Sam280Z

You should check out this yahoo group. I've been following this guys efforts for the past couple of years as he has experimented with his Weber DCOEs. He has recently had great success with overcoming this flat spot with redesigned idle jets. http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/sidedraft_central/

That is a plug that is used to plug off drilled passages. In the construction of a carburetor, there are many passages inside the casting that are created by intersecting drilled holes. The holes are then plugged . This is not a normally servicable part, i.e. you don't usually have to fool with them. From your picture, the leaking plug is in a passage that feeds the accelerator pump nozzel. THe purple "sealant" makes me think that someone rebuilt this carb and removed (usually by drilling) the original plugs. I'm holding in my hand a brand new Mikuni that has never even been bolted to a manifold and there is no purple around any of the plugs. You may try to reseat the plug by tapping it in gently with a pin punch or small finishing nail set (it has an indentation on the end). The case may be that the sides of the drilled passage was damaged when the original was removed. If that doesn't work, any shop that does a lot of carb rebuilding should be able to replace it. Sam

Oh, and Tony D makes a good point. If the wire is Aluminum, call an electrician. You cannot use Al wire on regular outlets or with regular wirenuts. You need have Copper pigtails installed.

It sounds like you have power being fed through one set with the hot being broken off to go to the switch (at least I hope its the hot - otherwise the situation is pretty dangerous). You need to remove the crimp and connect only one set of wires to the outlet. DO NOT connect all of the wires. If you connect all of them, the circuit breaker will trip / fuse will blow when you turn the switch on. If I were you, I would find the switch that controls the outlet. Make sure the switch is on. Turn off the power at the breaker/fuse box. Disconnect and separate all wires in the outlet box. Use an Ohm meter between each set of black and white wires to find which go to the switch (There will be 0 Ohms between them because the switch is on). Cap those wires (one white and one black) with wire nuts and push them to the back of the box. Install the outlet with the remaining wires. I would seriously consider installing GFCI outlets or GFCI circuit breakers. In fact, if you are installing 3 hole outlets with only 2 wires, this is required by code. You should put a sticker on each outlet saying that it is protected by GFCI (they come with the GFCI outlet). One GFCI outlet can protect all other outlets downstream from it - often making it the cheapest alternative. If you don't understand what I'm saying here, you need to hire an electrician. Sam

Joel, Thanks for the offer. It appears that Spec is going to be able to help me out. I'd rather not try to deal with Fidanza anymore. Their attitude is that they make the best so tough toenails. That's why I called Spec in the first place. I was going to buy one of their flywheels provided it was not manufactured by Fidanza. Sticky280zx, I'm not looking for warranty support. The flywheel is perfect with the exception of a worn out friction surface, a wearable part. A feature that Fidanza advertises is the ability to replace the friction surface. I guess they just need to change the design of the bolt spacing every couple of years. With how often a street clutch gets changed, they can sell a lot more $340 flywheels instead of $60 friction surfaces. I'm already out for one friction surface (Well, I guess I will use it when the clutch on my other car wears out. Glad I have it now, just in case they decide to change the design again.) I would have gladly paid full retail for a Fidanza friction surface that fits. That's what I called them for in the first place. Fidanza didn't offer me that option. I would have been happy with purchasing a new flywheel at wholesale. They would have still made as much profit as if I had bought it from a distributor and I would be here talking about their great customer service. That's not what happened. Sam

You can get most of the story from reading the email chain below. Long story short, If you have an older Fidanza flywheel, the friction surface may not be as replacable as you thought. Fidanza only left me with the option of a new flywheel and no support from them. I got this response even though I told them that I would be posting my experience here. The good news is that for $80 plus shipping, Spec is going to make a friction surface for me, an option not even offered by Fidanza. I can say that, so far, Spec's customer service is worlds apart from Fidanza's. All I have to do is send them the old friction surface. They have indicated that it should only take a couple of days once they receive it. (My original email was sent 2/24/2010, the same day I made the phone call. I recieved the response today, 2/26/2010. I'm glad this isn't for my daily driver.) __________________________________________________________________________________ (Original email from me to Fidanza) To whom it may concern, In 2005 I purchased a custom Nissan L-series motor from a friend. One of the selling points of this motor was that it included a Fidanza aluminum flywheel with the advantage of being able to replace the friction surface. I purchased a replacement Fidanza friction surface kit from Summit Racing (part# 229501). This kit came with two friction surfaces - one with 20 holes and one with 18 holes. I recently attempted to replace the friction surface and found that neither of these discs lined up with the mounting holes in the flywheel, which has 20 holes. The number stamped into the back of the flywheel is NIS1C-1153. This morning, I called Fidanza technical support to determine the cause of this issue and to source the correct replacement friction disc. At that time I spoke with a customer representative named Aaron and relayed the problem and part numbers as described above. Aaron was very professional, and thorough as he informed me that the flywheel in question is pretty old and that friction surfaces are no longer produced for it. In light of the original purchaser's and my expectation that this flywheel would be serviceable for wear to the friction surface, I asked if there was anything that Fidanza would be willing to do to assist me. I was hoping for a reasonable discount or wholesale price for a new flywheel. I was told that since I was not the original purchaser of the flywheel, he would not be able to offer anything to me. I do not understand this requirement since I am not asking for warranty work, just assistance replacing a part that, neither through its fault nor mine, is no longer serviceable. When I asked who could assist, Aaron indicated that he would check with Fidanza's owner and that someone would get back to me on my cellphone. As of late this evening, I have not heard back from Fidanza. I need to obtain a new flywheel soon. I have Fidanza flywheels in both of my 280Zs. I hope to be able to continue to use Fidanza flywheels and help maintain the highly regarded reputation of Fidanza's products as satisfied customer. Thank you for your attention, Sam ______________________________________________________________________________ (Response from Fidanza to me) Sam, I discussed this matter with the owner today and he is at like mind with me. Since the flywheel was purchased used and not originally purchased from us by you, there is nothing we can do for you. I am sorry that this isn't the answer you wanted to hear but that is the decision the owner has made. I hope this does not deter you from our products as I'm sure you are aware we make the highest quality flywheels in the market. I wish there were more we could do as I dislike leaving any customer unsatisfied... Thank You, Aaron XXXXXXXX (redacted) Technical Department Fidanza Engineering Corporation 4199 Main St. Unit A Perry, OH 44081 USA tech@fidanza.com P: 440-259-5656 x116

The oil pump goes in after the front cover is back on. The mark is on the oil pump/distributor drive shaft. I hope the PO didn't get paint in there. If you are taking the front cover and timing chain off, it is best to set the engine at #1 piston at TDC on compression first. If you turn the engine over without the timing chain installed, you run the risk of bending a valve or two... Sam

It just slides out like you said. When you put it back in, you will want to make sure the engine is at TDC on the compression stroke on the #1 cylinder and align the punch mark as per FSM. You will also want to have the distributor out when you do this so that the distributor drive shaft will go all the way in unobstructed and you can check the orientation of the of the distributor drive tang as described in the FSM. Sam

How is your fuel level? Sounds high. The long and convoluted track of the manifold requires a rich mixture to prevent bogging on acceleration - but this sound too rich. I have had both DGV carbs and SU carbs. I recommend going back to SUs. Sam

The stiff fuel line you used is causing the jet to bind and not let the choke off. You need to get the original style hose. It is much thinner and more flexible. Get it from either Nissan dealer (courtesy nissan) or ZTherapy.

Fuel level is probably too high like wondersparrow said. How fast is your idle speed? If you hear whistling, it may be too high. The idle speed you run depends more on the cam. With a near stock cam, my Mikuni 44PHH carbs will idle at 500 rpm all day long.

I've seen something similar - sans the pulley coming apart. Bear with me, this was in 1988 on a dodge truck. If I remember correctly, the alternator was either the wrong part or was installed incorrectly - missing a spacer or something. The mounting bolts put strain on the alternator body which failed in short order. The housing split just like this one, but the fan and pulley stayed in one piece.

For what I did, see post 11 in the following thread. http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=125227 This allows the use of air horns.

Thunder, Sounds like the clutch is not fully disengaging. This is most likely either a clutch master cylinder or clutch slave cylinder problem. If I had to put money on it I would say it was the slave. You need to start by bleeding the clutch fluid out of slave cylinder. Change out all of the fluid so that you get no air bubbles while you are bleeding while repacing the fluid in the master. Another possibility - but less likely - is that the clutch disc has rusted to the splines on the transmission input shaft. If this is the case, the transmission will have to be removed. If it goes into gear while the engine is off, it is not a transmission problem. Stop forcing it, or you will create one. Sam

in mine as well

I've run both. A well set up SU is much better, at least for drivability. I never put the car on a dyno. The biggest problem I had with the DGVs is that the accelerator pump nozzle is at the top of the carb. When you punch it, the engine has to wait longer for the gas to get through the carb and then make a 90deg turn. Because of his, I had a pronounced bog on rapid acceleration. Sam

Forrest, We bought ours March of '04. Looks like we got the old style. However, judging from the photos, it looks like it *may* be possible to replace the bearing in the spring perch with the newer style. Have to check with GC. Sam

Superclean is caustic. You should not put it on Aluminum.