Yes I was happy when it finally fired up

I still need to set the timing and tape up and loom all the wiring. The car turns off with the key so apparently I got the 280zx alt swap right too.

The retired mechanic across the street came over and heard it run. He thinks the dizzy is "off one tooth." I don't really agree with that. I told him the car has an aftermarket "performance" cam and he said "oh that may be what I hear." I dunno. I know the dizzy can't be installed one tooth off or even backwards because of the offset key. Can the oil pump be installed one tooth off? Personally I don't think this is the problem. I think the car hasn't run in awhile, it wasn't warmed up, and the cam has a little lope. The carbs may need to be synced also.

Any thought?

I have a question on something else too. Whenever I would drive the car before I started the dizzy swap, I occasionally thought I saw just a tiny wisp of smoke from the left front near the headlight. Never could figure out what could be smoking there and since it was so faint and gone in an instant I thought maybe I was just imagining it. When I started the engine today, the hood was up and the smoke was definitely real. I unwrapped the wiring harness there thinking it might be electrical. Everything was good though. Then I noticed a woven hose hanging down...open to atmosphere. That's where the smoke was coming from.

It's blowby I guess. I'm not sure where that hose is supposed to go. The mechanic neighbor said the smoke is from the car sitting idle for so long and the rings just need to reseat. He said that after I drive the car awhile the smoke will go away.

I'm not sure I believe that either...but I want to

I have a couple of pics of the hose if anybody can tell me where the open end goes on an unmodified car.

The first pic is the end of the hose...I think it was running down through the splash shield. The second pic is where the hose originates, drivers side of the engine.

Can the oil pump be installed one tooth off?

Yes, the shaft driven by the cam that goes between the oil pump and dizzy can be one tooth off. you need to remove the oil pump to re-align i beleive.

Thanks. I don't want to dwell on that too much because I don't have any reason to suspect that it's off other than his speculation but is there a simple way to check w/o removing the oil pump? With the crank timing mark at 0 degrees and TDC on the compression stroke his is my dizzy turned fully clockwise:

The rotor isn't dead solid at the center of the stator point but does it need to be?

That seems about right. To advance just rotate dizzy CCW. Looks like you can't retard (sorry Mrs. Palin) any more, but that looks close to hitting the #1 plug.

That hose looks like the smog pump hose. Where does the other end of it attach?

One end is attached to a pipe on left side of the block and the other end is open to atmosphere. It's hard to get a good pic w/ the carb heatshield in the way:

One end is attached to a pipe on left side of the block and the other end is open to atmosphere.

Is that the PCV hose? If so then some smoke would be normal.

Yeah, that's for the PCV. You could run it up to your air cleaner. Aren't the PCVs still available?

Yeah, that's for the PCV. You could run it up to your air cleaner. Aren't the PCVs still available?

There aren't any good diagrams I see in the FSM but the Haynes manual has the hose going to something called an air pump.

That's the crankcase vent hose. In olden times, it discharged through an oiled filter to the atmosphere.

And I might believe the neighbor about the exhaust smoke. Can't say anything about 're-seating' the rings, but the times I had the car idling in the driveway, I would get a little blue smoke out the exhaust when I floored it. Finally got the car on the road and after some 'spirited' shakedown driving, I have not seen anything coming out of the exhaust.

From your description and pictures, that hose appears to be coming from you crankcase, and would normally be routed to the PCV on your intake manifold. A replacement PCV valve can be found at your local parts store for like $5. If you have blocked off the PCV on your intake manifold, you can replace that hose with a breather filter like the ones MSA sells. http://www.thezstore.com/page/TZS/PROD/CP/10-2093