MrMarcDude

(78 280z) Man, i am totally stumped. I am cleaning, and rebuilding my engine and i am totally stuck here. I got off the oil pump, but for some reason the dist. does not wanna budge. I totally removed the two bolts that secure the "mount" to the front cover. I pull, and tug, but the distributor just stays there. It spins around in circles freely, but has no movement up or down. Is there something i have to remove to get it off? All of the pulley's are still on, except for the fan pulley. I am stuck like a fly on fly paper. Thanks for the help guys!

Today, as i was driving on insterstate 780 with my girlfriend heading from vallejo toward Benicia I witnessed an accident RIGHT in front of me. 780 is a two lane interstate from vallejo to benicia. I was in the right lane, and there was a toyota carolla in front of me. A chevy suburban was merging into my lane from an onramp. I started noticing that the toyota was not slowing down to let this guy into the lane. They were about 2 feet from eachother when the carolla slammed on his brakes (obviously locked them), slid to the right shoulder, overcompinsated, and flew left across BOTH lanes, and smashed into the center divide head on, did a 180, then stopped. Luckly there were absolutely no cars around us. Only a toyota 4 runner about half a mile back. I pulled off to the shoulder and jumped out to see if everybody was ok. For some reason my girlfriend was screaming at me to get back in the car so we could get to benicia for some motorcycle show/gathering. After checking to make sure everybody in the car was ok (two elderly people, and a middle aged female, and what appeard to be her son) I called 911 and helped the people push thier car off to the shoulder. Oddly enough the car STARTED and ran just fine. Which suprised me with the extent of the damage on the car. But i reccomended that they sit tight until the emergency crew arrived (about 2 minutes) just to make sure everything was ok. Once they arrived me and my girlfriend headed off knowing they were in good hands. The really cool part was on our way back home we saw all four of them at a gas station parked waiting for a tow truck (ended up cracking the radiator). I guess after the paramedics left they acctually drove the car down the freeway, and pulled into the station just near the next off ramp. The people were very greatful. One thing that i noticed that really irritated me was the fact that not ONE other person stopped to help them! The guy in the suburban stopped a few hundred yards up the road, but just took off. So anyways, just wanted to share my little story with you guys, and give all of you a friendly reminder to be safe, and pay attention while driving your wonderful Z's (and any other car for that matter).

Have you checked the electrical contacts to make sure there isnt allot of corrosion/ oxidation? That could very easily foul it. You meantioned it being in a hurricane. Maybe the moisture shorted out something and it just needs to be dried out?

The rim spins a full 1-2 revolutions inside the tire before the car even budges

Man, after working on my z in my driveway for the past 2 or so weeks i have begun to notice something. Damn near EVERYBODY has owned one! There has not been a day where i have not had somebody come up to me, and start up a conversation about how they used to have one when they were a kid, and how much they enjoyed it. I would have never thought I would get this much attention . My car is even pretty beat up lookin. Its silver with pitted chrome dish rims, and a primered drivers door. Even though its lookin like hell right now everybody seems to like it. Even a few of the local police officers have stopped by to check it out. One of em said "Yeah, i was hearing around the station that there was a kid working on a Z at *** **** St. So i thought i would come and check it out." I just think its a great thing! I would never get any looks while i was replacing parts on my 1991 geo metro. It makes me wonder whats in store for when i start driving it! Do you guys ever get this around town?

http://www.arizonazcar.com/bump.html Is that what your looking for? I have a 280 with the disgustingly huge crash bumpers. I was acctually looking to completely remove them also. I think it gives it a very agressive racy look. While skimming around one night i can across these babies. They arent expensive at all.

Thanks allot guys. So basically i can do without it? The reason i am asking is because I am looking to move the ignition switch to the center console where the ashtray is. I'm never gonna use it because i dont smoke. Plus, there is no way in hell i would let anybody smoke in my "baby" and make her smell all bad. I was going to make a mount where i can attach the lock/switch assembly to. I think its gonna be quite cool because it will be hidden for both styling, and theft issues. On top of that im going to hide a switch that i got at the shack that is radio to cut off electrical power to the fuel pump. Should be pretty fun, and should keep me busy while im getting up the money to buy my N42. BTW- The switch that i got is rated to take up to 12v and 30A. Will this be sufficient? Thanks again guys

Hey guys, I took the ignition switch out of my z so my dad could make me a new key (he used to be a locksmith and still has all of his tools. Damn P.O. lost the ignition key :mad: ) While looking at it I noticed two wires going into a small housing on the left side of the switch with bullet type connectors on them. One of them is kinda torn up (P.O. maybe?) and i was wondering what do these wires control? Thanks a bunch guys! Previous owners..... cant live with em, can't shoot em!

KYTELER- Those rims with the black center are absolutely beautiful! I was set on getting a set of all black wheels that barely fit my car (78 280z) but after seeing those, and knowing they will fit. I have changed my mind. Great work man :classic:

I dont know why, but it somewhat reminds me of a spaceship

Please, spare this wonderful car, and shoot the owner!

Well, i was working on the z's cylinder head today to check it for cracks. I found two right by the valves in the 3rd, and 4th cylinders. No biggy i got a N42 with everything on it for 120 bux. What really sucks is while I was cracking the cam tower bolts loose (i know its a big no no, but the head is unusable anyways) I pulled as hard as i could then finally the sucker snapped loose. But, in the process my hand went flying toward one of the other towers at full force. 50% of my left pinky nail is completely ripped off, and there is a nice chunk of fingerprint missing. On the ring finger next to it there is a nice sized cut. Man working on cars is fun, but not when crap like this happens. It majorly sucks because i play the guitar. Looks like this will slow me down a bit *sigh* BTW- typing this sure was interesting with a giant wad of gauze wrapped around my pinky

my car is a 78. Yeah, it is the collapsable unit. It looks pretty new too. Isnt hard or anything. Although allot of the stuff on my car is suprising me. Like the floor pans under the carpet are in absolute mint condition. So is the carpet. I dont like the dark blue so im gonna swap it out for some black carpet from too intense. looks like they sell good stuff. The vinyl on the rear wheel wells and shock towers are mint too. gotta love a california car. Best of all there is not one spot of rust on this thing. I went tearing through the entire car. Top, bottom, under carpets, wheel wells, everywhere. Not a spec. Once I get the N42 ill acctually be able to drive it. I cant wait!

Thanks allot man. As i was cleaning through the rear tire well today i acctually found the missing part. It had the little tabs broken off so ill still have the buy a new one. Super cheap so its no problem. Man, this car comes with one funky lookin spare

Hey guys. I just recently gave my interior a good look through, and i noticed that on the passengers side interior door handle, that black cover piece is missing. You know the thing that is behind the handle in the little dish? Thanks guys

hey man thanks allot! :classic:

Hey guys. I was taking apart my engine today to check on the head. And i noticed that the PO (dipshit) had completely wrapped the big hose that is between the air flow meter, and the intake manifold (FI 78 280z) with duct tape. Unwrapping the tape showed that the hose was damn near shredded. Does anybody know where I can buy a new one? Also, do you know where i can buy a new dipstick for the auto transmission? Thanks allot guys

Thanks guys. The guy wants 400 for it. He said the only thing thats wrong with it is that it has a cracked head. But, he has one he can give to me when i buy the car. It has brand spankin new injectors. The body has no dents, or dings. It is totally straight, and the original paint is flaking. Which is fine because I am getting it painted black w/ red racing stripes. There is absolutely NO rust on this thing. Its crazy. Not even surace rust. The car is in pretty good shape. It has cracks in the dash, but im just gonna get a cap. I'm getting the seats re-done. All n all this looks like a great car for the money.

Hey guys, I have been lurking around this forum for a couple weeks now just searching, and reading posts, and i think its fanstastic. So, I've decided to sign up. Plus, it looks allot more.... lets say... "grown up" than z car.com. There is a guy that owns a shop, and has several z's. I went hunting and found that he has a 78 280 fuel injected z. Its totally stock, but i noticed that the speedo goes up to 160 freakin mph. Will that car REALLY go that fast? I've seen allot of newer cars that have 200mph speedo's but top out at 140 because they have a regulator of some sort. Also, where is a place online that i could buy a new, or used 5 speed? The car im getting has an auto, but i wanna swap to a 5 speed. Thanks guys