As i drive my 280 Z down the road i can see the faint sight of people keeling over in suffication of the black smoke that lingers out of my tail pipe. I was wondering if this could be a cracked or loose seal, electric choke, or whatever. I also was wondering about the timeing. I know the guy i bought it from wasn't really smart but, the timing is set for 20 degrees instead of 0 and the closer i get to 0 degrees the idle decreases and my whole car begins to shake like its got a bad case of rickets. can some one help me? Please?

First off you have to wonder, what is the current condition of the engine? How many miles does it have? When was the last tune-up performed? Has it been abused?

Usually if you can see smoke coming out of the tail pipe it means your burning oil. How often do you have to add another quart? It could be bad valve stem seals or it could be bad rings or even valves.

Start with a proper tune up. New plugs, fluids & filters, timing and even a new cap & rotor. Adjust the valves and finally do a compression test. Low compression would indicate bad rings or a bad valve to seat seal. Decent compression could mean you have bad valve stem seals.

Is the car hard to start after it's been sitting for a while? Let it sit for a couple of days, pull the plugs and inspect their condition. Are they oily & wet?

Let us know what you find out.

As Ed indicates, more info is needed, especially with a fuel injected cars. Black smoke can also be a fuel rich condition. Does it start easily when cold? Does it start easily when warm? How does it run/idle?

yes, as Stephen said, black smoke is due to more higher petrol in air fule mixture..

u might have to adjust the air flow meter also..

or it might be that u have a stronger fule pump hn it should be that was change recently..

thanx for the replys guys i will do a tune up and get back to you.

thanx.

Be sure to look up the specks before you set he timing . Don't set it at zero TDC :tapemouth