Hey fellow nicoclub members. Im back into the nissan/datsun game yet again, This time with a 1974 Datsun 260z. Having a problem with it not getting spark. its my first carb'd car and needing a few pointers. A little about the car: it has a electronic distributor with blue wires in side of it. still has the ballast resistor. the engine reset button looks like it has been bypassed. has a push button start on it. the resistor mounted above the coil is still there also, the wire as been cut on it. the motor turns over, gets fuel, just no spark what so ever. so based off that i was wondering where should i start trouble shooting at?

also I've been told that the ballast resistor should only be hooked up if the distributor had points and not electronic. the voltage regualtor was bad on it also, but that would keep the car from starting either would it?

it also has a 5 speed transmission in it. so maybe a 280z trans? it still has the l26 with dual flat top su carbs.

"engine reset button" whats that? Stock electronic distributor? black box on the side? The 260 had lots of changes overa short time so it seems no 2 are alike. Stock the electronic ignition cars did have a ballasted coil. Are you getting 12v at the power to the resistor? 6v at the positive side fo the coil? The flat top SU's suck, especially the ones that came on the carb's 260 if they are in fact stock. A few things to check.

try manually moving the carb pistosn up, sometiems they stick
check the fluid level in each carb, if they are dry add a bit of atf
disconnect the fuel hose form the carb feed line and out it in a bucket and crank the engine verify that the fuel pump is actually pumping, could be a bad pump or a clogged pickup
disconnect the fuel lines form the jet on each carb and verify taht fuel comes out, if not the float bowl outlet is blocked, the needle valve is sticking or the feed hose if clogged

yea the engine reset button is on the passenger side wheel well. its a box with a button. had to do some research to find out what it was.

like i said its getting fuel and the carbs are working as they should. its just not gettin any spark what so ever. the wire that runs from the 2 ohm resistor has been cut also. the coil that is in the car tested good so, its leaving me to believe the ignition control module is bad or the ballast is bad. is there any way to check either one?

and evildky im in central city, ky about 2 hours south of louisville so you could come down and help a youngster out a little haha.

The car should have no "engine reset button" which I'm guessing might be a circuit breakker someone wired in place of the stock fusible link?

Have you verified cranking voltage at the positive side of the coil?

You say no spark, no spark at the coil? no spark at the plug?

Its the engine reset for the seatbelt interlock relay deal. and its not getting spark out of the coil. havent checked anything voltage yet, due to the bad voltage regulator, didnt wanna mess anything up. will check voltage one everything once the new one comes in.

like ive said it still has the ballast resistor but it has the electronic distributor. so it wouldnt need the resistor, correct? could i just bypass it and if that didnt work that would point out that the ignition module is bad?

Voltage regulator can mess all kinds fo stuff up, good time to upgrade to an internally regulated alternator. The 240 has no interlock relay and I was unaware of one on any S30, I'll have to dig through some wiring diagrams as this si the first I've ehard of it. If you plan to keep the stock ignitor, coil and distributor I think you'll have to keep the ballast as well. If you convert to HEI it will not work with a ballast. Running 12v to a ballasted coil will shorten it's life but 12v coils are cheap and plentiful.

Yea I was planning on going hei if it turns outy ignition module is bad. Cant find a tutorial on hei on a 260z wothout swapping the distributor to a 280zx one

heres mine for more clarity. late 260z btw. it has a l28 but i think all 260s had elec disributors from factory.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/54 ... edium.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/81 ... edium.jpg/

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/6/ ... edium.jpg/

thanks Re037 so why did you keep the ballast resistor? and ive noticed my wire going to the resistor above the coil is still there but the wire has been cut?

Alrighty.... First google the numbers on your distributor to see if you have the PRE 79 distributor witch DOES use a resistor 6V-8V electronic ignition, OR 79 or later 280zx distributor witch is 12V and vastly superior!!!

It sounds like your asking for a hand out, not a hand up... Get some voltage to your system. 12V battery power, turn the key to "on", whip out an OHM tester and find some answers! Use it to trace your voltage and see if you can find the missing link in your system.

Those fat red wires worry me. Why are they there?

Go find a donor 79-83 280zx and steal the distributor and alternator if your dash has a volt gauge. You could get away if you have the 45A alt gauge. I cant remember what years they changed between the three. Some say you need the early 280zx distributor but the late works great too. Just a unused plug on the black box (ICM)

There are instructions to the alternator swap online easy stuff. You need an anti trickle back resistor in place and jump the connection where the external voltage regulator went. Solve that problem and upgrade past the stone knives and bear skin technology at the same time.

HEI is simple. two wires from the distributor stator go to the HEI ICM and the other side gets wired to your coil.
Screw it down to something metal that will cool it. These will get hot and will fail if not kept cool.

to clarify a bit, the older distributor can and will work wiht the hei or the msd box but you have to run 12v to the coil

not looking for a hand-out, just looking for advice. ill get some pics up today of what i got going on. havent be able to test any voltage either got to get a battery.