Dave WM

that black and no smoke? hmmm that seem odd. and they all look like that?

way rich. OR wrong heat range. is it burning oil (blue smoke) or gas (black smoke). 1st thing is to get a compression test to gauge the overall health of the compression. is this a FI or carb? If FI check all the sensors/fuel pressure/connections/grounds. Check for leaking cold start valve. fuel pressure is critical and must be controlled for FI to work. If carb IDK.

wow, looks nice.

open the hatch after washing look at the flat piece over the tail light area, now look in the corners. See that nice pool of water sitting right where the metal is seamed. Now look at various rusted out Z's same area. Just pop the hatch after rain/wash, wipe it out with a towel. I have heard that AGM batteries work better as far as acid on the surface of the battery (which gets water on it and then drains down the side, hopefully to a well sorted tray and drain tube). the only real surface rust on mine was under the brake master from being striped of paint by the brake fluid. you should drive a better protected modern car on winter roads treated with salts. Worst thing in the world for a Z.

go ahead and get the new foam and seat covers. It will grow a bit on you, but it will settle down also, I am 6'2 also and my hair just barely touches the headliner, I think it settles some after a while. You can't cut the foam down as the covers will not fit right if you do.

don't toss the front bumper, its hard to find esp the rubber parts, those seeking to keep theirs original will want them.

I would guess that getting it wet can promote rust, but its not practical to expect it to never rain. I wash my car but take the time to dry off places where water would just sit, like under the rear hatch. Also take it out after washing for the air and heat to help dry. Make sure your battery tray is sorted so water does not drip off the battery onto the metal underneath it. I would also look to make sure there is no heavy built of organic material under the cowl or around the cowl drains under the fenders. Make sure the windshield does not leak a drop into the interior of the car. see my video on checking for leaks. Dry off chrome around rubber parts that tend to trap water. check under floor mats after rain for wash, see if damp if so find out why and correct. Don't spill brake fluid when topping up master cylinder. keep in a garage if at all possible, avoid leaves falling and getting into places that you cant see, they turn to mulch and keep metal wet, promoting rust. stay off road salt of course.

all that crap has a function, if you take the time to sort it out the car will generally run well, start easy in hot or cold weather. I don't think there are any performance gains by removing. I would suggest you read how it all works, then sort it out. I have a 75 completely OE stock and it runs great.

what ever the FSM recommends. I don't know if using aftermarket products changes things but if they do, then I assume it would be covered in the documentation that would come with the after market products.

Get some new plugs, gap them, while you have the old ones out do a compression check, write down the results for each cylinder, put the new ones in drive it for a week, take pictures of plugs and post. FI or Carbs?

I had the same kind of problem, in fact when I went to buy the car the guy would some times break out the ether to start it. I struggled with an intermittent start up issue for a year, doing all the normal test (check for spark, check for fuel pressure while cranking). Sometime it would just fire right up, I even thought at one time it was a lean mix due to the thermotime not working when it was not really cold (I was desperate). I even went so far as to change to a 85f (think the OE is more like 70f for cut off) hoping the richer fuel mix would be easier to start. I check everything, even did a video where I was convinced it had to be the CSV (seemed to hot restart ok) and of course if fired right up, I had planned to manually fire the CSV to confirm my beliefs, much to my chagrin on the video. It would seem that during the actual testing phase everything worked fine some times and other it would struggle to start (would always start eventually after a lot of on off cranking episodes). I don't recall the specifics as to why I decided to check the switch, prob read on one of the forums under the heading "starting problems". The biggest takeaway was to check the switch out of the circuit where you can really check it closely, this only applies when the problem is intermittent and cant be traced other ways. That's why I prefer to test 1st before replace, if it test fine there is no reason to replace it BUT if you have dead spots where the IGN drops out while in the START position, well certainly that is not good so a case can be made to replace with a KNOWN working switch (hence test before install). May not be the answer but with intermittent you have to sometimes use trial and error approach, or wait for complete failure then you can check easy. here I am getting ready to "prove my point" about the CSV ha

very easy. Just remove the bottom shell of the steering wheel clam shell cover, there are different types of screws so note what goes where and don't miss any. GENTLY remove the plastic bottom only (leave the top in place) of the clam shell. if it resist check for any screws you may have missed. get under there and look with a flashlight. unplug the wire harness from the back of the switch. IIRC there are 2 phillps screws that hold the switch assy to the lock assy (no need to remove any of the lock assy). Maybe a little tight fit, I think I had to use a smallish screwdriver, but not sure. I know it can be done without any further disassembly. TEST the new switch. Always test electrical parts like sensors and switches BEFORE putting into service. This will prevent massive headaches if you happen to get a bad one (it happens). After all where is the last place you would check, why the new part of course if there is a problem. I can not over emphasize this need to test while its out, easy to do, only takes a few minutes. reverse the process with the new switch and done. 30min max if you take your time. Be gentle with the clam shell, old plastic does not take well to rough handling, and do NOT overtighten the screws, its just plastic and will strip easy. just snug it up till you feel some resistance and stop. I still think you should have checked the old switch 1st (remove it and test as in the video). I just like to know for sure something is broken before replacement, but it likely is the cause of the hard start if you can start the car by careful manipulation of the key.

Yes I plan to use OE bushings. I have seen the cut and remove, good method if no press available, I had started that method (burned out the rubber) but after getting the press I wanted to try it out. Good to have other options noted.

Hope so, now pull that switch and test it. You may have a different check to make depends on the year, but if you get the intermittent contacts, then replace it with a new one.

One of the problems IMHO is you have done a LOT of changes, if that is when the problem started up then you have the possibility of multiple points of failure, which if you do have, makes it very hard to find the combo of problems. For future reference, only make one change at a time, make sure everything still works, then make another. that way if something goes wrong you can zero in on the likely suspect.

solinoid connection off (small spade connector on starter Key switch to START Fuel pressure gauge reads 36 psi return to ON and it will slowly drop off since the car did not start. is all that correct? if so try slowly moving from on to full start position see if there is any changes, you are listening/looking for pump sound/pressure to change as if the there could be an intermittent connection between the RUN and START. If all that seems fine its prob NOT the switch. The FSM has a guide that shows the terminals on the back of the switch, with a ohm meter/continuity checker you should be able to confirm proper functionality using the matix provided. If you are still interested in checking the switch (however if you passed the 1-3 checks I doubt its the problem, but could be, I had the same issue but I never did the slow moving from on to start to test for that).

press action

I don't know anything about electric water pumps, but it would make sense that it not run during starting. You want max voltage for the starter, so outside of the fuel pump, seems no other electrical items should be on.

don't forget the RING SNAP #48 without that they prob will not stay in place very well on the lower part of the strut. If you don't have one to look at, its a piece of wire that looks like its made from spring steel, with a eyelet formed on the ends to prevent it from digging into the rubber.

I think its the silent majority.

good argument against aftermarket, they suck, hard plastic and poor fitment, at least on stock 280z strut assemblies. The OE are nice, rubber, and fit well. Make sure you have the large wire clip that fits in the groove on the bottom to keep them snug in place.

so far so good, not a sign of oil, before it would show up on the side of the pan gasket near the back, then drip after a while. completely dry. If you have a persistent leak near the back of the pan, consider this a possible cause. Its a bit daunting to pull that main bearing cap, I don't think I could have gotten it out any other way.

bring it over, press party!! I will fire up the grill and cook some burgers.

retirement is about 6 months away! JK, never know when.

Ok new side seals are in. Bottome is all cleaned up with brake clean so I will have a dry start to compare with. I used the aftermarket style (separate spreaders that get inserted vs the OE imbedded nail type). the old ones did not really want to come out by just picking at them so I ended up pulling the bearing cap, easy after that. Paid close attention to the bevel to avoid digging into the seal. I was sure of the depth by measuring them 1st to see about how much should extend when fully seated, trimed of to about 1/16 with some diag cutters. applied sealant as per the FSM (grey for oil use areas both before installation and after along the pan gasket surface per FSM on the front and rear parting lines). Used one of the comp style gaskets sold by MSA, put it on with the same grey stuff on the pan side, did not over tighten the pan bolts. I generously oiled the lower bearing cap with motor oil before installing and made sure the bearing was properly fitted to the cap, torque to about 37 ft lbs in 3 stages. New filter and oil, disconnected the spark and cranked it until I could see the oil pressure starting to move (pre filled the oil filter about 1/2, hard to fill all the way due to side mount). Reconnected the ign and fired up, oil pressure came right up and no odd sounds (I still worried about that bearing coming out of correct alignment). Too tired to clean up the tools/jacks/mess to finish tonight so will take for a test drive tomorrow, try for a longesh trip and keep an eye out for the oil leak. If this stops it then I can be sure the rear main is ok after my initial fix, if that is the case then when I finsh the 5sp rebuild I will NOT have to pull the clutch and flyhwheel again to look and see, as per seen in the video. IIRC the leak shows up pretty fast from a clean start so one good trip should be the test. if there is a hint of oil, I will pull the clutch/flywheel next time just to see if I can figure out what I am doing wrong. The oil leak presented as oil right at the back of the engine on the side where the starte is, consistent with what appears to be a leak in the snip of the video.