Zed Head

The "rivets" on the top have a small plastic dowel in the center. That dowel has to be pushed through the rivet to allow the part on the other side to collapse and squeeze back through the hole. Usually, every part of that operation is difficult, the dowel will be stuck, the other side won't want to collapse, and it will be hard to get under the edge of the rivet to pry it up and out of the hole. Then, when they're finally out and the part is removed, you have to search all of the cracks and crevices for the little dowel. But that's how it's done. But, to get the tail lights out, you also have to remove the inner panel and remove a bunch of small nuts on long studs. Then carefully pry the light housing off of its old weatherstripping. In concept, it's quick, simple, and easy. In practice, things happen. THEN, to get the black part off of the lens and chrome so it can be painted, there are more tiny Phillips head screws. That will also be problematic.

Here is a measurement from my car with the clutch pedal at rest. You can see that the boot on the slave cylinder is not stretched out like yours seems to be. You might have a short throwout bearing collar inside when you need a tall one. Take the same measurement that I show, with no pressure on the pedal, and see how it compares.

Many carb people don't run vacuum advance. It goes away when you hit the throttle anyway. Even the early 280Z's (75-77, I think, definitely not 78) with EFI don't have vacuum advance until they're in top gear. There's a switch and solenoid that lock it out. Actually that might be the part you don't understand, you might have the top gear switch. Vacuum advance adds a little pep at part throttle, and some fuel efficiency but doesn't do much when the throttle is opened at low RPM. Have you measured initial timing? Confirmed that centrifugal advance works? Adjusted the valves? Every little bit helps, in addition to carb tuning.

Get it running. Sell it. Buy an early 240Z and make it your daily driver. The 240Z's are much better investments. 280Z's are great fun for a hobby and just driving. On getting it running - take the valve cover off and make sure the valves are closing. Squirt more oil in the cylinders, you might have surface rust jamming a ring or something. If you think the cylinder is messed up, it won't hurt much to run it on 5 cylinders.

You could also cut the front bushing down and shim the back side out. Just a thought, same result. Here's an odd thought- the soft rubber bushings that Nissan used gave what is, effectively, an adjustable-in-use caster setting. Under braking, caster decreases, no braking, it goes back. Going to poly in front loses that. Probably depends on whether you're turning or going straight if it's a good thing or a bad thing.

From what I've read, some of the electric fans pull a lot of amps. You'll probably need a dedicated wire and relay for it.

The vacuum advance is controlled by "ported" vacuum. The port in the throttle body is closed when the throttle is closed. That might be why you didn't get any vacuum on that port. Most ports on the throttle body are "ported" or controlled by the throttle plate. Some may be direct though. But you can verify by cracking the throttle and feeling with your finger. If there's only vacuum when the throttle blade is open, that's one for the vacuum advance. Also, on the early 280Z's there is an electrcial solenoid that also stops vacuum unless you're in top gear. 1978 doesn't appear to have that though.

As described, it just lets air past the throttle blade. As long as it closes to the same spot consistently it doesn't matter much unless idle speed can't be controlled with the idle screw. Are you trying to solve a problem? Even in warm weather, the extra minute of high idle speed is convenient. The concept works, that's why it has stuck around so long and Chickenman has a modern part to do what the old parts did.

How many miles have been put on that cam since it was shined up? That's the real issue, isn't it?

The avatars don't blow up like a regular attachment does. Wish they would but they don't, and you can't really see them, they're small. Plus, there are three different distributor mounts, from 240Z to 280ZX.

How about rim offset? Your wheel seems to extend outside the fender well. Also, on the poly/rubber bushing combination, poly goes in front and rubber in back. But that would probably make your problem worse since the rubber would compress and the poly wouldn't, effectively making the TC rod longer, in-use. Something I've never really considered before. But that's the way people do it, it stiffens up the suspension under braking when the arm is pushing the rod back in to the frame and the poly bushing. But leaves soft rubber on the back of the rod end, removing the bending load, which I think is why they break when poly is used front and back (which I had when mine broke). Here's some pictures I took a while ago. Are your washers set up like these? Rim offset, plus wide tires, plus a backward washer might push your wheel edge turning radius in to the fender. Edit - in the picture, the nut at the end of the rod is a second, locking Nylock nut. When I had poly on both sides the extra stress would loosen the single nut. I've been paranoid ever since.

Another thought - since you may not have looked at the stock assemblage of parts for a while, is it possible that you left the big washer off of the back? This would allow the small washer and nut to pull through the rubber bushing, letting the wheel move forward. When I broke a TC rod, the inner control arm bushing was flexible enough to allow the wheel to move all the way forward inside the wheel well and rub on the inside of the well. That's what it did after the bump in to the curb when parking broke the rod. http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsuns30/DatsunZIndex/Axle/FrontSuspension/tabid/1729/Default.aspx

You know the wheels aren't centered in the well right? Compare the gap to the back wheels with the wheels straight. They look fairly normal in your pictures. I run a 205-70-14 which should be 25.3", with stock parts, and no rubbing, although there's barely a finger's width available when the wheels are turned. But, your 205-50-16 should be 24.1". So, there is something odd going on. Are you sure you're not running a 60 series tire? 25.7". Maybe you left a part in the bushing cup in the frame and it's pushing the rod forward. Pretty sure all of the TC rods are the same.

I have Vol. 231 TSB for the 1976 280Z, and the collected TSB's, January - December 1979 for all Nissans, and can't find any reference to it. Can you post a copy? Memories are fallible, that's what paper (now computers) is/are for. I'm surprised that something so common and easily perfumed by a customer isn't documented in any of the FSM's or Owner's Manuals. Just seems strange. Any factory-published reference to it would be good to see.

He said it's a 1978 model. Post #1. May have changed later but I didn't run through all of the pages. Fuel pressure is a funny thing. If your lines and filter and parts in between the pump and FPR are stiff, it will drop rapidly. If they're flexible and can store pressure, it can live on for a while. Considering all of the potential causes that seemed reasonable but weren't the cause, I'm in process-of-elimination mode. If the pump is fully powered while the key is turned to Start and it still has starting problems, then move on from all fuel pressure-related cusses. If a surprise happens and the engine starts up every time, then we'll come up with ten new reasons that fuel pressure would drop during starting. Since I have a nice multimeter and like to use it I'd probably be measuring various things to make sure the ignition system is strong and providing good spark. I think that I mentioned my weak ignition module theory way back in a previous page, along with various descriptions of how low voltage causes weak spark. I probably would have wired in a GM HEI module by now, because I like redundancy anyway (that's how I ended up with one on my car now). But, only one thing can be done at a time. So, a paper clip in the pump relay is simple and quick, therefore - why not?

The control relay and the pump relay are both in the engine bay under that cover. There's a diagram on page BE-6 (edit - went ahead and added that picture too). I don't know how comfortable you are with wiring but a jumper wire at the connector (circled in the attached drawing) should run the pump just fine and completely bypass the control relay. A paper clip might do the job but make sure it doesn't touch any metal. It's connected directly to the battery and could short. As soon as you jump it the pump will run. While you're there, take a look at the control relay. If it's dirty and corroded it might need a good cleaning. They can be disassembled. But try the jumper wire first, that will tell the story on the control relay quality. CO might have some comments. He has dug much deeper in to the system. I'm suggesting this because it would be easy if you don't mind playing with electricity. A few screws, remove a plug, add a paper clip. More knowledge.

I looked at your post #35 video and think that maybe the starter issue is the starter letting go when the engine first pops. Hard to tell, but the big buzz when it doesn't start seems wrong. Usually the starter gear will stay extended and engaged as long as you hold the key to Start. There's a ratchet mechanism in the starter gear that will let it spin when the engine starts. But that wouldn't fix the slow start problem, it would just make it less aggravating. It's the waiting for the starter to stop spinning that's irritating. So really you have two irritations combined - the slow start and the wait for the starter gear. It looks like you've checked everything and it's all working to spec. but you're still not getting enough fuel at Start to kick the engine off quickly. If the CSV is not squirting because the thermotime switch is open, that means the injectors aren't squirting enough. Which might be because the Start enrichment designed in to the ECU, through injector open duration, is not enough. Either the enrichment is not working or it's just not set high enough. OR, and here's another stretch, the starter issue and the slow start issue are caused by the same thing: low voltage. But I think that you showed that voltage was okay, although I can't remember if you used a meter on the starter or just looked at the dash gauge (there's a lot of pages here!). OR, another stretch, your weird "priming" behavior is a sign of a messed-up fuel pump control relay. Slow to stop power, but also slow to provide power. Kind of back to EuroDat's comment in #25. Maybe when you hit Start, the pump doesn't get power for just long enough to cause the slow starting. Try providing full-time power with jumpers and see if it starts quickly. I'd try the last one first. It's pretty easy. You might be able to jump the fuel pump relay plug in the cabin instead of running a bunch of wire to the pump. Just let it run, that's what it does when you're driving. Won't hurt.

Mario, you should really wait until you've at least gone through that tank of gasoline. You're spending a lot of time on something that might not be caused by your car at all. People get bad fuel all of the time. EuroDat found gallons of water in his tank, no idea where it came from. The FSM suggests that the thermotime switch provides power when the sensor is somewhere between 57 to 72 degrees F. If you're at 70 degrees you're at the high end, odds are a new one on't provide power either.. Try wiring in a switch to the CSV before spending $100 on something that many people throw away.

I hold my throttle wide open to start the engine faster when it's cold out, since I've removed my CSV. All the ECU knows is that the engine needs 27% more fuel when the TPV is on full throttle. It works, and I've never seen any documentation anywhere that there is special circuitry to reduce fuel enrichment by holding the throttle open and using the starting circuit. And the 1978 system is essentially identical to the earlier systems in functionality. I've had all of the various ECU's from 75 to 78 in my car and they behave the same way. I've seen other people describe this flood-clearing mode for other cars but Nissan is pretty clear in the FSM's about when enrichment happens and when fuel cut happens. I just went through the 1995 Pathfinder EFEC chapter and can't find any reference to fuel cut, except for during deceleration or high-speed operation (RPM limiter, maybe?). Flood-clearing on a modern EFI system would be kind of ironic anyway. The system is designed to adjust timing, and fuel, and engine speed to start and keep running reliably every time. The odds of flooding before starting are small.

Pretty sure that in 1978 the closest thing to "clear flooding mode" that the EFI system has is the "avoid flooding" feature of the heating element in the thermotime switch. The technology is primitive. And CO has proposed that the "priming" that is being done is actually an artifact of a slow-reacting fuel pump control relay. It's not a design feature, it's an error. I think that the starter licking out doesn't show up on all of the videos. But my 1978 parts car did that and it made starting a pain. I had to keep trying until I got a good catch. If I recall right, the starter had some damaged teeth. Cause or effect, I'm not sure.

CO explained this way back in someone else's thread. The injector circuits are wired in parallel and have a common connection for power, and at the ECU transistors, so there's potential to ground on both sides of a plug if you measure one at a time. I think that if you unplugged all of them (or some smaller sub-set) and measured you'd only see power on one side. Anyway, it's normal.

Yes, it is described in the Engine Tune-Up chapter of the FSM. The initial timing number should also be on the inside of the hood of the car. But inspecting the breaker plate for sticking is not. It's just one of those old Z car things, they tend to get rusty eventually. But the first thing to do is to check your timing. If the breaker plate is stuck it will be advanced. If you do check timing with a light, you can spend some time revving the engine and watching what happens to the timing. There are two mechanisms to advance (increase the number) the timing, once is centrifugal (RPM-based) and the other is controlled by intake manifold vacuum. It's the vacuum controlled piece that gets stuck.

Replacing the seal would require removing the spindle pins. It could turn in to a big job for a very small, if any, benefit. I'd say no, leave it as it is, it won't hurt anything.

They look great. Have you moved on from the starting problem? Plug condition is more of a running engine thing. If you wanted to try something on the starting problem, you could wire your CSV to a switch and give the engine a shot of gas before every start. My engine takes longer to start if it's been in a cool garage overnight compared to sitting out in the sun. If it's been sitting in the cool garage it takes noticeably longer than if it's been sitting in the sun for a while. In the sun, it fires up right away. I move my car in and out of the garage often by rolling it, since it's easy, so I've noticed this garage-effect. Residual fuel pressure would be about the same so I'd guess that it's just the rate of vaporization of the fuel. The engine and manifold are warmed by the sun so the fuel vaporizes and lights off faster. This is actually a problem that the government and fuel companies have addressed with "winter-grade" gasoline. They increase the volatility so that engines start faster and run well sooner. I've never seen the exact reasoning described but I would think that a poorly running engine blowing some unburned fuel out the back on startup is a bad thing. Your problem might go away in the fall and winter. Fuel quality varies across the country. You might also check your timing and the distributor advance. If the vacuum advance is stuck it might affect starting behavior. Just one thing I haven't seen mentioned.

I've found that even some "new" parts, like clutch slave cylinders, have honing grit inside. Every operation in a shop costs money, and some of these overseas shops probably pay by the piece.