NewZed

At 2:36, it sounds like the diff's locking function wasn't even being used. Sounded like neutral power to the diff on the audio, no decceleration, no acceleration. The sliding looks like my car right after I got it running and drove around on wet streets with 10 year old tires.

What did you mean by "cut the bearing race off"? You need two surfaces for the outer (larger diameter) races, and a means to clamp the inner races together with a spacer in-between. The strut holds the outer races and the hub rides on the inners. Loads transferred by the bearings. Ball bearings in the rear, not rollers, for the 240Z's and 280Z's, maybe in general for the rear bearings. As I understand things, no expert.

Sounds like you're already trying this and partway there. You said in #7 you were looking for a 33mm inner, but then reported looking for a 32mm in #8. Good luck, looks interesting.

The benefit would be a five lug hub? How do you plan to hold the hub to the strut. Are you asking about fitting bearings or machining things to fit or both? The small details are usually the killers.

Sorry, you caught me goofing around. I searched "cast pistons" and found a lot of reading, it's a fairly popular topic. Here's a good thread - http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/108206-broken-ring-land-lame/page__pid__1015399__st__20#entry1015399. The extra power you'll get from more RPM would depend on the other components. The pistons just let you take advantage without breaking. Piston decision should probably come after you know what the engine design is capable of.

Higher RPM.

I don't know if this thread's results fit your board, but might give you some ideas - http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/topic/108839-looking-for-help-fixing-ms1-problem/page__p__1017712__hl__cramer__fromsearch__1#entry1017712

Didn't change the cylinder pressure or didn't change the no-start after driving? More details will help you out. You said the car won't start after you drive it around but obviously it will after a certain amount of time. How much time? Coolant temperature? Checking cylinder pressure after the engine ran well is not really one of the first things to be done to diagnose a no-start. Working on cylinder pressure results is probably a wild goose chase.

Painting everything they make with the broad "it all sucks" brush doesn't teach anyone anything. And, "it's a spray painted junk yard part" is obviously wrong. It's a rebuilt junk yard part, I don't think that they even paint them. Back to the OP's question though, about injectors and distributors, I can't even find that Cardone makes injectors for a gas engine, I only see diesel. So that question might be irrelevant. The 1978 280Z Cardone distributor is sold by O'Reilly and Autozone, and it looks like Napa rebrands the same part as a Napa rebuild, aan dit's the only option for all three. Cardone might be the only supplier of rebuilt distributors so the question is moot, unless you go to zspecialties (datsunstore) or one of the Z-focused shops. Much more expensive. http://www.datsunstore.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=distributor&x=0&y=0

Are you testing at the T plug or at the point you cut the old wire? Your results on the white/black wire are what you would expect for the L wire. No power with the key off, and power with the key on. The charge light should go on when it's grounded, assuming it's the right wire that comes through the lamp. If you have a test light, you could ground through the T plug through the light (to avoid a dead short if it's the wrong wire) and the charge lamp should glow with the key on. It's also possible but a little unlikely that the alternator does not have a good ground, or that it's bad. Check the ground through the alternator case. Power should come through the lamp, down the wire to the T plug and in to the windings then ground.

Peel the rubber boot off of the slave cylinder and see if there's fluid inside. It might be on the edge of going bad. It looks pretty old.

The stuff that matters is usually on the inside, not the outside.

The picture says torque converters are very heavy...

What model and year car?

Your clutch slave looks normal. The threaded rod with the nut on it should move when the pedal is pressed. But there's no reason for the engine to "stall" when you press the clutch pedal. Maybe you're pressing the brake pedal at the same time, and you actually have a brake booster vacuum leak. Start the engine and press the brake pedal without touching the gear shift lever or the clutch pedal. The fact that you didn't mention grinding is odd also, if the engine is running and the slave was bad, normally you would just get grinding and engine RPM would not even be affected.

You're trying to use the 78 EFI harness? There are changes from 77. The biggest might be the fuel pump relay wiring from the AFM. 77 used the AFM, 78 used the oil pressure and alternator to control the relay. You won't have the AFM wires in the 78 harness. Might be better to use the 77 harness if it's available. There are several changes to the body wiring also, like no ballast and an internally regulated alternator in 78. Other stuff - you'll have two pins on the 78 oil pressure switch but will only use one.

If your Charge lamp doesn't glow before starting the engine, that's a problem. It energizes the windings so that the alternator will start charging right away. Your Lamp, or L, wire must be disconnected. I think that it's white with a black stripe. It should have power only when the key is On. The yellow wire is the Sense, or S, wire. It monitors voltage so that the internal regulator will work correctly. Without it connected, I think that the alternator might put put maximum voltage (once you get the L wire connected). It has power all the time. If you follow the atlanticz directions for a 1976 car, the wire to the brake warning lamp check relay will have power all the time and your battery will die in a day or two. Better to just run the yellow wire directly to the starter positive lug or the battery post and tape off the end of the yellow wire. Then find a power source for the check relay that only has power when the engine runs. I used the fuel pump power wire at the connection under the passenger seat. That's where the relay is anyway also. Finally, starting a car with a dead battery is apparently a good way to damage an alternator. You should charge the dead battery first, or leave the cables on until the dead battery is charged. I wrote the above from memory of when I did my 76 and a look at the wiring diagrams on the atlanticz site, so be careful and double-check. Use a voltmeter.

Not to bust a bubble but there are many companies out there that specialize in making exact replicas of popular products. Some of the copies are so good, it's almost impossible to prove that they're fake. EBay is a great way to make them available to the masses without a brick and mortar store.

Are you using an aftermarket regulator? You might have the inlet and outlet reversed, at the regulator. That will deadhead the pump as the gasoline pushes on the wrong side of the valve and the pressure will go to maximum, which is about 90 psi for many aftermarket pumps. I did it with an Aeromotive regulator and an Airtex pump. Started and ran really rich before I realized my mistake.

What is the voltage on the G and W pins doing while you're cranking the engine? I've wondered why the HEI module works in this application, since it is designed to use a falling voltage on either G or W pins (I can't remember or never knew which pin does what) to trigger when it crosses zero. I could be wrong here also, maybe the 4 pin uses a rising crossing. Regardless, even though it works often, it's not the way it was designed to be used. I would guess that a square wave getting to zero is what's triggering the spark in this usage. You might have a ground loop on the G and/or W pins that never lets the voltage get to zero, or something along those lines. Something to look at. What the module expects is well-described in its usage with the VR distributor, in the Megamanual. You might read through that section and see if you can figure out what's missing in your application.

Put it together, blue up the wiping areas and run it through a few revolutions by hand. If the pattern is weak on one side or shows a ridge or depression or that the cam is riding off of the already worn area in to a new area, then you could assume that you'll have a problem with uneven pressure distribution wearing spots on a cam lobe or two. If everything comes out looking great, then you'll still wonder, but at least you'll know more. Or you might find one or two obviously bad, that you can focus on fixing. Or you can mix and match until you like the pattern. That's what I would do if I wanted to try to re-use the old rocker arms, but I've never put a head together so could be way off track.

The tape measure in your picture shows 15 3/8".

The thermostat controls engine heating by restricting coolant flow, to keep heat in the engine block so that it will reach designed operating temperature. You're in a good spot, just put a good thermostat back in, and you should be golden.

"advice" Edit - You're really getting way too upset for a simple request to improve your post. I'll bow out now and let anyone that wants to give you a hand go ahead and do so. You might read a few of the threads in the New Members forum before posting anymore though, they will really help you out. This forum has a few more rules than most, which, in my opinion, makes it one of the better forums on the internet. http://forums.hybridz.org/index.php/forum/68-new-members-forum/

For posterity... By the way, this post IS much easier to read the your first one. Was it that hard to do?