Walter Moore

I mentioned this in another thread, but at the request of our club "Prezident", I need to make this a general announcement. Various people are making this same announcement on every Z car site known. The Indy Z car club is still active. We have a problem with the web site that may take some time to correct. In the meantime we are still having our regular meetings on the second Thursday of the month. Several people have been getting inquiries about the club's status because the website is offline. Thanks for your interest.

I am not sure what came in the 260Z with a manual. The automatics all came with a 3.54 however, not the 3.9 ratio. The early 240z came with a 3.36 ratio in the manual version. There are a lot of R180 ratios that were available in the trucks. Some of the 4X4s used an R180 in the front. Most of those were 4.11 or 4.56 ratios. The 200SX also had a 4.11 ratio R180. I think most of the 3.9 ratio differentials sold in the U.S. were in the R200 differential. The 4 speed that was in my car when I bought it had a 16 tooth speedometer drive gear installed. The correct gear for the 3.36 is a 17 tooth. The 3.54 differential needs a 19 tooth. (Per the FSM for a 240Z, again the 260 may be different.) The 5 speed that I bought came from an 83' 280ZX, and it had an 18 tooth gear when it came into my possession. The right speedometer gear makes all the difference. Oh, to id the speedometer gear you can remove it from the transmission and count the teeth.

The headlight switches are notorious for having contact problems. You may have to clean it or replace it to get the lights to work. (Often people have the problem that they work until you hit the high beams, then go out. Normally cycling the main headlight switch off and then back on resets the problem.) The tachometers fail fairly often as well. Use the forum search tool to find all the threads on that subject. There should be a switch near the radio to raise and lower the antenna I think.

The stock tire size for a 260Z (isn't that what you have?) is 195/70 14 I believe. The OD of that tire is 630mm (24.8 inches, giving a circumference of 77.9 inches) The OD of a 225/60 14 is 626mm (24.65 inches, circumference 77.4 as you stated) My guess is someone changed the differential and didn't update the speedometer drive gear. Either that or someone swapped the transmission and left the wrong speedometer drive gear in it from a different car. By the way, the OD of the 175/80 14 tires on a 240Z is 636mm, so either way the tires are close enough that they will not cause your problem.

The 260Z had both the mechanical and an electrical fuel pump. Supposedly the electric pump was to prevent vapor lock. Personally, if the car runs well I would leave it alone. If the pump is giving you trouble there are other types available. It does have to be a low pressure pump for the carb based engines.

Congratulations. It is always good to see another Z being put back into service!

What wattage H4 bulbs do you have installed? If the alternator in your 73 is still stock, then anything over the standard 55W/65W bulbs will be a problem.

Looks like it will be down for a while. The situation is complicated, and I don't think I could give it justice. The club itself is doing great, and we have an event Saturday. Let's just say work on the web site is proceeding with all deliberate speed.

By the way, do not try to adjust the idle speed without synchronizing the carbs. Just turning each screw the same apparent distance each time does not work.

Ouch! Something to discuss at Thursday's meeting I guess.

You were taking a train to Indy? I didn't know that there were passenger trains that still stopped in Indianapolis... Sorry I didn't chime in earlier, somehow I missed this thread last month. Depending upon when in November you arrive, most of the 1st generation cars may be put away for the winter. (Once they start spreading salt...) However the Indy Z Car Club has an event scheduled for November 14. You might watch their page for more details as time progresses.

15W-50 would work great in Florida or Mississippi, but Wisconsin? An unbearably hot day in Wisconsin is 85F. The old joke about the state implies that at 20F people would still be wearing short sleeve shirts. But to be serious, I will not put any oil in a car with a weight below 10W-X even as far South as Indiana. I have Mobil-1 0W-40 in the Z right now. It seems to have plenty of oil pressure, but then the engine is still recently rebuilt and I do not have very many miles on it yet. I have had friends destroy engines by running heavy oil, admittedly 20W-50, in the fall and winter. It just will not get to the bearings at start-up.

I expect that the clutch is soft because of the leak. Personally I didn't find the stainless brake hoses that I had on my car for a while to be worth the cost. I doubt that the clutch hose would be that much better either.

Does the whole state require emissions testing, or just certain counties? I ask because only two counties in Indiana, basically the Gary area, are required to do emissions testing. I have always wondered if that was typical of the eastern midwest, or just this particular state. (Not that it matters if you live in a county that requires testing.)

The code phrase seems to be "high mileage". Generally when the oil producer claims a particular oil is formulated for high mileage cars, it has a higher ZDDP content. Personally after weeks and months of researching this subject on the internet, I am no longer convinced that it matters on any overhead cam engine. But if you disagree, the "High Mileage" oils appear to be what you are looking for. (BTW, most of them are synthetic.)

As quickly as it started, it seems to have ended. At least there are reports to that effect. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/30/officials-say-government-set-suspend-cash-clunkers-program/

Maryland is far enough North to see salt in the winters. Junk yard exhaust parts are likely to be as bad as what he has now. Does O'reilly Auto have stores in your area? They pretty much stock the same stuff as Advance Auto or Auto Zone, but sometimes they are less expensive. (Only sometimes.)

According to this web page: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/factmnb.htm#nonusversion It is possible for an individual to import a non-US specification automobile without making it meet U.S. emissions, IF it is at least 21 years old, in its original configuration, with the original engine. (Good luck getting it smog certified with your local air pollution authority.) The NHTSA's web site, in their FAQ section says: "A motor vehicle that is at least 25 years old can be lawfully imported into the U.S. without regard to whether it complies with all applicable FMVSS." So I guess that if you want to import a Skyline on your own it has to be (currently) a 1984 model or earlier unless you intend to pay someone to bring it into compliance. (And then, depending upon where you live you may still not be able to plate it because of the emissions situation.)

I agree with BOBC. This is a common problem on some cars with throttle body FI. They will get a small vacuum leak in the gasket under the throttle body and make almost the same sound, with the same inability to idle. The screwdriver trick usually works. Normally you will be looking for a leak somewhere on the intake manifold. Goodness knows there are enough places where it could leak.

Good question. I believe that Bruce Palmer (search for that user name) was setting up a group buy on adhesive temperature tape to attach to the thermostat housing so people could get a more accurate reading on what the real temperature is right at the engine coolant outlet. There is some debate, but "one needle above the middle" is probably a good reading.

Vacuum controllers?? The only devices hooked to the manifold that use vacuum on the 71 are the vacuum advance on the distributor, the power brake booster, the EGR valve, and the "throttle opener" if it is still installed. (An emissions control device that sits on top of the intake manifold and causes the throttle to close more slowly when you lift your foot from high engine speed.) There is nothing under the dash that is vacuum controlled on the early cars. How slow are you trying to run the car at idle? Did you rebuild the engine? I didn't see any reference to adjusting the carburetors. Have you tried to set them up? Were they rebuilt? I asked all of those questions, because starting up an engine from scratch is an intimidating challenge, and ultimately you will have to check everything. If it at least starts, and will stay running at some speed, you can dial in everything else eventually.

Actually the situation that Michell describes is exactly what you would expect from a wheel with high couple imbalance. It is impossible to correct couple imbalance by applying weights in only one plane. To illustrate couple imbalance imagine this situation: Take a "perfectly" balanced wheel, and apply a large, say 3 ounce weight somewhere on the curb side of the wheel. Then turn the wheel over, and apply another 3 ounce weight on the car side, at a location that is exactly 180 degrees from the first weight. You now have a wheel with 3 ounces of pure couple imbalance. If you take this wheel to your dynamic balancer and check it in single plane (static) mode it will call for ZERO weight. If you switch to dynamic mode it will call for two 3 ounce weights, exactly across from the weights that you installed. If you put this wheel on your car and drive it at highway speeds (which I do not recommend) it will shake the fillings in your teeth. (My apologies if you have perfect teeth, it is only an expression.) As Arnie mentioned, the two correction planes do not have to be on the inside and outside flanges, but when correcting couple imbalance the further apart the planes are in space the smaller the correction weights that will be required. Most new cars have "flange-less" or "soft-face" wheels without a weight flange on the curb side. (For styling, not to make the car ride better.) On these wheels one correction plane is located on the inside of the wheel, just behind the spokes, and the other is either on the inside flange (if present) or on the inside of the wheel near the flange. Flange-less wheels are corrected with adhesive weights. Another thing to consider when you install your wheels on the car is to make sure the back side of the wheel and the square-up surface on the hub (or drum) is clean and flat. One of the demonstrations that we do in car plants to try to convince the maintenance staff to keep the tooling clean is to take a perfectly balanced wheel with clean tooling and spin once to prove that it is in fact balanced. Then we unlock the tooling, place a business card under the wheel, lock the tooling, and try again. The resulting weight call-outs are usually eye opening. Often the wheel will be uncorrectable! Lighter cars, like the early Zs, and cars with smaller tires (that is the outside diameter of the tire, not the wheel diameter) will always seem to be more sensitive to imbalance. That is because any given road force will have more effect on a lighter car (F=MA) and the force generated by imbalance is proportional to the square of the rotational speed. (F=M*(omega)^2) Class is now over. Go get your tires balanced!

My neighbor has one, but I have no idea how to get it to Orlando without costing a fortune. PM me if you think it is worth the trouble. I have no idea what he would want for it. I don't know the condition. I just know that I bought the engine and transmission when he junked the car and for some reason he kept the hood thinking he could sell it.

It does look like some kind of current transformer based sensor. It also looks homemade, and dangerously old. I vote that you hack it out.

Hey, it's still a Z car. It is just one with a really exotic body kit! Speaking only for myself, welcome aboard!