Zed Head

Forgot to say that the key has to be inserted completely before it will turn. My locks were all hard to get the key in to for a while. You just have to lubricate them, and wiggle and press until they insert completely. Freud.

I have one key that does doors, hatch, ignition, and glove box on my 1976 car. My doors were very stiff and took lots of lubrication and working the key back and forth in the lock carefully to get them to work normally. I took the soor panel off and lubed all of the moving parts I could find and sprayed graphite in the key hole. It felt like the key was about to break for quite a while after I got the car. It must have been sitting for years. Or the PO never locked the doors. The doors can only be locked when the door is closed. The key and the button don't work when the door is open. This might be your door problem. The hatch button works by turning the key clockwise with the button up, then pushing the button down to open the hatch door. The key just stops the button from moving downward. Turning the key counterclockwise and removing it locks the button. The glove box knob works by locking when the key is inserted and it is turned counter-clockwise. Then the key is removed and it can't be rotated at all. Insert the key in the slot and turn it 1/4 turn clockwise, remove the key, and it will be unlocked. Then turn the knob another 1/4 turn to open the door. Or just leave the key in and turn it 1/2 turn and it should open. The normal unlocked key slot orientation is vertical. Locked is horizontal. There's a small arm inside that rotates over behind a catch to keep the door closed. Most of the latch parts are adjustable, maybe yours moved a little bit. Try turning the knob clockwise and shifting the door back and forth while prying on it a little bit. Maybe it's just stuck. Could also be that the screw that holds the latch is loose and the latch isn't moving with the knob. Maybe try pushing on the door while turning the knob. There's not much to the thing. This is for 1976. Nissan changed the doors and windows in 1977, but I think that even 1978 still needed the key to lock the doors and they have to be closed. Not positive though.

The "II" has dwell, or amperage, control. The "I" doesn't.

Found an interesting web page on Z cooling that includes some comments on "belly" pans. Beware the smart person though - they tend to believe what their brain says "should be", without actually taking any measurements. Still an interesting read. http://www.datsuns.com/tech/aerodynamics_and_cooling.htm

Anybody know where an illustration or description of the pan might be? I can't find it in any of the official Nissan sources, like the FSM's or the parts listing sites. Just wondering why it's called a "splash" pan if it's meant for more than splashes.

Forgot to say, it's not the "XX,000" volts that matter it's the primary circuit resistance. As lumens described.

To add to lumen's comment, and modify/reconfigure yours - it might have been "too much draw though the Pertronix module". When you had the MSD "box" installed, you were using an ignition module to control an ignition module. The MSD module could handle the low resistance coil, the Pertronix probably not. The electronic modules can overheat and fail, then come back to life when they cool off.

There are people on this forum still waiting to have problems resolved. You'll probably get an assemblage of new and reworked parts that may or may not be assembled correctly. You'll need to check everything and probably do some finishing work yourself. Interested to see what you get. Please follow-up.

You might try this place. I don't know if they do just heads though, or if they stock rebuilt parts. https://datsunspirit.com/ Here's another, but farther away - http://www.zspecialties.com/ Are you assuming that the CalDat head will be bad or just buying two?

I went ahead and uploaded the file from my own computer. Kind of forgot how the process works when I posted above. One more file saved in the Downloads area.

Hello Mike. I'm not sure where Saridout has been but I'm fairly confident that he won't mind if you download his diagram to the Downloads section. I actually had some correspondence with him a few months or a year ago about the broken links to his web site and he sent me a new link that worked, for a short while. But Eurodat has also downloaded a copy in to one of his messages too. So, it's there and we might as well make it easy. It's a nice piece of work. Post #27. http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/33820-free-full-color-wiring-diagram-for-1976-280z/page-2 Edit - seemed like a year but I guess it's only been about 8 months.

The Irwin/MSA product is a good one. I think that it does both the power supply side and the ground side so cleans up both of the problem areas. If you feel comfortable with adding a relay, you can add one in front of the combination switch, at the fuse box, to take the power flow out of the switch and let it come through the relay instead. I can't remember the details but it should be apparent from the wiring diagram. You only need one to supply the fusebox, I believe. A link is supplied below to Saridout's very nice 1976 color diagram. Post #27. Besides dim headlights, the other problem that will crop up is heat buildup in the steering column switch. either the heat cycling and fatigue, or actual melting of the solder, happens (hard to tell which, shiny metal is exposed) and the wire will break off at the contact. You'll know you have this problem if the top of the plastic column cover gets very warm when the headlights are on. The actual switch is under it. http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/33820-free-full-color-wiring-diagram-for-1976-280z/page-2

Thanks for checking. I don't want to give jdmwerks a bad rep. I've seen where people had no problems with the 280Z setup and liked it, and just one where a guy had a problem, but jdmwerks resolved it quickly. But you never know what other parts people are working with or what they're really doing. Hope yours drop right in.

The dash voltmeter is a good indicator of whether or not your alternator is keeping up. Note where it sits with everything off. That's your base battery charge reading. Then, after the engine is started and running at higher RPM you'll see it jump up to some high limit. That's the alternator regulator limit. As RPM drop toward idle speed you'll probably see the needle drop toward the normal battery charge state. When it hits the number, that's equilibrium, power out = power in. If it drops lower your battery is discharging. The gauge isn't very precise so you'll probably just see it sitting on the everything off state. You'll feel good when you're driving and worried when you're idling. Many people have used the early 90's Maxims alternator. It's a 90 amp output and will bolt in. But it needs a pulley change and rewiring. Simple in concept, but the pulley bolt needs an impact wrench and some grinding of the housing might be needed to get the pulley aligned. I have one sitting in my garage, completed, but I've found that the small improvements here and there, relays and connection cleaning, have put my stock ZX alternator to where it can keep up, with my stock electrical parts, no fans. I've also found that the cheap parts store alternators vary in their output. The first one I used was weak. The factory issued, old, grimy, wrecking yard ZX alternator was much better than the shiny "new" parts store reman.

The disassembly is described in the 1976 AC chapter. AC-31. And, of course, assembly is in reverse. They say have the cables on the control assembly (plate) first. So zKars's method is best. It is possible to remove at least some of the cable ends, maybe all, from the assembly though, with it installed. But you do need some slack in the cable so that you can maneuver it without bending it. If yours is already done backward you'll know pretty soon whether you need to take it apart again.

Not really clear what "hvac plate" means. Or "heater box". I've detached and attached cables from both ends. Sometimes it takes some contorting and a little extra maneuvering, and don't lose the little clip, but I think that the cables could be installed last if you wanted to do it that way. Edit - the ends of the cables go to the water rooster on the firewall, and the foot vent doors. That's why heater box is odd. I haven't worked with the vents so maybe that's the heater box.

Probably depends on which part of the control arm was used and how wide and distributed the lifting pad was. The ends, under the struts, probably not a huge deal. In the middle, not recommended. But, definitely not designed for it. People these days just aren't trained in how to work with stuff bigger than a phone. Are there visible bends or dings in the arms? You probably should have been emphatic and left the shop when they resisted. Lifting a car is basic shop knowledge. I can't even imagine being told I was wrong when someone was working on my car. The customer, etc....

I'm going to guess that fusible links are just the slowest of the "slow-blow" fuses. They all work on the same principle, amps cause heat, too many amps cause melting. The only question is how fast do you want it to melt.

What do you mean by "they are all four the same"?

In that other thread the guy was switching springs back to front to try to figure out his problem. Since one set gave the height he wanted, jdmwerks sent him another two of the same so he'd have proper height. Which was good of him. That might be the new normal, maybe there's a problem with some of the springs. But, there is still a question...

I saw on another forum that somebody had a problem with one of the part numbers. The spring had the wrong rate for some reason. They swapped one for the other so the guy ended up with four of the same. Not sure how it turned out. It's tough to introduce new products. Hope he figures out what's going on.

One thing that's not often mentioned with the electric fans is the extra draw on an already weak electrical system. The 60 amp stock alternator typically can barely handle the lights on at idle. Those fans can draw some amps.

The ZX distributor uses the one like in Post #4. "L28E" in Post #11. I just checked mine. Plus that picture in #4 is from Blue's ZX distributor upgrade page on atlanticz.

What is the difference between the products, besides the pipe size. Just curious. The Race-sport and Street-sport especially. Good luck with the business.