SteveJ

Yes, there is a site. Look in my signature...

Yes, Derek sold the site. With the new owner(s) came a flood of spammers and tons of ads. Many of us found that we were logged off frequently, which by some "strange" coincidence meant that we would see ads that were not normally visible to logged in members. Some of us grew tired of seeing the same questions every couple of days in the technical forums, too. Members in the S30/S130 section made a valiant effort to assemble FAQs, but the newbies just ignored them. Add into that the floods of newbies that, as Tony D pointed out, seemed to coincide with school break, and the character of the site has changed for the worse. I have focused most of my posting here over the last year or so because of the decline of Zcar.com. I know I wasn't the first, and I'm sure I won't be the last.

Glad to see you here. It's great seeing some of the best contributors from Zcar.com setting up shop here.

Alex, I don't think the club has turned away anybody. Heck, they even allow me to be a member. By the way, by NOT being a member, you failed to hear about the racing at Road Atlanta last weekend. It was great out there on the 19th. I got a nice sunburn out of it, too.

Alex, you could try cleaning those connectors up with some Caig Deoxit and emory paper. For the female side you might have to glue the emory paper onto a small phillips screwdriver that can fit loosely inside the connector.

You could try a Nissan dealer. Just give the parts guy the part numbers. Find them here. Otherwise, try a place like Z Car Source, ZBarn, or other parts place.

I have seen in person a 240Z dash within the last couple of months in the original Nissan box. It's listed at http://www.zpartswarehouse.com. Look at the price for an unused dash and compare it to the dash you are considering as far as price and condition go.

That makes it sound like collapsed points were your problem. Taking them out opened them up. Check the gap and dwell on the points. Flooring the car while starting does nothing if you have roundtop or flattop carburetors. Spray some starter fluid down the carbs and see if the car wants to fire then. Otherwise start going through the FSM on the fuel system to see what the factory diagnostics are for the fuel system. (I don't claim to have much knowledge on the fuel system, so if I was tackling the problem myself, that's how I would start.)

Since you didn't mention any of these: 1. Did all 6 plugs look the same when you changed them? 2. Did you check the oil in the carbs? 3. What oil are you using in the carbs?

Come to the Georgia Z Club meeting on Thursday. Ask around, and someone can probably come up with a name for you.

Frankly, I enjoyed YORGO's posts at Zc.c. His humor can grow on you...kind of like athlete's foot. Free YORGO! (Especially since I couldn't afford YORGO if he wasn't free...)

The 75-76 should fit, though you might have to get the filler neck from a 280Z as well. I'm not sure.

I don't see what the big deal is. I came up with a prototype of the turbo encapsulator before I was born.

Also, check the rheostat that controls the brightness.

John, You have a ballast resistor in your ignition circuit. You should have 12 VDC on the positive terminal of the coil when you try to start the car and 9 VDC with the key in the RUN/ON position. Here is a quick rundown on how the stock circuit is wired. Starting: The W/R wire carries voltage from the battery into the keyswitch. When starting the car, the switch connects the G/W to the W/R wire. The G/W wire goes into the tach, and the B/W wire goes from the tach to the positive side of the coil. The black wire comes out the negative side of the coil and runs to the positive side of the points and to the condensor and on to ground. The negative side of the points also runs to ground. Running: The W/R wire carries voltage from the battery into the keyswitch. The switch connects the B/W to the W/R wire. The B/W wire goes into the ballast resistor, and the G/W wire comes out. The G/W wire goes into the tach, and the B/W wire goes from the tach to the positive side of the coil. The black wire comes out the negative side of the coil and runs to the positive side of the points and to the condensor and on to ground. The negative side of the points also runs to ground. Having said that, failure points can include the condensor, the tachometer, and the points staying closed or open. (See page EE-35 in the factory service manual.) Also, please let us know whether or not you have stock points or if someone installed a different ignition system (Pertronix, Crane, MSD, HEI, etc.). If you're not sure, take off the distributor cap and rotor, take a picture of the distributor, and post it. Also, make sure the condensor is on the negative side of the coil. It looks like it's on the positive side in your picture. By the way, the condensor and ballast resistor look VERY old. Consider replacing them. It would help, too, if you would tell us if the car is an automatic or manual. The automatic had a dual point distributor.

Actually, one of the first things I did was to replace the relays with standard SPDT relays, and then I decided to use longer wires to move the relays into the engine bay better. I'm sealing the bottoms of the bases with liquid electrical tape to keep moisture out of there.

Sarah, I stand corrected. As you stated, the condensor is off the positive. If it burned up, there is the chance that the condensor is bad and grounded out. Just because it's new doesn't mean it's good. Ariel, the EL section has what you need to know about the alternator starting on page EL-18.

Actually, I don't trust the chain stores electrical testers. About 15 years ago, a friend said the Lamp light was on in his car. I suspected a bad internal VR. The chain store said the alternator was good. I said BS. He got another alternator, and the idiot light wasn't lit anymore.

Oh yeah, I made the mistake of buying the Blackdragon relay kit. I re-engineered the hell out of it, too. I would have been better off just starting with primary wire and relay bases.

Download the FSM from here. The file should have a wiring diagram. Also check the Engine Electrical section. There you will find the correct wiring for your alternator. The little cylinder is a condensor. It shouldn't be getting 12 VDC+. If it did, you're doing something wrong.

Dang it, John. You're about a month late with this. Let me see how much I like the lights I bought from Blackdragon Auto.

Wiring diagrams in the FSM will tell you pretty much all you need.

Dang, Will. Just Z cars? I want to park my wife's wagon there so I can put more stuff into it.

Unfortunately, Jeff, I have left a few breadcrumbs over at Zcar.com that might lead some people over here. By the way, John, don't be afraid to contribute to Classiczcars.com. I'm about due to kick in some more money. Mike has worked hard and has put plenty of his own money toward building this site. We all benefit through the exchange of knowledge.