Zed Head

You must feel like you're working on a toy car when you work on your Z. Are those mines in the Netherlands?

Your post is hard to read and understand. Links to what? A fake plant with plastic leaves? Is a 220 like a 240 but with a 2.2 liter engine? c130? Arb links? ta? Might want to re-write it with a little more work put in to it. You might get lucky though. Good luck.

Good point. Resistance measurements tell a lot also. All depends on what you're looking for. I want to know more about the coal mines though, that sounds interesting. To Pomorza's problem - odds are it will come back. Might still be worth eyeballing the various points on the path that could be loose or corroded. The solenoid works by moving a big metal piston down the solenoid bore to make the starter motor contact relay at the bottom while also pulling on a lever that engages the gear to the flywheel. Could just be gummed up and gets stuck sometimes. The solenoid has done it's job but if the relay contact isn't made there's no motor spinning and no starting.

I missed it. I call that a "voltage drop", I think that's the common term. I use it myself to check battery connections, etc.

Yes, there should be a bearing should between those two parts. Look at #53 here - Datsun 240Z/260Z/280Z Front Suspension (Strut & Shock Absorber) and the Front Axle chapter in the FSM (any S30 FSM, they all have them) - XenonS30 Maybe they were trying to lower the front end?...

When the battery connections are bad, the voltmeter tends to drop to zero, from what I've seen. Eurodat, did you mean zero or ~11? The starter needs voltage to turn and the drop is due to amps used by the starter motor. Dropping to zero doesn't fit a working starting system, I believe. Anyway, it does sound like your solenoid gets power but isn't making connection to drive the starter motor. If you're handy it's not too hard to take the starter apart and clean up the solenoid contact. After confirming that the solenoid is getting power.

This sounds a lot like a bad connection at the battery. Heat from resistance through a weak connection opens up the circuit, causing loss of connection and a drop in the voltmeter reading. Let go of the key, it cools down and enough current flows to get the voltmeter back. How far does the voltage drop when you turn the key?

In this case, that's a bummer. Does the fork move at all, forward or backward or is it jammed in one spot? You might have jammed the collar somehow on the nose piece in the transmission. It would have happened when you bolted the transmission to the engine. Or maybe the fork is jamming the collar on the nose. See if you can get some wiggle room on the fork then stick a screwdriver in there and try to move the collar. The collar should have room to slide on the nose piece even before it contacts the pressure plate spring fingers. You might have a tall pressure plate and tall collar but I've not heard of one so tall that the slave wouldn't mount. What pressure plate and collar are you using? Is it possible that the clutch fork is not in the collar slots but sitting on top of the collar? I can almost see the collar in the first picture but it's out of focus in the background.

Does the slave cylinder piston move back and forth in its bore? Maybe it has fallen out and is jammed outside the bore. Let's hope. Take the rubber boot off and take a look.

At least you got a new press for the garage. One thing I see missing from your pictures is lubrication. I'm sure it would help and might make the difference. And, since you have a bolt in the end you can twist the shaft to loosen it up. When I took mine out I put a mag wheel lug nut on the end and spun the shaft around while soaking with PB Blaster. That lets it get in where it can do some good, and the spinning grinds down the rust particles that are holding the shaft in. You'll look back on it as good times some day...

The rear wheel bearings are kind of noisy in general, with no load on them, up in the air. Mine also sound a little rough, but I've put almost 40,000 miles on them since I noticed. Did you read the link at the end of Lazeum's post #3 (hidden unless you notice the blue font)? He shows one way to shorten the shaft. The problem with the R200 in the 240Z's seems to be that the distance between the wheel flanges is (must be) shorter on the 240Z vs. the 280Z, unless the body dimensions changed. The wheel axles and companion flanges are different, 25 spline versus 27 (I think), and unless the body dimensions changed that must be where the difference comes from. Some trivia, I've never actually seen a measurement. My post #7 didn't make sense as far as "bolt-in" shafts. I meant bolt on flanges. And it's irrelevant anyway, I think that the half-shafts are actually the same. But the half-shafts that I do have, from R200 cars, all have the Zerk fitting hole, for greasing, no solid u-joints.

Whoever put the R200 in probably installed the R200 half-shafts also since the R180 had bolt on half-shafts, the R200 half-shafts bolt up to a clip-in flange. I think that the R200 shafts came with threaded holes for Zerk fittings, so that wouldn't be an indicator of stock. Look for Japanese writing on the u-joint caps instead to see if they're stock. Also, examine the dust seals on the u-joint caps for red dust (rust) or dryness or just cracking and falling apart. I've found the stock u-joints are very durable and of high-quality. If they're still lubricated, I would just refill them through the Zerks and run them. I did have one half-shaft that wore out on the telescoping body of the shaft. I don't know if it got shocked or dried out but it wouldn't telescope freely any more. So they do wear out sometimes. There's a procedure in the 280Z FSMs for testing play on the R100 half shaft. Download 75, 76 or 78 (77 is too bulky) and look at the Rear Axle chapter.

Looks like it, depending on how much hurry you're in. Some people think that the Tokico shocks have a harsh ride. They seem to be designed more for performance, not plushness. There are some pretty in-depth conversations on this forum, somewhere, about the options. Many are using KYB's with lowering springs and recommend them. Apparently, one potential problem is running lowered springs without the bump stops. It can damage the shock. Maybe that's the issue with KYB's. Note - I am repeating much of what John Coffey has said over numerous posts from the past, about tires, shocks, and bump stops. You could probably search those words and get a lot of good reading. Everything that you want to know is on this forum, from insulators to bump stops to Tokico to Eibach to progressive vs straight rate springs, all discussed within the last few years. It's a popular topic.

Silvermine seems to have a good reputation from what I've seen here and on other forums. They get good reviews for quality and response time. The kit you linked to is a lowering kit. You don't have to assume, you can measure and/or look. If it's lower than stock, it might already have Tokico springs or another brand. The shock mounts are also called "insulators" and quite often are in fine shape. Motorsport Auto sells them, for one. Harshness of the ride can be more affected by the shocks and tires than the springs. I would figure out what I had before buying anything.

"Popping" usually comes from a lean mix. Maybe your fuel pump is failing or your regulator has gone bad. Or your AFM plug fell off. Have you checked fuel pressure. A lot of money can be saved with the right measurements, and confirming what you think. Have you restarted the engine since the problem occurred to be sure that the tach is not jumping around? Have you tried removing the #2 and # injectors while the engine is running to confirm that they work? There's a lot of noise up there to be sure that you can hear them. You said that you can hear the AFM working. That is incredible, as in I can't really believe it. You may have heard air passing through it but the vane would only make a noise when the throttle blade is shut quickly, otherwise there is no noise to hear. The methodical and thorough approach is the best method on the EFI engines.

What do you mean by "flodding"? Running very rich? Search for threads about running rich, there are many. Could be the coolant temperature sensor, or a plugged fuel return line. Measure the fuel pressure with a gauge if you can, that will tell you if it's a fuel system problem.

78 doesn't use a crank sensor. If your damper slipped the timing mark would move, giving an erroneous reading, but the timing would not change.

Is the tachometer needle pretty steady and following engine RPM or is it jumping around? If it's jumping around and/or reading high it might be the ignition module.

Damage tends to lead to more damage. If you don't know how the rod got bent, it wouldn't be surprising to find more problems after spending money on the damaged short block. Could be a money pit. Getting another undamaged L24 and having it refurbished might be a better option in the mid- to long-run than having work done an an unknown short block with a bent rod.

Winter blend gas vaporizes easier, hot injectors, liquid vaporizing in injector tip before injection, lean mixture results. That's the best theory I've seen so far. Personally, I think that one or two injectors are in a hot spot, get overheated, and stop functioning properly. Fuel pressure leaking in the rail down doesn't matter anymore after the engine starts and the fuel pump re-pressurizes it. Certainly not after a few minutes (if you actually timed it you'd probably find that a few minutes is actually about 30 seconds at most). Many people have this problem and I've not seen a permanent fix from anyone, once they get it. Mine got better with a good set of Bosch injectors, and was non-existent all summer, but came back this winter (winter blend gasoline probably). You can spend a lot of time trying to fix it, and it will probably never go away completely. How long have you had the car and when did this start happening?

You'll probably break some studs and bolts and find stuff that needs repair in the head when you take the engine out to swap parts. Might be better off to buy a complete engine. How did you "spin" the bearing and how do you know? Everyone loves a good story...

Thanks, that clears it up for me. I was looking at it as attached at one of the long ends, not laid down. My perspective was off, if I had seen one out of the engine before I would have known the tab wasn't that long. Kind of surprised that Mallory didn't show more interest since it looks like a failure of their product. Maybe you were talking to the wrong guy.

Thanks for the reply. Maybe my brain is stuck, hopefully it will unstick later if so, but the picture of the shaft and the broken piece in your first post shows a counterclockwise twist. The distributor has two tabs that fit around the one center piece at the end of the oil pump drive shaft. That piece sticks up and it's twisted counterclockwise,looking down on it as it would be in the engine. The only way to do that is if the distributor shaft is twisting ahead of the oil pump shaft. But the oil pump shaft is the driver not the driven. If you held the distributor shaft in place, put the car in gear and rolled it backward you could get the same twist. Sorry if I'm not getting it. I enjoy looking at broken machines too.

I might have this backwards, and it doesn't help that the picture of the end of the dist. drive shaft is upside down but isn't the twist backwards for the scenario where the distributor stops and the pump keeps turning? Shaft turning counterclockwise, broken end pointed up. It looks more like the pump stopped and the distributor kept going. Maybe I'm looking at the wrong end of the shaft, or just thinking backward. I haven't actually had one out. Is it possible that the twist is old damage that finally fatigued and broke?

Don't forget metal fatigue as a possible cause for the tabs breaking. Fatigue doesn't take much force just many many cycles. Could be that the tabs broke off one a time. Since they are advance limiters, you might have had really high advance for a while before they jammed the shaft. BUT it is hard to see how the tabs could get in to a spot to jam the rotating shaft. Jamming the advance mechanism would just lock your timing advance in to one spot. Did you find the tabs actually wedged in somewhere? Seems like they would have done more damage if they were the cause and not an effect. The shaft locking up from galling or some other bearing/bushing type failure might have stopped things so suddenly that inertia broke the advance tabs. Just a possibility.