zeiss150 Posted December 31, 2005 Share Posted December 31, 2005 Hey there Z people, does anyone have experiance rebuilding ZX distributors? I just took mine apart and no wonder my car was running wierd ... I was all jacked up. the only thing that I need to fix now is that stupid ball bearing cage. does anyone have any tips on how to fix the dizzy with out that stupid piece of plastic. If you don't know what im talking about ... just take your dizzy apart and you'll see it's the broken piece of plastic along with the floating ball bearings that are now jamming up your vacum advance. Im sure that just about every single dizzy out there has this problem ... I was sort of suprised that there was nothing in the search about this at all. HELP! Rock on Z people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 305240 Posted December 31, 2005 Share Posted December 31, 2005 Here's a complete rebuild of the ZX Dizzy. The pics make it so simple even a dummy like me can do it. http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributorrebuild/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zcarnut Posted December 31, 2005 Share Posted December 31, 2005 The plastic ball bearing retainer plate on my 810 distributor (same as the ZX) was also badly deteriorated. As you may have discovered, this piece is NLA from Nissan. All the used distributors I looked at had the same problem. I gave up trying to repair mine and simply got a reman distributor. I was able to get one without the ignition module for only $80 from Advance Auto. It appeared to have a new retainer plate installed in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted December 31, 2005 Share Posted December 31, 2005 Here is another excellent rebuild page: http://www.jrdemers.com/280ZX/distributor/distributor.html. He actually sells bushings too if they need to be replaced. I just gut the vacuum advance and rig the breaker plate so that it can't move. I've only ever seen ONE dizzy that had the plastic piece that holds the ball bearings in one piece, and it was cracked. Vacuum advance might be good for mileage, but it's not the best for performance. I'd suggest that you disable it then run a bunch more advance at idle. I like to start at about 18 and move it around from there. That puts you in the mid 30's at full advance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 305240 Posted December 31, 2005 Share Posted December 31, 2005 I remember reading somewhere that someone made the plastic piece out of plexiglass or something like that. I'll search around and see if I can find it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeiss150 Posted January 2, 2006 Author Share Posted January 2, 2006 Thanks guys! I hope you all had a great new years. So I looked at all the info posted and rebuilt my distributor. I even rebuilt the ball bearing cage out of a plastic "beware of dog" sign. I totally "magivered" it. Now the Dizzy is smooth as silk with working vacume advance. All I need now is the E12-80 module to replace the E12-92 that I currently have. Looks like I'll be cruzing the bone yard... unless someon has an extra one laying around ... anyone? Thanks again, once again all the members prooving why this is a great site. Rock on Z people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 305240 Posted January 2, 2006 Share Posted January 2, 2006 Do you have any pics of that plactic plate you did? I've searched untill I lost me hair...still can't find it. Check ebay for the module. I scored 3 of them for 30 bux not long ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeiss150 Posted January 2, 2006 Author Share Posted January 2, 2006 I don't have a picture of it but all I did was trace the "top plate" on the vacume advance and cut the plastic to that shape ... then I drilled 3 holes where the bearings sit and thats about it. I'll check ebay for thoes modules. If you really need a picture of it let me know I'll se what I can do. Rock on Z people Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeiss150 Posted January 4, 2006 Author Share Posted January 4, 2006 Just an update... I got the E12-80 out of the junk yard and put it on my dizzy. My rebuilt distributor is running great. I suggest that every one do this rebuild. If you have no idea what you're doing it should only take you half of a day. Thanks again for everyones input. Matt- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.