korg_geek

Since I last drove my car, I put in new spark plugs, a Pertronix igniton, Pertronix flame thrower coil and a voltage regulator. THe plug wires are brand-new NGK. Now my car turns over and that's about it. I checked the polarity, tightened all the screws, made sure there were no loose wires, etc. Since the Pertronix coil doesn't have long enough wires, I got some 14 gauge primary wire and some waterproof crimps and added 8 inches of length. I'm not an electrical genius but I think all my connections are sound. So what could be preventing it starting? Anyone have any thoughts?

OK, i figured it out. Now I just need to make the damn cables nine inches longer....

I took the cap and rotor off, along with the points, of my old distributor in my 240, and this is what I'm looking at now. While the little instructions book that came with my Pertronix ignitor talks about simply slipping the wires out of the dizzy, i don't really see how that's possible. Can anyone help me out? There's no socket or hole or anything that the wires can run out of. Where am I supposed to thread these wires out of the distributor to get to the coil? Am I missing something?

I'd highly recommend getting the VB equipment. Getting the frame and everything would run you about $30 USD, but you get security and peace of mind. I had my own makeshift setup when the old hold down came apart on me, but you make a couple jarring sharp turns, and you could end up loosening something up. Its especially a problem in a 240, where the engine bay has soooo much free room. I've had my battery almost completely slide off the tray, so its something to watch out for.

Oh well yeah, that's a totally sweet deal. I'm just only finding platinum plugs on the net, except for Courtesy Nissan, which has good prices, but charges more for shipping than for all the plugs combined! I guess I'm looking for a good vendor that may not exist. I may just have to bite the bullet and get 'em from them. Not to sound cheap or nothin!

Hmm... so is there any place on the net with particularly good deals on the BP6ES line? Also, does anyone have any opinion of ignition coils? I'm replacing the one in my 240 and wondering if there's a better one than the standard bosch model. Thanks :classic:

So I'm replacing most of my ignition system and I noticed victoria british sells bosch spark plugs, not NGK. Should I go for the Bosch? If NGKs are better (they're what I've always used), does anyone know where to find them cheap on the net - especially V-power or platinum ones?

You probably shouldn't be too quick to curse your luck - a bad mechanical pump is less likely to quit out of absolutely nowhere while you're on the highway On another note, do I have to do any sort of bypass of the electric pump if its stopped working? If you have both pumps, and one fails, the car can still run, so I'm assuming that installing a new mechanical one (while still having a busted electric one) won't affect performance that much. Is this true? Or do I have to rerout the fuel lines in the rear?

Good to know. I just ordered a mech pump from VB. The previous owner installed an aftermarket mechanical - the brand name seriously looks eastern european or russian or something. Not exactly top-quality. Hopefully, it'll get here soon so I can get out on the road for once! Or, at least, get me out on the road until something else breaks.

Yeah, round tops can run off the mechanical pump alone, so I discovered. I suppose I'm more perplexed by the fact that BOTH of my pumps have failed on me. If the fuel system can function on just one and not both, however, then I guess one could have blown a long time ago, and only the other one recently. A new electrical pump is out of pretty much anyone's price range for what you get, I'm sure. I guess I'll be getting a new mech. one, but its still better than an electric - less of a pain in the arse to put in, as well. Ugh.

Now my battery's dead, too. I'll get back to you once God has struck my car with lightening.

As I like to joke (but its always true), as soon as I finish a project on my car and its running great, something else fails the next day. This time, the day after i overhauled my brakes, i think i blew a fuel pump. I was all eager and ready to go driving (for the first time this year) and this happened. My '73Z was in storage all winter, with a full tank of gas and some fuel stabilizer. I've been driving it around in town for 2 months now without any problems (other than the brakes). Yesterday I drove it a tad and it sounded underpowered, like there was a problem with fuel delivery. If you gunned it, the rpms would fall. Today it didn't start at all. It turned over, ran for about 60 seconds, then died. It still turns over but doesn't start. I blew out the fuel lines after taking out the fuel filter (which is also a few months old, and looks clean), blew out the fuel filter and put everything back together. I tried starting it again, and you can see in the filter that there's no gas being pumped into it. So, I figure I blew out my pump. I installed a fuel regulator to control the over-pressurization of the electrical pump last year... the electrical pump itself was installed only a couple years earlier. Which is why I'm pissed. I guess my question is, can a Z run with a mechanical pump but no electric pump? How do the two pumps work together on a 73? With my car totally dead, and nothing pumping, what should I plan for next? My dead-last option is a $350 replacement electric pump, since I have about $400 to my name....

Hey gang, I've got a used BMC off of my low-miles 240z. Took it off and put on a new one before realizing it wasn't the problem at all. So now I'm getting rid of my used one, rather than going through the process of putting the old one back in and returning the newer one. I'm thinking of selling it on ebay, but I'll see if anyone has any offers here first. 7/8 bore, no reservoirs included. No leaks, in fabulous condition, with some surface rust on the bleeder screws. Anyone interested? Thanks, brett

I'd say MikeW's on to something there. My Z's radiator worked fine for a full year, until I decided to take it for a three-hour drive in 80 degree weather. Then I had a nice coolant storm over the hood. I'd suggest double checking to make sure how large your radiator ACTUALLY is, my 73 had a stock radiator in it but couldn't take temps over 75 for more than an hour or two before it overheated. All the lines were clear, thermostat worked fine, etc etc. If all of that is true in your Z, taking your thermostat out should make matters worse. In that case, your radiator simply isn't big enough to chill your coolant, and it'll keep circulating hot water back through the system continually, even at high speeds when you have a heavy gust of air cooling it off. A shop would probably give you the option of swapping it out for a larger one or just cleaning your present one - get a new one. I'd say at least a 3-core. Its not that expensive and takes about 10-15 minutes to swap out. As an added hint: if you have more than a couple of inches of room between your fan and your radiator, you probably don't have a very thick core. 2.4L engine might not sound like much to cool off, but with the tiny factory radiator that came installed, sometimes it doesn't do the trick!

I got on the phone with VB and the dude had no clue about whether or not I could use a '71 for a '73. The fact that the reservoirs got reversed between those years may have something to do with it, I'm not sure. But anyways, the moment I got off the phone, Ken at MSA got back to me and said he found a single brand new one in an old parts bin for me. What luck! What a way to start the weekend. :classic: Thanks a lot for your help.

Excellent. Thanks for your insight! I'm trying to avoid "local mechanics" at all costs, the town I'm in for the next two months has just about the poorest auto care prospects I've ever seen. One of those places where no specialist is over 19, or seems to know what the hell he's doing. I'm sure if I tried having one fashion and install a brake line, it would eventually end with them stripping the paint off with brake fluid... yuck.

Hey thanks, I ordered the catalog again since I can't seem to find mine. I didn't notice anything like what I'm looking for on either website, either: does this mean its only listed in their catalogs?

So I got myself a nice brake master cylinder for my '73 and put it in... only now I'm dealing with the problem of a leaky screw on the brake line leading from the master cylinder's rear brake reservoir to the dual circuit pressure differential. Two questions: What is this called? I haven't seen it mentioned in any of the manuals thus far. And two, does anyone know where I can get a replacement part? I'm stuck in a dead-end town with no way to get to a nice junkyard or anything, so the internet's one of my only options. Thanks a lot guys, as always.

I'm not too familiar with Oregon, but in Washington we have a fair number of Z clubs, I know of ones in Olympia and Tacoma at least, and I'm sure Seattle has its fare share. A lot of them are organized through or have some contact with the Zcar Club of Washington (http://zccw.org). Their activities section has quite a lot planned for the next few months. You may want to consider checking them out, if you haven't already. It is a great idea, though. The PNW seems to me to be one of the biggest Z areas in the world; there always seem to be old 240s and 260s around when you're in Oregon and Washington. In comparison, I'm pretty sure I'm the only guy with one out in the Midwest. Just yesterday someone mistook my car for a ferrari daytona!!!! What can you do.

That dude could most likely buy a decent 70s vette with the same amount he's already put into that thing, even with the cheap paintjob. And he hasn't started on the engine or tranny... yuck, what a mess. At least give the man credit for realizing that its a money pit, and a bad idea, and that he should just ebay it away. Good Zs just become rarer and rarer every day - imagine what it'll be like 40 years from now when the only 240s left are in a museum and this guy remembers what he did to his.

It's too bad you can't hear any actual "car noises." For me, that's the only reason to actually show off sports cars in the first place. Why mask the beautiful sound of a 300+ hp engine with some crappy, no-name alterno-pop band? Ugh, just makes me shudder. Its nice to see a Z keep up with a $120k BMW in reverse, though....

Yeah I certainly have a haynes manual... along with every other manual i can find... its actually the one thing i bought before i ever bought a Z. I'm working out a way to get a floor jack worked into my budget... but since brakes are awfully important i'm going to need to bleed minus fancier equipment. I would probably otherwise wait on performing the reinstall and bleed, but I need to have my Z ready to go for the X2 premiere next friday - there's no cinema within walking distance, and i can't miss that! :classic: thanks everyone.

While I'm actually on a computer... Nissan's website (www.nissan-usa.com) has recently put up some new information about the upcoming roadster model. From what I can see (imho), it looks great with the top down, and nasty with it up. But then again, what sports car looks really great with a convertible top on? I suppose they're meant to be kept off. So what looks better? I'd personally go with a hard top myself, but then again, I'd almost never opt for a convertible. And then again, I don't have $40k lying around, so what difference does it make?

Hey Guys, It's been a while since I've been on this site, mostly because I've been spending my time driving my Z instead of fixing problems on it (which makes a lot of people hate me). But after three lonely months I got her out of storage last week, and lo and behold something's wrong. I'm not too knowledgable in Z-specific maintenance (mostly due to my OK-condition car), so I've never had to put my speedster up on lifts. Those days are now over. I worked on her for a while, started her up, backed it out of the garage and promptly realized I had little brake pressure... perhaps due to a master cylinder that had been leaking all over my engine compartment. Anyways. So I've rebuilt the little guy and its come time to bleed my brakes. Since I haven't had the privilage of ever jacking up my car and putting it on jack stands, I was wondering what the exact procedure would be - I am TERRIFIED of breaking something, be it a floorboard or my suspension or what have you.... So i have a scissor jack. And two jack stands. I'm planning on putting the rear on lifts, doing some brake inspection, then bleedin the brakes, then moving on to the front. Anyone have a good idea of what exact points should I use when putting the front or back up on lifts? Or are the points listed in the manual good choices? Thanks a lot!

thanks for the great input, guys. i'll keep all this in mind when i install my new regulator. we'll see how things go....