Zed Head

The "ignition power jumper wire" might actually be one of the fusible links. The fusible link for the 280Z looks like a piece of wire with a female spade connector on each end. They are designed to melt (fuse) before the rest of your wiring does. I'm not sure what the ZX links look like but they perform the same way. Sounds like yours did what it was supposed to do. And a condenser (capacitor) would only smoke it if it was shorted. But the only condenser I can think of is on the alternator housing and would have fried when you connected the battery if it was shorted, not when you hit Start. Are you sure that it is a condenser? Where is it located? What does it look like? You will need to find the short and get a new fusible link before you go further. Don't replace the link with regular wire, you'll burn some of your wiring harness.

32 is low for the fuel pressure, unless you were testing while the engine was running and the vacuum line to the FPR was hooked up. It should run about 36 psi without the engine running (just the fuel pump powered), or with the engine running and FPR vacuum hose disconnected. You could have an FPR problem or a fuel pump problem. Of course, this might not be related to your stalling issue at all.

Here's another earlier model - http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/1919054177.html If I am wasting people's time reposting Craig's List, let me know.

Someone here might be interested. From CL 2 days ago - http://portland.craigslist.org/nco/pts/1921551565.html The dash alone might be worth the money...?

I think that the nose of the diff tends to drop on deceleration using the engine compression. I have read reports elsewhere of the rear driveshaft flange rubbing on the rear sway bar. That might be worth a look, regarding the Gatling gun noise, if you are running just the RT style mount and have removed the stock one. I have played around with the moustache bar stock mounts to get rid of "clunking" using stacks of rubber and metal washers and found that the tighter it gets the more gear noise you get. That is noise transmitted up through the body, the stock mounts are still isolating the sideways vibration. So rubber insulators might be worth a look but you will still have the vibration path sideways, with the hard urethane mounts, from the moustache bar through to the metal sleeve which contacts the car body (as ZODB said above). I'm interested in what you find, I have held off installing the urethane mounts due to the gear noise issue.

I went through the slave cylinder replacement, then both slave and master cylinder replacement scenario recently myself. Then the clutch started acting up again, I thought it was one more bad slave cylinder. But after rechecking the cylinders for leaks and rebleeding the system, I eventually found that the lock nut had come loose on the shaft from the pedal to the master cylinder, allowing the rod to work itself shorter. One more thing to check. By the way, it is possible to turn that rod without removing anything. Just use patience, flexibility, the right set of pliers, and one tiny turn at a time.

On a 280, the half-shaft mating flanges have a fairly tight fit centering section that can get stuck. It is designed to center the flanges. Look at the other end of the half-shaft, it's essentially the same fit on the wheel side. You can tap it loose with a hammer or carefully wedge a screwdriver or chisel in at the interface while rotating the shaft. If you have already knocked out the four bolts, a couple of decent taps with a hammer while rotating the shaft should break it loose. I'm guessing the 260 is similar.

A quick look at the FSM indicates the the 74 260Z came with a 3 speed automatic. Although, I am new to Z world and could be wrong. I believe that most older cars came with 3 speeds. But I did have a 1963 Pontiac Bonneville, in 1980, with a 4 speed automatic and a 389. It hauled a@@ for a big car.

Many people believe (from what I've read on the various forums) that the stock factory u-joints are better than any aftermarket u-joints, if they are not obviously worn-out. Aftermarket u-joints are not as tight, brand-new, as the factory u-joints, in my experience. If the old joints are not dry, you can install some zerk fittings if they're not there already, regrease them and just keep using them. You'll probably be better off. Also, why would the half-shafts be involved in keeping your tires from leaving the ground when jacking up the rear-end? Don't the rear wheels hang from the struts at full extension?

When I had my alternator fixed (I was working big hours at the time so didn't do it myself, plus there is a lot of stuff under a Pathfinder hood) the Nissan service manager told me that the newer alternators could be damaged if you jumped a car with your engine running. The spikes through the jumper cables going from a dead battery to generating voltage when the other car started or something like that. I had just given someone a jump with my engine running a few weeks before so maybe there's something to it. Just a thought on why your new one may have gone bad.

Those might be the signs of a bad alternator. I had pulsing dim lights on my 95 Pathfinder when its alternator went bad.

The wires don't cross inside the original fixture that was used for the original fusible links. If you're not comfortable with rewiring you should just stick with the fusible links. They work well if the connections are kept clean as sblake01 said, in your other thread. Make sure you have the right ones in the right places, clean the connections and crimp them a little to tighten them up if necessary, get a cover for them to keep dirt and water off and you're good to go. If you rewire and make a mistake you could fry some wires and your car will be sitting for months.

If you have an ohm-meter or a test light you could test continuity from the "power out" wire from the 80 amp circuit to each wire end. The wire ends that show continuity should be the "power in" wires to the ignition and other loads, since they are fed from the main circuit. The left over ends are power out, to those loads. Hope that makes sense. If you get a test light or ohm-meter and start poking around you will probably figure out what is connected to what, and where to put your fuses.

Zedyone already covered it...

From inside the wheel well! Crazy! Easier with the wheel removed.

Use Part Search on the upper right corner of this page. http://www.thezstore.com/store/merchant.mvc? "alternator adapter"

If you posted some pictures some one might be able to help you out. A full length shot of the passenger (right) side of the transmission should do it.

My driveway is full and my cash flow negative, but I live not far from Raleigh Hills and have plenty of (too much) free time. I could check it out if for someone if they were seriously interested.

The topic pops up often. I was under the impression that there are differences in things like the speedo gear hole or the top gear switch boss, but that these differences were between years. But that some housings were the same for four and five speeds, hence my suggestion to go through the gears. I would guess that if you had a housing with a top gear switch and a reverse switch and the housing looked like those used in 1976, you could be relatively sure it was a 1976 four speed. To be honest, I have seen lots of discussion on this topic but I have not seen one complete definitive explanation. Just odds and ends. Maybe it's out there but I have missed it. A year by year description with details would be great.

This might help you determine what type of five speed you have, if you have one - http://www.geocities.com/inlinestroker/ratio.html But I think that if you have an early manual (early 70s to 79) you just have to put the shifter in and go through the gears. The four and five speeds used the same housings.

Saw this today and thought someone here might be interested - http://portland.craigslist.org/wsc/cto/1854011603.html

I agree. I was just pointing out a far-fetched possibility that fit the symptoms, of "won't idle until it's warm". I have never seen a description of a shorted water temperature sensor or wires, or its symptoms, which is kind of surprising considering the location of the sensor and all of the bending and abrasion the wires can see over 30+ years. But I've only been reading the forums for less than a year.

If your water temperature sensor, or the power wire to it, was shorted, the ECU would see a fully heated engine, all the time. I've never seen anyone describe it but that might be a possibility (assuming the short doesn't fry the ECU). You can check what the ECU is seeing at the ECU connection in the cabin. You should see somewhere between 1 and 3 k-ohms between pin 13 and ground (according to pages EF-22 and 53). If you get an open circuit, then your engine is showing as "very hot" to the ECU. I think that the CSV only opens when the key is turned to Start (cranking the engine). So once the engine starts it should not be in play, unless it was leaking.

I had a lot of squeaking coming from the poly T/C rod bushings right after I put them in. That was the only suspension component that I had changed so I know it was coming from them (plus direct application of WD40 to the bushings stopped the squeaks for a while). Subsequently one of the T/C rods broke so I went to the poly in the front, stock rubber in the back, and ALL of the squeaking went away. I also replaced the front transverse link bushings with poly at the same time, and this did not add any new squeaks. For your consideration. Might be worth a trial anyway, pretty easy to change.

Any chance the green wire is supposed to go to the small terminal and the black to large? I believe that some DC motors will run backward. Just something to check, I have an aftermarket pump with + and - markings at the terminals, although difficult to see. I don't know what pump you are using or how it is marked.