Weasel73240Z

Wow, a real aversion to the obvious answer, round tops! Good luck with those flats. BTW, can't seem to get to your movies at photobucket. Based on your description, sounds like fuel supply. Maybe a blockage? And those carbs, sorry.

Thanks for the feedback so far. It seems like most options will give the car a little lift. I think I'll go with either Tokico's or KYB's, I'll decide this week. Just finishing up with painting everything so its no hurry yet. Regarding the sway bar. I looked at ST's bar, and the price is good, quality seems good also, but that green powdercoat???? I'm not sure I like the look of the ST bar. Addco has one http://www.sfxperformance.com/parts/ADD978.htm thats a bit cheaper, and its black. Anyone tried the Addco rear sway bar? I don't drive the car very hard, definitely don't race it at all. Just looking to lose some "lean". I'm thinking for my style of driving, the Addco bar should work fine.

I've searched looking for an answer to this question, and haven't been able to find it. I'm installing the 4.11 rear end/5 speed tranny in the car this Winter, and while I had it torn down, I was planning to replace the rear struts/springs. Since I started, I've shifted gears, and decided that I would keep my original springs, and only replace the strut cartridges. Based on a search here, I found that my springs were exactly the correct free length, so I'm keeping them. I always felt the car leaned a bit too much during hard cornering, which I was blaming on tired springs/struts. The car only has about 28K on it now, and the 1st 26K were put on by an older lady, so it hasn't been driven hard at all. Now that I realize my car had no rear sway bar, I'm thinking that was more the cause of the excessive leaning during cornering than the springs were. Rather than replacing the springs, I'm gonna spend the money on an aftermarket rear sway bar kit and only replace the strut cartridges. My question is, what would be my best replacement strut cartridge if I'm keeping my original springs/original ride height? Also, it seems like Suspension Techniques rear sway bar kit gets a lot of props on this site, any other good options for my 73?

I'm thinking about changing from my Longflo filters back to the original air cleaner, for two reasons. One, I want to go back to the original look, and two, I have heard that the carbs actually perform better with the original air cleaner. The air cleaner is from the original flat top carbs, and the new carbs are ZTherapy 3-screws. The flat tops have a square opening, while the round tops have a round opening. Will the air clearer work properly with the round tops, or do I need a 70 - 72 air cleaner? Also, would there be any benefit to using a "cold air" induction kit with the round tops, or is that really only effective with FI cars? I'm thinking about fabricating a custom set-up with a scoop below the front valance to feed the carbs cold air. Any thoughts?

Based on how you described your car "great running, all stock, no rust", I think you already know the answer. A clean 280Z or a "dirty, raced out" ZX...no brainer. Keep the 280Z. That 280 ZX has probably been beat to death. And at least personally, I prefer the look of an S30 over an S130 any day.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but I defy anyone to find beauty in that. Some things aren't good looking to anyone; lobsters, K-cars, Janet Reno, etc....

I just removed the 79 ZX dizzy that I installed. I realized that the vacuum advance wasn't working right, which was limiting me to about 4,200 rpm's. The plan was just a real good cleaning and put it back together. I thought the advance would work if I just gave it a good cleaning, but....the breaker plate appears to be damaged (all of the ball bearing "carriers" are broken), and the plastic sleeve on the shaft end is broken. Does anyone sell a rebuild kit for these dizzy's? Also, the link at atlantic Z for rebuilding these seems to suggest you can get by without the ball bearings if you use lithium lube. Does that sound right?

The price just seemed cheap ($450) to me. You'd be surprised how few Z's there are (even in boneyards) around here. I called the 10 or 12 local spots around me, I found no 79 - 83 5 speeds. But I may have found a local 5-speed out of a 79ZX after all. Only thing is, its got 65K on it, and its been sitting for 10 +/- years, and I'd probably have to take it out. Its sitting on its belly in dirt, not easy logistics. And I'm sure the guy will want at least $300 for it. I know him, good guy, but not cheap if he has what you need. But after a PM from a "trusted adviser", I may look into that 79 5 speed anyway. I prefer the car in 2nd - 4th gear (30 - 60 mph), hence the 4.11 diff. upgrade. I just want the 5 speed for the rare occasion I drive on the highway. Seems the 79 may be the best gearing for the way I drive.

Thanks alot dodger.

I'm in contact with Sunrise about a 5-speed tranny. They're in Ranch Cordova, CA. Anybody had experience with them? The price seems right for a rebuilt 5-speed, and they said its only about $30 to ship it to MA.

The black looks great, problem is, my car still has the old undercoating. I didn't go as far with my restoration, mine was more of a very thorough refurb. So I think I should go with a color (like gray) so that the suspension can be seen against the black (undercoating) background. If the underside of my Z looked like that , and was body color, I'd keep all the suspension stuff black too.

When I dropped the rear suspension out of the car for the R-180 (4.11) swap, I realized I have no rear sway bar. I never removed the rear suspension last Winter, so I guess I never really climbed under there to notice. How common was it for these car to be delivered with no rear sway bar? It seemed odd to me. Anyway, now that its apart, I'm gonna install a rear sway bar when I rebuild. My question is, which rear sway bars will work on my 73? Also, I'm planning on installing the Arizona Z rear springs, because I don't want the car any lower. Any ideas of which strut would work best with Arizona Z springs?

This winter I'm putting in a 5-speed/R-180 4.11 combo. While the car is laid up, I'm going to replace all the rear suspension bushings, struts, springs, etc. and undercoat the whole car. While all the rear suspension parts (control arms, mustache bar, diff carrier, etc.) are off, I'm planning to powdercoat them. I'm looking for color ideas, anyone got pics to share to help me decide? I'm leaning toward gun metal gray.

I just scored an R180 w/ 4.11 gearing in great shape, very tight. I can't wait to drive it again when the long Massachusetts winter ends around April.:sick: I think the jump from the stock 3.36 to 4.11 will have it performing like it should. I want to do a 5-speed swap at the same time if anyone in the MA/RI area has one for sale. Thanks.

I'm not the best guy to tell you what years are best, but you want one with the E12-80 module. If you search for dizzy upgrade you'll find the wiring diagram I used. It's simple, and takes about an hour to do. Thanks Stephen, I'll take it apart over the weekend and see what I find.

I just completed the ignition system. 1979 280 ZX dizzy, MSD Blaster 2 coil, new 8mm NGK wires and NGK plugs (gapped to .45). All I can say is, WOW. Anyone who hasn't done this upgrade yet, you should. I think I may have to replace the vacuum advance though. It pulls incredibly well up to about 5,200 RPM, then it seems to plateau. The advance moves using the old "suck" test, but only turns the base plate about 1/8". Should it advance more than that? It doesn't seem like it moves as much as the old points dizzy did using the suck test. By suck test, I mean I put my mouth on the vac tube, and sucked.

No better sound than those 6 cylinders firing. Congrats!

When I had the head rebuilt, I had the head straight-edged by the shop, and it was perfect. I'm sure of that because I told them to re-surface it if was needed, and they said it wasn't (I doubt they would have turned down the extra $ for re-surfacing if it was justified). I straight-edged the valve cover myself with a 4' level, and it seemed good. It seems to be weeping right above the #1 and #2 spark plugs, those are the plugs wires that I keep wiping old oil of off.

I believe the 1st mark is TDC (if you're looking at the pulley while standing on the passenger side TDC should be the "bottom" mark of the 5) but let some other folks chime in, I'm not positive. I believe each of the notches represents 2.5 degrees, but again, not positive and I'm at work so I can't check.

I've heard about a neoprene valve cover gasket for L-series engines, and I'd like to try one to address some minor "weeping" from my valve cover. Its very minor, I've lost less than a quart all summer, but its leaving spots on my nice new garage floor. :mad: Does anyone know a source for this type gasket? Yes, I tried re-torquing the bolts a few times since I finished the motor, none were loose - no change.

You have to remove the entire dizzy drive shaft, it'll pull right out after you remove the dizzy. It's only about 8" long with a drive gear in the middle. The drive gear engages with another gear inside the front of the engine cover. Then turn it to the left and slide it back in. Keep doing that until you have the tang aligned like in the pics. Obviously, you have to be right at TDC when you do it.

Actually I just looked at the link xray referenced, thats exactly what you need to get the timing right. You'll need to remove the dizzy and the shaft and re-install until the tab lines up exactly like the pics in that link. When I did it, it took me about 15 tries to get the thing lined up right, but once I did, it ran perfectly.

The rotor is definitely not pointing where it should. Like xray said, the #1 is around 7:30 on the rotor. You seem to be pointing at the 2 or 4 cylinder where the rotor is at. I think you have a significant timing issue. I have a diagram that Stephen B sent me when I was going through my timing issues that shows exactly where the rotor and the tab on the dizzy shaft should be at for TDC. If nobody sends it to you first, I'll post it when I get home at 4 PM.

ConchZ makes a good point, it may not be warming up that causes it to buck and hesitate, it may that it takes a few minutes for enough gunk from the tank to begin clogging a fuel line. Once you shut the car down, and the pressure drops, the gunk drops back into the tank. What type of fuel pump/filter are you using?

I'd confirm you're getting spark at all 6 plugs the same way. You could have a damaged dizzy cap or rotor, perhaps only 4 or 5 of the 6 are firing. So test each plug individually, you should get a good spark, not as god as the straight coil spark. I usually test plugs by holding the plug itself against the strut tower bolt, that grounds it like when its screwed into the plug hole. If you get spark at the plugs, spark/ignition is not your problem. Have you checked timing? You should be around 7 degrees BTDC. Have a friend crank the car over while you use a timing light. Even without it running, this should tell you if your at least close to correct timing. Fuel, spark and timing. Thats what you need to run. You seem to have confirmed spark, now confirm timing, them move to fuel. Thats how I always approach these things anyway. If your timing seems right, try using a little starter fluid into each carb before cranking. If it runs for 5 or so seconds on starter fluid, you probably have a fuel problem.