Zeddophile

water in the distributor could be a cause.... the other thing that sort of sounds like is possibly an air flow meter issue (jammed open or unplugged?) but if you have wolf2d I imagine there is no air flow metre anymore?

as far as seal kits go, check out Scotts Old Auto Rubber in Oakleigh - they seem to carry everything you need...

Sounds like your motor was previously attached to an auto then! Good work on picking up on that one, many wouldn't!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170060842285 Theres a zed in there.....

Well, I fund it from eating bread and water, spending all my paypacket and utilising the account at work Not a Z, but my rangie has been seeing many many improvements of the expensive kind in the last couple of weeks.... Have you ever noticed that right after you've spent everything you had saved up on some big improvement (say a brand spanking and bigger engine), something else which never played up before suddenly dies? Most annoying. As far as hiding it from the significant other, I'll offer this tip. When the parents and siblings are all petrolheads, and have a number of cars floating around, pick off the daughter! Mine loves both my cars, and gets just as excited about the mods I'm doing as I do. Doesn't even question the expenditure, she just accepts it because she understands it

just by the way Evan, in case you didn't know (bit late with this one!) brake fluid will eat ANY paint - be very careful to keep it off your bodywork, and wash off with water straight away if you do get some on it. I'm guessing you already knew that, and you were trying to remove paint on purpose, but just in case!

If your mum is after some good suspension (not sure whats been put into it by this guy), I have a full set of brand new Koni reds and standard height King Springs from my 76, and a bunch of assorted polyureathane bushes which will fit straight in - also have a lot of interior plastic panels and bits of trim which will also fit, plus some other bits and pieces - just PM with anything you're after, and I'll tell you if i've got it and what condition.

you can fit the 9s, but you will need to run bolt on adaptors I reckon - those 16x8s I tried to fit were at the rear, and mine was a 76 260z - so probably same strut width as a 280z....

I highly doubt 0 offset with 9 inch rims will work, i think it will hit the strut with a 9 inch wide rim - I trial fitted some 16x8s which had +25 offset, and they hit pretty hard - i think I needed somewhere around a 25-30mm spacer to make them fit properly. Sulio (toecutter) is the man to speak to about fitting rims with standard suspension, but I'm pretty sure he'll have the same opinion - or alternatively, if you are less lazy than I am, have a browse in the wheel and tyre thread on this site, and you will probably be able to dig up a good answer.

gotta partially agree with you there Russ - everybody should own an older English car - something about headlights dropping out at 100km/h on a deserted highway that you just don't forget....also the wiring smoke that seems to escape at random times through the vents.

i think you'd probably gain a lot more by switching to a limited slip diff over a welded centre, in terms of circuit times!

Graedat, what compression are you running in that? I assume its pretty high, since you're on straight gas by what I gather?

all of what you said. Because the tyre contact patch is more consistant and slightly larger (due to the alignment angles changing less under load), you should see less understeer and less tendency to oversteer, along with better predictability/controllability during oversteer. Not sure about bite on turn in, would depend on how hard you flicked it in - but in a quick flick of the wheels, I'd say that it should bite better yes. Should also get better traction under acceleration out of corners, I'd imagine. It will handle more like they did out of the factory, as over the years bodyshells fatigue and can flex more and more - this is why serious competition cars are generally at least partially seam welded, and are backed up with a rollcage braced to most of the suspension points. A strut brace is a budget answer to seam welding - not quite as effective, but definitely an improvement. Generally nothing is modified to fit a strut brace (except for the more fancy ones maybe!), so put one or both on, and see if you like it - if not, pull them off, return to standard, and sell them on. Or if you know someone with a zed with them fitted, ask them if you can borrow the braces for half an hour or so, and try them out!

Just to add to what PZG302 said, it basically reduces twist in the body, or more specifically the point where the body is attached to the suspension - the end result is a better tyre contact onto the road, less dynamic change in all your alignment angles, and improved feedback and feel from the chassis.

Well, I'm guessing they are aftermarket, unless you have a 280zx, in which case I dunno if they came with thermos or not. So a wiring diagram is useless to you. If you have aircon, they may be wired to that, try having the car running with the aircon on full bore and see if they kick in then. Beyond that, just follow the wires coming out of them, and see what they go to. Basically, they should go back to a relay. Then you need to follow the trigger circuit of the relay and see what operates them. However, who knows how they've been wired up - depends on the intelligence of the person doing the wiring.

They will help being on the front, although better if they were mounted directly to the front of the radiator. They'll push cooler air through into the space between the condenser and radiator, where the clutch fan can pick it up from. More effective at slow/stopped speeds than anything, but then again same applies for the most part to any fans. My rangie has no gas in the aircon, so on a hot day if it starts to warm up in traffic, I click my aircon on so that the electric fans kick in. Does help - and thats cooling an alloy v8!

run both if you can fit them - the clutch fan sucks a little power out of your motor, but can't beat decent cooling for the peace of mind in traffic on a warm day- and aircon puts a massive load on the engine. I'd personally run the thermos off a temperature switch, so that when your engine temp creeps up just above normal, they cut in by themselves. You can get adjustable switches for that purpose. That way, you have a bit of protection if it warms up sitting in traffic on a cooler day, without having to switch the aircon on. I'm curious though - sounds like you have already fitted them, and they don't interfere with the clutch fan - where'd you put them? Are they on the front of the radiator, pushing air through, or on the back, sucking through?

If you run by a United servo in your daily travels, they have 95 octane and 98 octane ethanol fuels, and the 95 (Plus ULP) is 4 cents a litre cheaper than regular (91 octane non-ethanol) unleaded, and the Boost 98 is a little more expensive than normal unleaded - but about 8 cents cheaper than Optimax etc. I've been running Plus ULP in my rangie for over a year, no worries, and ran my alfa before that on Boost.

hmmm - be interested to know the condition of it, specifically rust/bodywise..... Reports would be good, from anyone who knows or looks at the car....

I think you will have to fit at least a rollover hoop to fit your harness, as there are very specific requirements for the angles the belts need to be at (something to do with breaking the back of the seat in a crash?), and from memory the rear mounting points need to be up quite a bit higher than the strut towers. Since you'll be scrutineered at Sandown, you'll want it to be right, and I can't remember whether it is vicroads or cams who require specific placement of harnesses, but I have a feeling it was cams.

ahhhh - good memories. Nothing sounds quite like an Alfa sucking through a pair of dellortos.... I miss that car.... More to the point, I believe parts to rebuild them can be hard to come by - but that may just be to Alfa spec, I know I was told that the jets to suit Alfas are difficult to get.

the rubber thing that your pedal hits when released is the stop - thats what it does, its adjustable so you can get the pedal height correct. The adjustment should be, as Nat said, on the pushrod itself. I took a photo of a 280zx clutch master I have in my garage which should help you see whats going on before you stick your head under the dash again. As you can see, the forked part that attaches to the pedal is threaded, and there is a locknut behind it to stop the pushrod rotating during use and adjusting itself. Back the locknut off, and you should be able to rotate the pushrod with your fingers.

so you're saying there is no pushrod coming out of that rubber boot on the firewall??? I swear I can see one side of the saddle on the end of the pushrod peeking out around the pedal.... Or are you saying there is no pin going through the end of the pushrod and through the pedal? Besides, there has to be a pushrod, otherwise movement from a standing start would involve starting the car in gear, or a lot of crunching.

If they are stamped 'England' i would hazard a guess that these are genuine SUs... and as such, probably not originally off a Zed, as from memory they had copies of SUs (except maybe very early 240s). Either way, SU's are supposed to be among the best carbies to work with, both from a point of simplicity and tuneability, and a swap may be worthwhile, if they are in good condition, and if (as I suspect with a 77 model) you have the flat top Hitachi carbs its definitely worth it. Get the SU's checked out before you fit them, recoed if need be, and they will be perfect for your needs. Only way to better them is with triple webbers/dellortos/mikunis (or even doubles of those maybe, but they're a bitch to tune sometimes.)

I find it better to grab the top and bottom of the wheel, and check from play from that angle - if you grab the sides on front wheels, you may be feeling freeplay in the steering. You will definitely feel it rock if the wheel bearing is badly worn. Since its speed related, other faults could possibly be a noisy rear diff, or seized tailshaft uni - or even a gearbox bearing. Definitely suggests driveline related at any rate. Wheel bearings are easy to check, so start there I guess. I actually have a pair of wheel bearings in my garage, brand new and unfitted (Bursons brand). Not sure whether they are front or rear though (or if there is even a difference!)