cgsheen

I've done gauge work on both my 260Z and several other Z's. If you took one apart you'd notice the following: The glass on the original bulb has become discolored. The inside of the case used to be painted white - most of that is gone now. The green plastic housing is covered with dust. (as is the rest of the gauge) Now let's go back to the 70's... These cars were produced in an era where "light pollution" was minimal. Now there's a street light every few feet, shopping center on every corner, and 700% more headlights in your face... Gauges weren't made to "stand out" like they do in modern cars. LED "bulbs" make a large difference but I personally really dislike the harsh light they provide. Using a 5W bulb to replace the 3.7W bulb makes a difference, but they're hard to find. I like the green tint in my gauges, but I'm a child of the 60's - I grew up with green gauge lighting so I'll keep my green plastic housings thank you. What made the biggest difference in my gauges was renewing the white paint on the inside of the cases and cleaning everything up. But that means removing the gauges and taking them apart. I still use stock bulbs in mine and I have no problem reading any of my gauges, but again see above, I'm a child of the 60's, and don't want Z gauges as bright as the display panel of my G35. I haven't yet run across a rheostat that was faulty or that couldn't be brought back with several full rotations of the knob. Clean that spring wire off and it'll probably work just fine.

I just edited my first post. I wanted to emphasize a few points I missed or didn't explain well: Our camber plates were designed for maximum adjustability within the S30 strut tower. Both inboard and outboard. The limiting factor here was: "any further and the spring or perch will rub the side of the strut tower". You won't find a camber plate for the stock S30 strut tower that has more adjustment - weld-on or bolt-on. We've done our best to build a kit with quality parts and full adjustability to give S30 owners the best possible suspension performance for the money. One "side effect" is adjustable ride-height from stock to very low - undrivable low. We designed our kit with suspension performance in mind, not "slamming" your S30. But, if that's your bag... (sorry - not to be mean - but, I have to chuckle every time I see "extreme low kits"... JavelinZ figures he has enough adjustment room left to get his 280Z framerail within 1 1/2" of the ground. I would never recommend that!)

Lucky for us, the "default" for the HVAC system is essentially "A/C Mode". With no vacuum bottle, and the vacuum solenoids (magnet valves) non-operational, the system defaults to recirculation of cabin air and blowing out the dash vents - perfect for A/C operation. Not good for heat or defrost, but perfect for A/C. The vacuum system is needed to switch modes - to open the door for fresh air from the cowl rather than recirc cabin air, to close the dash vents and direct air to the floor outlets or defrost vents, to redirect air from evap core (A/C) to heater core. And to run the FICD - which is probably more for engine fan speed (more air over condenser core and radiator at idle while the compressor is running) than "oh no, the engine might stall"... That actually describes my 260Z. Factory A/C, no vacuum bottle, no vacuum solenoids (magnet valves), no FICD, no vacuum tubing from the engine bay into the cockpit (that was all removed from this frame before I got it), heater core leaked within weeks of putting it on the road so no heater. A/C works stellar though and there are about 3 days a year when I wish I had a heater core and functioning HVAC vacuum system... I accumulated the parts years ago, but I've never installed them. Las Vegas probably gets a little cooler than Phoenix and I'm an Idaho Boy that never got used to the heat. I'll take 60 degrees any day... I don't have a problem with the stock compressor pulling down the idle too far, but I'm motor swapped and not using a stock engine management system. It'll drop from 800 RPM to 650-700 PRM with the compressor engaged. I will admit, on 110 degree days here, I could use a fast idle and a shroud that fit my 240Z style radiator (early 260...) for condenser air flow while I'm not moving... Enjoy your A/C and work at restoring the rest at your leisure. The bottle and solenoids are fairly straightforward, as is the FICD. The vacuum tubing under the dash is slightly more complicated but the FSM shows you how all that should be routed. Don't be confused by all the different "mode" drawings, just follow the routing diagram and you should be fine.

Don't limit yourself to a Z31 wheel. The same chopper wheel was used in the Infiniti M30 (F31) and in the early V6 Maxima's (VG30e). I find a lot more Maxima's around here than Z31's...

Put up a picture of your ECU (with the sticker showing) and the ECU connector.

There is no "stock location" for that part. My guess is that the stock "microswitch" that's connected to the temperature slider stopped working properly and they installed that as a work-around... My microswitch is sticky and doesn't work quite like it should, so I can see someone doing that. I'm just going to try to fix my microswitch or swap it out. Just look in the A/C section of any FSM for the 260Z or 280Z and you'll see what I mean.

Those struts are inverts... What's the thread pitch? You might need a couple of our 9" weld-on threaded adapters for 280Z rears. It looks like you were wanting a completely bolt-on solution though. S13 springs are generally WAY stiffer than any S30 spring can-or-needs to be. Know the spring rate?

... As a Journeyman Plumber for 35 years, I'll try not to take offense - that was pretty funny and a fairly accurate portrayal of how fitters see themselves. But Derek is apparently a God at fitting and plumbing already, so Plumber or Pipe Fitter makes no difference. That's beautiful piping work in any language.

Just a Pre-Christmas bump...

Black/Yellow is the "start signal"... It goes to the starter solenoid. If it's an auto trans it goes through an interlock first, then to the solenoid.

+1 to replace the roof skin. You'll end up with a much better looking product and it could actually be less difficult than repairing the existing skin...

The rear valence looks like the least of your problems... From the looks of the quarter (and your description of the door), your frame has been pushed on the left side. How does it look on the inside left - forward of the bumper piston mount, wheel well and etc. (looking in from the hatch)?

Ya, my youngest son originally (years and years ago) put Eibach's and Illumina's on his '76 280... That was part of our learning process too.

I'm a big fan of turbo swaps, but I suggest your find out a bit more about your "platform" - the frame differences between the 240Z, 260Z, and 280Z - and how that might relate to your ultimate power goals. Now, I'm mad that I said that first because it puts horse power back in your mind. The advise given above is absolutely true and most noobs ignore it. Get your Z running and driving, sort out the suspension, know your car - then decide what you want/need to do with the powerplant...

Looking at the pictures your front lower control arm geometry could use correction. You should add some roll center adjusters ("bump steer spacers") if you keep the car this low. I've had the opportunity to drive quite a few different Z's and it's amazing how basically the same car can be so wildly different in feel. From a 240 with stock springs and "balloon" tires that felt like a 60's Galaxy 500 TO cut springs, harsh as hell, stoopid low... I think "the right" suspension is in the butt of the beholder. Surprisingly enough, there are actually quite a few options for early Z suspension. And enough different opinions that it may make your head spin. I may get some hate when I say this but the "easy way out" will probably be fully adjustable coilovers. Not that they don't come with their own set of unique issues when being installed on an early Z. BUT - You should be able to choose spring rates (change spring rates if you need to). You can set ride height (change ride height) at will without loosing spring or strut travel. And, if you have adjustable camber plates you can adjust for the negative camber you introduce when lowering the car. (do your homework, some of the adjustable camber plates don't actually have much adjustment...) The potential downside(s) of fully adjustable coilovers can be cost, installation usually requires "fab" work (cutting and welding as a general rule), AND you may end up cutting your stock strut tower for camber plates. So... that's something you need to consider. (to my mind, cutting the strut tubes off and welding on a threaded adapter for a coilover strut is not-that-big-of-a-deal. Fairly easy to reverse, you can find suspension parts to replace them. the "bigger deal" for me is cutting the strut tower - which is ultimately reversible, but not without some blood, sweat, and tears. ya, and probably $$...)

Ding, ding, ding... All 260Z coupe doors were the same. And the '75-'76 280Z also have the same doors. The change came with the '77-'78 280Z door and latch mechanism.

It's extremely easy to tell if you have an ECCS ECU (Turbo) or an EFI ECU (N/A). Just look at the ECU connector. The L28ET ECCS ECU has three black plugs that the harness connects to. The L28E EFI ECU has ONE long plug. You can use any '82 or '83 ECCS ECU with that engine ("automatic" or "manual" doesn't really matter). BUT, if you're using the stock ECU, you'll need a stock ECCS harness. SO... If you need both an ECU and a harness, you can use any ECCS harness and it's matching ECU. What I mean by that: You can use an '81 ECCS ECU and harness (the harness will have (and need) dropping resistors) on any L28ET. You can also use an '82 or '83 ECCS harness and ECU (no dropping resistors on the harness). The '82 and '83 are interchangeable. The only other early ECU that uses 3 black plugs is a Z31 ECU (early 300ZX). A few folks use a Z31 ECU to run their L28ET's BUT it needs to be rewired slightly to make it work properly. Well documented in archival threads. Would have been helpful if you'd posted pictures of what you have...

I've always liked the "20 mark" for a turbo engine...

Meant to post this up a day or two ago: Thanks! Got the rail - looks great! Should work well on Patrick's turbo engine.

I posted a reply yesterday morning but I guess it didn't take... Look closely at the pictures in the original post. Pic #3. Compare the orientation of the oil pump spindle to the FSM diagram in post #19. Ya, pretty much backwards... Oil pump spindle orientation is usually the answer to "Why is the rotor facing the wrong direction". This is a simple "It was running fine before I ______ ". If it was running fine and nothing was done to the distributor, the distributor shouldn't be the problem. In the future, look at what you did do for your answer...

The fitting that the screws goes through clamps the optical disc in place. It, and the shaft it fits over are "keyed" so that it only fits in one spot and is always in the proper orientation for the rotor. Can't be installed wrong... IF the rotor is "out of whack" (engineering term...), AND the distributor is where the fault is, THEN the roll pin in the bottom fitting is missing or sheared off. The fitting at the bottom - the one that fits over the top of the oil pump spindle - slides on the end of the shaft and is held in place (and properly oriented) by a roll pin. You can't put it on 180 degrees out-of-phase and secure it with the roll pin. The roll pin hole is offset on the shaft so, it too, only goes on one way...

Here at the shop we learned early on to NEVER to take the door hinges off the body. If you have to, it's a drag to get them on and the door properly aligned again. And we're usually tearing them down to a point where we have the fenders off anyway... Have fun!

It's finally starting to cool off a bit here in Arizona. It won't be long until we can start working on our cars again. And, for the rest of the country, some nice Stance-USA Super Sport coilovers with four pretty Sakura Garage Camber Plates might make a nice Fall project! I know your Z Car will appreciate it... Order some up on our website: http://sakuragarage.com/products/datsun-suspension/

The path goes like this: Ignition switch -> ballast resistor -> Tach -> coil (+). With a "jumper" to bypass the ballast when the ignition is in the start position (coil gets full battery voltage in start position). SO... There's a B/W that originates at the ignition switch - with the switch ON it'll have battery voltage (if the other B/W and G/W are disconnected - they will have 0V...) That B/W connects to the ballast. The G/W connects to the other side of the ballast and feeds the Tach. The remaining B/W comes from the Tach and connects to the coil (+). In the harness, there's a G/W that "tees" into the G/W that goes to the ballast. It's connected to the "start" signal. So in the start position full battery voltage goes through the Tach and to the coil. It's not a concern at the coil area. It's a current sensing Tach, so I believe it needs to run through the ballast resistor to be accurate (If it didn't matter, I don't know why Nissan would run wire all the way from the ignition up to the coil area (ballast), then ALL the way back to the Tach, and then ALL the way back to the coil...) But, the earlies aren't my strong point. IDK if the ballast can be bypassed (eliminated) and have the Tach operate correctly.

There is. It's called patience...