Pomorza

Mates For the past three years (~14k miles) I've been running Eibach springs and blue tokico struts on my Z, which I put on myself along with new bushings everywhere.. A couple of weeks ago I noticed that when I went over speed bumps - which I hate doing - there would be a noticeable squeak from the suspension. I took the Z in for a tire balance the other day and was informed that the struts need to be replaced as they are "leaking." I could not find said leak when I was doing the brakes this past weekend. Well today I noticed that when I go over said speed bumps there's a noticeable tick (its annoying as hell) coming from the rear passenger's side. I'm getting the car in the air this weekend but has anyone ever experienced such things? It does it after the bump (as in the when the suspension decompresses from said "bump") Secondly, what is the life space on shocks on Z's? Thank mates Jan

Mr. EuroDat, Thank you very much for the part numbers. I'm going to take things apart next weekend and see where things are leaking from. My shifter is quite firm - makes a distinct "CLICK" - when I put it in gear, which I really like, so I'm going to leave that be. I will do the seals and take lots of pictures and post here when done. Thank again Jan

Hey gang I had my tires rotated this afternoon at my local mechanic. While they had the car in the air they noticed that the rear output seal, speedo seal and the shifter seal were all leaking trans fluid. Does anyone happen to know where one could procure these seals? Thanks Jan

Mate, I run a 160* tstat in my Z. Even on the hottest days out here in the desert (so 115) the Z rarely ever gets above 170 and that's on a stock radiator. That being said, when I ran the stock 180 degree thermostat in the summer the Z would creep up to 200 occasionally. I'm pretty sure there's nothing wrong with running that warm but I don't like aluminum to get that warm. According to the service manual for tropical areas - so I'd guess like Florida in the middle of summer - they advise you run a 170* thermostate. Since they don't seem to sell these anymore I chose the next best thing. That being said, if you're running stock fuel injection the computer will compensate for temperature until the car exceeds 158 (70 C) according to the FSM. I'd suspect that with your radiator this might occur so you would run richer and thus ruin whatever fuel economy you were counting on. I don't run stock EFI so I don't have this issue . Thanks Jan

mjr45 https://www.dropbox.com/s/5lox5pojhtzinzb/76circuit_COLOR.pdf That's a link to the full one, it should be a PDF which you can zoom into. If it doesn't work lemme know. Hope it helps Jan

Mjr45 For what I remember there is a ground from the EFI harness that goes directly to the battery. If you look at my batter in the photo below you can see there is a large black wire coming off the battery. That is the harness ground (EFI computer ground to be exact). I also included a colored wiring diagram for a 76, not sure if the 75 is the same but it can be used for reference. I know you said you weren't good at wiring so I gave you the best thing to start with, a diagram. Everything harness related on the diagram is in white and pretty much in the lower center. Take a look Hope that helps Jan 76circuit_COLOR.pdf

Hello all I was skimming the autometer site last night and stumbled upon this. Has anyone ever used these in a Z? They're a bit bigger then the stock pod gauges but I'm pretty sure you could transplant one into the other. Thanks Jan

Hello all Once again I have broken one of the three little plugs that sit atop the evap canister located on the passengers side (the large round black thing). This time around it was the one that vents the tank - or at least I think it does - the one that connects to the large steel fuel line looking thing. So question, is it possible to run the car without this? I know that the dizzy gets a vac line connected to it from it but other then that I can't see the car running any different. I would like to fix it - or get a new/used but at the moment I lack funds. Thank all Jan

Dirwin A five speed conversion is a rather good conversion to do if you're doing mostly highway driving. Its pretty much a swap and go type deal. For what I remember most if not all 5 speeds uptil they switched to the V6 motors will bolt right onto your car. The "best" transmissions you can get is from the 80's ZX (80-83 I believe - minus the turbo one apparently) - according to may - as it has better gear ratios. I've done two of these myself its really not the hard just time consuming - along with oil covered. While your in there I suggest you do the clutch, throwout bearing and pretty much anything else related the the clutch system - I've made the mistake of not swapping in a new clutch, three weeks later no more clutch. As for you oil problem. Two questions - what oil are you running and have you confirmed low pressure with a mechanical gauge? The stock Z gauges - while awesome - are 30+ years old and can read poorly after time. Hope that helps Jan

This past weekend I redid my exhaust manifold gasket. Well "while I was at it" if figured I might as well do the valve cover gasket and the thermostat housing gasket. And hell since I replaced the gasket on the manifold I might as well do the gaskets on the pipes. I have learned a few things with older cars, if its not broken I haven't looked at it yet. But in all reality I've come to the realization that I need to do ONE project at a time and once I finish that ONE I can move on. Its a hard lesson I learned when I owned my jeep - started by just replacing the water pump, ended up doing a timing chain - it was a fun experience and cost me an arm and a leg (along with a very pissed of father (I was 17 at the time)). Did it need to be done, um no it was fine, did I learn how to dismantle half an engine in one weekend...yes

If you pulled the oil pump off you have to bring the engine to TDC (it will look like THIS ) and then you reinstall the shaft like like THIS . If that is done the car should be "dead" on. Now make sure your distributor is lined up correctly and goes in nice and snug. If you pulled just the distributor off then its not installed correctly - from your post I'm assuming the oil pump came off too. Hope that helps Jan Here's another look at the motor at TDC just incase the first one is not clear enough (TADA)

Gentlemen and ladies This afternoon I pulled my exhaust manifold off to replace the gasket (if found the 5 leaks I had). Well the #1 exhaust liner is loose, I can move it around nicely in the port. Could this cause issues? I've seen people remove these but I don't feel like doing all that work if I can just leave it in there. Thanks Jan

So I measured both the voltage at the battery and the voltage going to the solenoid. According to my DMM the voltage at the battery was 12.56 and the voltage at the solenoid while turning the key was ~12.3. The car started during the afternoon without a problem. No idea, maybe my Z was just not in the mood to drive, it was Valentine's day after all Jan

The voltage drops to about to right below 12 volts, or about where it drops to when the starter usually engages. I do have a power wire coming off the starter that I use for a fuse box I use in the car, if that could cause issues. Its an 8 gauge wire. I could always move it if that could cause the issue I'm having. All I know is when the car is nice and warm the starter usually works right away no delay no issues. Its in the 40's here so I'm taking it needs more CCA's to get all the metal going. Thanks Jan

Hello all Over the past couple of weeks I've been having a problem with starting my car. This is what occurs, when I get in the car and turn the key to start there is a delay - as in I have to wait a few moments (usually a second or two) before the starter engages. I originally thought it was key portion of the starter system (the back side of the key). That fixed the problem for a couple of weeks but now its back and is worse. This morning I got in my car and turned it over. It started once and then nothing, every time I turned the key the voltage would drop but the starter would not engage. The battery is new - about a month old - and the starter works lovely when it works (its a gear reduction one). Does this sound like the ignition relay? I do have a few items running off the 12 volt switched that located under the dash - fuel pump, ignition, ECU, and a gauge. Could that cause issues? The car runs and drives wonderfully (minus the annoying exhaust leak - which is getting fixed this weekend) and when it does start it starts just fine. I usually don't let the starter run longer then a few seconds so I usually have to crank it twice. Thanks Jan

Info Datsun L-series cylinder head timeline

You know you do have a point, most of my drives have been rather short in the past couple of months - two miles each way roughly . Ill drive on it a bit and see what happens - though I am looking for an excuse to do the front cover. For reference does anyone know where one could procure one of those epic tools, or pictures or directions on how to make your own? Thanks Jan

I'm assuming youre talking about this Valve Seals

Lads This past weekend I went on a rather lengthy drive with the Z - it was really nice to get her out on some nice curvy roads kill some tires. I have noticed that on deceleration there is a distinct smell of oil. My buddy was driving behind me and said he could smell oil but didn't see any smoke - other then black when I floored it around corners. When I got back in town I was about .5 - .75 qaurt short on oil, which I'm assuming was burned. Pulling the plugs, there's not fauling but the #3 and #4 plug show that oil was present at one time or another. For what I remember from all the lovely books I've read this is a sign that the valve seals are bad. Am I correct in this assumption? Thanks for the read Jan

Thanks guys, As it shows in SteveJ's picture the thing that is leaking is from the sending unit - in said drawin its piece 4. Do they still sell these things new, as looking at it it might be leaking from the terminals. Thanks Jan

Hello all This past afternoon I found that the rear of my Z oddly smelled of raw fuel. While doing laundry at my brother's place I jacked the rear of the car up to find a nice line of fuel coming from the sending unit (the round thing on the right side of the tank right above the centerline). I'm assuming that the O-ring that sits inside has probably been nicely eaten by all the ethanol in the fuel, are these hard to replace? Do I have to drop the tank or can I finagle the thing out with the tank still in the car? Thanks Jan

Tomohawk Thanks for clear up. I always invisioned that fuses and fusible links were pretty much the same. I don't have a problem with my fusible links (they're all new) but just felt like getting an opinion if the option I showed was visible. Clearly it isn't. Thanks Jan

Ladies and Gents This morning I was looking up a few electrical things about the Z and stubled upon this. Has anyone done this? I don't mind using the stock set up I just find that this looks a bit nicer and makes it easier to figure out if the fusible links are the problem. Any suggestions,commnets etc welcomed Thanks Jan

When I replaced the manifold gasket I put a straight edge to the manifold (Really long one) and it all seemed rather straight. Now on that note, this was before I did a bunch of hill climbs where my manifold glowed red afterword - I'm assuming this isn't a good thing to do to these. Thanks Jan

Zed head, I reread my orginial post and did indeed realize that the answer you guys gave were quite good. Thanks for that. As for the leaks. I did see white smoke (from the seafoam) creep out of the number #1 exhaust until the fan turn on at which point it was pretty hard to tell anything. Secondly, I have isolated the sound (using a screwdriver) and that's where the ticking noise is coming from. I'm going to check again with an actual stethescope a bit later this week. I expected this to happen. When I was replacing the gasket (about a year ago) the #1 stud (the one under the thermostat housing) snapped and broke off in the head. I drilled it out (using a smaller bit) and retapped the whole with a M12 (or m10 whichever the studs are) and it worked well. I replaced all the studs (all of which came out fine - minus the first as explained). When retightening them I figured that I shouldn't tighten it too tight as it may break again. I will do the vacuum test when I return from my trip. Thanks for all the help Jan