Walter Moore

The infamous "Service Engine Soon" light? And here I thought that the SES light was only a constant "feature" on GM products... I guess that the more complicated you make the car, the more often it will need repair. My son had a 325ES that worked great, until he lost a timing belt. The thing that impressed me was that it was 21 years old, and two different BMW dealers actually worked on it at various times. That never happens around here with "foreign" cars. I have had cars that were half that old turned away from Volvo, VW, and Toyota dealers sight unseen just because they were "old". (When I called for service they said no before I could tell them what was wrong.) Speaking of which, have you considered looking into a Volvo 740/760? I had a 164E which was pretty interesting, but had an OHV engine. By the 7 series they were OHC. Avoid any Volvo with a V6 however. The inline 6 was OK, but the V6 was the same basic Renault/Peugeot piece of junk that came in the Delorian. It was underpowered and had serious reliability issues.

If you ever drive the car in cold weather the heaters help. The hole in the housing is 1/4" BSPT. The local hardware stores generally do not stock BSPT fittings. McMaster Carr carries them, and they can be ordered online. You might be able to get them at some of the better auto parts stores (NAPA) but the bulk stores will just give you a blank stare.

Couldn't they have just marked the stuff "Off-road use only" and got by with it, like all the other non-DOT approved parts that people sell for cars? Like: Steel braided brake/clutch lines. H4 bulbs with wattages above 65W. European specification H4 housings. Some exhaust upgrades. Etc.

His new amber fixtures only have a 2 wire socket, at least that is how he described the units that he bought. The relay would work, but generally relays have a finite life based on the number of cycles, along with a maximum cyclical rate. (Long winded engineer speak for you would have to replace the relays too often to make this practical.) But note that Sarah was only the second person to comment on the thread. I think Raltz needs to return the generic lights for credit and get something more appropriate.

Hello to you too. Nice looking car and trucks.

Whatever you do, do not clear coat the unpainted parts of the wheel. The aluminum will corrode under the clear coat and end up having to be re-stripped and polished. (Which is on my to do list eventually...)

Oh, After reading my post again, the "lobe" in on the CAMSHAFT pulley, not the crank pulley. (Stupid fingers can't keep up with the brain syndrome...)

You didn't read it quite right. He says when he tries to go 60+ the car chokes and dies slowing to about 45 before it catches again. The 50 mph is max speed without dying out. That is the classic sign of fuel starvation. If you are still running a mechanical pump, check that the lobe on the crank pulley is tight, and that you have the pump installed with the correct spacers. Since the pump is new, my bet is a pinched hose or as someone else said the "last chance" filters in the float bowls.

My car had been running rich all summer, so Saturday I readjusted the mixture and had it working pretty good, if a little lean. Sunday we had our annual "Zs in the woods event, and the weather had turned cold and wet. I had to keep the choke on most of the way to the park. I am on vacation this week, so this morning I adjusted the mixture again. I had to turn both carbs about 1/4 turn richer to get it to run right. Time will tell I guess.

I have never used them myself, but I have heard good things about "Paint-less dent repair". And, those good things were being said by people who are... shall we say... excessively picky.

Anyone under the age of 28 has an instant excuse...

I have used the front pully to rotate the engine during that process. Hoewver this past weekend I used a remote starter, because it takes time to remove the plugs and I didn't want to give the engine any more "cool down" time that I had to. It seems to make a difference how "hot" the engine is when you adjust the "hot" valve lash.

I bought one from Advance Auto several years back and I think that I had to make some very minor modifications to adapt the brackets from the stock unit. Nothing more extensive than drilling out a bolt or something... I don't remember the details, except that it was MUCH cheaper than the custom made parts that are available online. My car is for driving, not looking at so I could care less about authenticity.

Saturday actually, I drove the car 50 miles in the 95+F heat to get the engine good and hot first. When I last adjusted them (over 8k miles ago) I had just idled the engine until the temperature gauge read normal. But I noticed that when I drove the car in really hot weather it had noticeable valve noise. This time I wanted it hot. I also adjusted them to the specifications from the aftermarket cam manufacturer, not the Haynes manual. The Z is much less clattery now, but I haven't had a chance to take it on a long hot drive since it cooled way off yesterday and the high temperature for today is only about 72F. Time will tell.

Mine is quietly rusting in the basement somewhere... So I can't offer any constructive advice.

Your supposition is plausible, but it could just have been overtightened the last time someone changed the head gasket. If the age and condition of the head bolts are unknown you should buy new ones when you replace the head gasket. Courtesy Parts, MSA, or your local Nissan dealer are good sources for the head bolts. Be forewarned that the bolt located between the exhaust ports for the #3 and #4 cylinders is very difficult to remove. By the way, the technical name for the head bolts used on an S30 is "Socket Head Cap Screw". (Not female bolt.) But the dealer will probably just call them head bolts.

If you have a broken head bolt you have way bigger problems than just maladjusted valves. You will wind up with a blown head gasket (if you don't already) and if you keep driving it that will damage the head. That is something that needs immediate attention.

So what are the actual advantages of a helical LSD over the more common clutch type?

So, how does the typical SU's mixture vary across engine speed? I have always wondered that since there is only one mixture knob... Is it relatively uniform across the RPM range, or are there rich spots and lean spots? Does it tend to lean out at high speeds because of the distance from the jet to the bottom of the piston that forms the top of the venturi?

Rumor has it that copper can degrade when used in a fuel system because the sulfur in gasoline attacks the metal. Of course here in the U.S. the EPA has heavily restricted the sulfur content of all motor fuels to protect the emissions control systems. But I still wouldn't take the risk.

I remember those things. They had air to air AND water to air inter-coolers. The thing is the teams had to have a qualifying engine and separate a race engine. The qualifying engine would indeed put out something on the order of 1500 hp, but only for long enough to finish the qualifying run. The race engine put out significantly less than 1/2 the hp of the qualifying engine, but still as often as not they let go before the event was over. By comparison, the 2.5 liter Offenhauser 4 cylinder engine running 3 atmospheres of boost could develop 1000 hp, without any inter-cooler, and do that for at least 500 miles, occasionally an entire season. But then it was a pure racing engine, not a street motor.

Make sure that the chokes are fully OFF. If they are partially engaged you can turn the mixture knobs multiple turns and have no effect. The car WILL run semi-normally with the chokes partially engaged. But it will run rich and foul the plugs after a day or two of driving around.

I would consider just buffing them up with some metal polish.

1. Are the bleeders on the top of the calipers? 2. Is there a chance that you let the pusher disk (not sure what it is called) in the brake booster slip out of place when you put it all back together? 3. Could you have put the check valve in the brake vacuum hose in backward, or have a serious vacuum leak? Edit: skip 2 and 3 you have that covered already. I suggest you look for a vacuum leak.

Some old threads on the subject that might interest you: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?29730-converting-to-power-steering&highlight=power+steering http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?34706-Electric-Power-steering-kit-for-Z-car&highlight=power+steering http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?38717-Electric-Power-Steering-for-S30&highlight=power+steering http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?31014-power-steering&highlight=power+steering http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?28761-power-steering-on-240z..&highlight=power+steering http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?27252-power-steering-in-s30-from-s130&highlight=power+steering http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?24191-280zx-power-steering-in-a-280z&highlight=power+steering http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?23440-Power-steering-for-early-z-series&highlight=power+steering In the era when the 240Z was designed, power steering was an option that relatively few people purchased. Only high end luxury cars came with power steering as standard equipment. It may be coincidental, but PS started becoming standard equipment when front wheel drive cars became the dominate style. If you have ever driven a front wheel drive without power steering you quickly appreciate why PS became standard. I realize that I didn't answer your question. Search the old threads, and draw your own conclusions.