Zed Head

If the ZX distributor was correct in the ZX engine then the Z distributor should be also. Did you swap the ZX mounting plate for the Z mount? Maybe the shaft and rotor are right but you've just run out of rotation space. Here's a link showing the difference, from the ever-popular atlanticz site - http://atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributor/index.html Go down to picture #6. Of course, after reading through the link you might decide to stick with the ZX distributor.

A very informative report just came out regarding the ethanol/gasoline blended fuels. Typical of a government programs, the original reason for the program is lost and warped, somewhere between Energy Independence and Security (US Energy Independence and Security Act, passed in December 2007) and "green" low emission level fuels, with the EPA citing both needs as the reasoning, but with no mention of the "corn farmer lobby", in the NY Times article. Here - http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/a-new-skirmish-in-the-ethanol-wars/?hp Here's the report itself, lots of good information in it - http://www.crcao.com/reports/recentstudies2012/CM-136-09-1B%20Engine%20Durability/CRC%20CM-136-09-1B%20Final%20Report.pdf Of course, even the agencies can't figure out what's what, whether E15 is harmful or okay, since they said it was okay a year and a half ago - http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/BF822DDBEC29C0DC852577BB005BAC0F Not to get too political, the main reason for posting is the effects on the engine and the tune. Ethanol leans out the fuel, so the more they add the leaner the older "open-loop" EFI systems and carbs will get. Plus more wear on the valves and valve seats. Can't wait...

A member here, who also spends some time on Hybridz, has made up a replacement kit. He seems to know what he's doing and took the advice of some Hybridz members on sourcing the connectors with the attached spring-wire clip, instead of the connectors with the separate clip, which can get lost. Might be worth a PM to see if he's still doing them. Here's his initial thread, with pictures - http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread44788.html

I had a similar problem (almost exactly, actually) when I got my car. The calipers were on the wrong sides. The bolt pattern is interchangeable, but they have to be mounted with the bleed valve on the top. If that's the case, just swap them quickly without letting the master reservoir leak down, give a quick bleed on the fronts only and you'll probably be golden.

The interior is the hardest part to get nice on these cars without spending a lot of money. Motor pieces are available and you'll have lots of options, but for that price I would want a good clean rust free (meaning no long-term leaks in the past) interior. If you have pictures, post them.

That's a good idea, I might try that. Probably better than just disconnecting the power and waiting for the coolant to get warm. For such a primitive device, it's surprising how long they kept using them. My 1995 Pathfinder has one.

Have you driven your Z yet with the engine it came with?

I often think about replacing the automatic AAR with a manual valve, that would work like the hand throttle levers on the very early 240Zs. Manual fast idle control. The problem with the AAR is that it has its own heater so it is not very well tied in to actual engine temperature. Between the time that the AAR heater closes it and the engine coolant flowing through the heater plate under it heats it, there is a period where you can have a low idle.

Actually, any Z from 1974 on (I assume from the big bumper 260Z) gets cheap rotors. It's the 240Zs that have the expensive ones. But it's still not clear what the difference is between the two.

Wade's on a roll, it's hard to keep up... Rock Auto - http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread46074.html Edit - but it seems the sub $25 price is only for the later Zs. Which is odd considering a previous discussion about whether or not the 240Z and 280Z hubs and rotors are different. Edit 2 - Still not sure that they're different, not sure why Rock Auto has two parts and two prices... http://www.carpartsmanual.com/datsunS30/DatsunZIndex/Axle/FrontAxle/tabid/1728/Default.aspx

The ECU provides idle enrichment fuel when the TPS is on the idle circuit, independent of the AFM vane position (as I understand things). Could be the AFM, that's where I would start looking. You can remove the black cover on the side without removing the whole AFM and look for corrosion on the carbon trace or contact and/or spray it with some contact cleaner. If it looks okay, you can also check the connection to the wiring harness, underneath. The AFM will have to come out. You'll need some kind of pick to get the wire spring retainer off, it's a little bit difficult. You might also check fuel pressure beforehand though if you have a gauge available. Should be done anyway after eight years and probably easier to do than removing the AFM. Edit - cbuczek brings up a good point about timing and the distributor, that could save some future aggravation. If you start taking things apart, take the distributor breaker plate off and make sure that the ball bearings under the plate haven't rusted to the bearing surface. They get stuck, then the plastic frame holding them breaks when the vacuum advance tries to move the plate.

I haven't experienced it myself, but I get the impression that these engines will idle without the AFM connected, although your car should have a fuel pump relay switch in the AFM that won't allow that. Have you checked the AFM and its connection? Seems AFM or TPS related. A little more detail on "bogs out" will help your quest also. Could mean many things.

I think that the cam mark in that position would actually be advanced, and it's about where it should be according to the FSM (the "after adjustment" position). Was the timing mark exactly on the zero, and did you get it that way without backing up the crankshaft? If you rotated the engine forward then nudged it back to hit the TDC mark, the slack in the chain wouldn't pull the camshaft back with it. I had a coolant leak on my last engine, at the back of the head. And an oil weep at about where your water leak is. Barrs Stop Leak might fix the water leak, it helped mine but it eventually came back.

You've described the "after" but haven't said much about "before". How did it run before you installed the header? How long did it sit between the last time it ran and now? If it runs but not smoothly, it could be something simple like a misplaced plug wire. And the running rough problem might be totally separate from the odd noise.

If you have extra hose, you can put a loop in it. I think that I have loops on both sides of my fuel pump. It makes for a nice stress-free connection at the pump also.

Not my idea, but packing grease around the perimeter of the piston will allow you to do some grinding without getting the chips where you don't want them. Pack the grease in, do your work, scoop the grease out with the chips embedded. I think that I read about it from people doing valve reliefs in their pistons.

You might consider getting a used head or used engine to use while you figure out which way you want to go. All four options described above will give a different type of car. The engines are surprisingly durable compared to 70s domestic engines, and used parts still have a lot of life in them, even with lots of miles. You could probably get back on the road for under $200. I bought my car not running because I thought I might put a V8 in it. But after I got the stock engine running well and drove it around, I lost the urge. A V8 car is a totally different beast. By the way, I think that you'd get more feedback if your thread didn't have the huge pictures in it. I don't even want to open it anymore because it takes too long to load all of the images.

Coincidentally, this thread came up on another site - ECU question - HybridZ Referencing this page - XenonS130 - ECU Information

Thanks mjr. Kudos are hard to come by... Good luck with the car, it's not exactly clear what exactly you fixed though. Was it just the timing being off and a vacuum leak? Bad distributor? Just needed a good tune-up?

Since you're in the United States, I would take a look at this car - datsun 280z trade for 510 clean title Cheaper and looks in much better condition. Right down the road too...

Still seems odd that someone would put flat-top pistons in an N42 block, then use the stock 78 ECU and AFM, when you can get the pre-assembled setup by buying an 80-83 ZX engine. But, apparently, some people feel the N42 block is made of better metal (higher nickle content?). Or maybe a PO had some P79 pistons laying around and needed to get it running. What did your receipts show? Any comments about new pistons? Seems like you might have three options: 1. Get a P79 or P90 head to go with the flat-tops, to get a more stock CR of ~8.8. This would be the factory stock 80-83 ZX engine, essentially, and could probably run well with your stock 1978 ECU and AFM. It might take some minor tweaking but the engine was not much changed from the 75-79 Z engines. 2. Old school with carburetors and a hot cam. This would be mainly mechanical tuning with jet changing and timing adjustments, etc. to get things working right. There are lots of people on this forum that know carb tuning. 3. Modern aftermarket EFI, like Megasquirt or Haltech. This route would be more electronic with tuning by computer, and could be as simple as adjusting just fuel through injector opening times alone all the way to controlling timing through a crank angle sensor along with fuel requirements. It would require a computer and more hardware, but could give you more flexibility, with enough electronic gismos added, like IAC controllers, and O2 sensors, etc. Here's a link to browse if you want more insight in to what's involved - EMS - HybridZ Don't forget to check the emissions testing requirements for your car in your state before you get to far.

The engine long-blocks (block, pistons, head, etc. no manifolds) should be essentially identical, with P79 heads and flat-top pistons, if they are both NA, not turbo, engines. But the various valves and gizmos on the intake manifold, and the distributor, and the AFM, might be different enough to use a different ECU. You might try to find the part numbers for the ECU and the AFM out on the internet world and see if they are different. Or you could look through the Engine Fuel and Emissions sections of the FSMs and see if the functions of the ECUs are different. I would look at the Electrical section also and see about any timing changes in the distributor. The early 80s distributors ran a ton of vacuum advance to go along with the EGR, and somewhere in there they started using a temperature and vacuum switched, dual timing control for the advance. The 80s were the age of emissions control so there are all kinds of interacting devices on the engine. If you're lucky, they stabilized for a little while on one ECU and AFM setup for your two engines and the changes were elsewhere. Probably sounds more complicated than it is, a look at the FSMs will tell a lot. XenonS130 - S130 Reference

I'm guessing that the seller has no idea why the car won't start and just came up with this out of thin air. If you were selling a car and knew that all you had to do was replace a fusible link to get the car to run and draw a much higher selling price, why would you not do so? Three red flags - car doesn't run, electrical system has been replaced, and seller comes up with WAGs about what's wrong.

That might be a sign of an ignition problem. You have a bucket full of problems.

Without either the circlip or snap ring off, the front half of the case is locked on to the shaft by the main shaft bearing. Heat around the edges of the front cover along with some PB Blaster or similar will soften up the gasket material. I think that the back half should still come off though, not sure what's happening there. I actually had problems keeping the back half on when all I wanted to remove was the front half (bellhousing). Edit - also just realized that I've actually taken three transmissions apart, two partially, one completely. For what it's worth...