SteveJ

Interesting. I could have sworn I saw that car advertised for sale in Stafford, VA, for $10,000. If I wasn't about to move, I'd volunteer to check it out for any interested party.

Is the Austrailian version of the hi/lo switch the same as the American version? If so, you might want to see if you can get one from Zbarn.

I'm moving from Woodbridge, VA to the Alpharetta area. The company is in Alpharetta, so I won't have to commute into the city. Steve, the wife already knows that I'll be looking for a yard big enough to build a shop in. Thanks for the reminder about the Mitty. Boy, my wife is in trouble now. I already sent a message to the local Z club. It will be nice having meetings in my own back yard and having a job where I'm not so short-staffed that I can never break away for the club meetings. Anyway, I was working on the intake & exhaust, but I never got close to finishing it. So, I'll button up everything just to get it running and fix it properly when I get down there.

Well, I was offered a job this week in Atlanta, and I couldn't turn it down. I'll be starting in June. Now I have to get the Z in good shape so I can get it down there. I'm just looking forward to living in a place where I can have at least a two car garage so I can work on the car.

I haven't tried it, but I have a very hard time thinking it would work. Of course, I haven't tried running a circular saw across my stomach, but I'm sure it wouldn't be a good thing. Here are my 2¢. Go to your local auto parts store and look at all of the additives on the shelves. If acetone did increase gas mileage, some company would package it in a brightly colored can and sell it as an automotive additive, charging more than what acetone would cost. All they have to do is label the product's ingredients as petroleum distillates. As for your brother's opinion, think of it this way. If I own a refinery and found that I could increase fuel mileage just by adding acetone, I would sell it at a higher price and create a marketing campaign advertising higher gas mileage just by using my gas. Also, ethanol is added as an effort to oxygenate gasoline to reduce emissions, though I cannot attest to ethanol's effectiveness in that role. Your best bets for improving gas mileage are to make sure your cars are tuned properly (and consider changing out points for an electronic ignition) and watch your driving habits.

Here is one way to diagnose the problem: 1. Check the voltage on the battery with a voltmeter (not the guage in the car). If it is above 12 volts, inspect your fusible links. 2. If the voltage from step 1 was low, charge the battery fully and try to start the car. If you have the same symptoms, it's the battery. 3. If the car starts and runs, measure the voltage with a voltmeter (not the guage in the car) across the battery terminals and on the cables running to the battery while the car is running. They should be approximately the same and in the 14 to 14.5 volt range. If the voltage is lower on the terminals than on the cables, you have a corrosion issue (Of course, clean the terminals and cables.). If the voltage is low on both, there is an issue with the charging system. 4. The early Z cars have adjustable voltage regulators, but your Z does not. Refer to a factory service manual for checking the function of your voltage regulator. If the regulator passes the FSM tests, it is possibly the alternator. I have seen a parts place "test" an alternator and say it is good when I knew it wasn't, so I always take those "tests" with a grain of salt. Note: Conventional wisdom says that if you have a problem with the alternator or regulator that you replace both. I have replaced the voltage regulator without replacing the alternator with no ill effects. However, later I upgraded to an internally regulated alternator a few years later. Steve

If you truly set the timing to zero, as others suggested, that could be a big part of your problem. You want to initiate the ignition of the mixture before top dead center to allow it to propogate in time to cause enough expansion of combustion gases to drive the piston down. By setting timing to zero, you give the piston a very weak push. Also, what did you set your dwell at for your points?

Go to the Z Car Home Page and look for the link on Z Ownership.

Before I converted the headlight circuit to relays, I was getting 9.5 volts at the right headlight with the car off. That's a pretty significant drop. In addition to what Dave said on the benefits of the parking light relay, it takes a BIG strain off your combo switch, especially when coupled with the headlight relays. The headlight relays also take strain off your dimmer switch. These are old cars. Wiring and switches are subject to corrosion. It's just a matter of fact. It doesn't matter if it's a Z car, Mustang, Camaro, etc.

Thanks, Dave. I was too tired to search myself. I forgot about the old axiom about replacing both headlights. It's relatively cheap to do that anyway. Superfunk - I STRONGLY recommend Dave's relay conversion sight unseen. I did it the old fashion way since my wiring harness was not exactly stock anyway. His is plug & play. The difference with relays is astounding. You'll be willing to drive at night with the mod.

What year Z do you have? All of the S30s have basically the same circuit for their headlights, so if you have an S30, the diagram in the Chiltons isn't useless. I was able to use it to learn the headlight circuit when I was designing a relay system (since surpassed by the plug-n-play system offered by a member of this site). Search this website for a simplified diagram of the headlight circuit that I drew. That may help. 1st - If you have a known bad headlight, replace it. Also make sure you have dual filament headlights. 2nd - If it was brighter when you used the switch, the circuit was probably working. 3rd - Check your fuses, or better yet, just replace them. It's cheap. 4th - You can always remove and clean both the headlight and dimmer switches. Be careful dismantling the headlight switch as parts will want to pop out and disappear. 5th - Check the wiring harnesses. You could have a loose plug or corroded connection somewhere. If you have a ZX, the diagnostics differ slightly, but I don't know the details.

Here is a CD of the FSM with the parts microfiche.

You might want to bookmark this list: http://www.zcar.com/links/index.php?ParentID=6 You might try getting in touch with Roger. He's busy, so you have to be persistent. You're not going to have much luck going to a junkyard unless you drive up to Virginia.

Here's a quote from the ad you linked: You can call a Motorsport Sales Technician, who will be happy to search for a set for you, or you can locate your own. So, with that in mind, I'm going to throw out a crazy idea that maybe if you call and talk to a Motorsport Sales Technician, that technician may be able you find the hubs you need. I have a penchant for the obvious. Now if there is some reason you do not trust the help you could receive from Motorsport, you could look at ads on any number of Z car websites to find auto dismantlers/junkyards/whatever you want to call them that have early Z cars.

My suggestion is to modify the headlight circuit to use relays. That will take a load off the wiring and your alternator.

I took a chance, based on David's post, and ordered the 120" seatbelts from Wesco. When I mounted them, they did not have enough slack to allow me to move. The company is really good about exchanges, though, so I swapped the belts out for the 140" belts. I just received those yesterday, and I'll be mounting them soon. (History note: When I got my 73, it did not have shoulder belts. I got those from Autogator in Sacramento. I attempted to fit in some 74 seatbelts into the car, but the retracting mechanism would not fit into the pocket on the floor. Later, I bought the non-retracting seatbelts from Courtesy Nissan, but my wife didn't like them, and I wasn't crazy about them, though I thought they were better than 30+ year-old seatbelts.) Observations: It is good to have spacers on the shoulder mounts to allow them to swivel. Otherwise, the belt will not move easily. The belts are designed to have both ends anchor to the floor. I'm not sure if the early 240Zs with non-retracting belts have two anchor points on the floor. I mounted the retracting mechanism on the outer anchor point since it allows for a more vertical alignment for the retracting mechanism. I'll take pictures after mounting.