Ed

There is a chance that it is the fuel pump itself. If you look at the internals of the fuel pump you will notice that oil gets splashed into the lower half of the pump up to the diaphragm. On an old pump of mine the diaphragm wasn't sealing with the lower portion of the pump. Confused? If you take the fuel pump apart you will notice a round rubber diaphragm. When it gets old it won't seal the two halfs of the pump anymore allowing it to leak oil.

When I lived in San Diego I drove mine everyday, about 25 miles to work one way. Now up here in the great frozen north I haven't driven her in two years. The restoration process is a slow one. But I'm planning on having her done for the nationals in August. Then I will drive her again.

Since your friend is willing to make good on this. Why not avoid the insurance company all together. Save the headache for another day. IMO the damage is minor. I would guess your estimates will be close to $1,000 (+ or -). If your friends deductable is $500 then he has already paid half. The rest he will pay when his premium goes up for the next three years. Get the estimates and see if your friend will pay the bill.

I got my Skyline!! :classic:

O.K. I'm not sure how much this will help but it will get us looking in the right direction (hopefully). The common fuel pump wire seems to be solid green. Picture one; Starting at the relay cluster, there is one harness attached to two relays. Picture two; This harness has an inline fuse that I'm holding. On mine the inline fuse says "FUEL PUMP". This harness goes towards the center console. Picture three; The harness plugs into a plug attached to a cluster of plugs that go to the choke & brake light that is on the center console above the fuse box. Halfway in this harness are two wires (black & white) that plug into a harness that goes to a short harness that is in between the voltage regulator and the engine bay wireing harness. Confused? I am.

I have my 73 harnesses sitting in a box with little tags describing where things go. If Santa didn't bring me too many goodies :classic: then I'll pull the harness and snap a few pictures. If I understand correctly you need help with the harness where all the relay's are.

Are you talking about the short wireing harness that goes from the plugs by the right tail light down to the pump and fuel sending unit?

Not again.

I'll put in my $.02 also. I've also had the missfortune of blowing a coolant hose. I had steam coming from the engine bay, I noticed the temp was higher than normal but no where close to the 250 mark. Anyway to make a long expensive story short. The head was warped. And I'm willing to bet your head is warped also.

I was wondering how many clicks your emergency brake makes before it is fully engaged. Sit in the drivers seat, pull up slowly counting clicks. When you can't pull anymore your there.

Ahhh, you've gotta love it!

Here is a link to Zhome.com where they have a tech article about the swap. It's good reading and it might answer some of your questions.

Your floorpans are history, gone, swiss cheese. To patch all those holes would require more work than to just replace the pan. The end of the frame rail is also rusted so I would suggest you buy the entire kit (pans & rails). Zedfindings has the best quality around.

It sounds like your car has shock absorbers for bumper brackets. I'm not familiar with the 260Z. Sorry, I thought you had plain metal brackets. Edit: Here are some pictures of the 240 brackets that I thought you had. Top and bottom view.

My first guess would be a clogged line somewhere restricting the fuel flow. Have you checked the fuel rail that goes around the valve cover? Try running a fuel line from the fuel rail into a gas can. Then turn it over and see if your getting good fuel pressure to the bowls (4 psi). Another test is to put a gas can by the fuel pump and run a hose to the mechanical pump. Turn it over and see how it runs then.

Once you get the bumper off you should notice two 14mm bolts holding each bumper bracket to the body. I would suggest spraying some penetrating oil on both sides of the bolts before you start. "PB Blaster" is pretty good stuff and available at your automotive supply store (don't waste your time with WD-40). For your rust spots if you can patch it then that's the easiest way. Cut out the "cancer" then make a patch the same size as the hole and butt weld it. I wouldn't suggest overlapping the sheet metal as that would just create a place for rust to fester. Replacing the floor pans isn't as easy as you would think. It needs to be done right. Measuring, cutting, measuring, grinding, measuring, welding, measuring, grinding, measuring, you get my drift. Oh yea, the black crap is asphalt base sound deadner/insulator. It is factory installed. There are several threads discussing the removal and replacement of it. Good luck

Been there done that.

Do you have any aftermarket speakers installed? I've always found the hardest part of installing a new stereo in a car was to find which speaker wires went where. Use a voltmeter and find out which wires give you 12v with the ignition off. And 12v with the ignition on. Then the best way to find out which speaker wires go where is to look at the connection to the speaker (you never know if it was done properly). When all else fails and you don't want to check the speaker the wire with the black strip is supposed to be the (-) one. The solid wire is the (+) one. Another thing I would do in order to not ruin any of the wiring harnesses is to remove the wires from the plug. You can use a really small screw driver and push on the tab that holds the wire in the plug. Then using a small piece of wire splice it all together. Before you start draw a little schematic of the plug and which wire went where, this way you can always put it back together. Tape the schematic to the wires so you won't loose it.

When you say original header do you mean the cast iron header? With any exhaust system, when you install it you should start at the engine and work your way back. Custom exhausts are built like this and when installing a pre-bent system installing from the engine back will save you a lot of headache (or in your case back-ache). For what it's worth your not the only one that has had problems installing an exhaust "kit". If worst comes to worst then take it to a muffler shop where they can make the proper bends in the tube for a better fit.

Left side, drivers correct? I'll have to see what the condition of the shoulder portion is like when the weather breaks (too cold right now to be wrenching out in the snow). And what plastic extension piece are you talking about?

Which side are you looking for?

Isn't there a similar product called "The Tornado " or something?

I tried to give you some buisness.