Patcon

I have a 70 240 with a 71 240 motor that I rebuilt 20 years ago. It has very few miles on it. I couldn't get it running recently after sitting for a number of years. Worked on coil finally figured the problem was in the distributor. Went to the junk yard and pulled a coil and distributor from a 1982 280ZX. I installed using a number of resources, some of the info you posted Blue. As well as some other forums, even a 510 forum. Was a very easy swap; set the timing close, fired right up. Now I need to figure out where the correct timing is from some of the other people that have done this swap. I was think 10d, with no vacuum advance, but wasn't sure. Thanks, Charles

I know several members have done the 280ZX distributor upgrade to get rid of the points style ignition. I have been looking in several of my manuals and trying to figure out where to set the timing. I was leaning toward 10d before TDC without the vacuum advance hooked up. What are some of you running? How do you know if the vacuum advance is going to add too much timing? Thanks, Charles

Try this link... http://www.rbracing-rsr.com/compstaticcalc.html Googled calculating static compression ratio... Bear in mind that aluminum headed engines will tolerate a little more CR than cast iron heads. I run 10:1 on my aluminum headed 350, but I have the advantage of a knock sensor and I run it on regular pump gas unless it is very hot outside. Post up your info so others can follow along. Charles

I wondered about the gold z becuase it pulled away so quickly. I also saw the Cadillac... I totaly understand about the reality factors involved on how far to push. No slight intended, just curious. It is sometimes very hard to tell these things from video. Looks like fun...

I watched you video. It was good video compared to alot of in car videos that come through you tube. I wanted to ask how hard you were pushing the car. It is hard to tell from the video but it seemed like you weren't revving it up very high and I couldn't tell if traction was an issue in some of the corners. I asked because there was one Z that came by you and walked off. I didn't know if that was a unique Z or whether he was just flogging it? Thanks, Charles PS Maybe one day I will make some time and try to get out on Road Atlanta. Thanks probably my closest road course...

Got my new Griots Garage catalog in the mail today. Good looking Z made the cover... http://www.griotsgarage.com/text/content/havingfun/aoccHB328.html Very custom car, lots of time and effort, nicely done, thought I would share. Might be a member. Don't know Charles

Zed Head I took your testing method and set up a bench test. Battery with jumper cables Pos on battery to Pos coil; neg on coil. Hold coil wire near neg post and tap neg jumper cable to post. All of my coils sparked. Some pretty weak but all of them would spark. I did it in the dark in my shop. I couldn't hear the spark but could see it. So I figure the problem is in the dizzy. I pulled a coil and dizzy out of a 1982 280zx this past week. Did the ZX upgrade. It was very easy, almost plug and play. With a little starter fluid and tinkering, I got it to run again :laugh: Just have to set timing now... That is so great!!! Thanks, for all the help from the forum members... Charles

Zed Head When you tested straight off the battery was this a bench setup or in the car? It sounds like you grounded the coil wire back to the battery terminal also. Is that correct? Is there any problem with feeding the stepped up voltage back into the battery directly? Thanks, Charles

Zed Head, I will try your setup in the next few days and see what I get on all the coils. Thanks for the help Charles

Bump for test results Are the coils dead or just weak? I really don't understand how significant or not these resistance readings are out of spec Thanks, Charles

Make sure you will be able to build the garage. I know the registry can be very restrictive Charles

Blue, My main shop is 27x 26 inside with 10' ceilings. It is basically a basement room with a concrete ceiling. It has large steel beams that run across the shop and I have a beam trolley I can move from beam to beam. Could be used to pull chassis and engines if needed. In your case a good engine hoist or an A frame on wheels would be much better. For your part of the world good insulation would be great. The 2 feet of snow on your Z suggest a good heater would also be a must. I just picked up a closed combustion heater from Northern tool like this but I only bought a 40,000 btu http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200316365_200316365 Closed combustion so no fumes and safer for solvents, etc. I would frame the walls of your shop out of 2x6 studs with r-19 insulation and put atleast r30 overhead. If your shop is pretty well insulated it will be easier to use and if you do any painting it has to stay in the high 60's to low 70's just cure the paints. This was a problem for me this past winter. Put lots of lights up. I have 2 tube t-8 flourescents in my shop. I believe I have 18 2 tube units. It is nice and bright and makes work much easier. I have outlets spaced every 3-4' all the way around the walls. So I can plug in tools or lights with as few cords as possible. Plan on a large air compressor eventually and pipe it into your shop. Mine is outside, but you may have to keep it inside because the oil may get too cold and freezing condesate might be a problem too, as seperate room or closet could help with damping the sound. I am piping my air in copper. The larger the better becuase it reduces water in the air because it has time to come out in the water traps. A cheaper alternative is PEX line. Don't used PVC or CPVC. When it does finally give out it makes scrapnel. The oil in the compressed air also makes it brittle. As for tie down points I thought about that, but I don't know exactly where I would want them and I wouldn't want to have them in the way all the time. One alternative would be to drill them in after the fact. Hammer drill an overly large hole and epoxy (Hilti or similar) a female threaded couplings into the slab to match the bolt holes on a say a D ring bracket. It could then be bolted to the floor when and where needed and removed when not in use (use fine thread bolts). Some of the concrete epoxies have very high tensile strength the concrete will fail before the anchor will pull out. Also cash and room to build always limits the size of your shop. I have a VW in the corner buried under parts and 2 cars fully disassembled. My shop at this point is not nearly big enough for that. So bigger is better if you can afford it. Shelves, cabinets and tool boxes also help alot. I have bought some and built some. Some place dry and relatively warm in which to do major projects make them much more enjoyable. As well as the neccessary things that need to be done when its cold outside and hitting your hands hurts. :tapemouth:cry: Hope that helps, Charles

Haven't tried straight to battery yet, but did use the voltmeter today. MSD coil should have .7 Ohms on primary coil 4.5K ohms on secondary and ballast @ .8 Ohms Tested out as .9 Ohms on primary coil 4.38K Ohms on secondary and 1.0 Ohms on ballast 240 coil 1.5 to 1.7 Ohms on primary 9.5-11.6K on secondary tested as 1.6 Ohms on primary and 8.17k Ohms on secondary Mystery coil (looks alot like a 240z coil; similar size and bracket) tested as 3.6 on primary 7.58k on secondary Are these all toast? I don't really want to buy a new dizzy or coil. If I need parts I will probably do the 280ZX dizzy upgrade to eliminate the points and the ballast resistor although it will be hardersince I don't currently have a functioning ignition system. Thanks, Charles

I have found the primary and secondary resistance readings for the MSD coil I have and the 240z coil I have. I need the resistance readings for the 280z, 280ZX and 280ZX turbo coil. I don't know what the third coil I have is from... I found the FSM's on Xenon but I didn't want to have to try to download and get them unzipped. If someone has that info close at hand, that would be great. Thanks, Charles

Zed Head That is what I did coil wire in coil with the metal tip near a suitable ground; tap the negative lead to ground, no spark. I could see the circuit being made on one of the coil but no spark. 5th I'll pass on that one. I have been bit by a coil once and am not interested again. Admittedly it was a GM hei and not a 240z coil... I guess I could put a plug in the coil wire and put the strap to ground to make sure there is not too much gap. Charles

When I tried a seperate ground wire for testing the coils it was the only wire coming off the "-" terminal. On one coil when I touched it to ground you could see sparking as the test lead went to ground, but the coil still didn,t fire. I thought about the switch but I have good power at the coil and I have done all of my testing lately in the Acc position. I'm kind of stumped. I don't want to just throw parts at it before I am pretty sure of the problem. Charles

I have the factory service manual and I didn't see a method for testing the coils. I did see some resistance values, but I don't know how to use them. Thanks, Charles

1970 240z l24 twin dgv's stock dizzy w/ points and MSD coil. I was thinking that the charging actually happened then ground is broken producing spark. Which is sort of what the points do? I had the switch on in the acc. position tested with a volt meter 12v on "+" side of all three coils I tried. 12v on the "-" terminal with or without the wire to the dizzy connected. Disconeccted the spade from the "-" terminal and added a seperate wire onto the terminal. When I touched that to ground I got no spark off of any of the three coils I tried. I figured if the coil charges when it has a ground the short period of time I touched it to ground should still be more time than the engine has at 5000 rpm to charge up. I guess I could have three bad coils. Is there a good way to test the coils? I have a good multi meter. Thanks, Charles

I have read several of the threads on no spark issues. Even the recent one where there was a short in the dizzy. The car I am working on ran a year or so ago. Went to start it up but no spark. Pull off the coil wire try to ground, no spark. Get out volt meter and have 12v at both terminals on the coil with the switch in the acc position. I read in one posts maybe by Fastwoman that the coil sparks when the "-" terminal is grounded. I tried that with a direct ground and a manual push button ground. Thought the coil might be bad (MSD). Tried another coil (unknown condition) tried a third coil (unknown condition) No spark on any of them. Thoughts, anyone? Did I understand correctly that the coil should fire when tapping the "-" terminal to ground? What are the odds all three coils are bad? Could it be anything else? Where to from here? Thanks, Charles

Eventually a carport will be built off the driveway to keep the car covered and somewhat protected. I live in South Carolina so our winters are not very harsh. I want the car right at hand so if my wife or I want to drive it we can. The car will probably get miles all year round, but if its parked for a week or two I don't see any reason to expose the paint to the sun, birds and dirt if I don't have to. The idea is to drive it, and enjoy it. The paint will be close to show quality, but I plan on using the car as a driver. The paint job is being done by a local restoration shop. The car is totally stripped and I am changing the color to my wifes preference. I am kind of doing this Z for her. I have 2 others I am working for myself. I am just trying to minimize the effects of being parked outside have on the paint over time. The cost of the cover is not that large compared to the investment in the paint. Thanks, Charles

I couldn't find a price for the BRE cover. I liked the taylored to the car size. I will look at the MSA covers. I also understood from someone else that I had to wait for several months before covering the car. Reassembly will probaly happen during that time as the car is fully stripped, but it was something I hadn't thought of. I had weathershield covers recommended to me also. They are nice and well warranted but pretty expensive. Charles

I was looking for ideas on where to find a high quality car cover. The car will be outside for a while, but it will be fresh out of the body shop, so I wanted to get a water repellant cover to protect the car. Griots garage has covers, they start at $169 up to $299. I am not opposed to investing in a good cover, but not if I can find a better deal. Thanks, Charles

Thanks, Bruce I was looking through the spotters guide after I had submitted this thread and that is what I understood. I had always been under the impression the 3 screw carbs were an early car thing. Also thanks for the email last week I will be pulling a set of carbs together for shipment soon. Thanks, Charles

Are these 3 screw carbs for the early cars? http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Datsun-240Z-early-SU-carburetors-/220740326878?pt=Vintage_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item33652615de Over what period of time were 3 screw carbs used? I thought someone might be interested in these... Thanks, Charles

What's the latest? Haven't seen an update in a while Charles