Arne

Yeah, and I have some pictures for you as well.Both the harness in my car and my spare harness have five wires in the regulator connector. See the pictures attached below. (I rotated the images so that they would be oriented the same as yours.) Judging from this, the three wires in the bottom row should be (left to right) solid black, white w/black stripe, black w/white stripe. In yours, the top row appears to have only a yellow wire at the far left. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that the single wire in your car is white. (Remember that most of the white wires on these cars will have yellowed over the years.) The adapter is designed to bridge the white/black to black/white (with diode) and the white to yellow. The solid black is unused. Now as to why someone would hack this up, I don't know. And I really don't know if this has any bearing on your oil pressure gauge problem. It could, though. And it could definitely have a bearing on the non-functioning ammeter. But to fix it, you either want the white wire back into the middle spot on the top row, or you could splice it directly into the yellow one. Either way does the same thing.

Stephan, the picture of the alternator itself looks fine. But I am confused about the extra wire at the connector for the adapter/regulator. The connector on the wiring harness should have five wires going into it - yours has only four, with the probable fifth wire being separate with an aftermarket crimp blade terminal on it. Now, this is not necessarily bad, as the adapter only connects normally to four of the five wires. But your comment that the ammeter doesn't work either gives me pause. Can you clean the black paint off those wires and find out what colors they all are? Also look into the connector on the harness, and see if is looks like a wire has been snipped from there. It would also be helpful if you could identify which colors connect to which terminal in the connector.

They are not the same.

Still sounds like your carbs are too rich, though. Lack of advance won't cause sooty plugs.

But by 12746 (10/70) they changed. Mine are the later style.

No. All were 14", in all markets.

I got the header pulled off the parts car today, and comparing it with this picture from opelbits' gallery, it appears to be a Hooker SuperComp. The only difference is that mine doesn't seem to have the Hooker label braised on the tube. Other than that it seems to be identical. There is a number stamped on the flange - 8111. No idea how that relates to anything. Anyone have any experience with this header? Not that it will make any difference, I'll use it anyway, but I am curious...

It's unanimous so far, I also have the ZX ignition on my car, works very well.

Tom, if the 260Z cooling hoses and piping are the same as the 240Z, all that stuff is available from the dealer, and is surprisingly affordable. I am replacing everything in the cooling system of mine, every hose, pipe and connector. I would also have been surprised if the coolant from the manifold had NOT been gunky. I'm assuming the manifold passages on the '74 260Z are similar to those on the '72 240Z, and I suspect that the Weber manifold adapters block the passages, and so no coolant is flowing thought them, it's just sitting there stagnating. If it were me, in that case I'd just plug the system off at the thermostat housing and the T-fitting. The engine in my parts car turns over nice and freely, but the cylinders have had some ATF in them since last weekend, just because. I'm shooting for swapping it and firing it up over Labor Day weekend. I'll keep you posted.

Oh my, I had no idea. I wonder which style #12746 has? I'll have to check it when I get home. I was planning to save the vinyl from #27602 for spares, but if the pattern is different...

I plan to stay with 14" to keep the total "period-correct" look, but if I were going to use 15", for street use I'd go with the 205/60s myself.

Understood, Randy. I agree that the Enkei caps are not as attractive.Here's a thought - I can't remember if the Appliance wheels have a taper machined at the back side of the center hole or not. But if they do, the caps in the link below may work. They are 2.95" so that they could be pushed through from behind. But you'd need to be certain that the lip at the base of the cap doesn't interfere with the proper mounting of the wheel to the face of the hub/drum. http://www.gorilla-auto.com/products/?sfID1=270&sfID2=271&productName=HC189+2.95%22+closed&image=6159.jpg

Yeah, that's my guess as well.

The two most popular 15" sizes for a Z are 205/60-15 and 225/50-15. The 205/60 is very close (within 2-3%) to the height and overall diameter of the stock 195/70-14, and will keep the speedo reasonably accurate. 225/50 is wider, and potentially better handling, but typically harsher riding, and quicker wearing. It is also a bit shorter than stock, and so your speedo will read a bit faster than actual speed.

Notice the differing angle of the main stalk from side to side. I believe that the one on the right side is a left side mirror with the mirror head swiveled around.

Here's a link to an eBay auction for one (and only one) of the Enkie caps I was thinking of. One doesn't do you much good, but it might help to know what they look like. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Chrome-Enkei-center-cap-Mesh-rims-3-240z-Camaro-280z_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33744QQihZ010QQitemZ200019970315QQrdZ1

It varied from year to year, Nissan couldn't make up their minds how to do it. Of the three motors I have: On the '71 L24 there is a single pointer on the passenger side of the timing cover, with multiple marks on the pulley. On the '73 L24 there is a single mark on the pulley and multiple marks on a scale bolted to the driver's side of the timing cover. The '83 L28 also has a single mark on the pulley, but the scale is back on the passenger side again.

All very true. Some parts of Oregon don't enforce the front plate requirement. Or I should say, they enforce it selectively. In my area there are no red-light-runner cameras (more's the pity, it's getting pretty bad down here), so I can get away with no plate on the front of my family car. Then again, I'm a middle-aged caucasian male driving a conservatively-colored BMW sedan, so I'm unlikely to be stopped period. Sad, but true.The drawback to the Special interest plates in Oregon are the rather severe restrictions as to when and how much you can drive the car. And again, while the police probably won't bother you, your insurance company might have issues paying a claim on a car registered as a Special Interest vehicle if it clearly was being used outside the SI rules. So that's out for me. I'll undoubtedly hang my front plate off the bumper, just like they did in the '70s. I may get a vintage set of blue plates for it, but not as Special Interest.

That air dam should look good with the modern yellow color, Mike. My current plans for mine in stock pale yellow are to use a Spook from Les - not sure if I'll paint it yellow to match or paint it black. But that decision's still a ways off for me. If I don't make it up to Salem before you get it done, I will REQUIRE you to bring it down to Eugene/Springfield for a visit.

I wonder which choice I'd want for my early car that came with no retractor pocket anyway? Mount a retractor down low, or up high? Hmm...

A search for "steering wheel restore" gave these, among others

Randy, I know that the center caps from some of the early 4 lug Enkei modular styles (the 20, 30 & 32 series) will fit the early Appliance wheels just fine. While after all this time those are likely to be rusty as well, Enkei did use better quality caps and it's possible you might find a decent set. Worth watching for, anyway.

Yup, I thought the ones on my main car were OK, after checking them in place. But when I had them disconnected while changint the rear springs, I found that one of them had a fair amount of play in it. I replaced it with one out of my parts car, and found that one of the noises from the rear of my car is now gone.

Doug, your car (and you, presumably) are welcome to come out West to visit any time. Just let me know, I'll have a bottle of homebrew waiting for you.As for the yellow-ness, I recall Mike calling his "Ferrari Racing Yellow". (Probably ought to kill the ad in the USA Cars For Sale forum, Mike.) Beandip's car is a Mustang GT color, as partially seen in the attached picture. Azcarbum's 280Z is similar to Gary's in color, with graphics. My car's factory yellow looks rather pale in comparison, but VERY '70s.

Welcome to yet another Oregonian! I have a spare early heater box with core and control head here in Springfield, Roger, should you need one. None of the stuff is mint, but it's all serviceable.