RogerZ

check fuse box you may have a broken or loose connector there. Seems to be that is the commonality between all those circuits. I have seen fuse boxes with broken parts where the fuse is inserted and you get intermittent connectivity.

try looking in the junk yards. my z31 had the same problem. I took that cable out ran penetrating oil through, gasoline, diesel worked it back and forth couldn't free it up enough for the spring to pull it back. It appeared that it got full of mud somehow and I just couldn't work it out. Spent 8 hours on it. Cable looked perfect. Went to the junkyard got one that looked awful but was free and easy - $5. problem solved.

You can anneal the copper washer by heating them dull red with a propane torch then cool. either air or water copper doesn't care. You then have a nice soft washer for reinstallation. copper work hardens so when tightened a few times it gets hard.

ask the portland z club guys they might be able to help.

Can't help on the driveshaft but I did read an article about somebody putting a carbon fiber one on a blown 280 in a specialty Z mag. I wouldn't put a lot of faith in taking off 200 lbs however. True you have less rotating mass but rotating moments have something to do with the square of the radius of the shaft I dimly remember from when I got my ME degree. Z drive shafts aren't very much diameter. You still have to make the car masss move forward.

doesn't sound like that nissan dealer knows a lot if he can't diagnose a simple hydraulic brake system I'd go elsewhere. You can take the calipers off and see if they are free. You should be able to turn the piston. there are bosses on them to turn them down when you install new pads. If they don't move then they don't self adjust and you don't get full pad pressure when you push on the pedal. Did they fully bleed the system and displace the old cruddy brake fluid. Check auto parts stores for rebuilt calipers they aren't that expensive. Replace them all. Check hoses to see they haven't collapsed. Again not a real expensive item to replace if you do it urself. Rear brakes on my 83 turbo would not self adjust even tho I took them apart and freed everything up that I could get to. remember your car is old enough to drink legally in most states.

It would help to know what year/model you have.

Bitchin betty was also on the 84, 85 z31. 280zx had 82, 83 for sure. Other years don't know. If you look in a zx back by the spare tire and see and electrical box there probably be betty.

When I did mine had to use a long screwdriver to get that last 1 mm so the sprocket would go on. NOt a lot of force but some needed to just get it over the hump.

something in the tranny if you only hear it with the clutch engaged. tranny input shaft bearing seems to be the favorite from the posts I've read.

Grade 8 your best bet. Stainless depending on type can be too soft.

From what you describe sounds like the fork is in there backwards somehow.

well take the headlight out and jumper wires to it. One pin is common to ground and the other two are hi lo respectively. If both filaments work then probably time to take teh combo switch apart. Don't know what you mean about instrument cluster lights. They are on all the time there is a dimmer switch which if you go all the way down will almost shut them off. Dimmer switch on my 83 only operates when headlights are on.

You didn't say whether the car was a turbo or not. The turbo coils are much different than the n/a coils. The n/a coils are readily available but the turbo coils have an ignition module in conjunction with them and that is the spendy part.

Sounds like a head gasket leak. Or if hasn't been run in a while just stuff in the exhaust. I just put a new head gasket on a 280zxt and the first five/ten minutes it ran it smoked real good but after ran a few miles and every thing got hot it no longer did that. remember blue smoke oil. white smoke water.

You need to understand that current flows through an ammeter so by disconnecting those two wires you stopped whatever/whereever that current would normally go. The voltmeter senses volts so very little current flows through it and it is the only place that circuit goes and therefore does not affect anything whether connected or not. Hang onto the ammeter tho they sometimes come in handy when trying to figure out why your battery runs down so fast when parked.

If the distributor is hard over against the stops it is possible the gear driving it is off by one tooth. the shaft which drives the oil pump is also the distributor shaft. You can change this by dropping the oil pump and moving the gear one tooth in the direction which would give you more play in the slots. Easy if you have someone to hold the shaft when you drop the pump otherwise a little trickier. I use a 5" m8 bolt with the head cut off as a guide pin otherwise everything falls out in your hand and you don't know where the thing was to begin with. You may have more than one problem i.e. distributor off and fuel supply problems. Keep at it. You need to check your fuel pressure under load. Just watching the pressure in the garage while you rev the engine doesn't tell you that you have sufficient fuel supply. Check all the connectors for corrosion. I've heard of many problems such as you describe be caused by afm connector corroded.

Oh yeah need to take off starter and clutch slave cylinder.

Yeah four bolts aft by the diffy and drive shaft drops then extract it from the tranny. There is some tin back there you need to remove to get at the bolts. Might as well change tranny fluid anyway unless you just did. You can wrap plastic around the end of the tranny with duct tape to preven sloppage of oil. If you haven't already the exhaust system is usually in the way of an efficient tranny pull. Datsun used press steel u joints they don't come apart. Hope you have a tranny jack makes things easy. Other wise bolt a 2x6 piece of wood about a foot long to a scissor jack. Put some 2x4 on each end so tranny doesn't just roll off it. Some hydraulic jacks you can unbolt the round turret looking piece and then bolt some wood to it that way. If you pull your center console it will be easier to remove tranny as you can look down there and see the bolts. Plus pull th shifter it is easier. Get some long extensions you need like 2.5 to three feet with a universal. that way you can get at the bell housing bolts easily from underneath. If you can get an extra pair of hands topside helps also. First time around I'd say make sure you have 6-8 hours for the job. You can do it less when youve done it afore but first time around lots of head scratching going on. Make sure get the car high enough off the ground so you can get the tranny out of the way. Might consider replacing rear engine seal at this point. If you need to resuface flywheel for sure.

yeah wiggle the steering wheel its made that way to prevent someone stealing it without the key in the lock (which if you ask any 17 year old thug will tell you doesn't stop them). Keep a slight pressure on the key and work the steering wheel back and forth gently.

2 hp compressor and 6 gallon tank a little light. Check for cfm at 100psi. Most air tools use somewhere between 5 to 10 cfm. With a small compressor you get to pull off one nut then have to wait for pressure to build before the next one. Recommended units 3/8 air rachet, 1/2 impact wrench, air hammer w/chisels. If you aren't going to be using the tools every day I would say go to harbor freight for the stuff. If you figure lots of usage then buy better quality tools. If you can find an air compressor with teflon rings and bearings (oiless compressor) then you don't have to worry about crankcase oil for the machine and if you paint you don't get oil in the air. There are other nice things but those three are what you should get first and will do most of what you need until you start stripping a car down to the chassis and changing sheet metal around. Depend on where you recycle oil but most places do not want mixed batches. Lots of auto parts places will take used engine oil and radiator fluid.

scrap the stock air filter and put a k&n on there. you can actually feel the difference. I thought I was just being silly but when my son drove the 280zx he said what did you do it is faster. I used an exhaust elbow of the proper diameter plus k&n has a filter calculator on their site which will tell you how much filter you need. Or go to motorsport and pay $130 for the same thing that cost me $50 (20 elbow and 30 filter)

hey cher why not put in a unit made in this century they have am AND fm. You got to get out of the bayou in you pirogue once in a while.

If you actually have a T5 tranny the driveshaft is fat guy. The standard drive shaft is skinny. Both same length.

check down the page at kcoke post may not be the engine you want but hey keep the car running