Walter Moore

The rear proportioning valve is brass. The fitting will not be rusted in place, but from memory it seems like you just about have to take the differential down to get to it. The really BAD NEWS is that in my experience when you remove the old fitting it will auger out the prop. valve and a new line will not seal. If that happens, PM me because somewhere around here I have one or two spares. (Unless someone "straightened up" too much...) No guarantee that they won't leak as well, but I can start digging. The prop valve is NLA. The standard recommendation seems to be to replace it with an after-market adjustable unit. I personally had a horrible time getting the rear brakes to work. I ended up bending my own lines all the way from the master cylinder back to the rear wheels. I was only able to do that because I removed the entire drive line. Even then I had to replace every single bit of the rear braking system with new parts, most of them OEM, before I got the rear brakes to work properly. I can see why Nissan switched to disk brakes in the early 80's because in my opinion their drum brakes were iffy at best. (We had a mid 70's Datsun B210 and that thing wouldn't stop for love or money, no matter how often the brakes were "fixed".) As far as the cost, the lines can be bought either pre-bent, or you can just go to a parts store, buy lots of 3/16" straight lines and start bending to suit. By the time you get done you will be a passable "bender" (Think Futurama.) New lines are hard to flare, but the old lines will be impossible. The steel gets brittle and the ends will split every time you try. Good luck. This is a big job, but it can be done.

The tachometer not working correctly with electronic ignition seems to be a common issue with the early cars. Mine reads about 10% high all across the range since I installed the ZX distributor. There are some threads on the subject, but there doesn't seem to be a common denominator to the problems. The tach stopping at a certain point seems to be common on after-market EI installations as well.

Minimal tools? A wrench and a hammer should be enough. Use short, sharp, shocks, (as Pink Floyd used to say...) and eventually you will break the bolt loose. But beware: if you get frustrated and start to really HAMMER on it you will break the bolt clean off. Good Luck.

The photo on the far right shows "scuff plates". They go on the inside of the door opening near the floor to cover and clamp down the weather stripping. The others I do not recognize.

Very Orange! I like it.

I assume that is a modern SBC (based on the oil filter location). What displacement will it have? Good luck with that. Are you going to use a manual, or go the automatic route? I think I offended someone once by trying to talk them out of using a TH400 in their car. I really didn't mean to be cruel, but those are just HUGE, heavy monsters intended for 3 ton cars and delivery vans. (I owned two or three cars with a turbo 400 and always thought it was funny that the transmission held more oil than the engine.)

The "Leaky air sound" might be a vacuum leak. (I don't know without checking a FSM if the air controls were vacuum, or cable powered on the 76.) On my 71 the fuse for the blower motor is actually located in an in-line fuse holder under the dash. (Not in the fusebox) I don't know if that was still true in 76.

Bruce Palmer is the guy to ask (Z Therapy). The 4 screw carbs are more period correct for a 1971 240Z, but I don't think that there is a functional difference.

I can't get the video to run on my system for some reason. That is the exhaust that I have on my car. I found that band style clamps sealed the system much better than the cheap U-bolt style clamps. They don't cost that much either. NAPA sells them as does Summit Racing: http://www.summitracing.com/search/Part-Type/Exhaust-Clamps/Brand/Summit-Racing/?keyword=exhaust+band+clamps They really cut down on the fumes inside the car for me.

The short answer is "yes, shell = different car". In most states the "car" is the uni-body chassis, and if you swap the "shell" you have a different car.

Hello! There is a lot of useful information available on this site. Search and have fun. (Hope the drunk driver wasn't a close friend or relative...)

Cool video!

Glad to hear that the real fun is about to begin!

Seems to me that we had this conversation a couple of years ago... I have owned 26 cars over the years. Nine of them were daily drivers. 13 G.M., 6 Fords (2 were Mustangs), 2 Dodges, 2 V.W.s (NEVER AGAIN!) 1 Volvo, 1 Suzuki, and 1 240Z. The only five that were in any way special were: 1967 Mustang (Wife's first car) 1974 Volvo 164e (Stodgy styling but a really fun car.) 1982 Dodge Charger 2.2 (I plead the fifth officer!) 2008 Mustang GT (Wife's current car, notice a pattern here?) 1971 Datsun 240Z

Guess he should have been more specific about the TYPE of feedback he wanted huh?

The dual points setup was to allow a change in ignition timing after the engine reached temperature or something like that. Only one set of points is in the ignition circuit at any one time. (Must make setting the dwell a real pain...) I suspect that this would actually be a good candidate for an electronic ignition upgrade.

If you can get the battery to a parts store they can test it for you. But that does sound like a dead battery.

Fusible link?

Not to be picky, but isn't that technically a half shaft, not a drive shaft?

Does Alabama require an accurate mileage statement on 30+ year old cars? When I registered my Z here in Indiana they just entered "exempt" at the license branch.

Now that you mention it, I don't remember if the ground bar I used was aluminum, or tin plated copper. Either way it will have a lot less resistance than the bolts that you use to attach it to the firewall. Actually, aluminum is a much better conductor than iron, nickel, or lead, and nearly the same as gold. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistivity The bad part about using aluminum in high current applications is that it has a high coefficient of expansion. This causes it to work non-locking screws loose and leads to arcing problems over time. That isn't a condition you are likely to ever encounter on a ground bar. Still, I wouldn't recommend using aluminum wire for the ground wires themselves because it is too brittle.

If cheap is the primary concern, both Advance Auto and O'Reilly Auto list a master cylinder for a 77 280Z at $35.

I added a NEMA12 box on the right fender to house all of the relays I added for the headlight upgrades (headlights, driving lights, fog lights), electric fan, etc. I have two #4 AWG wires tapped directly to the alternator for power and ground (properly fused). In the box I ended up using a standard aluminum ground bar that I bought at Lowes for the negative common to save a lot of wiring space. If you are convinced that you NEED a ground bar, I would suggest looking to something similar. They only cost about $2-$3 each, and can handle more current than the car is likely to need. Relative to the engine ground, there are two ground wires attached to the engine block. The negative side of the battery connects directly to a mounting bolt on the starter, and there is also a ground wire connected from the body of the alternator to the right side fender. With no more electrical devices than were present on the early Z cars those two are sufficient.

Babalouie, that is one cool post.

Can't top it, but I can match it.