zoom240

I bought a 73 orange ruster & my wife thought I was crazy, but indulged me. After I got it tuned up & running pretty well, she was finally deigned to drive it. She took my youngest out for a spin. When she came back, I asked her how it went. She was non-committal, but my son (8), said "Daddy, she really went ZZZZOOOMM". Wife had the Z bug & things were set. For the next few weeks it was "Zoom this & Zoom that", so zoom240 became my favorite screenname ... even though I'm driving a 260Z (rust free) now. Dave

All... just thought I'd thank everyone & close this topic out. I haven't been very active on the site because I have a hard time reading about Z's when mine isn't running. Anyway, took the advice and put a Motorsport 6-1 header with a Turbo Dynomax muffler & 2.5" tailpipe. The headers look good & I think it runs just a little cooler. Power's about the same, but it sounds faster. Course I broke off two studs, had to drill them out ... but that's a familiar story. But it's loud -- even louder than I thought it would be. I get that hard rasping sound even when I'm trying to avoid waking the neighbors at 5:30 when I go to work. Any final advice on taming the sound a bit? Feel like a 16 yr old kid going brrrraaappp--brraaap around the neighborhood.

Phoenix_400, In 1977-78, they were selling only 260Z's in Europe. The 280Z's were marketed in the US. I know, because I ended up buying a 260Z when I lived in Holland. I thought it was a '74 & imported it back into the states as a 74, only to find out later (from Nissan), that it was manufactured between 9/77 and 6/78. My VIN starts with GRLS30. Brian Long's book, "Datsun Z, Fairlady to 280Z" says that the 280Z was for the American market. A few might have slipped into Europe, who knows? Long's book also has a summary of VIN codes - the S31's were Fairlady Z's(Z, Z-L, Z-T) , mfrd 1976 - 1978, in Japan. But they all are listed with 2.0 liter engines. Maybe EVA, or some previous owner, just nabbed a 2.8L engine bound for the US & popped it into your car? Presto - performance. You have to watch the import laws. I believe if the car's more than 25 yrs old, you don't have to update it for bumpers & environmental (which I doubt the webers would pass). But it's worth checking to make sure the rules haven't changed. You've got the Z bug bad.... you can tell by the itch when you talk about a test drive. Good luck.

Daniel, Thanks for the offer on the exhaust mfld. I can't get to it till after January anyway -- I'm out of town for weeks after Xmas. By that time, I'll probably just put headers on it -- that's what I was planning on. Just sooner now than later. I did replace the fan clutch (not the clutch as I mentioned). 59Ghia... I'll look into pulling the freeze plugs when I change out the mfld. I'm curious -- can't think of anything else I can do to drop the temperature... something's got to be crudded up. Thanks all.

I had a 240Z & the wipers froze up. Fine one day, locked up the next. They would make a sound, like they were trying to move, but nothing. When I took them apart, I found rust & grit on the moving parts of the linkage. All it needed was cleaning & greasing.

Thanks Daniel. I thought it might have been the blanket. Think I'm just going to park it till after Xmas & then look into getting the header. Means I'll have to sort out the temperature problem as well! Good advice all...

Thanks for the advice & vote of confidence on the MSA headers. I might look for a used exhaust manifold temporarily, as I can't drive it without exhaust & Xmas has left the Z fund lower than normal, but headers are what I'll go for next. On the temp, when we were trouble shooting it, a mechanic shot the block & mfld with a heat gun and it was running much hotter than normal. I don't know why. When I bought the car, the PO was running almost straight water & the radiator was pretty crudded up. The cooling tube through the carbs was packed with crud too. I'm a bit worried that the water jackets in the block are packed. No matter what I do, it runs hotter than my previous Z, which had 2x as many miles. If I just change out the exhaust mfld with a replacement, do I need to get another gasket, or can I cheat and reuse this one do? -- I had just replaced it, had to order it from Nissan. Also... my mechanic had advised me to wait on the headers until I redid the engine & had a chance to mill the exhaust flat... is it that big a deal? Thanks!

I cranked the 260Z up this morning to do a bit of tinkering & I heard exhaust sounds in the engine bay. I'd wrapped the exhaust with a heat blanket a couple of weeks ago to reduce the heat in the engine bay. Now I have a crack along one wing of the manifold (picture).:dead: Anyone seen this before? It's a first for me. I'd had overheating problems for most of the time I'd owned the car. New water pump, new fan, system drained, radiator removed & cleaned, replaced the exhaust manifold gasket, all leaks fixed -- still some heat. So, I'd added the blanket. It did reduce the engine temperature a bit ... but it looks like it overheated the exhaust manifold -- or maybe I got it in a bind when I replaced the gaskets? So, what exhaust system should I replace it with? I'm thinking of just ordering the Motorsports headers. The car is a very nice dailiy driver - I use it for commuting, but I like to romp on it every now & then. Suggestions on exhaust? Thanks!

After a lot of trouble trying to tune them, I finally ditched the flat top SU's on my 260Z for a set of round tops. I wasted the money I spent on a rebuild kit & new needles, just couldn't get them tuned properly. I'm not sure what the problem was - it was tough getting the fuel mixture set properly. The round top SU's made a big difference in performance for me. I bought them used & put a kit in them.

Gave it a try & can't seem to get it to work. I looked at instructions & did SETUPREG.EXE, but still not. I've got Windows XP, maybe it's the operating system.

They make a little humming noise & pumping sound when working. If it's ok electrically, you might get lucky & just clean it out. There's a metal mesh filter in the pump intake that will get clogged up. Barring that you might have to replace it... you can even cheat & use a low pressure over-the-counter GM replacement and save some money.

I can't respond to most of your questions, but I've been plagued with electrical problems too. The sagging voltage disappeared after I replaced the alternator AND voltage regulator. I replaced my turn signal switch & headlight switch. The turn signal problem was likely poor connetcions in the plastic plugs leading to the fuse box as the new turn signal didn't fix the problem. I eventually tracked it down to one of the plastic plugs that connect up to the lines leading through the firewall (that mess of stuff under the passenger side). I'd be interested in rewiring stories, as this gets old... I prefer to tinker with the engine & I don't like tracing down ground problems.

In my situation, the leaks were underneath the solenoid, but you'll have to trace them down yourself. I had a regular vacuum gauge, but a hand pump with gauge attached is a lot better for trouble shooting. Cost me $40 at the auto store. Picture attached.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, My wife chased me out of the kitchen, so I did a bit of surfing on the net, while waiting for it to warm up a bit outside. All this Z talk has me itching to do some work on my car -- but I'm new to the New Orleans area & don't know anyone. I found the Z club in Houston to be invaluable in making contacts & getting advice, but but I can't seem to find a Z club in the New Orleans area. Anyone know of a club around here? Anyone local that has an interest in getting one started?

My 260Z had this problem a few weeks back. I tracked it down to leaking vacuum hoses. In my case, the ones under the solenoids, in the engine bay. Air conditioning worked, but the heater wouldn't get hot. It was fine after I replaced the cracked vacuum hose.

I had a 73 240Z in Texas- it had spent most of it's life in TX. The previous owner had removed all of the smog equipment & I never had problems getting it inspected. I thought cars older than 25 yrs were exempt? My rule, never take your car to a place that also does repairs & avoid the shiney new places with lots of overhead to pay off.

A couple years ago, when I moved back to the states, I pulled my 240Z out of storage. It had been in storage for 3 years. I'd pull it out & drive it for about a week every year, so it wasn't too bad, but it was a bit rough. I drove it around a bit & everything seemed to be working (after I replaced a frozen starter & aired up the tires). So what the hell, I decided to drive it to my new house - from mid Missouri to Houston, TX, about 800 miles. Well, I took all my tools, just in case. It was a blast. Great to be back in the car. Radar detector humming, car humming. Until southern Oklahoma. 90 mph, 85 mph, 75 mph ... still floored, not making headway... 60 mph, 50 mph. I coasted into a small town (Atika?) can't remember, on a Sunday. Pull into the auto parts store & scratch my head. Then I figure -- running hard, must have been crud in the gas tank.. need a new filter. I buy a new filter, pop it on, fire it up & take off. For about two blocks... Coast into a bank, which is closed. Not getting gas. So, I figure... fuel pump. I go back to autostore (on foot, this time) and buy a fuel pump. That wasn't the whole story either. Took me about an hour to figure out that the fuel filter they sold me was defective -- it was plugged solid. But the cool thing, was .. while I'm lying on my back in a parking lot of a bank in the backwoods of Oklahoma, drenched in gasoline, finally getting everything lined out (I'm a messy mechanic), a guy drives up & says hey.. a Z. "I had one of these when I was a kid". Then he proceeds to tell me all of HIS Z stories. Z people everywhere. Once you've had one, you'll always remember it.

I got the parts from a used parts guy in the Houston Z club. I can't remember the exact parentage, but based on what I remember & reading Chilton's, I believe they are from a 75-77 280Z. I've got the distributor with the stock pickup, the ballast resistor (3 taps) & the electronic module. The rest of the story is that I used to have a wiring diagram. I installed the distributor/module & it worked fine... kind of. Smooth idle, pull to high RPM's, etc... But occasionally at high RPM, the tach would go crazy. I'd get artificially high RPM readings & the car would bog down like the timing was off. I could push in the clutch, turn off the ignition & then restart the car -- high RPM's would go away. So it was electrical. Drove me crazy.. but the tach worked after a fashion. I decided to go back to mechanical distributor & bought a remanufactured mechanical distributor from Nissan. Installed it. Never could get the timing right. Car would run... I drove it to work & back twice (about 80 miles round trip), but really bad performance. Blowing smoke, strong smell of unburned gasoline & very rough idle. So, I just put the old electronic unit back in. Smooth idle, runs nice. Don't seem to have the occasional bogging down, but my tach doesn't work so can't tell. And that's the rest of the story. With a 28 yr old Z, there's usually more to tell. I'm going to try & post a jpg of my wiring diagram, but as a newbie... we'll see if it makes it.

I've got a 260Z 2+2. I changed out the old distributor (mechanical) and installed a used electronic ignition from an early 280Z. It has 7 wires. The car runs - better than before, but the tach doesn't work. Somewhere on the internet, I've seen directions for wiring, but I can't find them anymore. The Haynes & Chilton manuals aren't very helpful for wiring directions. Also... anyone know how to troubleshoot a tach? Now I'm worried I might have fried it trying to get it to work. Thanks.

I have a 260Z that was plagued with electrical problems. The amp indicator danced around. After replacing both the voltage regulator and the alternator, it was rock steady. I've been told by a local Z mechanic that the meter's not that accurate, but that the charging light was a sure-fire indicator of a problem. If you have the red charging light flickering, then you have an intermittent short (which I also had to chase down). In any event, it never moves now...