Zed Head

The battery was installed correctly and things worked right before you removed the battery and put a new one in, so odds are you connected the new one backward. I have seen batteries with the positive and negative terminals reversed. If you didn't match the - sign on the battery with the cable that connects to a starter mounting bolt, and the + sign with the cable that connects to the starter solenoid (where the other wires also connect) then you probably just got your poles switched. Find the + and the - on the battery top and make sure that they're connected correctly.

I've never heard of adjustable Tokico's that weren't Illuminas. Have you adjusted them down to the softest setting? That would be the first thing to do. Do you have low profile tires? Tire sidewall is the first line of shock absorption. Old stiff tires could be a factor also. Poly bushings probably would make for a harsher ride, especially if the small ones at the wheel side of the control arm were done. But I have poly on the inside, rubber on the outside, with 205-70-14 tires and my ride is not harsh, but firm. That's a 280Z with cut springs in the front and Tokico springs in the back, with KYB shocks.

From my past, limited, experience with small block chevys (actually V8's in general), I remember that many dual plane manifolds don't completely separate each side I think it might be to moderate the pressure pulses or to make both sides available at high flow rates. Anyway, I don't think the sides of the carburetor are completely isolated. Some of the aftermarket manifold actually have a slot cut at the top of the divider. You can find pictures on the web. Plus, at idle, much of the fuel air mixture is just hanging around waiting for the next intake cycle, so if the sides are connected you would get some blending. Of course, if you have a tunnel ram manifold, I think it's just one big hole under the carburetor. Does he have headers? The chevy exhaust manifolds were pretty bad. When I replaced stock manifolds with headers, the idle smoothed out considerably. I don't know anything about Edelbrock carbs. Actually, not much about any carbs.

This car was running last year right? The 9 years is previous. Isn't this somebody else on Jenny's account? Still Jenny's car though. Kind of confusing on what's going on here. Anyway, on your noise/vibration from the console area - that's about where the propeller shaft u-joint is, along with the slip-yoke to the transmission. You might check the yoke for play when you're under there, grab it and shake, and the u-joint also. You'll need to pry that one around with a screwdriver to see if it's loose. Look for signs of rust and dryness. And when draining the fluid, level puts the drain plug at the bottom I believe. And puts the fill plug at the right spot. No real need to tilt the front or back independently. And the fluid will expand a lot when hot or warm, so don't be surprised if a bunch comes out if you remove the fill plug first. Which is always a good idea, just to be sure that you'll be able to refill it, before you drain the fluid.

Call this place, or send a message (see the About US or Contact Us links at the lower left of the front page). Oliver is the owner, he can find one or tell you where to get one. Z Specialties Online Store - If we don't have it in stock, we can get it!

Re ksbeta's probem - The part about the force required at the base of the shifter and the fact that the problem followed the shifter is interesting. If the problem is hydraulic or clutch related you should have grinding in reverse since it has no synchros. Reverse requires complete disengagement of the transmission from the engine, while the forward gears can use the synchros to do some work. Have you checked the three plastic bushings of the shift lever? Especially the bottom one, maybe it's split and opening up or just not seating right in the pocket for the shifter mechanism. Seems like there's a shifter problem, which it looks like you suspect also.

Just found the thread below that says it's the differential ID. RC39 is a 3.9 ratio R200. I can't find it supported in the FSM anywhere, but I've read that Nissan typically produced Service bulletins in addition to FSM's. Good to know though if you're looking for a certain ratio. Identifying Your S12 *Last Update 22/12/07* - S12 Pinned Information - S12Silvia.com Community

Did this problem just pop up out of nowhere after years and many miles on the same clutch?

I think that we were looking for low voltage or bad control, leading to slower/lower opening times, and a lean mix. Bad connections, high resistance, bad transistors, etc. Something that ties 1 and 2 together. Of course, it might just be an artifact of something else going on. Since the engine is running, I would do the old ear to screwdriver test. It's a Nissan standard. Quality of the click is the key.

I fixed a dent in my hood using a block of 2x4 as a backer and a finishing hammer. Mine was pretty small though. The metal on these cars is pretty think and malleable. You might be surprised. On the banks of 4 and 2, I think that the original EFI might have been designed for a four cylinder engine and when they added two more cylinders they just added one more circuit to control the two new ones. The power supply is two leads I believe, one is crimped to four resistors in a package, and the other is ganged in to two. If you look down behind the clutch master cylinder you'll see the two packages (each big rectangular metal piece actually has a set of round ceramic resistors inside). Maybe you have a bad crimp. It's a tight fit but the resistor pack can be removed for testing, or tested in place. There's a test in the FSM, page EF-56 for 1976. 78's the same. It's been discussed also, that the transistors in the ECU might control them in batches of two and four. I think that superlen or Steve J or Captain Obvious might know for sure. So if you had one transistor go bad it might only affect two injectors or four. The wiring diagram does show 5 and 6 as together but who knows what they did in the ECU. Injectors are built to a spec. so I can't imagine that the flow rates would be far off. Especially for an EFI system that doesn't have any self-trimming functions. For what it's worth, my cylinder #1 plug has always been much cleaner and whiter than the others. Even with a different engine. I've wondered about it. Maybe cylinder 1 gets more air or runs hotter. Good luck, hope it's something simple. Forgot to say also, the injector harness runs to the middle of the intake so if somebody flipped it when putting it back on, then 1 and 2 would be where 5 and 6 used to be. Just a thought.

Interesting auction site. Many cars, many cheap. No Z's found as of yet. https://vanderbrinkauction.proxibid.com/asp/AuctionsByCompany.asp?ahid=1530 https://vanderbrinkauction.proxibid.com/asp/LotDetail.asp?ahid=1530&aid=76974&lid=20744282&title=1969-Pontiac-GTO-Judge https://vanderbrinkauction.proxibid.com/asp/LotDetail.asp?ahid=1530&aid=76974&lid=20744361&title=1971-Dodge-Challenger

The jury is still out on the latest big transaction. rossiz bought a head from him and has it installed. He had a few problems with the head, like buggered-up threads, bit nothing major. Engine's running, but not fully tuned up yet. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/misc-s30/52438-steam-powered-z.html http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/fuel-injection-s30/52853-help-yogurt-cup-test-please.html

Another two cents (maybe the same actually), but I've had the super-howly I-can't-live-with-this diff noise, and the so-quiet-I-can't-believe-it-was-ever-noisy that I have now. It was super-noisy when I was tightening up the system to get rid of the clunk. The tighter I made things the howlier it got. But now I have a fairly specialized set of mounts on the car, along with the insulation under the carpet. An RT-style diff mount with the GM transmission mount, and urethane mustache bar bushings, but with a small spacer to allow an air gap during cruising. The pathways for noise through the mounts is minimized and the big resonator of the hatch area floor has been muffled. The gears are the same, so the noise is there in the diff, but it doesn't enter the cabin. Also, I found that there was a certain no-load speed, freeway speed, where the howl was really bad. I assume it's the pinion and ring gear bouncing off each other and ringing. Just offering more stuff to think about. I hated that howl.

If you're taking those pictures with an iphone remember that they don't automatically re-orient when you upload them. Sideways pictures don't really work.

My understanding, and own experience (three different diffs in my car over the years) is that they are generally whiny or howly. The cut of the gears and the lash specs apparently just lead to noise. Probably why Nissan tried to isolate them with lots of rubber. Worn bushings can lead to more noise. One bushing that's hard to diagnose is the main front diff mount bushing. It will collapse over time and let the metal pieces get closer together, allowing more noise transmission. The mustache bar bushings can do the same allowing metal to metal contact during driving. I've also found that a simple layer of insulation under the back deck carpet can cut some noise down. I used mylar bubble type, but anything is probably better than just the thin layer of carpet.

I would reconsider using the AFM to adjust mixture. When you change the spring tension you change the shape of the enrichment curve, not just the end-to-end magnitude. In other words, for example, if you adjust it richer, it will be more rich at low RPM than at high. You could actually turn the spring far enough so that there's no pressure on the vane and it just bounces around until it makes contact with the spring again. If you adjust it leaner, ?, I'm not sure exactly where it ends up. I think this is right, although I can't back it up with equations. It's much simpler to use the potentiometer on the coolant temp. circuit. It's quicker and moves everything up and down equally. If you put the knob inside you can tune on the fly. Also, the idle mixture and ignition timing are very different than they are off-idle. You don't have vacuum advance, but you're still on the idle enrichment circuit of the ECU program, assuming that your TPS is working right. As you add throttle, you lose idle enrichment. And, the ECU is programmed for vacuum advance, so you're off-spec. there also. At low RPM your timing is very retarded, from what the ECU expects. That's the thing about the stock EFI system. It's designed for all of the pieces to work a certain way. There's not much leeway for change. On the cup test - don't forget that there are certain places in the engine's cycle where the intake and exhaust valves are both open (overlap), where it will be impossible to create a seal. If everything's right and it won't hold, another ten degrees of rotation might seal it.

Aren't they drilled for both patterns? You might have your local Autozone get one in and take your pressure plate over and see if it will work. Probably a cost saving move, one flywheel, two patterns. The smaller pressure plate will just use less friction surface. Brute Power/Flywheel - Manual Transmission (FW9304) | 1978 Nissan/Datsun 280Z 6 Cylinders H 2.8L FI | AutoZone.com

Saw this CL post in the area. It's interesting because he wants to trade for another Z, either 260 or 280. Not sure I understand... 1971 datsun 240z series 1

Your choice depends on what combination of money and time (down-time or your work-time) you'd like to be at. You could find a good shop and have an adjustable coilover system installed for a lot of money, very little of your time, and some down-time. Or you could remove and cut the springs yourself for very little money, a lot of your work-time, and an unknown amount of down-time (depends on how skilled you are and how fast you work). You have to pick a spot on the spectrum to get better advice. All of the above and everything in between has been done.

1977 would have fuel injection. If the hose to the distributor is plugged, then there would be no vacuum advance at all. These cars tend to develop a bunch of small problems after sitting for a long time. The best thing to do is to check as many things as you can to be sure that they're working correctly. A multimeter, the Service Manual and some time. You can download the manual at either of the first two sites below, and the Electronic Fuel Injection Guide on the third one. Use the 1980 guide, it covers all cars from 1975 to 1980. Index of /FSM/280z XenonS30 XenonS130 - S130 Reference

It goes on the old external voltage regulator plug. It jumps the proper wires and also has a diode to keep the engine from running when the key is turned off.

You guys are having an unclear writing problem. spark more interest on these cars from the Orient spark more interest....................from the Orient spark more interest on these cars Stupid editing software keeps fixing my spaces for me.

No problem. You probably just want to zip tie the plug to the back of the alternator with the plug angled down. Tape might hold dust/dirt and moisture. Drained and dry is what you want. I blew a fuse on an a car after the trailer light's plug got dirty and wet. Eventually there was enough conductivity to short. I don't know if the P terminal passes much current anyway.

That's a good point. I was thinking that the plate was loose and able to move back and forth with the torque converter. But if it's tight and pressed on the block by the converter, that's another scenario. You might have damaged the flex plate. Even though it's called a flex plate, it's not that flexible.

He's talking about the yellow wire coming out of the alternator itself. You can see it lower left in all of the pictures. I think that might be the "P" wire, it's in the general location that the P stud would be. Some cars use it for a tach signal for other ECU operations. Odd that they would put a plug on the wire but the rebuilders probably use the same guts for many different bodies. It won't be used in your case. Check the instructions that came with the alternator and se if they show a P wire. Make sure that you insulate the plug. OR, return it and get one that doesn't have it. It's extra.