Zed Head

Thanks for at least one capital letter. Although I'm sure it was unintentional. .

Thanks for the picture Blue, and the feedback Jeff. Sounds like the springs are generally good, but the Illumina struts might be on the harsh side. The Illumina's are adjustable though, right? I picked up the springs and three Tokico HP shocks, 3012 and 3013, (buggered one up removing the springs, thought it was just an old original, based on car appearance - turd - and dirt buildup), cause they were cheap and I have cut stock springs right now with KYBs. Something to mess around with in the future. Still interested in pictures or feedback. Too bad they don't make the electrically adjustable shocks like in a Pathfinder - push-button Sport mode would be nice. And, if anyone has one Tokico HP 3012 strut (front) they'd like to sell, I'm in the market.

It is a capacitor, AKA condenser in automotive-speak. Some parts stores sell them, they're also used on the positive terminal of most alternators. I think that the capacity is the same, but if you want to be rigorous you should probably measure it. If you can't find one in a parts store, the wrecking yards are full of them, in a variety of cars. They damp high voltage electrical impulses, also known as "noise" in the electronics world. Originally to make points last longer and for cleaner sound on the radio, but I believe that they also offer protection to the solid state electronics of the alternator, ignition and ECU on more modern cars. I've used a condenser to stop electrical noise from screwing up my tachometer reading after installing a different coil. The engine will run without it, but there might long-term effects. Nissan had a reason... That's my current understanding (punning again).

Thanks Jeff, looking forward to seeing how they sit. What do you think of the ride and handling, would you do it again or go a different route?

In general, I believe that studs are meant to be finger tight. It's the nut pulling up on the stud that provides the clamping force. Some people do tighten them in using doubled up nuts, which tends to keep them in the head next time you remove the manifold, but it will also pull the first thread or two up out of the head and add some deformation from the shaft of the stud. You're probably seeing some of that while you're removing gasket material.

Is anyone using Tokico 5022 springs on their 280Z? And would they have a picture or an estimate of how the tires sit in the wheel wells (equal distance around the tire, or thin/thick at the top)? I posted this question over on Hybridz also, but there's a lot more coilovers over there. One response so far, from John Coffey (thanks John). I've seen 280Zs that sit high in the back, like a 78 parts car I had, and seen them that sit lower like my 76 280Z did. So I don't know what a 1" drop will look like.

I think that's the drain tube for condensation from the AC system (AC means heating and cooling in Nissan-speak). If you're lucky, it's just one of the hoses to the heater core, not the core itself. Take the AC control panel off (the panel with the control levers) and you should be able to see where the leak is.

I've had that happen to me, in the same way, waiting for bubbles that never came. Ran the engine for 20,000 miles afterward, no internal gasket problems, although it did weep when cold at the back of the head. 1976 280Z. I've drained and refilled the radiator and engine a few times for different reasons, also with a different, more solid engine (no leaks at all) and never had the air entrapment with overheating that the 240Zs apparently had. I just fill up the radiator, put the cap on, run the engine then check it after it cools down. It's never very low.

You could buy some bullet connectors for the end of each wire, cut the suspect plug off and put individual bullets on. You would lose some weather resistance but it would get you to the same spot you'd be if you bought a replacement plug. An "in the mean time" fix. Or you could bypass each wire - type or copy 7063k32 in to the search box on the McMaster Carr site. http://www.mcmaster.com/# Tap in to each wire and run a bypass wire around the plug. An option. Or you could tap in to the L wire only and bypass it since it's the one that affects regulation. Or you could bypass one wire at a time until it works. The easiest way to do the internal alt swap is with jumpers at the harness plug. You could do that without cutting anything. Instead of cutting the connector off, just get some bullet connectors, put one on each end of a short piece of wire, then connect the appropriate wires at the connector. Make sure that the bullet connectors are tight or insulated so you don't get a short. It would be reversible. Type or copy bullet connectors in to the McMaster Carr search box to see a bullet connector and options. Radio Shack has both taps and connectors, but of lower quality.

Plus.

Before you get too far in to buying (or trying to buy) new parts, you should take a little time and download the 1978 FSM, and read the Engine Electrical section. Try to understand how the coil and ignition module can have power to keep supplying spark to the engine, while power to those other components is cut off. Check your circuits with a volt/ohm meter, if you have one. Read up on the charging system so that you don't spend too much time trying to buy an external voltage regulator (78 doesn't have one). Those are odd symptoms. What does the voltmeter show before and after the problem occurs?

You might have answered this already in some other thread, but is the pump a regulated low pressure pump suitable for your type of carburetor? I see that you have an L28, maybe it was swapped in with EFI and someone swapped the high pressure EFI pump over with it.

Thanks Blue, I've seen that before and it's a great reference for finding used injectors once you know what you're looking for. It seems that when Nissan and Toyota (Denso or Nippon Denso) licensed the Bosch/Bendix technology though, that they also started making knockoffs of the Bosch design. The old cars from Japan all use Denso and the cars from Europe all use Bosch.

Thanks for the pictures. That must be the latest reman design from Standard and BWD. I wonder if the white plastic piece is for spray pattern control. I think that both BWD and Standard manufacture in South Carolina. Here's the BWD link, if you click on Manufacturing at the bottom of the page, a new page from Standard Motor Products comes up. Find the dot in South Carolina and you'll see that it's the Fuel Injection division. I think that "T" stands for Tru Tech, which is probably a quality level designation for the FJ707 product. Interesting stuff. Good luck with them. http://www.bwdbrand.com/ROOT-Home/Content.aspx

Did you put the shim between the hinge and the body or between the hinge and the door? .060" is 1.5 mm. Does that sound about right for thickness? That's a fairly thick shim. My driver's door only shuts half-way occasionally, like some cars do when the cabin is sealed really well, and this might be worth a try. The hinges do have some play.

Glad you got it fixed. Not sure what your comments mean though, since all of the internally regulated alternators from 78 to 83 are wired the same way, and the FSM diagram is correct I believe. Just posting, with pictures, for any future alt swappers. The top of the T is S and up and down part is L. Of course, in the FSM drawings, the T is upside down, maybe that's the issue. I copied two, from 78 and 79, just to show what I mean.

Just to add to the conspiracy theory and general difficulty of finding other injector brands, look at this ebay link. It shows FJ7 as the number, with the Bosch number I referenced above as an alternate. Then shows RAM as the brand. But "RAM" is what is on the sides of the BWD injectors that I had bought new ~2 years ago. RAM was also on the sides of the set of old injectors that came with my car. I've also read that BWD and Standard are made at the same factory. Somewhere out there is the secret cross-reference document. I've looked all over the internet but haven't found any collected set of cross-references. http://www.ebay.com/itm/FJ7-ALFA-ROMEO-VW-TRIUMPH-FUEL-INJECTOR-0280150116-/300367386342?hash=item45ef4a96e6&item=300367386342&pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&vxp=mtr FJ7 ALFA ROMEO VW TRIUMPH FUEL INJECTOR 0280150116 Item condition: New other (see details) Compatibility: This information is not available. Quantity: 2 available Price: US $49.95 Item location: Brooklyn, New York, United States Ships to: Worldwide Payments: PayPal, Bill Me Later See payment details History: 9 sold New other (see details): A new, unused item with absolutely no signs of wear. The item may be missing the original packaging, ... Read moreabout the condition Part Brand: RAM Interchange Part Number: 0 280 150 116 Manufacturer Part Number: R1 116

You might be thinking of the pintle cap design. All of the Z injectors, I believe, are pintle type. There is one small hole in the end and a pintle, or pin, that is used to block the hole. The pintle is attached to the solenoid and moves up and down to let the fuel out. There's a variety of pintle caps out there, but the end of the injector itself underneath looks the same, a metal end with a small hole with a pin sticking out of it. I don't think that any of the injectors available for the Z engines are the later multi-hole hole design. The pintle design can still give a variety of spay patterns from a straight narrow stream to a nice big cloud of vapor. I just tested a variety on a home-made testing rig. A set of stock Nissan injectors gave a V-shaped pattern, while some Bosch injectors gave a big cloud. Here's a brief description of some injector types - http://performancefuelsystems.com/InjectorSprayStyles-TechCorner.htm I'm no expert but I am just getting over my own recent obsession with injectors. I have some Bosch 0280150116 injectors in the engine now (they appear to be a common replacement here in the Northwest, from what I've seen on various engines and flow the same rate, with low impedance) and they work very well. My idle has smoothed out over the stock Nissan injectors I had in it, one of which had slightly lower flow and appeared to leak a little bit. The injectors that came with the car when I bought it (prior to the stock Nissan injectors above), old aftermarket injectors of unknown origin, were amazingly bad and had flow rates varying by about 20%. One of them was stuck also until I tapped it with a screwdriver. For the record, the new aftermarket BWD injectors that I've also had in the engine, from OReilly auto, flowed at the same rate, with a V-shaped pattern. I tested at wide open, so open/close time effects are unknown. Edit - sorry for the big download, tha'ts some good coffee I'm drinking...

Maybe you have a bad voltmeter. I think that the voltmeter might read voltage at the external regulator. The wiring diagram from the FSM would tell you where to look. A hand held meter would be pretty handy to verify what's going on.

Shaving .080" and using Webers adds 50 HP? There must be more to the story.

The L28ET would have a cylinder head temperature sensor, plugged in about right above the starter. Have you checked the harness there? Or do you mean temperature sensor for the gauge? Besides that, who would most likely know, someone with a 72 or someone with a ZX? One more - some of the L28ET harness is left, or some of the 72 harness? Just trying to clarify...

Search Pertronix under username Arne, if you haven't already read it. I looked through your other thread but didn't see a reference to his long thread on a similar issue with the Pertronix setup.

Just saw these today. I picked up the short drive shaft off the 71 and took a look at the 72. The 72 has all of the gauges and a couple of intake manifolds scattered around inside, and what is probably the original L24 engine in the engine bay. The 71 has the speedo and tach left, the taillights (one cracked), a 4 speed and a 280Z L28 engine (sans head). They both have a lot of trim pieces left, the 72 seemed to have a fairly decent drivers seat also. Overall though, pretty trashed. The 72 has an intact sunroof also. Didn't see any broken glass on either, but couldn't gauge quality through the moss. For any one looking for 240Z parts - http://www.picknpull.com/check_inventory.aspx?Address=97225&Lat=45.506451&Lng=-122.775622&Make=Datsun&Model=280&Distance=200 If you're wondering about a certain part, reply back and I'll see what I can remember.

SteveJ gave a very good set of answers in his post. I just gave a brief one place to look answer. But I think that you might be assuming some things that are incorrect, thereby leading you to look in the wrong places. The voltmeter in your car reads battery voltage all of the time, even with the key off. Voltmeters draw barely any current, even less than the clock, so it doesn't drain the battery. You didn't really say that the problem was intermittent in your first post and it's not really clear what "the problem" is, besides having a battery that reads 8 volts sometimes. Assuming that the voltmeter is reasonably accurate, when it reads 8, it's telling you that there's a huge draw on the battery. Essentially a short circuit. That's not good. But, on the other hand, the voltmeters are usually inaccurate on these cars after 30+ years. Even so, if its' dropping to 8 occasionally, you probably have a loose wire somewhere shorting to ground. Odds are it's either the alternator charging wire or the main big battery positive cable, because any other wire would melt with that big of a draw on it. I would check those big wires for breaks or rubbing on the body first, and soon. No reason for the coil to be energized on Acc. It's only energized at On/Run and Start. Not clear what you mean by "put a load on it" and the voltmeter drops to zero. Trying to Start? Headlights on? If you had a cheap volt/ohm meter you could test all of your fusible links and a bunch of circuits for power. Even a cheapie will save you a lot of time and money. Anyway, there's a few more places to look, and some possibilities.

Do you mean no luck on the 5th gear synchro or no luck on any of the synchros for the 5 speed transmission? And what information did you get give drivetrain.com? If you told them you needed parts for a 240Z 5 speed, then they probably wouldn't have the parts, because the 240Z five speed is relatively rare, I believe, and unusual. You still haven't confirmed what you have. Also, drivetrain.com has the wrong numbers on their web site. The FS5W71B is the right number for most of what they call an A or a C transmission. I have messaged them about it, even copied pictures from the FSMs but it's probably too small of a market to worry about. The 71B 4 and 5 speeds and many of the 71C 5 speeds all use the same 1 - 4 "brass" synchros. 5th is the odd ball synchro but doesn't usually take a lot of abuse anyway. I have not seen a single case of someone saying that they ordered a rebuild kit, from anyone, and got all of the right parts. I have seen several cases of getting some of the parts and a bunch of extra wrong parts. zspecialties seems to have some insights and offers some rebuild kits. They could probably help you out. Browse though these two pages, read the comments on the synchros - http://www.datsunstore.com/index.php/cName/transmission-4-manual-shift-4 EDIT! - Maybe even better - search jmortensen and Swepco 201. You might be able to avoid a rebuild altogether. The transmission fluid can have a huge effect on shifting. I bought some rebuild parts and was going to swap synchros from another transmission but using Swepco 201 and a little ATF has solved what were some bad grinding problems. Now I have $50 worth of odd 5 speed parts that I may never use, (but I'm okay with it).