bluez

Hard to imagine why someone would pay so much for a ZX. I owned the same year, the only memorable part was the female voice telling me that “fuel level is low, your lights are on”.

This 917 has some serious history, as it was upgraded to a 917k. Given its past ownership, wouldn’t be surprised to see close to 20 million.

Finally some good news.. She’s running after much quality time. Thanks to all for the tips. It’s been a few decades since I’ve had to work on electrical issues.. Pretty sure I over complicated this. -The distributor shaft/rotor turns fine, no issues there. -Yes, hot wiring the coil does bypass, everything else, (should have figured that out earlier). Still getting good spark at points, but only intermittent spark to plug. - Ground/short, unknown. Started from scratch this morning, rechecked everything. Found the following: after swapping out the 2nd coil, I had reversed the coil wires (blk +, blk/wh -)🤬. This caused a couple of hrs of wasted time. Remote starting still seemed to get good spark at points, still got Intermittent spark at plug. Swapped out main coil/dist lead, and replaced points, car fired and started. Put everything back together, turned key car started right up. So it appears the replacement coil was bad, and possibly bad points or dist lead. The removed points look fine.. Will test coil and dist lead. Still a bit puzzled what the cause was.

Thanks for the pic, much cleaner than the one I’ve been referring to. I get initial spark out of coil wire then nothing, same as before, so my thought is a short. Still have good spark to points. The tach and ignition switch are the 2 things I haven’t checked yet.

Update.. Have spent a few more hrs troubleshooting, with what I guess is some success. (Have forgotten how much I hate laying upside down trying to access wires under the dash, where there’s no room.) Traced and tested wires from distributor and resistor end to end, all good. Disconnected wiring harness plugs on passenger side, all tested good. Also tried hot wiring, no luck, still not seeing spark at the plug. Tomorrow will try jumping the tach wires (black/white, green/white). Since everything under the hood seems good, am starting to think the tach is the root of my problem.

I’m kind leaning to a short somewhere. Yes, initially took a bit of shotgun approach. However, I pretty much have ruled out the following: coil, ballast resistor, condenser, and coil wire. All were swapped out with no noticeable change. Have tested some wiring for continuity/voltage with nothing found. When I first got the car 3 years ago, it had a similar problem with stalling, at that time I found wires to the resistor and distributor were loose, and other minor issues as the car hadn’t been run much in nearly 30 years. Hope to spend some time on it tomorrow, tempted to try PEI, but don’t think it will make any difference. Will focus on underdash, can’t wait to be a contortionist.

Well I used to use tektronix many years ago, no longer available.

Have already had test light and meter out checking continuity, voltage and resistance. Not seeing anything amiss, am missing something. Great idea hot wire, hadn’t thought of that.

More quality time spent, swapped coils, resistors, tried no resistor/condenser. Still nothing, not even a pop. Everything under hood seems fine. Tomorrow will either try going back to PEI, or look at tach wiring.

Spent a few hrs the last few days, tracing/testing wires. So far nothing found. Am now seeing some weak spark on the plug when cranking. Today, I tried a new coil, no change. Decided to reconnect the condenser, to my surprise the motor fired right up several times, then nothing. Then tried again with the condenser disconnected, got nothing. Back to tracing wires.

Ok thanks, short to ground makes sense. The points are opening. Will check wires more closely. The condenser wire has been disconnected for now. The new coil being deformed, raises some suspicion.

Yes coil, resistor, points only have voltage when key is on. I rechecked points, gap .48, points are fine. Have 12v when points are open, 0v when closed. Noticed when key is on for short time 2-3 minutes the coil gets warm and resistor get hot quickly. Seems odd that a plug initially gets spark, then nothing. Will order a coil.

Okay, did some testing today. Still getting initial spark when key is first turned to start, then nothing. I did notice the new coil appears no longer flat on the bottom, looks to be swollen. With key in run position and points open I see 12v at coil, resistor, and points. Thinking maybe the new coil is bad?

Thanks for the suggestions, got sidetracked today, will spend some quality time tomorrow, and provide an update tomorrow. I did previously check polarity and other wiring connections all appear good, also tried disconnecting the condenser and had no spark. Will see what tomorrow brings.

As mentioned earlier, had removed #1 plug and saw spark for a brief second, then nothing when grounded.

Okay, here’s some pics. Car ran fine previously, nothing changed until now. Points were set earlier this year, I recall 50mm. Will test condenser shortly.

So my 12/70 Z is giving me some issues (stock ignition). I haven’t started it for several weeks, (ran fine back in August) tried last week and no go. Car started and was cutting on/off, tach was jumping all over the place. After a few minutes it wouldn’t start. Removed dist cap had spark at points, pulled plug #1 initially saw spark, then nothing. Removed coil and found oil on primary wire and coil. Coil looked to be original, so I ordered a new one as well as a new ballast resistor, still no go. Today, I picked up a new condenser, checked for spark at the plug, all good, installed plug and tried to start it, it fired for a second then nothing, pulled plug found no spark again. Am guessing I have short somewhere? Is this a common problem? Thanks.

Well bottom line the Z market is in free fall. This one sold, really cheap.. Buyer got a very good deal, so tempting. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1970-datsun-240z-127/

This entire series is beyond incredible… Makes my refresh project so subpar..

Certainly could be.. When I first got my Z, it would suddenly die, sometimes it would restart or not. Thought it was fuel, eventually figured it was the resistor.

P/S rack?

Oh my!!! I’m all for saving cars whenever possible. If the underside looks like that, can only imagine what the body panels look like..

Well that’s your issue.. Here’s a pic of original radiator/fan.

Pics would help. Motor mounts reversed would not move engine forward. Either wrong clutch, or you stated car has stock radiator, are you positive?

Yes.