2ManyZs

Hmm, could it be in the barley or grain they are feeding them? :stupid: Hate that flatulence, don't you?

Driveshaft bolts shouldn't be a problem. 2-14mm wrenches are all you need. Spin the driveshaft around till one of the bolts is accessible (usually on the bottom when the yokes are angled), usually you can break them loose with an open end wrench but a box wrench will work much better. Once you see how the yokes angle away form each other as you turn the driveshaft you will see how it's done. You might want to spary a little WD-40 or something similar on them as they do tend to get rusted fast a lot of times, not only together but also to the flanges. You can't turn the nut on the inside more than a little at a time, so most of the time I turn the bolt itself on the backside, breaks the bolt loose while you take the nut off. They have a very coarse thread so once they are loose you will find they come off rather quickly.

It sounds as if you may have "soft' valve springs on the head you are using now. The way you describe the problem because you over-rev'd it might suggest your valve springs are well used up. Of course, if your vavlve timing is way off the way you describe you may have slapped a piston and bent the valve. I think the best thing to do is to take the head off and check it over thoroughly for any damage it may have received or if it needs any further attention. If you want to, you will need to make sure both valves are closed before you hook up air to the cylinder. You will probably need at least a portable air tank to give you a supply of air to hold the valve in place while you are working on the valve. One "old timers" way of doing it is to take a soft cotton rope and feed a long length of it into the cylinder, and then raise the piston to top dead center to hold the valve in place. I don't like this method myself, because of the risk of a piece of the rope being caught in the valve and being left in the cylinder when you fire it up. You will need a top end gasket kit or what parts people call a head gasket replacement set. It will have all the necessary gaskets to do the job, Head gasket, intake gasket, valve cover gasket, thermo housing gasket and the like. Next question is why is the valve timing off? You will need to correct this or all your repair work may be pointless. If you have a stetched chain ort a bad tensioner you may as well take off the front cover while you have the head off and replace the timingchain and tensioner at the same time and correct your valve timing issue.

Ok, let's see if I get this right. :cross-eye L-20 block is the 2 litre block that was offered in the Fairladys. PS-30 cars? Y-70 head was a head offered in New Zealand/Australia. According to info on the Datsun Garage web site they may have been a higher compression head than what we had here in the US at the time and possibly made to run leaded gas. Hmm, wonder where this came from originally? I think I'm correct on this, but I'll need corroboration on which model or models had the L-20 as original equipment. Perhaps we can get Alan to post from his research collection the differences in the heads used between the Japanese home market cars and the export cars that were sent to Aus/NZ and the UK. I'm curious as to how many different ones were used and if there were any that were exported to more than one market. We have a good idea of which ones were installed on US spec cars, just wondering aloud if there were a differetn set of heads for home market, US market and European market cars or did they consolidate them? We know this much. Between the L-24, L-26, and L-28 in the US there were 7 different heads used. E-31, E-88, N-42, N-47, P-79, P-90, P-90A There was also an E-30 on the L-20 Fairlady version as well. Aus/NZ had three types of heads used: Y-70, E-80, and the E-88. So how many other heads are there?

All depends on what kind of contest you are having doesn't it? Just a gear change would be enough to have the 280 out front if it's going to be a short run. Longer run would mean more HP AND gearing changes to optimize what you have. On a road course I would say it would be a near dead heat in stock form. One has more power and better brakes, one has less weight and perhaps better handling as a result of it. Of course one of the biggest factors is the loose nut behind the steering wheel.:cross-eye

Not sure if it is or not, I meant the early 240sx motor, I think they called it the KA24? Doesn't matter, don't have a Roadster....yet.....:stupid:

Thanks Rob, just had to do that didn't ya??:tapemouth I think that might be just a little too much. Been considering a one of the early 200sx motors though, a lot easier to find here in the US.

Just thinking that engine would look just about right in the engine bay of a 1600 Roadster. Hmmmmmmm. And I know where I could get the roadster....... So many choices...:tapemouth

Only two ratios were offered here in the US as far as I know. 3.36 and 3.54 were the only ones that were from the factory. The 75 280 was the first to use an R-200 unless the late 74 1/2 260 had one as well. Would need confirmation on that from someone who knows the late 260's better than I. Only reason I would balk at buying the Nismo LSD unit for a price approaching 750 would be that it might be possible to purchase a Quaiffe unit for nearly the same price. The prices on them have been falling as more and more of them are available. At one time they were over 1K each here in the US, last time I priced one they were nearing the 800 dollar mark. There has been a lot of debate on the pros and cons of the LSD versus the Quaiffe unit. I guess it boils down to what you can afford and find when you need one. Sounds to me like you are planning a V-8 swap. Probably the best source for information on V-8 swaps is www.hybridz.com if that is what you are planning.

Classic Datsun Motorsports has them also, for a lot less than these on Ebay. I think they were 170 bucks on their web-site.

At the price it is right now, it's a good deal. If it starts getting up near the 600+ range it would be a little harder to justify. Only good thing is this one is a brand new unit. If I had an R-200 sitting here that needed one I would be bidding against you. :tapemouth If you really want one I say go for it. Good luck.

There are LSD's available if you can find them. They are starting to be hard to find. Nissan competition may still have some. Another option will be a Quaiffe, they aren't much more expensive than the LSD's and are a geared diff like the Torson units. Last I knew the LSD's were in the 750 dollar range and the Quaiffe's were about 900.

Guycali, after looking at your pics I would say you are in pretty good shape. The cave-ins were probably caused by someone who didn't know how to jack up a Z properly or maybe putting it up on a lift with their eyes shut. If the rails are solid, no weak areas that you can find, I wouldn't worry about them. The only area you need to work on will be the seam across the front on the passengers side. The seam where the floor pan welds to the firewall is what is rusting out. You will probably need to get rid of all the loose rust flakes, and see how far the rust has progressed. If you can keep it in a small area, maybe a couple inches wide, I would suggest POR-15 on what is there and a small patch panel on one or possiby both sides. You could probably use a block of wood and hammer out the caved-in section of the floor pan on the drivers side form inside the car. All in all, it looks pretty good. Not perfect but far from what others have seen.:cross-eye If the floor pans have no rust on the inside I would just repair the one rusted out area and POR-15 them good inside and out.

Some of the newer cars did use an R-200 but they used a different stub axle flange for use with CV joints. Some of them can be changed and a few I think are not compatible at all. Or require more work than is feasible. I would look for one from a 280 or 280Zzx up to 83. Keep in mind that some of the 280Z's used an R-180 though. I believe some of the 77-78's used the R-180 but am not sure if they all did. Probably be a lot cheaper to look for one from a ZX if possible. They started offering a LSD in 87 but I think those are the rears that are the hardest to swap because of the stub axle flanges.

If the water control valve is not working as it should, it will vapor lock on a cool day. The water control valve is intended to shut off the water at about 70 degrees if I remember right. So if it is not working, it won't matter what the temp is outside. So I would suggest blocking off the water first, see what happens, and then take another step. If you do more than one item at a time, you really won't know what was causing the problem. It is possible to get the flat tops to run decent. They just aren't as easy to work with as the round tops. You should be able to pick up a decent set of round tops for 100 bucks or so. That will save you a lot of money over the ZTherapy carbs, although you never know what condition the carbs you are buying are in. If you look around enough you should be able to find a decent set of round tops. But, if money is a problem, try to work with what you have first. It may not be as hard as you think to get yours to run with a little tinkering. You may also have a vaccum leak somewhere that is affecting things to. You say you have begun to de-smog the car, so I'm wondering if there may be a vaccum leak somewhere. Make sure you have everything blocked off completely. There are enough people here to help with questions, sooner or later we will hit on the right combination.

Sounds to me like something may be wrong in the AFM. Did you take the plastic cover off the potentiometer on the side and see if there is any corrosion in there? I believe the potentiometer( I think that's what they call it) controls a lot of the functions in the FI, as the AFM opens up it moves the arm across the contacts to signal the ECU. Be sure the arm is in contact and there is no corrosion present. Might not hurt to spray it down with some electrical contact cleaner and see what happens then. As far as the fuel pump goes, it should get the same voltage supply at all times, as I believe it is powered off the ignition switch. You may have a short in the wiring or a bad connection somewhere. There should be a relay on the kick panel on the passengers side for the fuel pump also. Hard to give a good clear answer since I no longer have my 75 280 or my Factory service manual. I'm just kinda guessing.

I normally left the hose from the block to the air cleaner connected and blocked all the other hoses off. Best to let the crankcase vent if possible. Unless you are using a different style of air cleaner. Then it might be best to put a filter of some type on it at the block. Just my opinion.....

Motorsport Auto has a complete kit to put A/C in. It's a bit expensive, but not bad considering what you get. No more 2 windows open at 60mph. It also has an upgraded rotary compressor which will work much better than the original style compressor.

First item before anyone can answer your question is which carbs are you running? If you are running the flat top carbs you may need the extra pump. If you are running the round top early carbs I would say you could do without one of the pumps. 73's came with only the mechanical pump from the factory, but because of cold start issues and vapor lock problems with the flat tops they recalled the cars and installed the electric pumps. If you are running the round tops I would say you could do without the electric pump and just run the mechanical pump. The electric is no more prone to failure in my experience than the mechanical pump. I know this doesn't really answer your question. If you are still running the flat tops, my first bit of advice would be to block off the water to the carbs and try it with just the mechanical pump. Blocking off the water should help cure any vapor lock problems and you should be able to go with just the mechanical pump, the electric pumps (especially stock replacements) are a bit expensive. To check your electric pump, just unhook the fuel line before the mechanical pump and run it into a gas can and turn on the key, if you have no gas it is the electric pump that is not pumping. While you have it unhooked you can then take the fuel line off the fuel rail and run it into the gas can and turn over the engine to see if the mechanical is pumping any fuel.

Don't think you would have to take out the dash to get the switches out. Might need to be a contortionist to get your hand up behind the dash while laying on your back on the floor though. It would be easier to take out the heater control panel and go through there if you can't reach them from below. Taking the heater control panel out isn't an easy job by any means, but it sure beats taking out the whole dash. And you will still have to work by feel most of the time as you won't be able to see what you are doing once you get your hands in there. Good luck.

Here is a pic of the flares I was wondering about. I haven't seen any here in the states that go back on the lower end of the quarter like these before. Most all the ones available in the US are either just the fender lip or quarter panel replacement types. These go from the dog leg area to the rear bumper mount are to make it a smooth transition from the stock body work into the flare. Anyone know who makes these? I believe the car on Ebay was in Australia.

I don't think I've ever seen complete or even sections of wiring harnesses for any Z's advertised for sale. You might try calling MSA or Classic Datsun Motorsports, they might know of someone who can help. CDM might be the best, since they were involved in the Z car store restorations done by Nissan a few years ago. They would possibly be the best place to start looking, as they may know of someone who can reman a wiring harness or they might do it themselves. You can find their link to their web-site in the web-links section here. Good luck.

I know I'm going to be chastised for this. I just recieved a new Summit Racing catalog and lo and behold, in the "ricer-boy" section they have colored bulbs from a company called Matrix. They have 1157,1156,194,211-1, 67,912(168), 10x36 dome light, 8x28 dome light in purple, amber, blue, green, or red. I'm not sure but I think the 194's or 168's might work in gauges, but you would need to check the original bulbs to find out for sure. They are $4.95 a pair, so you really need to check the bulb size before you buy. They also have them in a higher output bulb, but they are 6.95 each and up.:sick: I know how we look down on some of these "ricers" but they might have a couple things that we can use. :stupid:

The front crank pulley or damper. They had three different pulleys available if I remember right, a one groove, two groove and a three groove damper. L series used a one piece pulley/crank damper unit while some other manufacturers use a two piece set where the pulleys are bolted to the damper as a separate unit.

But, what is he trying to say? :devious: