kmack

Haven't had to have any machine work done yet....I've done everything to my car, so far....

At this point, the only person I trust with anything on my car is myself! Sorry, I know that doesn't help.

The easiest way to check for wear in U-joints, is to jack up the car and, with the car in gear and parking brake on, try to rotate the half-shafts or drive shaft (which ever one you want to check). Keep in mind there will be some play due to tolerances in the diff., but what you are looking for is play or movement at the u-joints (one side moving while the other side isn't). With regard to Spicer U-joints, if you plan to do even some high-spirited street driving, get these! These are the same brand that all the semi trucks use and for two reasons: they hold up to large power demands and they last.

At last years National Convention in the Drag Race competition, there was a 280Z that had a Z32 twin turbo w/ nitrous that ran a 10.4 sec 1/4 @ 136 mph. Not a 240 but still pretty good for an early-body Z!

What you are looking for is called a "Uni-sync" and it is used to measure/calibrate the amount of air flow into one carb vs. the other carb. I found mine at a local VW shop (one that specialized in older air-cooled models). You can sometimes find them in autoparts stores, too. MSA and VB both sell this item. It's definitely a good thing to have if you plan to tune the car yourself.

I couldn't decide which one to vote for: Married to #1: This is currently true, but may not be lasting much longer. (Only her temper will tell) In same sex relationship: Does having sex with the same hand count? :tapemouth (She's been pissed that long!) I antied up and went for the Married vote. At least the Z is in my name and was with me before she was....

No instrument lights. They go out with the running lights. Btw, I have checked the condition of the fuse holders. They are clean. I went through this before once and rebuilt the fuse block. So I'm left to believe the problem lies somewhere other than the fuse block. Thanks for the replies, keep them coming. I need all the ideas I can't think of!

Do you think it could really be in the switch?

Ok, I'm kind of stumped on this one. After coming back from racing the Z this past weekend, I've acquired a problem. The running lights, dash lights, and tail lights are no longer working in my car. Headlights and brake lights all work. They were working when I unloaded the car off the trailer Sunday night after getting home. I know because I had to turn the lights on to see what I was doing. Drove the car to work on Tuesday, it ran fine all during the day, but of course the sun was out and no need for lights. Got in it that evening to run to the store and the lights didn't work. Fuse was blown, so I put another in. Popped it within a few minutes (less than 10 minutes). They worked fine with the new fuse, but as I was checking a few other things, the fuse popped again. Messed with it again on Wednesday night. I looked for any loose wires under the dash and could fine none. Put a new fuse in and the lights worked great. I left them on for almost 30 minutes with no problems. I closed up the garage satisfied it was a simple fix. I grabbed a couple of extra fuses to put in the car but got them mixed up with the fuse I had just pulled. The fuses all looked ok so I put a continuity test on them. Every one of the fuses were good! What!?! I was happy the lights were working again, though. Last night I checked them again because I wanted to drive the car today. No workey! I didn't have time last night (Halloween decorations) to get more involved with it, but this one is confusing me. Is any of this making sense? Anybody have a similar problem? I know I should be looking for a grounding problem or some loose wire, but this is starting to seem a little more complicated. Or is it? I don't know anymore....

John is right. The valve seals, springs, and seats can all be replace with the motor in the car and w/o removing the head. The cam has to be removed along with the cam towers. Make sure you use a screw driver or a piece of blocking to hold the cam chain up otherwise if it falls down into the block, then the whole engine will need to be taken out and apart. This is taken from an email I got about 2 years ago: "The local Nissan dealer says that the BROWN seals, while superior to BLACK seals (brown feels more flexible, and is made in a different mold, but design appears nearly identical), are not specified for the Z car. They are, however, specified for a TRUCK. The part number on the bag is 13207-81W00. Mr. Chu had specified #13207-21002." I used the brown ones when doing my motor. But they came in a gasket set I bought from MSA.

lordbiotree, Houses are wired different than vehicles. It's an AC vs DC thing. (Rock on!) Anyway, on any car, red will be positive and black will be ground. Just follow like the connections on your battery. There is no nuetral either. Make sure you don't have any black wires connected to red wires on your car, otherwise you may need a lot of new fuses.

Just run really quickly...

I agree with Victor, double check all your fuses, in fact do a continuity test on all of them. This is the only true way to check them. Also (and if it's not the fuses), I've seen the contacts inside the switches go bad due to high restance. What happens is the plastic contacts inside the switch heat up and melt and don't make contact anymore. I rebuilt a headlight switch on a '73 about 4 months ago. The running lights would work, but the headlights would not come on. You could shake the switch and they would flicker but not stay on. The little spring loaded plastic contact had melted. Easy fix, you just have to get inside the switch box (on the stalk) to get to it. Same thing happens on the turn signal switch. Btw, the contacts on my turn signals are so worn, that if you don't purposely push the signal arm all the way to the stop, they won't work. No half-assing my turn signals!