SteveJ

Well, you could try contacting them. They have a Facebook page and website. From encountering Pete Brock in person, he seems like a really nice guy, and Gayle is a sweetheart on the Facebook page.

Okay, now that we've confirmed the year, perhaps I might have the time to describe diagnostics for you problems. Of course, the big challenge is remembering to do it.

It looks like you have a pretty good starting point. Good luck.

Jim Cook died many years ago. I read posts on various boards that his widow, Sandy, was doing some business. Don't expect to find his old kit anywhere.

I'm not sure whether or not the Honda upgrade is as "drop in" for 73 on due to the intermittent feature. I had a chance to glance at the OPs profile, and it lists a 73.

Year? They all aren't wired the same.

I just pointed you in the right direction. You did the real problem solving.

SU carburetors aren't that complex. If those are what are on the car, you can probably rebuild them yourself. Of course, that isn't accounting for some of the wear that can happen in the carburetors. Anyway, rebuild kits from MSA are $26 each. A similar kit from Black Dragon is $20 each. I have SUs on my 73. The car had been sitting for 2 years. I got it running again this weekend with only minor fiddling with the carburetors.

No such animal. The 280Z model years were 1975-1978. The 280ZX was 1979-1983, and the 300ZX (Z31) was from 1984-1988.

I'd have to look at the wiring diagrams to be sure, but it sounds like a grounding issue to me.

Atlanta area Z owners: Spring Nissan Showdown Gwinnett Place Nissan 2555 Pleasant Hill Road Northwest Duluth,GA 30096

A lot of people go by this guide.

Articles are here. The link to the wiper article is here.

This is one way.

Which of the three tanks are you talking about? There are the 70-74 tank, 75-76 tank, and 77-78 tank. The 75-76 tank would fit all years and provide baffles for the fuel injected Zs, but I believe it has a different fuel level sending unit. I'm not sure whether or not the early sender would work with it. It's not a one-size fits all. Just look at the effort esprist goes through to get parts made and marketed. Unfortunately, the Z was a relatively low volume car compared to most of the muscle cars. It's not an effort for the faint of heart.

There is a thread floating around here about the panel rivets/pins/whatever they are called for a Ford. I bought a box of 50 on eBay for less than what it cost for 10 Datsun rivets. The only problem was that I needed to ream out the holes slightly for the rivets. It was worth the extra effort, though. Here's the eBay link.

Get good with wiring. You can source a lot of connections from http://www.vintageconnections.com. He even has a link to a source for wire.

You can get most of the replacement connectors that you might need at http://www.vintageconnections.com.

You could always bench test it. A mechanic I know was having issues doing the swap for a customer. The Honda wiper motor kept blowing a fuse. He gave me another wiper motor he had, and I created a setup with 2 lantern batteries and clip leads. I was able to replicate the running and the parking feature with that. It turned out he gave me the only Honda wiper motor that would work with the swap. Are the wire colors the same as in Dave's write-up?

Billy, I'm glad you're doing well in Georgia. Are you going to be at the Mitty? By the way, I believe there is a show & shine set up at Gwinett Place Nissan on May 6. I should get more details at the next Georgia Z Club meeting.

The Nissan part number looks to be 27984-B0700. You could always call Courtesy to see if they can look it up. (Of course, your local Nissan dealer might be willing to look it up, too.)

Well, after I got back from the car show, I removed the valve cover & spark plugs. I put oil in each cylinder & all over the cam. I put back on the valve cover and went to turn over the engine with the starter, only to find that I forgot to keep the trickle charger plugged in. Whoops, dead battery. The voltage was too low to use the bigger charger, so I put on the trickle charger for a few minutes. After I got the battery up to 10 volts, I switched over to the big charger to recharge the battery. After a couple of hours charging, I used the starter to turn over the motor. I then put in the plugs and attached the wires. I sprayed in some starting fluid and cranked the engine. It fired but soon died. That wasn't too surprising for two years sitting dormant. I used a little more starting fluid and got the car started again, only to die again quickly. Only this time I saw it has spit out some gas. I then coaxed She Who Must Be Obeyed (SWMBO) to crank the engine while I watched. I saw the gas spitting out and pulled the float vent tubes from the air cleaner & plugged them with my fingers. SWMBO cranked the engine again. It sputtered and spit like crazy. SWMBO turned off the car and went back inside. She was done with the smell of gasoline for the day. I moved the plunger up and down in the back carb, but I couldn't get it to move much on the front. Heck with that. I pulled the dome off and moved the piston up and down. Then I put the dome back on. I reattached the vent tubes, crossed my fingers and tried again. The engine cranked, fired and ran! Woo hoo! Success! I yelled, "It's alive! It's alive!" (Young Frankenstein reference) Now I can go to setting the timing and taking care of the myriad of issues that need to be addressed before putting her back on the road. (The 73, not SWMBO) What's more expensive than fixing up a Z car? Fixing up more than one Z car.

I finally installed the 280ZX distributor in my 73. I'll test it tomorrow after Caffeine & Octane.

Denny, there are two ways to find out. You can buy the parts fiche CD from this site, thereby supporting this site financially, or you can go to carpartsmanual.com and find the correct part number for your car.