Sparkplugs
The front spark plug has been gunking up nearly every trip recently. It's not a good sign as the rest of the plugs are burning quite nicely which makes me think maybe piston or piston ring. Anyway filled it up with oil and cleaned the spark plug for the 5th time and it seems to be running alright now. I will rebuild the engine when I convert everything into the new body.
New Distributor Breaker Plates
My new vacuum advance pot and breaker plate assembly arrived from Z Specialites .
There is a plastic bearing housing on the 280zx electronic distributors the breaks over time (about 10 years I'm told) causing the vacuum advance to not function correctly. I ordered an "upgraded" metal breaker plate assembly from Z Specialties but it took about 2 months to complete the transaction and when they arrived they were still the plastic types. They offered a refund but with shipping etc it wouldn't have been worth it.
I have cad-ed up the bearing housing so i should be able to get some cut out of aluminium soon.
New Carbs
So after dropping a tonne of money into the old British SU's that were on the engine (see post here) I ended up buying a set of original 240z, 3screw, round top carbs. $250 (plus $25 postage) from Timwell on VicZCar. They arove today and look great, very clean with polished domes and plated linkages. Even came with the air filter, heat shield, manifold and linkages up to the manifold.
<Pic to be Updated>
Service – Battery and Alternator
The car broke down on the 18th of February 2010. The battery was flat and I just assumed it was the old battery (about 5 years old at this point) as the alternator was replaced with a brand new unit around 2006. So I got a new battery from Supercheap for $135, put that in and thought I was good to go.
I should have checked the charge but I was busy at them time and just assumed it was fine. Unsurprisingly, the car broke down again the next week. After checking the charge (doing about 12.4 volts with the lights and fan on) I was pretty sure the alternator was stuffed.
I took it to http://www.kedroncarelectrics.com.au/ where they rebuilt the alternator for $220. The car is now working fine again.
