Buyer Beware!

[troubledz]

Hey Guy's

Thanks for all the positive feedback. The Z is alot of fun.. still have a fuel problem though..? I quite can't firgure it out.. I change the filters,blown out the lines flushed the gas tank..IT WILL RUN GREAT FOR A ABOUT 15 -20 MINS THEN IT GOES TO CRAP..

Not sure if its a carb problem ? once if seems to warm up it seems to starve for fuel..if any of you have hads this problem PIPE UP.. I want to know..

I will have more pics up soon..

Bigoak, I am a member of the Ontario Z Car Owner's Association. Hopefully we can hook up for that pint!!

Remember if you have any body or paint ?'s I do have a shop in the city..

Cheers,

[Montezuma]

Montezuma, you need to get over it my friend. You spent the money and there is nothing you can really do about it now. Enjoy the car now and chalk up your experience to a lesson in life.

I bought a car from a kid in San Diego for $4000. The car's interior was in good shape and mechanically it was very strong. Enthusiasm clouded my purchase as there were many items that needed replacing and the Ziebart undercoating covered some rust. I have sunk over $3000 into the car already and I just picked up an L28ET that I am going to drop in next fall.

Still, now that the car is back down on the ground and I am able to drive it, I love it despite my earlier reservations.

I mulled it over since this was written....I am VERY over my purchase BUT, I do find new things all the time. I was going to resell the car for what I paid for plus new parts....I been watching Ebay, watching the trends and can clearly see that I can't get my $$$ back so I am keeping her. The biggest reason I want to sell is because my friend who is VERY meticulous wanted to sell me his 72 with a Chevy 383 stroker. I guess I will have to wait until next summer. I did get lucky, I got a TON of parts at my finger tips, plus a rebuilt L28, E88, E31 or N42 head. I got a great JDM header, wantanbe or SSR wheels etc....so I can get it looking and running great BUT the body is still crap, even thought it looks like it is perfect. Let say this: The pictures that my seller sent me where pictures of the car when "HE GOT IT" not when he went to sell it, in other words it was not as nice and clean anymore, not sure if he did that on purpose or not. Like the title of the thread: "Buyer beware".

[Mat M]

...snip...IT WILL RUN GREAT FOR A ABOUT 15 -20 MINS THEN IT GOES TO CRAP..

Not sure if its a carb problem ? once if seems to warm up it seems to starve for fuel..if any of you have hads this problem PIPE UP.. I want to know..

...snip...

That would be me. Same exact symptoms. I thought it was fuel, put in a (used) electric FP, swapped the E12-80 module ZX ignition), cleaned the tank, rebuilt the carbs and mech. fuel pump. After 20 mins...STUMBLE, BOG, lite back up for 2 seconds, BUCK, pull hard, MISS, COUGH, die. It will idle FINE, and not under load I can rev to past 5000 RPM. Under load, it won't go above 2000 without cutting out!

The next thing I will try is a new coil, since the tack jumps all over the place when it happens. I also will try another elect. fuel pump, since I am not convinced the one I used is healthy. I dunno.

It's pushing me to consider EDIS-6 from Ford, and go injected with MegaJolt Light, Jr.

[Ramses]

How bout the heat shield on the carbs, protecting from the heat from the exhaust? Seems logical that while cold - runs great...hot - runs like crap, something could be heating up the fuel and causing it not to run properly. Do you still have the heat shield on the car? Just my .02

[Mat M]

I do have the heat sheild. But I noticed this weekend a few things that cannot be coincidence:

1) While the bogging is occurring, the fuel filter is not full (with both an electric and the mech. fuel pumps)

2) The car runs and revs freely with no load.

3) After a few minutes, the electric fp would get louder and LOUDER until these symptoms began.

4) while I was draining the fuel in order to drop the tank to install said elect. fp, I noticed the fuel would flow free for a bit, and then trickle as air was sucked into the tank, then flow freely again, like holding a full bottle upside down.

It hit me late yesterday: there is no venting to the tank. No resupply of air is getting in to displace the spent fuel, starving the motor.

So what do I do now? jmortensen suggests trying to find a vented fuel filler cap. Are those available at NAPA? I have to get back under the car to see if the vent line from the intake manifold to the tank is plugged.

I actually got chills thinking that this could be the answer, that I can actually be driving my car again soon!!!!

[troubledz]

Mat,

I have the same problems as you!

I did notice though That i did have a small leak in the fuel supply line rusty little pin hole .. fixed that and my car ran perfect for a few days.. then it all went to crap again...

The way i found the hole is i put on a clear fuel filter and i could see bubbles in the filters - knowing that air bubbles are not a good thing ..

check it out it might be that simply..

Cheers

[Carl Beck]

Try driving it with less than a full tank - and leave the gas cap off. See what happens -

Carl B.

[Ramses]

Poke a hole in the gas tank jk

[Mat M]

Funny suggestions, guys!!

I think I solved the problem. Or one of them, I'll get to that later. The Beck/Arnley elec. fuel pump I had originally installed only trickled fuel to the filter. I tried another fp, a "transistor fuel pump" model 379-00132 by Jidosha Kiki Co. Inc. and this one keeps the fuel filter about 1/4" from the top filled. I found it in a stash of parts I have, including an adjustable pressure regulator. After I cleaned all 6 fouled plugs, I warmed her up, and took her on a 12 mile loop through the foothills. Even at near 6000 RPM, the motor never seemed to starve. No sputter, no hesitation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I came back to the house with such a big smile on my face, the Wife didn't even ask if I got it fixed!

Now the temp guage is not working. I made sure the connection to the water pump housing was secure, but I don't know where the other end goes once it dies into the loom, but that's for another thread.

TroubledZ, I have another of these electric fuel pumps if you are interested. The toughest thing is making a bracket that you can hang down from the cross member. The second toughest is finding the 'T' connector near the radio that needs to be shorted so there is power at the location of the new fuel pump when the key is turned on. PM me!

[Mat M]

stupid 5 minute edit rule.....

Here is what I had added, although it was seamless before...

I did go looking for a vented gas cap (STANT?) at the local parts places. They have quite a display, but none for us.

I think I solved the problem. Or one of them, I'll get to that later. I found that the Beck/Arnley elec. fuel pump I had originally installed only trickled fuel to the filter. I disconnected the soft lines for the vent line that has a two-way action 'T', one to the back of the air cleaner, one to the PCV tube, and the other to the hard line. All was well. So, I tried another fp, a "transistor fuel pump" model 379-00132 by Jidosha Kiki Co. Inc. and this one keeps the fuel filter about 1/4" from the top filled. It's noisy, but you can't really tell after the car starts! I found it in a stash of parts I have, including an adjustable pressure regulator. After I cleaned all 6 fouled plugs, I warmed her up, and took her on a 12 mile loop through the foothills. Even at near 6000 RPM, the motor never seemed to starve. No sputter, no hesitation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUT, and this is what I was alluding to before, now the temp guage is not working. I made sure the connection to the water pump housing was secure, but I don't know where the other end goes once it dies into the loom, but that's for another thread.

Sorry for what seems to be a double post....I couldn't edit the previous post to my liking.