TomoHawk Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 I need a vacuum advance unit to rebuild the distributor in my 78 280Z. MSA doesn't have any, neither does Coutesy Nissan. A substitute would be OK, and so would a compatible distributor. I was told you can use one from a 89-83 ZX with some rewiring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 victoria british does Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeiss150 Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 Did you need a "dashpot" (the diaphram on the side of the dizzy)or the vacum advance plate inside the dizzy? Cause if you need the dashpot I think you can get one of those from nissan or napa. or you can grab on off any nissan dizzy. If its the advance plate (with the plastic ball bearing cage) then you have to rebuild that... I did mine. It takes a little "MacGivering" but so far my rebuild is working great. I think there is a post on here about how to rebuild a ZX dizzy and it has pictures too. finding a good dizzy with a working vac advance is almost imposible, the nissan engineers didn't think to hard about working dizzy parts 25 years after they were built. I hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomoHawk Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 Actually, VB has neither. According to the new catalog, there is only parts for the ZX distributor, and the MT distributor for the 78 280Z. I could buy a whole reman distributor for a 78, but I can't tell if it's for the Auto trans or Manual. NAPA??? How would anybody know which is the correct one for MY engine? And for the same reason, you can't just get one from "any" Nissan dizzy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomoHawk Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 Here are a couple links to the ZX distributor rebuild. Second one has pictures. http://www.jrdemers.com/280ZX/distributor/distributor.html http://www.atlanticz.ca/zclub/techtips/distributorrebuild/index.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zeiss150 Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 According to MSA they have them... part # 12-3074 $57.90... enjoy! http://www.zcarparts.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomoHawk Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 MSA is closed for a couple days to take inventory Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silent Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 hmm, i bet they still have the part laying around that you need. i can dig through an old catalog and see if i can find it for ya. i haven't been out there for a couple months now, {haven't needed anything} so i haven't picked up a new catalog from them. {it's nice living 20 mins away from em} Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomoHawk Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 I usually keep the last few catalogs. Most of the stuff is stil there, but the prices are going up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 Even if you get the diaphragm, you can assume that the vac advance mechanism is toast on the ZX distributor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomoHawk Posted March 17, 2006 Author Share Posted March 17, 2006 It almost makes you want to spend the $500 on a new unit from Accel with the breakerless system. It should last the life of the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AK-Z Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 I have a vacuum unit it if you want it. still works, minumal (sp, I'm tired) rust, easily taken off with a wire brush. PM me if you're interested. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HizAndHerz Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 Here's what I did to rebuild my distributors. First, I fabbed up some replacement breaker plate bearing keepers (that's what I call them anyway). The originals are thin plastic (upper right corner). I used a rotary tool to make four out of Lexan. It tricky getting all the holes for the bearings and holes so that the breaker plate screws would clear. The stopping pin was a pain since it can't stick up above the surface of the Lexan plate on one side. There's a Mitsubishi distributor that seems to have been only available for the Euro market that has a superior breaker plate. It has 16 bearings instead of the Hitachi's 3. A much better design. Good luck finding one of these. Here's a shot of the whole distributor: Here's a vacuum canister from an early 1980's Camero that I modifed to fit a Mitsubishi 280ZX distributor. The mounting would need to be different for the standard Hitachi distributors normally found on Z-cars. I bent the plunger to match the one on the ZX distributor. I cut the end off the plunger of the ZX canister and crimped and soft-soldered it to the end of the new one. This canister mounts to the dizzy above. The mount would need to change for the standard Hitachi distributors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 Nice job fixing it. Gotta wonder if its worth all the hassle though. The ZX distributor only gives 17 degrees advance, so you can lock it down so that it can't move at all and run 18 degrees or so at idle. That gives your low speed advance for gas mileage and has more total advance, which the stock distributor at the stock timing setting is lacking. It just seems like a lot of effort for very little gain. I've just been JB Welding the stator holder piece to the breaker plate instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HizAndHerz Posted March 17, 2006 Share Posted March 17, 2006 I've just been JB Welding the stator holder piece to the breaker plate instead. Not sure I understand. By locking everything together aren't you disabling both the mechanical and vacuum advance? BTW, I don't pretend to understand all the ramifications of mechanical and vacuum advance. Edit: Ok, obviously you're only talking about locking the breaker plate to disable vacuum advance. Disabling mechanical advance will kill the high end. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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