johnbell

Accidently stumbled onto this thread looking for something else. I went to the wrecking yard and got a Ford 2 speed fan complete with the shroud. This fits my Radiator perfectly, and looks like factory. I got one off of a big ford, I think a mercury marquis a Lincoln (93 to 96). This coupled with the triple relay and double sensors at 190 and 210 degrees keeps my 350 cool. In fact, I wired it so that the fan comes on high speed when the A/C is turned on which makes it run two needle widths toward cold on a hot Texas day with the A/c running! These fans are killer. The fan shroud from the big fords will have to be installed upside down and two of the plastic mounting ears cut off. I even moved the warning sticker from bottom to top. looks factory.

I was going to bring this banging up, just kept forgetting, my mufflers are installed two side by side on the vertical and they do bang when the car first starts up, I have no clue why the banging stops after the muffs warm. I look at it as just an anomaly to a great fix!

I have been hunting a drivetrain vibration for a while, finally found it in the bent pinion flange. This is where the driveshaft connects to the pinion. I cant seem to find the part new, has anybody got a good used one? Thanks!

I'm thinking that I spent waaay too much on exhaust until I finally got on this thread and bought the Dynomax VT's That fixed the damn drone, Highway speeds are quiet as a mouse, step on it and it sounds very nice. I have 2 1/2 pipes coming off of Sanderson block huggers, then an X pipe and generic glass packs just behind the rear axle then over to two Dynomax VT's. I had to cut a chunk out of the spare tire well to do this, but a donut still fits in the well. I found a donut that fit at the wrecking yard, and they gave it to me free. I have to have wheel spacers for the donut to work in the front to clear the calipers, but oh well, it'll get me home. I am here to tell you the Dynomax Vt's are the way to go if you want a quiet car in normal driving, and aggressive when you stand on it.

By the way, I have not seen how you install the laser on the transmission end..Had I though I needed to I could have worked it out, but the initial instructions are wanting on this! Suggestions??

my bet is that you are correct in alignening both,, My problems were: one of the cat toy lasers was so misaligned with the body of the laser that it was not usable, nor returnable after modification. My suggestion is for anybody doing this is to mount the laser in a drill press or a lathe chuck and see how far it is off to start with. these guys are cat toys, not precision. anyway, i ended up with one usable laser. after having to true the diffy flange, etc. I was about tired of fooling with this, laying on my old back. I managed to get the laser to scribe a perfect circle around the output shaft of the T-5 transmission. I figgered that was close enough..proved to be true. You know a 7/8 inch difference in alignment in a 30 inch shaft is a lot. I know, I know, we want a 2 degree difference on each end and no lateral difference. But tell that to a jeep guy, he'll laugh. they run a lot of pitch and get away with no vibration..the trick is..one plane only..up..down. Or. side to side. but not both..I cannot tell you how many boat drive shafts that I have lined up. I just forgot what was important and what was not. Let's not make a bigger deal out of this than what it is. I believe this, from reading all of the post that are applicable, You don't know what you got till you check it!! All of these hybrids are different!! I had to lower my diff, one other guy had to raise his, and raise the tranny too! I could not raise my tranny without the harmonic balance r getting into the front cross member. But, I do not have the 3/8 spacers between the body and the cross member. I betcha that is prolly why JCL put them in, Drive shaft alignment. Anyway, I'm well on my way to having this fixed and again, I appreciate all the input!!

Gathered the magnets, laser pointers and other implements and tore it down. The red lock tite on the drive shaft bolts was my first problem. Got em finally, then the magnet would not rest on the differential flange, I took the flange off, found the nut to be loose, trued the flange with a big file, got the laser mounted. It pointed about 1 1/2 inches ABOVE the tranny's output shaft. I pulled the four bolts on the ron tyler mount and wedged the front of the differential down to where the laser lined up with the tranny's center. this turned out to be 7/8 of an inch. I just spaced the poly mount down on the Ron Tyler which lowered the front of the diffy the required amount. Eureka! the vibration is gone. There is a new one at about 90, but its' more of a noise than a shake. I think this is gonna turn out to be something in contact with something else. Anyway, thanks for the advice and let me tell you all, ol' John Bell is one happy camper!

My 260 has this problem, i believe. It is like a Buzz, starting at about 65 or so, pretty bad. Guess I'm heading uptown to look for laser pointers, etc..I suspected my half shafts before I read this, but now I don;t know. The half shafts, with a dial indicator at the middle will deflect about .o10 with moderate pressure, Anybody ever checked this? I took them apart and regreased and they looked pretty good to me.

I am running a Donut out of a Sentra. I have to use wheel spacers on the front due to clearance, but it works. Works on the rear without spacers due to drum breaks still. Wrecking yard gave the brand new donut for free, spacers at Autozone for 10 bucks.

I am running a single turbo muffler on a 2 1/2 pipe, droning is awful...I am thinking of going to an x pipe and another turbo..will this stop the drone or do I need to go to maybe walker quiet flows? I have spent a lot of bucks to make this car quiet and that is what I really want. I have a mild to middlin 350, headers, slightly lumpy hydralic cam, roller rockers, air conditioning, all working everything. But so far the car is uncomfortable due to exhaust noise..experience is appreciated!! Especially if you have part numbers that work!! I forgot to add that I cut 5 1/2 inches out of the spare tire bucket and put a Sentra donut in to have room for another muff..

1974 260 z, need a new or good used dipper switch for the headlights..pm @ johnbell47@hotmail.com. thanks!!!!

I owe you 50 cents. this mustang valve looks exactly like mine. this is a 1 1/2 ton valve, I hope i can get that much out of this system, lol. With that tiny evaporater I bet I dont..we shall see. Any way thanks a bunch!!!

Having a little trouble uploading pics, lets see if this works...50 cents to the guy that points me to this valve!! thanks Please Resize Images to: 1024 x 768 MAX If you upload them at www.imageshack.us there is an option to resize them right on the website. 340 k or smaller

I have a 260 Z that I am working on to get the air running. It has an evaporator case with an ARA tag That reads Datsun 280 Z(Grand Prairie Texas) I know this must be aftermarket or dealer add on. Anyway, I looked at the FSM and the expansion valve I have does not look anything like factory valve. Mine looks like a normal regular valve L shape with a coolie hat and sensor blub pigtail coming out of the coolie hat. This valve won't open or close..I froze it, I warmed it, I cleaned it. I flow tested at 150 psi and dropped the pigtail in salted ice water which took it to 20 degrees, nothing. There are no numbers on the valve. What the heck do I have..I can post pics if you need em. thanks!!

I gutted my tach case and put the workings of a Sun super tach in. Works good! the only real challenge was the needle, I had to ream the Datsun needle with a tiny little drill bit to get to the correct size..but it looks stock.

All gauges are now working. Stock gauges with a V8 chevy. the clock was the most expensive to repair at about 100.00 tach, 50 bucks, temp and oil 20 bucks for a used gauge, volts and fuel 20 bucks. 40 bucks for oil and temp senders. I feel good. now when the taurus fan controller gets here tomorrow, (139.00) for full auto control to control the 20 buck taurus fan,, I will be streetable.. Insurance here we come!

I took the old tach apart. I managend to get the hand off with finger pressure. there is. after you pry off the cap on the middle of the hand a hole for a puller, I took this to my watchmaker friend, but while he was looking for his puller, I pulled it off. I went ahead down to auto zone and bought a sun super tach, o to 8000 rpm, just like the original. about 50 buck tax title and license. anyway, I tested the sun before I ripped it apart and it worked as adversitsed. I pulled the movement off the Z tach, down to the dial (bezel) In order to adapt the Sun movement to the Z bezel I fount that it had to be rotated 90 degrees in order to clear the stock turn signal lighting. so the stock dial must be drilled with two holes 90 degrees from the original holes.(p.S. the original holes will almost line up on the horizontal, but, due to the turn signal light tubes are unusable. I had to cut the needle off the Sun with a dremal tool. I supported the axle with a hemostat while doing this. I drilled the new mounting holes in the bezel 90 degees from the original holes, and mounted the movement on the bezel. the original axel measured about .36 inches in diameter the new sun axel is about .40. I will redrill the z needle to the correct size, orient it on the axle in the correct position, I am sure after several tries and then glue it. the original mount holes will have to be delt with. And I assume, if all goes well, I wil have all of my original instrumets working with the V8 chev. Wish me luck!!

I am working on a 74 260 with a gen 1. I cannot get the tach to work at all. the moment I turn the key on it goes to max. Oh, it may wiggle around a bit after the engine is running but I am pretty sure it is toast. I have tried JTR's suggestions to no avail. I really want all of my original gauges to work. I am kind of a nut that way. We are going to have a heater, air conditioning and stock gauges that work!! period. I pulled the tach and see that the case is absolutely huge..Why cant I find a new tach, rob the movement and change it out. It looks like the needle swing is 255 degrees on the old one, a new tech sun super is 250 degrees. My watchmaker friend says he has the tools to pull the needles, may have to do some adaptation there but probably do able. Anybody ever tried this before..Sun tach is about 40 bucks. Worth trying??

I;m working on a 260 and am attempting to get all of the stock gauges working with my gen 1 chevy. I was going to use the ammeter, but the shunt is not there. PO had cheapie gauges hanging under the dash..Anybody got a goodun for reasonable bucks? Thanks

Greetings to all, I have been lurking for about two weeks and have learned considerable..I just bought a 74 260. It as a gen 1 350 and a camaro 5 speed. My goal is a driveable, nice air conditioned car that my wife can drive and we can travel in and enjoy..Hows that for being different! The engine is too cammy, with a double pumper, etc. I intend to tune this down. I need to know a few things. can the dizzy be removed if the engine is in the jtl position? to get the cam out, gotta pull the distributer. Now, is there a provision for neutral start only on the t-5 trans? Clutch safety switches anybody tried? Freaking dangerous to not have anything!! Next, Is air conditioning. looks like a drivers side mount, is there a factory type, (wrecking yard ) mount that I can do a Sanden? Don't want the old york or even a chev. I pulled the evap core today and it is holding a 29 inche vac. Boy! it sure looks small! I ordered a kia blower motor, but really, is this enough? 103 today where i live. Hottern the hinges of hell, and I want to do what I can do, while this dash is out!Can you get to the a/c hose nuts while this a.c. is installed. the rubber hoses on mine were cut at the firewall. I know that the new gas needs barrier hoses, but boy, looks like they are hard to get at under this dash. I am taking the whole dash out tomorrow or the weekend, to fix the pad. I want to get all of the original gauges functioning and believe at this point I have the expertise to do so,,(Maybe, maybe not) Keep in mind I am old enough to know how an ammeter works! Jtr's manual tells how to make the tach and speedo operate. I plan to follow thier advice unless somebody has a better plan. They are not too clear on wiring, rather vage in my opinion. My Z is a pristine, 54.000 mile, no rust Texas car.I mean this thing is sweet! Everything I have pulled off looks like new, I worked on the windshied wipers first, since they did not work, my wife walked out just as I was un bagging the motor, and commented, that can't be broke, its brand new! The whole car seems to be that way. Absolutely no rust in the spare tire well. Anyway, sorry for the brag, really I just got lucky! Any help will be most appreciated and am looking forward to being in this community. Even though you guys seem to be Hot Rod oriented, please welcome an old man that loves Z cars and wants a functional, practical machine that even the boss can drive!