Daedalus-Z

Hmm I do actually need an oil pump as well! it was more the shaft I was asking about, since I've got the non-turbo spade-type shaft and I need to use an optical distributor for the ECU I was planning to use I'll PM you

Hi Guys, Looking for one of the infamously hard to find oil pump drive shafts from the optical L28ET distributors. Looks like the second one in this thread (http://www.viczcar.com/forum/index.php?topic=4470.0).

Thanks mate! Might be interested in those CV shafts too. Just need to finish doing some reading on them.

Interested if it's a 3.9!

Hi All. Getting a bit tired of my too-tall R200 and looking for something a bit lower. If anyone happens to have a R200 3.9 or 4.1 sitting around I'd be happy to take it off their hands for a suitable price! Would be going into a 260. Thanks.

I might be interested depending on the price, head and block type

Hey Dennis, regarding your comment about the Tacho, you should be right even if the tacho is stuffed. There's a loop of wire running through the back of the tacho that does indeed need to be connected for the ignition to work, but even if the tacho itself is buggered the loop should still be fine (it's literally just a few turns of wire). My only comment on ignition would be, make sure your plugs aren't too cold. I had issues with getting my 260 started at first, one of which was the plugs CONSTANTLY fouling from the slightly stuffed carbies. Hotter plugs solved this and gave me enough actual run-time to get the thing into some semblance of a tune. If you're using round-tops (assume you are as it's a 240!) it's not very hard to remove the float chamber lids and have a look inside. What might also be useful is checking the float level. There are plenty of instructions floating around (http://www.zcarz.us/TechnicalInformationPageCarburation.htm for one) for doing it in various different ways, but basically you want to take off the top of the carby with the piston in it and have a look down the top to see where the fuel sits when you crank it. It shouldn't need to be perfect to get the car to start with if there's no fuel or fuel is pouring out into the carby body, then you might need to adjust the float level. The carbies are quite simple, if you're careful to not lose anything you shouldn't have any trouble disassembling them to clean and inspect.

If it's running on 4 cylinders and backfiring, I'd agree it's probably the ignition to those cylinders rather than the injection setup. Plugs, leads, cap, rotor etc. The EFI on the 280 is damn close to being an electronic carby so it *should* work with the points dizzy! Shouldn't affect the missing, but if it's still rough afterwards make sure you're running resistor type plugs. Not sure how sensitive the old EFI setup is to interference, but in theory you should use the 'R' type plugs with injection setups. *shrug* When in doubt a new set of plugs rules out one more thing

i had the same issue recently when I (apparently foolishly) used the carrier from the new gearbox instead of the old one. I wouldn't necessarily recommend it, but as a bit of a bodge to get the clutch to engage correctly with the shorter carrier I just made a longer push-rod for the clutch slave. Possibly not a great long term solution for the clutch, but mine was stuffed anyway, I just wanted to test the box That and I didn't fancy spending another hour doing gearbox-pushups!

Radiator Cap too! I think we missed that one! Dodgy cap will stop the system from pressurising properly so could cause the coolant to prematurely boil. Plus they are cheap and just about the easiest thing to replace on the whole car (provided it's not actually overheating and spitting boiling liquid at the time). Correct me if I'm wrong there, that's just what my limited understanding suggests!

+1 to Thermostat. Assume when you say 'overheating' it's the gauge reading high? Check the radiator/hose and make sure it's actually getting hot (water is flowing past the thermostat). It's such a cheap item and so easy to replace you might as well!

Another +1 for Pertronix unit. Works a treat. Not long ago you could pick them up on evil-bay for a pretty decent price (what with the dollar being the way it is).

Try hotter plugs! I found the BP6ES' would foul up really quickly for me (didn't help that the carbs where a bit buggered and poorly tuned too), but the 5's stood up FAR better. That's using a pertronix igniter on an L26. The plugs were quite new so it was one of the last things I tried to fix the missing and rough running... but given the price of plugs, it's easier to try a swap early on than it is to say, try a different set of carbies

Hmm as it turns out Yes: it is possible (though incredibly difficult) to mount it the other way around. The diff was in the stock location as far as I can tell, though as a result of my odd mounting it's now under a fair amount of tension pushing it towards the front. I *may* be able to be left like this, but TBH I think I'd rather not risk it Thanks heaps for that.

Hi Guys, Bit of an odd question, I went to replace the bushings for the mustache bar in the 260 yesterday and noticed that the bar was actually mounted differently to the way the manuals suggest it should be, the 'curls' in the bar that hold the bushing faced forwards instead of backwards. I've actually managed to mount it the other way... but the amount of forced required to get everything into position afterwards was a little worrying. Based on the shape of the back diff cover I think it's an R200, should the mustache bar in fact be mounted the way it was originally?

Hi Guys, Not 100% sure without actually pulling it out again, but I reckon my 260 has a three wire tacho and it's no better or worse using an electronic ignition module (pertronix ignitor), still occasionally jumps up to 8k or falls down to zero. Obviously wouldn't work if you went to coil on plug or anything without the distributor, or so my somewhat vague understanding of the system leads me to believe. Probably some sort of dodgy connection somewhere, but I'm not really sure where... wiring diagram for the tach is pretty simple so may actually be an issue in the tachos themselves (they are pretty old and not exactly what you'd call 'solid state' devices).

It may pay to check the ADRs that are specified on the plate in the engine bay? ADR4 is seat belts... ADR4A requires at least static lap-sash (in front seats) and ADR4B (started in '75?) requires inertia-reel Lap-Sash belts.... Or at least that's what a quick bit of internet searching suggests!

Not sure about the car in question, but from what I've seen the instrument lights in the 260 actually ground through the speedo

I had to replace my sender recently. It was so tightly jammed in there I ended up just taking off the whole thermostat housing and sticking it into a vice... then of course the sender disintegrated when I applied too much force to it So long story short I ended up drilling it out. :/ Hopefully your sending isn't quite THAT bad!

Pretty sure the thread on the wheel studs are 12mm x 1.25mm (mine is!). You can probably buy wheel nuts off the shelf to fit, but I'd suggest measuring the size you want by shoving a socket into them to find out what fits best! At least that way you will be certain you can put them in when you get them. (Some mags will needs quite thin wheel nuts!) Also note the surface that the nuts will be seated on, it may be flat or it may be on a 45 degree angle, both are reasonably common. You can pickup wheel nuts of varying sized, shapes, designs and colours at most auto- shops (supercheap, bursons, auto-pro, etc. They are also plenty on ebay if you're feeling lazy and patient). Not sure about the casting on those wheels tho

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pertronix-Ignitor-Ignition-Datsun-240Z-1970-1971-1972-/150423850777?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item2305f5cf19#ht_3082wt_907 With the current exchange rate these Pertronix modules are pretty cheap. This one says 240z, but it should also fit an aussie 260z (at least it worked fine for me). Much cheaper than buying these locally as well.

So a slightly odd question... Should the mechanical advance assembly in a 260z dizzy have a spring for each weight? Mine appears to only have the one spring... Which may go some way to explaining my ignition issues if it is in fact missing. Dizzy body indicates D609-61 810, if that is of any relevance. Thanks!

I'd still suspect the AFM, I had a Z31 300zx many years ago which had MAF problems and the symptoms were similar to what you are describing. Was just driving down the highway one day and BAM, it died. I'd assume the 280zx uses a similar MAF setup? I'm not sure how intelligent the ECU in the 280zx is, but it may be worth disconnecting the battery for a few hours and letting the ECU 'forget' whatever information it may have retained about the different AFMs that have been connected to it. If it's a hotwire type (the 300zx's were) it's also important to ensure that the wire doesn't have any oil or other contamination on it as it can affect the reading it's giving. Apparently even the oil from your fingers is a bad thing if you've been touching it. Probably stating the obvious, but if you can find another 280ZX AFM from somewhere to test it with, that would be the simplest way to determine if the AFM is at fault.

I just took a look at the rear end of the 260 as it had basically the same issue (as well as a sticky throttle), when driving back from having it's exhaust fitted. Predictably the rear diff mount was stuffed, the strap had no tension and not knowing what it was, I had removed the chain the previous owner had installed as a 'workaround'. There are quite possibly easier/better ways to get the diff mount off, but this was what I ended up doing: DISCLAIMER: I'm a crappy mechanic! I don't recommend following the below, it's just to give people and idea of what I did that seemed to work. 1) Remove exhaust (it blocked the cross-member on my car) 2) Loosen vertical bolts holding diff to mount (17mm I think?). Nuts are were ontop of diff and bolt heads could be reached from the rear of the car. After much contortion I had had them loose. I made sure I loosened all the bolts before removing any of them. 4) Loosen the single bolt in the centre of the cross-member that hold the diff mount down. (circular cut-out in the middle of the cross-member, easy!) 3) Support rear suspension arms and the diff. (I used 3 old screw jacks) This cross-member also seems to hold the arms in place, so it seemed sensible to support them... what with the wheels being off the ground and all. Obviously the diff is heavy and should be supported. 5) Loosen the 4 bolts that hold the cross-member to the body (14mm I think?) 6) At this point you can undo the all of bolts in any order you see fit. Keep in mind: if the diff mount if stuff like mine was, when you undo the bolts holding the cross-member to the body, the mount will fall apart and if you aren't ready the cross-member will drop onto you. When you fully undo the nuts ontop of the diff, the bolts will be able to slide down and you should be able to remove the top of the mount. Voila! The diff mount is on the ground and attached to the car! It's super hard... but it does involve a lot of jacks... You possibly can also remove the diff strap at this point if you want to replace it, the side mounts are accessible (sort of) beside the diff. I'm waiting for paint to dry on the cross-member, but I'm hoping installation will simply be the above reversed!

I'd be interested in the Exhaust/Headers and the Dizzy. I don't suppose there's any way to ship them to Ballarat!