I need some direction on my problem.

[MEZZZ]

I hope you get what I'm saying. I'm better at doing it than explaining it.

, I keep offering you an all expense paid trip to Cincinnati!

I think I get what you are saying and no, I am not sure I was at TDC, I will keep playing around with it until I am sure. I did the straw trick thru the #1 cylinder and did the best I could to watch the straw while under the car turning it.

The straw seemed to move more "outwards" than up and down when I turned it. I finally had my 7 yr old get off his Big Wheel and come look at it, I actually tried to get him to turn it while I looked but he wasnt strong enough I finally saw it move, the pulley notch was at 0 and the straw had some resistance when I moved it, so, no, I am not positive. I suppose I could pull the valve cover and see if I can get a better idea of TDC by looking at the position of the valves as I have read on here in the past and see if that helps me.

On a side note, I just went out and hooked up a hose to the vacuum advance and sucked for all I was worth and couldnt get anything to budge except my eyeballs. I am to assume the vacuum advance is toast?

I also just took a pic (albeit it slightly blurry) of the plastic piece I saw sort of floating under the baseplate inside the dstributor. Maybe a new/rebuilt distributor should be on my long list of stuff to buy?

Thanks...Mark

[trykflyr]

Mezzz, when you're checking TDC you gotta make sure you're on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke. You'll be 180 degrees out if you're on the exhaust stroke. Sounds like that's where you were. Stick your thumb over the spark plug hole as you turn the crank in the proper direction of travel. As the piston comes up on compression, it'll push your thumb off the hole. That way you know you have both valves closed and you're coming up on the ignition spark. Get to TDC using an indicator like you did and see where the rotor's pointing. I'm betting you're gonna be a lot closer.

Were you at 3 o clock in the picture or as oriented towards the front of the car?

[sblake01]

Now, that makes sense to me. Don't touch the oil pump just yet. If your advance is stuck in an advanced position that would explain why you can't get it back to 10 degrees. It's supposed to moeve freely when you apply vacuum to it and then snap back when you stop the vacuum. You can rebuild the distributor but maybe a rebuilt one would be the best bet if you aren't used to doing them yourself. Kragen sells one for about $110. Normally I wouldn't suggest the chain type auto parts stores for parts like this but the 280Z distributor is not quite as complex as the ZX (E12-80) and it would be pretty hard for them to mess it up. I've installed a couple of their distributors for people and, so far, no complaints.

[MEZZZ]

Mezzz, when you're checking TDC you gotta make sure you're on the compression stroke and not the exhaust stroke. You'll be 180 degrees out if you're on the exhaust stroke. Sounds like that's where you were. Stick your thumb over the spark plug hole as you turn the crank in the proper direction of travel. As the piston comes up on compression, it'll push your thumb off the hole. That way you know you have both valves closed and you're coming up on the ignition spark. Get to TDC using an indicator like you did and see where the rotor's pointing. I'm betting you're gonna be a lot closer.

Were you at 3 o clock in the picture or as oriented towards the front of the car?

3 o'clock per the photo, aprx. where the # 6 wire is in the photo. I will try that finger over the hole suggestion, thanks. I was thinking (after alot of searching and reading) the oil pump might be backwards because I can tell from the cleanliness of it vs. the rest of the motor, it has been toyed with.

It was fairly clean. I've spent hours and a couple bottles of Simple Green trying to clean it up, I wish I had taken some before shots as it looks so much better.

[MEZZZ]

Now, that makes sense to me. Don't touch the oil pump just yet. If your advance is stuck in an advanced position that would explain why you can't get it back to 10 degrees. It's supposed to moeve freely when you apply vacuum to it and then snap back when you stop the vacuum. You can rebuild the distributor but maybe a rebuilt one would be the best bet if you aren't used to doing them yourself. Kragen sells one for about $110. Normally I wouldn't suggest the chain type auto parts stores for parts like this but the 280Z distributor is not quite as complex as the ZX (E12-80) and it would be pretty hard for them to mess it up. I've installed a couple of their distributors for people and, so far, no complaints.

I found a rebuilt one from Advance Auto (chain) for $112 last week with a $1 core charge. I just spent $38 for a pick-up coil alone so not a bad price. Whats another $112 into this car at this point I looked into a Mallory type dist. but the prices start to rise quickly.

I will go ahead and try that and get back to you. I am concerned with the broken plastic piece anyway and the slight wobble in the shaft. Thanks as always

[sblake01]

Advance Auto is basically the same as Kragen on the west coast. Same parent company, Parts America. That is the distributor I've installed on a couple of cars with no problems. 31618 is the part number. They list it at $109.99 on the site and if you print that page and take it in with you they will honor that price. I know that's not much of a difference but that's how I buy parts from them.

[MEZZZ]

Advance Auto is basically the same as Kragen on the west coast. Same parent company, Parts America. That is the distributor I've installed on a couple of cars with no problems. 31618 is the part number. They list it at $109.99 on the site and if you print that page and take it in with you they will honor that price. I know that's not much of a difference but that's how I buy parts from them.

Sounds good to me, I appreciate the reply. I spoke to a guy at work today and he told me to go to someplace other than Auto Zone/Advance, etc. I value your opinion (you havent steered me wrong yet) so its off to order one from my local chain store.

Thanks

[sblake01]

Generally, I'd agree with your guy from work. There's a lot of things I wouldn't buy for an older car like a Z or a 510/810 etc. from the chain stores. Especially Autozone (from personal experience). I didn't suggest Kragen/Advance for those distributors, they just brought them to me to install. Based on the performance, in one case, well over three years, there have been no problems. I even checked that one with my vacuum gun and the advance still works fine after all that time.

[MEZZZ]

I know you didnt suggest it, you actually said in a previous post you normally would not recommend a chain for alot of parts and I agree. If I remember, the search on a few chain sites brought back the same brand distributor. Heck, some of the products I bought from MSA are the same brands I have seen at a chain and I would hazard to guess, I paid more for them too.

The guy from work told me he used dist. a couple times from chains in the past and in both instances, had to bring them back. He was going to give me the name of a speed shop he used to have them do the rebuild. Actually, he told me they send them out for a rebuild. Quite a bit more $ to go that route.

I dont want to buy junk, Im a firm believer in the you get what you pay for line. As long as they stand behind the product, I am ok with trying it at least.