coupe72001

Funny you should say, I had an old Gt40 crap out on me a while ago and put it down to its age. However the guys I just spoke to at ICE ignitions this morning hated the new bosch coil and leads in my car very much and couldn't stress how nasty they thought they were. Of course its in their interests to hate other ignition component manufacturers products.

G'h! How irritating. Changing the rear brake pads bought me all of 35kms of blissful silence before the grinding noise came back. I'll be picking up an "ICE" coil and leads tomorrow. Fingers crossed that helps get the engine running right.

Its all good. Swapped the ignition barrel and did the rear brake pads (again) this weekend and both exercises went really well. Am also now very confident that the coil setup is all kinds of wrong. Maybe there is a light at the end of the tunnel!

Nissco are a long train ride home for me, but if they sort the car it'll be more than worth it, so thanks for the recommendation. Im pulling my hair out at the moment because my old workmate who has the only set of spare keys to my car seems to have fallen off the face of the planet! Looks like Ill be wiring up my spare ignition barrel this weekend!

Ok thanks - that's great news that the ballast resistor is wrong as its an easy fix. That's also a really generous offer in relation to the L24E, but hopefully I won't need to consider it if I can finally get mine up and running right. There has been a delay in operations though... I've lost my damn car keys! Arrrrgh!

I hear you... it's really starting to hurt now. I squirm to think of what I could have if I had dropped the 10G in one hit off the bat... an L28 tripple-webbered screamer, something nice through J-spec, 3,800 Big Macs... If the coil experiment doesn't work out the car IS going of to Dat Rally Moorabbin and its staying there till its sorted. Ill never get back all the cash I've blown, so Im basically stuck with the the old girl till Im rich enough to consider another never-ending project (read basically never). You never know, maybe she's only another 2-3 years away from being all sorted. Also I am going to replace all the rubber sections of fuel line in case there is a hidden flappy bit on the inside that is opening up and restricting the flow of fuel sometimes. Maybe $10 worth of hose could solve all my problems!

I just got thinking about a previous post. Just because my coil is new doesn't mean its right. Should I be running a resistor type coil with a ballast resistor with the electronic distributor, or should I go for the non-resistor type (anyone got an R30 they can check?). Will a standard coil do, a GT-40, or will I need a "performance" coil of some sort? Could a faulty ancillary (eg taco) to the coil be causing me this bastard of a problem? (Not that the taco or anything else is obviously malfunctioning, for the record.) To be honest, I think the fuel system has been pretty well sorted. Maybe I need a pro to look at the electrical side. What else can it be short of kids having stuck a banana up the exhaust? D

Wow - What a shock! The car got halfway home - maybe 5 kms, before the nasty came back. Today's new rev limit is 4,000rpm. The problem seems to emerge when the car is forced to sit in traffic for a while, so maybe there is some relationship to temperature. Then I got a flat. And the rear brakes are still grinding away for no apparent reason - having replaced the pads, machined the disks etc etc... Honestly I am sick of the car and out of money. The project has cost easily 10 grand so far for it to look and run like an absolute piece of shit. I hate the thing. Drew

Ok- B+M Fuel Systems in Richmond Vic have provided me with; Carby rebuilds including jets, needles, seats, gaskets, floats, shafts... the whole box and dice. Went to the 280zx distributor and it works way better than my Petronix system... do'h! Fitted a piersburg(?) a very German and very expensive electric fuel pump below the level of the fuel tank to help out the neikkei(?) Japanese fuel pump in the boot. 27 - no joke - 27 attempts on the dyno to get it all going. Final result... she goes - all the way to 7,000rpm with 88 screaming horses at the rear wheels. The question is for how long? Cost - $1,500. Bummer about that part. Anyway, hopefully nothing to nasty will break for a while now.

The distributor is officially off the hook. The next suspect is fuel pump/fuel pump mounting arrangement; maybe its just not sucking hard enough. Unlike this experience in general.

I have seen this 240k before... it's extremely nice throughout. Too bad my C210 is prone to jealousy. http://cgi.ebay.com.au/datsun-240k_W0QQite...1QQcmdZViewItem

It doesn't cut out altogether - it just spasms violently between 5,200 and 5,300 rather than soaring all the way up to the red-line. You can keep your foot to the floor all day, but it wont go past that point. I am running the original points distributor - but the points are long gone and an after-market electronic ignition module is tucked in their in place. I have borrowed a standard and working electronic distributor (from an R30) from a mate and Ill see if that makes a difference tomorrow. Maybe there is a nasty hidden in my distributor somewhere as J mentioned above. I have tried a few different coils. At the moment it a fairly standard but new Bosch item - I got it when I changed from points to electronic. Fingers crossed anyway - we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Thanks guys - will try both of those tips and we'll see how we go. I'll be happy to see the back of this problem - that's for sure...

One of the things that I hate most about my car is that sometimes it wont rev above 5,200 rpm. It starts of with hesitating a little above 5,200, but within a week it becomes much harsher - it just wont rev past that point and the car starts to splutter and jerk about. Oddly the car runs really sweetly at anything under 5,000rpm. You don't know the problem is there until you hit that spot. Sometimes the problem goes away, after tinkering with carbs, adjusting the timing, a change in the weather etc... but it always comes back. When I tried swapping the engine and related parts from the rally car to my car I made a mistake. I shook up the carbies (twin 2 inch SU's) and fouled them, so I couldn't get the car to go. I pushed it to the nearest mechanic who rebuilt the carbies but wired up the distributor incorrectly, frying my Petronix electronic ignition module. So I forked out for a new one of those too, along with a new coil, just in case. The car has never run right since then for more than a week or two. Z-spares had it going well for a fortnight after a carby balance and air-fuel adjustment, but the problem crept back again. I decided to take the car to a carby specialist to be tuned but he convinced me that the previous reco of the carbs was a botch-up, and would need to be completely redone with all genuine SU parts by a dedicated carby professional, like himself. After two weeks he calls me to let me know that he is finishing off the carbs and they are in immaculate shape. Unfortunately the car STILL doesn't rev above 5,200 rpm. He thinks its the ignition system. Ha. Ha. Ha. Before I re-rebuild the ignition system to match my re-rebuilt carbies, can anyone think of something else that might cause this problem? Thanks.

Actually, I had a similar problem and so I just stuck with my C210 bumpers. I cant remember how or why, but something definitely didn't match up well. Different bumper and bracket combinations may be needed to get them sitting correctly - eg C211 bumpers on C210 brackets. Till I stuffed up my attempt, I was also under the impression that they were freely interchangeable. D

Z spares gave me back the car after a couple of weeks. They barely had time to touch it - and their carby guy has gone travelling. They did however bill be $45 for a missing brakepad anti-rattle spring (not including labour to fit it), something I feel... somewhat raw about. So, I took the car straight to a carby specialist in Richmond and he was grossly unimpressed with the state of the recently rebuilt SU's. His theory is that they were put together shabbily with inferior rebuild kits and that the car will never stay in tune for more than its three-week average... Recommended course of action; a complete re-rebuild with genuine SU parts and 3 hours on a dyno-tuner for adjustment, jetting, tuning etc. Estimated cost: 1G. Sad panda. Im never going to pay off my bloody credit card.

Certainly am mate... except that I am letting the gang at Z spares tune the carbies for me (again!). Ill pick her up first thing Monday and hopefully nothing else will blow up until the weekend. Bad karma, bad luck or bad driving aside, the car may actually be close to... well... being basically sorted. Something else odd happened. I replaced the rear disk brake pads (its a 280zx series 2 rear end) but immediately after one of the calipers/disks heated up and smelt bad. Anyone know what's gone wrong? The caliper only just fit over the disk - but I didn't have to force it on or anything. The pads are a US brand called "Rayspestos"... D

Oil cooler! (quicky sweeps crap under the carpet) I assumed that monster hanging off the grill had to be an intercooler...

So much dish... also note: Has extended the bonnet and front guards to form a scowl (wtf?). Custom indicators and mirrors. Spoilers and flares all round. Stock dash and steering wheel (funny). Color coded bumpers and bumper ends... and an inter-cooled turbo hidden under tripples!!! (gasps and craps pants!)

In regards to a previous post that I missed, V8 Skyline man once pointed out that he had spun no less than 3 L-series engine fans through his radiator. Don't know about you but I'm definitely going thermos...

Mate, that's shocking news. Hope that you're doing ok.

Right.... well if ghosty gets sick of it taking up space at the workshop, or he wants to part it out, he'll know who to call! Ill let you know about those extractors too mags. D

Also PM sent

Done deal. Ill organize a tow. Please give me a call on 0410 842 016 or get me at [email protected] and we'll sort the details. Thanks so much, Drew

Yep... looks like the leak has been sorted. Flushed the engine this morning without the coolant level dropping, which is great news. However... the sump is leaking noticably from where I tore the gasket. Has anyone ever changed a sump gasket without pulling the engine the whole way out of the car? For example by loosening the engine mounts and jacking from the gearbox. I would try to patch it with instant copper gasket, but my fingers are too big too get between the sump and the block properly.