Captain Obvious

I have heard that chalk works too to reduce pinning as well. ("Pinning" being the name of the clogging of the file teeth.)

The rear deck lock is unique. You can't use any other lock there. The only thing that is portable between the deck lock and the rest of the car is the tumblers inside. Other than that, completely unique.

I miss the tool crib, and the raw material access. Oh, and the model shop (small machine shop that we untrained engineers were allowed to use).

Not "interesting", but "telling". Those two newer lines were simply the ones that failed first! Good thing you addressed all of them before something bad happened!!

Yup. They come in different sizes for different taps. I've got a bunch of them, but have never had great success with them. Always seems that when I break a tap, it's a size for which I don't have an extractor, or for some other reason, it just won't work. Three flutes. Blades too big for the flutes... Whatever. The larger sizes work better than the small ones, and it's always easier to get a broken tap out of a hole if you were just chasing existing threads as opposed to cutting complete new ones in a fresh hole. Much of it comes down to the amount of force required to turn the remains and it takes a lot less force to clean paint out of threads than to cut them in the first place. Bottom line is if you can get an extractor to work, that's awesome as it's the easiest method. But don't walk away from this thread thinking they are the cure-all, end-all solution to all your busted tap ordeals in the future because I think you will be disappointed. There will still be plenty of opportunities for swearing and sweating and throwing things even with a complete set handy.

Cool! That sounds promising. And cheap.

Glad to help. But before we start talking specifics of where the W/R side of the links go, I would like to try to identify what year your engine bay harness came from. Here are a couple questions that should help figure that out. 1) Do you have a blue wire going to your alternator? 2) How many wires do you have going to the oil pressure sensor? One or two? 3) If there is just one wire going to the oil pressure sensor, what color is it? Green, or Yellow/Black?

I picked up one of those a while ago (Harbor Freight variety), and I've gotten some good use out of mine as well. Alignment camber stuff. But gravity is a cruel master and the zeroing function button can lure you in (at least it did me)... Before you are so confident in how level your bench is, put it on the bench and zero it. Then carefully (without changing the position of where it is on the bench) rotate it 180 degrees and see what it says then. If it says zero in both directions then you're doing pretty good. But with the zeroing function, you can have a surface all out of whack and still get it to read zero in one direction! BTDT.

I'm not that confident about finding a simple replacement in a junkyard. The triple pole thing has me skeptical.

The first item is indeed a capacitor. Commonly known in the automotive trade as a "condenser". Used to help reduce ignition noise and extend points life. As for where to get one... I haven't looked, but I gotta believe web searching must turn up something suitable. As for the second item... What year are you working on here? Off the top of my head, I would guess it's an EGR actuation relay, but depends on the year.

That's cool. I hope it helps him out. I think I have one coming from @Patcon. So thanks for the original consideration anyway!!

Good eyes. That's definately a problem. Those contact buttons are supposed to be welded in place, and it looks like yours just came loose and fell off! Unfortunately, I think the best long term solution would be a replacement relay. Only other possibility I got is... Are they making use of every contact elsewhere in the relay? If the answer is 'no', and all the arms are identical (and maybe even symmetric top to bottom?) maybe you could swap wires or even contact arms around. In other words, maybe move the missing contact to a position that isn't being used anyway? Long shot, but thought I would mention it.

Gilles, The 260 and 75 280 only had one fusible link block with two fusible links under the cover. So if you've got two blocks (with four links total under two covers), then you're engine bay harness is from a 76, 77, or 78 280Z. If you have an internally regulated alternator, you might have a harness from 78. So, assuming you're working with a 76 or later 280Z engine bay harness with two link blocks and a total of four links, then yes... The white wire side of all four links are all connected together inside the wiring harness. Those four white wires are all crimped together inside the harness and become one white wire which attaches to the starter lug (which in turn is connected to the (+) battery cable. The other side of those four links were White/Red, and went off to their respective destinations. So other than a mish-mosh of different years in your 260, things do make sense. Did you have other questions about where those four W/R wires went after the fusible links?

kunzma, Can you take a pic of the area of the relay where the contact is missing? I'm not sure silver was needed in that application. Maybe silver in color, but not Ag in composition? Probably tin alloy. In any event, a blob of solder might get you out of the woods for a little while, but it probably won't last long. And I doubt that even "silver solder" would contain a high enough silver to lead ratio that it would last. Was the original contact rattling around inside the relay cover when you took it off?

Joe, From Vintage? I could use some of the bullet connectors like the ones in your pics. Maybe ten pairs male and female? If you buy a quantity of 25 or 100 of each male and female, I'd love to split them with you. I believe you (we) are looking for the 4mm variety: Male bullet connectors and sleeves: SB1 (18-16 AWG) Female bullet connectors and sleeves: SS1 (18-16 AWG)

I don't know if they are a suitable fit, but Dorman has some wiper motor bushings in their HELP line. P/N 49450. Surely not as good of a fit as what 240Z Rubber has, but if you get stuck, you might be able to figure out a way to make these work?: https://www.dormanproducts.com/p-32473-49450.aspx

Joe, No problem. Thanks for considering it anyway. There would be a little bit of stuff I could use from Vintage as well if you still want a piggyback. And one other place that hasn't hit this thread yet is Cycle Terminals (http://www.cycleterminal.com/) Interesting your comment about Eastern Beaver though. I found that one to be the least cycle specific of the three sources. I also found them to be the ones with the best collection of Yazaki parts (which is what Datsun used almost exclusively throughout). Some of the Yazaki stuff can be sourced from other sources and it's almost identical. But then there is some Yazaki specific stuff that doesn't cross well.

Oh, and I believe the tang is always supposed to be positively engaged in the slot. It's not like it only snags the slot when running in reverse. It's always engaged.

I believe the tang is bent 90 degrees. But do note that I've only ever seen pictures. The ones I've seen in person were all broken. Namerow, good luck with the spring rewind. Maybe your new spring is parking, but you just can't tell. It's not a huge difference from the broken spring (aka "normal") operation. FSM says the normal operation is ninety-six degrees of sweep, and the "rise up angle" is five and a half degrees. Maybe you just can't tell the difference?

No, no, no!! Haven't you heard any of the advice about retirement? You need to start saving BEFORE retirement. If you wait until then to start saving old bearing races and pieces of tubing, then by the time you get to retirement, it'll be too late. You need to start working on that junk drawer of assorted shite NOW. If you start now, it will grow. And by the time you get to retirement, it'll be full and you'll have every size you need!

How do you know?

Namerow, Don't know how your music wire project is turning out, but I was at a parts store today and spied the spring that I think could be modified to replace the original clutch. Dorman's HELP line P/N 59207 is a blister pack of assorted throttle return springs. To my eye, one of them looks pretty close to the dimensions of the wiper clutch spring. Don't know if you have HELP stuff in the Great White North, but it looks like this. The second one from the left:

Told ya so! And it's about time!! I have the A-Frame design, but I don't think they even sell that one anymore. You have the H-Frame, right? I hope the fit and stability is better than the A-frame I got. I spent a bunch of time making modifications and improvements to mine before I considered it stable. And as for overloading the hydraulics, there is an overpressure relief built into the jack. I would assume that the rest of the frame was designed and built to some safety factor over what the jack can produce. Assume. Get yourself a face shield. There are times when it just gives me some emotional comfort when the pressure really gets up there. Now you need to start saving all those old bearings and bushings and anything else that might possibly be useful in the future to use as a drift or an anvil. Short stubs of PVC tubing, bolts of assorted length and diameter. Then you need a lathe to make the other sizes that you can't repurpose from anything else. Then you need a milling machine or two to make the things that you can't do on the lathe. It's a slippery slope...

I don't know about the owner's manuals, but the factory service manuals started specifically describing the park feature in 74. Prior to that in the earlier years, they talked about the "rise up angle" being a small angle in addition to the "actual operating angle", but didn't specifically mention "park". I don't have FSM's earlier than that so I don't have any input into the first two years.

Glad to help. I was just the messenger. My buddy @GGRIII figured most of this out. All I did was confirm his analysis when he explained it to me. He was the real brains behind this one! I really do wonder how many Z's there are out there that actually have a functioning original park system. Like I said... Tie breaker at the concourse shows!