SteveJ

What is the voltage at the battery?

Your assumption about the dimmer switch is correct. Since you have attempted cleaning/repair, your choices appear to be 1. See if Dave can clean/repair it. (If you are confident in your skills, maybe it is beyond his abilities as well.) 2. Buy another switch. (New switches: MSA Black Dragon) After looking at the prices, choice number 1 seems like a REAL bargain, unless you can find a good used switch from ZBarn or other place.

NOW we're getting somewhere. No, you didn't really post a lot, but it shows a lot more thought than indicated in your previous post. The key is knowing what your destination is. After that, you have to research what can be done (ITS, drifter, drag racer, etc.), how it can be done (your own blood and sweat or farm it out), and how much it will cost. Once you have your destination and have mapped out how you're going to get there, a lot of us can help you navigate. For instance, if you want to add a lot of horsepower via a V8 swap, you would be smart to read what other people did over at Hybridz. Also, you'll need to select the transmission you want to use, determine the driveshaft length/type, and procure an R200 rear end (unless you want to tear up an R180). You might want to look at posts from 1fastZ at ZCar.com and Hybridz. He made his own 24 valve head out of 240SX heads and added twin turbos. Now that he has the motor running well, he is finding all of the other weak links in the drivetrain. I follow his posts out of admiration for his innovation and to find out what might wear out on my significantly lower power Zs. Do not expect to have people spoon-feed you. However, if you demonstrate in your posts plenty of effort made to research and try things yourself, you will be amazed at what people will share with you. People have done amazing things with their cars and have expended a lot of time, money, and energy in acheiving their goals. Just expect to have to put in a good-faith effort in learning on your own, and people here will fall over themselves to help you.

You probably won't regret that decision.

Let's break this down. 1. You have high beams. 2. You don't have low beams. 3. If you tested the dimmer switch and didn't have continuity between pin 16 and pin E (hopefully you moved your dimmer switch back and forth to ensure you were putting it in the low beam position), your dimmer switch isn't working. Disassemble the dimmer switch and clean it, or see if you can send it to Dave (Zs-ondabrain) for his cleaning and repair service.

You can get a wiring harness by emailing any Z pick'n'pull that you can find. ZBarn is in Tennessee. Search for it and send Roger an email.

It all depends. If you're pulling a V-8 out of a 75 Mustang II without modifications, you can get more horsepower from building up an inline 6 and putting on triple carburetors. Do some research before asking questions. The quality of your questions indicate you don't really have much of an idea of what you are doing or are considering doing. Go to HybridZ and read a lot. Buy How to Modify Your Nissan/Datsun OHC Engine and How to Rebuild Your Nissan/Datsun OHC Engine. Look into Jags That Run for information on swaps as well. Now if you REALLY want to make your car to go, you need one of these.

Thanks, Arne. It's one of those things that I'm not going to figure out myself, but as soon as you said to check the driveshaft, I realized how that could be the culprit.

I'm sorting out the problems on the 74 260Z I bought last month. Here is one that I need some more help in coming up with a definitive diagnosis. This car has a stock 4 speed and (I assume) a stock differential with stock rear end gears. There are no outward signs that either have ever been replaced. On accelerating through the gears, if I shift from 3rd to 4th around 50 to 55, I get a strong vibration, almost like the car is going to shake apart. If I shift early, say around 40 mph, and accelerate smoothly, the vibration does not appear until I let off the gas some. I could also get the vibration to appear at 35 mph when I let off the gas to prepare to turn. I have looked at the trouble-shooting suggestions in a 73 FSM, a Clymers manual, and a Haynes manual, as well as searching online. Aside from changing the differential gear oil (which I did), it almost sounds like a parts swapping festival until you find the culprit. I'd rather avoid that. I'd appreciate any suggestions to narrow down the trouble area. Thanks!

I looked at the wiring diagram and the instrument harness diagram from the factory service manual. As Beandip said, if the wire was pulled loose from the tach, the car will not run, and it won't have voltage at the coil. The wires of interest are a black wire with a white stripe and a green wire with a white stripe. There is a connector to the tach under the dash. If this came off, the car won't start. I'm going to try to attach a PDF file of the wiring diagram and instrument harness pages. Hopefully these will help with the diagnosis.

Hopefully you're planning on hauling it on a trailer if you buy it. Also, if you do get it, I might be able to help you load it, and I might be interested in some of the parts, too.

That's what I thought. With factory air and leather, it HAS to be a 71 ZX. After all, the ZX was the luxury model.

Heck, I'm old school. I just put in the html code myself. Of course, if I was REALLY old school, I'd still be using a green screen and 300 baud modem...

Yes, the ad was for a 71 240SX when the seller first posted, but I guess the seller finally saw the letter Z some place on the car. As for the clickable link, if you click on the Quote button on that message, you'll see how I formatted the text.

What? Don't you want the 71 240ZX advertised in the Atlanta Craigsist? I mean, it has factory air and good leather. I can't believe this car hasn't sold already since the owner only wants $3000.

To add to what E had to say, be sure to inspect the wires and the cap. I recently picked up a 260Z for a good price because the previous owner couldn't get it started. It turns out that the distributor cap was bad where the coil wire connected to it. Also, check the plugs. If they are fouled, that could prevent starting, especially coupled with a weak spark. Have you noticed any signs of burning oil (blue smoke out the tailpipe, low oil, etc.)? Considering that the car smelled like gas, fuel is probably not the problem. By the way, what exactly did the mechanic mean by the distributor being "loose"? Can you turn it to the left and right? Does the shaft wobble?

Please take this the right way. Do you really expect your car to run decently with bailing wire and duct tape holding things together? Exactly what gaskets did you replace? Have you tried to adjust/balance the carbs? Do you have any idea what your timing is set at? What exactly broke on your distributor? Pictures would be a good idea. Help us help you.

Yes, there are alternatives. Use the search function for seat belts and you'll find plenty of threads. The seat belts being sold by MotorSport Auto appear to be functionally similar to the ones I purchased from Wesco. As a matter of fact, essentially the same generic design can be found in many places. Courtesy Nissan was also selling non-retractable seatbelts. I bought some of those, but I decided that it would be better to have the generic retracting seatbelts. You can see pictures of the seat belt installation in my gallery on this site. As for the price, I don't think it's out of line for seat belts with new webbing. With hardware, Wesco charges $80 per side.

Have you ensured you have continutity going through your high/low beam switch for your low beams? If I am reading the 78 wiring diagram correctly, you should have continutity between pin 16 (red wire with a blue stripe) to pin E.

I was wondering where I downloaded it from.

It turns out I have a gif of a 78 wiring diagram. I'm trying to figure out how to upload it to this site. Edit: Well, I uploaded it to my gallery as a ZIP file. Maybe it will be available for downloading from there.

Find the FSM at carfiche.com.

Mike, I wasn't trying to imply that the auction was fraudulent. I just thought it was humorous that he said the dwell was checked/adjusted. Perhaps he did pay for someone to do that...

There is something strange about the description. To quote: "I JUST HAD A TOTAL SERVICE PERFORMED ON THE CAR. ALL FLUIDS & FILTERS WERE CHANGED, VALVES CHECKED, TIMING & DWELL, BELTS INSPECTED, ETC." Could someone tell me how you check the dwell on an electronic ignition?

First, typing in all capital letters usually represents yelling. I am calm, and I'm not typing in all capital letters. I am trying to help you. Just feeding you an answer does not help you in the long run. Looking at your other posts (which I did before my first post in this thread) leaves me with the impression that you are a novice when it comes to Z cars if not cars in general. I posed other questions to find out your true intent and to try to get you to think about the whole process. You could shove a V8 into a Z. What transmission do you want to mate to that motor? What parts do you think you'll break after your transplant? I've owned a Z car for almost 15 years. I've learned a lot by trial and error (emphasis on error). I've also learned a lot by reading (books and websites) and asking thoughtful questions. The help you need may not be the help you ask for.