Pomorza

So while working on the heater I inadvertently grabbed onto the glove box door and broke most of it off. Does anyone know how to fix said broken door. The "Hing" is where it is broken its torn about 90%. Any advise would be great. Jan

I will advise that you replace the bolts on the water pump also. They have a tendency to break if they are reused to many times. I'm talking from experience here as I broke on when I replaced mine on my 280. Luckily it was only the head so most of the bolt was outside and I pulled it out. But please buy new bolts. You don't want to spend hours trying to get a broken bolt out of your engine block. You can get both (pump and bolts) from MSA. They work rather well from what I can tell. (I'm running one at the moment) I'm not sure what electric pump you have but I've been told by many Datsun guys that the electric pumps are fairly loud. Mine is rather loud all the time but but again its on a 280z so it could be different. Jan

Here is a photo of what is located in my car. I'm just a bit confused on how the water flows through all this plumbing when the heat is off. I understand it when its on and coolant flows just not when its off. Someone please shed light on that. Secondly the blower motor that I pulled out of the Z. Is this out of a Honda? For what I was told the one in the Z has a metal fan, the one I have is most definitely plastic. Thanks Jan

Thanks for the pic. I wish I would have taken a pic of the disaster that was down there. I sat there for a good ten minutes going "huh? what?" By the looks of it I'm missing a pipe something. I'll take a look at it tomorrow more closely. Jan

Hello all After months of procrastinating I finally forced myself to pull the old broken heater core out of my 280z. After removing the blower motor and it's housing I find that the hoses leading to and from the heater core are well a mess. I don't know which one goes where and how they are at all set up. I pulled everything out, cleaned and replaced. Now I'm at the moment where I need to pipe the system but I have no idea where what goes. The two manuals I have are little help but not really as specific as I would have hoped. Does anyone have any picture(s) of the plumbing down there? To and from the heater core, how they hoses go? Please its getting rather cold here in Arizona and driving in 32 degree weather with no heat is rather um...cold. Jan

Hello guys A friend of mine has a L24E (810 motor) that is sitting on his property. This next week I'm going to be replacing the oil pan gasket on my L28E (280z) and I'm wondering if the two oil pans are interchangeable. I was going to remove one (off the 810) clean and paint it and put it on when I replace mine. Thanks Jan

As quoted above it is in fact the timing chain rubbing. Thanks guys for all the help Jan

Am I positive? No. As I said I couldn't really pinpoint the sound as it started raining. It was loudest at the rear of the motor on the flat part of the transmission. Now is this where it's coming from I can't tell you. I will be doing more tests tomorrow or later this week so I'll know more as the weeks progress. Jan

Nope noise stays.

Update. I went over to a friends house last evening and pulled out the old stethoscope. Walked around the entire valve over from front to back and the sound was nowhere to be found. Finally I placed the stethoscope on the flat top part of the transmission. BINGO the sound could be heard. My efforts were then disturbed by some nasty rain so I couldn't pinpoint the noise but it sounds like its coming from that area. Ideas? Jan

Yup cam has little holes. Made sure of that when I was looking at the top of the engine. Not sure if there's block off plates as there was a huge puddle of oil but I'll look next time I have the cover off. Thanks Jan

1. I'll more than likely do that. 2. I'm going to check the valve lash this upcoming week or weekend. 3. Its an L28 so it is possible that it went to an internal cam oil system. I'm not positive but its not there I'm sure. I was rather stunned when I saw it. Jan

Awesome I actually have one laying in my garage someplace. I will dust if off and get to work. Thanks Jan

Is there anyway to actually check if it's the tensioner without tearing the engine apart? Jan

Sblake. Wouldn't the timing chain make noise when the car is cold? I've never owned an OHC engine some I don't really know. Any explanation would be great. Jan

Update: Sadly the noise has returned. Here's what happens. When the car is dead cold and I start it there is not a peep out of the engine. Nothing, sounds like a perfectly good L28. When it reaches operating temperature the noise returns. When at idle and not hitting anything you can clearly hear it if you pay attention. It basically sounds like marbles or a rattling sound coming from the top of the motor. To me either the valve clearances are off or the cam is making noise. I've had a suggestion that the tensioner is bad and making noise. Any ideas? Jan Tucson P.S I did pull the valve cover yesterday with a friend (Ztrain). There was nothing really odd that I could tell by looking. I did notice that there is no oil spray bar in there although my FSM shows there should be one. Rather odd. N47 head.

Bit of an update. Went out this morning at 9am and started the Z. Sound is nowhere to be found. I revved it to where I did last night and nothing, no sounds, noting. To be honest the engine is a bit quieter than it was before the oil change. I'm not sure what to tell you guys. Thanks for all the help and suggestions. Jan

Yes I do mean 242,000 miles. The engine is in great shape starts and runs amazingly it just scared me a bit after the oil change. I don't drive very hard on this car. I've seen I6's engines run for 500k before they need work so I'm not all that worried. I might just get rid of the oil and go back to 10w40. I'm going to start the car tomorrow and see what it does and then pull the cover off and investigate that. I do mean 5mm...more like 10 though. I can't really explain it but it is just above the H line. Not to start another debate here but is straight old fashion Castrol GTX oil fine in these cars. I've been running VR1 since I bought it as I've been told the zinc in it is good for the engine but it's rather heavy on the wallet. I always wait a good five minutes before going anywhere in any car. Let the oil get everywhere first and then I'm off driving. I also keep it under 3k when the car is cold, usually shifting at 2.5k or less. Jan P.S I'm the third owner of this Z. I'm not sure if the engine has been rebuilt in the past or not. By all the records I got with the car when I bought it, it doesn't seem as if it was rebuilt at all.

Here's a bit of an update. I took the Z out for a ride a few hours ago. Engine temp was just to the first line (the low line) and oil pressure was just past the halfway point. Car was rather loud, as I could hear the cam moving. (rather louder than usual). When I revved the car up 3k or so and released the throttle the said rattling sound was present for about two seconds. Took the car for about a ten mile drive. It felt rather sluggish, which I guess could be explained by the far thicker oil (I used 10w30 before). Didn't really push the car, did reach 4k a few times but mostly kept it below that area. The car sounded and drove fine the entire time. As I reached home I revved the engine once more and the rattling noise was there but not as loud or long lasting as before. I parked the car and checked the oil level. By the look its just about a few cm above the H line. About 5cm or so. Could too much oil cause noise? What can cause a sound from the cam to just appear? Could the new oil just not be lubricating it enough? I'm a bit scared here to drive the Z as I may damage something important (like the cam). I'm also just lost here. I've never had this happen to me before where sounds just appeared after oil changed. Its not like I drove the car with no oil. As for your suggestion. The valves were adjusted in September when the car had 240k. Car now has 242k, but I'll give it a look tomorrow. Jan

Hello guys. This past Friday I did an oil change in my Z. Decided to give 20w50(VR1) weight oil a try as the temps here in Tucson are getting a bit warmer. Went to the local store bought six quarts of oil (one spare) and a Bosch oil filter. Put everything together added 5 quarts oil and away I went. When I rev the car up now to about 4k and let the throttle go it will make this rather annoying rattling sound from the valve cover for a few seconds. Any ideas? Is the oil just too thick to lubricate the cam at idle. The pressure is sitting exactly where it needs to. I pulled the fill plug out and the cam is most definitely covered in oil. The sound was not present this morning when I drove to school or before I did said oil change. I did figure out where all the oil I was loosing was going. To my dismay my mechanic who did the valve clearances for me didn't tighten the valve cover enough and caused leaking from the cover. Just noticed this issue this past week. Thanks Jan

Hey guys I have a bit of a question that I'm wondering if you guys can help me with. For what I understand the fuel injection system on my 76' 280z is basically a Bosch L Jetronic system that was bought from Germany in the 70's. That being said a lot of the parts on the Z look "similar" to the parts that are on many BMW's from that era. With that in mind I was wondering if any parts are actually interchangeable between the cars. (BMW and Z's). This is a purely hypothetical question and I'm only asking it as I'm curious. Thanks Jan

Hey guys For the past couple of months I've had a problem with the car idling very poorly when warm after restarting. Upon investigation I found that leaky injectors could be the culprit. This afternoon I installed an inline fuel pressure gauge right past the fuel filter (see pic). I got everything nice and tight and started the car. To my dismay the gauge read 30. When I revved it it goes up to about 33 or so but when I release the throttle it drops to ~27 and then goes back up to 30. When the car is off the pressure will drop to 25 and then slowly creep back up to 35. I understand that this readings isn't exactly what the injectors are seeing but unless there is an increase of 5psi from the gauge to the injectors there seems to be a problem to me. Any ideas? Pump, regulator? Jan

That's awesome. I would love to have one of those in the back of my Z. Jan

The large on above the defogger switch is the defogger indicator. The space next to it is blank and just has an empty insert. ( I suppose you could add a switch there). The big hole is also empty on mine. Check the picture and see if that helps. Jan

Thanks Jan