Arne

You called it. Here is the original auction.Datsun 280Z V8

Hard to say without a closer look. That style wheel was made by many different companies. But the center caps look like they might be Appliance. Do they have a big stylized "A" in the middle?

Different versions of Chevy V8 engines. You'll need a Chevy book to keep track of them all.

Are you sure? On a 240Z? (260 and 280's are different.)

Have the alternator (and voltage regulator if external) tested by an automotive electrical shop, preferably while it's in the car. Not just AutoZone or similar, but a real electrical specialist. I'm wondering if your system is being wildly overcharged and it is frying all your stuff.

No, the wiring itself is not all that hard, nor is it difficult to figure out what is needed. But building the harness so that the project is totally reversible (no cuts or splices to the original wiring) and making it so that it simply plugs into the factory harness (rather than splicing existing wiring) is more involved. Not difficult, but it requires a lot more parts - especially the OE-type plastic connectors.

Well, various studies have shown that there may be some safety improvements to separating the various rear lighting elements. The largest safety improvements are found when the tail lights and brake lights are on separate elements, however, which these lenses do not address. So having the turn signals amber (or even red, but separate) <b>MAY</b> help other drivers following you be more aware of your intentions. But the difference may only be theoretical, so any "advantage" other than appearance is quite minor. Some people do prefer the looks of the JDM/Euro rear lights, though.But note that there are wiring changes necessary to use these lenses. A stock 240Z treats all three bright filaments in the red sections the same - they are all three used as brake lights and turn signals. With these lenses, you need to separate the brake lights from the turn signals the same as the 260/280Z's did. This requires wiring changes in the areas of the turn signal switch, hazard switch, the lights themselves and at least one additional wire running from under the dash to the rear of the car. I have been considering building a harness adapter that would make the necessary changes as a plug-n-play operation - i.e. no permanent changes to the car would be needed. If you wanted to go back to stock, you would simply unplug and remove the adapter harness. While the wiring changes themselves are pretty straightforward, building it as a reversible plug-n-play harness is a bit more complex, requiring numerous OE-type connectors and therefore the cost of this adapter harness wouldn't be cheap. But I really doubt there is enough demand for this to justify gearing up to build them.

Out of a wrecked 280ZX Turbo in a wrecking yard. Should be the cheapest way to start.

All early Z cars have rust. Even here in the Pacific Northwest where we don't suffer from road salt, 240Z's in particular are rusty. Later Z cars (280Z's mostly) are less rust-prone than the early cars, but if road salt is used in your area, expect rust.

Gotta be rear drive offset. You need to find wheels from a Z, old rear drive Celica, early rear drive 810/Maxima, etc. No wheels from any front drive car will work.

Yes, complement is a better description than supplement. Thanks for the correction.

More than you might think. If the throttles are closed, the engine can't suck as much air. Creates a vacuum in the manifolds, so the cylinders aren't starting the compression stroke with air at atmospheric pressure. So the numbers are artificially low. Not a huge issue, as you are often looking more for delta (difference between cylinders), which should still be fairly valid.

Airbags are designed as a supplement to the seat belts, designed to save people who can't be bothered to use the belts. The belts alone - when worn and adjusted properly - will do a good job keeping you out of the windshield and steering wheel. So if you are wearing the seatbelts in your Z, and they are in decent shape, don't worry about the lack of airbags. That said, modern cars have a lot of passive safety (crumple zones, etc.) built in. Things that were basically unheard of in the 60's and 70's. So the Z can't be as survivable as a modern car. But I won't let that stop me from driving and enjoying my Z when it's finished, anymore than I let it stop me from riding my motorcycle. It's life - there are risks...

True. While it apparently isn't the car it is claimed to be, taken as is, and with eyes open, it could still be neat car to have. But I agree, not many people around here would be willing to pay the asking price.

Yup, Ed's procedure is the way I was taught to do it decades ago. Done that way, I would like to see numbers between 170-180 psi or so, and a spread of 5-10 psi from high to low. Differences of less than 5 psi are within the limits of measurement unless you have a very high-dollar compression gauge, so you can easily round to the nearest 5. (My L28 was 180-175-180-180-180-175.) Done your way (other plugs in, and throttle closed) your numbers sound decent, nothing to be concerned with at this point, I'd say.

I suspect I'll end up with the updated one from MSA in mine.

Stage 3 sounds like a lot of cam for EFI, maybe even too much for SUs. I'd ask the cam grinder what they recommend for use with that cam.

No, Nissan never offered limited slip diffs in the 240/260/280Z's. (Posi-traction is GM-speak for limited slip.) I've read that some Subaru diffs with limited slip can be made to fit, but know nothing about what might be needed to do this, or what gearing choices are available.

My '71 appears to have the original door panels still on it. Grab handle only on the passenger side, and no holes in the driver's side panel, either.

Sent an e-mail to Too Intense asking if there were any plans to reproduce the chrome center trim strip to go with these lenses. Their answer makes me wonder what planet they are on:

Depends on how good you are at properly tuning SUs. If you know what you are doing, the SUs may give more options and a bit more power (with the proper needles, cams, etc.). Otherwise the injection might be the ticket.

Yeah, '70 and early '71 (like all of the cars owned in this thread so far) generally have the long pigtail fusebox. Late '71-73 had the short pigtail box.

Stock fuel injection doesn't respond well to cams with a lot of overlap. Milder cams will work better with injection.

Noise may simply be loose valve adjustment. Look for the block and head casting numbers to get a rough idea of the age of the engine.The block casting number is on the intake side, down low on the side of the block just above the oil pan, and behind the engine mount. Common L28 casting numbers would be N42 (early) and F54 (late). The head casting number is on the spark plug side, between cylinders 1 & 2, right where the head meets the block. A non-turbo L28 could have come with N42, N47 or P79.

I understood that ALL 240Zs got the amber bottoms, except the US versions. Unfortunately for the rest of the world, The US versions vastly outnumbered the non-US cars, making non-US parts scarce at times.