porkbun

I just noticed while under the hood that my valve cover breather hose(?) is saturated with oil and the valve cover has marks that show that some oil spilled/spurted out of the hose a while back. It also has some tape on it which seems to show that it isnt the first time this has happened. My mechanic should be back from vacation, so ill call him and see how much he knows about these cars

Put 1k on the car and it had been running just as it had when I got it...until my friend brought me to a large open parking lot to do donuts. I couldnt pass up the opportunity to do a few donuts, but Im kinda regretting it now. It was really just turning hard in first in a sandy empty parking lot, but my car did not like that at all. My car suddenly started experiencing jerky hard acceleration (like I was pumping the gas pedal) and would randomly threaten to die at stoplights (putting down and running rough until I gave it some gas). Accelerating from first always feels like im just using the clutch completely wrong and I feel a ton of rubbing as the car starts move (from idle or above the usual 1.2ishk, the RPMs will drop to maybe 700 and then go up as the car starts to move). I also feel more of this rubbing when I try and accelerate and turn from a stop, but that might be because its harder to move with the wheels turned. I decided to check out the air filter and though it wasnt that dirty, I did find a TON of tree nuts inside the housing. I cleaned those out and noticed a ton of play in my throttle arm linkage (id say a little less than half an inch). Does the little boot of the arm coming from the pedal act as a spring? The one on my car is brittle and opened up. Does the play even really matter? I feel as if the throttle response is perfectly fine, but dont know if its contributing to the jerky acceleration. From what ive read about vacuum hoses, it seems like theres a leak somewhere (my rpms will also drop if Im on the brakes hard for very long (like an exit ramp). I hope its just that and not my steering and/or clutch. Any recommendations as to replacing the hoses or learning more about them? Ill be a LOT less busy in a month and have plenty of time to pay attention to the car, but right now im so busy.

Im thinking I might just go with a 50amp alternator instead, but I dont thats the problem anymore. The battery with bad cell(s) is in the car right now and gives off about 12.41V when stopped and 12.86+ when running. When I first turn the car on it goes up to 12.46V and the voltage keeps growing ( I forgot to test it before turning the car off), so the alternator is charging the battery, but after a few days, Ill try and start the car and the battery will be drained (this all started after I left the rear defogger switch on). Now I unplug the terminals when I turn the car off and I havent had any more battery problems. How exactly do I conduct the battery spark test when plugging in the terminals and pulling fuses? I still need to check to see if the alternators voltage is externally regulated.

As in the 240Z relays or make my own? Im still not sure if there is a difference for my 260 and something is bound to go wrong if I make it myself. Right now, the headlights are pretty bright and white, but only work on the high beam setting, and I try not to leave them on for very long. About starting, turns out my battery had a bad cell, so I bought a new one, but Ill have to see if thats really the problem over the next few days

I think its the defrost switch because the car has never had problem with sitting before and everything was turned off except for that switch. It very well could be some funky wiring since it does have an 8 track player behind the passenger and theres a mess of wires under the mats. I was just wondering about the alternator and regulator to see if there was a preferred replacement, and to see if there was a more modern replacement, but now that I think about it, an internally regulated alternator is the modern replacement. Ill be ordering that Duralast and the OEM regulator if no one says anything by Monday

Does this count as hijacking my own thread? I left for a short trip yesterday and decided to test the rear window defogger on the way there. Not only did I lose a hubcap, but I forgot to turn the defogger off when I turned the car off. Had to get the car jumped to get going and went straight to a car parts store where they told me to go to a gas station to get my battery charged and that my alternator would need to be changed soon (after testing both). Would I run into any problems if I went with an OEM voltage regulator and this alternator: http://www.autozone.com/autozone/parts/Duralast-Import-Alternator/1974-Nissan-Datsun-260Z/_/N-iopilZ9ci9i?itemIdentifier=334268_29983_10563_ ?

Turns out that one of my replacement fuses was a bad one. The right headlight just needed a fuse, the left needed a new bulb. I threw the ones I got off of eBay in and after hours of messing with the assemblies, I got everything back together and in place. I threw them in there before the harness for emergency situations where I have to drive when it starts getting darker. I forgot to mention that only my high beams are working, but I havent searched for a solution for that yet. I take it the MSA headlight harness wont work at all in my 74 260?

I hate to ask this question since its been asked so many times before, but I tried the other solutions and they did not work. When I bought the car, both the low and high beams worked fine. The day I got it home, the left headlight had gone out and a few days later the right headlight followed. The amp meter needle bounces when I switch on the low beams (parking lights) but no longer does anything between the low and high beam settings. Literally every other light in the car works except for the headlights. I did some searching and other people who had the same problem as me either found a broken connection under the steering wheel or had a bad switch, so I cleaned the switch, checked all the connections under the steering column and I couldnt spot any problems. This connector was too hot to handle after I tested all the lights and left the lights on the high beam setting for a while(pulled it apart as much as my fingers could handle before taking the picture: According to the FSM it connects a ton of stuff, but after pulling it apart, I did not notice anything odd with the individual connections and everything looked very clean. After putting everything back together, the plug no longer heats up, but still no headlights. Did my headlights just die out? Is there something I overlooked? Here is the album that has all the pictures of my car and the pictures from around the steering column: https://picasaweb.google.com/flyingaero/Datsun260Z I purchased these lights from eBay to replace the old ones, but I would like to see if I can solve the headlight problem before putting in higher power lights and a headlight relay harness. Any idea how I would get the halos to work? The knowledge of electronics I had does not translate to inside the car like I thought it would

That assumption is spot on. This car is more than double my age and Ive never seen a choke on anything besides gardening equipment, even those are disappearing now. It seems like most of my worries were just part of the operating instructions that arent in the manual. My Moms mechanic is biiiig on Volvos, and now that I think about it I actually remember seeing a couple of Zs and ZXs at his garage over the years. Hopefully he will know a thing or two about the SUs if I cant figure them out That list will be added pretty close to the top of the growing list of my Zs to do list. My wallet and schedule will be taking a beating, and I havent even touched the body or the electrical yet! Its a good thing I wasnt looking for a car that would be perfectly reliable and never give me a reason to get my hands dirty. Thanks to everyone for helping me diagnose and plan a course of action and take the first steps on my Z journey!

I see what you mean. The only other detail that I can give is that the problems go away after the car is does some "work". This morning it was pretty chilly and I was experiencing some of that lag and my rpms were threatening to drop below 1k. 3 Hours later (7 miles away), I start it up with the choke, but the RPMs dropped to 8-900, but when I took the choke off, it went to a normal idle. Ill pick apart the FSM and see if I can get anywhere tomorrow with the carbs, and maybe that set of appliance rims that came with the car will help soften the blow of switching/tuning the carbs if I cant figure them out. I cant just pour money into the car all at once, because I still have to pay taxes for it and get some new tires which is already about $800, so what do you recommend me doing first? Its pretty predictable right now, but I want to get it in good mechanical shape so I dont end up on the side of the road.

In 08, the car wasnt starting, the alternator wasnt charging, and all the fuel lines were replaced at Acme Nissan in NJ, so it sounds to me like they were trouble shooting and happened to notice the state of the fuel lines. According to the receipts, it seems that it was a daily driver until the 80s (70k in 83)and then the mileage per receipt interval starts dropping down to a couple hundred in the 00s. I have no problem with the performance, but sometimes in first, ill experience a bit of a hiccup under heavy acceleration like the car is just realizing how hard im pressing down on the gas (like an automatic transmission changing to a lower gear for more power. carb lag?). I also feel like I could be getting better MPG since I do mostly highway driving, but I do enjoy the acceleration in town. I would like do work on the carbs, but it all seems to be a bit over my head. Would just replacing them with the 240 SUs or another carb make maintenance easier? I havent called around yet, but I feel like getting different carbs would be cheaper than always having to rely on someone else to take hours to get everything right. This is the clacking diesel noise I hear when I start the car and the hood is up, but its definitely coming from the area in the photo. I havent even noticed it anymore because I can hear it in nearly every other engine bay video (or its could be stuck now that I think about it)so it doesnt really seem like a problem to me: . Ill try covering up the EGR tomorrow to see what happens

Just tried starting with the choke fully pulled and it fired right up, so the error was me confusing all the things I had been reading. With the choke pulled in, the engine fired right up, and idled very roughly and shakily at about 1.1k with the horrible exhaust smell pouring in. I took the choke off after about a minute and the engine could idle, but it was still very rough at 1k and I felt that at any moment I might have to give it some gas to keep it from dying(but the exhaust smell disappeared). I pulled the spark plug wires off one by one and the idle dropped the same bit for each plug. I cant find my spark plug socket, so I cant actually pull them out now. I did check the dampers and the back (closest to driver) carb has a lot more transmission fluid than the front at the fluid is also a bit lighter than the front carb. The rear carbs fluid covers the bottom plumb and makes a squishing noise when I replace the dipstick, the front makes no noise when I replace it and I can literally feel there is less fluid. Is the single notch on the dipstick the level I should aiming to reach? Oil is still pretty golden although it is a bit dirtier than when It was poured in.

It has been sitting outside cooling down with the night on the street and I went out to bring it into the driveway. The engine fired right up, but my rpms dropped to at about 500 and I had to get my gas pedal pumping routine going, but it wasnt as nearly as difficult as in the morning. Tomorrow morning Ill have to go out and do a conclusive test with the choke. Whats confusing me is starting it the first time in a day is always the hardest, but starting it the 2nd, 3rd, 4th etc. time it just fires right up. When I try and start it in the morning(during the gas pumping phase), the choke only makes it more difficult to get the engine going (pulling it back towards me activating the choke light), it causes my RPMs to drop and the car to get a bit of a shake going. Just now when I was bringing it in, I pulled back on the choke and it brought my RPMs up a bit and made the engine run a little smoother. Tomorrow I will check out the plugs, the choke, and my carbs( the 73 manual is a loooot easier to read!) and report back. EDIT: A couple of other details that may help narrow down this problem: I never smelt the exhaust before (I always keep my window down), but with this recent gas pumping routine, the strong smell of gas and ripe exhaust usually greet me in the car and the family in the house. Another phenomena that happens is when I shut the car off, itll shake for a couple of seconds, perhaps try and start back up, and then die (dieseling as ive heard it called). It happens no matter which octane I use (87, 89, 91). Is this indicating something about my air/fuel mixture?

Before I start poking around with the carbs, I was wondering if there could be any other cause for this problem. I just changed the oil to VR1, but Im still having some starting problems. My car doesnt like to start early in the morning, but has no problem starting in the afternoon when it gets much warmer. In the morning I crank it up, the rpms will go to about 500 and then it will die unless I pump the gas (read: flooring it then taking my foot off). When I floor it, the RPMs will go up like normal, but something will click while I pump and will temporarily make me lose power until I come off and pump some more (feels like the slight resistance in the gas pedal goes away until I come all the way off). Once it stops this hiccuping, Ill keep it at around 1.5-2k until it will finally idle at about 1.1k. At first I thought the ancient oil that was in there needed to warm up (whether by pumping the gas and keeping it at 1.5-2k or waiting for the day to pass, but the oil has been changed, and its still way easier to start it up the second time in a day, or after it has sat in the sun for a while (Itll fire right up and idle at about 1.1k after sunning for a bit or if I drove it earlier). Applying the choke makes my RPMs drop until the starts shaking, or just shuts the engine off. Does this sound like a carb issue to anyone else? Will it be solved if I follow this: http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/thread41940.html ?

I found at least one modification. The oil pan drain plug on my car is 7/8" and stuck to the oil pan pretty good, so the oil still has yet to be changed which means no no driving the Z . BTW I went with Valvoline VR1 10w30. When it get lighter out ill have to check out the carb dipsticks again, because one dipstick felt much goopier than the other, so either one has the wrong/old oil, or one has oil and the other doesnt(which would explain the occasional shaking). Seems like all my problems are oil related.

Thats a picture of the engine bay, but whats kind of worrying me is this: It may just be the angle of my driveway and the shape of the car, but it seems a lot of other cars engines also tilt the same way. Full album here including the trip on the way back The video I took today is huge and will take a while to upload (like tomorrow night). Things I noticed today: The oil is filthy, the car will sometimes try to start itself up after I shut it down (I read this is because I put in 87 as opposed to 91), not to trust mechanics when they say they have time and to come back later(trying to get my brakes changed), the car will occasionally shake a bit and the RPMs will bounce a bit when at a red light (need carb tuning?). Tomorrow I want to pick up some oil and coolant, but I have no idea what to get. Im not very interested in all the arguing about oil, but I would be interested in what works in your car. Right now im looking at Valvoline VR1 20W-50 and a K&N filter, but im not sure if thats the right oil for me. Ill only be doing 6k a year MAX, so Id keep the oil in for at least half the year, but I read that 20W-50 is more for summer driving and theres not much summer left. Im heading to autozone tomorrow, but I have absolutely no idea what coolant to use. Any names I should look out for? About the diesel noise, Ive narrowed it down to this area: I can hear it in some form on nearly every Datsun engine bay video and shouldve captured it today on video. Not the fans like I thought. Any ideas? What is that covered by that cap?

Its dark outside now and pretty late to be closing those doors, but I will have pictures and videos tomorrow. Clicking isnt really the right word to describe it. To me the noise sounds like if you stick the edge of a piece of paper into a house fan. I also hear it when I pop the hood and idle. The closest comparison I can make without sounding like a complete and total idiot is that it sounds sort of like a diesel engine. Im going to sound like an ridiculous if I try and describe it any further, so I hope the video will help reveal it tomorrow. As for the carbs, since they arent broke, I wont go try and "fix" them. I was thinking about switching the, out for 240 carbs or other popular options that people go with, but after the maintenance and the new lights, I want to focus all my funds on rustproofing.

A picture I took earlier from inside my house through a dirty window

Ill have to get pictures and a video tomorrow because its too dark here. Also forgot to mention this is the second time I drove a manual car.Drove it 70 Miles back home today. Today I learned: My brakes could wake up the dead, other people really like the car, it doesnt have a casette player but it does have an 8 track player, one of my headlights stopped working, the wipers stink, theres a clicking sound at higher speeds and theres a bit of surface rust like everywhere. I already have the FSM, and the owners manual, going to get duplicate keys made tomorrow and do most of the stuff that LeonV listed.

Theyre not that unhealthy! I know that cars are meant to be driven and a low mileage garage queen may end up presenting a lot more problems in the future than a car that gets more action regularly. I got a ton of documentation with the car, so I have the window sticker from ACME Motors in NJ where it was serviced a bunch of times (anyone else?). I can see that in 04/13/02 it had 81,843 and had some hoses and the water pump changed. In 07/11/06 It got an oil change and had 83,389. In 08/11/08 it had all the hoses replaced, repaired the choke and cleaned out the carbs and had 83,520. I bought it with 83,760 on Friday. I was shopping for C4 Corvettes before and generally the rule was mileage doesnt matter as much as the previous owner taking good care of the car and there were certain fluids to replace when you got it. There was also the preventing the optispark ignition system from getting wet in the later models by avoiding puddles, heavy rain, and making sure the water pump didnt break. Are there similar warnings for the S30 or 260 in particular? Im going to the DMV to get temporary registration so I can drive it! EDIT: Left this open in a tab and SteveJ posted before me. Procedures like those is what I was looking for

Not only is this my first post in this forum, this is will also my first Datsun, and also my first car! It has a well documented 83k, starts right up, drives great, and has rust on the passenger side wheel arch and a bit on the driver door sill. It hasnt been driven much in the past few years and I would like to get it up to daily driver status. Ill have to travel at least 15 miles a day or 28 miles at most (round trip). What should I be checking/replacing to ensure reliability and healthy driving? Are there specific parts that commonly fail on these cars, or should I just bring it to Meineke to have it inspected? Cant wait to pick it up tomorrow!