finding the fault .. help

[gator]

I have just had a 5 spd tranny from a 280 zx installed in my 77 280. We have done very little to the car other than install new pedals under dash (close to the injector relay) and other minor wireing issues. I now have an intermiten fault. The car didnt start for some time till we replaced a wire relay . (and we though we had fixed it)

So I am driving the car home and it dies on me. after 5 - 10 mins ..the car starts .. and we drive home.

I know no one will tell exactly what the problem is .. but what are the first things to chack (other than spark and gas) What would cause the car to completely die when going down the road?

Cheers ..Bruce

[EScanlon]

Well before you get swamped with suggestions to overhaul the muffler or swap the seats why not provide more details.

HOW does it die? Click-poof it's done, just as if someone flipped a switch, or does it seem to lose power / acceleration or ....?

When you say it won't start, what exactly do you mean. Does it cough, sputter, seem to want to start but just never seems to do it, or does the starter simply turn the motor over and over?

When it finally starts, is it immediately, or is it as a result of a long prolongued starter cranking period. Does it run smoothly then or coughs as if it were about to die.

What type of transmission did you have before? AT going to 5 speed? Did you eliminate the AT components in the wiring or at least render them null?

What "other minor wireing issues" are you referring to? Are you talking transplanted components or spliced in items?

Sorry but you haven't really given enough information to determine if the problem is electrical, or mechanical.

Enrique

[gator]

EScanlon

ya .. sorry .. I did kinda run through that quicker than I should have. The Car has run really well for me for two weeks. I have driven it every day with no problems. I finaly got all the parts I needed to do the tranny swap and took it in to an mechanic that specializes in Nissans. He did the swap over. The Car gave him problems not starting .. well actualy he adjusted the idle down abit for me and the car died and wouldnt start. We checked over a few things and found an electical connection in the front of the motor that was old and perished. He said if that was not making good conection it would make the motor run rich and die (BTW when the car wouldnt start it was getting lots of fuel and we it smelled rich) so we put on a new connector and the car strted and ran fine. We thought we solved the problem

The minor electricals is netral switch, and reverse lights. Yes it was AT to 5 spd.

On my ride home we were powering along in 4th gear and lost power completely and rolled to a stop. Car started afew mins later and I drove home.

My thoughts now are to do the SU swap now and eliminate all this electical crap related to the FI. I have a set of SU's I could rebuild .. but in the mean time I would like to get this car running. How would you find this kind of fault ??

Thanks for your feed back .. Ü

[seerex]

I was under the impression that you had to change alot of the electrical stuff to put a manual in an auto 280z . I know there were a few idle control features but wasn't the "box " also diffrent ? If you can make the FI work right I would stick wth it just for cold starts and such , but you decide to switch them , make a plan of what all will have to be changed, IE smog , all fuel control features and splicing the wiring harness not really for new things from the motor but to propery eliminate unused switches and items like Enrique said .

[EScanlon]

I won't disagree with you with regards to the FI, but I will also admit that I'm not an engine mechanic and definitely NOT a FI mechanic.

Give Stephen Blake a PM, he might have an idea or two.

That it died suddenly and then re-started after a few minutes could be symptomatic of various problems, which may or may not be anything related to what ails your car. Fuel filter; heated component losing connection--whether electrical or mechanical; AFM getting ready to fail, sensors not registering properly and these are only the ones I'm ~vaguely~ familiar with.

Don't despair, someone here will come up with an answer soon enough.

Enrique