuring pressure and connecting and disconnecting the pump, but you're not connecting the two actions, the pressure and the electrical connection. Does the engine only start with low fuel pressure, or is the fuel pressure the same when it won't and will start?

Sounds like you're living the good life. Good luck. Don't forget to reset timing with the new distributor.

Clogged air filter? When you open the throttle like that all that you're doing is allowing the engine to pull in more air. There's no accelerator pump like a carb'ed car. The fact that the engine doesn't "grab" more air could be because it can't or something's out of time. Has it had a good tuneup in the last three years?

Rockauto is dependable and the ZX distributor should work fine. Stick with that. We need to know more about this wedding that has a 1970 240Z as the honeymoon car though...

Yes, solid valve trains are noisy. If it's not ticking that means lash might be too tight and you're about to burn a valve. On top of the valve lash noise is the injector ticking which can be surprisingly loud. All you can do is take the measurements and trust the engineers and others who've been there. I've had a noisy #1 lifter for thousands of miles but it's been fine. So, the assumption is that you got all of the seals replaced, all back together, and the engine's running now?

I logged in just to say what site already said. If you haven't already bought the Cardone unit, you might just step back and reconsider everything. What are you looking for in your ignition system, how much do you want to pay, etc.? Easy to see how you got on the ZX path but there are other options. The ZX distributor and E12-80 module are a good system though.

Pretty sure the E12-80 has the modern current-limiting (dwell control) so the Blaster 2 coil should work fine. He has all of the parts, I'm betting that the distributor needs a little work. Whenever I find a ZX or Maxima distributor in the wrecking yard they're always mis-adjusted and have broken magnets. I don't think that they're very durable. Rockauto sells a replacement bushing for the shaft. " The distributor came off a 280zx "

Or disconnect the E12-80 module and do the same test you just did over again. If the module is shorted internally you'll get a stronger spark.