Joseph@TheZStore

Oops... Guess what arrived in September just like we said? Our apologies for saying we'd announce it when they arrive, and then neglecting to... Here they are! The front 280ZX cartridges look and function basically the same as the 70-78. However the rear shock/spring seat version features a little extra. Note that these are designed with a 3 position spring seat perch. So if you know you will be touring often with lots of luggage and want a bit more ride height, you can set them to the top position. If you want them to ride a little lower, set them to the bottom position (they are set during installation, to change the position later, the struts must be removed). Nice little option to have available, thanks Koni! So now the Koni Adjustable Sport Yellow Struts/Shocks have been completed for all of 70-83 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, and now 280ZX. We've heard some good reports so far where people like how they function, especially with Eibach Springs. Thanks again to Koni and Lee Grimes (KONI Lee) for all the great work!

Oops... Guess what arrived in September just like we said? Our apologies for saying we'd announce it when they arrive, and then neglecting to... Since I had to apologize for my error on the ZX forum, figured I'd do it here as well. Besides, maybe there is a 280ZX in your future? Here they are! The front 280ZX cartridges look and function basically the same as the 70-78. However the rear shock/spring seat version features a little extra. Note that these are designed with a 3 position spring seat perch. So if you know you will be touring often with lots of luggage and want a bit more ride height, you can set them to the top position. If you want them to ride a little lower, set them to the bottom position (they are set during installation, to change the position later, the struts must be removed). Nice little option to have available, thanks Koni! So now the Koni Adjustable Sport Yellow Struts/Shocks have been completed for all of 70-83 240Z, 260Z, 280Z, and now 280ZX. We've heard some good reports so far where people like how they function, especially with Eibach Springs. Thanks again to Koni and Lee Grimes (KONI Lee) for all the great work!

Oops... Guess what arrived in September just like we said? Our apologies for saying we'd announce it when they arrive, and then neglecting to... Here they are! The front 280ZX cartridges look and function basically the same as the 70-78. However the rear shock/spring seat version features a little extra. Note that these are designed with a 3 position spring seat perch. So if you know you will be touring often with lots of luggage and want a bit more ride height, you can set them to the top position. If you want them to ride a little lower, set them to the bottom position (they are set during installation, to change the position later, the struts must be removed). Nice little option to have available, thanks Koni! We hope they were worth the wait for your ZX!

Our apologies to all of the patient 280ZX owners, sorry for the delay, as Koni had to spend some extra time on the more-difficult-to-create rear units to make sure they were right. As far as we can tell, they went into production in mid-July. After that, sea freight generally takes about 6 weeks to arrive to Koni in the U.S., and then from Koni U.S. to our warehouse about another week or so. If all goes according to plan... then hopefully that means we'll have them in stock sometime after mid-September. We hope to have images soon, and of course will announce it here when they arrive.

In case you missed it, 70-78 Koni Sports are in stock! Check the early discussion thread for more details.

Our apologies to all of the patient 280ZX owners, sorry for the delay, as Koni had to spend some extra time on the more-difficult-to-create rear units to make sure they were right. As far as we can tell, they went into production in mid-July. After that, sea freight generally takes about 6 weeks to arrive to Koni in the U.S., and then from Koni U.S. to our warehouse about another week or so. If all goes according to plan... then hopefully that means we'll have them in stock sometime after mid-September. We hope to have images soon, and of course will announce it here when they arrive. 280ZX's are awesome!

Our apologies to all of the patient 280ZX owners, sorry for the delay, as Koni had to spend some extra time on the more-difficult-to-create rear units to make sure they were right. As far as we can tell, they went into production in mid-July. After that, sea freight generally takes about 6 weeks to arrive to Koni in the U.S., and then from Koni U.S. to our warehouse about another week or so. If all goes according to plan... then hopefully that means we'll have them in stock sometime after mid-September. We hope to have images soon, and of course will announce it here when they arrive. 280ZX's are awesome! Why add this in the early forum? First, just in case anybody missed it, all of 70-78 Koni Sports are in stock and ready to ship! And, we know many 280ZX owners in this forum also have earlier Z's. Gotta love Z enthusiasts!

Great point. The Koni's do come with their own Gland Nut. The KYB Gland Nut is taller.

Actually gentlemen those numbers are correct. The KYB's have always been about 10mm shorter. The Koni's are actually the proper length. This is based on a cartridge Koni has used for 50 years. We know of numerous installs already on 240Z fronts that have lined up correctly. Our test pilot Hector has the same strut housing numbers you mentioned on his 240Z and they installed correctly. Even though it sounds as if you have the proper height struts in the front (based on the comparison to the KYB's), please confirm for us the numbers on the Koni cartridges you just received, as well as that measurement of the strut cartridge body. Please also include if you can read them any numbers on the KYB's, . Greg has been dismantling 240Z's since the early 80's, and he added that in addition to the often occurrence of somebody putting a spacer at the bottom, that also he has seen numerous times where oil and dirt in the housing have combined over the years to literally make its own 'spacer' of sorts. He said he has had to at times in the past literally dig years of near solid junk out the bottom of the strut housing. The only other possibility (assuming the numbers and height check out after you send that to us) would be strut housing modification, which sounds unlikely in your case, but just to be certain, if you can measure the height of the strut housing as well (outside), we'll confirm that too. Sorry you're having an issue, we'll get it figured out!

Ahhh ok. I'll send what you said to the guys at FIC, I'm sure that will be helpful info. Hopefully you get a chance to talk to them as well, maybe they have something that could help put it in the range where you can just adjust it and not have to remove it every 2 years. But I'm sure that would be tough to do third party over a forum, so I'll just hide and watch. Thanks for bringing this to our attention.

280ZX owners, I'm told they are finishing these up in the Netherlands, and we hope they will still be on the way to us before the end of May. Thanks for your patience!

Any of you already have these installed, and have some driving/racing feedback yet? (Hopefully all good feedback)

Sorry for leaving this waiting so long. We wanted to give Fuel Injection Corporation a chance to respond to us about it first. James is tied up dealing with some orders, so I am jumping in for him with what little we have to respond with. First, know that Air Flow Meters that many years old were done by our previous rebuilders here in Southern California. That company had been bought out by Fuel Injection Corporation, but the same people kept doing the work in the SoCal location for all of our rebuilds (i.e. why your AFM has a FIC sticker on it instead of a "Bret Instruments" sticker). Then, Fuel Injection Corporation took over all the rebuild work a few years ago. So how that particular one was set might have been different than what FIC does now. As far as Fuel Injection Corporation, they did say that their claimed warranty return rate is less than 5%, and the actual warranty rate is about 2% on that model. FIC is the only rebuilder we know of that does a total tear down when rebuilding, inspecting everything at the component level. All worn or defective parts are replaced. Rebuilt units are reassembled from tested components; and to answer one of the questions you posted, all units are then tested on their in house flow bench and calibrated to O.E. specs. All units also carry an 18 month unlimited mile warranty. So we're confident they are doing things right. Even still, they told me they are going to re-emphasize with the air flow department to keep paying close attention to the exactness of the idle settings. Also, I'm sure you guys know this, but others who may read this may not: Greg also reminded me that the early L-Jetronic systems were just hyper-sensitive to so many things. Boot clamps not sealing completely or pinholes in the boots can throw the whole thing off. The cleanliness of the connections can do the same. Even missing insulation on part of a wire can cause an "inherited" signal from somewhere else and mess things up. So all of that needs to be checked as part of any AFM fix and adjustment. All that applied to your specific situation, where the previous one did adjust leaner, does seem to say that yours may have worn or been damaged somehow. You've had it for 9 years and said it always seemed to run rich, but is this the first time it failed to pass? It is unfortunately 7 1/2 years beyond warranty coverage, and there may or may not be something in the settings FIC could tell you about which could set the adjustment back in a proper range or not (beyond normal "adjustments" obviously). I'm sure they would be more than willing to talk to you about it (you stated you might email them). If you do, let us know what happens. If you do decide you have to get another rebuilt one in the future, hopefully some of this will give you at least a little more confidence.

Hey late 260Z & 280Z owners, look what showed up in our warehouse this week! If you pre-ordered your struts, they are already on the way. If you didn't pre-order, get yours from the first batch so you don't miss out on adding these in time for the summer driving season (the huge box of 240Z & early 260Z struts we posted previously, for instance, is half empty already). 280ZX owners, we'll update you here as soon as we have more info. Thanks for your patience!

@KONI Lee just let me know that the 9/74-78 260Z-280Z KONI Sport Struts have arrived in the U.S., are being processed, and will be on the way to California soon. We want to publicly thank KONI for meeting their production estimates. We wish more of our manufacturers were like this! 280ZX owners, we believe the original estimates (240Z before end of March, 280Z before the end of April, 280ZX before the end of May) are still good. We're glad KONI is spending as much time as necessary to make sure they get the 280ZX rear spring seats/shocks correct. They obviously take a bit more work than the simple early cartridges, and getting them right sure seems to be one of KONI's prime directives. Great job KONI, and thanks Lee !

That matches what we have. As far as our very old microfiche, the first month shown on the 0.3 (Brown/Red) links was 8/75 (Note: Greg said that initial months of the new Z weren't always consistent year to year, and that 8/75 was considered a 1976 model year). On the 76 section of the fiche, it shows a quantity of 2 (through 7/76). On the 77-78 section of the fiche, it shows a quantity of 3 (from 8/76). The 0.5 Green link (again, as far as our microfiche), showed 7/76 as the last month. ... Interesting completely unrelated random fact that never crossed my mind before during the past 26+ years at Motorsport (yikes), if the numbers are accurate, the 1975 280Z was technically only in production for 8 months, from December to July...

Heading out for the night, so for the moment, just explanatory text, to try and keep it as uncomplicated as possible, for as many technical levels of customers as possible: https://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/classic12h01e/12-4334 If we do another diagram of sorts, I think an image would leave the least chance of confusion about angle of view, etc. Thoughts welcomed.

FWIW, after looking at our 78, I can confirm what Captain said about the White/Red wire for the 1.25 Black Fusible Link being larger than the other 3 White/Red wires. Three of those White/Red wires were approximately 4 mm. One of them is approximately 4.5 mm, or about the same size as the White wires on the other sides of the Fusible Links (at least on this 78). Unfortunately there were no stickers left on these either. The larger White/Red wire (assuming originality) would definitely be where the 1.25 Black Fusible Link goes, and on our 78 anyway, that wire was in the front, fender side position, matching what you all have shown. So since we all know Nissan’s consistency over the years has been gray at times, and with some Z’s having been re-wired or re-harnessed, or possibly if the guy who had the car before you was ________ enough to cross things up, checking for the larger White/Red wire seems to be the best way that the average person should be able to confirm position of the 1.25 Black Fusible Link on their 77-78. Of course if they can check circuits and have a decent wiring diagram, then can confirm even farther. As a vendor, we appreciate the checks and balances. Thanks to all.

Granted, our oldest catalog going back to the early 80's still shows Red, but the FSM clearly shows Brown... Since Nissan has sent both "colors" to us over the decades for the same part numbers, hopefully we can assume both rate at 0.3 (like the FSM and Microfiche show), and the only difference was color and the thickness of the insulation. If anybody still has a new genuine Nissan Red Fusible Link, it would be interesting to see the markings on the link. The Black and Green links Nissan sends do say "Yazaki" and "FLWX" on the link (which part shows varies per link). The Brown links Nissan now send say "FTX - 0.3", but not "Yazaki".

Our 78 in storage did have "Red" links. They have no discernible markings (or at least they don't any longer), and do appear "thicker" than the Brown links. Perhaps for a time Nissan bought them from another manufacturer? Hard to say. I don't know enough about the technology in the link to say for sure, but I wouldn't guess the thickness of the insulation HAS to determine the rating of the Fusible Link, so perhaps the Red ones Nissan sold for a few years were still the proper rating, just with thicker than .4 (Yazaki) insulation? Hope so, I'm sure there are still plenty of Red Fusible Links on 280Z's today.

We’ve been around, just very behind and short-staffed (no excuse, I know), and we wanted to do some research. Thanks as always for linking us in to the thread. That being said, this first response will be just about the Fusible Links themselves. We have always, and only, sold the genuine factory Nissan fusible links. The 0.3 link was 24161-N4200, and superceded to 24161-Y0100. No service files show on these numbers. The originals we used to receive decades ago (as far as us “old guys” seem to remember anyway) were Brown. Then, many years ago, Nissan started sending Red links under that same part number. Relatively recently, the Red links were discontinued from Nissan for a time, and then a short while later, they made them available again, but this time what was sent for the same part number was Brown again, not Red. We unfortunately did mess up as far as our listing still recently showing Red (even though we were sending Brown). It was just an oversight where my department neglected to follow up and change “Red” back to “Brown” on the website. But they were always what Nissan was supplying for said part number. The 0.5 Green link was always 24161-28500, and the 1.25 Black link was always 24161-A0100. There are no supercessions or service files on these specifically (only the 1976 bulletin where they changed to 4 links, as you guys noted). So the 1975 listing was just an embarrassing mistake/unfortunate informational record typo that blossomed (AGAIN by MY department, sheesh. I’ll make sure there are floggings). It has now been fixed to where it should have been, with 74-75 being the “same”, not 75-76 being the “same”. Again, thanks for pointing this out. As far as the position of the 1.25 link on 77-78, we absolutely did take the positioning we showed directly from Nissan’s documentation, and are conferring with them and our own archived data about the error. I will be going today or tomorrow to access our stored 1978, and will respond to that part soon if there is anything worth adding to the discussion, since you guys have pretty much nailed it all down already.

Our Test Pilot Hector Cademartori got back from Daytona and finished his write up about the new Koni Sports (and for you racing fans, a bit about Daytona). Apologies to Hector, he finished it weeks ago, I finally just caught up to him (which is far easier to do while NOT on the racetrack). The article is fairly in-depth, so instead of posting the whole thing here, I'm just including a link to the Test Pilot Page in our store. As a reminder, 70-8/74 Koni Sport Struts are in stock now. We hope to hear the arrival date of the 74.5 to 78 Struts from the Netherlands any day. There should be plenty of time to get your Z ready for all the fun you'll have this summer on track or at your favorite mountain pass. Thanks Hector!

On the demonstration strut we received, it was just what Lee said, roughly 2 turns. The red KONI "Triangle" on the knob sort of works like an arrow to see how far you have turned ?

Koni Test Drive Z Owner Ian Stewart’s Impressions "Hello everyone, my 260Z was used as the test vehicle for the new Koni struts. The car was the perfect candidate as I had already rebuilt the suspension with new ball joints, Urethane bushings throughout (both front and rear), stiffer springs and Illumina struts. The only change that was made for the testing was replacing the Illumina’s with the Koni’s. The Koni’s are an improvement over the Illumina’s in my opinion. You need to get used to not having a way to tell where you are at as the Koni does not have an indicator, but the adjustment range is much wider and you can really feel the difference when you make a change. I never really noticed differences when I adjusted the Tokico’s, whereas I can definitely feel the difference when I adjust the Koni’s. My car is fitted with 160in-lb front and 180in-lb rear springs that lower it about 1.5 inches from stock. Note that these spring rates are similar to most aftermarket spring sets for Z-Cars, at roughly 2X stiffer than stock springs. At full stiff on the Koni adjustment the car is too harsh, but at full soft, it is comfortable (to me) for street use, I like the ride. I have not auto-crossed the car yet, but expect the full stiff setting will work very well." Ian Stewart.