toddcripe

I'm doing some long overdue maintenance on 260z today. When I jacked up the rear end the left wheel wouldn't come off the ground so I had to put a block of wood on jack to get it up another 4 inches. In photo you can see the passenger side wheel is off the ground and suspension in a normal relaxed position. The driver side is about six inches lower and wheel is only 1/2 inch off the ground. The second photo shows the shock appears to have moved in the tube. This is new, haven't seen this before when working on the car. Anybody have any ideas on what has changed and why this is happening? The reason I have it jacked up is because the rear brake reservoir is empty so I'm tracking down where the leak is. May be related to this weird deal with the shocks or may be unrelated. Appreciate any thoughts, thanks!

Great information and clear. The body of work on this topic on the hybridz site is extensive, but differing posts had different information. I want to get it right the first time, and now have the information to do that. I believe I owe seattlejester a beer! Todd C

Hi. Has anyone found a source for pre-fabricated brakelines when doing 240SX rear brake conversion? I'm finally getting around to doing the conversion on my 260 V8Z. I purchased caliper brackets and ebrake bracket from Ross Corrigan a few years ago when he was still with us, but made the mistake of not purchasing brake lines from him when they were available. The guy that has taken over the modern motorsports site has some stuff available, but not the brakelines. Reading the forums, there are multiple opinions about the right way to fabricate the lines and what works and what doesn't work. I don't particularly want to fabricate them if I can purchase them instead. I think I have everything else I need to do the job over the holiday break (am also going to change out bearings and shocks while everything is apart): *Pair of CNC brackets from Modern Motorsports *Rebuilt 240SX calipers & pads *11-3/8" rotors from 1984 300ZX *280ZX master cylinder, old style (1980) *Proportioning valve *New inner bearings *New outer bearings *New seals *New shocks *New locknuts. I'll buy a beer for the first guy that sends me the part # and vendor for the correct brake lines to use! Todd C

Anybody out there have some wheel adapters for front hubs they wish to sell? Finally got around to putting the S12 Toyota brakes on front of my Z and they hit the wheels. 20mm to 25mm (3/4 inch to 1 inch) should do the trick. Todd 770-321-0441

Me too. I'll take a spin in the next couple days to make sure the fuel delivery issue is gone, then I'm ready to rock and roll. Let me know when your headed to the next event, maybe we can play tag on the way there.

Tested starter and remote solenoid, no apparent issues. Measured voltage at battery and it indicated a bad alternator. Put a spare alternator known to be good on and it wasn't sending a charge back to battery either. Hmmm. All wiring appeared to be fine, but upon closer inspection, the connector had pulled loose from the main alternator to battery wire, but you couldn't see the separation because of the heat-shrink sleeve covering it up. Fixed connector, replacement alternator tested fine. Put old alternator back on, it still tested bad so I had two problems: wiring and bad alternator. Glad that didn't happen to me on a long trip, I would have never have been able to figure out what was going on without having access to a multi-meter and a spare alternator. Cheers.

Replaced fuel filter by tank with a see through one. Old one didn't seem too clogged you could blow through it. Replaced see through 5/16" filter in engine compartment with a see through 3/8" one. Traced fuel line and it doesn't come within 3 inches of exhaust anywhere. But, it was almost touching the engine block as it came into the engine compartment, so I'm hoping that explains the fuel issue. Don't think there's anything else to change out. Electrical connections at remote battery seem fine as do junctions for 12V+ going up to battery. One was a little loose, but shouldn't have been enough to cause issues. Starter looks okay, exhaust runs within 2 inches of it but I don't think that's close enough to heat it up past the functional point, but who knows. Using a remote solenoid, so there's not a heat issue with that.

I'm going to replace the fuel filter that's between tank and fuel pump today and validate the element in the see through filter in engine compartment is unobstructed. Will check fuel lines, I did have the rear half of the dual exhausts modified to accomodate the 700R4 that took the place of the TH350 that was originally in car. That would be pretty annoying if that is what it is.

Well, thought I'd drive over to the Z club meeting in Atlanta last night, first time driving more than a mile at a time in the 260 with small block chevy, edelbrock carb, 700R4, MSD ignition-coil-distributor, and holley fuel pump I just got on the road. Made it about 7 miles then it stalled out on freeway. Pulled over, stopped. Cranked right back up but died again about 1 minute later. Coasted to an off ramp. This time it wouldn't crank, acted like a dead battery but voltage showed a solid 12 volts on gauge. AAA to the rescue, car started up and we drove it onto the tow truck, but see thru fuel filter was empty. Got home, put a gallon of gas in car. Tried to crank it and it again acted like a dead battery. Went inside, had a couple drinks, came back out and car started up just fine and I parked it in garage. So, I have intermittent problems that could be fuel, fuel filter, electrical, starter or all of the above. Any thoughts from gurus out there on wherer to start and how to replicate the issue without having a tow truck follow me everywhere I go?

I'm looking for suggestions on keeping water out of engine compartment. Forum search didn't result in anything that was very helpful. 280Z hood, standard vents, SBC engine. Not concerned about rain getting in when car is in motion because air should be coming out of engine compartment, but am concerned about water coming in while car is parked. I can't be the only one with this issue. The stock under vent blocking plate doesn't appear to be a solution, it just routes water to a different but equally undesirable place. Has to be a better solution than using plastic bags!

I gave up, wired it so that low, high, and wash work. That's good enough.

Figuring this out is taking way too much time so I went the simple route and settled for having high speed, medium speed, and a washer that works. If this helps anyone else here's how it is working: Eliminated the amplifier and relay, using standard wiring with direct connections. Wiring used out of motor is black for ground, Blue/yellow for high, Blue for medium. Wiring used out of switch is Red/Lt Blue for high, Yellow/black for medium. (Yellow/green is hot when low switch turned on, but not used because there isn't a separate direct low speed wire in motor to connect to.) Wiring coming out other side of connector is Blue/Yellow for high and Yellow/Black for medium. Washer wire going directly to washer pump and not routing through wiper motor loom. I'm powering wiper and washer separately from everything else in the combo switches on steering column by using the small black wire that was connected to the double ground connector.

Thanks for looking. I finished installing the 700r4 tranny yesterday, so now it is time to finish the wiper wiring, then hook up battery charger and test everything. I'm hoping I can make this work with direct connections between switch and motor. I'll post another note when (if?) I get it working.

Thanks for advice, I read thru that thread again, had seen it on previous site search. I have the wiper switch figured out, what I don't have figured out is what the 3 wires (low, medium, and high speed) coming out of the combo switch need to attach to on the six wires coming off the motor. I guess it is time for trial and error, the wiper setup appears to be a closely guarded secret...

I've completely rewired the car with EZ Wire kit, not using anything from original Datsun harness except a few connectors like for the headlights and sidemarkers, and windshield wipers. Only thing that is still a mystery is the Windshield wiper wiring. The washer I have hooked up, works fine. What I think I know is there are 7 wires coming out of combo switch: Blue/white = washer, Yellow/green is on at low and medium, Yellow/black is on at medium only, Red/blue is on at high only. Green/white, Blue/red, and Blue/yellow are not affected by switch or washer at any setting. The 280Z windshield wiper motor has 6 wires on it's connector: Two thick black, 1 thinner black, Blue/red, Yellow, and Blue/white. Would be great if someone smart could tell me what to connect the wires or what else I need to buy to put between switch and wiper motor to make it work.