Zed Head

Why do you feel so strongly about MSA?

Possibly the ignition relay up by the fuse box. The Accessory circuit is powered through it. My relay was hot-wired straight from the ignition switch and my Accessory circuit didn't work until I replaced the relay. The internals of the relay were completely rusted away. It appears to be mounted in a spot that gets a lot of condensation or water when something leaks. Check page BE-6 in the FSM for the location.

Baxter Auto sells the FJ707T as a replacement for the 280Z and ZX injectors. They seem like a good local chain and they've been around for a while. They're on the pricey side (compared to Oreillys anyway) and their web site is pretty hard to use but I would trust their sources if I was buying injectors. Go down to the left on their site and work through the "Replacement Search" dialog and you'll see the FJ707 (used!) and the FJ707T listed. They go for around $53 on the site, $99 list, so your price looks pretty good. http://www.baxterautoparts.com/ Edit - From what I've seen, every manufacturer has a high end and a low end injector. Many also sell "rebuilt" injectors, sometimes for more than the new ones.

I've noticed it and adjusted it, but have not seen the text about the hysteresis prevention. Pretty interesting, thanks for illuminating. Looks like it's a drag or brake on the shaft while the reluctor tooth passes the pickup coil. To make sure that the "slack" is taken up and the pickup doesn't trigger early, maybe. If the rotor bounced ahead the timing could be advanced. Should also keep any play in the shaft pushed to one side, keeping a constant gap between the pickup coil and reluctor teeth. Weird that they used a four tooth reluctor to show the air gap measurement, and a six tooth below that.

Here maybe - http://www.myamishgoods.com/ Sorry if this offends anyone. They do have some cool looking stuff though. Seems odd that they take credit cards, and have a web page.

Pretty sure that the original rubber is not thermoformable. In other words, you can't heat it up and get it to take a new shape. It's what is called a thermoset material. And you can't glue it to the bumper because the 5 mph bumpers are designed to move back and forth on their shocks when bumped. Maybe you can shim the mounting points. Do the pieces have a metal structure inside or just metal mounting hardware? My saggy 76 original pieces don't seem to have a bendable structure inside. RPM, where did you get the replacements? I have not seen them for sale anywhere.

Your ammeter should tell you if the battery is charging or discharging. It should be in the middle of the dial with the key off. The symptoms sound somewhat like a dead battery. An auto parts store can check it for you for free.

Saw this method the other day - Looks promising. Don't try it in the garage.

If you're handy, maybe you can use the car's weight as a spring compressor. Jack the strut up and try to realign the pieces on the way up. Seems like it should work if you can get things aligned.

The actual differences between the various AFM models has been pondered by many people. One thing that the 79 AFM is most likely missing is the fuel pump relay contact switch. If you decide to wire around that and try the 79 AFM on your 77 engine, report back with the results. I'm interested, others might too. What probably matters more is the difference in emissions equipment and other Nissan modifications to the system, from 77 to 79. When you swapped in the 79 engine, did you bring the whole engine over with all of the various switches, distributor and EGR stuff, or did you bolt your 77 stuff on to the 79 engine? If you did the first, you have a 79 engine, if you did the second, you have a 77 engine.

Cool looking products. Did you know that if you use the Search box on your site, the axles don't show up, using Datsun or Nissan as search words. And the adapters only show up if you use Datsun, but don't show if you use Nissan. 240Z doesn't bring up anything, but 300ZX brings up four products. 280z brings up the adapters, as does 280ZX, but nothing else. Not to criticize, just helping future customers get to the product descriptions.

The 79 ZX engine should be almost identical to the 77 Z engine except for having exhaust liners in the head. N47 head on an N42 block vs. N42 on N42. The 79 AFM might work but it's not the correct one for your ECU and might cause more problems. Your idle speed problem should not have been caused by your AFM anyway. Are you sure the AFM is bad? There is a test procedure in the FSM.

Don't forget about the NOS parts...

If he pushes the clutch in when slowing down then it fits my module's symptoms. When mine was dying I could make it go bad by winding the engine up to ~3,000 RPM or greater. Then the tach would start jumping around, and reading a much higher RPM than estimated by road speed and gear. It wouldn't idle well or would just would die if I pushed in the clutch. But it would still go down the road if I stayed in gear with the gas on, tach needle vibrating and reading wrong. If I stopped and let it die it would start right back up and be fine until I revved it over ~3,000 RPM again. Just a few more signs to compare.

I think he's trying to sell the whole car. It would help to list the parts that are on it and the extent of the damage. Can't tell from the pictures. Maybe the whole thing is savable, although it would have a salvage title. There are several accounts, some on this forum, of people replacing the complete tops of their cars, to get rid of a sunroof.

I tend to agree with EScanlon. The insurance company is trying to minimize their costs with an artificial deadline. They should be liable for impound costs, not you. Even one extra day of impound costs ($100) could save you thousands of dollars. Think about waiting a day before agreeing to anything. It's not clear how you could be losing $10,000 if the cargo company is going to pay you the "actual cost" of the car. Is the $10,000 a premium over what you paid for it? You're valuing it at $10,000 + ? I'd still like to know the name of the companies involved.

The centrifugal (centripetal?) advance numbers should be stamped on the weights inside. A picture from the top of the insides would be interesting. There is a spreadsheet out there on this forum somewhere with a listing of the distributor part numbers. Edit - Here's the thread - http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?34192-280ZX-Distributor-Advance-Curve-Reference&highlight=distributor+adavnce+timing+curves+numbers Edit #2 - the updated sheet n Post #19 has your second number. Looks like a 1973 240Z with a manual transmission. The weights and vacuum advance can be swapped between bodies though (as you now since you have a re-curved one), so nothing is certain.

What was the name of the shipping company? So that they can be avoided in the future. It seems like a simple lawsuit could get some of your money back. A shipping company that doesn't know how to ship should pay up. Some people think all lawsuits are bad, but this looks like a clear case of incompetence. What's the back story? Overall, payment for damages and the damaged car delivered to your place in MN seems reasonable. Who is twisting your arm to make a decision in a couple of hours?

I'll take an uneducated guess or two.

I think that you mean the fuel pressure regulator (FPR). Easy to check with a fuel pressure gauge. ~36 - 38 psi with the vacuum line off, or engine not running, and in the 28 - 32 psi range at idle, engine running, with everything connected. Insert it between the fuel filter and the fuel rail. You could also have a clogged fuel filter or crud in the gas tank or a bad fuel pump. But the fuel pressure measurement will tell you whether or not to keep looking. Since you're problem is kind of intermittent, you might want to strap the gauge in the engine bay for a few days so that you can check it when the problem happens.

Pretty sure the engine won't start without the inline resistor. I had mine unwrapped and it fell out once. Not even a pop until I put it back in (no CSV, so no fuel supplied at all without the injectors firing). Fun to try though. I've had two engines, also, that wouldn't start without the tach connected.

Yes, those are all typical signs of a failing module. Some of the auto parts stores can get replacement modules, or try Black Dragon, Motor Sport Auto, or Zpecialties.com. They're expensive though, in the high hundred or two hundred range. The wrecking yard is another option, or an aftermarket ignition module, like the GM HEI module. Or you could swap to an early ZX distributor with an E12-80 module. But you will lose the temperature controlled 6 degrees of timing advance, since the factory module is designed to use the two pickups in the distributor. Unless you have a California model. Quickest might be a wrecking yard 75-77 module, if you can find one. They're mounted up above and in front of the fuse box. Edit - Got curious. Change the hundred and two hundred above to three hundred and four hundred - http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/search/Ignition+Module!s!Control+Unit!s!Ignitor/02801/C0334.oap?year=1977&make=Nissan&model=280Z&vi=1209248

If this is his web page - http://www.datsunspirit.com/index.html - you should let him know that it needs some serious work. It's all 404 errors and broken links. Maybe he has enough business that he doesn't really need it.

I have noticed that they're not straight, but since it appears to be a forged steel piece, not machined and built from straight rod, I can't be sure that they're not designed that way. It would make sense to form some pre-bend in to the piece to give it some shock absorbing properties. For the original purpose of the car, an inexpensive sports car with good performance, it seems like it suits the purpose just fine. They only seem to break when mismatched bushings are used. There was no recall on them, and they lasted through 8 design years. I'd feel like I had accomplished my goal if it was my design. The TTT TC rod is an upgrade but I wouldn't call the original crap. I just wanted to see what kully was thinking.

How about some reasons for why you say the OEM rods are "crap". The more technical,the better. I'm always interested in learning something new.