I would appreciate any comments on this. As I rebuild my 280 all the ID Tags / VIN indicate it is #359550 dated August 1976. I have owned it since 1978. I have run into several instances where the info in the FSM for 1976 does not jive with the parts on the car. For example the rear wheel cylinders, the gas tank has the top mounted fuel level sensor all as shown in the 1978 FSM etc etc.

Has anyone else experienced these issues?

Thanks in advance.

Somewhere in August 76 they changed the rear wheel cylinders to the one that fits both sides. Your car is most probably just after the change that month.

The fuel tank sender changed from front to top entry in July 76, so you should have the same as the 78 model.

You are probably finding information in the 76 FSM is refering to the pre July/August model. It might be better to use the FSM from 77 for those sections.

There are a couple of sites were you can download them like

Datsun Service Manuals - NICOclub or XenonS30

Chas

Edited May 11, 201410 yr by EuroDat
Nico club link fixed

Mine is a 9/'76 build date but titled as a 1977. When I buy things they call it an "Early '77" with the sloped rear deck. Is yours sloped up at the rear, by the hatch or flat? Do you have a factory 5 speed? When I went to download the '77 FSM from Xenon it was a "coruppted file" according to my computer and wouldn't let me download it so I got the '78 manual.

The online parts catalog provides a lot of info on parts changes model-to-model and parts that become superseded in mid-run.

Datsun 240Z-260Z-280Z Parts Manual

VIN indicate it is #359550 dated August 1976.

That's kinda strange, my 09/'76 is #355834.

I have 78 rear strut assemblies on my 1/76, 289117. It's a direct swap, I did it myself.

Tiny grammar issue - jibe.

I have 78 rear strut assemblies on my 1/76, 289117. It's a direct swap, I did it myself.

Tiny grammar issue - jibe.

Thanks All for your comments. I have not been able to find a 77 manual, and have no luck downloading one yet. It has the angled rear deck-and 5speed. The carpartsmanual is a great resource, along with xenons fiche. Dr ZedHead the americanenglishdoctor.com website does indicate some geographical variations. We accept all here at TheClub - even expat Brits maybe we'll see you at Canby this year.... @DatsunsNW . The serial number does seem to be out of sequence with a spreadsheet I've seen - Maybe MrBeck?

Whoever did us all a huge favor and copied all of the FSM's, for whatever reason, did not break 1977 in to chapters. I'm definitely not complaining,there would be many fewer Z's on the road without these documents available on the internet.

So you have to download the complete 1977 FSM in one shot. The first link below will download and open the file on your computer if you have a PDF reader, like Adobe, in one shot. Very slow download. The second link will download a zipped file, that will need to be unzipped. A faster download but you need an unzipping program

Index of /FSM/280z/1977

XenonS30

Zed I'll try again at "TheOffice" where the connection is better than the shop. You are right a lot of good people go the extra mile..

Thanks Again. mel