AK260

Agreed on the war thing - it is the ugliest of human activities. “Middle East are still pissed about stuff that happened 600+ years ago!” Maybe a little more recent ... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat Imagine a scenario where Iran attacked, invaded and controlled Canada and Mexico, moving its army in semi permanently. Then parked it’s aircraft carries and subs in the oceans either side. Now they side with the US’s enemies and arm them too, supporting and funding them. Wouldn’t the US feel just a little threatened and sensitive with a need to defend itself, build nuclear “deferents”!? Now imagine if Iran had a history of overthrowing the US government and pushing it’s own interests for the US’s natural resources. Would the US not be a tad pissed off? I don’t like the mullahs of Iran either but if you look at both sides of this tale with discerning eyes, it’s quite entangled and both sides are as bad as each other in many respects. :(

Thank you sir - interesting reading for tomorrow a it’s past my bed time now ;) But I agree - read this earlier today [emoji33] It seems old tricks don’t suit new electronics!

So Mr Z head - I did look for that but was unable to find anything really obvious. It seems like it’s going horizontally through the material from the bottom of the post inside the cap and arcing onto the clip. What I did do was to cover the clips with heat-shrink and that took away the visible arcing you saw in the video. But engine still running less well than it should. So I suspect there is more arcing inside the cap or through material to a low resistance path somewhere. When I was trouble shooting previously I found that when I unplugged no. 6 and no. 3 HT leads while the engine was running, there was a clicking sound from the dizzy side of the car - but no other leads made that happen. So I’m pretty sure the cap is defective on that side. New cap on order so let’s see what happens next.

As some have seen, I keep a log of my experiences with 123 here ... https://zclub.net/community/index.php?threads/123-ignition-for-datsun-l6-on-my-l28.25467/ I wanted to share my latest experiences with you without duplicating that thread as I know quite a few on this forum also use / are considering 123. In summary random missing and rough running that plagued me for months turned out to be a cap breaking down and doing a lively plasma ball impression under the bonnet. Short video below that explains what just happened ... I will be experimenting with insulating the cap and clips with spray on insulation and clear nail polish respectively - I’m sure my wife would be delighted [emoji1787] I am wondering if I should put the ballast resistor back in and reduce the coil voltage to avoid future antics - which does defeat the object of a flame thrower coil of course but I do wonder if the Z really does need 40kV!? [emoji848] If the spark is able to jump the 1.2mm gap then surely that’s sufficient. What are your thoughts about ignition voltage?

For me this pretty much sums it up ... 2003 is back! :(

Most welcome John. I cut them a little smaller than the gap to allow for some play to allow for where the serrated washer would have compressed in operation. Good luck! Ali

Well my friend, my original system didn’t have the centre resonator - it was merely 2.5” pipe back from the MSA collector to a Magnaflow turbo box (and later the Z-Story classic muffler) at the back. Apparently this is the classic hot-rod setup that the PO had installed. I merely ceramic coated the lot. Sounded way louder and more aggressive with delicious popping sounds on the overrun. Sounded very race car like, but alas, the droning drilled into your brain when cruising in 4th/5th between 50-70mph and became unbearable for anything more than 5 mins. The popping sounds are still there but a lot less anti-social and more like someone remembered to put the lid on the sauce pan while making popcorn. On the old system and with the L26 she would even shoot out a two foot yellow flame when coming off the power at 6k RPM! Scared the b’jeezez out of me and impressed the driver of the TR6 following! ;) I know little about exhaust design but I would say that Sean’s centre resonator and it’s position along the system greatly eliminates the drone. I believe it has a lot to do with the length from the collector to the tip of the muffler and the frequency of the reflected waves along the length of the line. The expansion in the resonator takes the energy out of it and the position changes the standing wave frequency (or something like that). Also, the whole thing essentially being a wind instrument means that changing the primary diameter and lengths + change of metal type from mild to stainless steel is likely to change the frequency characteristics yet again. I imagine Sean has been experimenting with getting it all to work together as a system.

Frenchie, I hope you don’t mind me commenting here - happy to delete if you object. Before buying Sean’s full Race / Sport system, I ran the MSA header with 2.5” back to a turbo muffler on both my L26 and it’s replacement hot L28. Due to a shotgun sounding misfire I managed to utterly blow the baffles and Sean very kindly and speedily (at his cost!!) sent me his Classic muffler to help me out of a hole and able to get to an event I really wanted to go to. The classic is a straight through (spot the Z I worked hard to get into the pic!! [emoji12]) I was absolutely jaws on the floor at how much power had previously been left on the table. She now rushed to 6.7k RPMs rather than topping out at 5.6k ish. I like the classic raspy sound of the turbo muffler however this one is deeper and more TVR / V8 burbley. But the system as it was still droned like hell between 2.2-3krpm and was exhausting on the motorway. I then bought Sean’s full race / sport on the same engine and set up. The quality is great. Here’s the headers side-by-side for comparison - a very sexy beast!!! The fit under the car is tight but a near tailored fit. Don’t have a decent photo to show except the one below. At first I was worried about how close to the gearbox it was but NEVER has there been a single clonk even with some serious thrashing on bumpy fast country roads. The power at the top end just opened up to another level - I’ve had to add a limit on my 123 ignition at 6.8k rpm as the engine now sprints into the mid to high 7k region and I don’t want to bust something as I’m not running forged pistons and rods. I rarely need to cross 6k - unless I want to really upset an N/A 911 or Impreza STi! ;) The sound is very nicely muted below 3.5ish maybe 3.8k rpm but anything over that is totally grin inducingly vocal! With the windows down and over 6krpm with a barrier or wall on the driver’s side, I dare say it’s a bit of a nascar howl! Absolutely ZERO resonance or drone on the motorway now or where it existed on the old system. Here’s my first drive after fitting (headphones on, sound up) ... Here’s a much longer one with some thrashing and some cruising while I was tuning carbs (yes that AFR was all over the place with the wrong needles). The window was slightly open so the iPhone microphone struggled a bit to capture the fullness of the bass in the sound track ... My buddy (same orange car as Sean’s pics) with an L26 has the exact same package but with a JDM muffler. Driving our cars back to back was a hoot and showed that on the smaller engine the JDM was louder at the top end than the classic muffler on mine with the bigger engine (he’s running a 275 degree cam I think versus my 270) - a bit raspier on his and bassier on mine. He has a beautifully progressive power band with this set up. I did, for personal reasons, want to see if I could make her a little quieter and Sean being a beautiful gentleman (no matter what they say [emoji12]) has kindly sent over the track muffler to test. Sadly I’ve been utterly buried for the last few months and not had a moment to do anything but store it or even to be able to see my car! It’s a straight through but with a much bigger box than the classic so it should be quieter but flow the same. Will report back once I get her on.

I waited for a number of months until some came up on eBay. People showing them in stock at the time wanted stupid money or didn’t actually have them. They seem to be a rare find and I personally didn’t want to go poly on that bit of the car. They do randomly surface on eBay. For the serrated washers, I sawed a spare used compression rod poly bush and it turned out to be a near perfect fit that stoped the clonks. A few thousand miles later and it still works. Putting a cut in it meant I could (with difficulty and foul language) force it on without unscrewing anything.

Brilliant! [emoji1787]

So does this mean there will be a new Lebanese Z coming out soon!?

Not wishing to defend him, there are two sides to every news item. You can see why (guilty or not) he would jump bail ... https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-47113189 Not sure Lebonan would be my first choice though. [emoji848]

I’ve used copper end caps with a piece of copper pipe soldered in and a jubilee clip to great effect. The PO had used the bolt method which had corroded a lot reacting with the coolant. The copper method works a treat and totally heat proof! https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.co.uk%2Fulk%2Fitm%2F121665667956

Please don’t ever use tyres that old - for your own sake! While they may look great, the rubber will be well past it’s best and likely to throw you off the road at the first hint of damp. My 99.9% of the time garaged Michelins, with 6.5mm left on them went very badly off after 7 years and yes I did fall off the road at low sped and not much right foot action. Over the pond in 14/15” there are Bridgstone Turanza T005, which I can’t say enough about in both wet and dry - not sure if you are able to source them where you? Great feel, incredible grip in the wet and brilliant in the dry.

I know too little about points systems but what I would ask is the dumb question: are you sure it’s not an Electrolytic capacitor connected the wrong way? The only things I’ve seen in the past burning caps are: 1. over voltage 2. incorrect orientation of electrolytic caps 3. Excessive heat (i.e. how are your engine bay temps when this occurs?) 4. Ferroresonace / harmonics with the source that result in undamped oscillations If we say 4 is highly unlikely and 2 is also not the case then you are left with voltage and heat. If you were dramatically over-volting then should other things not be affected also? E.g. gauges etc? Or could there be a 5. Rubbish quality Chinese capacitor being rebranded and sold as a quality item.? The easiest way to troubleshoot is to get a high voltage cap from Radio Spares (RS) with the same uF capacity and a high heat rating. Then test run it. Ideally a ceramic cap if you can get it in the required capacity.

Thanks guys, this is all great advice!!!! Jon that is good to know, thank you, will look into that option. Mr grannyknot - you’ve given me something good to think about there. Is suspect I may have those Tokico springs as they don’t look stock and the PO has loads of receipts for Tokico stuff. A great shout on the bump stops too. A member in the UK has kindly offered a set of those springs so once I finally make my mind up he will save me a penny or two on import duties. I will be sure to call Zcardepot tomorrow eve - uk time ;) - thanks for the heads up.

Forgive me father, for I have a soggy bottom! Having put on the new Bridgestone Turanza T005 tyre all round on car, the grip is frankly phenomenal!!! The down side is the occasional rubbing I used to get on the arch lips is now quite frequent as I can load the suspension up a LOT more than with the Michelin “no wet weather grip / easy to slide in the dry” Energy Savers. I also have found that despite my gorgeous Z Story exhaust being tightly installed within 5-10mm of the rear cross member, she has been getting flesh wounds with 2 x 75Kg middle aged men/boys in the car driving over fast bumpy roads and loading up the rear under power in a straight line... The suspension is travelling 3 inches or more to get there. I have what appears to be uncut but lower springs and Tokico HP / Blues installed by PO. The ride height is not silly low either ... So I’m rapidly thinking Eibach progressive springs and Tockico Illuminas all round. This is a 98% fast road car that sees the track a couple of times a year at best. I really don’t want to spend silly money on coil overs etc or to cut bits of my car to make them fit. I have a UK 1977 260z which is very similar in suspension to the American 280z (I believe). The challenge is, I have located 2x brand new fronts and one brand new rear (BZ3013). I cannot for the life of me - except on a Mexican Ebay style platform (that doesn’t like anything other than a Mex mobile phone number) find one for sale - they are showing 10 in stock. Three questions for you guys: 1. Does anyone have one or a pair they would like to help me out with (I will pay generously both financially and donate body parts as appropriate). 2. Has anyone tried this combination and likes it? 3. How do we think the illuminas compare with the newly released Koni adjustable from MSA? I sort of like the fact that compression and rebound are both controlled on the Illumina as I know very little about suspension tech / science and don’t want to do this job twice! Would be most grateful for experienced advice on this. Ps. Someone suggested this but ... erm ... just no!!!

In Europe / the UK we have these available ... http://www.tyrereviews.co.uk/Tyre/Bridgestone/Turanza-T005.htm Just put 195 70 14 on mine and WOW!!!! The grip is utterly stunning in the wet and in the dry I ran out of courage and wheel arch clearance before the grip did. Very good feel too without being a nuisance. Highly recommended if available where you are. I was in two minds when considering the types of cars they typically go on but on a Z they are utterly superb.

I went with Fidanza flywheel and Exedy clutch and pressure plate for a 280zx Turbo 2+2. Great pedal feel, never slipped under hard use and best of all i have a very revvy motor without slow speed driving issues. It took me 4 hours to do a 1:45 journey to Silverstone in stop/start traffic on Friday. No issues at all. You just have to learn to dial in 500 more rpm when pulling out of junctions but you soon get used to it.

This clearly left an impression on me - I was dreaming about it for most of the night!! ;) Glad you have some ideas about root causes.now comes the fun bit, going shopping, improving, enhancing etc

It definitely needs lower springs.

I fell off the road in the wet a few weeks back - actually whilst taking it quite easy for once!!! My Michelins were 7 years old so the rubber had gone off Here in the UK, the best all rounder I could find was Bridgestone Turanza T005. Which for good reviews for wet traction and dry in this size. The other option is of course the ultra expensive Michelin MXV-P classic tyres. At £300 per corner it was a bit too salty for my tastes!

GULP!!! Something seriously wrong there to have done that to your cam lobe!!! Is there a valve sticking too!?!?!!! Do we know what’s caused it? Glad you got the SUs sorted though. [emoji106]

Unless of course you live in the UK and by the time you add shipping, 30% import duties on the cost + postage, a $12 “processing fee” and a weak GBP:USD exchange rate, it more than doubles in price :’( You guys in the US are very lucky to have local access to these toys !!

I can’t be too sure but it was either a ‘99 or a 2000 - it had the S50 engine with 316 ish BHP (IIRC). But what I recall the most is that lovely straight 6 torque laden bark.