S30Driver

Nice! Looks like it was converted to solid lifters. One less thing to worry about as the hydraulics have been nla for a long time.

@Mark Maras Found the difference in rotors ... From his pictures, it appears he has the right one if car is later than Jan of 82 Early Late

When you remove the valve cover, look at the rocker assembly on any cylinder, if they are solid lifters, you will see two large nuts that lock the clearance adjustment once made. Also a slot for a screwdriver to make the adjustment on top of the rocker above the nuts. The hydraulic lifters will not have any clearance adjusters. A picture would be great when you have the cover off to clarify, anyone on here will be able to tell you which you have.

I would call or email MSA, the Z store, and Ryan at ZcarDepot and ask what brand they have and if its a Japanese manufactured part.

The P90A is the head that came from the factory with hydraulic lifters. Therefore the clearance is not adjustable. However, there is always the possibility that a previous owner converted it to solid lifters. When you have nothing better to do, pull the valve cover and you can see if you have the adjustable solids.

I had a 82 & 2 or 3 83's Mark. Never owned a 81, the 1st year. I remember when I bought my ignition parts from AutoSport in Seattle, the early rotor came up and the counter guy there is very sharp, put me on to it so I got the correct parts. I remember he called his supplier about it but can't remember what the difference was. I must be getting older .... Good possibility he has the wrong rotor and or a cheap cap causing his unusual problem.

For the valve clearance, I would go with .008 .010 for the cold setting if you have the solid lifter head. On the pass side of the head, near the #2 plug, does it say P90 or P90A ?

I had good luck with YEC brand cap & rotor on the 3 turbo cars I have owned. Japanese brands are always preferred. Read my previous post again about the rotor change in 82....

What brand is the cap & rotor currently on the distributor? Yec, Standard Motor Products etc.... What is the build date of your ZX? The 1st year turbo's used a different rotor, after Jan of 82 the rotor changed. Make sure you have the correct rotor, the cap is the same for all turbo motors.

Special recognition to jfa.series1 for trophy consulting. Thanks Jim!

Last weekend, a group of Z enthusiasts gathered in Branson MO for the 1st annual fall Pumpkin Spice Edition of Branson Z Fest. The gathering began Wednesday and ended on Sunday. During the festivities, on Saturday, there was a judged car show. Judges included myself, Scott McElroy, and head judge on loan from Capitol Z Club in Texas, Mike W. With the judging complete, Mike W took over the closing ceremony, and limited edition T shirt awards were handed out to some special cars and people. Big thanks to Chris Carl of the ZCCA and Josh Lyman of the Ozark Z Club for assisting with the introductions. However, a very special award was given to a member of the NW Arkansas Z Car Club to honor the memory of Mr Yoshihiko Matsuo. Jim Daniels - Zup was the first recipient of this award. Congratulations Jim! No one in the club deserved it more. With the conclusion of the T shirt competition awards, Mike W announced that one car had scored exceptionally well in the first round of judging and had advanced to a second round of judging. With great fanfare & drama, Mike announced that with a score of 295 .... Zup's stunning and true to originality 73 240z was awarded the Gold Medallion Trophy & Plaque by the NW Arkansas Z Car Club, retiring the car from Pumpkin Spice competition. What a great moment! Really big congratulations Jim!! Jim & Walt feeling the heat of competition....

It's a interesting radio, stereo, should be a S button on the front panel. Might have been a expensive optional radio in 78. I assume you got the sub harness with the purchase of the radio. Could not find the service manual online. One site shows they have it but no way to download the pdf and view it. However, a good guess is the 3 pin molex is for the power antenna control. The 6 pin molex is power and speakers. The din connector is possibly for a external 8 track tape option. I don't think cassette was quite available yet in cars. On the 6 pin connector with the 5 wires, Nissan typically used Blue for +12v power, Black for ground. The remaining wires should be for the speakers, 2 since it is stereo. The earlier radio's, Nissan grounded the speaker on one side and used only one wire to drive the speaker from the radio. This may be different. The speaker in the mono radio was 4 ohms, they may have switched to 8 ohms in your version. i would bench test the radio with some sort of 12v power supply to verify it powers up and figure out the speaker connections before installing it in the car. Hope this helps... r

What is the model number of the radio? Should be on the bottom plate. Is it manufactured by Hitachi?

This is another option from KF Vintage, depending on what you have. I purchased their floor pans and rails - top notch quality. https://kfvintagejdm.com/shop/datsun/lower-front-fender-repair-section-left-side-12in-datsun-240z/

If you are talking about the coolant temp sensor circuit to the ecu Charles, then if the circuit and sensor are working properly - adding resistance to the circuit with a rheostat will only add fuel. The ecu will think the coolant is colder and compensate with more fuel - make it richer. Unfortunately, you can't go the other way - leaner, unless you were to adjust the afm to a lean condition beforehand in an attempt to get the pot somewhere in the middle of its range and then you could adjust the mixture up and down accordingly. I wish my old bank account drifted richer over time ...