Hi everyone,
I currently own a 1976 Datsun 280z, and the defogger sucks. Driving in the rain is really scary, sometimes I literally can't see the car in front of me, in which case I have to wipe the windshield with a towel. I can put up with having no ac, the heat from the transmission seeping into the cabin from my ripped inner boot, no powersteering, crappy wipers, but the defogger really worries me.

Now that I know more about vintage Japanese cars, I really want a carbed, smog-exempt car, since I do live in CA, the smog nazi state. And EFI really isn't much fun to deal with. So once again I am in the market, looking at 1st gen celicas, or perhaps a te27, or perhaps a 510 wagon. But I really want to know, how are defoggers in your old cars? Is this defogger issue just with Zs, or old cars in general? Thanks!

...My 75 280z is smog exempt, carries the original EFI, and the AC, heater, and defogger (front and rear) all work perfectly

Is yours broken, or just ineffective?

I urge you to take apart the dash and make sure that all the vacuum lines are present and intact. The amount of climate control vacuum lines on or cars is ridiculous, but you should be able to persist and get everything operational; my car's demister is more than adequate for soCal.

I'd urge you to try and learn a bit about the L-Jetronic system in our cars. It's actually fairly simple with only three sensors you have to worry about really, and of you're in orange, I'll help you sort it much better than carbs IMO.

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I really wish I did live in Orange, but I live in the Bay Area, Norcal. I really appreciate the offer though. I don't know, from what I've read, I thought the defogger just sucked from the factory.

Haha. I don't know if the demisters are sufficient for a NorCal winter, as I had my Z for only a month or so in Sacramento, and during that period I had none of the climate controls operational, and used a passenger with a rag in order to see

Now that they're working, the climate controls in mine are all faster acting and more effective than my girlfriend's Z31, about on par with anything modern, at least when coping with a winter no less than fifty degrees ever.

The worst thing about my car in the rain is that it's light enough that it wants to float off the road and hydroplane if any moisture at all is on the street, and the lack of sound deadening makes the inside of the car sound like a rushing river.

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Hah, I totally know what you mean, I took my sound deadening out in the summer.

Honestly, it's shit. I just crank the fan (heater's been bypassed as I cbf pulling out the dash for the second time in 6 months to fix a leaky pipe), crack the windows and wear a jumper.
Does your car have air con? If so, switch it on for a while, don't bother with the demister. Windscreen fog will clear in a snap, then just turn it off, rinse and repeat as needed

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'81 Scorpion- Daily thrasher/track project. 4G52, 4.6:1 rear end, suspension work etc.
'00 Magna- 6G74, 5spd. Sensible, reliable daily, gets along pretty well though.
'79 Suzuki GS550- 580cc overbore, rejetted carbs.

No, no a/c, but I blast the fan w/ the window opened a little in hopes that it will help, but in the rain it still doesn't do much. Hmm, that doesn't bode well...

In my 81 celica the heater is kinda so so. Now in my 76 celica the heater works fantastic!

That's great news, because I just got 4 offers on my car and I found this beauty:
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/2746349292.html