firing order with photos

[MEZZZ]

Hopefully you guys can help me clarify things for me. Can you take a look at my photos and tell me that I have my dist. wires correct? I did a search and the photo I found is in the same order as mine but it looks to be like my wires (red Taylor) seem to be one off on the dist. cap. I looked in my Haynes manual and it seemed a bit confusing to me as far as the cylinder order and firing order. Also, if someone could let me know what this plug is for in the last phot I would appreciate it greatly. I took care in replacing the wires one at a time but just need some clarification. BTW, its a '77 280Z.

Thanks

Is this the correct order?

My dist

Photo I found online, please note the #1 seems to be off one compared to mine

Plug I cannot find pictured anywhere

thanks

[Friar-Tuck]

If you notice the location of the clip on the dist. caps #1 is on the same terminal in both photo's.

The plug is the Cylinder Head Temp Sensor (CHTS) for the E.F.I.

Tuck \o/

[MEZZZ]

I did notice the location of the clip being similar, what threw me off a little was the location of the wire going to the coil being in between #1 and #5 and mine running between #5 and #3.

Thanks for the heads up on the CHTS, I breezed thru the EFI bible last night trying to find something on this. I would think that should be connected but I will be damned if I can find any wire remotely close to it. I looked at the wiring diagram (not my forte by any stretch) and cant find the CHTS on it either.

Any idea where on the wiring harness I can look for this? I am assuming it is part of the EFI wiring harness.

[sblake01]

The CHTS is not used on a 77 or any S30. It's a ZX thing. And the photo of your distributor is correct. The picture you found seems to be rotated a little too far counter clockwise. It's set way to the retarded side and unless he has is distributor drive incorrectly mounted, his car will run like shi+ that way.

[MEZZZ]

The CHTS is not used on a 77 or any S30. It's a ZX thing. And the photo of your distributor is correct. The picture you found seems to be rotated a little too far counter clockwise. It's set way to the retarded side and unless he has is distributor drive incorrectly mounted, his car will run like shi+ that way.

Thanks Stephen, as always, your knowledge astounds me. It makes sense now that I saw nothing in the FSM about it. I did a Google search last night and found an article on it but it was a 280ZX. Now I am going to have to go out and check the numbers on the motor, I am assuming if it is a ZX thing that the head or entire motor has been swapped. I've never checked to see if the numbers matched.

Thanks as well for the clarification of the pic. I did notice it was skewed compared to mine. I am learning as I go and it is very helpful to have this board and people like you to help educate me, I am a s-l-o-w learner though and still have a l-o-n-g way to go

[MEZZZ]

Well, I just got back from the garage and it seems I have an N42 block with a P79 head. That answers the question on the CHTS. Now, I just have to figure out why it is running rough and billowing black smoke when I accelerate. I pulled the A.F.M. tonight, boots are soft and crack free. Cleaned the connector and ground. Too late to mess with it anymore tonight, tomorrow's another day.

[sblake01]

As long as you have the items that should be on a 77, i.e. thermotime switch, water temperature sensor, cold start valve, etc., and they're hooked up as per the 77 setup with good connections, everything should work. Which AFM do you have? The one from the 77 or the later one? The only reason I ask that is that the 77 would still have the contact points for the fuel pump and the ZX AFM wouldn't.

[MEZZZ]

Stephen, I will look into wether the AFM is original. I bought this car as an "original, unrestored, unmolested car". The PO lied about everything else I have found up to this point so why not the AFM as well

I did see the thermotine, cold start and water temp and they are all hooked up. I ended last night at pulling the connectors and giving them a good dose of contact cleaner. There never seems to be enough time to do what I want on this car though, between the demands of work and family and everything that goes along with it, it leaves very little time

Have you ever wanted to vacation in beautiful CINCINNATI? I'll hook you up if you do...restaurants, nice hotel, beer, etc in exchange for a little garage time

[sblake01]

One way to tell if you have a later than 1977 AFM is to look at the connection on it. If it appears to be missing one terminal it's a 78 or later, if it has all 6 of them it's a 75-77.

[Rockr69]

I kinda feel foolish asking this especially with all of Stephen's knowledge about Datsun's, (you ROCK! Stephen), but if your head has the CHTS on the side, as does my Maxima, do you have the proper 77 thermostat housing with the CHTS mounted in the front? It was hard to tell from your photos if all the connectors were present. Stephen can correct me if I'm wrong, but it should have the thermotime switch and the CHTS side by side in the front. And if not hooked up it would explain the black smoke and rough running condition.

[sblake01]

It's not a cylinder head temperature sensor on the water outlet. That's just a water temperature sensor. Different setups after 1979. There's actually no place to plug in a CHTS on a 280Z.

[MEZZZ]

Thanks for the clarification again. I am very discouraged right now as I cant even get it to start now. It cranked last week and kicked over...seemed to idle okay but spewed black smoke during acceleration. It was running that way before I replaced the cap, rotor, plugs and wires. The plugs were pretty black but dry, not oily.

After I replaced everything, it ran the same way. The past couple nights I took out the A.F.M. and checked the boots (soft and crack free), cleaned the connectors with electrical contact cleaner. Did the same to the "bullet" connectors for the thermotime and water temp switches. Put it back together and it cranks but wont kick.

I am quickly feeling like I bit off more than I can chew with this project I bought and am considering giving up on her.I bought the car last Aug and got royally screwed on it (Ebay, I know). It needed cosmetic work, new paint and seats reupholstered. Was billed as a great running, rust free car.

I gutted the interior to do the POR15, Dynamat treatement, and replac the carpets. Then I found a rot hole in the floor and that it had spread to the frame rail. I ordered a rail from Bad Dog last week and have contracted a welder to weld that in place and fix the floor. I have the POR15, Dynamat, new carpet, seats refoamed and recovered. I also bought a new steering wheel, stereo, speakers, antenna, shift boot, Speedhut guage faces, etc.

I am really disgusted right now though with the process. I guess I will walk away from it for a bit