oldroaddog

Try these links... http://www.baddogparts.com/ http://www.zbarn.com/ It took several weeks for me to find the OEM radio for my '75 280Z but it was worth the search. Nothing like having the original look and sound of those fine Clarion radios.

There's a Middle Tennessee ZClub. The club meets the first Thursday of the month. Here's a link to the club site http://www.middletennesseezclub.com/. I'm a member but have only been able to attend one meeting so far. Tell me about your Z.

I've haven't ever owned or much less driven any other Z Car other than my '75 280 so I'm unqualified to comment on the other models but I do know that my car is a pleasure to drive and own. It's interesting because last weekend a long-time car salesman saw my 280Z at a local antique car show and made the comment that it was "the best car ever manufactured and probably ever will be". I'm not sure he was referring to that particular year and model but coming from a guy who makes a living knowing cars - in the midst of hundreds of beautifully restored Chevys, Fords and all - I was very pleased with my choice.

I'm with sblake01 and prefer the look of the original 280Z bumpers for that model. What's going to be really expensive though (from my experience) is purchasing the rubber for them. I replaced the center covers, end pieces for both front and back. The only rubber that came with the car are the bumperettes. I can say with confidence that the parts I bought cost over $1500.00 new from Too Intense Restoration. According to Troy there - you might want to get those soon. Inventory at Nissan is low and you know they won't be making those again.

So here's my gold 280Z with those 15x7 Konig Rewind wheels in gold. I went with a 215x50x15 Kumho ECSTA tire and I must say I'm very pleased with the look and handling.

Problem finally solved! After a conversation with a local Z car expert I changed the coolent sensor and the associated wire harness. Apparently with that circuit bad the EFI never gets the message that the engine has reached operating temperture and the fuel/air mixture is screwed. I think my sensor and/or harness was intermittant and that's why sometimes the car ran great and then like the flick of a switch it would run bad. Lesson learned. Consult an expert when all else has failed or even sooner!

Agreed. I usually try to keep the car as stock as possible but this was one instance where I just couldn't justify that much cost. That $225 will buy all new emblems (except hood)!

MSA part #45-4072, Turn Signal Switch 74-75, $224.25. That's the lever that also switches hi-low beam.

So I thought one of my headlights on my '75 280Z had the high beam out but it turned out to be the turn signal/hi-low switch. After removing the steering column jacket and then the switch assembly it's apparent that the hi-low switch is toast. MSA wants $225 for one of these assemblies and I'm thinking that's a bit much. What the switch does is very simple but the OEM design is really wimpy. I run by the auto-parts store and pick-up a two-position three-pole 20 amp switch. This particular unit lights up blue when in one position. Perfect for high-low beam! I clip the wired connector off the fried switch and crimp on terminals. Now to mount the new switch in a convienent position on the jacket. I picked a position about 3 1/2" from the turn indicator lever. While I'm drilling the hole for the switch I notice how fragile the jacket is. I've often marveled at the Datsun engineering of this car but this part is really thin. With the switch mounted and tested I begin to put the jacket top and bottom togeather and I've got to be very carefull. This thing is like an egg shell! Well, I got it screwed together and the switch works nicely but I'm not looking forward to ever opening that back up again!

Are you kidding? Of course I'll be posting a photo!

I jumped on those wheels. With the metal flake gold paint on my 280Z it will be really nice! Now let's talk tires. I saw the fairly extensive thread in this forum on tire sizes a month or so ago but I really didn't get a complete understanding of what sizes fit OEM suspension. Now that I'm stepping up to 15 x 7 wheels what is the maximum size tire that I can put on those wheels without having problems? I like the look of the old tires that are on this car 215/60/14 but will a 215/60/15 be an issue? I've also read that the sidewall performance of the lower profile tires can be much better but I don't care for that skinny tire look much. My driving style in this car will be slightly agressive but not careless.

I've been through the entire engine compartment over the last 4 months and removed all accessible electrical assemblies to clean and paint. I replaced the spark plug wires, coil and rotter this morning. The car still has the same problems except it has missing right from start-up. The local parts house didn't have a distributor in stock so I'm going to order that and some interior parts from MSA today. It does look a little crusty inside the distributor. Maybe change out the electronic ignition as well? I noticed a bit of adjustment where the electronic ignition mounts inside the distributor. How's that done and what does it change?

All good advice guys, thanks. In fact I think I'm going to start down stream and work my way up. The plugs are new so I'm going to replace the spark plug wires and the distributor first. I'll test run at that point and if there's still problems then replace the coil.

Here's a CC paragraph from my post in the Fuel Injection Forum... "So I'm cruzin' down the highway 70 mph for a few minutes waiting to see if the sputtering is going to start again. I thought I felt a few tiny misses and after I pulled off down a local road... wham! Ignition just stops as if the key had been turned off and then when I started the engine it came back. I stopped for a moment then pulled back into traffic and then again. The engine just stops but this time it's not restarting. So as I'm sitting in the parking lot waiting for my wife to come by and tow me home I'm thinking this is something electrical and possibly heat related. There may have been some blockage in the fuel flow before but this other issue was happening as well." Back in my garage I decide to confirm if this issue is heat related. So after some time for lunch leaving the hood raised I step back out and bingo the car starts right up. So I close the hood and let it idle trying to get the temp back up. Sure enough after the temp gauge gets between 1/4 and 1/2 the idle gets really rough. Now the car doesn't completely stop running but I'm going to guess that the reason it is doing that on the road and not in my garage is because I'm not pumping the fuel (wet fouling the plugs) trying to get out of traffic. So if anyone has experienced these same symptoms or has a reason that they think this is happening please post a reply. I'll put a link here to the earlier thread in the Fuel Injection forum. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18017

And now the road test. The car started up fine and sputtered a bit for a short while but once the fuel lines were filled everything was good. Feeling confident that the problem was solved I got the car off the stands and out on the road. After adding 4 more gallons of gas to the 4 that I put in from a jerry can I proceeded to the highway. I forgot to mention that while the tank was dropped I put in a new fuel sending unit and it's sure nice to have an accurate fuel level on the gauge! So I'm cruzin' down the highway 70 mph for a few minutes waiting to see if the sputtering is going to start again. I thought I felt a few tiny misses and after I pulled off down a local road... wham! Ignition just stops as if the key had been turned off and then when I started the engine it came back. I stopped for a moment then pulled back into traffic and then again. The engine just stops but this time it's not restarting. So as I'm sitting in the parking lot waiting for my wife to come by and tow me home I'm thinking this is something electrical and possibly heat related. There may have been some blockage in the fuel flow before but this other issue was happening as well. I'm going to CC this post in the Electrical or Ignition section and I'll continue there. I'll add a link here after I complete that post. http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18225