winstonsmith

I checked my repair manual and it has the torsion bar the same as yours so yeah mine is upside down for some reason. It doesn't get in the way of anything though. It still has full movement all the way around if that's what you meant by it possibly binding. I have no idea why the last owner would have out it on upside down. I will probably put it on the normal way after I finish cleaning the whole thing up. Thanks for that info. I didn't even realize it was on wrong.

So the torsion rod is in backwards? Is there any play between the rod and the hole it goes in? Mine wiggles back and forth. Seems like there should maybe be some kind of rubber washer in there or something. Anyway how do the plastic ball joints come off? Do I just pry them off? I was afraid they might break. I want to disassemble this whole thing and clean it up.

Are all these fixes described so far only for carbed Z cars? I have a 78 280. Mine is fuel injected and it is driving me insane trying to take off from a stop light without immediately hauling arse. It's just like everyone has described. When I try to give it gas from a stop light it's as if the pedal won't budge, like it's stuck or something. So I give it a tad more pressure and then BAM! I'm layin' freakin' rubber everywhere. After reading some other posts it seems maybe my problem isn't quite the same. I see where people have bent the linkage to take up slack but my problem isn't the initial slack it's that the linkage as a whole feels like it's stuck when it's in the off position. Turning it by hand produces the same results. It's hard to move at first but then it finally does. I've circled points in the pictures that are maybe a problem. In the first picture with a circle, is it normal for that area to have slack in it as well? The place where the two rods connect which is held together with a cotter pin has some slack in it. Don't know if that's normal or not. In the second picture with a circle, that area as well as the others like it maybe need grease? I'm guessing it needs to be disassembled and cleaned and regreased. How do I get the ball joints off? What grease should I use to lube it with? I have some general purpose bearing grease. Anyway here's some pictures. Also, is it normal on these cars to have the e-brake pull up so far? This is my first manual transmission car so I've never even bothered to use an e-brake before. I know my Pulsar's e-brake only goes up about 3 clicks.

When I showed a kid at work a picture of the 78 280 I just bought he said "Whoah! You just bought a Porsche?" "No you idiot. It's a Datsun 280z." "What in the hell is that?" "It's a Nissan." "Oh. Looks cool."

Yes it scares many indeed! When they see the Pulsar pull up next to them at the stop light they know they're about to get smoked...by every single ounce of that mighty 70 horse power! ! I just may have the fastest riding lawnmower around. All hail the mighty e16!

Well I just ran out and bought a new turn signal flasher unit and that wasn't the problem. Still no turn signals. What would you guys say is the next thing to do? Replace the turn signal lever itself?

I recently bought a 78 Z and would like to find others in the Kansas City area that know a lot about working on these cars. The only car I've ever done any work on is my Pulsar and I've only done simple stuff. I'm still fairly new at working on cars. Anyway my Z will need some work and I'd rather find someone who knows how to do it and will let me help them so I can learn. I'd much rather pay an individual who knows all about these cars instead of taking it to a shop where I can't help them do it plus get charged a fortune. I live in Olathe, KS actually so if you live near there that's even better. Right now the only major thing I think the car needs is likely rear wheel bearings. I don't know for certain if the car actually needs them or not. Maybe the car is just loud back there normally? Anyway I have the bearings but that's a job I can't tackle on my own. I never done bearing replacement on a rear wheel drive car before. The car may need other work as well which is why I'd like to have a knowledgeable z car owner look it over with me. Anyone near Olathe, Kansas?

Cool. Thanks!

OK I'm still stupmed thus far. I took the turn signal lever completely off the column and took it apart. It was all gummed up inside. I figured that this was for sure the problem. Cleaned the whole thing up and put it back together. The lever itself still doesn't feel "tight" when I use it. Can't think of a better way to describe it but the whole thing just feels mushy. They do click back into place after I turn though. Anyway the signals themselves still don't work at all. Don't light up inside or outside. So now I'm going to replace the flasher unit and see what happens. I'm not sure where the flasher unit for the turn signals is located though. My book says the car has two flasher units (one for turn signals, one for hazards) but the diagram has me a bit lost. Here's some pics I took of the flasher unit I can see and underneath the dash (maybe the other one is up there somewhere and someone can point it out) and also a picture of the diagram from the book. My guess is the one hanging down in the second picture is for the turn signals. Am I correct?

Cool. Thanks guys. That's probably what it is. The car has been sitting since I last posted this message and today I started it and there was no smoke. So I'm guessing that if it is the valve stem seals that it isn't leaking very badly and the car will have to sit for quite some time before it will smoke. That's good. Anyway what will happen if I don't fix this any time soon and I drive it regardless? Will this cause any damage to the engine? My dad said to keep checking the oil and as long as I'm not losing a bunch of oil then it's not a problem that needs to be fixed urgently. That true? Can I let this go for awhile and just drive it?

I have read through a bunch of posts here about turn signal problems but I haven't noticed any that seem directly related to my problem. My turn signals seem to work. They blink on the dash and I hear the blinking noise. I haven't checked the outside lights yet but I know all the lights do light up. Also the hazards work and everything flashes. The problem is that the turn signal lever doesn't click into place when I move it. So if I push it down it feels kind of mushy and just stays there even after I turn. I have to turn it off myself. The guy that sold me the car said the signals didn't work at all. So I'm guessing that sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. Is there something in the signal lever that's broken since it doesn't click into place?

I just bought a 78 280Z that ran perfectly fine while test driving it. It needs some brakes and wheel bearings though so I have had it sitting in the driveway for about a month now while I buy all the parts. I just finished putting on the new brakes and went to take it out for a test drive and when I started it up I filled the whole street with white smoke. It seemed to let up a bit after I drove off. As I was driving it was hardly there any more. I used to have an 83 Z years ago but I don't really know very much about these cars. What should I have checked out? Is there anyone here in the Kansas City area that knows how to work on these? I'm hoping the guy who sold me this car didn't screw me.