Jeff G 78

I have the unicorn gunmetal Panasports and love them, but I am always worried about rare wheels. If one gets damaged, I will have a heck of a time finding a replacement. :paranoid:

Gotcha Nota280. Thanks for clarifying. I can't believe there are that many JY S30s. Over the past 15 years, I know of ONE S30 in a Southeast Michigan JY. It was removed from the JY at least 10 years ago. It must be nice to live in an area with so many Z cars.

OK, mine are fixed - for now... BTW, who is "Nota280 (Stealth-Z)"? While I was fixing my entries, I noticed that a whole bunch of the 280Zs are listed by him and each note reads the same - "Engine compartment tag from Sacramento California area Pick-N-Pull". His bio only shows him owning one Z, yet the registry shows 34 of the 84 cars within the 280 tab being owned by him. There are also a few 240s and a few 260s under his name. Does he just pull VIN tags from junkyard cars??? If so, that's cool, I just found it interesting.

I don't even know where to start in the 280 section. It has been scrambled pretty well. Not only are the rows sorted wrong, but my notes are gone. Does anybody have a screen dump or saved version on their hard drive? I have a feeling that fixing mine would be futile. It can either be fixed all at once BEFORE anybody fixes their line, OR each member can repair individually. There can be no mixing and matching.

If you are happy with the current height, going with the KYBs and sticking with the stock springs is fine. If you decide to upgrade later to lowering springs, then the KYBs might not match up well. I believe they state that they should not be used with stiffer springs.

My LeMons car is actually cleaner than that car. We painted it with a roller and the paintjob looks almost as good in the photos.

The original chrome semi automatic is very long and the reception is great. As Walter said, the short black rubber ones are lousy. Also, they look like crap. I agree with Curtis. Every time I see a black rubber one on any car, I think they were too cheap to fix it right.

It looks pretty nice. Be sure to take a very weak refrigerator magnet with you and try to stick it to every inch of the body. This will tell you every place that body filler has been used. Most old cars have had some sort of work done - either for dent or accident repair, or rust repair. Even if the car is nice, it's good to know exactly where it has had work done. Finding some body filler doesn't mean it's not a good car, but large areas will be a sign that something is up and further investigating is needed. The only spot the magnet shouldn't stick is above the quarter windows where the roof meets the rear quarter panel. The factory used lead filler in the joint. Most Z cars have small cracks in the paint at this spot. Good luck.

There are very few cases of broken TC rods on S30s. S130s are the ones that fail when used with poly bushings. To eliminate the risk on an S30, use a new rubber bushing on the back side and a poly bushing on the front side. This will give you the stiffness of poly with the flexability of rubber.

Davey, you might want to measure the current ride height as your stock springs could have sagged quite a bit. Replacing them could possibly raise the car. I can't remember my numbers, but I have them written down somewhere. My Tokico springs lowered my '78 exactly 1" all the way around. Illuminas are good, but they are pricey. I run mine on 1 in front and 3 in the back for street use. The Tokico Blues are reportedly the same as Illuminas on setting 3. I'm not sure if the KYB GR2 struts are the same as they were 25 years ago, but I was pretty happy with the KYBs I had on a '76 back then. I was running completely stock other than the KYBs. The ride was firm, but not bad at all. I think you'd be happy with either KYBs or Tokico Blues with the stock springs. Replacing all of the bushings will make a huge difference. Do your research and try to borrow the spindle pin puller from either this site or hybridz.org. Replacing the rear outer bushings will be the hardest thing you ever do to your Z. It is well known as the official right of passage in the Z world. Be sure to check replace as needed the differential mount if you have any driveline clunks.

You say that you want a good balance between ride and handling. Does that mean this is going to be a street car only? You need to think hard about what you want out of your Z. Are the roads where you drive most often smooth, or rough? If smooth, you can get away with a more aggressive setup. If they are rough, you might want to stay a bit more conservative. Replacing the bushings takes a lot of time and energy and is not something you want to redo if you don't like the results. OE rubber will ride good and poly will ride poorly, but give crisper steering and handling. Either will be a huge handling improvement over 30 year old bushings. You will trade off ride for sharper handling with poly bushings. My '78 has a very typical setup with Tokico springs, adjustable Tokico dampers, poly bushings throughout, big MSA swaybars, and 16" wheels with 50 series tires. My Z is one of the worst riding cars I've ever driven on our horrible Michigan roads. It takes the smooth roads great and even does well over grainy surfaces, but throw in frost heaves or any sharp bumps and the ride falls apart. The S30's architecture simply can't cope with sharp bumps if equiped with poly bushings. Recession is the key to a good ride over rough roads. Modern suspensions allow the wheels to absorb bumps by receeding rearward as well as travel upward. Poly bushings hold the suspension rigid longitudinally which sends the shock of a bump directly into the body of the S30. As soon as I exit Michigan and cross into Ohio where the roads are maintained better, my Z rides just fine and handles the backroads beautifully. When I finally get it to a track, I'm sure I will appreciate my setup even more. If I just drove it as a daily driver though and didn't want that last little bit of handling, I would skip the poly bushings and replace everything with new OE rubber. I would keep the springs and dampers though. I like the way the car rides over large undulations and how it corners flat. It also looks great lowered an inch.

I voted who cares, but I guess that's not really true. I went with 16" wheels which are modern-ish, but otherwise I like period correct where it shows. 16" wheels are not really period correct, but tire selection drove my decision more than the desire for 16's. I have no problem with fiberglass or carbon fiber replica 240 bumpers, but I don't really like the style of the MSA type two front and rear bumpers. They give the S30 a look that is too modern. Under the body, I don't really care. Modern EFI systems, billet suspension components, and modern seatgs are all cool by me.

Hmmm, I just used mine a week ago. I have Adobe 9.2. Make sure you are viewing the PDFs with Adobe and not Internet Explorer. It can be changed in IE setup.

Nice car if the underbody is clean. Auto to manual swaps are not difficult. I did a swap about 25 years ago when I didn't have much Z experience. You just need a parts car to get all the parts for the swap.

It depends if it's an early or late 260. Many more early 260 parts swap than late 260 parts. Big bumper = late, small bumper = early assuming they haven't been swapped.

Well, THERE'S your problem. Poly bushings make or break ride quality. You might try going back to OE rubber on a few key bushings and see if you can avoid redoing the whole suspension. The TC bushings are the first ones I'd replace.

You can use a large screwdriver to determine if the injectors are firing. Hold the tip of the screwdriver against the first injector and hold your ear tight against the the end of the handle while cranking the engine. You should hear a click each time the injector fires. Repeat for all six injectors. If all six click, the problem is likely fuel pressure. If either only the front three or only the rear three fire, the problem is electrical. If random injectors fire, either the electrical system or the injectors are the culprit. Id suggest downloading the FSM and the EFI Bible from www.xenons30.com With that, you can check each and every system as needed.

Get a fuel pressure gauge and T it inline between the filter and the rail. The Oil Pressure Sender sends a signal to the fuel pump in the '78, so if the sender is bad, you might not be getting fuel. I believe it should be reading around 36psi. As a quick and easy test, try shooting starting fluid in the intake elbow under the air filter. If it briefly fires, you know you have a fuel problem and not an ignition problem. BTW, don't throw parts at it. Most of the time, you will just frustrate yourself and waste money.

The 260 has a magnetic pickup distributor and the voltage should be around +9v at the coil. You will only get +12v while cranking.

Go to www.xenons30.com and download the FSM for the 260Z. With a simple multimeter, you can check each circuit to find the problem.

You can download the FSM from www.xenons30.com

Years ago, the hot setup was to use Hyundai Excel weatherstrips. I found some in a JY and they fit and worked very well. The Sportage ones might be the same profile since it's the same company. The Excels are likely long gone from JYs by now, so this is great news.

To bleed the MC, simply use a snug fitting clear hose that is 6" long. Remove the reservoir caps and route the hose from the bleeder into the reservoir below the fluid level. Crack the bleeder just enough to get fluid flow and SLOWLY pump the pedal. With the hose in the fluid, there is no need to open and close the valve. Just keep pumping until there are no more bubbles. Close the bleeder and repeat on the second bleeder port. It works every time. If you loosen the bleeder too far, you can suck air through the threads. If you think that is happening, remove the bleeder and apply a small amount of grease to the threads to seal them. One word of caution, if your paint is nice, be sure to lay lots of rags down under the MC. Also cover the fender with plastic or towels. Brake fluid will eat right through paint.

It's certainly true that there isn't much airflow, but the volume is rather large under the deck, so I doubt there would be a problem with any moderate setup. My system is actually very low power, so I have nothing to worry about. I have two 40watt Alpine amps and a crossover. One amp powers a pair of Boston 4" speakers in the factory location under the quarter windows and the other will power 6x9's in the rear using the MSA box. I don't have that box yet though, so for now, I'm rocking with a pair of 4" speakers.

The raised deck makes for a much less useful cargo area, but it makes a great space for stereo equipment. I have two small amps and a crossover mounted under my deck forward of the spare tire and they are completely hidden from view. Even if someone broke into my Z, I doubt they'd ever find the components.