Walter Moore

I have had cars with headers and otherwise "stock" exhausts that were no louder than the same car with a standard manifold. (My 72 Pinto didn't change at all from stock manifold to header, but...) If the header isn't leaking it shouldn't make that much difference. The MSA exhaust systems tend to be loud, and I suspect that any of the ones you listed will be loud, with or without a header. I just added a glass-pack to my MSA system and it made a positive difference, but it is still not a "quiet car" by any stretch. At idle it seems very quiet, but when you rev the engine it still screams. (Actually I think it sounds MORE like a race car than before, but whatever) By the way, the MSA system that I have is the 3-2 with a turbo muffler. (I am cheap.) I have not driven the car since the addition of the glass pack, because it is salt season here, but it sounds better in the garage. Whatever you decide, I strongly recommend that you use band style clamps, instead of the old U-Bolt clamps, because they seal much better. Most of my initial exhaust noise was actually leaks between the pipe fittings.

One word to the wise, check the thickness of the terminal on the starter end of the + cable before mounting it on the car. Some of the parts store cables are too thick and don't leave you enough threads on the starter stud to get the nut on straight. I destroyed a starter that way once. On the last cable that I bought I ended up "adjusting" the thickness of the cable end with a large hammer. (Then I had to adjust its width with a file to keep it from touching things that it shouldn't)

Engine run-on can be a symptom of overheating, at least cars that are running way to hot will run-on.

If I had to guess I would say that it came out of a pickup truck. A 4.11 would be 37 x 9. Several people have suggested to me that I ought to pull the front differential from a 4x4 pickup truck because "they are always 4.11 difs." If you actually poke around on sites that sell Nissan truck parts you quickly discover that the "always" part isn't accurate. I don't know what a 4.5:1 final drive ratio would be like around town, but I suspect it would be annoying on the highway. (There may be some tracks where it would be handy...)

Here is a really basic question: His profile says he has a 1977 280Z. On that version do the "vents" in the dash connect to the heater box? I know that on the early cars "vent" and "heat" are separate airflow paths, and it isn't possible to get heated air from the dash vents. By the early 80's that was no longer the case, so I suppose that on a 77, it may be possible to heat the vent air. Generally there are three causes of "no heat" 1. Low coolant level. (Generally associated with overheating, but not always) 2. Plugged heater core. 3. Thermostat stuck open. Another possibility is that since he is in Alabama, a previous owner may have bypassed or plugged the heater hoses.

I assume that "messed up" includes broken off, which is what happened to all of mine.

That is part of the problem, but the other part is that we are running unleaded gasoline in cars without a catalytic converter. The anti-knock compounds that are in unleaded gasoline apparently smell horrible, and without a converter to burn them off you get that characteristic stench. I have the same problem with my 1967 garden tractor. It didn't smell bad back in the 60's and 70's, but today you have to take a shower after using it for any length of time at all.

You mean one like this? I don't have any spare ones. They are apparently somewhat hard to get. There is one guy in our local club who keeps his at home and never puts them on the car, just to prevent losing them.

By the way, I have had problems with the fuse clips getting loose and having too much voltage drop in between the fuse and the clip. This can cause all sorts of strange and difficult to diagnose electrical gremlins. It is also the reason that you see so many early Z's with melted fuse boxes. Motorsports Auto, among others I suspect, sells a replacement fuse box. Personally, I just used small Ty-wraps around the base of the fuse clips to increase the clamping force on the fuse. It is a good temporary fix, but it does mean you need needle-nose pliers to remove and insert fuses. (Disconnect the battery before trying to install the wire-ties, or sparks may fly.)

Ah, but if some part of the circuit that the ignition depends upon is partially shorted to the wiring for the low beams or high beams,(either a Red/Black, or Red/White wire. The schematic isn't clear to me.) then "turning on" the headlights would pull the voltage to the ignition circuit to ground, and the car would stop running.

I have had radiators where the filler neck, or whatever you call it, was bent down or dented and the cap would not seal completely when the system reached full pressure. I have seen people use the cardboard trick, but it always worried me that I might forget and end up overheating the car. Besides of the 20+ cars I have owned, I never had one that needed a SMALLER radiator, even when it was bone chillingly cold. If the thermostat is working the radiator size is irrelevant in cold weather.

I got 15 right, but the 5 I missed were things that I honestly don't care about.

But how would you get the bikinis on baby chickens?

By my thumbnail calculations the maximum safe offset for a 205 on the front of an S30 is about 20mm. What is missing here is the type of wheels that are giving luke002 trouble.

Apparently the "correct" speedometer gear depends upon both the differential and the speedometer. The factory service manual for the 1971 240Z shows a 17 tooth gear for the 3.364 differential and a 19 tooth gear for the 3.9 differential. The P.O. of my car had installed a 16 tooth gear when they put the series B transmission in it, and the speedometer was way off. After checking the FSM I bought and installed a 17 tooth gear, which brought it back into calibration.

This is always a difficult and divisive question. The answer depends upon what you intend to do with the car after you buy it. If you just want a Z to thrash around, then so long as the unit body is mostly solid, and it runs, it is worth the money to patch it up. Just understand that you will never get back what you put into this car. (Translation, don't put more money into it than you can afford to lose.) If you are looking for a car to "restore" to "like new" condition and take to shows, this isn't the car that you want to use as a starting point.

Hello. Always good to hear from another owner of a 71. But I hate it when people ask me if I bought my car new... I was only 10 when my car was made. (And there were no Nissan dealerships in this town back then.) I must look older than my age. I blame the kids for giving me gray hair in my beard.

I'm going to open myself up to ridicule here, but I looked at the FSM for the 83 S130, which you can download here: http://www.xenons130.com/ I don't see anything that looks like power seat motors in the wiring diagram. Admittedly, the PDF is really hard to read. There may be something there that I am missing. Hopefully someone here who has an S130 will tell us if they were available with power seats. That was a pretty unusual option on "sports cars" in 1983.

Good job Steve.

You were running an INR of 7.5?!!!! :surprised WOW, just WOW I have been taking Coumadin since July of 1991 and I have never had a reading that high. Because of the artificial valve in my heart I am supposed to keep my INR between 2.5 and 3.5 but when it gets up above 3.0 most dentists don't want to touch me. (You should have heard the scolding that I got from my doctor when he found out that I had been working on my roof... ) :stupid: I will add you to my prayer list. Take it easy for a few days until the INR gets back down to where it is supposed to be. Wow...

My "chrome" was all worn off and displaying the blue plastic underneath. I just painted it silver with a brush, but my car is not, and never will be a show winner, so my methods may not be appropriate for you.

I used the 4 speed shift lever when I installed the 83 ZX transmission (5 speed) in my 71, with no issues. Try that first, before bending your 5 speed shift lever.

I hooked a battery charger up to my Z and measured the exhaust pipe to verify that it really is 2 1/2 inch pipe. Then I ordered a glass pack muffler and band clamps from Summit Racing so I can splice in my own "resonator" to cut down on the drone at highway speeds. Other than that, there isn't much I am willing to do with the car on the ice, snow, and salt encrusted streets around here. ;-(

I know that when you enlarge the hole in the transmission tunnel on an early car to install the later "B" series transmissions you have to use the later inner shift boot because the hole is too large for the early boot. Be careful about drilling holes around the opening however because the fuel and brake lines run right next to the opening on the passenger (right) side of the tunnel. I ended up just using heavy clear tape (long term storage tape) on the right side of the boot. I drilled holes at the front and rear of the opening where it was safe.

Actually it has both a larger bore and longer stroke. The L24 and L26 share pistons, and the L26 and L28 share crankshafts. Either way, to get to 200+HP you need to talk to someone like Rebelo who can pump up the engine a lot. (and bring money.)