Gift or Burden - We shall see....

[Free280Z]

My brother and I were driving down the road. . . we were getting out of the house while a baby shower was going on. A 260 passed us so we followed it. There was an impromtoue meeting of Japanese cars. I got a contact for local people who have parts and stuff . Very cool.

I have completed the replacement of vacuum lines under the hood as well as 60% of the fuel lines so far.

[Free280Z]

Got out there and finished putting fuel lines/injectors on the car. The fuel pump is seized again, so instead of messing with it I bought one from AutoZone. Its no OEM so there are some differences. The new pump's terminals are the same size, you have to cut the original stuff off and put on the supplied terminals. Does anyone know, off hand, if the small or the large terminal is the positive?

Can you believe that I took this whole week off to fiddle with the car and stuff and broke my foot on Monday. As a result I won't be working on it for a while. . . unless I can get my wife to help, that's why I ask about the original terminals, she can do it but I can't under there to test which terminal is power.

Any help is appreciated.

[Free280Z]

What's shaken bacon.

Ahhhhh, so spring has sprung. The small diameter lug on the fuel pump is the positive. . . .

Got it running! The original injectors where completely shot. I got a new set of injectors, full tune up, new thermostat, air filter, fuel filter, oil change and new radiator hoses. I got all that stuff at Rock Auto and got a free injector upgrade due to their mistake. At around this same time I finished finding and replacing ALL rubber lines under the hood. I purged the fuel system and it ran better than it ever had. Initially I had a rich running problem so I searched around here (classic Z cars) and finally did the computer harness test procedure as is recommended in the fuel injection manual. Guess what, bad connection to the temp sensor. The De-Oxit product that you can get at radio shack does work as advertised on corroded terminals. Once I got that handled it fired right up and runs absolutely great. It is a feeling of a type of elation when it fired off. It just started up, and idled. I let it warm up and revved it around some. I guess me fiddling with the head light switch knocked some gunk off and now the head lights work. I have been starting it every weekend on the lawn mower gas can to keep everything working. It really runs Great! It has a hole in the second muffler and has a nice raspy sound at 5800 rpm witch I'm sure the neighbors can appreciate <humor>. Absolutely thrilling. I put it in gear with the hand brake on and the trans does engage in all positions.

But what about the gas tank with the 14 year old fuel in it you say? And the 45 day time frame. Well hope does spring eternal doesn't it. Long story short, I did the muratic acid flush followed by the phosphoric acid flush. You can find directions to do this in a million different places on the 'net. It works. That is enough said. I didn't let the phosphoric set in long enough on all sides though so I have to redo that part. After the treatment, tank had been sitting in the shed for a week before I checked on the rust situation. The part where the phosphoric sat long enough on the bottom of the tank is still primer gray but the top has light surface rust. I really am impressed by the effectiveness of the acid method on getting the gunk out. My tank wasn't the worst, but pretty bad. I could put back on the car and put in a pre-filter before the pump and all would be well but I have it out and it's too easy to redo it. Also, once I redo it and get it running on its own tank I really could drive it around the block on the hand brake.

I put some brake fluid in and I have the smallest amount of pedal. I hope it's enough to bleed the system. I don't care if the seals leak right now, it would be good to have some brakes on the initial cruise through the neighborhood.

[Free280Z]

Mean while 3 months later. . . . . I put the tank back in. I found some duplicolor brand "undercoating" spray at my local Freds store. I brushed/sanded the tank down good and gave 'er a good wipe down with some thinner, sprayed it and put it back in. Since it's back in I have had the luxury of firing it up when ever I feel like. I have been doing it every week to keep things going. I put in a fuel filter before the pump, just in case. I also replaced the vent hose and the hose that goes to the evap system. I used CLR on the fuel level sender and it worked out find, the gauge works. . .if I had to do it again I may have just filled it up with CLR.

And so it goes.

The other day (about 4 weeks ago) I had it running and decided to run it around the yard. The hand brake works. . . . . . I had done that a few time ( the wife does not appreciate my experiments regarding a independent rear suspension pulling on both wheels despite not having a locker) so I decided I may run around the block. I got to the corner, about 400 ft, and it died. I towed it back and removed some gunk from the pump. Yes, I know I put a filter in, but what you don't know is what happened before that. I'm not telling that story. The next week I drove it around town on the hand brake and a 14 year old tag. I can't describe my enjoyment. It shimmys like hell at 60 because it has worn rack and pinion bushings but it was fun driving it. So here I am at the next stage. Brakes. I had considered doing the toyota/maxima bracket upgrade but I am going stock. I will have to save up though, so stay tuned. I think I will do the Maxi fuse upgrade also. Hard to tell. I have got to get some tires in the mean time also. I have ultimately to put 16x7's on it with 215 50/55's. It seems like a conservative combination. If that sounds stupid let me know.

[grantf]

good job so far. Still no pictures?

[Free280Z]

here are some pictures. Maybe I can figure out how to put words with them.

Your going to have to wait. I took pictures with an i(idiot)phone. I will have to resize them so they aren't so large.

[Free280Z]

That picture took way to long to upload. It is, however a picture of the injector seals being old and clapped out.

[Free280Z]

This is a picture of an old injector, it was so rusted it cracked the plastic. Still worked, sort of.

[Free280Z]

New injectors in and some rubber lines replaced. Notice the bullet connector that go to the water temp sensor. When I cleaned these it started running correctly. This was also before I used black silicone to seal some fine cracks in the AFM to throttle body bellows. I'm not sure if it help but it couldn't have hurt.

Edited November 16, 2011 by Free280Z

[Free280Z]

This is a picture of the the disposal drain plug I cut up to use as a seal for the fuel sender hole. The black thing in the fill inlet is a ball **** (?) for a toilet that has the flush mechanism that pulls straight up through the cover on the tank. Both of these solutions will not provide a 100% seal on the tank but will work better than you think to control the acid during the "acid flush" method of removing rust. That method work very very well for me. I wish I had the time to take pictures at the time but I was concerned about the acid over burning the tank. The one picture is of the tank masked up when I went to spray it with some duplicolor undercoating stuff in a spray can.

[Free280Z]

At night idling with lights on. It was a big deal. I made every one come and look. Only the wife appreciated it.

[Jeff G 78]

This is a picture of the the disposal drain plug I cut up to use as a seal for the fuel sender hole. The black thing in the fill inlet is a ball **** (?) for a toilet that has the flush mechanism that pulls straight up through the cover on the tank. Both of these solutions will not provide a 100% seal on the tank but will work better than you think to control the acid during the "acid flush" method of removing rust. That method work very very well for me. I wish I had the time to take pictures at the time but I was concerned about the acid over burning the tank. The one picture is of the tank masked up when I went to spray it with some duplicolor undercoating stuff in a spray can.

I found that a Wasp and Hornet spray can lid was a perfect fit for the filler neck and I cut some sheet metal discs for the sender hole. I used some hose with bolts in the ends for the nipples. The spray can lid was great because it went on and off easily to allow quick drainage and refill.