MEZZZ

Thats nice to know, thanks for the correction! I guess I wont be looking to swap out the doors then, the repostioning of the door locks is one thing I dont like about the '77

Once on your photobucket page, just highlight the url http://photobucket, etc , click copy and then paste it into your message on here.

I do know that the door panels are different on the 77-78 models. THey moved the door locks closer to the front of the car, actually, right where I like to put my arm You would have to swap the complete door to make them work. Not sure of other changes, other than a possible catyltic converter if it was a California car. You should be able to tell that easy enough by looking at the warning lights on the dash, by the heater controls...one would say floor ot floor temp on it.

Thanks Dan. I did NOT buy an O.E.m one, so I will go ahead and take your advice as well. I guess I will just pitch this one...wasnt too much $$ and I bought it awhile back, wont be the first time I've thrown away some $$ on this car Thanks again

Thanks guys, I will heed the advice. I just ran through a bottl of Stabil for the winter a few minutes ago. I havent started it in about a month (been too busy with other things to work on it). She started right up after about 2 seconds of cranking, smoked a little for about a minute then stopped. I am going to replace the temp sensor per the advice of Sblake01 as it runs great until warm and then starts to miss. Someday I will figure this thing out!

Need to replace the coolant head temp sensor. I am thinking I need to drain at least part of the coolant first, correct? Then, my question is, should I use pipe dope around the threads of the new one before installing? I also bought a new thermostat figuring I might as well do that since I am right there, anything I should know to look out for? Last question, I am going to pull the valve cover. I bought a new gasket (fel-pro) and it says not to use any gasket sealer on it. Can anyone verify that? Thanks!

You are a lucky man! Mine just complains about my car taking up garage space...then tells me to take out the trash!

Dustin, Not sure if this is directed at me or the guy that has the ad. I am not the owner of the parts so I really cant help you out. If all you guys want to get a collection together and PayPal me the $1000 he wants for a buy it now, I'll go up and buy it all and dole it back out

I met the seller earlier this year as I had seen a post of his on my local Craiglist. His shop is about 25 miles from me and he was advertising Z parts. Said he had just about anything needed for a 70-78 Z so I went up to take a look. I did buy a hatch from him for $75 that had rust pitting on the inside but it passed the screwdriver test. I figured it was better than what I had on mine and maybe I could recondition it. I looked at the bumpers, they were pretty beat up. He had several trannies but told me none had been tested, etc. He did have alot of parts up there, most looked like they had seen better days, but to my untrained eyes, $600.00 probably isnt a bad price. Pick out the decent from the junk and scrap the rest. I did notice his Ebay ad said $600 and the reserve was not met. On Craiglist, he is asking $600 or best offer. He also has a "77 listed on Craigslist for $700. I did email him about that but he said he was firm on his price. I wanted it for parts only, basically fenders and then whatever else was worthwhile to strip from it. He has been advertising both the car and parts for at least 2 weeks, maybe 3 on Craigslist. I guess he decided Ebay might be a better way to go. Here is a link to Craiglist . http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/pts/929600506.html parts link http://cincinnati.craigslist.org/cto/929592411.html car link He seemed like a decent enough guy. I'd like to have the car. I did see it there several months ago, I remember rusty doors, hatch, etc. The interior is kind of ugly with all the blue trim. Blown motor. Maybe the 5 spd tranny works, maybe not. Dont know if the dual mirrors were aftermarket, never looked that close at them. I may try to contact him again and see if he'll come down. My wife balked at the thought of a 2nd non running Z here

I'll have to watch it again. I took my 7 yr old to see it and fell asleep I vaguely remember the scene with the hubcap but didnt notice the "D" on it.

I would think one would justify using the buy it now price instead of placing an offer to keep another person from using buy it now and buying it out from under them. I just lost an auction today by $2.50 on a set of euro style lights for a 280 becasue my wife wanted me to take her out shopping for a new purse! I guess it wasnt meant to be..hopefully my wife will remember my sacrifice a little later

I've heard you can still get them from Nissan for around $260 per fender.

, I dont think I would be either. Its usually too hot or too cold to work on it but today was perfect...65 and sunny here in Cincy, not bad for Nov 2nd. I will go ahead and replace the water temp switch and see if that corrects it. Its an inexpensive part. As always, thanks for your help.

Hi Steven, I pulled this from a post in which you were helping me back in August.... I pulled out the FSM and ran a few test. Used a multimeter on the water temp sensor, cold 2.25 ohms, ran motor 10 minutes, retested, .085. Checked the thermotime switch, it was 74.8, between the guidlines in the FSM. I was thinking the same thing earlier, that it may be the water temp sensor. I have the smoking issue solved, it no longer is smoking at all. I replaced the wires going to the temp sensor and thermotime switch as they were pretty well deteriorated. Not sure if these numbers make sense to me now. I pulled out the F.I. Bible and went to page 54 for the water temp sensor check and my numbers do not seem to coincide. Checked page EF54 of the FSM and it seems more in line.

Thanks Walter, your assumptions are correct about the plugs. I went out and bought a new set that the P79 head calls for. Gapped them, installed them, started it up and she ran like a sewing machine when cold. Smooth, no hesitation. I let it warm up, adjusted the idle and turned it off. Then I pulled the vacuum line off the distributor, plugged it, set the timing to 10 BTDC. Started it up, backed down the drive, put it in gear and sputter, cough again. I guess my next step is to pull the valve cover and take a look at adjusting the valves. Thanks for the help.

I "googled" the p79 question to death and finally found a link that reads that the P79 head was available on the '81 to '83 year models of 280ZX. Can anyone verify the year that the p79 head was introduced? In looking up what plug goes with what year, this would make sense. A '77 280Z and a '79 280ZX are listed as using the same plug. I would like to make sure what year the P79 head came off of so I can get the correct plug for it. Thanks

Hey guys, after taking a break from my car for the past few weeks, I am back at playing around with it. Last week I replaced the distributor with a rebuilt unit and still cannot get it to run quite right. When I start it cold, it sounds smooth and revs nicely. Once it warms up it degrades, the idle seems off and when I try to drive it it misses and I can hear an occasional backfire thru the air cleaner area. I could not get the timing set before, but now with the new distributor, I can dial it where it should be. Too date, this is what I have done. Replaced, ignition coil, wires, distributor, cap, rotor, plugs and battery. Also put in new injectors and wires and fuel regulator. New air and fuel filter, all new vaccum and f.i. hoses. Replaced the dual wires with the bullet connectors going to the thermotime and temp switch. Cleaned every connection I could find and tightened down every clamp as well, even putting some clamps on hoses that did not have them before. The A.F.M. boots are soft and crack free. I have performed most of the test in the FSM and all have checked out, from voltage to the battery, fuel pressure, good spark to all plugs, juice to all injectors. I've run just about every test at the E.C.U. per the F.S.M. as well. It seems like once it warms up, it runs rougher, doesnt idle as well. I can hear a bit of chatter from the valve cover and have not attempted to adjust the valves yet. I went out and picked up a new Fel-Pro gasket last night. Here is my question... I discovered a few months back that I have an N42 block with a P79 head on my '77. I bought plugs for a '77. I was out in the gargage this morning and all of a sudden it dawned on me that maybe the p79 head takes a different plug! I came in and searched and it seems a '79 280ZX takes one type and an '82 280ZX takes another. Gap still seems to be .044 regardless of year. So my dilemna is this, is there a way to figure out what year head I have? Im not sure if this is the problem or not, just trying to narrow it down. The car ran great when I got it, I drove it several days (maybe 100 miles total) before it started to run rough and miss. Thanks

I think he is making a reference to Carl Beck that frequents this site and is an expert on the Z car.

[quote=ToXIc;269950 Question 1: Now the insulation fiber is in great shape... but here's my question.. should i use a modern equivalent or can the 38 year old insulation still work as good?! I vote to replace the nasty insulation. The newer products like Dynamat and its equivalents are far superior and probably smell a bit better as well. Here is a link to an unbiased test of some of them http://www.sounddeadenershowdown.com/

I can relate to this. Many years ago I owned an "87 Toyota Supra with the targa roof. It handled totally different with the roof off, almost dangerous if you were not paying attention. I noticed quite a few over the years that were wrecked, probably due to the lack of rigidity. I rarely took it off and traded it after a year.

Looks like I missed a great time. I had fiscal year inventory with my company and I tried to persuade the owner to let me off to no avail. I even won an all expense paid trip from Zippo Lighter Company to the PGA Championship in Atlanta last week and he still wouldnt let me off...(I would have headed straight up I-71 to Cleveland instead ) Thanks for sharing and post some more when you have time.

I just Googled the Franklin Mint Z and was very impressed with the detail. The going price seems to be $120.00. I found a few on Ebay and the pricing is $45 to $92.00. They are all white ones on Ebay but I saw this orange on on a site that I like alot better. http://www.cellinifinegifts.com/fm_1970datsun.htm

Carl, I would give my left lugnut for a garage like yours

My turn to say, what a great color! I have been getting mine ready to shoot (very slowly) and have always leaned towards a graphite/dark metallic gray. Did you do that job in your garage?

I used DAS (Dependable Auto Shippers) for mine when I bought it...Oregon to Ohio. They were very dependable like their name states, on time and I could track it all the way across the country too. At the time, they were inexpensive compared to others, I went depot to depot. You start adding in pickup service, top of the carrier placement (so you arent being leaked on from the car above, I passed and was fine btw), insurance, etc, the costs rose but they were still very reasonable compared to the others. I used their web page to sign up, they called to confirm that same day, scheduled for the drop off for the following day, picked it up the day it was dropped at the terminal and I had it 3 days later from across country, 5 days from call to pickup. (DISCLAIMER)..It took the P.O.(S) almost 2 weeks to drop off the car to the depot once he got my Wire Transfer. But, when he finally did drop it off, they loaded it right up onto a carrier within an hour and I had it in 3 days. http://www.dasautoshippers.com/