st0878

I've been going through the same delima. I bought a Z afew months ago and the fan blade had about a 25% carve off I guess it came in contact with a radiator. I had a 75 parts car and I took the clutch and blade off and installed on the new Z. First of all the car ran like it just had an engine overhaul or something....fricken fantastic! And whole lot quieter because before it was making a sound that kinda made it sound like IRL car (I thought it was the muffler making the noise). Anyway, the car ran much better but I noticed that the temp guage creeping up on prolonged idles. So it turned out that the new clutch and fan that I put in was just the opposite in that it wasn't catching like it should. Even hot the fan spun freely. So I yanked it off again and did the 20/50 fill up (I didn't put the thinner) and I used a sythetic oil. I did this today but after a test drive the clutch still doesn't seem to be catching. The clutch and fan are pretty cumbersome on the water pump and can reek havock should they sheer off. I was so impressed with the power and noise reduction that now I'm wondering if going electric is such a sin?

OK I found the problem. The black should have gone to the red and the red should have to the red and not the red to red and black to the red. In other words, you hooked the wires up backwards you idiot!

Ya know I had a new battery laying around and decided to swap into the my 76 280z last night. You would think the old bitch would appreciate it but she decided to pay me back for all the times I've dogged her! Anyway, I put the new battery in and changed the cables to purty new ones, soldiered everything up so I would have good connections, but now it looks like either the fuel pump or injectors are not working. The starter cranks and I did confirm that I am getting spark. I'm trying to track down the friggin Fuel pump relay but I coulnd't find any reference to it in the 2 pages of Haynes manual that actually pertain to my model Z. If anyone has a picture of it I would apreciate it (Or if you could narrow it down to the side of the car that the relay resides!). Just to keep me confused they decided to make the 2 leads (one pos. one neg.) that come off the battery to the wiring harness both red. "If you can't defeat the enemy confuse them". That puts just enough doubt in my mind to consider whether to swap the 2 around just to see if I can fry the rest of my wiring harness! Any ideas on what might be wrong would be greatly appreciated! Yes today my Z is a bitch but tomorrow she'll be my baby again! Thanks EZ

Geeez now I have to start reading the question? If ya don't know the answer ...... dazzel them with BS...... Thanks Steve your right!

Could be a fuel starvation issue as well. Z's have alot of problems with rusting tanks. Try changing the fuel filter before doing anything else (Autozone $9). On the other hand, it could be the exact opposite and your getting too much fuel causing the plugs to fuel foul. Next time you have this problem pull a few plugs and see it they are wet. Check all of your vacume lines especially the one under the intake manifold that comes off the PVC valve. They have a bad habbit of drying up because they sit so close to the manifold and they almost always crack on the back side where you can't see it. Temporarily disconnect your thermotime switch the next time you have this problem to see if runs better. As you go from the easy, cheap and obvious things you might want to pull your injetors to see if they are all firing (leave them on the rail turn over car). These are all problems that I have had with a Z that sat too long.

Sorry that link doesn't take you all the way down. Go to the link then to Projects, Heating and Cooling then A/C Retrofit

If your going to r134 ypu will need to flush the entire system and replace the dryer then pull vacume and refill the r134. You will also need to install two new service adaptors. Buy brass and not aluminum adaptors. This is a friend on mine's WEB site. It's for crappy IROC Camaro american cars, but he's go a really good write up on converting to 134 with some good links to other AC sites. http://www.iroczone.com/newindex.htm

Black smoke is caused from a very rich mixture, especially at higher RPMs. Let me guess the car doesn't like to start when it's hot?

I had a very similar problem and turned out to be the thermotime sensor. I'd disconnect it and it would run fine. I think only the FI Zs have thermotime swithches. This was on a 75z. I just bought a 76 Z and I have this problem every now and then with my fusable links making bad contact cause I don't have covers on them. I cleaned them up and it had been running like a champ since!

It would be nice if we could put together a how-to article with where to get the parts and the step by step instructions on how to inspect and test all of the different components required to bring an old AC system back on-line. I know that MSA sells the entire conversion kit but I sure would hate to spend money to replace something that may be salvagable and functional. If there are any AC gurus out there it's time to share your wealth.

MSA has a complete conversion lit for like $650. I have a friend that is AC certified and he says that basically you only need to change out the acumulator, seals and adaptors. Don't use the cheap aluminum ones. You need to flush out the old oil first. I was thinking of converting mine, and will document the process and post it as a how-to artical.

Thanks Mike (I think ). Actually I bought another (76) that's in alot better shape as far as the body is concerned. I have debated whether to part it out but I would rather hope that someone else is as shallow or poor as me and want to buy it. It really needs someone with a garage and a nosey neighbor free environment. Frankly, I thought it would be fun to see if I could do it but I grossly under estimated the idots that surround me. My townhome is up for sale too.

I have a 75 280z that I started to restore a few months back but it needs alot of body/rust work. My association gave me a cease and disist order. It has been a daily driver. I payed $550 for it and since have dropped another 1K into it. I live in Miami and would let it go for $600 to someone who won't have it crushed (or at least knows how to lie)! email me with any questions edwardz@bellsouth.net

Sorry I was confusing the cold start valve with the air regulator. I have the cold start valve disconnected as well as not to add more fuel to the fire. I live in Florida so cold starting is not a big problem. I do not see any noticable difference in starting or running when the cold start is connected/disconnected. Do Zs vary the duration of injector spray? And if so what governs that duration?

Where do you live?

I know that my thermotime switch is bad cause when I connect it I get erratic idle and cutoff. right now it's disonnected. How does that register with the computer? Is it sending rich signals to the injectors?

HMMMMM haven't swapped that out yet! Could it be that simple? I think I have an extra I'll try and jam that in tomorrow & see what happens.

I saw that there is a company on ebay that is selling "new" 3-row radiators for the Zs for $109. They claim that they are exact fits and that you don't have to use adaptors or anything. I didn't think that was too bad. I don't know how much MSA charges but they have a tendency to gouge. If you shop around you can almost always find the companies that sell to MSA for a whole lot less. You might take the good advise of the gang and swap out the cheaper parts first. This 2 cents is all I have left ...for I own a Z too.

I have 75 Z FI. I runs very good when it's cold but the engine stalls and hard to restart when hot. I know that its running rich because I blow black clouds when I dig my spurs into it, but the more I lean out the AFM the hotter the engine runs and thus the worse the problem becomes aftr warm up. I have a new distributor, wires, cap, rotor, intake/exhst manifold gasket, no appearent vacume leaks, new PVC, PVC hose good. Runs great but the time I get work (14 Miles) I'm fighting to keep it running and heaven forbid it cuts off, because it will be hard to restart. I have to disconnect all of the injector terminals, run out the excess gas and then I can usually get it running again. I've only had the car for a few months and have never driven it more than 15-20 miles but I'm pretty sure that it would over heat if I had to stop in traffic for more than 20 minutes or so. Also I'm getting horrible gas mileage (about 9-10 MPG). I'm having a rough time figuring this one out. Other: Firing order is OK. Injectors all seem to be firing. Tried changing the Coil. New Fuel Filter. Newly sealed tank. Fuel pump is hot-wired on all the time.

Sorry Ed my bad. Your knowledge and help is equally appreciated! Ed Z

Thanks everyone for the advice. It seems like whatever the option they are all pretty pricy. In the past 2 or 3 months since I started this restoration I think that I have created an ecological hotspot in Homestead Florida. Screw the five legged frogs, whats a few more chemicals in the back yard at this point? I think I'm going with the plating kits available from Caswell and that way I can coat what ever the hell I want! There's a Nuclear plant about two mile from my house ..... let them take the blame. Thanks again.

Thanks everyone for your help. I was out buying another engine for my Z and the guy that was selling it had a little warehouse that he ran a restoration shop out of. He refurbishes old vintage Jaguars at 200K a pop. But the guy works by himself and knows how to bring old things back to life. He was kind enough to show me a few tricks while I was there. I had a tendency to go pounding on the back side of a dent to try and get it to pop out but appearently that is the exact opposite of what you should do! Basically, he says to hold the dolly on the bottom of the dent and tap lightly on the highest point of the dent and to keep working it until you worked all the way out. The best part of the story is the guy had a canari yellow 78 280z that belonged to his son (who lived in another state) in absolutley beutiful condition that he agrees to sell me for $1200. Now I'm trying to get rid of my current rusty old Z. Thanks Enrique, I have read a number of your posts and you always give solid advice!

As I sit in the drivers seat looking out over the hood of the car and on the front qtr panel, I see dents that well aren't really dents that I think would qualify for bondo, nor does the dents seem like they would be the type that would pop up. I'n not real sure how to approach them? Also every time I put any weight on the top of my front qtr panel the metal pops down and back out again. I don't reallycare now because I haven't painted it yet but I don't want this happening after I paint. So how do you fix those subtle metal imperfections that come with a 30yr old car? And do you think welding some sheet metal strips on the underside of the qtr panel will stregthen it?

I saw them in the Victorya Brit. catalog for an amazing 99.00. Winsheilds can break very easy if they are not relaxed in the seals. If they bind just the slightest get out the shop-vac.

How strengent are the inport laws in Canberra from the US on used parts? I know that when I lived in Brazil you weren't allowed to import anything used and anything new had about a 50% terrif.