datsunlover

Yah, it's the best some people can do I supose, if they can't 'do better' or do.. 'something' in the real world, it gives them some satisfaction doing well in a make believe world.. I could never understand it either..

That.. is very cool... holy crap balls Batman!!!

For the hassle of swaping a tranny, I'd just wait for the deal/money/ect for a 5 gear. Not much more work, and a better combo for what you seam to want to do with the car.. I'm assuming mainly average daily driving? A T5 would get your freeway rpm down quite a bit, and probly be a little quicker on acceleration... Also, you may be able to 'play' with the rear gearing a bit to drop the revs.. If you're runing a 3:90 say, droping to a 3:56 will lower the cruising rpm even if you stick with the current 350th. And seeing as it's a V8 in a Z, the low end accel. wont get hurt too much. Torque is a wonderfull thing!

Should be identical.. and fixing that h/g would probly be easier with the engine out anyway! I like those old 3.0 V6 motors.. Good milage and you can make decent power out of them too.

Well I don't have a pic to post of my truck, but it's easy to picture I think: 91 GMC ext cab, 1 ton dually, 4x4, with a tbi 454. With 348K on it. I fliped the breather over so it sounds like it's sucking in the world at WOT, and there's a leak in the Y pipe so it has that awefull GM exhast burble.. The paint is falling off the box behind the slightly cracked/broken dually fenders, and the tail gate, along with the rear bumper, are appropriatly dented/scarred. Sucks a bit of fuel, but it's fun to bomb around in and it's damn reliable! Oh, I have my 85 RX7 too, needing the motor put in (355 sbc)and front brakes done.. stock other than the chev rear end and rediculous hood cowl for carb clearance..

Hey, I never said I WAS a wise man...

Sweet! Hey Scott, where is that track you were on in the vid? If I ever get this house in order, (horay for the winter renos!) I'll get back to the Z, and am really wanting to take it to a track... not that I'm any sort of pro driver (hell, my cars kind of a wreck too...) but it's just something I'd like to do... I'm trying to find out about auto x in the area too, I've seen a few events in Barrie once in a while...

Sounds just like my 75 when I got it. First off, the ticking may just mean it needs the valve lash set. Specs are in the manuals, and probly HERE somewhere.. (hint, uhm... search? lol) As for the bogging/mising, it could be many things... My solution? Throw the FI away, and replace with ROUND top SU carbs. Even on a stock motor (assuming good compresion and ignition are there) they will spice it up a bit and are a breeze to tune. I'd also look for a 280zx distributor (with the little black ignition box on the side) to replace the stock 280z unit. Very simple to wire up, and much more reliable IMO.

Yes, but you'd be suprised what some folk will pay for something with a name attached to it... I'd trow the carbs/maifold on ebay, and the motor/tranny in a separate auction.. You might get lucky!

Lets see.. I was driving up a lonely stretch of road last summer, and something caught my eye.. A big white cross with flowers and a picture about 30 feet up on a rock cut. Seeing as evrything else around is just rocks, trees and roadway, my attention was briefly drawn to it... A few seconds later, I'm hitting the soft shoulder and about to drive into the rock cut myself!! I say they are a dangerous distraction to any motorist... I'm sure it's well intentioned by whoever put it there, but if it CAUSED another accident in the same spot, well.. that's not good.

Sounds like the ECU is running in a limp/safe mode because it KNOWS there is a problem with something (wiring or a sensor giving faulty readings) so I'd say get the book and start testing. Out of curiosity, does your ecu have the red and green lights on one side? My 85 200sx did, and there is a simple test you can do. note; the ECU was under the passenger seat in my 200sx, but I could see under it to look at the lights. There is a little switch you can click (may have to remove a cover plate on the ecu) and when you turn the key to 'on' it will do a self diagnostic. It will flash the lights in various sequences, like 'red, red, green, green, green {2 second pause} and do it 3 times before moving on to the next code. For example, that would be saying a code '23'. (red is multiples of 1, green is 10) You'll need the book to decifer what the numbers referr too, but it may give you a good starting point for testing.

Wow...funny theory, but I kind of have to agree...

See.. I always thought the 'wing' term was wrong anyway, as far as a factory unit goes.. The proper name is a 'spoiler' as far as I know, and IS actualy related to aero. testing. It's intention is to re-direct the air flow over the rear for various reasons. Ever wonder why a lot of fwd minivans have them on the roof above the rear hatch? It pushes air down across the window (well, it's ment to) in an attempt to keep it clear/clean. (similar principal as the old Benz's tail lights with all the ridges across them; air flow around them keeps the lens clear and more visible than a flat lense would be) Sometimes, it would be for downforce though, yes, even in a fwd car. Anyone who has driven a fwd GM cavalier, grand am, lumina, ect, will agree that the arse is light as hell for some reason, and DOES kick out in rain or snow. Obviously there isn't enough air flow at low speeds, so the effect of a spoiler is nill and the back slides out. Higher speeds though, I can see how it would add a measure of stability and keep the rear from 'floating' around. The giant wings seen today though, I just can't take seriously... Oh, good point about the birds lack of a penis..

Funny how buying property pushes cars onto the back burner isn't it?!? I bought my house back in April and hardly even DROVE the Z, never mind do any serious work on it (of which it desperatly needs a lot of...) I did the same thing with 'recreation' stuff as well.. I STILL don't have cable/satalite TV and I only got a computer and the internet about a month ago.. and that's only because the guy I rent a room to paid to have it brought in, and the bill's in his name! I totaly can see where you're coming from man, old buildings are the ULTIMATE 'while I'm at it' pitfall when you start 'updating' things.. Sucks all your time and money away like a big block drinks fuel!! Sounds like you got the better deal in a way though; I'm stuck with a crappy 1.5 car, flat roof, UN-insulated garage... and it's right on the property line, so an addition is out of the question... and I'm back up to 3 vehicles, AND I keep buying more damn tools! (you know.. cause I NEED them!!!! ) Good luck man, hope you can get back to the Z soon!

I was behind an old diesel Maxima the other day,, blowing smoke all over the place, mufler falling off, car rusting out bad...Really looked like it was on its last leg. I was actually thinking about following the guy to where ever he was going and offering him a $100 for it.. I was in a rush though, so I had to turn off... I'll have to 'scout' the area sometime and see if I can find it..

A few people here have done this as far as I know.. there is a considerable amount of work involved, but the result is very cool! Using the stock steel hood/fenders would be a bit on the heavy side I think, but would still work.. You'd probly want some sort of helper shocks (like a hatch shock) incorperated into it.

Actually, I think that's the tag on his under shorts... Ewww...

Hey Doug! Maybe we could 'sell' ourselvs as a package deal from Canada?!? I'm about 2 weeks from finishing 3rd level Machinest, and have more than enough hours loged to write the Certificate exam.. I don't know how that translates to the States though.. Meh, just a long shot at this point, and I'm probly not expirianced enough for them anyway. I'm reasonably sure my job is secure here for a few years (for now), but it's good to see some companies actually hiring nowadays.. up here the manufacturing/trades are on the downswing and jobs are dissapearing..

Heh... I've had 3 (including me) and it was CRAMPED! The poor guy in the back will misc. parts and my tools.. man, that was silly..

That... is NOT right!

I will bet the AFM boot is cracked (the one between the AFM and throttle body) and sucking extra air into the intake. The AFM will not 'see' this extra air, but it's there... causing a lean condition. The 02 might pick this up and tell it to crank up the injectors, which will make it rich...but wait now... that's too much fuel... so it backs off... and so on and so forth. (this will happen very quickly in the ECU, ussualy giving a rough idle/poor drivability) There are voltage/resistance checks you can do on the AFM, basic checks really.. but any manual (factory, maybe the Haynes booz) will give you the proper 'range' of readings to look for.

I have a 75.. if you think they're the same lines, I can have a look at mine (seeing as one of them has poped anyway.. ) and maybe can get them off.. I assume I'm gona have to replace the spliter as well (looks original) so this might motivate me to get the rear brakes working again! After I blew that rear line, I ran with NO rear brakes, using a pipe plug in the valve/splitter up on the firewall. (last month or so of the summer, not a lot of miles)

Well, I'm finishing school so in about a month, so I can call myself a certified General Machinest. It's been almost 4 years and it feels like about 10... I don't particularly like the shop I work in sometimes, but I love the trade.. and it comes in handy to know how to build things since I'm a car nut too!

I may be way off here, but I've seen too many problems blamed on fuel that were actually ignition/timing related... Even down to a couple plug wires reversed/ in the wrong. OR (this one has plauged me TWICE now..) a bad coil, or coil-dizzy wire. I had an old truck that would do the shot gun backfire out the tail pipe, seamingly out of the blue.. (quite a sound isn't it!) It took me getting a HUGE shock on my finger to figure out the main coil wire was grounding out (small crack in the boot I discoverdd with the motor running, and checking the plug wires.. ) When I floored it and the motor torqued over, it moved just enough. My Z also did this when the coil quit (stock 75) and I messed with the carbs for days... replaced coil, and it was god again. ALSO.. my buddy's 454 dualy had THE SAME problem... with a brand new coil that 'went bad' for some reason.. ? Oh.. here's a thought too, are you SURE the dizzy is lined up right? Obviously 180* out is a no brainer, and it won't run worth crap, but I've had them out by a few teeth and it will cause the backfire/bog you describe. You can try rotating the plug wires on the dizzy around one position, then turning the dizzy back slightly. (theory here is if the firing order is off, and you're out of rotation on the dizzy, it gives you more rotation to get in into proper timing) You'll be able to tell pretty quick if this is the case.

I love that 'first drive' with no hood and other pieces missing, not working properly.. It's the most frightening and nerve racking drive, and at the same time the most exciting one! It makes it all worth it doesn't it? Congrats man!