rossiz

gorgeous - love it!

+1 on the "rolling project" tip - it's soooo much more fun to chip away at your to-do list while driving your cool new car than to try and do too much at once and miss months at a time waiting for parts, etc. while there are some odd bits that seem to be hard to source, just about everything you need to get it going and keep it on the road is available either aftermarket or reproduction. as FW said, these cars are really easy to work on once you get into it, and the basic engine design is surprisingly robust. your fuel injection system is pretty straightforward and with some clean-up and testing you should be able to get it going, but if it's a total mess you can always swap to carbs as well. of course i'm gonna be devil's advocate and root for the project so i can live vicariously through your work!

hard to see in those pics - can't tell if it's just filthy or if the paint is gone. either way, if it runs at the very least you could clean it up and have some fun transpo! when you take more pics include the engine bay. you will certainly have to set your expectations correctly: ANY 30+ yr. old car is going to present "learning opportunities" so if you're up to tinkering this is a great option. i wanted one of these sooo bad when i was 17 - would have jumped at it!

FWIW - i found the hot lash adjustment to be much more accurate than the cold. after a hot adjust, the valves are still spot on for my re-check days later, but with the cold they're kinda all over the place. i think the cold is just to get you in the ballpark when re-building but the hot is the real deal. just my .02

go, man go!!! love that exhaust - still cracking up!

my car ran when i got it from the PO but there were a ton of things messed up and huge holes in the vacuum system. everything was compensating for everything else. when i started fixing things and putting them right, things got worse before they got better. it actually took quite a bit of fiddling to get everything back to spec, but it was worth it. before it "ran" but now it rocks. keep the faith and go back to the fsm vs. what you may have had before. you may have to check other adjustments that were set out of spec to compensate for mis-connected and/or damaged vacuum stuff.

fyi - i had already purchased a front bumper from black dragon (looks great, happy with it) and now am looking for a rear bumper. i'm interested in the sst version for the rear because i intend to weld it all together and grind out the joints, as well as weld on new mounts to fit my 280, and w/sst i can just polish and avoid the cost of re-chroming. i contacted harrington and they will sell just the rear - $680 including shipping (to seattle). so that's another option...

funny you should bring this up - i've been thinking about the same thing on my '78... i never noticed it when i had the original exhaust, i guess because it was too dark to stand out, but now that i have a new exhaust it's really glaring to me. just seems odd to see guts hanging out into the wheel well. i was thinking about forming something out of plastic - probably a sheet of abs and use a heat gun to mold it. otherwise maybe wire mesh and bondo to make a form, then make a mold and fiberglass. or maybe i'll paint the muffler black and pretend it's not there...

what he said - and don't feel bad, i only know about this because i did it too... did you check the pcv hose? it's underneath the intake manifold, right next to the exhaust manifold and more than likely burnt up. it really sounds like a vacuum issue.

i'm no electrical savant, but i'm pretty sure the oil pressure sensor works opposite to the previous posts... unless mine is somehow wonky. unplugged would be infinite resistance, right? on my 78 pulling the oil pressure sender plug when the key is on and the engine is NOT running is a quick way to run the fuel pump. it's how i used to prime my fuel rail when dealing with hot start issues. just turn the key to "on", pull the plug on the oil pressure sender and the pump would run until it was plugged back in. at one point i was going to put a momentary disconnect push-button inside so i could run the pump without getting out of the car. quite handy, actually...

fyi - one of my center head bolts snapped when i was taking off the head - it was corroded. luckily, it broke off 1" above the deck, allowing me to (thankfully) twist it out with vice grips after some pb blaster. i immediately bought a full set of new head bolts, wasn't about to replace my head and do all that work with suspect fasteners. they are not cheap - a set is about $100. yikes. just saying... be careful with the "re-torque".

yup - that's it. but i only had relays 1, 2 & 3 (no a/c and i think 5 is for automatic?)

it looks like there's been some work in the hose dept... i'd check the FSM for proper vacuum routing. it looks a little off to me - for one thing, i see a vacuum line going to the top of the throttle linkage dashpot, pretty sure that's just supposed to be open to the air, and that leads me to believe the vacuum line should be routed elsewhere. after you've checked every hose against the diagrams in the FSM and also checked for leaks (don't overlook the PCV hose underneath the intake manifold - those burn up and cause huge leaks) get a vacuum gauge on it and see where you're at. vacuum advance is a biggie as well - if not working properly you'll get lousy idle, especially with a leak. my bet is on vacuum issues - during the manifold replacement it's a good chance you didn't hook things back up correctly. also, i'm not sure about the smog setup on the 76, but check to ensure any smog fittings from the oem manifold are suitably plugged if the header has no such provision.

Unfortunately I can't provide a photo because I removed that bracket from the engine bay entirely and relocated all the relays inside the cabin, on an aluminum bar mounted to the back of the firewall in the passenger side. This was all part of re-wiring to replace the fusible links with maxi fuse blocks, which I mounted to the back of a large plastic wire harness/plug mount up under the dash on the far right side. It was a poor place for the relays in the stock location, right under the hood vent and exposed to the elements. I believe the 78 FSM shows 1 relay EFI and 2 for fuel pump, or something like that. I'm traveling on business so I can't confirm but I'm pretty sure there are 3 total - but I don't have AC...

interesting... any of those z's in running condition or good restoration projects? are they stored under cover or rusting away out in a field? map says he's less than 500 miles from me...

nice!

sounds to me like it was backfiring - restricted exhaust does richen up the mixture and if the offending muffler has significantly less flow, coupled with perhaps already poorly tuned carbs and suspect ignition timing, and you get fouled plugs, hence "running on 3"... following his threads i'm not sure the car is correctly tuned to start with.

i had a huge amount of play in my steering due to the steering rack bushings being old/soft - they let the rack move both laterally and vertically when the wheel was turned. you can see it by looking down into the engine bay while reaching in the window and moving the steering wheel back and forth. do it with the wheels on the ground to actually load the bushings and see if the rack moves. another interesting tidbit: i installed a custom "hockey puck" from mgood (see post 137 in the "pay it forward" thread) made from a rubber impregnated fabric material (fabreeka?) - it is much stiffer than the oem and made a very noticeable improvement in my steering, even after i thought it was tight. the oem rubber, while in good shape, was pretty soft and the "squishyness" of the part allowed for some play at the wheel. my wheel feels really connected to the road now - the car feels super tight and very sharp. he should make some more of those and offer them to the community - cool little mod...

heard an old racer say one time: "understeer - that's when the front end rubs the wall... oversteer - that's when the back end rubs the wall..." always sux to hear of anyone damaging a cool car w/so much work into it, but i imagine that beast would really want to get sideways!!

nice!!

cool project - looks like you are fearlessly diving into it! while you have things pulled apart, you may want to consider the following: lotta sludge up in the head - remove your oil spray bar and flush it out to ensure all the little holes are spraying oil - some crud in there can block a hole and starve a cam lobe of oil (not good) check your fuel filter - may have been replaced already by the looks of it. save yourself some grief as the tanks tend to rust... get 10' of vacuum hose and fuel line and replace every rubber hose you come across - they dry out and little cracks are hard to see. again, cheap insurance to save you headaches later check water pump impeller for play - much easier to replace it now than later. a new one is ~$45 at Oreilley's new belts - 'nuff said check your distributor to make sure it's working well (advance plate not frozen) and not too much wiggle/slop - new cap & rotor looking forward to seeing this z come back to life!

+1 on the link to vintageconnections.com (source jim lists above for connectors) - great stuff at a reasonable price. while i haven't replaced a fuse block, i bought a "professional kit" from them, which includes a great assortment of connectors and housings plus a really nice crimping tool. i've used these plugs on the z as well as on my motorcycles and am very happy with it. the spade connectors are brass and the tool gives excellent crimps - first one i've used that approaches factory quality.

love it!

funny... i was a major fan of that show as a kid - a member of the Col. Steve Austin fan club, had a patch on my jacket, membership came with a signed 8x10 of both Steve and Oscar Goldman. guess it rubbed off, eh? btw - your wheel looks great! swapping the woodgrain wheel for the '78 rubber one changed the driving experience dramatically for me - i love the classic feel of it, just so cool. it's the little "touch points" that make these cars sweet, the interfaces between driver and machine -- the feel of the shifter, gauge placement, the jaunty location of the door latches, the high door sills... just makes it feel special.

congrats on the purchase - and on the guts to do it yourself. it will certainly be rewarding to have built it from scratch. +1 on siteunseen's recommendation, a great read and super clear. another companion book to consider, since you're going for more than stock: How to Modify Your Nissan & Datsun OHC Engine - Kindle edition by Frank Honsowetz. Professional & Technical Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com. good luck, and keep us posted!