Zed Head

You're right, it is. I glossed over that when pointing out the difference between the two you have. Take a picture from the side.

You'll need a "B" style shift lever. Anything from 1972 to 1983 will fit the transmission but may need bending or cutting and rewelding to fit the car. Put a Wanted ad out there and someone will have one. You might also need a longer driveshaft, if you have the forward-set differential. Can't remember when they stopped doing that. Here's a link or two with a picture of the shifter you'll need. You can get them much cheaper. zspecialties might have a stock lever also, for cheaper than their short-throw. Call them. That price is kind of ridiculous for a cut and weld on an $8 salvage yard piece. Don't know what's going on there. Not good. http://www.datsunstore.com/shifters-shortened-throw-p-1790.html http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/20-1050

Is the fuel pump mechanical or electric? Could be a voltage issue at the pump, at idle. Low fuel supply. But your description is a little unclear. You said "at idle" first, then "at any given moment". Two different situations. When at idle then at any given moment the RPM drops along with power.

Here's another good site. Looks like you have the early "A" style 4 speed. You'll probably have a problem with the shift lever hitting the edge of the hole in the body and console. People have bent shift levers or trimmed the holes larger to make it work. http://www.zhome.com/ZCMnL/tech/AandBtranny.htm

That doesn't seem right at all. It's just a nut, it doesn't weigh much. Did you talk to them by phone or just order through the web site? I ordered some window seals by phone and shipping was very reasonable. I hope they're not going to the dark side. Anyway, glad you have the part coming and hope it works out.

Did you order overnight shipping? That's a decent company, I'm sure they don't bloat the shipping costs. The owner's name is Oliver and he's a member of the forum.

Expensive, but available - http://www.datsunstore.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=mainshaft&osCsid=d9dd0c23dff1ed0b33ecc8b135da3d0c&x=0&y=0 Lefty cheapy, righty spendy. Seems backward, but may be because of what jmortensen says in Post #6.

Since you have a set of Tokicos you could buy the HZ3038 part number and just transfer the gland nuts and spacers (rear) from your current set over to the new ones. 3038 is the base shock, the other part numbers indicate the gland nut and spacer combinations. The 3038 seems to be available, just by looking at a quick internet search. One of the forum members seems to have them - http://www.futofab.com/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage_images.tpl&product_id=66&category_id=17&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=81

I used Hylomar for the gasket. It's non-hardening. You might build a little stand or support for the rear half of the transmission so you can stand it on end. Then lower the front half on to it. Easier to align things. It's not what I did when I put mine together but it's what I would do if I did another. Don't forget to put the transmission in to a single gear before putting the front case on. Otherwise you'll push both shift rods at once and lock it up. That's why I appreciated the Hylomar. Someone from another forum suggested Hylomar. It works well since the case is not pressurized and the surfaces are finely machined. Some heat on the adapter plate will help the gutter go in. It helped mine come out.

Broke it. I had set the adapter plate down on the gutter and squished/squashed it. I heated up the bend and straightened it out but it was too late. After I drove it out and tried to fine tune the bend, it broke. You do need that part. Oil supply is important. If you get the right parts guy at the Nissan dealership they can find it.

I think that I have one from an old parts transmission in my garage, if it didn't get damaged. The parts are in a box. If you get in a bind, I could probably get it to you. I'm on the west side of the metro area. It would probably fit in an envelope and be covered by a stamp or two. Let me know. Not a big deal.

Does the exhaust get a gassy smell before it dies? Kind of sounds like your coolant temperature sensor is disconnected, causing the ECU to supply fuel for a cold engine. Or that you have a vacuum leak and the mixture is only rich enough to overcome the leak(s) when the ECU is supplying extra fuel when the engine really is cold. The Guidebook shows how to check resistance of the coolant temp. circuit at the ECU connector. That will show you if the ECU is getting good information. Once you run out of the simple checks, the best route is to get a multimeter and run through all of the electrical tests. They don't take as long as you would think and when you're done you'll probably have found a few simple things to make better in addition to maybe finding the big problem. If everything checks out then you can move on to the odd problems, like fuel pumps that are corroded and overheat after a few minutes of running. Two of us have had those.

The newer Fuel Injection Guidebook is in the link below, it's for the S130, not S30. It's from 1980 but covers all previous years. 1978 doesn't use the fuel pump contacts, it uses the oil pressure switch or the alternator current, through a relay. You'll need the 1978 FSM, Engine Fuel chapter, to see that. Does it run for an actual few minutes or a measured 15 - 20 seconds? The word is that for 1978 if you disconnect the oil pressure sender that the fuel pump will get power when the key is On. It's a flaw in the design, but could be handy. http://www.xenons130.com/reference.html

Rockauto has both the plugs and the wires. I don't know about shipping to Greece though. If you started a new thread about buying parts in Europe, some of the guys from the north would probably have suggestions. You want plugs for a 1980 280ZX. Rockauto lists all of the important numbers too, which is nice. http://www.rockauto.com/

I would remove the wires from the parts you want, install the parts individually, then wire them correctly. Don't try to install the whole set of wires and parts at one time. You could even install one part at a time and make sure it works before installing the next. For example, the distributor with Pertronix module should run the coil you have with no changes. Do that, then install the Hi 6 module. Which may actually be a Crane Hi 6. Or it's not a Hi 6 but is an MSD 6AL, or similar. Here's the instructions for one of the Hi 6 models. What's the model number on yours? Found on the web. The MSD instructions are out there also. It won't be that difficult, one component at a time. http://www.cranecams.com/uploads/instructions/9000-6400a_.pdf

Got a camera? You haven't shown what you had, or what you bought, or even given the part number and link to what you bought. You might be talking about something entirely different. Blue showed the two Z car styles, with pictures, in the ZX distributor swap writeup on the atlanticz site. Post #2 above. I think that there may be other designs from the L4's used in various Datsuns, and the L24E used in the Maxima's.

Check the mounting points for cracks also. The guys that do burn-outs typically like to bang gears too. Be aware though, that the clunk will never go away completely. The clunk was noted on road tests of brand new Z's, I have a compilation book of Road and Track articles that describes it. I've tightened everything up on mine and still get a "thock" sound occasionally. I know it's just noise though. One way to gauge overall looseness is to wind the engine up, a little bit, not much is necessary, in a low gear, then let off the gas quickly. All of the looseness will be used up when the throttle closes and you'll know more. My drivetrain feels nice and tight but the gear lash still makes a noise now and then. Don't go crazy if you try this though, Going up and down at high RPM would put a lot of strain on the parts, especially if loose.

I've found also that the numerous corroded/old/dirty connections each draw a little bit more current than they were designed to. Cleaning them up will help a little bit. Also, as you can see from the chart I attached above, another 50-100 RPM in idle speed can get quite a bit more juice flowing. You might get to a happy spot with just a few tweaks.

The tachometer will stop working if you do. But it might work. The module has a plug, all you have to do is pull.

Your numbers look normal and don't show any functional problems with the system. Your alternator is just on the weak side. They don't put out their rated current at low RPM, only at high (see attached). Pretty common. A different alternator, same style, might solve the problem. It's kind of a crap shoot unfortunately.

74 was the first year of electronic. The blue tach wire runs to the ignition module. It's a branched circuit. Stick your head up by the fuse box and make sure the module is unplugged. Could be your problem.

Do you have a link? The site below is typically known as Arizona Z Car. It's one of my most unfavorite web sites to try to get around in. Maybe there's another out there. http://www.arizonazcar.com/

I'm down to the odd trim part now, in my searches. For 280Z's. I kind of miss the hunt but the garage is full of spare parts. The first few years I had my car, quite a few Z's went through. Things have gotten sparse lately. I've been to the Tacoma yard and it's not as pleasant as the three Portland PnP's. Plus it's hard to get to. Don't go unless you know they have something you want.

Wasn't me. I have all of the flywheels I need. Keep an eye out for a 12 mm Ace Hardware wrench. Lost it a couple of years ago. I am net positive on tools found though...

There should be alternating voltage between red and green as you spin the distributor. That's what triggers the module. You won't see much on a meter but you should see some variation. You can also measure resistance of the pickup coil (green to red wires when disconnected) to see if it's in spec. Is the original module still connected under the dash? That might keep current flowing on the coil circuit. Which would keep the coil from sparking. Not sure why it wouldn't do the same with points but maybe you left the blue wire off for the quick points system test. Also see that you didn't mention the rotor. People have been known to forget to install it. I did once. Forgot to say - of course, there's a test procedure in the Factory Service Manual. Engine Electrical chapter, any 280Z FSM.