Stanley

Since getting the '73 back from the body shop where they installed a new driver side door, it won't unlock with the key. It locks with the key from outside just fine. When you try to unlock it you can see the lock button going up about 3/4 of the way but it won't quite unlock. It locks OK from inside with the button. Went back to the body shop, they said it was the cylinder so they couldn't fix it but maybe they just didn't want to do free labor. The lock worked fine before the accident and door swap so I doubt if it's the cylinder. The door handle area wasn't hit.

It was easy, thanks Zed, Site. The bulb fell apart as I was removing it, carefully I thought. Gone between the seats. First drive since the battery died, still not sure why but suspect the interior light was on. Meter shows zero milliamps now with everything off and no changes except removing the bulb. I took the old battery to O'Reilly's, they charged it overnight but it was toast. They gave me a new one since it was bought in July this year. Car runs much better now without blown-out AT modulator puking ATF into the balance tube.

Thanks, I remembered removing the lens by pressing it a certain way but now it occurs to me it was in the old Chevy truck, not the Datsun. Site, do you remember the source for the LED? I found it a while back but never got around to ordering it. If not I can probably find it with "Search". Yesterday I tried pulling on the housing, was afraid of breaking something though. Tried turning the light off and on after hooking up the new battery, and it worked a couple of times and then didn't work. Maybe it needs some deoxit. Also, I checked the amps through the system at the neg. battery terminal with everything supposedly off and got 15 milliamps. After messing with the light I got zero, which should mean something. Yeah, a little embarrassing. I figured the reason it wasn't in FSM was because it's so easy.

I thought there's a way to press on the lens so it pops open. Not working though.

Thanks to the clunk I got my car cheap. New trans mount or diff mount, or mustache bar thing, forget what fixed it but after replacing all three it was gone. I understand how that might not be very helpful. Glad I took it to a good alignment shop instead of trying to do it myself. Got the parts at MSA. The shop had it all done in about two hours.

Would one of these help? https://www.amazon.com/Lisle-20610-Inline-Spark-Tester/dp/B0002STSC6

Regarding wiring, electrical connectors and dash fitment, is a 280 volt/fuel gauge plug and play with a '73 240z amp/fuel gauge? Guessing probably not, so is there a link to the wiring mods?

Thanks, all. I did remove the power wire to the fuel pump relay per Dave's instructions. But this might make a difference to the ammeter's lack of response (showing it charging) while running the car to charge a dead battery. The mechanic ran a wire from the alternator to the starter to prevent damage to the electrical system and ammeter per Dave's instructions. Dave explained it to me in an email this way: "The alternator power wire goes to the ammeter (amp gauge) then to the fuse box, where another power wire taps the ammeter wire and goes out to the starter. And from the starter to the battery via the battery cable. Making a power/charging loop. But the length of that loop causes heat and resistance. Running that new 8 gauge from the alt to the starter, shortens the charging path to the battery but the ammeter and fuse box are still get power. And the ammeter doesn't have all the charging amperage going through it any more because the new 8 gauge redirects the charging amps directly to the battery, via the starter battery cable." Before the swap, if the battery was low and I was driving to charge it up, I could watch the ammeter. When it went back to the middle I knew it was charged and it was OK to park the car. So maybe I need a voltmeter or idiot light in addition to the stock gauge. Not a lot of places to put gauges in a 240z though. Already have fuel pressure, vacuum and A/F gauges and don't want to mod the dash.

After the 280zx alternator upgrade with Dave's adapter, the ammeter never seemed to move. I didn't (and still don't) know if it got burned out or if the mod just makes it useless so it doesn't move. Before the upgrade the ammeter needle would jump around if a turn signal was on for example, no jumping after the mod which I thought meant the new internally regulated alternator was working better than the old one. A few weeks ago it wouldn't turn over or even click. Dead battery. I figured maybe I'd bumped the overhead light on, it's happened before. It sat while I did some work on the AT. Couple of days ago started it with the jumper battery. I figured I'd see the ammeter showing strong charge but the needle didn't move from the middle. I drove around the parking lot for a few minutes to get it warmed up (to check AT fluid level). Shut it off and then tried to start it. I knew I hadn't driven enough to charge the battery, but it did click and try to turn over after the short drive, so I knew the alternator had been charging. I read somewhere that the ammeter doesn't work after the upgrade; don't know if that's correct. So, main question is what to do about it. The fuel gauge part is OK. The other question is if the gauge got fried could it be draining the battery? And if so is there a way to unhook the ammeter but leave the fuel gauge part connected? If I need a new gauge then what kind? Searched the forum and found some threads but electrical is over my head, except the easiest stuff. It's a '73.

Are those NGK's? Doubt if it's the problem but they have a tip that screws on where the plug wire connects. They can get loose. I remember someone said they can misfire if they get loose. I always tighten mine up a bit (using finger-muscle not pliers) when installing plugs.

Using a set of Falken / Ziex a size smaller than stock. Car sits a little lower due to the tires. 130 MPH speed rating, good in the rain. Tires with a high speed rating wear out a little faster, seems like a bad gamble to go with lower speed rating though. I went smaller to get a faster time at the strip, although I haven't raced it since installing them. Feels a lot faster off the line and 40 to 90 MPH for freeway on ramps. Speedo optimistic per table, but I don't care. Bigger motor now so maybe I'd get a quicker ET and/or faster top speed in 1/4 mile by going back to stock diameter, don't know though, lots of variables. Guess that's a question for a different thread. Main thing is get good tires. H rating or above. Bought some Enterprise cheapies when was broke. Scary in the rain, also one blew out on the freeway. It was fairly new.

That is better. Nice setup. Not for me at this time but maybe someday.

Needed to swap in a new AT modulator, and pull the pan to change the ATF. Usually I use ramps but couldn't drive up on them since ATF was low due to the bad modulator. Used the stock jack that came with the car and a jackstand to change the modulator. The stock jack is OK for changing a tire but doesn't raise the car enough to work under it very well. So bought a 6 ton hydraulic jack and tried using that yesterday to pull the pan. But I had to use the stock jack first to get the car high enough to get the new jack under the frame rail. So did that, and then removed the stock jack, jacked it up some more and placed the raised jackstand next to it. Working under the car was much "nicer" then. Pulled the pan (glad I did, there was sediment). Then reversed the whole jacking procedure. Seems like there might be a faster, easier way, without getting a big heavy floor jack. Any ideas?

Couple more possibilities: Dwell not adjusted correctly, or worn points cam. Doubtful since problem occurred with electronic distributor but odd coincidences can happen. Dirty air cleaner. One of my neighbors had similar problem with Nissan SUV, new air cleaner filter fixed it. The old one was full of dirt.

No place to hook up a charger so maybe I'll buy a jumper battery, used to have one but it died. Or call triple A. I went to the superbrightleds site, plan to order a couple of those LEDS, thanks.

Found battery totally dead. Maybe the interior dome light was bumped on while getting stuff from hatch area. Need to check it first before testing anything else. Doubt if I can remove the plastic lens without accidentally turning it off or on. Thinking check continuity at fuse box if it has it's own fuse. Also want to find an LED bulb for it that won't use as much power next time it's left on. Until then I plan to remove that bulb whether or not it was the problem this time, since it's killed the battery before.

One fire almost out, now another one spreading. The South Bay is a long way from the fires, so I wasn't sure why my eyes were burning all day. Worse today than yesterday. Around sundown I could see the dirty brown / orange haze in the sky and knew why. There are fires every year, but this year seems worse. Been using a lot of eye drops.

Deadhead regulator means no return line. Good to know there are some AN/BSP adapters available.

I'd be surprised if your FP regulator has BSPT fittings. Also, I tried using a 1/8" NPT fitting on the stock fuel pump - it wouldn't thread at all, BSPT works perfect. Maybe it's sort of OK to use NPT and goop instead of BSPT for plugs on the balance tube, but I'd never use the wrong fittings for the fuel system. McMaster-Carr should have the BSPT / NPT adapter fittings you need. The AN parts supplier or hose shop should have AN/NPT adapters. As far as I know, there aren't any BSPT/AN adapters, so for the mechanical fuel pump you need BSPT to NPT, and NPT to AN. I used BSPT/NPT adapter, fuel pump to NPT Tee fitting with a hose barb and short hose going to the fuel rail, and the other end with NPT/AN adapter going to a AN hose for the fuel pressure gauge. It could also go to a FP regulator with a return line. For your setup I guess you have a dead-head FP regulator between the pump and the carbs. Those don't have as good a reputation as the type with return line so if you use that you might want to make sure it's top of the line from a manufacturer that racers use, not holley or spectre. Also, I'd want to be able to hook up a fuel pressure gauge temporarily or permanently between the regulator and the carbs to check on the regulator. Usually with a mechanical pump you don't need a regulator, but in any case it's a good idea to check the pressure.

Fittings on the block, stock mechanical fuel pump and balance tube are all BSPT (except I don't know about water temp and oil pressure senders), but fittings on the carbs including banjo bolts are metric. If there's a shop in your area that makes up hoses for big rigs and commercial HVAC systems and you know exactly what you need they can "hook you up", if you don't need to connect to existing hard lines on the car. They made me a 1000 psi tension-rated AN hose with AN/NPT adapters for an industrial FP gauge to the mechanical fuel pump, did it while I waited about 15 minutes, cost about $65. I also had to buy an NPT/BSPT adapter for the fuel pump. Maybe better than buying tools and learning techniques unless you're doing the whole fuel system like Mike W. AN fittings required for fuel lines in some racing classes and organizations - it's safer.

I had them done in leather. The PO had somehow made a big hole in the driver seat and had a big pillow stuffed in there, with some horrible velour seat cover to cover it up. The local shop owner had to rebuild the seats, made it a little more lumbar support than stock which is good on a long drive. He had some nice Japanese leather so he used that. A few hundred more than vinyl but worth it IMO.

Thanks EuroDat. You were right. I pulled the hose off the balance tube fitting and there was ATF. I've noticed the A/F ratio occasionally goes rich, with a puff of smoke from the tailpipe. I thought it was a sticky float bowl valve but maybe it was choking on ATF. I looked at that link, didn't see performance kit for the Jatco 3 speed but maybe I didn't look at everything yet. They have a lot of stuff. I've read about mods for Z car AT but thought the parts were NLA. Wonder if the 4 speed 4N71B bolts up to a 280Z engine ?

The modulator on the AT is connected to a fitting at the back of the balance tube where it gets engine vacuum for automatic downshift. It seems to be working OK for shifting. Some modulators for other cars can leak, pulling ATF into the engine, but I don't know if its possible with the ones used on the 240Z.

I paid a shop to R&R the engine; they didn't pull the trans. Oil looks clean and correct level, didn't see any red in it.

British SU Needles: https://www.aptfast.com/ListItems/MainCategory/SU Carburetors.aspx