datsunlover

Welcom to the forum man. 'Most' of your questions (presant and future) can be answered in a search.. trust me there's TONES of info here! And the sputering/blowing black smoke thing.. heh.. the old 'Datsun FI demon' rears it's head once more.. First, you NEED a good seal on that boot (AFM to T/B) for things to work proberly.. Aside from that, I'd look at the AFM for starters.. Loose/coroded/bad conection.. worn spring, stuck flap.. or the TVS.. (throttle valve switch..) Good luck man.

I think mine is a "OMFG.. its ALIVE!!!" theme.. Most people would have crushed it into a cube, the shape it was in when I got my Z.. I had to paint it white, cause the body is NOT straight (I'm not good enough yet to make it perfect, and can't afford a $5000 body shop bill) I went for a sleak, but fairly stock look. 14" rims kinda suck, but the slot's are just.. cool. I HAD to put the 'whale tail' on, and do a roll pan in the rear, mould the air damn.. and left only the 2 Z emblems behind the quarter windows.. keeps most folks guessing.. it's kind of 'cobled together' from a few cars, but it gets looks from people age 13 to 33 to 63... And I get a smile on my face EVERY time I drive my Z.. Really, evrythng I did to my car was just becaue.. I wanted to, and I liked it.. I guess the real theme is.. "Me.. in automotive form.."

Well here in ontario, it seams the old 200's are few and far between. I always regret selling mine.. I may have to look for another one to do a 302 swap in a few years..

Yah, I forgot to mention too; My Lincoln can run gas, I just have to buy the kit/bottles. I'm thinking about it for next year (after Cri$tma$$.. you know) cause the flux core wire is more than TWICE the cost of regular wire.. the advantage though, is you can be in the4 middle of a windy driveway, and it'll still weld. With gas, the gas gets blown away very easily outside.

I think the 200sx with the Turbo had the 4:11 gears.. And I WISH thay would have sold the V6 200's here in canada.. my 85 was pretty quick, but with the 300zx motor in there.. wow.. that would have been cool! Wish I was closer... My local wreckers all suck... nuthin but caviliears and ford's..

Yah.. I would think this would only amount to anything in a track/race car, that never got up into 5th.. At that point, the extra gear/bearings/ect would be dead weight, and in a race car it could be an issue.. but a road/street car a 5 speed is the way to go as far as I'm conserned.. And with Z tranys, Id rather have the lower RPM on the highway, and better gear ratios. That 2nd to 3rd "drop out of the power band for a few seconds" in the Z 4 gear SUCKS big time..

I can't see what you linked to (internal server error.. ?) but I wouldn't skimp too much on a welder.. a friend of mine picked up a cheap little 110v for around $250.. but it sucks. Can't lay a bead down for longer than 2" (pops, splaters and looses power) and it's not very adjustable. (high/low heat, and 3 settings for wire speed) which makes it horible for body work, and not much good fror any heavy work. On the other hand, I bought a Lincoln Electric 110v and LOVE it. I paid $350 USED but it was worth it. I have had no problems welding 3/16 plate to a truck frame, (it'll doo 1/4") and can get a really nice bead. Did the sub frame in my Z.. It's great for body metal too, (probly a hundred patches on my Z, and a few on my truck so far..) as it has 4 settings for heat, and infinetly adjustable wire speed. Great for exhast patches too.. Basicaly, you can buy a new CHEAP welder, and fight with it... or get a little more expencive machine and have no problems.. Maybe look around for a used one. My welder goes for about $700 new.. I couldn't afford that much, but I saw that problems my buddy had with his cheap one and didn't wana go that route.. I just lucked out and found a good one used!

I'd say yes.. anything's got to be better then the stock ignition. An MSD box will give you a better/more powerfull spark, which in theory, should make ANY engine perform better.. Do you have the 6al already? If so, I'd use it.. if not (ie.. if $$$ is an issue) I'd look for a 280zx dizzy. I ran one this past summer in my 280, and had no probs. It's a heck of alot better than the crusty stock one, and simple to wire up. Bonus is that an MSD box will hook right up to it as well..(basicaly remove the black box and plug the 2 wires in to MSD box) not sure if it's as easy on the older dizzys... like your 260, or my 280.

Oh boy.. I'd see if you can find the chasis wiring/harness for your car.. I'm sure the zx rats nest (yes, thats right...) would be a HUGE PITA to make work in an older Z. I agree you're better off buying a running 280zxT for the drivetrain/EFI wiring. The engine harness isn't too bad, as it's fairly well separated. In theory, I thnk the motor would run just fine (zxt haress/ecu in your 240), but without the proper Z chasis wiring, you just wouldn't have lights/signals and such.. I'm sure the zx rear diff will be the R200/3:70 so that'd be something I'd wana swap in.. Also, the zx brakes arn't GREAT.. but surly they'd be better than stock 240..

Ugh.. you can try cutting it back, re-flare it and splice in a piece... but you're probly not gona have much luck with that. If it broke that easy, I'd bet it's all pretty weak.. I'd say get a whole new section of line (that one runs up over the diff and goes into a 'T' fitting IIRC) and with luck, you'll be able to unscrew the other end from the fitting and get away with that. Worst case, you'll have to do BOTH rear lines, the "T" fitting, and possibly the line from the fitting all the way to the master cyl. Good luck man.. Hope you have patience.

I'm up for this.. (still got the 351 bug.. it's gona be dorment for a year or two though.. extenuating circumstances) I'm sure the hydraulic clutch could be an easy mod... I built a V8 RX7 a few years back, and the guy I bought my engine mounts/rear axle from had a good system (He builds V8 rx's for a living... awsome..) using 'off the shelf' matched master/slave cyls from somewhere aftermarket (can't remember) to convert the older cable clutch system (chevy) to work in a mazda. He builds a bracket that bolts on the block, that the slave went through and pushed on the throw out fork.. I'm sure this is doable for the ford. I'll talk to my mustang friend.. he's got lots of links to ford stuf on the web, and can probly get a diagram of the ford EFI.. he knws a lot about the headers availible/deck hights of motors/oil pan swaps/ect also...

Well, I'll give Rick a try I suppose.. sounds promising. There's a UAP/NAPA place here in Midland, and all they can get me is the front control arm bushings ($28 a piece) and rear outer control arm bushigs ($31 per side) All they list for struts is the front, and they are $160/pair for 'the knock off of Monroe brand' great... And the 5 speed.. well, I need at lease one! I'm sick of the stock 4 gear, and its... sick of me I think. (grinding, making noise, ect) I know a guy up here that has a lot of 86-91 Mustang parts/pieces, including several BWT5's.. he told me $300 or so for one of those, but I'm not sure if it'll be a 'direct' bolt up to a Z. (don't know much about the turbo z's besides thay used a T5.. not sure if a BWt5 is a BWt5 , regardles of the car it's used in?) I'm gona be runing pretty close to stock N/A..going for 220 horse or so.. for a while anyway, so a Z 5 gear will probly do me fine.

Sounds a lot like that stupid fool who sued Honda a while back for not puting air bags in her car.. She crashed her 89 (I thnk?) accord into a tree, and cracked her head off the wheel (or something like that).. She said the technology was availible when the car was manufactured, so honda SHOULD have put an air bag in the car. Stupid frigin people.. if she wanted an air bag, why didn't whe buy a car with one in it?!!? Same for these 'darwin award winers' with the SUV; If you wanted a camera on the back of it, you should have bought a model that came with it!!!! Or hows this.. LOOK BEHIND YOU IDIOT!!!!! It's sad a little girl had to die.. but maybe its GOOD that these two NOT contribute theire genes to the pool?

Well, there is a perfomanc improvments in Barrie (40 mins, not a big deal) but I was in there the middle of the summer, and it seamed like the guy who was helping me really didnt' want to spend much time helping me out for a 30 year old datsun.. Kinda got the impresion I should have bought a Honduh or something.. I'll try them again though.. it'd be great if they can get me the bushings and strut cartridges.. I've pretty much got the rest of the car sorted ot as far as "what to do, and what I need to get" A 5 speed trans is in that list too... Thanks for the info Scott.. I'll look into the dealer in Brampton if I'm not satisfied with perf. imp. in Barrie.

I guess I should have made myself a little more.. clear.. My problem is that I'm having trouble finding things in CANADA... I dislike the dealer (big $$$ for anything Z related.. its a 30+ year old car, and they don't really care..) but I would prefer to get parts localy... It's not that I can't FIND the parts, but shiping from MSA, victoria british, A.Z.C and the like is what I'm trying to avoid..

Well if it happens more in the wet, I'd say check/replace the plug wires, and check the distributor cap/rotor. Could be moisture gettng in there and causing it to miss.. You may have some leaking injectors as well.. and once the engine warms up, it getts better, but they will stil be leaking a bit... could be causing your wandering idle/bucking issues. I'd check the whole ignition system first though. As for the temp guage.. there might be a problem with the thermostat(stickong open), or it's just opening too soon. (get a higher temp thermostat) Hope this helps.

First off, I'd look into getting a 300zx (85-89 I guess..) that HAS the turbo driveline. IE; a running car that's been hit/rusted out, cheep. (I found one a few months back I could have got for $500. Ran great, but was rotten and interior was trashed.) That will get you the LSD rear diff (which you'll want with anywhere near 300 HP) and all the required turbo/ecu/ect you'll need for a turbo swap. With a few mods/tweaks, the turbo V6 can kick out some good power. Not sure if 300whp is do-able for the $1200 range, but I'm betting you could get 225-250 if you can do your own fab work, and spend the $$ wisely. As for the wiring, the electrical really isn't that bad in the older z's in my opinion.. Have you looked at any newer domestic car lately? At LEAST as complex (ussualy more) as an old Nissan system! Good luck with the project man.

Heh.. yah, well Crapy tire is one of the places that has consitently pissed me off over the years.. and they don't have hardly anythign listed for old Z's anymore.. And stevo.. yah ebay eh... Seams to be evry time I find something I'd be willing to bid on, I scroll down and it says 'will ship to US only!' I'll give zfindings a try maybe.. I really need these bushings, and it'd be nice to have a 'source' for parts as they wear out over time..

Ok.. I'm getting a little ticked off now.. Seams evrywhere I go, no one can get anything for my Z. Back in the spring, I spent a few days driving around to all the auto parts stores, and was LUCKY to get ball joints and the T/C rod bushings. (had to get ball joints from one place, bushings from another) Had to go dealer for the intake/exhast gasket.. and not even NISSAN can get me a new air filter for my SU's (WTF?!?? looks like I'll build something and use 'off the shelf' MrGasket 6" filters.. $13 a pop..) This is also part of the reason I'm gona do the 4x4/300zx brake swap; I can still get the parts! So ANYway.. I need to get all new bushings for the front/rear suspension (minus the T/C rods of course) and I need the two mustach/diff bar bushings. (going custom solid front diff mount) I can't find these ANYWHERE!!! Any of you Ontarians have a source for stuff like this? I need strut inserts too.. I figure I can get those though.. I hope..

OMFG... ROTFLMAO!!!!! I want that!!!! Better yet.. I NEED that!! Love the 'reversed lettering' on the back....

As for 'seeing how bad it is' it's only two bolts holding the straps, and two rubber lines/filler neck.. I had mine off the car in about 45 mins, not knowing what I was doing! I had some bad scale.rust in there, so I sloshed a bunch of varsol around, and left it sitting for a few days. I did this 3-4 times, and it cleaned up good. Didn't have a problem all summer with cloged filters or poor running, so I guess it's ok.

Yah, I've seen this aproach work (my 85 200sx; didn't use a spring compresor, and all was well), but also seen it.. ah.. explode. (non Z, but similar coil/strut setup) We even took the strut out of the car (it was only only 2 more bolts.. meh) and had it sitting on the driveway, in between my friends legs. ( you can see where this is .. going..) Just as my friend asked "hey.. is this thing gona explode at me..?" kaBOOM. Luckily, it fires off AWAY from his.. uh... junk, and a trip to the hospital was avoided. MHO, just use a spring compressor to be safe.

Uh.. yah..heh.. The V8 thing kinda got the ol' heave hoe.. Nothing I could do about it either.. life, you know.. Maybe next year..

Yah, its a bit like the old 'twin plug' engines (had one in my 85 200sx) The first plug would fire at the proper time, than a millisecond after, the other plug would fire. Instead of two plugs, the MSD just fires the same plug 2 or 3 times. Better/more complete burn, hence good power and better fuel mileage. It's suprising what a better burn will do... When I got my 200zx, I took a friend for a good run in it and he thought it was a V6!