SteveJ

He is taking an extended internet break. He was hoping to come down to God's country this spring and visit me. I have an original 240Z tire & wheel that I bought for him.

That must have been pulled out of the bottom of Folsom Lake during the drought.

I have to admit that I haven't been able to get comfortable with the new format, so it has cut back on my posting.

Let's welcome back @NCLarry to the world of Z ownership. He bought a 280Z today.

No, but you'll find plenty that do on eBay. Also at Z Car Depot: https://zcardepot.com/interior/door-parts/door-locks-cylinder-lock-w-keys-70-76.html?search=door+lock

He doesn't always clean the part...

One of the members of the Georgia Z Club bought a short block (IIRC) from Al. He's still getting the car together. I'll try to remember to update on how that engine turns out.

You might try joining ZONC (http://www.zonc.org/) and finding another member with a 280ZX turbo. I would not be surprised to find a shop in Northern California that specializes in Z cars, too.

Wow. I bet you are about to burst with anticipation.

Fortunately for me, the problem was fixed by correcting my first suspicion. However, Cliff (@siteunseen) & Bruce (@Captain Obvious) gave me the input I needed in order to have a path to keep looking in case my first suspect wasn't the root cause. Thanks, guys.

Diagnosis confirmed. I did a test run, and the car is back to running like a scalded dog.

I used it up on that fix. BTW, have you ever noticed how much gasoline attacks nerve endings on sunburned skin?

And.... After doing car repairs, the first rule of troubleshooting a new problem is to inspect the stuff you f***** with. Pay attention to the bend radius.

Fortunately, it is. I'm looking around the house right now, trying to find any energy I can use to go out and work on the car. After I get the car up in the air some, I can maybe get a clue. The good thing is that I stocked up on fuel filters a few years back, just for such an occasion.

He hasn't contacted me in a while, so I don't know if he made that trip. I'll check at the carburetors, but it tends to pull nicely in the lower gears.

Background: I removed the rear bumper from my early 260Z. In order to do this, I had to drop the tank. The larger vent hoses had been replaced some time in the past with regular fuel hoses. Before putting the tank back into place, my friends and I replaced the 5/16 inch lines and fuel filter, the 3/8 inch vent hose and the 1/4 inch vent hose. Apparently I cut the 1/4 inch line a little short, but we got it to the expansion tank. I put the fuel back into the tank and filled it later in the evening. Today I was driving the car around 60 MPH when I noticed a change in the exhaust note going uphill. This was accompanied by a lack of response when I pressed on the gas pedal and some decrease in speed. I stopped the car for a few minutes and tried to get back onto the road. I drove a couple of miles on a surface road. At first the car pulled fine uphill, but it did start losing power later. The engine recovered, and I tried to continue my trip. The ramp was downhill, and the car accelerated nicely to about 74. That was followed by an uphill stretch. The car was losing power and would not respond to throttle inputs. I got off at the next exit, and when I pushed in the clutch, the car died. It restarted immediately, but hesitated a lot. I drove the car around for the next hour to detect trends. It would do okay on the surface roads, even going uphill around 65 or so, but it would lose power going uphill on the freeway with a characteristic lean sputtering sound in the exhaust. I'm going to put the car on the lift and look for kinked fuel and vent lines. Are there any other suggestions from the peanut gallery? Thanks!

I believe there is some truth in what you type. A couple of weeks ago I was getting gas for my 260Z. When I went in to pay, the young man who was the cashier asked me what kind of car it was. I told him it was a Datsun 260Z, and he replied that he thought it was a Ford Pinto.

Well, they are only worth that amount if someone will pay it. Otherwise, they aren't worth a plug nickel.

I just remembered someone else I haven't seen in a while, @IdahoKidd. His profile said his last visit was about a year ago.

First - Diagnose the problems. Do not just throw money at parts at them. Second - With those symptoms, do not try to start the car again. Don't risk hydrolocking the engine (That is when you have water in the cylinders. Water won't compress, so you tend to bend things at that point.) Water in the oil could be a blown head gasket, a cracked head, a cracked block, or even corrosion between the oil and water jackets. You'll need to pull the head and check.

The wiring for the fuel pump is in place. I know Carl Beck has commented on it in the past. There just wasn't a fuel pump in the North American cars, much like we didn't get 5 speeds or AC.

I would tend to agree with Chris' answer. All of the FSM wiring diagrams I have show the BW wire branching off before the fusebox, going through an inline fuse and coming out of the fuse as a green wire. The green wire goes to the fuel pump.

I said I have a collection of springs, and I found one that would keep the door from locking when it's not supposed to lock.

Thank you. There have been many times when I've read where people only did visual inspections of fuses. I have seen a fuse (parking light circuit) that only had a hairline break. You couldn't tell with the naked eye. Now that you have determined that you have voltage at the fuse, go to the hazard light switch. Pop off the connector between the hazard light switch and the dash. Contort yourself in ways that would make a yoga instructor jealous, and look for voltage to ground on both of the green wires on the dash side of the harness. You'll find the green wires on a 6 pin connector, just as I illustrated on the circuit diagram. If you don't find voltage on either side, it's a good chance someone has hacked up the wiring "trying to improve things."

The hazards can work fine, but that doesn't eliminate #3. Did you check the fuses with a meter? Visual inspections don't work. The best way is to pull the fuse and check with an ohmmeter. I linked guides to go by. They have detailed instructions. One includes a wiring diagram of the full system you are diagnosing. Read them and attempt follow them. If you have questions about the guides, ask.