Jeff G 78

Wow, a slick top '96 has to be pretty rare, no?

If the wheels are locked, the dolly and Z car become a fixed 4 wheel trailer with a 91" wheelbase. Think of a hay wagon or a kid's Radio Flyer. If the front axle didn't pivot, the tires would skid around every corner. By unlocking the steering column, the front tires stay locked to the dolly, but allow the car to articulate like the wagon's front axle. Uhaul makes it very clear that the car must be loaded forward with the column unlocked. I tried it once with a car backwards before I knew better and it was terrible to tow. It's no different than a flat tow. Some dollies might have steering, but none that I've used. I know Uhaul dollies are fixed.

Either drain the tranny or make a plug from an old driveshaft yoke. The driveshaft must be removed, but otherwise it will tow fine. I towed my car 750 miles when I drug it home from Georgia in 1990. Do not put the car backwards on a dolly. The steering column must remain unlocked so the car can steer around tight turns. If not, it drags and binds.

It looks like a lost cause to me, but ANYTHING can be repaired if you have the time and money. If it were virgin rust, it would be easier, but once someone does a hack repair job, the restoration becomes much harder. I think it's time to pull the plug on this poor Z and let it live on part by part. BTW, can someone edit the first post so the thread is easier to read? It's annoying to scroll back and forth that far.

My DD is an old, rusty '89 Toyota 4x4. It has 255,000 miles and still runs great. It's getting pretty ugly, but I just can't give it up until it dies. My wife has a Toyota 4Runner.

In Michigan, we have so few days per year to drive these cars, ANY drive is a pleasure drive.

What Carl said is about what I was told a few years ago by Hagerty. In my case, I drive it to work on sunny days when it isn't too warm outside (no A/C). In May and June, this could be every day for several weeks. Once the hot summer arrives, I might drive it once a week. Throughout the northern driving season, I might take it to work 40 times at 50 miles per round trip. I do work as an automotive engineer, so every day could technically be a "show it to the co-workers" day.

Interesting. I thought I talked to someone there once who told me the opposite. If that's the case, I might have to switch to them. I KNOW I'd get bent over with regular insurance if anyone ever hit me.

Well, I went ahead and removed the Web Racing camshaft and associated parts and returned everything to stock. My Z once again purrs along at an 800 rpm idle and I have 18" of vacuum. Thanks to all who helped me out. I guess I will store the cam, rockers, pads and springs for now. Someday, I might switch to a MegaSquirt, TEC2, or even triple carbs, but until then I'll live with the stock cam and a properly running engine.

I would like to use them for my Z, but I don't technically qualify. While I only put around 3000 miles per year on my car, most of that mileage is to work on nice, sunny days. I don't have the time to drive it around and not go anywhere, so I am forced to drive it to work if I want to get any seat time in it. My Z is always in a garage and I have a DD so I qualify other than the to and from work rule.

'81-'83 is an F54 block. I believe it is cast in the RH side of the block.

Depends which 280ZX block it is. If it's a '81-'83, then you have the flat top pistons. Those with an E88 head should give you around 10:1 CR (depending on other work it could be a bit more or a bit less). If you have a '79 or '80 ZX block, then no, it's just a 2.8L with 8.3:1 CR.

If they are dynamic balanced, it shouldn't matter. If you only had them static balanced, then start with the lowest weight ones in the front like you mentioned. Otherwise it doesn't matter. If the car is that sensitive, something else is wrong.

From what I remember, there is a two wire harness to the trans on the RH side that needs to be connected together before it will start. It is two bullet connectors. Heck, they might even be one male, one female. If so, plug one into the other. The other set of wires goes to the reverse switch on the trans. Don't get them confused. EDIT: The wires you are looking for will be in the tunnel near the trans mount and the reverse switch. You can download the FSM from xenonS30.com if you want to look at the wiring diagram.

Tom, on your '78, the paint under the wood false floor in the cargo area will be the closest to the original color. Chances are good that it has been covered up for the past 30 years and still looks like it did the day the car rolled down the line. That said, I don't think the exterior of your car is the original color. Nissan never made a teal Z. That color looks to be from the mid to late eighties when it was a popular OEM color. Are you looking to match the current, or the original color? Take a quality picture of the cargo floor paint and post it. Someone will be able to tell you what the code is.

I have a follow-up question for Jon or Rob. I will degree the cam as soon as I can get a degree wheel, but in the meantime, do you think that low compression and low vacuum are more likely caused by a retarded cam or an advanced cam? Also, how much would the cam have to be off to cause a 33% drop in compression test readings and a 45% drop in vacuum? I'm just trying to get a feel for whether or not I could get it to run any better with the stock gear until I can get a Nissan Comp gear. If the cam is currently retarded, I can advance it 4 or 8 degrees with the stock gear's adjustment holes. If it's currently advanced, I'd have to back it off a tooth which would be (if my math is correct) 18 degrees in hole 1, 14 degrees in hole 2 or 10 degrees in hole 3. Normally, I would simply order the gear and wait for it to arrive, but we have a Z meet this weekend and I don't want to miss it. It's unlikely that I'd get the gear in time to get it andjusted and back together by Saturday morning. If I can't get it close, then I'll hold off until I get the gear, but if I can get it in the ballpark I can at least drive it to the meet.

Here are the specs. Web Racing grind #91 It is a new cam with stock base circle .450/.450 lift 260°/260° duration 238°/238° duration @0.050" Their website doesn't list it, but I'm pretty sure I remember the lobe centers are the same as stock at 108°/111° Thanks Jon and Rob. I will do a sanity check to make sure nothing is way off and then pick up a degree wheel. I do have a stopper and dial indicator. I will likely swap back to the stock cam until I figure out what to do. Carbs or a new FI system are not in the budget right now. Is there any harm in running the stock cam with Schneider springs?

I am at a loss and need some help. Here's the background on my car: I rebuilt the engine a few years ago and it has about 6500 miles on it since the rebuild. It has an N47 head and flat top pistons. The head was brand new when I built the motor. It was a takeoff head that had been sitting on a shelf since 1977. It didn't even have a wear pattern on the cam when I got it. I had a new Web Camshaft that I was planning on using, but chose to rebuild the engine with the stock cam that came with the head until I knew it ran right to take a variable out of the equation. The engine ran great for two years. I had 180psi across all cylinders, <10% leakdown, 18" vacuum at idle and it got between 23 and 26 mpg on 93 octane. I drove it to the Cleveland convention last October and then parked it for the winter. Over the last few weeks, I began upgrading to the mild performance cam, springs, and rockers. First, I pulled the rockers off and swapped the springs. Once that was done, I set the engine to #1 TDC and painted match dots on the chain and cam gear. I wedged the chain, pulled the gear and slid the old cam out. I slid the new cam back in and turned it so that the dowel was at 12 o'clock. I put the gear on the chain with the dots matching and the cam's dowel lined up with the #1 hole in the gear. I reinstalled the cam gear, lash pads and rockers. I set the lash to the cold specs and buttoned up the engine. Once the radiator was installed and all the fluids were filled, I fired up the engine. It popped right off, but wouldn't idle at all. I had to adjust the idle screw from almost all the way in to almost all the way out to maintain a ~800rpm idle. The engine revved smoothly and sounded fine, but idle was unstable and "lopey". I drove the car around a bit and it ran OK, but felt weak and continued to idle poorly. Once warmed up, I checked the vacuum and did a compression test. Both were bad. My vacuum was stable at only 10" and the compression was between 115 and 120psi on all cylinders. :mad: The engine is obviously down on power and testing confirms that something is wrong, but I don't know what it is yet. I still need to recheck valve lash now that it has run a bit, but they were all set properly when cold. I know I set the cam timing correctly by lining up my paint dots, but that's the only thing I can come up with that would cause these conditions. I will also check leakdown on at least a few cylinders to see if it's sealing properly. Any ideas as to what is off? I have rebuilt many engines and I was very careful to make sure timing was right, so I really doubt I messed it up, but SOMETHING is obviously wrong. If the timing IS off, I hope I didn't get any contact :tapemouth. The only other thing I can come up with other than an error by me is if the cam was made wrong. If I can't figure anything else out, I will get a degree wheel and see if it matches the specs.

I am running zero offset wheels and the 225/50R16 tires rub on the rear wheel lips and the front valence when turning and backing up. I have been told that a +6mm offset keeps this tire size from rubbing. I have rolled my rear fender lips, but I need to notch the sheet metal flange and roll them more. My car is lowered with Tokico springs and Tokico Illumina struts.

The speedometer in every Z car I've owned has read high. Ignore the speedo and check the odometer over a long highway trip. Watch the roadside mile markers and see how they compare over as many miles as possible. My speedo reads about 5-10mph high on the highway and yet my odo is exactly correct. Last year I checked it on the drive to the Cleveland Z convention. Over close to 100 miles on the Ohio Turnpike, my odo was withing 1/10th of a mile. I have 225/50R16 tires on 7" rims on my 78 and they rub. Diameter should not be larger than stock or you will have trouble with 225 or wider tires.

Nice Z Squeeks!

That's really cool Dave. Thanks for the road info. Something didn't look right when I saw no signs, no yellow centerlines and no guard rails. Makes sense now.

Welcome! You must share the pictures with us. Think of it as a membership fee.

Very cool road. From the 350Z footage, at appears to be a road to nowhere. I saw no road signs either. Is it patrolled much? It also looked to be relatively windy from the first vid, but the wind turbines were all stationary. Seems odd.

Wow, that's nice.