When i'm accelerating in my 1979 280zx it sounds like one of my cylinders is firing hard and this sound increases with my RPM's. Sounds a lot like that "Put-Put" sound the cars make in the old cartoons. Is there any remedies for this? i want to get this taken care of before i get an exhaust system that only amplifies the "Put-Put" =P

You more than likely have a leak in your exhaust mainfold/gasket. The last exhaust stud frequently breaks and allows the gasket to leak, in some cases the EGR path leaks.

pop your hood with the engine running and see if you can narrow down where the sound is coming from-more than likely you will have fumes coming from the same place.

Will

Assuming i do find a leak with fumes coming out, what do i do from there?

I won't be able to pop the hood until tomorrow when i can get some light on it =/

Replace the leaking gasket(probably)and the stud, replace the leaking part(maybe), or tighten what ever is loose(seriously doubt it).

That sounds easy, but will probably entail removing the exhaust manifold, removing a broken stud, replacing the gasket and the stud, and putting everything back.

Will

I had an exhaust leak from a broken bolt in the block of my 240z, to the headers. It caused the same sound. If you can get your hand near the noise, fell for air movement, if you can narrow it down to a loose bolt tighten it up, otherwise like he said above me you may need to replace your intake/ exhaust manifold gasket. Its like 20 bucks and 2 hours worth of work, but if you don't get it taken care of, you'll definetly hear with your exhaust and you loose horsepower.

I had the same issue on my old Yota pickup. It's pretty straightforward work. Just manual labor.

I could smell some fumes coming from somehwere in this area, but i wasn't able pinpoint them. is there a better way to find the exit point besides just feeling around, my fan pushes a lot of air back so it's hard to find any small leaks.

Mix up a small amount of water with a lot of dish washing detergent and pour it over the exhaust when cold. Get someone to start the engine while you watch for bubbles.

Disconnect the fan if you need to.

I would also check the gasket that connects the manifold to the exhaust . That one went on both my 79 and 82. Jim

haha, i wasn't sure the dish soap/water solution would do it. It worked wonders ony my bike tire tubes but i didn't have the same faith that it would work on my engine. I'm definitely going to have to try this tonight. Thanks for the input =D

"My engine sounds funny."

"How funny does it sound?"

"It sounds so funny, when I drive down the road, clowns chase after me".

But seriously. If you are going to fit a new exhaust, just have the shop fix the leaking head gasket issue. The have alot of experience doing such things. Better still, if you are going to fit a set of headers, it would be included in the price.

If you feel like fixing it yourself you could try putting exhaust putty around the leak, though its would only work for a short time, and is really just a temporary measure.

Have you taken it to a mechanic?