Zed Head

Might as well get the coil to go with the ignition module on the distributor. Make sure that you get the mounting plate with the distributor also, it's different. Then you'll have a drop-in electronic ignition. With different advance curves, centrifugal and vacuum, than your 240 but they can be modified.

Probably from your writing. Above you said that you're working on the fan clutch, then said that your early 260Z doesn't have a fan clutch. You're either talking about two different cars or just not explaining things clearly. I thought that you had two cars also. Now you said that you've added more weight to the fan clutch which also doesn't make much sense either. Overall, it's hard to tell what caused the over-heating and why it would be better now. But, if it works for you, good luck with it.

beerman made a good point - you might just have a bad battery. How many batteries have you replaced along with the six alternators, over the eight years?

"stumble wen it gets hot" isn't really enough to even make a guess, is it? And who are "they"?

Details of the car and engine, and how far the needle gets toward red would help. The gauges aren't known for accuracy.

This site is handy and informative - http://www.ngksparkplugs.com/tech_support/spark_plugs/faqs/faqcode.asp?mode=nml If you're on a phone (I'm hoping that's the reason for the effortless grammar) - R means Resistor.

www.xenons130.com/reference The factory manuals don't suck.

You're not measuring the correlation of spark and distributor, you're measuring the correlation of spark and piston position. If the mark is at zero when the piston is at TDC, then the flash of the timing light will be accurate. That's why a timing light is used, instead of setting things at the distributor.

I tried to read Posts 1 and 4 but couldn't get through them before I ran out of breath and started to feel light-headed. I got "the 1977 280Z 5 speed won't rev above 3500 RPM and has regapped spark plugs". Is there more?

What year/type of car? Has it been modified at all?

The procedure described for the 240SX transmission will work for the 300ZX trans. The reason the front case/bellhousing needs to be swapped is that the VG30 (V6) engines in the 240SX and 300ZX are tilted farther over than the L6 (straight 6) in the Z cars. I did the swap on an 85 300ZX transmission. The cheapest method (the one I took) is to swap the countershaft bearing on the 300ZX trans. to the smaller bearing so that you don't have to pay to have the precision machining done. The other machining or grinding, and drilling work can be done by hand. If you want the bigger bearing, for more strength and/or longevity, then the bearing bore needs to be machined out, very accurately since it locates the end of the countershaft. You'll need to modify the transmission mount also, get a shorter driveshaft, and the right shifter lever. These links are good - http://www.motortopia.com/cars/1973-datsun-240z-11118/car-pictures/240sx-transmission-swap-14041/DSC04293JPG_Thumbnail1.jpg-266482 http://home.comcast.net/~zheimsothtn/transmission.htm http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/240sxtransmissioninstall/index.html

Pretty sure that your car would end up sold to a wrecking yard, where the ins. co. would get about $200 for it. Everything is negotiable, especially with insurance companies. I think that they're starting way high to try and save the most money on the payout. You could buy another 71 that runs and drives for $4000. Don't forget also that the car will have a salvage or reconstructed title if you try to put it back on the road. That will lower its resale value dramatically. $4000 seems like way too much to me, I'd offer $500. The insurance company will do the math and if they come out ahead they'll take the money, and move on to the next claim. No way they're going to get $4000 from any salvage yard, they're trying to bleed you. That's just my opinion though, the last car I bought back from the insurance company was a 1967 Chevy pickup, in 1984, for $300, after I got the payout from the ins. co. of the guy that hit me. But it was a work truck and ran fine after I put a new radiator in it, so it was a no-brainer.

Congrats on the new Z. Your screen name might have scared people away, it sounds unhealthy. You said it starts right up and drives great. Is there some reason you think this won't last? The more detailed information you share the better. How much is "not much" in the past few years?

Thanks Steve. I'm still curious to see what he finds, if he looks. Brand and store it was purchased at would be even better. Looking for ways to avoid a similar problem. The rebuilt alternators, in general, are known for poor quality, I wouldn't be surprised if a part just broke or came unbolted and shorted something. I'd like to know,the more specific the better.

That's a weird one. Do you have a 72 alternator and external regulator or a conversion to internal? Factory Hitachi or auto store "rebuilt"? Do you think you could take the case off of the alternator and see where the short happened? Poor manufacturing or just normal wear and vibration? Stories like yours make me nervous.

That's a good point about the over-tightening. The injector is essentially sitting in a big rubber cushion when it's installed, with the bottom gasket sealing against the intake manifold and the top one insulating against heat and vibration. Tightening the screws doesn't really have any effect on the seal to the manifold, it just puts extra force on the plastic insulator pieces, leading to cracking.

I am 99% sure that the BCDD and the distributor's vacuum advance are not tied together. The distributor should be connected to its own ported vacuum source, on the throttle body.

I used heat on the aluminum around the plug. Aluminum expands more with heat than steel and, apparently, Nissan used a thread sealer on the plugs that softens with heat. My fill plug would only move when the area was hot and would bind up again when it cooled. Heat makes a big difference. I use a big crescent wrench on the male plugs.

You might have been thinking it but you didn't write it. You said "has spark" but didn't really say when. The followup question is "when you put the plug wire back did it start right up"? If so, that could still be an intermittent electrical problem. If you confirmed spark and it still wouldn't start, that could be an ECU or fuel problem. It could just be a dying fuel pump. A fuel pressure measurement during the problem would tell you.

Hmmm....not sure what this means but I should add that I did not take my master cylinder apart. Only the slave. Maybe the master cylinder is problematic.

I've seen it recommended and I've done it myself - take the cylinders apart before installation and make sure there's no grit left inside from manufacturing. If you run your finger inside and it comes out gray and sparkly, rinse the moving parts with brake fluid before putting back together. I had a slave cylinder fail in about 6 months and the replacement from the guarantee (poor quality replacement parts for life!) was full of honing grit. It's been on for about a year with no problems. I just had to finish the factory's job for them.

Even red-necks use fuses. I hope you at least installed one of those in-line. Good luck with it. Is it LS with the carb and manifold or LS with stock EFI (more wires)?

Those are symptoms of ignition module failure, among other possibilities. Is it worse when the engine is warm? And does it happen more often after high RPM? The symptoms seem to vary when they fail. I had one that was fine at low RPM, below ~3,000, but would start sputtering and misfiring after venturing up in to high RPM. Turn the engine off for a few seconds and restart and it was fine. Other modules just die completely, especially the later E12-80 modules (from the ZX engines). I did also have an ECU go bad like yours. But it died, then only restarted about three times while I tried to get home, then it was completely dead. Elapsed time of about 5 minutes.

You said this - "I have issues and need help." - and got a helpful reply, asking for details so that you could get a specific answer.. You also said this - "Which plug on the pass side supplies 12 v power to basically the whole car." - for which the answer is "there is none". Edited out some harsh comments - To be fair, I did make fun of the fact that he tore the wires out of his engine bay without knowing what they were for, which I still think is funny. Just a difference of philosophies on how to get things done. Oh well.

These links might help you out. There are two single wires that supply all power - one is the charge wire from the alternator, the other is the positive wire from the battery. After those two wires the power splits and travels to various places, like the fuse box, the headlights, running lights, etc. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread36494.html www.xenons30.com/reference http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/electrical.htm If you don't know where the power wires are, how do you know that you didn't "gut" a "wanted" wire? I always find these situations amusing, like removing emissions "stuff" then having problems with engine operation.