Walter Moore

Have you been spying on me? I overtightened so many front spindles over the years before I eventually figured out how tight "snug" is that I am afraid to even discuss the issue... :stupid:

I agree with Arnie. The 225/45-17 tires are about the widest tires that you can install on a S30 without suspension modifications, and the 45 profile in a 17 inch wheel will keep the speedometer in the correct range. Good luck.

Beautiful car either way, but I like it better without the stripe.

Does it snow in Wichita? Do they put salt on the roads in the winter? (I don't actually know the answers to those questions by the way...) If the answer is yes to the second question be very cautious about using a 70's or 80's Z or ZX as a daily driver. Salt turns them into parts cars really fast. (That is where my car's current transmission came from...)

Interesting instructions... Do you have a link to the particular web site you were reading? I remember specifically that the instructions that came with my strut cartridges said that failing to put oil in the strut housing would void the warranty. But that was three or four years ago. A couple of observations: 1. I have never seen motor oil freeze. But then I live in Indiana not Alaska. 2. If motor oil did freeze it would shrink, not expand. Water is one of only two or three substances on earth that expands when it changes from a liquid to a solid. 3. The strut cartridges that I installed were sealed, so unless you had oil pooled on the top of the cartridge, I doubt that it would in any way affect the seals.

If he person who installed the headers wasn't familiar with SU's they might have the choke cables too tight. When I installed the SU's in my car I tried three times to adjust the carbs but the mixture was always too rich and the plugs would foul after about 40 miles of driving. The trick is to make sure that when the choke is RELEASED, the jets are pulled FIRMLY against the mixture adjusting ring, or stop, or whatever it is called. On my first two tries one or both of the jets would hang ever so slightly below the adjustment ring and turning the knob had no effect at some point. I could make it RICHER, but couldn't get it to ever lean out. It is hard to see because it is under the carb.

Likely you didn't see my car because prior to September 2007 the only people who had were those with access to my garage. I barely got it running in time to enter it in the "Back to the 50's" car show that year.

Thanks for pointing out the pin. I don't know how that happened. Yes I live in Lebanon. I drive the Z around once in a while on nice days. This weekend the Indy Z car club is going to have an area reserved at a car show in Muncie at the Delaware county fairgrounds. I plan to be there Saturday. There might be one or two other S30's present. The Indy club is mostly late model cars... But it is still sort of fun.

So, you are in Colfax now? Didn't you used to list your location in Richmond? (Or do I have you confused with someone else?) I may see you around sometime. I don't live very far from Colfax, in fact I drive past it on the way to Lafayette once in a while.

I am sure that it is possible, but I am an electrical engineer, not a mechanic or race technician. I am not an expert on modifying distributors, just gathering and applying information.

Lately there have been several threads that all seem to be discussing timing advance problems related to the E12-80 electronic distributor conversion on older engines. For example: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34031&highlight=E12-80 http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34073&highlight=E12-80 http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34126&highlight=E12-80 In at least one of them I ask if there was any way to know which distributors might be good candidates, and which ones to avoid, but never really got an answer. So I took it upon myself to download the factory service manuals for all five years of the 280ZX (1979 - 1983), dredge through them, and gather the information myself. The attached Excel file summarizes what I found. It is an interesting document, and it clears up much of the confusion on the subject. For example I now believe that I can explain some of the vexing questions I had on this subject. For example: Q: Why do so many sources recommend using only the 1979 model distributors? A: Because that is the only year where you can be reasonably sure that the vacuum advance will not cause spark knock at part throttle without having to re-curve the distributor. Q: Why does the E12-92 ignition module retard the timing by more than 8 degrees unless a 12V signal is applied to one of the extra pins? A: Because starting with 1981 the vacuum advance produces 30 degrees of advance, and the ignition computer needed a way to retard the timing in the event of spark knock. Remember that 1981 is about the beginning of the era when cars sold in the U.S. had to meet the dreaded and evil C.A.F.E. standards which made fuel mileage more important than anything else. I do not remember if it was in effect in 1981, but the car companies were all scrambling to meet the standards about that time. Take a look at the file and many mysteries on this subject become self evident. Distributor advance curves.xls

I love the color... Wish my car's body work was half that nice, but since I did it all myself there was no chance of that. :tapemouth

Two potential meanings: 1. The most common, a small cake baked in a cup. Typically about 75mm diameter, and equally tall. 2. A saucy young woman with limited business skills assigned as an "Administrative Assistant" to an older business man for unstated reasons. While is is probably too young to qualify for the latter, I suspect our birthday boy would accept either one.

I know fairly little about the fuel injected engines, but have you checked your fuel pressure? Could you have a weak pump? Also, how did you "check" the injectors? Did you do just a resistance test, or actually cycle them somehow and confirm that they are opening? (Be careful, it seems like a lot of fuel injectors operate at significantly less that 12V, but I don't know the particulars of the ones on the Z. I just remember that the Bosch J-Tronic system on my 74 Volvo had 3V injectors.) I had a problem with the Volvo years ago that turned out to be two plugged injectors. They tested fine with an ohm meter.

It still sounds like dieseling to me. If there was a wiring issue that kept voltage going to the coil the car would run a lot longer than 5 or 10 seconds. The float bowls on a typical car hold enough gas for the car to idle at least a minute or more. Cars that diesel typically are running rich, and the fuel octane is too low. If the engine has a lot of miles on it and has a carbon buildup in the chambers that contributes to the problem as well. I had several mid-80's Chevys with V8's and that stupid electronic carburetor GM made, that would run-on for several minutes if we put regular gas in the tank. One of them was so bad that it would keep running even with the transmission in drive.:mad: I guess you could test the theory by undoing your wiring, temporarily wiring the pump directly to the battery (with a switch), and seeing if that changes the symptoms.

My 4 speed transmission did that every time that I put the car in reverse. I ended up replacing it (for other reasons) with a 5 speed, and the new one does not grind going into reverse. I didn't even touch the clutch when I changed the transmission, so my experience agrees with Carl's advice.

I think you would have better luck in the long run with something like this: http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/SFC02/11-3064 My personal experience with Ebay is horrible when it comes to parts that cannot be easily assessed from a photograph. Remember, it is on Ebay, it is used and there is no way to know how serviceable the part is until AFTER you receive the part. By then it is too late.

I used my brake bleeding vacuum pump and sucked the chambers dry in about 2 seconds. But to each his own.

I never got around to weighing the crank, but I would guess at somewhere around 50 lbs. I was shocked when I picked it up the first time. It was way heaver than the fully assembled cylinder head. (But that is mostly aluminum...)

You may be able to buy the hard steel line from the master cylinder to the slave cylinder hose. I bent my own. The small 3/16 lines are not that difficult to bend, but get a good bending tool. Even broken, the old line would at least be a good guide. You will have to secure it to the firewall somehow I expect.

So... If I just ran out and randomly grabbed a distributor off of any old 280ZX that happened to be available I might have the same problem? Do you have any advice on getting the "right" distributor to use for an upgrade on the older cars? Are there particular years that are better or worse? I have been thinking about trying to round up a ZX distributor, and I might be able to get one off of an 83. (I know about the issues with the later ignition control module, but there are instructions on this site to deal with it...) But how do I know what advance curve I need, and which years would have the right curve? (One more reason to stay with points....) :mad:

I suggest that you wear goggles unless you know the car has never been driven on dirt or gravel roads. When I pulled my gas tank I had dirt falling everywhere. There must have been 5 pounds of dirt and dust on top of the tank.

Heh, It looks a lot like the Prelude that some kid showed up in once to take one of my Daughters on a date... I told her later that the wing had to take a good 25 MPH off of the top end of the car. (And of course the massive rust holes in the sides of the car wouldn't help either.) The biggest kick that I got was when I asked what movie they were going to see, and he replied "Tokyo Drift". I told him "good luck", and her "be careful". My daughter never went out with him again because he was really pumped by the movie and she thought that anyone who would like that trash was unworthy. (In retrospect perhaps she is more intelligent than I gave her credit for at the time...) :classic:

The only other option is to move to a different state... Not the most practical answer I know.

You have to pull the back edge away first and then spin it down so that the snorkel is pointed up a little. It is even more fun with a strut bar across the top of the engine. Oh, and when you put it back on be sure that the wing nut screws are in the cover before you put it in place because the front one will NOT go in afterward, it is too long.